Sesame peanut noodles and spicy cucumber salad

To continue the theme of cold meals, I couldn't get my mind off of cold peanut noodles today. Perhaps I have an unnatural love of peanut butter, but PB&J sandwiches, satay sauce, peanut butter cups, peanut butter cookies and peanut noodles are some of my favorite foods.

Since I had that grilled chicken frozen from the weekend, I decided that I would slice some up and add it to the noodles for a little added protein. For the noodles I cooked about eight ounces of vermicelli in my trusty Pasta Boat, drained it, and rinsed and soaked it in cool water. In the meantime I mixed up a sauce of about half a cup of crunchy peanut butter, a quarter cup of smooth peanut butter, about a quarter cup of hot water, a nice slosh of seasoned rice vinegar, a good glug of toasted sesame oil, some shakes of soy sauce, around a quarter cup of sweet chili garlic sauce, and about a tablespoon of siracha. Because I like oniony goodness, I also sliced up the green parts of about four scallions and added them to the noodles and chicken. I tossed it all with the sauce and let it chill for about three hours.

For the cucumber salad I peeled (with one of my very favorite kitchen utensils - my bird peeler - a Christmas gift from my sister Carol) and thinly sliced the cucumber and dressed it with seasoned rice vinegar, a bit of sweet chili garlic sauce and a packet of sweetener as it seemed a little salty from the vinegar and I didn't want to add more real sugar. They were nice and tart, a little spicy and very garlicky.

Now to think about what happens tomorrow night...