My friend recently got married, and as one of her bridesmaids, I had the pleasure of helping to organize her bridal shower. The maid of honor, the other bridesmaids, and I primarily derived inspiration for the bridal shower from a blog post on an Alice In Wonderland themed shower (by a food blogger who went to school with my husband) and the Queen of Tea Parties, Wandering Chopsticks.
During our hunt for decorations, the maid of honor found an incredible set of matching invitations and "Eat Me" and "Drink Me" party labels on Etsy and a pack of Alice In Wonderland playing cards, and we went to town on using these items to make the tablescape come alive. We downloaded images from Lewis Carroll's books and slid them into apothecary jars filled with candy, and peppered the table with candies and paper daisies. Check out the tea sandwich recipes and more party pictures below!
Cucumber Tea Sandwiches
2 8oz pkgs of cream cheese, softened
1 bundle of fresh dill
2 tsp salt (or salt to taste)
1 large English cucumber, thinly sliced (with peel and seeds intact)
1 loaf of white bread, sliced and with crusts removed
Using the sharp blade of a knife, scratch off/separate the soft dill fronds from the woody stems, and finely mince the fronds. Whip the dill and salt into the cream cheese, and combine thoroughly. Taste and adjust salt accordingly. Spread each slice of white bread with a thin coat of the cream cheese spread and a layer the bread with the cucumber slices. Assemble the sandwiches, making sure that both the upper and lower slices of bread have a thin coat of the spread. Slice the sandwiches into quarters, diagonally. Cover with plastic wrap or wax paper until time to serve, to keep the bread soft.
Egg Salad Tea Sandwiches
1 dozen of boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
1 cup of mayonnaise
1/2 cup of spicy mustard
1/4 cup of sweet pickle relish
1 tsp of black pepper
1 loaf of white bread, sliced and with crusts removed
Combine the eggs, mayonnaise, mustard, relish, and pepper, and mix thoroughly. Generously spread each slice of white bread with a heaping layer the egg salad mixture and assemble the sandwiches by topping the sandwich with another slice of white bread. Slice the sandwiches into quarters, diagonally. Cover with plastic wrap or wax paper until time to serve, to keep the bread soft.
At tea parties, it is important to provide guests with a varied selection of teas. If you keep your pantry stocked with classic teas (such as black tea, green tea, chai tea, and other spiced teas) you should be in good shape. If you are looking to purchase some additional teas and are adventurous, try some great loose-leaf Asian teas (such as jasmine, tung ting, pouchong, and ti kuan yin), and robustly flavored teas such as rooibos and roses, cream Earl Grey, and ginseng. If these tea options sound too overwhelming, do not worry, just do what we did and pick up a variety pack of Bigelow (Celestial Seasonings, or Twinings) teas and you should be good to go for your tea party. (I used to totally shun Bigelow teas, but since we have them at work, I have taken quite a "liking" to some of their flavors.)
Also, another great party time-saver is preparing a crudite platter. I used to prepare all of the vegetables on my own (by washing, peeling, and cutting up carrot and celery sticks), but my husband taught me the error of my ways by showing me how easy it is to open a bag of baby carrots and grape tomatoes and pouring them onto a platter. Take it from me, it is well worth the time and money to take this shortcut.
And there you have it! I hope the pictures gave you some ideas for a tea party or shower you will be holding in the near future!
When the beau and I went honeymooning in Europe, we took pains to eat what the locals ate. Thus, we refused to eat at eateries that served American, Mexican, or Asian food in Europe. First, such food was virtually guaranteed not to be good. Second, we could spend our money and fill the limited space in our stomachs with something much better, authentic European food. However, we did make a few slip-ups. In Switzerland, one evening, at a restaurant called Raclette Stube, we ordered their meat fondue, expecting an authentic "Swiss" dish.
When the meal arrived to our table, we were disappointed to discover that the meat fondue (which cost around 40 Swiss francs a head) or "fondue chinois," was simply a version of steamboat hot pot that is served in every-Chinatown, USA.
But thankfully, there were unique Swiss additions to the Chinese fondue. There were (1) creamy fingerling potatoes steaming in a towel-wrapped wicker basket; (2) sweetly brined cornichons (gherkins), pearl onions, and baby corns with a vinegary bite; (3) crisp Swiss potato chips, and (4) a beautiful variety of mayonnaise and aioli dipping sauces made with curry, dijon, and horseradish.
In addition to these interesting Swiss additions, I noticed several differences between Swiss "fondue chinois" and the "fondue chinois" that I eat in America. The Swiss restaurant did not provide a bowl or spoon to enjoy the meat broth in the fondue pot (I merely was given a two-pronged fork) and there were no vegetables, seafood, noodles, or meatballs to cook alongside the thin slices of meat.
