Friday, 17 January 2014 – Dinner

      

What did I eat? Hotpot

Where from? Homemade. Ingredients from US Supermarket and Sky Foods in Elmhurst

How much did it cost? $50 for the pot, probably $30 for the ingredients

How was it?
This was a spur of the moment dinner. While going to Elmhurst Aunty to get food, we decided that it would be good to have some hotpot. On the way back, we stopped by the grocery store and bought ourselves a steamboat (hotpot pot) and some stuff to boil. I don’t remember the brand of the steamboat but I think it worked out pretty well. The pot is pretty large and we could probably have about 5 or 6 people eat at the same time.

We got some sliced beef, shrimp, assorted fish balls, some mushrooms, pea leaves and some Chinese cabbage, I think. I can’t tell the difference between lettuces and the cabbages; to me, they all look green and same. The beef came in thick slices which gave it a bit of a texture when chewing. The shrimp were unbelievably sweet. Among the assortment of fish balls, my favorite was the tofu fish cake (the yellow cubes in the photo). I should have gotten more mushrooms though; we tend to go through a lot of mushrooms when doing hotpot. We used two soup bases since we have different hotpot connoisseurs at home. HH likes the Little Sheep brand but I think they’re too “spicy”, as in full of spice. I picked a random packet at the grocery store and it turned out pretty good too.

Lastly, on the way back from US Supermarket, we decided to stop by Sky Foods which was on the way. We stopped to buy some beef tendon since HH wanted to put in the hotpot. BAD IDEA! The tendon did not cook well and they all hardened. Maybe we needed to slice the tendon into thinner slices, rather than chunks. Sky Foods will be our Asian grocery store of choice. It’s not busy as US Supermarket and it’s much bigger and cleaner. Only down side is that you can’t access this via subway unless you’re willing to a longer walk.

The hotpot at home was a success and now my stomach is growling from all the spice!!

Rate it!
9/10

Tuesday, 14 January 2014 – Dinner

 

What did I eat? Pork dumplings

Where from? Frozen package

How much did it cost? Ummm not sure

How was it?
Dumplings have become our go-to meal whenever we run out of food at home. They are conveniently packaged and easy to make. Pair them with a side of Sriracha and we got ourselves a winner! The dumplings have pork and chives inside. Make sure you sift out the dumplings with as little water as possible so they’re not soggy. Let them stand for a bit and the outside hardens up and they’re ready to serve.

Rate it!
6/10