Chinese Hot Pot

The Mulias hosted a Chinese Hot Pot at their home last night. We all came hungry and of course, I totally forgot to take a photo before we started eating, so if this table looks a bit sparse, it's my fault ...

If you're not familiar with Chinese Hot Pot, aka Chinese Fondue, it is fabulous and fun. You start out with a pot of broth on a portable stove (at this party we had an electric one with a divided pot, so one side had spicy broth and the other regular broth). You begin with a sauce bowl where you mix soy sauce, rice vinegar, rice wine, different types of chillies, cilantro, green onions, etc. The raw foods are thrown into the pot to cook and once done, we individually "fish" what we want out with a mini strainer (every one have their own) out of the hot pot. The sauce that you made earlier can be used as a dipping sauce for the foods you've fished out or you can add it to your bowl with broth and flavor the dish that way. We had spinach, mushroom, tofu, cabbage, brocolli, salmon, shrimp, chicken, beef, beef/fish/shrimp balls, and two types of noodles. The only things I missed were the calamari and some tofu skin. It was all so yummy!

The dangerous thing with meals like this for me is that you don't realize how much you've eaten until you're done. When you're at the table chatting and laughing and eating, you don't pay attention to how often you're dipping into the hot pot and putting into your mouth. All I can say is ... I'm glad I had pants that stretch and a sweater that covered the belly ... Ahhhh!