Bean sprouts

 

Remember when you could grab a handful of loose bean sprouts in the produce department and stuff them in plastic bag? And a hippie sandwich wasn't complete without raw alfalfa sprouts. 

Now sprouts are a pretty much a no-no, especially for people who are immune compromised. They're grown in warm, moist conditions also perfect for growing illness-causing bacteria. But what's a bowl of pho without that mound of mung sprouts on the unsanitary condiment plate? 

Anyway, how many things can a person worry about? The sprouts in this stir fry came from a sealed plastic bag labelled organic, with a high price tag for reassurance. 

They were just the thing for a retro chow-mein type dish with crispy noodles.

Bean spouts and crispy noodles take me back to this dreaded childhood dinner.  Our mom was a good cook and especially liked baking, but like most housewives of her generation, she took full advantage of the convenience of canned and processed food. In the 1950's, La Choy was considered "oriental food."

Something about the combination of hard noodle with the slimy canned vegetables and weird brown sauce. Ugh. John says his mother also made it, and being a supremely picky eater, he probably refused to eat it. But believe it or not, he still likes these crunchy noodles with a homemade stir fry, of course.

The lovely month of April is flying by, as it always does. The Seattle sunny streak continues until the weekend, when we finally get some welcome rain. I've never seen the garden so dry this early in the year.