cold sesame noodles with fresh herbs

I have been sweating a lot lately. It's hot. Our little window air conditioner is groaning away like a meat grinder, peppers still on their plants in the garden are literally blistering in the heat, and we accidentally stewed some tomatoes just by leaving them out in the sun for 3 hours.

I don't even want to grill in this weather. The idea of standing over any heat source for an extended period of time just makes me sulky.

So for dinner tonight, I made our favorite cold noodles. They are so easy and so good, they're great for a picnic or road trip, and they made the heat seem not quite so oppressive. Maybe best of all, they come together in about 15 minutes.

Cold Sesame Noodles with Fresh Herbs

1/2 package pad thai style rice noodles

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tbsp mirin (a sweet rice wine condiment, probably near the soy sauce in your supermarket)

a light drizzle of toasted sesame oil

10 leaves each of fresh mint and basil, stacked together, then cut crossways into fragrant little herb ribbons

Cook the noodles according to the package directions. I boiled the water in my whistling tea kettle so that I could step away from the stove, then poured the boiling water over the noodles in a pot off the heat and let them sit for about 5 minutes. They are still a bit chewy that way, which I like, but if you like yours a little more tender you could always let them sit longer.

When the noodles have cooked, strain them over the sink and run them under cold water to cool them and stop them from cooking. Transfer the noodles to your serving bowl. Add the soy, mirin, and sesame oil, toss to combine, and top with the fresh mint and basil.

These noodles are also great with a little fresh cilantro, cucumber, or toasted sesame seeds.

not my plate

I applaud the USDA for finally doing away with the food pyramid, which were notoriously out-dated and allegedly changed due to the funding from various food lobby groups (cough cough DAIRY cough). And I think that the new My Plate guidelines are definitely a step in the right direction; meat or protein is a portion of a heathy meal, not the main focus of the plate. Greater emphasis is being placed on fruit and veggies, also on portion control.

But look at that photo up there. So sad. So puritan. Who could get excited about eating that?

I'm not even sure what that pinkish gelatinous brick of "protein" is, but I think it's charming that they allowed it to retain it's unadulterated can-shaped form. Clearly the fruit and veg came from a can. And I don't think they could have found a more processed looking piece of wheat bread if they tried, probably full of a long list of unpronounceable ingredients and sweetened with high fructose corn syrup.

And this was the plate displayed by the USDA at the UNVEILING of this new program. It's like wearing crocs and a sack on your wedding day. What an amazing opportunity to get people excited about the possibilities of delicious, unprocessed, home cooked food. And instead, they splort open three cans and a bread bag.

I want so desperately to tell anyone desiring to eat better and staring into the joyless abyss of that plate, that eating well doesn't have to look like that, and in fact, it doesn't look like that. Chemicals from those processed foods are not part of your well-balanced diet and they do not belong on your plate. Go to a farmers' market or your local natural foods store, EXPLORE, EXPERIMENT and have FUN with food. ENJOY!