Two and a half hours of feasting with my French neighbors. We started off with cassis aperos avec les amuse-geules (literally amuse mouths) of salted peanuts, smoked almonds, and preserved plums which I brought back from Boston. Les entrées: housemade shumai with pork and shrimp, followed by lettuce wraps with Vietnamese eggrolls (nems), fresh mint, cilantro.
Les plats principaux: Chinese egg noodles stir fried with red pork, napa, mushrooms, broccoli, julienned carrots and red peppers, onions, and garlic in an oyster sauce; steamed whole dorade royale in soy/ginger/scallion sauce.
En dessert: Tarte aux pommes; coconut tapioca pudding perfumed with sliced bananas. Exhausted..but happy. Je suis prête pour une sieste.
In world news, Egyptians are celebrating after 18 days of protest have resulted in President Mubarak's resignation and the end of his almost 30 year dictatorship. A very historical moment for Egypt, whose 80 million people haven't lived without dictatorships and colonization since the early 1900s. First Tunisia and the ousting of their president Ben Ali. Now Egypt. Who's next? The world waits and wonders...but meanwhile there is jubilation in Egypt.
Lastly, I stopped to smell the flowers (and snap some quick photos) inside the huge Dutch flower truck that was parked in front of Carrefour on Tuesday afternoon.
Impressive spread... both food and flowers! :)
ReplyDelete@5Arlington: Merci! It was fun cooking and eating it. I'm cooking Chinese/Vietnamese again tomorrow for my Japanese friend and her family. Will take photos this time!
ReplyDelete