Pan-Asian Dinner Part

This is the promised second post! In the beginning of May, I hosted my 3rd dinner party (the second one was a surprise party for my friend Sophie that I never had a chance to write about) and the theme of it was pan-Asian. I started out by making plain jasmine rice, and to my friends' delight, I also made homemade fried rice too. To make the fried rice, I used brown rice, green peas, carrots and the classic scrambled egg. Having never made it before, I got excited and started to make it a few hours too early- but my friends still loved it! The next item on the menu was homemade sesame chicken. This was surprisingly easy to make, and the sauce was so flavorful! The sauce was a mixture of honey, sesame seeds, sesame oil, garlic and soy sauce. When I added the sauce to the chicken and steamed broccoli, I let it reduce. The end product was a sumptuous chicken dish with a sauce that was o-so-good over the jasmine rice. My final dish was homemade sweet and sour pickled cucumbers. These were a surprising hit, and it gave me a good excuse to use my mandolin! For the pickling liquid I used a combination white vinegar, sugar and pepper. The cucumbers were so simple to make and they really absorbed the flavor of the pickling liquid. The cucumbers went along well my mint and cucumber infused water! The final piece was my tablescape; I used seashells to hold soy sauce to which I added a decorative (and flavorfully functional!) wedge of lime. When my friends came they brought some accouterments! Marit brought some cute fortune cookies that really brought together the Asian theme. Sophie (the one I threw the surprise party for) brought some crudite and dip which was a nice start to our meal. Kaleigh (always lovingly coming 5 minutes early) brought some delicious tea sandwiches which I actually "forgot" to put out and ate the next day! My final guest to arrive was Allie, she brought some little cakes, fruit and ice-cream. The party was great fun and everyone enjoyed the food! I can't wait to host the next one!