my 100th post!

didn't even realize it, but this entry marks my 100th wednesday nite dinner post! woo hoo! it's gotten tougher to keep up regular blogging over the past few months due to work and other priorities, but i'm happy to have made it thus far. and i have no intention of ending the blog anytime soon. cooking, dining and food in general are still my passions and that'll never change.

so to celebrate my 100th post, i thought, what better way to do that than to share a recent "wednesday nite dinner" that was basically a reprise of a dinner i cooked for a friend's "au revoir" almost 2 years ago on march 31, 2006. that evening, i prepared an elaborate vegetarian dinner for my friend, jenny chu, and 3 others as we wished her good luck and farewell as she embarked on a journey to beijing for work.

this dinner was months before i had even given interest in blogging and archiving my food adventures, let alone cook a gourmet meal for friends on a weeknite. interestingly, when i look back on photos from that night, they look identical to the wednesday nite dinner series i did for a few months at the end of 2006. here's a quick look at that evening...

the menu


table setting with platter of asiago zucchini and chinese eggplant frites


plated belgian endive, watercress, and red radish dressed in a sake wasabi vinaigrette


tower of portobello and truffled celery root puree with a red pepper balsalmic reduction, served with roasted mixed grape tomatoes with garlic and basil, and toasted pine nut couscous with thyme


it was a grand ole time and the food was great. and jenny felt that was the best vegetarian meal she's ever had in her life.


fast forward 23 months or so, jenny is back in the states, visiting friends and family for the chinese new year. one of the things she absolutely wanted to happen was to have me prepare her another vegetarian meal. and so this is what i came up with for a party of 3 that night.

1st course: broiled stack of eggplant and beefsteak tomatoes with aged gruyere


2nd course: hearts of romaine with crumbled feta and eggplant chips drizzled with balsamic and extra virgin olive oil


3rd course: soft parmasean polenta with vegetable ragout - a blend of zucchini, eggplant, roma tomatoes, mushrooms, sun-dried tomato tofu sausage, and port


a bottle of fruity and hearty old moon zinfandel from trader joe's rounded out the bold and acidic flavors in this meal. and for only $4.99 a bottle too.


while not as elaborate as the previous dinner, this turned out pretty well. and i still hold my position as one of the best vegetarian chefs, according to jenny.


jia jien jenny!

and thanks everyone for your support over the past year and a half. it's nice to know you guys still read this! and that definitely keeps me going...

dungeness crab dinner

one of life's culinary pleasures is being invited to dinner at edmund's, well, at least in my life anyway. edmund is my buddy from bruin days and has a penchant for simple but good meals with a handful of friends at his house whenever he's back in town. what's so good about his dinners, you ask? well, they're casual and there's lots of good wine. edmund handles the main entrees while guests bring the sides, which makes for easy entertaining. he's also got this great, beautiful and big wooden dining table that accommodates everyone. anyway, whet this against your appetite...

arugula and mixed greens with a homemade lemon vinaigrette and candied walnuts (courtesty of lawrence)

fresh corn on the cob (courtesy of lawrence)

yummy garlic noodles (courtesy of anne the baker)

a pan-grilled steak for the turf diners

and for those who prefer surf... a few fresh, live dungeness crabs (imported this time due to the crappy crab season this year)

an edmund specialty, he leaves 2 crabs in a steam room for 10 minutes using an aromatic broth of ginger, peppercorns and other spices. *warning - if you're vegetarian or sympathetic to animals cooked for food, don't watch the following home video:

timer goes "riiiiiiinnngggg!!" and out come the bright orange crabs.

and viola! once the crabs have cooled a couple minutes, he leaves me to crab-crackin' duty, where i bust open the shell, rinse the innards, remove the gills, and crack the claws. here are two crabs plated for the table, sweet, succulent, tender meat and all. and if you've never tried it, you've gotta taste the savory crab roe and innards, quite a delicacy and deliciously high in cholesterol.

for dessert, anne the baker once again treats us to a special baked good. this time it's a berry surprise cheesecake tart (i think that's what it was called) and a quart of mitchell's strawberry ice cream. mmm...

creamy, fluffy, an amazingly crumbly sweet crust, and a surprise layer of macerated (?) berries in the middle. how the hell do you do it, anne?

while typically edmund will do these kind of dinners without occasion, it did happen to be his birthday (jan 16) and i thought it to be a very tasty occasion indeed.


happy birthday edmund!