Nabe Party

March will mark the ten year anniversary of my debut as a Goodwill Ambassador for the Cherry Blossom Festival. I helped promote US-Japan cultural relations, wore a pink sash and blazer and met some wonderful people, including two ladies from the GA program that I have kept in touch with and call friends. Last night the husband and I hosted a nabe party reunion with these two and two other friends. Years have gone by, but it's heartening that we can gather together and feel like we haven't missed a beat. 

We haven't hosted a party in a while, and I had forgotten how much time and effort it takes to pull off. I had intended to go to Super H last weekend and make the dumplings during the week. As it was, we didn't make it to the grocery store, the husband was out of town at a conference and I had  an extremely busy week at work. That said, I think we did an admirable job and managed to not set off the fire alarm. 

 Bacon-wrapped water chestnuts.

Baked at 375F for 40 minutes, these were lovely, savory bites.

 Pork Gyoza with Garlic Chives.

Panfried and then steamed.

 Ham and cheese puff pastry with dijon mustard.

 Vegetables for the nabe.

An assortment of mushrooms, daikon , carrots, negi (aka 'big onions'), snowpeas, onion and red pepper.

In another bowl were bok choy, napa cabbage, spinach and bean sprouts.

 Kimchi Nabe with Pork Meatballs

After wrapping the dumplings, I used the leftover gyoza gu (filling) to make pork and garlic chive meatballs.

Adding assorted vegetables to the nabe builds, changes and deepens in flavor over time.

 Chanko Nabe with chicken meatballs and pork meatballs.

 My husband's family tradition is to add instant ramen noodles to the nabe. 

 You could use rice or udon.

***

Following dinner, we settled in to watch Lost in Translation. While parts of the film were highly relatable to the five of us who had spent time as expats living in Japan, other parts were gratuitous, such as the recurring shots of Charlotte walking around in her underwear. I still believe it was a grave injustice to award the best original screenplay to Sophia Coppola for her 70 page script. The ability for Bill Murray to improvise and ad-lib made this movie.