Family Eggplant

Did you hear me mention during the previous umpteenth billion times that I love it when the Cousin is over? It blows my mind how I saw her as the older/smarter Stanford girl only once every few years, and now not seeing her for the two weeks she was in Houston was like an eternity.

Well, this past weekend has been full of all sorts of fun. Today, the Cousin and I were able to catch Kiki's Delivery Service, as part of an ongoing Miyazaki film festival in Berkeley. As if I needed any more reason to be obsessed with this place? The movie is SOOOOO good by the way, so if you haven't seen it, or any other Miyazaki film, then stop reading this and go discovery the meaning of happiness! Go!

Right before the movie, the Cousin and I squeezed in an Insanity session (Woot!!) and then needed to make a super quick dinner without being late to the movie. Thank goodness for qieeee ziiiiiiii (smiles!!) #soasian

This eggplant dish has been a staple dinner item in my household for as long as I can remember. So when the Moms bought me a ton of eggplant from 99 Ranch Market last weekend, I couldn't wait to recreate such a homey dish for myself in THIS home of mine.

^"steaming" our eggplant

Using the instructions sent by the Mom, we were able to whip dinner together VERY fast. The only difference here was we didn't use meat, but substituted PAO DO FU (READ: BEST.THING.EVER!!!!!!!!!!! LIKE AVOCADOS?! YES, LIKE AVOCADOS!) That ish is the bees knees because the texture absorbs aaaaaall the flavor into soggy, chewy sponges of flavortasticdeliciousness. That sounded grosser than it actually is, I swear...!

Oh, btdubs, sponge = esponja en espanol. FUN FACT OF THE DAY!

Where was I?

Oh yes, dinner. It was yums. Slightly too salty, but yums. The flavor was quite up to par with what we're used to at home, and also got the Cousin's seal of approval.

I now have one more eggplant and half a bag of pao dou fu left. I think we all know what I'll be having for dinner this week...<3

Fun fact of the day 2 (I am just chalk-full of fun today! You are very welcome): A part of me kind of secretely wants to be an eggplant for Halloween. Just sayin' #iknowiamcool

Difficulty: 3 (1 with the Cousin helping me bai qie zi)

Willingness to make again: 4evur man, tradition is tradition!
Over-all: 8
Notes:
1. just too salty this time!
2. ADD. AAAAAALL ZEE PAO. DU. FU.