My Swiss hot pot experience drew me closer to my own previous hot pot experiences, and reminded me of how I enjoyed hot pot at home the most. Furthermore, because of my rigid, cheapskate upbringing, my wallet has always been uneasy about restaurant hot pot. (If you're unfamiliar with hot pot, see my previous post on hot pot, here, where I explain this soup meal that you cook in and eat from a communal pot. You cook the quick-cooking raw meats and vegetables in a boiling soup, and quickly remove them to prevent overcooking.) A part of me cannot get over the concept of going to a restaurant to cook your own meal. Hey, I pay for someone to do that for me, and that makes me feel special for the evening!
I earnestly believe that hot pot is best done at home. Communal cooking encourages real social collaboration. I love seeing how ambitious guests take charge and step up to the plate--err, I mean pot! Hot pot can also be as mesmerizing as a Broadway production, replete with swirling steam emanating upward from the boiling pot and sizzling and spitting burner grates. But by far, the best part about entertaining with hot pot is that you allow your guests do the work, rather than laboriously toiling away with your back hunched over relentless, sweltering, and glowing spiral burners. Thus, by serving hot pot, you avoid any burn marks branded on your fingers and a lot of stress!
For hot pot, you need a table top butane bunsen burner or electrical hot plate. A table top heating source is a great investment for a working entertainer because it can be used for cheese and chocolate fondue and Korean barbecue (use a grill pan such as a cast iron pan that will retain heat for grilling, though). Such a table top heat source is critical for keeping the food piping hot, as any good caterer will tell you.
Although the "one pot" cooking method isn't conducive for catering to the whims of finicky eaters, check out your local Chinatown for "divided hot pots," which allow you to heat multiple types of broth in the same gurgling cauldron. Each divided pot section may hold alternative soup bases such as (1) a light, refreshing, and cleansing broth or (2) a spicy, nasal-piercing, and magma-hued stock, seasoned with fiery chilies.
Simplicity prevails in hot pot preparation. Hot pot entails only (1) the making of a soup base, (2) the gathering together of ingredients for each person's dipping sauce, and (3) the cleaning and chopping the vegetables. Here are some suggested hot pot ingredients:
Stock Base - Lace your stock or broth base with the one or more of following pungent ingredients for a highly memorable flavor:
- Fresh Ginger (Bruised)
- Miso Paste
- Cumin Powder
- Dried Red Chilies (Whole or Powdered)
- Szechuan Peppercorns
- Star Anise
- Five Spice Powder
- Bonito Fish Flakes
- Dried Taro Strips
- Bay Leaves
Dipping Sauce - Allow guests to dip their meat and other cooked hot pot ingredients in a variety of sauces made of three or more of the following ingredients:
- Soy Sauce
- Sesame Oil
- Rice Wine Vinegar
- Honey
- Chicken Eggs
- Sa-Cha Jiang (Taiwanese Barbecue Sauce made of Anchovies)
- Minced Garlic
- Sliced Scallions
- Chopped Cilantro
- Ground Sesame Paste (Japanese Goma)
- Ponzu Sauce
- Mayonnaise (Flavored with Curry Powder, Horseradish, or Dijon Mustard, in the Swiss Meat Fondue-Style)
Ingredients List - Next, the following ingredients should be the primary substance in your hot pot meal. Feel free to add:
- Thinly Sliced Daikon Radish
- Thinly Sliced Carrots
- Shiitake Mushrooms
- Enoki Mushrooms
- Straw Mushrooms (Canned)
- Soft Tofu (Blocks or Skin)
- Cellophane Mung Bean Noodles (Individual Bundles)
- Yam Noodles (Individually Self-Tied Bundles)
- Udon Noodles
- Shell-On Shrimp (Fresh or Dried)
- Squid
- Springy Precooked Asian Meatballs (Shrimp, Squid, Fish, Beef, Pork)
- Thinly Sliced Meat (Beef, Lamb, Goat, Pork, Chicken)
- Leafy Vegetable Greens (Napa Cabbage, Chrysanthemum Greens, Spinach)
- Frozen Dumplings or Wontons
In the end, after assembling the ingredients and watching your guests cook their (and your meal) you should be greeted with a rich caramel brown-colored broth surrounded by tender sheets of thinly sliced meat (such as rib-eye) poached until small meat ridges have peaked and the edges have curled. With those visual meat cues, the meat is done and the guests are now free to steep their meat and vegetables in a sweetened soy marinade, and shower their hot pot meal with a generous helping of angular scallions sliced on a bias.
