Japanese Dinner Party

I wish I had the skill to pull off this amazing array of Japanese dishes for a dinner party, but the credit goes to my boss' wife.  Years of hosting dinners and entertaining at home, she is truly a master at creating a special menu for our small office parties. 

The schedule is always the same, leave the office together and travel to their apartment in Court House. Arrive, say "ojama shimasu" and put on the apartment slippers. We start off with a kampai with glasses of Japanese beer, and enjoy the carefully prepared appetizers. Usually there is a platter of fruit, some fresh vegetables with a spicy Korean dip, and bacon wrapped water chestnuts. This time there was Old Bay spiced shrimp, boiled peanuts. and a baguette filled with cream cheese and vegetables. 

After awhile, we move to the dining room to settle in for the parade of dishes. A number of the dishes are prepared right before serving, to make sure the taste, texture and temperature are perfect. 

 Chinese-style hiyayakko tofu with diced pickled radish.

The simmered dishes (Nimono)

Ganmodoki (tofu mixed with carrot, mushrooms and black sesame seeds.)

 Nimono with renkon, konnyaku, take, ninjin, toriniku and shiitake. 

(Lotus root, konnyaku, bamboo, carrots, chicken and shiitake mushrooms)

 Steamed Dish (Mushimono)

Homemade shumai: seasoned pork wrapped with rice and steamed.

 Fried Dish (Agemono)

 Beautifully fried croquettes with a fluffy potato and beef mixture and tonkatsu with a super crispy outside and tender pork cutlet. Top with a special vegetable sauce or Bulldog sauce.

 Tonkatsu is often served with thinly sliced cabbage.

 Chirashi sushi with pickled ginger and tsukemono pickles.

Perfectly seasoned sushi rice with a mixture of vegetables, thinly sliced egg, and slivers of seaweed. 

***

This is the last dinner party we'll have with them before the move back to Japan. It was a really wonderful dinner party, including my husband and my coworker's husband, who are both Japanese. I think it was a pretty natsukashii parade of familiar dishes for them as well. My only regret is not asking for cooking lessons while they were stationed in DC.

Relaxed Cooking over the holiday weekend

We stopped in Peking Gourmet Inn for dinner Friday night and enjoyed the duck, soup and baby bok choy with shiitake mushrooms. They were unfortunately out of the garlic chives so we couldn't order the pork with garlic chives. When we order more than we need, we take home the leftovers and reinvent them in other meals.

 Duck with bok choy, shiitake mushrooms, carrot and cilantro ramen.

A little unconventional, but I made a duck broth with the duck bones first, and it was super satisfying on a rainy, gray Saturday. For dinner, I used the leftover duck skin to make tacos with scrambled egg, cucumber and scallions. Along with some frozen shrimp dumplings I made last week, it was quick and easy dinner.

 I'm obsessed with the spicy flavors of Sichuan food.

This was a riff on dan dan noodles with the remaining shrimp dumplings.

I boiled some Korean noodles to mix with the ground pork with sesame oil, chilies, jalapeno, garlic and ground Sichuan peppercorn. By splitting the one serving of noodles into two, we were able to enjoy the flavor of the dish with a little less guilt. Next time I might add a bit of chicken broth to make it a little more soupy like the version at Sichuan Pavillion.

Virtue Grain and Feed

For an impromptu dinner during the middle of the work week, we headed over to Virtue Grain and Feed in Old Town. Perhaps due to the early hour or being the last week of August, we were quickly seated downstairs. 

While the decor is relaxed, the leather loveseats are a little too relaxed and when I sat on one, I sank down low. My sweet husband was kind enough to switch seats with me and I was much more comfortable on the chair across the table. I watched another table of older women discover the loveseats and ask for them to be exchanged for chairs. Smart ladies.

 We started off with cocktails and the cheese plate. 

All of the cheeses were nice, especially the blue.

 Bread basket with Irish butter ($3)

I liked the olive bread and rosemary bread the best. 

 Mussels with tomato, basil and beer. ($9.50)

I ordered the steamed mussels from the appetizers list with a side of chips (fries) for my dinner. However, the server made a mistake and sent out  the mussels on their own and a long time before my husband's fish. The server was occupied with the other tables of older patrons, and ignored us until after the fish was delivered, a looong time later.

