Earlier in May, I missed my stepdad’s birthday and Mother’s Day. Usually, I go home back to Sonoma County and celebrate with them but due to my hectic schedule at work, it was a little harder this year. Luckily, I was selected to be a part of Foodbuzz’s 24×24 this month! All hail Foodbuzz! So yesterday, we invited the entire family over to my Grandpa’s house and made spring rolls, hot pot, and flan!
Now I’d be lying if I said I cooked and hosted the entire thing. You see, I love cooking and baking but in my family, everyone is such a great cook. So as I attempted to plan out the entire event, my mom and aunt were my saviors for this meal by helping me out.
Not only did they bring a bunch of cooking supplies for me (so I didn’t have to lug everything from San Francisco) but they also helped cook the entire meal. This included throwing out my canned chicken broth and sending me out to buy a whole chicken so we could make homemade broth instead!
It’s a tradition within our family to get together and share meals during the holidays or special events, and it never get’s old. My family is HUGE too. And, now that I don’t get to see my family as often as I’d like, it’s such a great occasion when I am able to go home and see everyone. My cousin’s are all growing up so quickly!!! WHAT.
Here is the menu from our feast:
Fresh Jackfruit
Vietnamese spring rolls with homemade peanut sauce
Hot pot with both spicy and non-spicy broth
Hot pot ingredients: Beef, shrimp, squid, mussels, octopus, meatballs, tofu, enoki mushrooms, chinese mushroom, cabbage, and more.
Flan
Here’s a recap of how the event went:
My mom grabbed some jackfruit and wrestled to get all of the fruit. There is a sap-like substance that is on the inside of the fruit that coats your hands when you try to remove the edible part. This made the fruit taste extra special because of all the hard work she put into preparing it for us.
Spring roll prep! Spring rolls are veggies and noodles rolled up in rice paper and served with peanut sauce. They make a healthy and fresh tasting appetizer to any meal.
You get some rice paper, veggies, vermicelli noodles, and shrimp. Then you place them all together and roll them up.
Then, to make them more bite size, you can use cleaned scissors and cut them in half. You can also cut the ends off so the rolls look nicer.
And one of my favorite parts is the peanut sauce for dipping! (Recipe coming soon.)
Oh yes, and remember that whole chicken I had to buy? We made this with it…
Delicious, right?! Homemade chicken broth really made the hot pot taste so good. Hot pot consists of gathering a bunch of fix-ins and cooking them in hot broth. We had an array of ingredients to cook: scallops, mussels, squid, octopus, beef meatballs, shrimp…
Tofu, onions, and mushrooms…
We all had so much fun fishing out food together and eating until we couldn’t anymore. My uncle and I even made it our mission to finish one of the pots (we failed)! There was so much food!
Here’s the some of the fam! (My parents are on the left. YAY!)
Uncle, cousins, and me.
And this is my grandpa. He’s so loving, understanding, and truly the wisest man I know. I love him so much!
And we can’t forget about dessert. Flan! Flan is a custard that’s baked and sweetened with caramelized sugar. (Recipe also coming soon!)
This dinner was a huge success, and I had so much fun spending some quality time with my family. Thanks again, Foodbuzz, for making this event possible!