Depending on your other ingredients, you and your guests might also enjoy crisp patches of nori (seaweed paper) which become absorbent floating blankets, wispy tendrils of poached egg, smooth-skinned dumplings with soft and uniform pleats, or circular curls of pinkened shrimp.
So to review, here's the game plan for hot pot:
Step #1 Prepare ample amounts of broth ahead of time and keep it on a low simmer during food preparation. Keep a large stockpot simmering on the range and keep refilling the table top pot with the liquid contents of the large stockpot, as you run low on soup on the table top pot.
Step #2 Defrost the meat and seafood (if frozen). When purchasing meat for hot pot, look for meat with thick white segments of fat encompassing the edges or interspersed in the meat like gargantuan continents (in a meat map of the world). The more fat, the more luscious and rich the flavor of the soup and tender the meat.
Step #3 Prepare the vegetables and tofu by (1) washing and leafing the greens, (2) peeling and slicing the daikon and carrots, (3) chopping the garlic, cilantro, and scallions, and (4) dicing the tofu into bite-sized blocks.
Step #4 Lay out the ingredients for the sauces.
Step #5 Set up the bowls, chopsticks, soup spoons, and spider ladles or regular ladles. For a cute touch, you can even label the different plates of meat and place settings (to give the guests a sense of ownership during their hot pot cooking process). They choose what meats go in, and when, so hot pot is definitely "cooked" by your guests.
Step #6 During your hot pot dinner, give verbal instructions to the guests to move the cooked pieces of meat to a specified, cooler area of the pot, or another "serving" bowl entirely, to prevent cross-contamination. Also provide multiple sets of metal scalloped-edged tongs (or spider strainers, which can be purchased in a Chinatown near you), to be sure that no one person monopolizes the hot pot and to allow each of the guests to be equally involved in cooking.
Finally, some hot pot fanatics say that it is a "must" to have ready-made foods at the guests' immediate disposal because of the lag time of cooking hot pot. Therefore, following the Korean and Swiss traditions, you may offer multiple "pickled" side dishes (panchan) with your hot pot, none of which need to be prepared from scratch. Buy canned or jarred preserved vegetables, or think about frozen and microwavable versions of steamed buns. You can even order side dishes to go! But I think the pickled additions are the way to go, since they lend a palatable and acerbic crispness and pleasant vinegar tartness to accompany the warm and soothing hot pot soup. And the pickles are addictive and delicious little snacks easily pinched between the tapered ends of a pair of lengthened and slender chopsticks. Now, I am not one who generally extols the virtues of premade goods, but as an entertainer, you'll need as much assistance you can get, and if the assistance is from factory laborers or automated, mass-producing, pre-packaging food machinery, so be it!
The only drawback of hot pot is the multiple dishes that you'll need to wash after the night is through. The upside however, is that you will have amassed a plentiful collection of petite, shatterprone dishes, although disposal ware should do.
Hope these hot pot tips helped, or at least inspired you do have a hot pot party for your friends in the future!
I think it is clear by this blog, that I love my husband. You know why? Because I watch football. For him. That's love.
Usually, during the Super Bowl, I keep myself busy in the kitchen while my husband makes grunting noises and pumps (or shakes) his fists in the air (while simultaneously wielding a large chicken drumstick) at the Super Bowl broadcast on television. This time however, our Super Bowl experience was a little different because I was emotionally invested in the game. This year, I was hissing and scratching like a crazed cavewoman alongside him. Oh yeah, I also used two drumsticks in my hands like meat clubs, whacking inanimate objects just like how my husband does.
It is no secret that I am an Arizona supremacist. There are only two states with people that love their state more than their own firstborn child. The first is Texas. The second is Arizona. Therefore, anything affiliated with Arizona is solid gold in my opinion. If Arizona wanted to secede from the United States, I (like other Arizonans) would eagerly enlist in the Arizona militia and tattoo my arm with the Arizona flag... Well, maybe not, but I have always respected the Cardinals (even despite their record) and I have always loved the Suns. Plus, the Cardinals have systematically been treated terribly, like the awkward reject and laughingstock of the NFL. Therefore, when the Cardinals won the playoff game in which they were the underdogs, I already felt like Arizona won the Super Bowl. They were the Cinderella team, and the glass slipper (or the pigskin, whatever you want to call it) got returned to them. Then they won the second playoff game, as underdogs, again. It was like I won the lottery, and the tears flowed like Niagara Falls. And then they did it again, winning the West and making it to the Super Bowl, again as underdogs. With Barack Obama winning the Presidency, and the Arizona Cardinals making the Super Bowl, it felt like the second coming.
