Confessions and Sunomono Salad

I have to admit I have not been the most disciplined pregnant lady.  While I have not had the obvious like alcohol (besides 1 cooler - it was the first camping trip of the summer!!!) and cigarettes or even raw fish, I have eaten feta cheese, runny eggs and probably too many cups of coffee.  I have also dyed my hair, lifted heavy things and most recently painted the bathroom.  Yikes, just laying it all out there makes me feel just a little guilty. I would never want to harm little Penny and I feel like the choices I've made have not been TOO reckless. Hell, has anyone watched Mad Men, Betty gets wasted all the time and I know way too many ladies who have smoked throughout their pregnancy so my few indulgences should be easily forgivern, right?

My friends and I frequent the Japanese restraunt, Fuji's, in town quite often and since my raw fish days are over for now a Sunomono salad and a yam tempura roll usually hits the spot.  Latley, their serving portion has went from a large soup bowl to the size of a dipping bowl! On a day when I was craving this salad and didn't want to spend 5 bucks on 10 noodles, I thought "Why don't I make my own!" and so I did.

I used this recipe, with some changes which I thought were necessary like more vinegar and sugar, less noodles and a squirt of lemon juice.  I also took out the crab, I just didn't like the thought of it breaking up in the bowl and would rather keep it clean.

Sunomono Salad (my variation)

• 2/3 cup rice vinegar (not seasoned)
• 4 tablespoons suagar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 dash soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon grated ginger

• 1/4 lb cooked shrimp
• 1/2  cucumber, thinly sliced
• 200 g of thin rice noodles 
• 2 green onions, sliced on a sharp diagonal

Directions:

1. Mix the first 5 ingredients together and set aside.
2. Bring water to a boil and put in noodles, Stir noodles for 3-4 minutes until cooked . Drain the noodles in a colander and cool under running cold water, drain as much water off you can.
3. Mix cooked cooled noodles, green onions, cucumber, shrimp in a bowl. Pour liquid mixture over noodles. Mix well, cover and refrigerate allowing the flavors to combine (just an hour or two). Serve cold.