riannagalvez

02.08.14: Moshi Moshi!

Hello, dolls!! 🙂 Happy Sunday!! It has been another exhausting work weekend and I am so glad I will be embracing Monday in less than 12 hours!!!! So my mind is preoccupied with anything relating to the big W next year…and I am guessing it is going to be like this for the next 9 months (AAAAH save me). I promised myself not to be the capricious about the entire thing, but I guess it is common nature you know? To sleep with one thought in the head and wake up with a brand new one the next day. So maybe, it is safe to say that I am driving myself…nuts. Haha

Anyway, so I was able to cross off something on my list and that is to let my favorite girls know about their importance throughout the entire process, and their participation. I wish I could have asked them personally, but yeah…my life is so awesome right now, God reserved something exciting for me instead. Since today is family day, let me share with you a post about the girls that I consider family.

I hosted a pre-Valentine’s day dinner for the girls. And as usual, we can’t not have a theme. I chose Japanese cuisine so I can practice on my sushi skillZ (yes with a Z haha) AND so we can play around with fun outfits..

We’ve decided to go for “Japanese Street Style” as our peg for the night, you will see our outfits later on but yeah…it was so much fun to be extra weird with my favorite girls! <3

Prep Time: 

Before I move on with the food and our outfits, let me start by sharing the fun I had while preparing the Japanese dishes that I presented that night.

Chicken x Pork Gyozas

I enjoy making gyoza/dumplings. To me, it’s pretty therapeutic to just be in one corner and fill each wrapper with ground flavorful meat. And oh, I do not believe in small batches. When I do such, I always end making a huge batch for everyone! Lol

Ground Pork and Scallion

 

Ground Chicken, Mushroom (for a meatier taste) and scallion.

 

Pleats for the pork gyoza

…and a simple single fold for the chicken gyoza.

Had to do this so I can determine which is which.

Chicken Gyozas all lined up

 

We are ready!!!

California Maki in the making

Tuna and Cucumber Roll

I thought I was going to have a hard time, just like the first time I tried to make sushi long before my Culinary school days. But I am so happy that I still had it in me. My rolls came out nicely, good enough to put out on the dining table for everyone to see…and enjoy!

 

Homemade iced tea with fresh mint

And it’s sushi time!!!

I take hosting dinners seriously. And though I know I am far from being amazing, learning the basics and doing things simply will help me get there.

Gyoza

Loved the crispy bottom!! YUMMS

Chicken Teriyaki

A must for my siblings when having Japanese food. My sister liked my sauce, so I knew it was good. She is a picky eater and she knows her teriyaki sauce haha

 

Kani Salad

Cause I gotta have my salad! Lol

Kasutera

Matcha and Lemon Japanese Sponge Cake

I couldn’t think of any other flavor to serve as our dessert other than matcha. I had 250g of amazing Matcha powder straight from Japan that I wanted to use before I left MNL so yeah, I just had to “kasutera it”.

Anyway, I spent a good amount of time doing this from scratch. I like to challenge myself,especially with desserts since I am more inclined to Culinary. I could barely feel my arms after whipping the batter, it was exhausting and gratifying. I am so happy it turned out delicious!!

Sushi…sushi…sushi!!!

I made tuna tartare but I forgot to serve it! Uggggh…anyway….

tuna,avocado and mango roll

 

 

 

California Roll

Some of my favorite girls <3

Our outfits were not as eccentric like Japanese locals from Tokyo but we put a little effort in going out of our comfort zones. Especially Chelsey and Diane who looked like those cute Harajaku icons when they walking in my house.

 

 Can’t wait to have lunch with this girl that I miss so much!!!

My take on “Japanese Street Style”

Okay, so days before our dinner I posted an album on Facebook with a lot of pegs. I did some research and some were just not doable for us with such a small amount of time. Common denominator for JSS is the mix of colors, and how daring they could be when pairing patterns as well. So this was mine… candy colored dress, paired with a soft pink lace tights and a pair of brown wedges. Hahaha I’ll do better next time.

xx

R <3