What you see here, is Pad See Ew, a Thai dish made with dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, garlic, broad rice noodles, Chinese broccoli, egg, and some form of thinly sliced meat.

It sounds easy enough. But to my surprise, I had the most difficult time finding the noodles!

This dish is a result of harassing about five different people in my life. From calling C in Chicago to ask where she bought her noodles, to mapping out a game plan to make a run to Chinatown during my lunch break (which did not happen), exchanging 10 emails back and forth with Y (she even called her mom!), to having my coworker ask a restaurant if they’d sell just the noodles (they said they didn’t have them, which is weird), not to mention that I had to run to four different grocery stores three separate times!

But in the end, my efforts were not in vain. I was determined! Thanks to everyone who helped me! And the noodles tasted delicious!!

And when I finally found “noodle rice skin” at a random place not so near my place, I was so excited that I bought 3 packages. And they were only $.99, though I have seen signs for $.69 at other places. But I’m not complaining!

I added carrots, onions, and Thai chilies, mostly for color. Be careful when measuring out the sauces, and remember that a little goes a long way! My noodles came out a bit darker than I’d like, so I adjusted the amounts in the recipe below. And I forgot to add eggs again.