So sunday came and I woke alone and relatively bored. Becca and Courtney were at a girl thing. A wedding shower. Brennan was on his way over and I had a plan. After lunch, beautifully heart clogging burgers, Golden Tee, and beers..off to Myre Asian Market...

I just heard an amazingly fitting quote by Roger Daultrey of the Who. "I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth."

It actually makes quite a remarkable bit of sense to my attraction to food. I was pumped to wander the isles of this particular asian grocery w/ Brennan. Let's say the 1st time I went in such an establishment I knew or was familiar with 1% of the product.....7 plus years later I'd up it to maybe 4%. These seemingly plastic spoon/chopstick cuisines hold more depth than the worth of our country's collective knowledge. What I mean exactly is that thousands of years has produced some seemingly bizarre food strategies. Some amazing leaps of faith. Some brilliant discoveries based on geography, flora/fauna, and a sheer luck of intellect. Nothing else could explain some of the products one might find.

So after an hour, Brennan and I had some things we wanted to mess with. We went home to cook. Based on poor planning and a dare to myself I went for 3 tastes of the Asian realm no soy sauce. We had little and being me, (PBR's deep) I found it a revelation to cook with no soy sauce.

Brennan did a fantastic seared tuna avocado dish. Next was a summer roll by me. Then a chicken sausage, Napa cabbage, okra dish from Brennan. Then Laab Salad and room temp Pho.

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The heart of my last trek to the asian grocery was for toasted rice powder. If you have never had Laab salad, please try it. It encompasses so many intriguing elements of taste in one plate that.....that's it. A perfect plate of food. Lastly was a plate of rice sticks, cilantro, Thia basil, pickled vegg, and strip/filet marinated in Vietnamese salt and lime. The broth I made was little to cover the four bowls. It made the composed dish cold if not luke warm. But I was in heaven. I rarely eat if enjoy my own plates but had a revelation by eating my own in a state I had not intended. Vietnamese cappaccio I guess? The meat was incredibly delicate, all the other elements sang. Brennan or Ruby please disagree.....justified but somewhere in some province of some Asian state...this dish rings home and with smiles I swear......Till next time.