I’ve been busy climbing the walls, working through what are hopefully the last days of cubicle occupation for the rest of my life. No matter how much I’ve loved or hated the work I’ve done while parked in my cell in various, non-descript office buildings, The thing I will miss least about corporate life is the constant sitting. 

But the thing I will miss most are the friendships that come when you are lucky enough to work with people with whom you instantly click. And while I do not doubt that I will still make friends while at cooking school and in the places I go beyond, I’m not sure that anything bonds new friends so quickly as sitting two feet away from them for most of your waking hours, each and every week. Their trials become your trials. The stuff going on in their personal lives becomes your daily dialogue, as you travel from desk to conference room to the deli down on the corner, to, thankfully, happy hour.

I consider myself quite lucky that at every job I’ve had, with the exception of one (guess why I didn’t last there for very long?) I’ve made great, dear friends for life.

A few weeks ago, as I mentioned a few posts back, Brian and I were lucky enough to be invited to one such friend’s house upstate for a weekend of precious sun and delicious eating, thanks to the trifecta of amazing chefs in her inner-circle. On our last day there, as we savored every sunbeam that we could before heading back to monsoon city, and her brother prepared a simple, crisp slaw made from fresh snap peas, with a spicy-sweet dressing. I went back for seconds and thirds.

I spent a lot of time that weekend asking , “oh my god, what’s in this?”, to the point that I was annoying everyone, but somehow I never asked for this recipe. Then I started craving it with the appearance of snap peas at the green market, and was left to my own devices to cook it from memory. I know that I’m missing something in the chili department, my impulse was to use the less homogenous, sweet Thai chili sauce, but I was out and compensated with Sriracha instead. The results were delicious, a little sweet, a little acidic, quite spicy, and big on crunch.

Spicy Snap Pea Slaw

1 lb. fresh snap peas, washed, with the stems snapped off

3 green onions

1/4 cup rice vinegar

4 tablespoons grapeseed oil, or another light oil

1 lime, juiced

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

Sriracha, to taste

sea salt, to taste

Chop the snap peas lengthwise into thin strips, at a slight angle. Chop the green onions into thin rounds, and mix with the snap peas in a large bowl. 

In a separate bowl, combine the rice vinegar, oil, lime juice and brown sugar. Whisk with a fork until the sugar is dissolved. Add the sriracha, a little at a time, until you reach desired level of taste and heat (I used three tablespoons and it was quite spicy). Toss the dressing with the veggies. Add salt to taste and serve immediately. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge, they were still tasty the next day.