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tuftearsYou might recall last year I hosted the Kitsmas dinner for the family. So what did I do this year?
Thanksgiving was held at my cousin Garrett's place this time. We did it potluck style, so my contribution were sugar snap peas cooked with Chinese sausage, and honey-ginger glazed carrots.
We had roast beef, a roast turkey, brussel sprouts along with my aforementioned veggies, scalloped potatoes... Chocolate chip cookies for dessert. :9
Christmas dinner though... Hoo boy.
Due to various circumstances, not everyone could make one place at one time, so there were three, count 'em, three Christmas dinners! And not one of them had roast beef, turkey, or anything else owing anything to Western standards.
My cousin Darren hosted the first day, which featured an Asian style hot pot. I've never actually done this before, so it was quite educational! It begins with a seasoned broth into which are added a variety of ingredients.
The ingredients were very, very Asian, probably quite Japanese. There was raw meat on the side, including beef and pork, which needed to be cooked shabu style before it could be eaten, but because the pot was kept boiling at all times, this usually didn't take long. There were tofu skins, strangely hard meatballs, the usual veggies like bok choy and broccoli... a host of things.
What's interesting is how the flavor of the hot pot can change as you add new ingredients. We ate before and after they added the beef; that totally changed the taste of the broth. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised by that fact!
The second day was more traditional Chinese homestyle cooking, featuring char siu-style barbecued ribs, and the third was a get-together at a local Chinese restaurant.
Monday, since my older brother Brian had managed to elude seeing relatives until then due to being sick, two of my aunts cornered him into agreeing to a holiday lunch, so we wound up at Yas, which none of us had been to before. Aunt Betty had enjoyed some Persian food recently and was excited to explore it with us.
We opened with 'tahdeeg', which was crispy rice topped with a stew of the day. The sauce tasted tomato-based; I prefer a more savory sauce for topping crispy rice, I think. The rice was chewier than the traditional Chinese 'nohm as well.
They served a flatbread instead of any Western bread, with packets of butter and small sections of raw onion. Very flavorful combination.
This was followed by a section of kebabs; from left to right, filet mignon, salmon, ground beef, chicken, and lamb. Of these, I thought the ground beef was actually better, juicier and more flavorful, than the filet mignon. The lamb was also very good!
This is 'Fesenjan', a chicken stew made with walnuts and pomegranates. It looked to me like it also contained some greens, perhaps spinach.
This is 'Ghormeh Sabzi', made with beef, vegetables, beans, and herbs.
Actually, I might have those two dishes reversed... I don't recall exactly!
We were given plates HEAPED with basmati rice, topped with saffron rice. I arranged samplings of the various entrees around mine. Yum!
Dessert! This was 'bastani', pistachio ice cream (the alarmingly yellow one), along with... 'faloodeh', evidently a sweetened dish made with rice noodles. Strange stuff! We also had the Persian version of baklava, called 'zulmia and bamiyeh'. Tasted like a chai version of baklava to me.
I had Persian tea. It was sort of chai-like!
We all agreed it was a pretty solidly tasty experience, and my aunt Margaret vowed to come back sometimes. We'll see if she does. ;) It's a bit too far down south for me to go regularly, if I were the restaurant-going type.
Thanksgiving was held at my cousin Garrett's place this time. We did it potluck style, so my contribution were sugar snap peas cooked with Chinese sausage, and honey-ginger glazed carrots.
We had roast beef, a roast turkey, brussel sprouts along with my aforementioned veggies, scalloped potatoes... Chocolate chip cookies for dessert. :9
Christmas dinner though... Hoo boy.
Due to various circumstances, not everyone could make one place at one time, so there were three, count 'em, three Christmas dinners! And not one of them had roast beef, turkey, or anything else owing anything to Western standards.
My cousin Darren hosted the first day, which featured an Asian style hot pot. I've never actually done this before, so it was quite educational! It begins with a seasoned broth into which are added a variety of ingredients.
The ingredients were very, very Asian, probably quite Japanese. There was raw meat on the side, including beef and pork, which needed to be cooked shabu style before it could be eaten, but because the pot was kept boiling at all times, this usually didn't take long. There were tofu skins, strangely hard meatballs, the usual veggies like bok choy and broccoli... a host of things.
What's interesting is how the flavor of the hot pot can change as you add new ingredients. We ate before and after they added the beef; that totally changed the taste of the broth. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised by that fact!
The second day was more traditional Chinese homestyle cooking, featuring char siu-style barbecued ribs, and the third was a get-together at a local Chinese restaurant.
Monday, since my older brother Brian had managed to elude seeing relatives until then due to being sick, two of my aunts cornered him into agreeing to a holiday lunch, so we wound up at Yas, which none of us had been to before. Aunt Betty had enjoyed some Persian food recently and was excited to explore it with us.
We opened with 'tahdeeg', which was crispy rice topped with a stew of the day. The sauce tasted tomato-based; I prefer a more savory sauce for topping crispy rice, I think. The rice was chewier than the traditional Chinese 'nohm as well.
They served a flatbread instead of any Western bread, with packets of butter and small sections of raw onion. Very flavorful combination.
This was followed by a section of kebabs; from left to right, filet mignon, salmon, ground beef, chicken, and lamb. Of these, I thought the ground beef was actually better, juicier and more flavorful, than the filet mignon. The lamb was also very good!
This is 'Fesenjan', a chicken stew made with walnuts and pomegranates. It looked to me like it also contained some greens, perhaps spinach.
This is 'Ghormeh Sabzi', made with beef, vegetables, beans, and herbs.
Actually, I might have those two dishes reversed... I don't recall exactly!
We were given plates HEAPED with basmati rice, topped with saffron rice. I arranged samplings of the various entrees around mine. Yum!
Dessert! This was 'bastani', pistachio ice cream (the alarmingly yellow one), along with... 'faloodeh', evidently a sweetened dish made with rice noodles. Strange stuff! We also had the Persian version of baklava, called 'zulmia and bamiyeh'. Tasted like a chai version of baklava to me.
I had Persian tea. It was sort of chai-like!
We all agreed it was a pretty solidly tasty experience, and my aunt Margaret vowed to come back sometimes. We'll see if she does. ;) It's a bit too far down south for me to go regularly, if I were the restaurant-going type.
