Now we're cooking!

We've had this cookbook for a while, but hadn't tried any of the recipes until last night. Our friends M and B were coming over for dinner so we thought we'd try something new.

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Our menu:

• Vegetable Bird Nests (from Trader Joe's - yummy!)
• Rainbow Salad
• Steamed Prawns in Mixed Bean Sauce
• Stir-Fried Scallops in Oyster Sauce
• Stir-Fried Broccoli and Chinese Mushroom
• Tsing Tao beer

We messed up a little the scallops (a little over cooked and some mistakes in following the recipe), but everything else was wonderful. Next I want to make the Eight Treasure Vegetarian Assemblage shown on the cover of the book.

We had a great time at the Asian grocery yesterday afternoon and I'm feeling pretty comfortable that we can find just about any ingredient we might need. By the way, we found some delicious bottled iced green tea with honey - very refreshing and just slightly sweet. If I'd known how good it would be, I'd have bought more.

On the way home we also had a good discussion about whether we were being cultural tourists by shopping at this store. I think it's borderline, but leaning toward believing it's ok because we went there because we wanted to and liked it for itself. I continue to struggle with how to best provide Nora with experiences of Chinese culture that are meaningful and real ... and in ensuring that we are properly motivated in seeking these connections.