welcome back

Hanh's & Hoa's home coming celebration at the Ngo's -3/27/10

Hanh went to San Diego to see a tennis tournament and Hoa went to Chennai and India. By the time both of them got back we all got an invitation from Tuan to come and celebrate their home coming!

Tuan is kind enough to cook for all of us a nice sit down dinner but he wanted a smaller group so he can concentrate and prepare the food with less pressure. Serving 8 to 10 is a lot easier than serving 18 when you are not a professional cook.

Tuan is in charge of cooking but when it comes to setting up the table and putting all the little details together...Hanh is definitely in charge.

Nice daffodils!

For appetizers Tuan served pan seared bone marrow with parsley, shallot and capers mixture on toasted bread.

First thing you need to know: Make sure to dress up nicely so you will stand out from the crowd. Asian housewife usually go to the store in their sweat shirts, no make up and they usually looks pretty awful. So if you want to be served, dress up and you will get all the attention. Trust me on this.. it really works!

To buy bone marrow you usually have to buy whole bone and then you have to throw away the two extremities. But since Hanh only wanted the middle part where the marrow is, she told the butcher: "My husband gave me a list and he wants only bone marrow! I see it is not available, so can you please help me out?". The butcher looked at Hanh and said something like we don't sell just the marrow you have to buy the whole bone! To that Hanh replied: "I don't know what to do but I know my husbands wants just the marrow! Is there a way to get just the marrow so I don't get yell at when I go home?". The butcher said:" Okay, wait here". Then he went in the back of the store and then came back with a bag full of bone marrow!

Pretty funny story! the moral of the story- Look pretty and you get what you want!

Whole beef bone. They usually cut it into 5 of 6 pieces.

Bone marrow- this is what Hanh wanted! - Just the middle of the whole bone.

First you have to roast the bones in the oven for about 20 minutes and then the marrow is scooped out of the bone.

Then the marrow is cup into thin slices.

Next the marrow is seared on a hot pan.

Serving the pan seared bone marrow with parsley, shallot and capers mixture on toasted bread.

Phuc brought a couple of bottles of Pahlmeyer - Merlot 2006 and a couple of bottles of Caymus - Cabernet Sauvignon 2007. Both wines were excellent!