Well, one band-aid!

You may have heard that our London Transport System is striking so getting to Mortlake for my AWC Knife Skills and Cooking Class was not easy ....but so worth it! Our teacher was our own club member, Cari Clark, CEC, American Culinary Federation....yes, the same Cari who leads the hikes, so talented! We learned about knives, how to sharpen them, and how to use them properly. Cari taught us the art of boning a fish and removing the segments of an orange with finesse...both will come in handy this summer on the river.






After the demonstration we all took a turn with the knives and practiced our skills chopping and julienning (fancy huh!) vegetables for the Thai Noodle Salad. The trick really is having very sharp knives and when we left everyone still had all their fingers...well, one band-aid ...on Cari! (Don't tell her I told you!)

It was a refreshing main dish salad...a real treat! I especially liked the rice noodles and the dressing so I decided to post the recipe for all to try this summer.





1 lb cooked chicken breast, thinly sliced (or shrimp or tofu)
4 oz rice noodles
2 c iceberg lettuce, torn into bite sized pieces
1 c julienned carrot
1/2 cucumber, peeled and sliced
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 c cabbage shredded
1/4 c chopped scallion
1/4 c fresh mint, chopped
1/4 c fesh cilantro, chopped
1/4 c fresh lime juice
1/4 c rice vinegar
3 T sugar
4 tsp fish sauce
1/4 c sweet chili sauce

Place boiling water over rice noodles and let set 10 minutes. Drain noodles and rinse with cold water, drain again.
Toss all vegetables, noodles, herbs, and chicken in a LARGE bowl.
Whisk remaining ingredients together for dressing, and drizzle over mixture.
Enjoy!