Mussels on the Menu

For as long as I can remember, dinner is prepared almost every night at our house. Only on days where the folks are invited to a relative's home, Mom made a pot of Pho to last the entire day, or we dine out do we not cook. Dining out as a family is pretty rare though and usually happens only on birthdays, celebrating employment or college acceptances, bidding a family member a farewell before they head off to some distant place, or any other excuse we can come up with.

Mom used to do all the cooking, but when work required her to come home too late, older sisters Lien and Phuong (12 or 13 yrs. old at the time) had to step up. I joined in a couple years afterwards. The brothers can cook as well, but mostly - its just us sisters. We almost always eat together during dinner, but that doesn't happen to much now-a-days since everyone's schedule is so different. When we do sit down together, like tonight, it's very enjoyable.

Tonight's Dinner was delicious.

Ca Hap (Steamed Fish): Spicy Ginger, Garlic, and Scallion Soy Sauce over Microwave-steamed fish.



Dad's touch: Adding a little bit of water to my sauce to lighten the sodium in the soy sauce. Exactly what it needed and learned something new!

Mussels w/ Scallion Oil: Pre-cooked mussels buttered and broiled slightly, topped with Vietnamese scallion oil infused with Sambal chilli paste and soy sauce.





Mom came home right in time to show me how to make this. I was going to bake the Mussels in a spicy mayo sauce, something I learned from my eldest niece MaiLinda during my recent visit to Florida. This turned out much tastier and juicy.

Kim Chi: Mom made this last week, goes well with all the protein on the table.



I love a bowl of rice and cold Kimchi. Good Stuff.

Food Venture: Shilla's Korean and Japanese Cuisine

I always drive past this restaurant on my way to work so I thought I'd try it out. Went here with Hanh not too long ago. We ordered shumai, broil mussels (also with a spicy mayo sauce) and bibimbap. The dumplings were okay and the mussels were not as warm as I expected, the side dishes and miso soup were good, but I really liked the Bibimbap. We ate all of it, especially the crispy rice at the bottom of the sizzling stone pot. Yum.





My second attempt at the bakes mussels a couple weeks ago: Diced mussels, Kewpie Korean Mayo, Sriracha, diced sweet onion, splash of fish sauce, dash of salt n pepper.



A little heavy handed on the salt, but overall it was pretty good. The left over mixture works well between two toasts, I'm sure it would make for a good dip too.