Sisterhood of the Traveling Pans

by Mara @ What's For Dinner? on February 26, 2010

in Asian,beef,chicken/turkey,family,friends,pork

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A few months back, my mom told me about this supper club she and a few other women were starting in their neighborhood. They started by going out for dinner once, and then agreed upon a theme for the next meeting and met at one woman’s house for a potluck-type meal. When I say potluck though, I’m not talking about tuna casserole and crockpots of chili!

Last night, my mom asked me if I’d like to join them for their Southeast Asian-themed dinner, I happily agreed! I felt badly that I didn’t have time to bring anything, but my mom insisted it wasn’t a problem. She thought it would be a great experience and I’d get to meet some fantastic people. She was right on both counts!

We walked in to the house and were greeted with “Would you like a drink?” As much as I wanted to try the hostess’ Singapore Sling cocktails, I opted instead for a mocktail of seltzer, pineapple juice, and a cherry.

There was the most gorgeous centerpiece on the kitchen island full of ingredients the hostess used in her dishes. It served as a trivia game to win a bottle of wine!

Can you name everything on that tray? I couldn’t! The last of the members arrived, including Liz from Lazy Cook, Crazy Cook (a fantastic blog, by the way, I recommend you check it out!) and some cooking ensued! There were pork potstickers with two dipping sauces to munch on while the other amazing dishes simmered away.

Liz got busy cooking her Pho, a Vietnamese beef and noodle soup. It was quite the process involving multiple soakings and blanching of cornstarch stick noodles, slicing of beef, and simmering of this wonderful-smelling broth.

And of course, silliness ensued as well

My mom prepared her larb kai for serving (don’t worry, I’ll get that recipe for you all, you’ll LOVE it! Or maybe my mom can write a guest post about it? HINT HINT!)

We sat down in this beautiful dining room with super-creative theme-related place settings

I had about half a glass of this amazing Israeli white wine as we sat down to eat. First I tried Liz’s pho (pronounced fuh). I absolutely cannot wait to try to replicate this at home! What’s fun about pho is that while it sounds simple, the person eating gets all sorts of options to doctor up their own bowl. I added bean sprouts, cilantro, hot peppers, sriracha, and cilantro to the already flavorful broth and noodle soup.

Next up was Tina’s (the host) laksa. Laksa is typically a Malaysian or Vietnamese dish, but she had melded together a few recipes for a bowl full of deliciousness. There was a complex sauce made with fresh turmeric, galangal (in the ginger family), a multitude of other spices, and coconut milk. In this sauce was shrimp, tofu, scallops, and halibut, along with skinny noodles. She topped it with a hard-boiled quail egg.

Next was my mom’s larb kai, a steamed and highly seasoned chicken dish that we’ve loved for years. It’s as delicious as it is beautiful!

Last but not least, after much talking and laughing, we got to dessert. There was some unpictured black rice and coconut ice cream that was an excellent compliment to this lovely meringue-topped pineapple and coconut bread pudding. It wasn’t too sweet, and the texture was phenomenal!

It was a fantastic time, and I stayed up WAY too late and probably ate way too much… but it was so much fun! I’m looking forward to the next meeting of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pans (their aptly named group) when I can actually bring something! Next time: Italy at my mom’s house!

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading! I loved being included in such a fun event. Have a great Friday, and come back later to find out who won the SkinMD Natural giveaway! This means you still have a few hours to enter!!!