Cinta may be an Indonesian word....
However, that is usually where our Asian "flair" has ended. At least until this last weekend when we pulled off our first Chinese inspired buffet. Two new concepts Cinta hasn't ever really had to tackle before. Buffet. And Chinese.
When first approached with the idea of this dinner both Jereme and I were a little overwhelmed. Cooking for a big group of twenty four is one thing, but to throw in cooking Chinese food and the fact that they wanted everything to be heavy Hors D’oeurves...now there is a challenge. Cooking mini of anything in large quantity is always more work. But I am happy with how the menu turned out. It is listed below…
Chinese Shrimp with Soy Ginger Dipping Sauce
Variety of Mini Wanton Cups
Shiitake Mushrooms & Spinach
Tofu and Black Kale
Crispy Beef
Orange Chicken
Hoisin BBQ Chicken Skewers
Shanghai Noodles
Chinese Long Beans with Garlic and Soy Sauce
Sticky Rice wrapped in Banana Leaves
Cucumber Soup Shooters
Egg Rolls
Rice Vegetable Wraps & Rice Shrimp Wraps
Chinese Doughnuts
Chinese Almond Cookies
Pineapple Tarts
Five Spice Peanuts
Over all the dinner went great! We were quite prepared going into the dinner and I felt the prep work we had done was one of the best. We knew this would be a challenge for us, because we normally don't have to such a variety of food, and for everything to be ready to go all at the same time is a big hurtle. What we learned. We seriously can once again never prep too much in advance..we were down the wire, and the last hour was stressful in multiple ways. However, in the end we pulled it off as usual. I’m also happy with how the décor came together. It was simple and although I wish we would have had more tropical “Asian” flowers its hard for me to find them at this time of the year/ without having a wholesaler/ a florist friend. Someday right?
When first approached with the idea of this dinner both Jereme and I were a little overwhelmed. Cooking for a big group of twenty four is one thing, but to throw in cooking Chinese food and the fact that they wanted everything to be heavy Hors D’oeurves...now there is a challenge. Cooking mini of anything in large quantity is always more work. But I am happy with how the menu turned out. It is listed below…
Chinese Shrimp with Soy Ginger Dipping Sauce
Variety of Mini Wanton Cups
Shiitake Mushrooms & Spinach
Tofu and Black Kale
Crispy Beef
Orange Chicken
Hoisin BBQ Chicken Skewers
Shanghai Noodles
Chinese Long Beans with Garlic and Soy Sauce
Sticky Rice wrapped in Banana Leaves
Cucumber Soup Shooters
Egg Rolls
Rice Vegetable Wraps & Rice Shrimp Wraps
Chinese Doughnuts
Chinese Almond Cookies
Pineapple Tarts
Five Spice Peanuts
Over all the dinner went great! We were quite prepared going into the dinner and I felt the prep work we had done was one of the best. We knew this would be a challenge for us, because we normally don't have to such a variety of food, and for everything to be ready to go all at the same time is a big hurtle. What we learned. We seriously can once again never prep too much in advance..we were down the wire, and the last hour was stressful in multiple ways. However, in the end we pulled it off as usual. I’m also happy with how the décor came together. It was simple and although I wish we would have had more tropical “Asian” flowers its hard for me to find them at this time of the year/ without having a wholesaler/ a florist friend. Someday right?
Cinta had a great team to help out as well. With that many people the extra hands is exactly what we needed. Thanks Adam and Alissa! And stay tuned! We have two back to back dinners this weekend! So more pictures and dinner craziness to come :)
