One of the cool things about teaching is the end of year presents. I get quite a few cards this time of year, along with scented candles and candy. I used to carefully preserve each and every token, no matter how trivial and display on my desk in perpetuity. Then my desk filled up. Now I wait until the end of the year and toss all but the useful items or the ones that have a special meaning to me. (Yes, teachers do have favorite students. We pretend not to though.)
The best presents are always gift cards. Let me go pick out my own junk. In fact, the end of year gift from the parent organization this year was a hundred dollar bill, elegantly gift wrapped. I always seem to get a few Starbucks cards, which are great. You can't go wrong with one of those. This year, I also got a gift card to Rasa Sayang, a Malaysian restaurant in my neighborhood. The note attached was very sweet and kind and wonderful, and all but said "Thank you for not strangling my daughter this year."
We decided to use it tonight to celebrate the end of my year. When we walked in, the owner greeted us by yelling out our address and asking if we wanted spicy beef with broccoli. Yeah, we order delivery from them quite often. Maybe too often.
Rasa Sayang is a Malaysian restaurant, but they also have a sizable Chinese menu and a decent selection of Thai dishes. We order my favorite appetizer, Thai basil rolls. These are rice noodles, with basil and shrimp, wrapped in a sheet of rice paper. It comes with a little dish of hoisin sauce and chopped peanuts for dipping. Rasa's basil rolls aren't the best in the neighbor (Those belong to Pan Asia across the street), but they'll satisfy my cravings. For dinner, we ordered Masaman curry and spinach with garlic. Masaman curry is bell pepper, onions, avocado, carrots and meat in a light, not so spicy coconut milk sauce.
Where Rasa shines though, are it's Malaysian dishes. I'm very fond of several of the noodles and seafood stir fries. I'm also quite in love with the kero pok, or deep friend shrimp chips. I've got some money left on my gift card. It's just about enough for a second trip.
1 comment:
I know it's a typo, but "deep friend shrimp chips" is possibly the best combination of words I've read this week. Now that I've pointed it out, please don't change it. For one, this comment'll make no sense, and for another, I like the idea of undersea creatures who are really, really good friends, and also part potato.
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