Spring Rolls and Cold Soba Noodles

Well it seems we're repeating ourselves more and more these days. The noodles are something sorta new though so I'll start with those. A few weeks ago when I went to a race I did something like this as an easy lunch we could take with us. And it's pretty quick to put together - soba noodles (cooked and rinsed with cold water) with soy sauce, a little black sesame oil and a little rice vinegar. The veggies could be whatever you have on hand - for tonight it was red bell pepper (sliced thin), grated carrots, cucumber, and green onions. Just mix everything together and chill for a bit.

The spring rolls were fairly typical except for one thing - we deep fried 'em this time. Usually we fry them in a skillet with a good bit of oil, but our last experience with deep frying came out really good so we induldged with the spring rolls this time. They came out really crispy too - and we probably didn't use much more oil than with our standard method. At any rate, they were filled with savoy cabbage, red onion, red bell pepper, shiitake mushrooms and a little ginger (all sauteed in peanut oil). The dipping sauce was fairly typical as well - apricot jam, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and a touch of Asian chili sauce. Quite delicious (I know because Darlene's non-vegan brother was here visiting and he went back for seconds).