Katie and I met Ben at Buddha Ruksa, our favorite Thai restaurant, for dinner tonight. We got there right at 5pm and were only the second party seated for the evening. The waitresses fawned over Katie. One helped Katie to buckle the strap on her high chair and then brought her a shorter straw for her cup and a small spoon and fork. And, when Katie needed to spit out the fried tofu, which she wouldn't swallow, a stack of napkins appeared on the table instantly. We were definitely in good hands:)
I ordered food for Katie right away, because she was super hungry. With help from the waitress, I picked Phad See Iew-- stir-fried fresh wide rice noodles plus egg, broccoli, and chicken in blackbean sauce. When I glanced at the menu, I thought it said "wild rice" instead of "wide rice", and then I completely missed "noodle" in the description. Katie did eat quite a bit of the chicken and a piece of broccoli, but only had a few nibbles of noodles. Ben and I helped pick up her slack;)
We also ordered fried tofu with a sweet garlic/chili sauce, cashew chicken, and brown rice. The tofu was just okay on its own, but the sauce was excellent. So, I guess I was just using the tofu as a way to get the sauce into my mouth:) The cashew chicken was alright, but I felt there were too many onions and carrots in the dish and not enough chicken. When it comes to chicken dishes, I still prefer the restaurant's signature dish--Crispy Garlic Chicken.
Ben concluded the meal with a bowl of coconut ice cream. I chose to pick up ice cream at Baskin-Robbins on our way home. I had a few gift certificates to use and thought it would be a good night to cash them in. I was sad to realize that the ice cream wasn't that good. I wonder if the quality has changed over the years, or if I have just developed taste for more refined, fancy ice cream.
