Last Minute New Year's Eve Dinner

Ichigo got a big sashimi platter from S-san, and she went crazy & bought a ton of stuff from the Korean market. So I sent out a quick Evite to have a mini New Year's Eve dinner party at our place.

Well, I had already planned for Ards and Dee to come. And I figured Dave was gonna come over anyway. So why not a mini dinner party?

Anyhoo, Dennis & Panda showed up. No Vu. He's been a lazy butt lately, since he didn't come for the Killer Shrimp soup that HE WANTED and didn't show up for our New Year's Eve festivities even though he didn't have anyone to spend it with. Hmph.

The rest of us had takoyaki (Ards made them), sashimi and nabe.

Sat, Dave & Ards were already watching 紅白, and switching to ABC whenever they didn't care for the singer. And we watched the countdown on ABC or NBC. With apple cider b/c no one brought over any alcohol. Hm, that's probably why Vu didn't show up.

To be continued...

Back from San Jose

I'm back from my two-day, one-night trip to San Jose.

It was a tough two days without internet access.
But I did my work as a photographer for Ichigo & her friend M-san.

I also got to catch up on sleep.
Which also means that I did very little work for Sat.
Like 10 pages.

Looks like I'll be working through New Year's.

PS. Thank you Dave for picking us up.

Shiz Can't Cook Series: Killer Shrimp Soup

Vu found a Killer Shrimp soup recipe online, so we decided to make it at home.

Although I don't have rosemary. Or celery seed. Or fennel seed. Or chicken broth. Or white wine. Or clam juice.

After work, Dee went to Trader Joe's to pick up shrimp & white wine. And I went to Ralphs to get the rest of the stuff.

I didn't know how much 1 quart of chicken broth was, since the box says "32oz." Was 1 pint 16oz? So a quart is 32oz? Or is it more? I couldn't find the info on the chicken broth box, so I bought two packs. (note: 1 quart is 32oz)

I never bought clam juice before, but it comes in a small grapefruit juice-like bottle. Although I couldn't buy clam juice for anything other than Killer Shrimp soup. Clams, bleah!

Oh, it was my first time buying herbs & spices too! Hmm, that's a lie because I bought cayenne pepper before.

Anyhoo, while Dee was mincing the garlic, I was preparing the broth.
I poured out the chicken broth. Then added 2 tablespoons of rosemary. Then added 1 tablespoon of black pepper... only to realize it was supposed to be 1 teaspoon. Whoops. We scooped out as much as we could.

After the garlic was put in, I realized the soup was too pale. Oh, I forgot to put in tomato paste! So we added that, and let it simmer.

In the end, the soup came out pretty good.

Kinda bitter... which Dee thinks is from the tomato paste.

Vu couldn't make it today, so we'll make it for him next time.
Since I have no other use for rosemary, celery seed or fennel seed.