Finally, the Cardinals played the heck out of the Super Bowl, despite the worst officiating in the NFL, ever. They tried their hardest and overcame all expectations. Therefore, no matter what the score, I was so proud. It was amazing to watch their valiant efforts, which forced the commentators eat their words at how Arizona would never make it. Yes, it was a bittersweet game because they deserved the win and were robbed blind by corrupt referees, but being a Suns fan, I am used to skewed officiating that sucks major piehole. (And I am used to Steve Kerr's bumbling idiocy.) I am proud of the Cardinals because they are fighters who never gave up, and I am especially proud of Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald, two amazing people and fantastic players. For those reasons, it was the best Super Bowl, ever. To me at least.
But, bringing this story back to the theme of this blog, which is "food," I just wanted to post the pictures of our Super Bowl spread this year.
Thankfully, I learned from my previous mistakes, but we served the same old pedestrian fare, just plain pico de gallo, guacamole, tortilla chips, nacho cheese (heated in our old Asian grandmammy-style rice cooker), cheesy potato casserole, barbecued beef ribs, and honeyed chicken drumsticks. Nothing special, but some cool pictures to look at, I think.
Here are the ribs:
Chicken:
Ah yes, and the potatoes:
For recipes or picture-heavy posts on football-friendly foods or posts just on Arizona sports, check out these older entries:
Hey, if I (a football illiterate person) can get into football and have a great time watching the Super Bowl, you can too!
There are several unspoken, fundamental, and "sacred" rules in our home.
First, you must take off your shoes before entering the house.
Second, if you use up the last of the toilet paper, then you must replace the roll and make sure that the toilet paper dispenses from the top (frontwards), and not the bottom (backwards).
Third, during football season, the salsa bowl in the fridge must never be less than 2/3rds empty. Otherwise, any and every household member is responsible for replenishing the salsa, employing whatever means necessary.
I am an Arizona native, the beau is a football fanatic, and thankfully, we both resoundingly agree that pico de gallo is a critical refrigerator staple during the football season.
Although you most likely know how to make pico de gallo, I would like to share my family's recipe, play-by-play, and just in time for the football season.
Play-by-Play Pico de Gallo
4-5 large tomatoes
4-5 large cloves of garlic
1 small or medium lime
1/2 yellow onion
1/4 bunch of cilantro
1 tsp of salt (or more, to taste)
1 jalapeno, de-seeded (optional)
First, using a fine grater, gently zest the peel of the lime. You don't need a lot of zest, a little bit goes a long way. Juice the lime into a large bowl, using a spoon to scrape off the pulp from the peel. Reserve the juice, pulp, and zest in the bowl. Next, remove the papery skins from the onion and garlic, and chop the onion, garlic, and cilantro finely. If you can stand the heat, also de-seed finely chop one green jalapeno, removing the tissue-like membranes inside.
Then, core the tomatoes (removing the inedible naval-ish stem area) and dice the tomatoes into small 1/4 inch pieces. Place the tomatoes in the lime juice.
Combine all the ingredients, and serve with tortilla chips.
The last step, is to enjoy the salsa in front of a thrilling football game. Bon appetit!
Now that football season has started, you are going to be seeing a lot more football-centric food items here on the blog.
One of my favorite dishes to make during the football season is barbecued chicken. You will be amazed at how easy it is to make fantastic tasting chicken with minimal effort. No specialized dry or wet rubs are needed! I simply use a bottle of store-bought barbecue sauce and marinate dark meat pieces overnight in the sauce.
Then, I cook the chicken pieces (preferably of uniform size) on medium hot coals. You have to be careful to cook the chicken all the way through, but you don't want to overcook it and burn it either. You want a sticky caramelized glaze on the chicken. You can brush the leftover sauce on the chicken as it cooks on the grill, up to five minutes before the chicken is done.
Another incredibly easy "BBQ" idea is vegetable skewers. All you need to do is skewer cherry or grape tomatoes, zucchini or other types of squash, red onions, mushrooms, and colorful bell peppers and char them a little on the grill. Since the vegetables do not need to be cooked for very long (and frankly, they can be eaten raw), these skewers will be done in a few simple minutes and you don't even need to pre-soak the skewers because of the limited grill time.
Here, I just used bell peppers, mushrooms, and onions, and the skewers were still colorful and tasty.
Furthermore, for barbecues, try to prep as many dishes as you can before the big day. Coleslaw is one of those essential barbecue side dishes that actually tastes better the next day because the cabbage wilts, softens, and absorbs the flavorful mayonnaise deliciousness.