 Crispy whole red snapper with orange gremolata ($22)

The fish was very nicely cooked, but it is not served with anything, so make sure to order some side dishes.

He's very hungry and anxious for me to snap my picture so he can start eating the fish.

Green beans with garlic and chips. The chips were thick cut and would have been a little crisper, and arriving with the mussels.

A lot of the menu is a little on the heavier side, which I prefer to eat during the fall and winter, not during the heat of August. I guess we'll have to try again another time, perhaps at lunchtime or for brunch instead.

Vegetable Masaman Curry

Another cooking adventure at home. We have a number of Thai curry spice mixes in the cupboard, usually one of every color. I particularly enjoy green curry, but I've been trying to branch out and try other variations. Sometimes I add in some frozen seafood, but often it is a medley of leftover vegetables.

 Green pepper, red pepper, carrot, snow peas.

 Coconut milk, Masaman curry paste, jalapeno, ginger, garlic and onion.

 Masaman curry is sweeter than other varietions. I can see how it would pair well with chicken thighs and potatoes.

Topped with fresh cilantro.

Cooking Korean at Home

Last week before grocery shopping, I made a tentative plan of dinners I would make during the work week. Usually I'm not that organized, but it did help me make more concise shopping lists. The husband and I enlist a divide and conquer approach to shopping at Super H Mart. By splitting the list, we can navigate the produce area much faster. When we go on Friday nights, we can also avoid the crazy super crowded weekends.

 Vegetables and spice mix for yukejang.

Bean sprouts, green leaf tips, daikon, carrots, mushroom, onion, scallions.

 Boiled beef brisket with vegetables in a spicy beef broth.

 Yukejang

 Seasoned vegetable toppings for bibimbap.

Spinach, bean sprouts, yellow squash, carrots, mushrooms and kimchi.

 Rice is topped with the vegetables with kochujang.

 Boiled homemade pork, chive and cabbage gyoza.

Boiled homemade shrimp, chive and scallion dumplings.

***

While the husband was busy working over the weekend, I made the dumplings by hand. While it's a whole lot faster and easier to just buy a package of frozen dumplings at Super H Mart, I prefer making my own when I have the time. I can control what goes into the dumplings, making sure to put in flavorful ingredients, and leaving out the weird preservatives you may find in premade versions. I haven't ventured to make my own dumpling skins yet, but one day soon I'll experiment.

This time I made the shrimp dumplings by grinding up the raw shrimp in a food processor with ginger, lemongrass, garlic, chives, scallions and cilantro. Using the food processor helped create a much more uniform texture that cooked nice when the dumplings were boiled in water. The pork version included scallions, chives, napa cabbage, ginger, garlic, soy and ground pork. After folding the dumplings, I freeze them on a cutting board in a single layer for awhile before placing them in freezer bags.  

Faccia Luna Old Town

One of the closer restaurants, other than our pho joint, that I quite like is Faccia Luna. I've never tried any of the sandwiches, only a small selection of the pizzas, and only a few of the pastas since most of the pastas have a heavier cream sauce or stuffed with cheese. What I have tried, I've enjoyed. 

 Antipasto plate

Proscuitto, salami, arugula, mozzarella caprese, grilled bread, parmigiano reggiano, kalamata olives and white beans with basil.

 house salad

 Capellini with tomato sauce and grilled spicy sausage

Sausage, mushroom, onion and roasted red pepper pizza.

***

It took willpower, but I managed to only eat two slices of pizza. I did eat leftover pizza for breakfast for the next two days. Good thing I've started working out at the gym before work while the husband is knocking out his Insanity workouts.

Mapo Nasu

I'm getting closer. It's summer time and we often pick up eggplants at Super H Mart. Since we cut back on our meat intake and ramped up the vegetable intake, I've been experimenting with making an authentically spicy Sichuan-style mapo-nasu. 

Instead of chucking in whole Sichuan peppercorns into the sauce, this time I ground the peppercorns. I used potato starch to make the sauce thicker. Still not quite there, but getting closer.