Tonight we enjoyed one of my favorite meals: Chinese hot pot! It is basically a Chinese fondue with steaming broth and a variety of sauces. On a frosty night, there is nothing better than friends and family gathered around the tableside pots where the cherishing of flavors is only highlighted by the conversations that weave in and out of cooking and serving. Here are some of the goodies ladled out of our hot pot tonight: thinly sliced chicken and beef, shrimp, scallops, squid, tofu, portobello and enoki mushrooms, bean thread noodles, spinach, napa cabbage, fish and meat balls. Must-have sauces: Sha Cha sauce, hot bean sauce, peanut sauce, sriracha, Chinese black vinegar, and sweet soy sauce. Some more tips can be found here, and here. Though perhaps an acquired taste, hot pot just might become your new favorite way to spend a wintry evening.
Our friends, Peter and Katy are hooked.
My brother, his wife Abby, and daughter, Calla joined us as well. The "sauce tray" in the foreground.
Judah likes it too!