An Early Chinese New Year Meal

I have not been very good at keeping up on my blog posts. Kyle has had me get in the routine of writing several on the weekends and have them scheduled to post for later dates. Here is a post that has been sitting in the queue for some time now....

We had another amazing Christmas/new years present from one of our very close family friends: Kenyon and Shirley: A 10-Course Chinese Meal! A group of 12 of us met at Zen Garden, in Mill Creek, and feasted on some amazing and diverse dishes from Peking duck to lettuce wraps, to my absolute favorite...lobster!

There is nothing better than Peking duck! This is not traditional BBQ Duck--you have to preorder this because it takes over a day to make. The beauty of the dish is the crisp skin. Kenyon told me that restaurants will usually make two dishes with the one duck you order. Once they cut away the crusty, crisp skin and the meat next to the skin, they will use the rest of the duck to make a second, savory dish.

Here is the second dish we got: Duck Lettuce Wraps...mmmm! Kyle and I are big duck fans. Ever since we discovered that scrumptious duck curry in San Francisco, we love trying dishes that replace traditional and boring chicken with its slightly gamey, more fatty and flavorful sister, duck.

Whoa and speaking of chicken...here she is! Yes, that is a chicken head staring back at you. Shirley told me this is a sign that it is fresh. I thought I saw some chickens wondering around the parking lot...hope this wasn't one of them.

Alright, I have to admit, I waited too long to write this post and have forgotten what this is. But I can guarantee it was absolutely delicious!

Lobster...(said the same way Homer Simpson says "donuts...")

Cracking that bad boy open.

Kenyon's mother, Mrs. Chan, my mom, and I with the beautiful scarves she crocheted for us! She is going to teach me how to crochet this year!

Zen Garden was a fabulous restaurant--it is beautiful and overlooks a nice garden (hence, the name) and a little pond/lake. It wasn't very busy, so everyone should check it out and give them some business! Kyle and my new crossfit gym is next door, so our plan is to go for dim sum after a hard workout. Dim sum is the Chinese equivalent to tapas for those of you unfamiliar to this fun and yummy weekend food excursion.

Happy Eating,

Emi