Saturday, January 9th, Vietnamese Food

Hosts: J & K
Theme: Vietnamese

What we ate:

I'll cut right to the chase here and just start out by saying - this menu was great. The timing was great too. Here we are in the midst of winter, coming off a holiday where butter and chocolate rule the table, and we get to sit down to a meal which is not only butter-free, but is bright and fresh and just plain delicious.

We started with Vietnamese style cold spring rolls. T and J assembled these as we ate them and they were everything I said above - bright, fresh, delicious and had a great mix of textures (crunchy sprouts and peanuts, a chewy wrapper, meaty chicken, etc. . .).

Next came the soup (prepared by K & Z), which was made with a simply simmered broth poured over cooked chicken and noodles, and fresh onions and carrots. At the table we garnished our own bowls with more sprouts, herbs, limes and hot sauce.

For our main course J & K prepared beef skewers and chicken over rice. The plates looked great with the dark beef served on a lettuce leaf and the chicken on the side. Of course - these dishes tasted great too. I probably could have eaten most of the chicken myself. We also had a green bean dish (we ate it cold) which was prepared by our guests for the evening (H & A). And here, I have to say that these were outstanding guests. A had a baby Friday night. While in labor Friday, she went ahead and prepared the food, since she had all the ingredients in the house, and H made sure it got to us. He could only join us for part of the meal (I'm not sure I should be saying "only" here) - but we are hoping to rectify that in the future.

We finished up with coconut and tapioca pudding and fresh fruit. The pudding also had banana in it, which seemed to come through more then the coconut to me. C & C were a great sport about the dessert, which was unfamiliar to us Westerners and not the most attractive dish served, but which was delicious, and certainly complimented the meal.

Thanks again to everyone for your hard work - especially J! The menu was excellent and I feel I can confidently say that everyone's contributions were very much enjoyed.