Quick Thrifting and Home in Time for Pad Thai

Thrift store hunting started for me when I was in need of maternity clothes and there were no maternity wear stores in my town. It naturally then spread to baby and toddler clothes for my son, which also worked well for me since there was also no Gap or Old Navy in my town either. Now that Ike is out of the smaller sizes it is more difficult to find clothes there in good condition for him....but I soon discovered that there were more departments that I might find items of interest in. These areas have grown to include the china and glass section (for cups and saucers, platters, swanky swigs), the craft section (for embroidery floss, wool yarn, knitting needles, vintage buttons, rickrack....you never know what you'll find?) and now the linen section (for linen tea towels and vintage sheets). I really like the idea that these items are getting a second chance rather than going to landfill and in a lot of cases these items are well crafted (meant to last) and hopefully stylish in a vintage kind of way. You just never know what you might find and it's kind of exciting when you do find something you'll love. It's even amusing, at times, when you are browsing and come across something that you recognize from your past.

Sometimes you're lucky and sometimes your not when it comes to thrift store hunting. It does take time and persistence. This past week, I managed to pick up a few things.....that I felt I needed. I've been collecting vintage sheets now for the past year and managed to find a few more to round out my collection. One of these days (hopefully today)....I'll get around to cutting some of this up to start my project! I also found some vintage sewing and crochet booklets, crochet thread, buttons, a swanky swig glass and a great little Royal Worchester egg coddler. How much fun is that? After my quick thrifting fix, I squeezed in the door with just enough time for a quick supper.....and you guessed it....it was Pad Thai. The recipe is below and this time I made it with all shrimp....because that's what I had in the freezer. I really like this recipe........well....because I love Pad Thai......and because it's pretty quick! I serve it with a little wedge of lime, ground peanuts, hot sauce, and a spoon of sugar on the side.

Pad Thai
1/4 lb sliced pork
1/4 lb shelled shrimp
1 lb (wet) sen lek (rice) noodles

1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced chili

1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1 1/2 tbsp tamarind juice
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp paprika

1/2 cup shredded ginger
1/3 lb bean sprouts
1 tbsp crushed peanuts

Devein shrimp, rinse and drain. Heat 1 tbsp oil and stir fry drained noodles until hot. Set aside.

Heat 2 tbsp oil then stir fry garlic and chili until fragrant; add meat and shrimp, then stir fry until colour changes. Add eggs and stir fry until slightly dry. Add remaining ingredients and noodles then stir fry briefly. May sprinkle on lime juice and serve.

*To prepare (1/2lb) dry noodles. Soak noodles in cold water until softened and doubled in weight. (about 1 hour)
*Make tamarind juice by soaking 2 oz(56g) of tamarind with 1 cup warm water then filter the mixture.