More Balls! Bahn Mi Balls That Is.

I have no idea what it is, but Friday’s at work seem like as long as Monday – Thursday does.  I had to laugh at some of your comments about office people eating other peoples food, and LTR sent this eCard to me and it had me laughing out loud!

Thanks sweetie!  My egg cooker I normally use at work was in the dishwasher that was still going, so I ended up making my egg/egg white in a bowl in the microwave – it was just okay, not sure what it is about that microwave cooker that makes the eggs taste like you cook them on top of the stove.  But I had bacon in it, so that makes everything better.

So to continue the tortilla chip saga, my boss went searching for the bag of chips, you remember the ones that just had crumbs in it, and came to my desk and said “where are the chips?”  I said I threw the bag out because it was nothing but scraps.  She said “there were still some chip crumbs in there, why did you throw them out?”  I said “because it was MY bag of chips, so I can do anything I want with them.  She just walked away.  But all throughout the morning she’d yell “I can’t believe you threw out the chips!”  She thought she was being funny, but it was like nails on a fricken chalk board.  I finally left to go walk outside since it was beautiful, told her I was leaving and she said “I hope you come back in a better mood!”

That was the look of my face when I started to walk.  Seriously, if I could have quit right then and there, I would have.  But, being in the sunshine on a gorgeous 70 degree October day, by the end of my walk, I had a smile on my face.

Lately I’ve just been having these highs and lows of emotions, and I don’t know what the hell is going on.  I feel sorry for myself one day because I am stuck in a job I hate, then I make a great meal and think that I am lucky enough to afford the food we have in our house.  And then I read the story about this woman.  Tony told me about her last week.  She has an inoperable brain tumor and if she were to ride it out, it would be the most horrific pain she could ever even imagine.  So she’s decided to die on November 1, on her terms with her family and loved ones around her.  She just got married last year!

And I have to tell you, after reading that story, my attitude quickly turned around – why the fuck am I pissed about tortilla chips?!  Isn’t it crazy how something you read can just turn you around?  Has that ever happened to you?

And after my walk, I got to have balls.  Bahn Mi Pork Meatballs that is!  I have never been to a Vietnamese restaurant, but I know I would love it.  The complex flavors of cilantro, fish sauce, lemongrass, sriracha – it made a wonderful lunch!

The night before last I made the pickled veggies and the balls – I cooked the balls about 3/4 of the way through, knowing I was going to be reheating them in the toaster oven at work.  No one likes dry balls! (that’s what she said)

For the veggies:

• 2 large carrots, cut into matchsticks (2 cups)
• 1 large diakon radish, cut into matchsticks (2 cups)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup rice vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Put the veggies in a large jar.  Mix the sugar, vinegar, water and sesame oil in a 4 cup measuring cup, mix until the sugar is dissolved, pour over the veggies, making sure they are all covered, and let them sit for 24 hours.

For the balls:

• 1 pound ground pork
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro (use less if you don’t like it as much as I do!)
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon chopped lemongrass
• 1 tablespoon sriracha
• 1 tablespoon Thai chili paste
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix everything together, making sure all the ingredients are incorporated.  Here’s a tip.  Take a small portion of the pork mixture and cook it off and try it – does it need more heat, more salt?  The recipe above was tweaked after the third try – I thought it had to be spicier and that’s when I added the Thai chili paste.

Instead of the traditional crusty bread a Bahn Mi sandwich is usually on, I used my toasted sesame naan bread.   For the base I mixed 1 tablespoon of plain Greek yogurt with about 1 teaspoon of sriracha, put my pickled veggies on, my heated up balls and then more fresh cilantro.

I ended up putting my naan bread in the toaster oven and that was amazing – it became light, soft and fluffy again as if I had just made it.  This was the perfect balance – sweet/savory/spicy/sour/crunchy – I could probably eat that every day and never get sick of it.  Tony on the other hand?  He saw me making the meatballs the night before last and I think he was thinking “I hope she doesn’t think I am eating those!”

I posted my steak and pomme frittes on Instagram the night before last – guess who like it?!  Sunny Anderson! I am pretty sure we’ll be BFF’s one day.

I ended up buying another frozen pizza – this one was actually pretty good – the crust had cornmeal in it, and the sausage was very flavorful.  I picked us up some salad at the salad bar, and for some reason, didn’t take any pictures other than the picture of the box of pizza.

It was funny because as I was getting this pizza out of the package, my phone beeped.  It was my friend Jacky and all I could see that it was a message on Instagram and it said “Guess what tonight is @mybizzykitchen? #tgif!  Of course, I was jealous that she made her own dough – I need to make some dough and bread this weekend for sure.

I hope wherever you are, you find whatever makes you happy for the day and hold onto it.  There is so much horrible stuff going on in the world, you just have to step back sometimes, take stock in what you have around you, and choose to be happy.

I hope you have a great weekend!  It’s beautiful this weekend here – in the high 60s – 70s – and Tony and I are going to grill out, drink some wine and listen to some music.  Cheers!