Sunday, September 27, 2009

Sunday Dinner with the In-Laws

I invited my in-laws for Sunday dinner. It was partly so the family could get together and partly to celebrate the mooncake festival. It has become a tradition for us to gather and play the dice game every year. I've been hosting it the last 3 or 4 years. But this year, the timing is not right. Some of my in-laws are on vacation, others have to work, then next week I have guests over, etc., etc. We are running out of weekends in October! =)

So, anyway, I decided it would be just dinner this year. I spent the afternoon cooking a somewhat Chinese dinner and decided that since it was a special occasion, we would use real plates (instead of paper plates). The kids (who ate in the kitchen) had real plates and silverware too.

I made chili garlic prawns. My mom's secret recipe that's super easy to make but is a real crowd-pleaser!

I also had sesame seed chicken. I marinated the chicken the day before so even if I used breast meat, it was very tasty and not dry.

This is a classic at our place. Mapo tofu - I use a mix of ground pork and turkey.

I had to have a vegetable dish. I decided to serve just steamed green beans sprinkled with garlic butter. Not very Chinese, I know =)

After dinner and dessert, it was picture-taking time. Here we are with my mother and father-in-law.

These are some of my in-laws. This is just half the group - we are usually a much bigger group than this =)

5 comments:

Jin said...

wow good dinner!I envy your big table!^^ Usually in my age, we have very small apartment in Korea.So ours are always minimal.;)

BTW, how to cook the chilly shrimp? I have it in freezer, but I don't know how to cook it.:)
Could you share with me the secret recipe? hhhh

leslie ty said...

you're such a great party organizer / host =)
I bet everyone enjoyed the dinner you prepared...parang super sarap lahat =)

Auntie Alice said...

I am so impressed!!! You are such a great organizer and cook.

You are really Judy's daughter.

Junarakasa said...

Hi Jin. I will email you the recipe. I am sure you can do it since it's pretty easy. Also, I remember you used to cook back in Berkeley. You would bring your home-cooked lunch when we worked at Shaklee =) Anyway, let me know how it turns out and if your husband likes the chili shrimp =)

Hi Les, don't worry, I'll make sure you and Joce get to try one of my home-cooked meals too =)

Hi Auntie Alice. Don't be too impressed. These are all simple recipes lang. Am definitely nowhere as good as my mom or as good as you are when it comes to cooking =)

Auntie Lillian said...

Your dishes are well coordinated and looks scrumptious. I like the pattern of your dinnerware. Seems like everybody enjoyed the dinner based on the smiles on everybody's faces.