SATURDAY. JULY. WHAT ELSE?

I saw this recipe in Bon Appetit yesterday for summer rolls and when I woke up this morning, I figured I had to hit Chinatown for some rice paper and shrimp. It seemed the only fitting thing to do before another afternoon Yankee's game.

I should have technically divided this into two posts (because I had the first round for lunch and the next for dinner) but I didn't really feel like it. And they're basically the same thing ... just slightly revised ingredients. So sorry. You get one post.

My lunch version featured the best Chinatown had to offer:
- shrimp (cooked with red pepper flakes, sesame oil, garlic and salt)
- red cabbage
- green onion
- carrot
- cilantro
- dipping sauce (soy, hoisin and sambal oelek)
- rice paper rounds

My dinner round was a vegetarian friendly selection:
- portabello cap (cooked with sambal oelek, sesame oil and hoisin)
- red cabbage
- cucumber
- cilantro
- green onion
- peanut sauce (natural peanut butter, white wine and hoisin)
- rice paper rounds

I think both were really good options. I think the shrimp version was just a touch better. Really only because I love shrimp. That's honestly the only reason. I think the peanut sauce was really nice on the second version. I'm not sure which sauce was better. I don't really want to choose because I think both were good for different reasons.

Meena claims she doesn't like rice paper, but I'm going to make these for her anyway. They're too darn good. She'll see!