In which I tell you to read Francis Lam

Last week I acquired a box of "seconds" at the produce stand which included a ton of onions, chayote, and tomatoes, all for $3. I made the kids' favorite Vietnamese soup with the chayote and one onion but it still left me with a bunch of onions. Somehow my mind remembered koshary and I looked up the amazing Francis Lam's recipe and got to work. 

With all due respect because he is awesome at everything he does (his ratatouille is the best, and he's introduced the world to a Cantonese classic, ginger scallion sauce), I'm a little surprised that he tells you to use only two onions, and even then only if you love onions. I think that for this recipe three is a minimum, because if you're going to do the work of caramelizing them you may as well do a lot at once.

My three onions cooked down to fit into this Corelle cereal bowl.

I had many more onions that needed to be used up and could have done more but when I looked at my pile I thought, eh, that's enough. It wasn't. Trust me: don't lose heart as you're chopping. You're going to want more than two. The onions are the thesis to the dish.

I won't write much more about the recipe here because he does a much better job at it.

Once again, I'm writing about a not very photogenic dish. But this is why you need to read his recipe. Francis Lam's writing > picture of koshary. 

If, after reading the recipe, you still need some convincing to try the recipe, I invite you to study this lovely picture of pasta that has been fried a bit until it's crusty and chewy. #cornerpieceloversunite

With that, I commend this peasant-y dish to you. I also recommend pairing it with a cold, crisp green salad with a garlicky vinaigrette.

The recipe link one more time, for the lazy.

And now for a little update on the littles. 

Emilyn

• turns 19 weeks today.
• rolled over for the first time yesterday! I hadn't been pushing it at all (I think with second children you don't want them to go anywhere too quickly ;)). But after some recent pressure from some people (not naming anyone), I gave her some practice on Monday and then on Tuesday - like a ninja - she just did it without any fanfare. She's my lovely girl.
• is solidly down to three naps. I bit the bullet and I'm glad we did. We've also had three nights this week where she fell asleep for bedtime before 9pm. Hallelujah! Here's to the end of witching hour and to finally getting David through season 1 of FNL! (Stephie, you can do it!)

Theo

• is 123 weeks old. Oh, you're one of those people who doesn't like when people tell you how old their kids are in months once they are past the first year because it's so hard to divide by 12? Yeah, he's 28 months, or 2 years and 4 months old. 
• says the funniest things. If Netflix is taking a while on the Kindle fire, he'll quickly ask, "iPad work?" He corrects my naming of large construction machinery. Mama that's a "backhoe loader," not just any old excavator.
• loves his sister. He calls her "Emi baby" and almost every day goes up to her and snuggles next to her and says "Oppa, oppa!" I won't be surprised if that becomes her first word. :D