The last "easy BBQ" tip that I have learned (as a result of living in New Orleans), is that if you can cook two things at a time, do it! In New Orleans, you boil crab, crawfish, potatoes, and corn in the same tub! Here is a picture of corn and crab, which was boiled in the same large stockpot. What a great time saver!
Now get on out there and begin the tailgating and the barbecuing!
This week has been an extraordinarily hectic one. I haven't been posting (or even checking my favorite food sites) lately because of a Mediterranean party the beau and I have been planning and eventually threw yesterday night for group of close friends. The event involved a significant amount of prep work and shopping, but what made the party difficult, is that I had to simultaneously make time for my biggest annual commitment: the NBA Playoffs with the Phoenix Suns. When I watch Suns games, I get "in the zone," and all else in my life takes second place--including cooking and eating. To me, Suns games are more important to me than imbibing my daily requirement of water or consuming life-sustaining nutrients. Yes, I said that correctly: Suns games are more important to me than food.
But, now that I have a brief period of off time (Game 4 just ended), I want to make some time for my other commitment, my friends here at the food blog! I want to share with you some pictures I was able to take of the food at the party. Unfortunately, because I spent huge portions of my pre-party time watching Friday's game, I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I usually do, but here are some of the tastier pictures I was able to snap.
The most difficult and labor-intensive item that I made for Saturday's party was the dolmades. Dolmades are made with thin blankets of veined grape leaves, which are carefully bundled around moist filling made with steamed long grain rice. The rice filling is festooned with specks of coarsely minced mint; sweet, plump, and flavor-saturated raisins; crunchy pine nuts; and a savory blend of steaming and caramelized onions and garlic. For the full recipe, check here. For a step-by-step pictorial on how to assemble dolmades, see the pictures below:
The dolmades went perfectly with tzatziki, a cooling dairy-based salsa made with thick, Greek yogurt. Tzatziki is infused with the zesty and taste bud-penetrating flavors of mint and mixed with suspended, gravity-defying diced cucumber cubes. Tzatziki should be made ahead of time, to allow the flavors to imbue themselves throughout the creamy yogurt concoction.
Also, for the party, I prepared my favorite refreshing Mediterranean salad, tabbouleh, made with a coarsely minced herb blend of flat-leaf parsley, mint, and green scallions. The salad is dressed with fruity extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest and interspersed with crumbly and absorbent kernels of coarsely milled bulghur wheat. This too should be made ahead of time, again, to allow the mixture of the flavors.
Along with the above pictured items, the party meal featured southern-cooked spinach and poached asparagus spears with lemon zest (which was cooked ahead of time, and unfortunately, not very photogenic), roasted chicken with lemon and rosemary (didn't have time take a nice picture of this) and commercially-made pita bread and hummus.
Okay, back to watching SportsCenter highlights and replays of the Phoenix Suns playoff game! You're welcome to come to San Francisco and watch with me, if you don't mind my trash talking!
When I think of tea parties, I think of women dressed in outdoorsy, flapper ensembles sitting underneath spotless, wide-brimmed umbrellas. I think of starched linen tablecloths, tabletop wicker baskets brimming with freshly-baked scones, and ornate glass containers holding sugary fruit preserves. I think of pinkies saluting upward and long and tapered fingers delicately holding the handles of porcelain tea cups.
Recently, I was inspired by Wandering Chopsticks to throw my own tea party, because I wanted to sit back and relax from the hurried and vexing stresses of this week.
Similar to Wandering Chopsticks, I also made tea sandwiches for my party, but I added a uniquely Californian flair to the classic sandwiches. In doing so, I transformed a traditional, sophisticated tea sandwich into one worthy of the Mad Hatter. The images conjured up by my odd tea sandwich creation, were garish, gaudy, and clown-like, akin to the polka-dotted bow tie and purplish, elephantine top hat donned by Lewis Carroll's Mad Hatter.
I started with a soft loaf of multi-grain bread. Using a tea cup as a stencil, I cut into the bread with tip of my knife, tracing a circular cutout into the wholesome bread. Being as frugal as possible, I used the bread ends as well.
On the bread rounds, I smeared a gentle coat of freshly-pureed pesto.
Then, I sliced creamy avocados into thin crescent-shaped half moons and interlayered the slices on top of the bread rounds.
Next, I topped the sandwiches with crimson-colored beet slices,
And thin squares of chilled brie.
As I finished making the sandwiches, I couldn't help but to smile like the Cheshire cat at my odd creation. This tea sandwich was definitely worth of a Mad Tea Party!
