Appetizer:
Cole Slaw with Homemade Dressing
Ok…I cheated on the slaw mix. I wasn't gonna spend like an hour chopping up different types of veggies when I could get a bag for $1.99. The dressing, however, was made from scratch. Miracle whip, oil, vinegar, sugar, salt…whisked together and mixed it into the slaw mix and refrigerated for at least 2 hours. A tad sweet for my taste, which was what most people said on the recipes (and I even cut back on the sugar already). Not my favorite recipes but it passed.
Main Course:
Oven Baked Baby Back Ribs
Recipe courtesy of Jia Jia Chan. She raved about it so much that I had to make it. Bought baby back ribs from Costco. I rinsed it and patted it dry on Saturday night and let it soaked in the Lee Kum Kee Char Siu Sauce. Sunday evening I took it out and baked it for 50 minutes in the oven at 350*. Brushed with honey and baked for another 10 minutes. Came out to perfection. The meat was tender and juicy. I think the boys expected it to be like Armadillo ribs but it tasted more like char siu ribs. It wasn't fall off the bones tender yet but it was still very good. Great recipe Jia Jia!
Side Dishes:
Corn on the Cob - nothing special, just corn
Mac and Cheese
I went a tad overboard with the cheese….This was rather a unique recipe. It called for cheddar, cottage cheese and sour cream as the sauce. The recipe had raving reviews so I had to try it. I kind of messed up on the porpotion of everything but oh well. =) It came out just ok….I was never a fan of cottage cheese but it did make the dish pretty cheesy and saucy. Second day was actually even better!
Dessert:
Chocolate Cupcakes with Flamin' Strawberries
It was definitely my favorite part of the night! I found this recipe through Jia Jia and I knew I had to do it for Jer's bday. I made the cupcakes (which were totally fluffy and light) ahead of time along w/ the frosting. I hollowed out the strawberries and filled it up with Absolut Vanilla Vodka. We lit it on fire using the lighter, and the alcohol lit up inside the strawberries with a blue flame! I actually tried it in the afternoon but the whole house was so bright that I couldn't see any flames. I almost burned my finger coz it was so crazy hot too. When we did it again at night and turned off the light, it was soooo cool to see the blue flames dancing on top of the cupcakes! Although the flames were short-lived (about 30 secs or so), it was soo cool to watch. Jer tried to take a Vodka shot from the strawberry and it wasn't such a good idea…. =p
It was supposed to look like this:
But since I don't have a fancy camera, it looked like this from my kitchen (hahahaha):
I was too busy with the prep work that I didn't get a chance to take many pictures but it was a wonderful night spent with the people I love and with good food.
Happy Birthday sweetie!!!
