Recipe Review: Asian Noodle Salad

I saw this recipe on Pioneer Woman's famous, award-winning blog last week and I knew I just had to try it. Its just so pretty in all of its colorful glory and I love that I get to use veggies that I don't normally use on a daily basis. The other reason I wanted to try it was to see if it was like the one I used to have in Japan. In my two years there, I sampled some of the best cuisine I've ever put in my mouth. I also learned about the Japanese Combini. The combini is a convenient store, but before you gag from the thought of eating food from a 7-11, let me say that it's very, very different. Combini food is actually very fresh and tasty. Many of my dinners came from combinis. I miss combini food...here were some of my favorites:

More kinds of tea than you can count. I discovered that the lemon tea on the top shelf is a hangover cure-all.

Bento Boxes-I'm sure you can't figure out what any of this stuff is besides the rice. That's ok, neither could I. I learned that I'd have to eat mystery foods on a daily basis if I wanted to not starve. I actually went the opposite direction and ended up gaining like 30 lbs while in Japan...which was the start to my running, but I'll save that for a later post...

And onigiri-basically a rice ball wrapped in seaweed with some kind of center filling-pickled plum, shrimp and mayo, chicken and mayo, tuna, etc...onigiris are great at anytime of the day.

And there was also this noodle salad that I loved...the dressing was like crack...so addictive. And when PW said that this dressing was highly addictive, I got excited that maybe I would be able to once again have this delicious salad. And it was delicious. PW hasn't failed me yet. The dressing was very crack-ish. The veggies were a little different and I remember ham in the Japanese version, but I didn't really like the ham anyway. I also used whole grain noodles instead of regular. So while it might differ slightly, its close enough and makes me very happy and nostalgic.

But lemme tell ya...her recipe makes enough for a small army, which is ok for her because she has one in her house, but I'm going to be eating this salad for days. I brought it in to work today with the hopes that my co-workers will help out. Look at this picture. This totally awesome bowl, which was given to me by my favorite friend, AMY, is pretty large and it contains only half of the total salad. There's another equally giant bowl in my fridge with more.

So yes, I recommend that you make this salad. It's good and good for you!! Yay! I also recommend that you watch Celebrity Apprentice, which I have also become addicted to. And I must confess...it's partly so I can watch Trace Adkins, whom I have developed a slight crush on.

Eye candy for Friday