What’s Cooking in Kelli’s Kitchen Cold Peanut Ginger Noodles

About six weeks ago, I received a text message from my friend Naomi.

"Is this still you?"

Technically, she was asking whether she still had the right phone number. But after spending an evening together for the first time in nearly twenty-five years, I've found myself thinking about that question a little differently.

Naomi and I first met as teenagers and later became roommates at Chapman University. Along with our friends Mindy, Christie, and Kathryn, we shared a chaotic apartment we affectionately called the Nest of Estrogen. It was my first experience with found family.  It was a place full of laughter, visitors, questionable decorating choices, and the kind of friendships that help shape who you become.

Over the years, life carried all of us in different directions. Naomi settled in Indianapolis. I settled in Fallon. We never completely lost touch. During COVID, Neil and I even bought a typewriter, and Naomi and I exchanged a few typed letters like old-fashioned pen pals. But we hadn't seen each other in person in nearly twenty-five years.

Then Naomi reached out. She was driving from Indianapolis to Big Sur for an annual camping trip and wondered if she could stop in Fallon along the way.  The answer was an immediate yes.

After eight hours on the road, she arrived ready for a quiet evening. I gave her the Fallon tour: the historic downtown, the fairgrounds, NAS Fallon, Lattin Farms, and a few of the places that have become part of my daily life. Somewhere along the route, I realized I was doing what many of us do when visitors arrive: introducing someone we care about to a place we love.

Back at home, I made dinner. Naomi helped settle an internal debate about how to cook the shrimp by assigning numbers to the options and making me choose one. The smoker won.

Thankfully, so did the shrimp.

The meal was a cold noodle salad with smoked shrimp, fresh herbs, vegetables, and a ginger-peanut dressing. Wrigley Roo immediately decided Naomi was one of her favorite humans and spent most of the evening glued to her side while we talked.

And talked.

We caught up on twenty-five years of life. Naomi told me about her transition from nearly two decades at Trader Joe's to becoming an elementary school counselor. We talked about old friends, old stories, and the surprising paths our lives have taken. One of my favorite discoveries was learning that I had apparently been the first person any of my roommates knew who went on a date with someone I met on the internet. At the time, they were convinced I was headed toward certain disaster and developed an elaborate safety plan. Today, that story feels almost quaint.

What struck me most about the visit wasn't how much had changed. It was how much remained recognizable. The conversation came easily. The laughter came easily. It felt less like reconnecting and more like picking up a conversation that had simply been paused.

When Naomi texted, "Is this still you?" she was asking about a phone number. But after an evening spent sharing stories, introducing her to Fallon, and remembering the people we used to be, I found myself considering a different answer.

Twenty-five years is long enough to build an entirely different life.

It's also long enough to discover that some friendships endure anyway.

Cold Peanut Ginger Noodles

Adapted from Melissa Clark

INGREDIENTS:

16 oz Chinese egg noodles, spaghetti, or linguini

1 c crunchy peanut butter

3 T soy sauce 

2 T chile crisp

2 t sesame oil

2 t grated ginger

1 can coconut milk, shaken well

1 ½ c thinly sliced cucumbers

1 bu green onions, thinly sliced

1 T lime juice

1 bu basil, chopped

1 bu cilantro, chopped

½ bu mint, chopped

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add the noodles and cook according to the package directions.  Drain and rinse with cool water.
2. In a large bowl, combine peanut butter, soy sauce, chile crisp, sesame oil, ginger, and enough coconut milk to make a loose smooth dressing.
3. Add the cucumber slices to the bowl on top of the dressing, but don’t mix in.  Drizzle cucumber lightly with a little more soy sauce.
4. Add the pasta, scallions, most of the chopped herbs, and lime juice to the bowl and toss well.  Taste and add more chile crisp, soy sauce, or lime juice as needed.  Top with the rest of the herbs and enjoy!