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Recipe: beef sushi roll

There is just over a day left to enter the drawing for the Kyocera ceramic knife. I’m impressed with the turnout – so many people who love to flirt with danger! Nice.

Yesterday was my last day of tele class. I’m happy to get my time back, but also a little sad because it was so much more than just improving my tele skills. The good thing is that we have plans beyond class. Alpha chicks rule.

our group minus two

By the time we were done on the mountain, the snow was coming down fast in large fluffy flakes. It was a great day, but it wasn’t over. We all met up afterward for drinks and appetizers and to see Bode, our instructor’s 8 month old border collie. Bode (named for Bode Miller) is already a superstar and he is going to take the agility competitions by storm. It’s quite amazing to be around such an intelligent dog (and then later I went home to Kaweah, Dog of Simple Brain).

let’s play tug

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The lunar new year is almost here (15 minutes!). Our friends left a little while ago, full on food, dessert, conversation, laughs, friendship. No recipe tonight, but I’ll include links to recipes for the dishes I served. Then you can sit back and scroll through the day in pictures. Gong xi fa tsai! Jing nian quai le. Wung shir ru i.

the menu
scallion pancakes
chinese potstickers
hot pot
rui tsai (lucky ten ingredient vegetables)
chocolate bags

beautiful new snow this morning

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Recipe: chinese stir-fried rice cakes

Congratulations to Jenny Williams! She won the raffle prize I offered for the Menu for Hope fundraiser. Jenny, I’ll be emailing you shortly to find out which photo you’d like. The entire effort raised over $62,000. A big thanks to all who participated.

This week, I baked a birthday cake for someone’s surprise 50th birthday party. The original plan was to bring a bunch of macarons, but the day before the party, I thought I should ask her husband if he had arranged for a cake. I normally wouldn’t volunteer during such a busy time, but I have a soft spot for guys who are so sweet on their partners. He was cooking dinner for 30 people, so I said I could handle the cake. I doubled this chocolate espresso fudge cake with beautiful results. Probably the most nerve-wracking part was driving it down Boulder Canyon, but the structural integrity of this cake is rock solid. Love that Marcel Desaulniers.

simple decoration

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