Asian Barbeque Sauce (Page 899)

RECIPE #848

• Date: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 -- 9pm
• Location: Bloomington, IN
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Recipe Rating: A-
  

I chose this recipe because it met the 15-minutes-or-less criterion I am using these days. This barbecue sauce was easy to make. I cooked some sugar in a saucepan until it was a deep caramel color, then I added hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, fish sauce, soy sauce, honey, shallots, garlic, minced ginger, and Chinese five-spice powder. I cooked it until the caramel dissolved, and then let it cool. While I was making this I thought of many delicious possible uses for it. I'm sure one could do fantastic things to chicken, or pork, or shrimp, with this fine sauce. But I am all about the no-fuss food lately, so I looked fussy preparation in the face and I turned the other way. What was the least fussy way I could think of to use this sauce: broiled tofu. I put some slabs of tofu under the broiler, basted with this sauce, and it was delicious. I love tofu. I love meat too, of course, but tofu is near and dear to my heart. This sauce served my tofu well. The sauce was quite sweet, but the sweetness was balanced well by the saltiness from the soy and fish sauces. The rice vinegar gave it a nice acidity and the remaining ingredients contributed to a lovely, deep flavor. If you are looking for a sauce with some Asian flare to it, this one is a winner.

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Wedding planning is officially in full swing. That's not to say that I am actually doing much planning at the moment -- we decided to have a very small, very low-key wedding -- but I am trying to do some of the minimal planning that needs to get done! Today I went to Indianapolis to meet with the woman who is making my dress (yes, I am having my dress made -- it was a scary decision in a way, but I think it is going to turn out well). She's a fun person, and I think she understands very well what I want in a wedding dress -- something fun, different, and not too formal. On the drive up to Indy, I did some menu planning in my head. I am still undecided about one of the choices for one of the courses, but other than that, I have a good idea of what the food will be like!

The wedding is going to be in May, in Bloomington. We had originally planned to have a relatively big wedding -- with 150 guests or so -- but we looked at the list and felt totally overwhelmed. So we decided to down-size! We cut a lot of good friends off the list, which was sad, but I am much more excited about our small wedding than I was about the idea of having a big one! The wedding is going to be so small, in fact, that we are having the ceremony in our apartment! That sounds crazy, I know, but we have a really beautiful, open, well-lit space with hardwood floors and high ceilings. We love it so much, it just seemed perfect to be married here. The reception will be at a lovely restaurant, just around the corner from where I live. The food there is excellent, and I trust them completely to create a wedding dinner I will love (which is saying a lot -- I am usually deeply skeptical about wedding food!). Then there will be dancing, and other typical wedding fun! We booked out a whole bed and breakfast for the weekend (also only a couple blocks from my apartment) so that everyone can stay together, eat breakfast together, etc... I think it's going to be fun! I am really excited! There's not much more major planning left to do -- which is great! My plan is to just relax and enjoy the party!