Recipe: Asian Shrimp Noodle Stir Fry

As you may have seen by my Facebook and Twitter updates, I'm in Singapore now! Continuing my MBA education at the INSEAD Singapore campus. I'll be posting lots about my travels around Southeast Asia. One of the things I'm most excited for about living here is the food! I got pretty tried of French food and it's honestly not the healthiest or best for my stomach. Way too much cheese and bread, I will miss the cheap good wine though.

Here's a classic stir fry for which the ingredients were super easy to find in the corner grocery. I love that Asian food includes a lot of rice and vegetables, both excellent staples. I'll be posting lots about my forays into Asian food in the next few months.

Ingredients

• 400 g rice noodles
• 2 Tbsp. coconut oil
• 300 g defrosted uncooked shrimp
• 100 g mushrooms
• 250 g Japanese greens (e.g. bok choy)
• 1/4-1/2 cup soy sauce
• chili sauce to taste

Directions

• Cook rice noodles according to package directions
• Heat coconut oil in a pan over medium heat
• Add shrimp and cook until slightly pink (not translucent)
• Add mushrooms and stir for one minute, add more coconut oil if necessary
• Add cooked rice noodles to pan, keeping some of the water to make the mixture moist
• Add greens and stir in until wilted
• Add soy sauce and chili sauce to taste and enjoy!

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi

Earlier this week I wrote about my trip to Abu Dhabi and Dubai but I wanted to also share my amazing photos from the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. It is quite stunning and unlike anything I've ever seen before!

Abu Dhabi and Dubai

Right after finals in December, I went on to visit the INSEAD campus in Abu Dhabi for a special module/class on doing business in the Middle East. There was a group of 40 students and we learned about different industries in the region and made various company visits. Read my posts from the module on my professional blog, Nuclear Undone, about Wealth Before Development, Beyond the Oil Era, Masdar: The Sustainable City, and Sustainable Urbanization.

We did get to do some fun stuff, besides class and company visits, on our day off. We took a ride through the desert dunes and met some camels. Then, we had team building activities and a BBQ at night, when we could see the stars clearly over the desert darkness.

I also spent a couple of days in Dubai before heading on my next trip to Singapore. The Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world and quite stunning. I'm used to tall building in Chicago but this was something else.

The malls are quite an attraction in Dubai and remind of the ones in the U.S., but more like Mall of America on steroids. The Mall of Emirates a ski hill within a tube (above). So, you can go skiing anytime of the year! The Dubai Mall contains just about any North American store and restaurant you can think of, including Garrett's Popcorn!! I was walking by and thought I recognized the smell and then I couldn't believe my eyes! After being in the French countryside for a few months it was nice to get a dose of home and my favorite Chicago staple.

After an intense four months of class, it was nice to spend a day at the Palm relaxing on the beach. You can see the famous Burj Al Arab in the distance below.