DINNER AT PAN LAAN

as I have gotten a little older, I've found that my taste buds have matured as well. there was once a time when I would go to a restaurant, any restaurant, and order a grilled cheese regardless of it being on the menu. I can even remember ordering room service on a cruise once and explaining grilled cheese to the foreign gourmet chef they had on board over the phone. but I would like to think that I've developed a more sophisticated pallet in recent years. friday night, mitch and I tried a new restaurant called pan laan--a thai restaurant that was recommended to us by a good friend who has since left the island. we got there just as the sun had said goodnight and everything from the service to the ambiance to the food to the company was right out of a fairytale. 

but let's talk about the food. I ordered the pad see ew--a dish made up of those delicious chunky rice noodles and vegetables. I got it extra spicy, which was the good kind of spicy that allows you to still taste the flavors of your food rather than the spicy that just makes you want to sip from a fire hydrant. mitch got the sweet and sour shrimp ( because he doesn't get white rice at home ) and after trying it myself, I can attest that it, too, was delicious. and without exaggerating, those shrimps were the size of my fist. no joke.

later that night, we went home stuffed to begin our annual harry potter halloween marathon and I'm pretty sure I was driving mitch crazy quoting the whole thing ahead of the actors. nerd alert, party of one! the following morning brought homemade strawberry scones of which mitch ate a whole dozen. kind of unbelievable. I don't know how that boy does it and keeps such a fit physique. it's an anomaly, really. we should have him studied. but the rest of the weekend was business-as-usual--one killer legs workout that still has be hobbling around the apartment, some life laundry, one homemade pizza, and some typical sunday baking. and hey, we finally got our halloween pumpkin!

tonight, we'll be watching it's the great pumpkin charlie brown as we draw or paint ( we haven't decided yet ) our white pumpkin. apparently, things mold pretty quick around here so we'll forego the carving this year. what are some of your favorite halloween past times? mitch and I are always in the market for more festive traditions, so by all means, please leave them in the comments!

thanks so much for reading! you guys are seriously the best.

love, arielle