My First Dinner Party Hosting of 2010

Enter Joo, Ivy, Zoe and Jin.  First thing...restroom and water.  Ah, Zoe darling needed a cup of coffee.  Next we break open a bottle of Jacob's Creek Shiraz Cabernet to go with an appetizer of pumpkin pizza.  Yeah I know it sounds weird.  Just go along for now.  Next course...no next course. I give the tour of my apartment and point out Suzhou Creek, Ctrip headquarters and Songhong Road.  We argue about my plants releasing carbon dioxide while I sleep...then go into the kitchen to finish up the rice dish.  I sauteed some mushrooms and zucchini, adding a bit of salt and instant chicken granules, then about 4 cups of cooked brown rice.  This is the side to slow cooked bbq pork ribs which the butcher proudly chopped exactly opposite of what I was looking for...never mind.  And made 1 clay crock of medicinal chicken, slowly baked in huangjiu, olive oil, carrot and celery with some dates and wolfberries added in for flavor.  One big salad with homemade dressing and voila...dinner was finally served over candlelight at my table.  After dinner, special cake from Ichido...see the picture.  All I can say is it is based on green tea and contains a lot of fruit and whipped cream too.  mmmm.  Next course:  mandarins.  Sweet, tiny, tasty.  Next course:  ice wine from Canada...wow!  Add a small piece of dark chocolate, & a cuppa Earl Grey tea.  That about does it!  After this we decided to make this at least a monthly affair in each other's homes since Joo and Ivy can cook their native Malaysian foods too, from the south and north respectively.  My tummy awaits the next food-fest! 
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Back on, LIVE!

Image
Holy moly macaroli. The powers that be are pretty fearsome these days in the land of the non-free press. Fortunately there are ways to deal with it and so I hope with all my heart that this fix will last me until I am not a resident in Shanghai any more. If you are living in China and need a way to your beloved sites, just drop me a line and I will give you free advice that works for me and others. Knowledge, now more than ever, is power! Numbers seem a bit down for enrollment in the school I teach in but that just means a smaller student to teacher ratio and a better deal for those kids. Every day of work in this institution I feel grateful to have a job and that it is an important part of this international community. It's about the first job I have ever been in where I feel all my colleagues are pretty much team players and even have a good working relationship with all my superiors. So despite missing family and friends back home I am very happy. And Skype is a beautiful thing.
Read more

You know you've been in China for a while when...

-everyone you know has had some kind of major digestive problem that seemed life-threatening at the time -you no longer ask why, you just go on with a WTF sigh -it's an ordinary thing to see someone walking backwards clapping their hands on the sidewalk -you get on the elevator and there is you, a family of 3, a bike, and a stroller and it doesn't seem crowded -you are used to getting your salary in cash -your taxi swiped your refillable pay card and switched it on you to one with a zero balance -you live in local housing and have no heat source in your kitchen or bathroom, but that's ok because why do we heat them anyway? -receiving international personal mail is a cause for celebration -you regularly take motorcycle taxis...      
Read more

March 1, 2011

Szechuan Spicy Wontons Makes about 50 wontons (Feeds 6)   Filling: 1.5 lbs ground pork (half fatty/half lean) 1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined 2 Large pieces Woodear Fungus, soaked and chopped finely 1/4 cup green onion, chopped finely Soy Sauce Hoisin Sauce Sesame Oil Sugar 2 packs Shanghai Style dumpling wrappers, square kind (they are white, as opposed to the yellow Cantonese-style wrappers)   Dressing : Chili Oil Vinegar Garlic, finely minced 1/4 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped 2 stalks scallions, rougly chopped   Combine your pork, shrimp, green onion and woodear fungus. I find that the best way to mix your filling is to lay it all out on large cutting board and mince it up with a cleaver. Incorporate the soy, hoisin, sesame oil, and sugar to taste. Mince until you have a fine paste. Place a quarter-size amount of meat in the center of the wrapper. Dip your finger in a cup of water and trace the water around half the dumpling, it will act as glue when you press all the
Read more