Last night we went to a birthday party at which extremely loud karaoke singing was the big event, or the only event really, because no conversation was remotely possible.
Now karaoke. Who invented it and What Were They Thinking? Did it seem like a good idea to invite people to massacre other people's favorite songs? I guess it was marketable anyway since karaoke shortly conquered the world.
At last night's event, the 'funniest thing' was this: if you don't know the song, just squawk the lyrics in loud 'funny' voice as the words light up. I came home with my ears ringing and regretting the conversations I could maybe have had. Call me an old grumpus, but I had awful karaoke nightmares all night long.
So this morning to recover I made gyoza for the first time. I had bought some 'pot sticker wraps' last week, hoping they would work in the little gyoza squeezer I named "Jaws". Sure enough they were perfect. I chopped up Savoy cabbage, pork roast leftovers, ginger, and green onion; added a splash of mirin and one of soy sauce; pepper and a tad of corn starch.
I made a 'sealing paint' of one tablespoon corn starch, one tablespoon water. Then I went to work making little pillows of goodness! What fun. Here's is my pile of gyoza fresh from Jaws:
By sheer luck, I had almost exactly the right amount of filling for this pack of wraps. Since this will never happen to me again as long as I live, I took a picture:
I froze half and cooked up the other half for today's lunch or dinner. Really I just wanted to cook them & see how they tasted! They are terrific.
As you can see I got carried away frying them and some are too dark. These will be the first to go!
Success; I almost can't hear the ghastly karaoke caterwauling any more. When the song "YMCA" came up, everyone sang and danced. The host of the party had a philosophical moment: "Isn't this an interesting statement about human nature? The stupidest song is the one that makes everyone happy". That song does have some strange power over people, myself included.
Happy weekend everyone!
Looks yummy! I have a 'Jaws" too but I was horrified to find that I can't find him. I made goyza last weekend - without jaws I ended up making little hat shapes. They were good but not as cute as Jaws makes them and they took longer to hand fold as well. I really need to unpack those last boxes of kitchen stuff I guess.
ReplyDeleteOh I hope you find Jaws! I tried a couple by hand and while "interesting" shapes, they weren't nearly as charming and also didn't hold together as well. What do you like to use for filler? I found a recipe for tofu and ginger kind of crumbled together that sounds nice; I might try this next.
ReplyDeleteI did go through 2 boxes last night, no Jaws. :( I have small hopes that maybe he lives in the very back of the big utensil drawer. sob!
ReplyDeleteThe last ones I made I used left over chicken, chopped up with green onion and added soy sauce and a bit of asian flavored bbq sauce. I tend to use left overs for the insides. Might look for a vegetable filler next.
Hee hee! JAWS! He likes to nom on foods and turn them into gyoza! :)
ReplyDeleteAvie, I'm going to try to paint eyeballs on Jaws. This will no doubt result in a hideous mess.
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