Cooking Blitz

Dumpling Production Central

Yesterday, Dr Colin and Mandie were married. As part of the weekend festivities and since all of their friends arrived in town on Friday and Saturday, Dr Colin asked me and Phineas to cook dinner for an informal gathering. So, aside from my San Francisco hiatus, we've been in a cooking frenzy preparing a Chinese banquet/buffet for the last 2 weeks.

The pan fried dumplings really went fast

We had a freezer full of wontons and dumplings and an array of sauces in the fridge, all ready to be popped into oven or pan or used to garnish. I think the dishes that disappeared fastest were the dumplings and also the deconstructed peking duck - a modern take on the classic. I fried leftover wonton wrappers into crispy rounds and then topped them with duck confit, hoisin, scallion and crackling duck skin.

The major catastrophe of the night was when the oven died. Just like that it stopped working. Thank goodness there's a second oven and a rather hearty toaster oven!

Wonton Production

We ended the evening with Chocolate covered strawberries, wontellas, which Miss Julia helped me make last weekend, and pineapple. A sweet ending to a great evening.

After the wedding, all the family who had flown in from Jamaica, Miami, Toronto and Pennsylvania came over for leftovers. By the end of the evening all that remained was 2 strands of lo mein noodle and a snow pea sitting in an otherwise empty bowl. Mission accomplished.