One Happy Girl

Papa and Banoi sent the perfect Easter gift for Mia and Kainoa. Well, Kainoa kind of slept through all the goodness, but Mia sure enjoyed it! The gift entailed heading around town to get McDonald's french fries and ice cream, and organic bread from the Co-Op. Mia, needless to say, was in heaven.

Banoi...Oi!!!!!

Our first visitor, Dave's mom came to IL last week to spoil us. The day before she came, it was sunny and 80 degrees. The day she came in, and every day until she left was overcast, rainy, and COLD! It didn't get above 50 degrees the whole time she was here.

This "unfortunate" turn of events set the perfect stage for us to stay inside, snuggle up, and EAT EAT EAT.

And EAT we did...especially when Banoi is around!!! Her motto is..."Better not be dieting when I'm cooking!" Love her!!!

[Banoi and the happy son!]

[Bun Thit Nuong Cha Gio

Rice Vermicelli with Grilled Pork and Egg Roll

a.k.a My #1 FAVORITE DISH!!!]

[Original Pork Spare Ribs]

[Lemon Grass Pork Spare Ribs]

[Stir Fry Vegetables with Pork

Always hot, and always fresh off the stove...

check out that steam!]

[Thit Kho

Braised Pork and Eggs]

This is traditionally and Vietnamese New Year's dish, so we obviously "had" to make an exception and have it "late" because we missed it at New Year's. Sooooo GOOD!!!

[Mia Jane loving Rice Noodles]

[Banh Trang

Spring Rolls on the Grill]

Banoi did not mess around. This night was awesome. We had pork, shrimp, and squid ready to grill table side as we rolled, and rolled, and rolled spring roll after spring r

oll for each other to devour. It was sooo fun and delicious. Good thing it was still raining, because it gave us another excuse to EAT!

[Coleslaw for Mien Ga...YUM!]

[Mien Ga

Glass Noodle Dish]

This dish has been one of (my MANY) favorites since Dave and I started dating almost seven years ago. You add the coleslaw to the side or eat with the soup, and

it is delicious. Of course, Banoi did not disappoint with this one either!

[Name that dish...]

Believe it or not (and those that know our Banoi BELIEVE IT) there are 3 meals here.

Yes, we're pigs. I think this was the first night Banoi was here. She was on a mission to FEED our poor-student selves...and she succeeded. Look closely, and you will see Banh xeo, shrimp and garlic, and pork and garlic. My mouth is watering.

[Note above: Dave's mouth is still full as he goes for more shrimp and garlic.]

[Banh Xeo

Vietnamese Pancake]

The kicker to banh xeo...is that they have coconut milk in them...which of course makes them de-li-cious. They are filled with meat and bean sprouts, then as you eat them, you wrap herbs and lettuce and dip them in nuoc mam (fish sauce). They.are.to.die.for.

[The famous Banoi eggrolls. Ohhhhh...]

[Banoi making Ginger Chicken Wings]

This seems like a lot of pictures...but sadly, I didn't get shots of her beef pho (soup), and her bbq ribs...and possibly some other dishes??!!! I'm not sure. I blame it on the food addict's blur, I do know that.

Everyday we'd wake up to a full blown breakfast, Dave would stay home and study while we'd hit the American and Chinese grocery stores for ingredients, we'd come home to only have Banoi knock it out of the park with a full blown lunch, then go take naps, only to wake up to a grand slam dinner.

We miss Banoi.

Good thing she stocked our freezer with all the hits for meals to come though!!!

Catchin' Up

Lots to catch up on...

[Daddy and Kai at the Guitar]

Dave is wasting no time getting Kainoa ready to join his band. I think he's a natural already...

[The LAST "gummy" picture]

Take a close look at this handsome devil with no teeth. He now has two teeth on the bottom and his top two teeth broke through last week and are growing in already! Saaadddd...

[Dave's Tamarind Beef Satay]

There is lots to love about being back in the U.S., but there are things that we miss about St. Kitts too. When we went on our beach lunch date , we had tamarind beef satay for a lunch appetizer...and it was incredible. So good in fact, that we sat dreaming about it one night after we first got to IL when it was snowy and cold outside. Then we realized...WAIT! We're in the U.S. we can get anything we want! Let's make it ourselves! Dave took over and made a beautiful, absolutely amazing version that took us right back to the beach. Well, not really, but it was sure good, and I had to get a picture of it!!!

[Courtesy of Daddy, Mimi, and Kai]

I turned the big 3-2 in February. I spent a few days before a little crabby because we'd just moved to IL, and Dave hadn't mentioned my birthday at all. I thought he forgot, so I was gonna teach him a lesson and make him feel real bad.

Turns out, not only did he not forget, but he had lots of surprises planned for my special day. We ended up spending most of the day indoors because we were snowed in.

[Dave shoveling snow on my bday]

Well, okay. Maybe "snowed in" is a bit of an exaggeration, but for us ya-hoos from the West (and most recently, the beach), we are NOT experienced enough to be driving in any amount of snow yet.

So much for teaching him a lesson (on this occasion), he totally came through!