Our New Years Night!

We are getting old, or so I thought.  I figured New Years Eve would be similar to others we've spent.  I was wrong.  New Years Eve morning, I asked Cora if she wanted to make Egg Rolls.  She said yes.  So we gathered our ingredients and set to work.

We used a recipe given to Cora's family by a Vietnamese lady that used to be a neighbor and friend.  It is a simple recipe but OH SO GOOD!  Of course, my favorite part is the dipping sauces, because you have to have dipping sauce for your egg roll!!

All have a soy sauce base.  for one, I took our some dried chilies and ground them in our mortar, then added them to the soy sauce, then added brown sugar, black pepper, cayenne, and a dash of sesame oil.  that was our hot sweet dip.  For another one, I used our micro-planer and grated some ginger and garlic together with some lemon juice and soy sauce and that made the one I think I liked best this year.  The last is our favorite, and is a necessary addition.  It includes cilantro, soy sauce, vinegar, and lime juice.  All have varying amounts of ingredients and are fun both to make, and dip your food into.

Cora and I both worked on it and even though it takes awhile, the results are much better than what you find in stores.  Despite the addition of fish sauce, it is an excellent meal!  (What were they thinking when they say they had rancid fish in their basket?  "I know! lets make this into a flavoring!!  I love the taste of rancid fish!"  Ewwww!!)

 Cora uses egg white to seal this little package of love and awesome.

 We have differing ideas on how to roll egg rolls.  She rolled hers toward her, and when I roll I roll away.

 Fresh ingredients are a must have!  Cilantro adds to ever meal!  and Ginger...well, it's just awesome (but not quite as pretty as Mary Anne).

 Here you can see the difference between our rolling techniques, I'm not going to tell you which is which, let's just assume mine are the better ones, shall we?

 and after a very short time on hot oil, this is what you get!

I'm afraid they did not last long and I forgot to get a picture of the rapturous expressions on our faces.  Even now, I'm thinking longingly of those tender, yet crisp, pieces of heaven.

So, we opened a bottle of champagne for the celebration.  We'd seen the news that morning and they had suggested mixing Guinness and Champagne for a drink called Black Velvet.  We had Guinness.  We also had Champagne...so, we figured what the heck!  It was a decent drink.  I went back to straight Guinness after that, though, since the champagne was a touch on the dry and witty side.  I like the smoothness of the Guinness.  

We watched episodes of Dr. Who and played scrabble on Cora's Kindle.  I let her beat me (Gotta keep her coming back for more).  All-in-all a good way to bring in what promises to be the greatest year ever!