Birthday Dinner

I just knew exactly what I wanted to eat on my special day. Little Szechuan in St.Paul offers one of my all time favorite meals, which is the Szechuan Spicy Tofu. After being seated out waitress immediately recognized us from the visit last Fall - "aren't you the North Dakota couple?" - and served us the best food ever.

Fried Szechuan Tofu - for those who can handle a little spice!
Cumin Lamb was delicious and savory. Definitely on my list of "food to order again".
Pork shreds, shrimp, cabbage, tofu and spinach in pork broth was recommended by my friend Boyd and became Jeff's favorite. I concentrated my eating efforts on the Szechuan Tofu, yum!

Chef Jeff Part 2 - Pork Wantons with Hawaiian Sauce

After working a long day at the hospital, I came home last night to very wonderful smells pulling me into the kitchen. To my pleasant surprise, chef Jeff was once again doing serious work, this time creating wantons from the leftover pulled pork. What a great use of on hand materials! He also made more Hawaiian sauce from scratch using 2 tablespoons of canola oil, 2 tablespoons chopped fresh garlic, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger and the leftover juice mixture from cooking the pork.
I wonder what is in the plans for tomorrow night's dinner???

Wrapping pork meat in wanton skins (you can get that in any grocery store refrigerated section), then frying them in olive or canola oil.
Just waiting to be devoured!

Little Szechuan

I thought I knew Chinese food. That's until I ended up in this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant at 422 University Ave W, St Paul, MN. I also used to think that I didn't like Chinese. Oh, was I wrong!
Mapo Tofu, Jeff's choice. Although it was delicious, I think Jeff makes it better!
Jelly fish and noodles with pork for an appetizer. Jelly fish had a consistency of... well, I don't know! It tasted exactly what I thought it would taste like!
My favorite dish, Szechuan Tofu. It was perfect. And spicy! Definitely the star of the night.