I’ve been looking forward to Free Iced Coffee Day at Dunkin’ Donuts since I first read the event announcement on Facebook. I became even more excited about it when I saw the Dunkin’ Iced Coffee cars driving on the New Jersey Turnpike during my Maryland to New Jersey trip yesterday afternoon.

Rob and I decided to celebrate my birthday a day early so we included the Dunkin’ stop in our festivities. The line in the store stretched back to the entrance.

“What, are they giving something away?” Someone asked, sarcastically.

“Actually, yes. Free iced coffee.” Someone else responded.

Though I am a coffee snob, I admit that the free, small iced coffee (milk, no sugar) was a pleasant start to my summer in New Jersey.

After purchasing a pink Happy Birthday crown for me at Party City, Rob and I went to my favorite restaurant in Morris County, NJ: Saigon House in East Hanover. The restaurant is located in an unassuming strip mall, and the decor is simple and plain. I would never expect such good food, given the mediocre appearance, but I think maybe this is one of the reasons why I like the place so much. Our waitress was rather odd, and she did not fit in with the rest of the employees, who were most likely Vietnamese. However, the restaurant was mostly empty on a Thursday night, and she was helpful and enthusiastic. When we placed our orders, she copied the number and name of our dishes directly from the menu, slowly reciting the names to herself. She had a lot of great things to say about a particular type of dressing that neither Rob nor I thought was overly outstanding.

Rob started with a strawberry smoothie, and I ordered a small pot of Jasmine tea. Rob’s smoothie was sweet and fruity, like a strawberry milkshake, and not too cloyingly sweet. For appetizers, I ordered Grilled Sliced Pork Rolls (”Grilled marinated sliced pork, lettuce, pickled carrots, daikon radish and mint rolled in rice paper “) and Rob ordered a Green Papaya Salad (”Shrimp and lean pork tossed with shredded green papaya and basil in a lime vinaigrette and garnished with crushed peanuts“). As an entree, I ordered the soft shell crabs dressed in sautéed tomatoes, pineapples and onions. Rob ordered the Sizzling Black Pepper Beef.

I thought the pork rolls were extremely tasty. They were fresh, flavorful and colorful. Rob’s salad looked festive and fresh, arranged with care. I never ate soft shell crabs before, but I had been wanting to try them for some time, especially after I saw Tyler Florence make soft shell crab sandwiches on an episode of Food 911. In addition, I remembered reading a raving review about the soft shell crabs at Saigon House before. I don’t usually eat fried food, but the crabs were not too greasy. I loved the tomato, onion and pineapple sauce, which was sweet and thick. Both our dishes came with bowls of white sticky rice. The rice was a perfect complement to the melt-in-my-mouth crabs. Rob enjoyed his black pepper beef, though he admitted: “Occasionally I ate a peppercorn, which was a little intense”.