Sunday Feast № 12 | Chinese Five-Spice Spare Ribs with Hoisin Glaze

The beauty of communal feast preparation is that you do not have to do it all, and since I hosted, I took to what required overnight preparation and slow cooking. To boot, one of my local supermarkets had a deal on pork spare ribs (2 for 1) that primed me for taking on this spare ribs recipe twice!    The recipe came courtesy of a friend who attended a Chinese New Year meal class at Chicago's The Chopping Block, with original Hoisin Glaze recipe halved by me second time around. And since she attended the class, the accompanying chicken bao and vegetable pot stickers were under her purview - she was effectively branded "The Chef" - and the purview of a friend that has mad bao assembly skills - "The Sous Chef" - with the bao dough prepared by a friend that is a real life pastry chef and who also made crêpes for desert - "The Pastry and Deserts Chef". All of these require skills which are currently beyond me - yeast dough is involved, nimble fingers and good eye for "done" are required. Hence, I was an apprentice line cook chopping, stirring and cleaning when required, a dish washer, and when just watching or calling to the table, a self-appointed "Restaurateur".    The ribs were the appetizer to give us energy to prepare the rest of the feast, but they also make a great main dish with rice and vegetables or salad.

Sunday Feast № 4 | Broiled Salmon with Sautéed Bok Choy and Broccoli

Memory can be quite random. One week big packets of ramen noodles are bought at a Korean hypermarket. The label at the back gives instructions to cook them for 3 min in boiling water and then eat with favorite dipping sauce, e.g. hoisin. Few weeks later, in a different market, I am looking at Asian sauces, just because. "Shall I? Which one to choose?" I wonder. "How about hoisin? Yeah, let's try that one." A week later, "I feel like fish," not as in I-am-a-fish, but as in I-want-to-eat-fish, and "How about testing that broiler function in my oven?" which I read use instructions for at some point in all those weeks. Rice is always on hand, and cooked well courtesy of a trusty rice cooker. Now just add a vegetable side, and all's good to eat.      Recipes are from “Everyday Food: Great Food Fast” by Martha Stewart Living Magazine, with few of my alternatives.