Pad Thai

Today's dinner was pad thai (see photo above and yes I made that myself!).  We tend to eat ethnic food several times a week, whether it is Mexican, Italian, Japanese, Indian, Thai, Filipino, Greek, even Ethiopian.  We are fortunate that we live in a city where you can find a restaurant for nearly every country on the globe but eating out at these restaurants can get expensive.  I particularly like Indian buffets but at $15 each for our favorite Indian lunch buffet, we don't go there very often.  However, with a bit of experimenting, Googling recipes, and YouTube videos, I've been able to replicate many of my favorite ethnic dishes for much less than the cost of going to a restaurant.  Also, once I have figured out how to cook these dishes, the cost for the components of these meals is really cheap (most countries rely on basics like beans, noodles, and vegetables instead of more expensive meat and dairy products...it's a double win!)