We rarely participate in blogging events, but when I recently learned about Barbara's LIVESTRONG With A Taste of Yellow event, I knew we had to make something yellow for LIVESTRONG day (May 13th). As an avid cyclist, I'm a Lance Armstrong fan, but I'm a bigger fan of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which provides survivorship services for people affected by cancer.

Over the years, I've had a few friends battle and survive cancer. And I've had a few relatives lose the fight. For the last four years, I've worn a LIVESTRONG bracelet every single day in support of people living with cancer and each year, I make a donation to the LAF. I know it's not much relative to the funding required to fight cancer, but every penny counts. So if you have the means, please make a contribution to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. It's a wonderful charity with a great cause.

For our yellow food, Hungry Bear and I made a spicy fresh corn salad. It's a simple salad made with corn, red onions, basil and a vinaigrette. For a spicy kick, I threw in a few Thai chili peppers. We usually make this salad with sweet white corn, but this time we obviously used yellow corn for the Taste of Yellow event. Either way, the corn salad is really delicious. It's a light, refreshing salad that's perfect for a picnic/BBQ or a hot summer day.

Now for true inspiration about fighting cancer, check out Use Real Butter by Jen Yu. She's one of my absolute favorite food bloggers with a great wit, a never-quit attitude and of course fabulous food!

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After making fried eggs and shrimp, I needed to do something with the extra tomatoes and red onion. I looked in the fridge and saw some tofu and fresh egg noodles that we often pick up at the local Asian supermarket. With a few other ingredients, I whipped up this super easy curry tofu noodle stir-fry.

We enjoyed the dish so much, I made it again a few days later. The first time, I added a little too much hot curry powder for Hungry Bear's taste. My heat tolerance is off the charts, so it was mild for me. The next time I made it, I threw in a little coconut cream to soothe the heat and sweet petite peas for some color.

The main flavors of the dish came from the curry powder and a little sweetness from the tomatoes and coconut cream. If you like a sweet heat, add the coconut cream. We actually preferred it without the cream. At the store down the street, we can find a plethora of fresh egg noodles. I've made the dish with thick, round noodles and thin, flat noodles (pictures 3 and 4 in the slideshow). We liked the thin, flat noodles better.

It's a simple but flavorful dish that can be prepared in less than 20 minutes. And it was a great way for us to clean out the fridge.

Natural Light versus Lowel Ego Light

Another thing I want to point out in the slideshow is the last three pictures. I picked up a set of Lowel Ego lights after Jaden of Steamy Kitchen recommended them. The third to last picture is a shot of the noodle dish with natural lighting (kitchen window). I use the Lowel Ego lights in the last two pictures in the slideshow.

The pictures with the Ego lights are decent, particularly the close-up shot (last picture). The Ego lights are a little harsh compared with natural light, which is softer and more pleasant. This was my first time using the lights, so I'm sure I can improve the picture quality with better light placement. Overall, I'm pleased with the Ego lights, but I need to play with them a little more.

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Sometimes the simplest food is the best food. It doesn't get any easier than fried eggs and shrimp (trung chien tom). Throughout my childhood, my mom made this dish, serving it with steamed rice. It was so simple, yet so satisfying.

This past Sunday night, I made fried eggs and shrimp for the SNDsters and Hungry Bear baked a carrot cake. We'll share the carrot cake recipe next time. In my family, we served trung chien tom on a bed of greens and tomatoes. Then we dunked it all in Vietnamese dipping sauce (nuoc cham) and ate it with jasmine rice. I'm not sure how normal it is to eat it this way, but it's ingrained in me and I'm sticking with it. Does anyone else eat it like this?

The meal has a nice combination of sweet, salty and slightly bitter from the watercress. The greens and tomatoes cut down the richness and makes it a little healthier. Fried eggs and shrimp is such a comforting Vietnamese dish for me. It's super easy to make and is absolutely delicious!

SNDsters: Jane, Mark, Hungry Bear, Chuck

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Actually, it's cardamom, cumin, coriander, chili pepper, peppercorn and red onion roasted cauliflower. It's easy to make and has wonderful flavors from the Indian spices. The past few months, we've seen purple and orange cauliflower at the grocery store and finally tried them in this roasted cauliflower recipe. Wouldn't you want colorful cauliflower too?

Purple cauliflower looks nice and pretty raw, but turns dark when cooked, like most other purple fruits and vegetables. We couldn't taste any differences between the white, purple and orange cauliflower, but the spices and caramelized red onions are the predominant flavors in this dish.

According to this All About Cauliflower article, purple cauliflower...

"cooks faster than white cauliflower and has a little milder taste. When cooked, its color changes from purple to green. Purple cauliflower can be substituted for white in most recipes."

The purple color is caused by anthocyanins (like those found in red cabbage and red wine), which is an antioxidant. And orange cauliflower...

"is very similar to regular white cauliflower in taste and appearance except it is bright orange in color. Because of its high content of beta-carotene, orange cauliflower's vitamin A content is approximately 25 times higher than white cauliflower. Its color and nutritional value are two characteristics that will make this a popular vegetable choice."

We're glad our purple cauliflower didn't turn green, but then again, green is better than turning black.

We usually serve the cardamom roasted cauliflower with jasmine or basmati rice. The caramelized red onions are a great compliment to the cauliflower. The onions are crispy, a little oily and are delicious mixed in with the rice.

We'll pass on cooking with purple cauliflower in the future, but we'll definitely use the orange one again. I think the orange color would be interesting in our curry cauliflower soup.

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