Chinese Feast

I love a theme. So, even though I don't know if I'll watch any of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, I've decided to cook a Chinese feast for dinner tonight. There is an Asian market near my house* with a nice selection of Chinese, as well as Thai ingredients. This afternoon I plan to go over there and see what strikes my fancy.

For tonight's menu I'm thinking of making pot stickers for an app, then cashew chicken, burnt green beans, and rice. Things may change after my shopping trip, but expect a Chinese recipe to be posted tomorrow.

* The Bad Godesburg Asian market is very light on Japanese ingredients. For the past few weeks I’ve had a craving for frozen edamame. Does anyone know where I can buy it in Germany?

Birthday Dinner

What better way to enjoy one's own birthday, then to cook up some of your favorite things? For me that means that I've created the following menu:

• Bing cherry mojitos
• Spiced nuts Pistachios
• Homemade ravioli with mushrooms
• Pan seared steak with garlic and chive compound butter
• Tomato salad with shallots and herbs
• Burnt green beans
• Olive bread
• Chocolate cake with chocolate ganashe and raspberries
• Cappuccino
  

Visit the blog tomorrow to see how it all turns out.

Friday Night Dinner

Last night we had friends over for dinner. Cooking for an international crowd of Germans, Austrians, and South Africans, I wanted to make something American. Here's the menu:

• Crudités with herb quark dip (okay, this isn't American at all, but as I've said before, I'm obsessed with quark)
• Braised chocolate and rosemary short ribs
• Mac n' cheese
• Cole slaw with mint
• Buttermilk cornbread
• Green beans with shallots
• Chocolate pecan tart with fresh whipped cream
  

Good food, nice wine, and great company. What else do you need?

P.S. I'm pulling together the other recipes and will post them on the blog over the next few days.