Pictures courtesy of James who brought his camera:

Started with tomato egg drop soup garnished with cilantro


Chicken with Ginger in Caramel Sauce


Here's an assembled plate of food with the chicken, blanched vegetables and a dipping sauce in the upper left hand corner.


I tried to take a picture of us, but I'm not always so smart with the digital cameras so it doesn't always turn out well. So, James is on the right hand side and my other friends are at center and to the left. I'm trying to get them to be estrippers.

I want to learn how to make custards. There are a lot of Vietnamese deserts that are basically custards. And I want to learn to make them all!

What equipment do you need to make custards?
What's the basic principle of making them?

Fourth day away from Drew was a breeze because I had friends over for dinner. I always try to plan something with friends the week that Drew is gone. I think its really pathetic when people's worlds come to an end because their significant other is out of town. Or those people who turn down a party invitation because their significant can't go. Drew and I have even celebrated New Years Eve separately one year when he wanted to party with his redneck friends in DC and I wanted to pary with my friends in Philly. That's the extent to which we are separate human beings. At this point I probably offended someone so, anyway....

I had friends over for dinner. Jen, Bill and (e:Jbeatty). I fixed a Vietnamese dinner for them.

• Vietnamese tomato egg drop soup garnished with cilantro
  
• Chicken cooked in caramel sauce (sugar caramelized in water) with ginger.
  
• Blanched broccoli and cauliflower with sliced cucumbers.
  
• Dipping sauce for vegetables.
  
• Mandarin oranges and bananas for desert.
  
• Vietnamese coffee with cardamom

Pictures to come later.

I think this article is kind of funny...I deal with a lot of people at work who live in the suburbs and look down their noses at the city because of all the "crime". And here we have the classic example of how crime exists in the city because the person in the suburb wants the service....except this person had it kind of turned on their head.

Day three without Drew was hunky dory! I got home and discovered in the mail an invitation to the group I want to join.
Sweet, sweet taste of social success. I started prepping for a dinner I'm having on Wednesday. The menu is Vietnamese tomato egg drop soup; chicken with ginger cooked in caramel sauce; blanched vegetables with Vietnamese basic dipping sauce; and bananas and mandarin oranges for dessert and Vietnamese coffee. See the theme? I'm making a Vietnamese dinner. I prepped the soup so all I have to do tonight is heat it up, add the eggs and garnish it with cilantro and black pepper. Yummy goodness.
I aso worked on my rice making skills. I'm not bragging or anything, but I was able to make rice just like you get in the restaurants. All fluffy and stuff. I strutted around the house for a bit enjoying my success.
I also chose to have some coffee last night. Not a good choice normally, but (e:drew) wasn't there to stop me. Bwah, ha, ha. So I was totally wired by the time he called last night and I was a little giggly and slap happy on the phone.
Last night was trash night/recycling night. That's a dilemma, because trash/recycling is the husband's job; not the Janelle's job. I settled on just taking the recycling out because it's easy and the bin was full, but the garbage can wasn't full. It can wait until the husband gets home.
This morning the recycling bin was missing. I don't think it blew away. I think someone lost theirs and dumped out my recycling and stole mine. All my recycling was laying in a neat little pile. Seems like it would have been strewn if the wind blew the bin away. So I'm feeling a little salty about that and I had to go out and pick up all the recyling and throw it in the trash can. And so was the start of Day four without Drew.