By the time I got home on Thursday evening, weighed down with books and carrying a big brown envelope full of assignments, it was dark and cold. Despite the fact I’d had quite a good day and my Thursday class went really well, I was exhausted and grumpy. Jac cheered me up (just a little) by making pad thai. She uses a pad thai packet mix, which is really really tasty, and adds rice noodles, sliced boneless/skinless chicken thigh, finely chopped carrot, fresh green beans, mung bean sprouts and egg. She tops it off with a generous sprinkling of fried shallots. It’s a simple but delicious meal. She cooked up enough for me to have leftovers to eat on Friday while I worked at home.

This evening Jac asked me what I felt like for dinner. I told her I’d really love a hot, fresh marinated chicken sandwich. I felt like teriyaki, and so she marinated boneless/skinless chicken thighs in teriyaki sauce with some cracked black pepper. She panfried the chicken thighs and served them up in a sandwich made from very lightly buttered soft, fresh bread.

We were out of lettuce, cucumber and tomato (but we should be going to fruit and vegie markets tomorrow to replenish our supplies – thank goodness!), and so I suggested using sliced raw bok choy for the salad in the sandwich. It was really good actually, just raw, washed and sliced up, in the sandwich with the fresh and hot chicken from the frying pan! I think I’ll have sliced raw bok choy as sandwich salad again soon! Jac piled two thighs into the sandwich – I’m not sure what brand bread she got, but it seemed larger than usual (not that I’m complaining!). The sandwich was delicious – the chicken was really tender and all caramelised on the outside. The bok choy stems were crunchy and juicy. The sliced raw bok choy leaves had a flavour that reminded me almost of apple skin. That might sound weird, but believe me, it tasted great with the chicken.