I started chopping vegetables and thawing chicken and tossing and saucing and all of a sudden, we had too much food.

So we invited Natalie for dinner! I love dinner parties inspired by bounty!

We had some big old Thai-inspired spread. The menu was based on some recipes my sister brought back from her recent world travels. I served it with the leftover steamed rice from Tuesday night.

Natalie, James and I spent the majority of dinner time planning out my “Choose Your Own Adventure” birthday party. Oh! If we pull it off, it will be much fun!
(I hope you can come!)

Chicken Satay Recipe – Peanut sauce and spiced chickent

(pretty much entirely from the Shelia Lukins recipe in her mighty helpful “All Around the World” cookbook)

Marinade Ingredients:
3 tablespoons peanut oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
(be careful! Turmeric will stain your beautiful white bowls and spatulas yellow.)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips three inches long and roughly one inch wide.
In a large bowl, mix all the marinade ingredients. Toss the chicken strips into the marinade for two hours.
Broil the chicken on high for 3-4 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve with delicious peanut sauce.

Spicy Thai Pork Lettuce Bundles

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 lb lean ground pork
2 more tablespoons of peanut oil
1 red pepper diced small
1 yellow pepper diced small
1 jalapeno pepper diced small
1/2 onion diced small
2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons honey
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
optional 6 dashes of your favorite hot pepper sauce
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

Directions:
Pour the first 2 tablespoons of peanut oil in a big saucepan or wok and heat pan over medium-high heat. Scrumble the pork into the hot pan, using a spatula or wooden spoon to break up the pork. Stir the pork until broken up and cooked through. Drain pork and remove from the pan into a bowl.

Heat the pan with the other half of the oil and add all the vegetables. Let sit for a minute in the hot pan and then toss.

Add the pork back into the pan with the fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, honey and red pepper flakes. Toss, toss, toss.

Remove to a bowl and serve with soft butter lettuce leaves.
Scoop the pork mixture into the lettuce leaves and munch away happily.

(Eating with fingers at the dinner table is Good For You, I think I read that in the New England Journal of Medicine.)

Thai Cabbage Salad Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 head Napa Cabbage, sliced as thin as you can make it
2 carrots, chopped into matchsticks (I used a mandoline.)
4 green onions, cut into small pieces.

Dressing Ingredients:
1/4 cup peanut or canola oil
1 teaspoon fish sauce
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon minced/grated ginger
1/2 lime’s juice worth of lime
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pinch Cayenne pepper

Directions:
Pour/place all ingredients into a small jar or Tupperware container and shake shake shake. Pour over cabbage and carrot mixture and toss until well coated.