RainyDayChefs

Saturday, August 19th, 2017

​

This is our 4th cookout! We chose to make yet another dinner this time, because at Friends of Youth we are only allowed to stay back and serve if we sign up for dinner.  This time we made an Asian themed dinner. Ria got to attend a summer cooking camp where she learnt a few nice Asian dishes.  Our menu included Chicken Fried Rice, Ramen noodles salad and Tapioca pudding for dessert.  

  Nitya was very organized this time. She reviewed our inventory, put together an ingredients list for shopping, and we were ready to shop! Safeway had most of the ingredients we were looking for and we decided to go there first.  Ben, the butcher at Safeway Redmond helped us immensely by cutting the chicken pieces to bite sized pieces. It saved us a lot of time from trying to chop 9lbs of chicken breasts at home. A special thank you to Ben! Ben's willingness to help is a fine example of how small kindness can make a big difference! 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

One of our other favorite stores, Trader Joe's, where we shop for organic groceries, was celebrating it's 50 year anniversary. We just felt like taking a picture with all of their decoration to remember this moment.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 We handed our cooking like pros this time. We split our cooking over 2 days and reduced our cooking time from 4 hours to 2 1/2 hours! Here's how we did it: We made Tapioca Pudding on the night before. It had an amazing aroma and we succumbed to our temptation by having a sample. It was delicious! For the main course, Chicken Fried Rice, our meat expert, Ria, prepared the Chicken. We bought pre-cut vegetables to save us some time. Along with our main dish, we made Ramen Noodle Salad, thanks to Vrushali Auntie's recipe. We split up our jobs so that Ria cooked the chicken, I stir-fried the noodles, while Nitya prepared the vegetables for the main course and salad. 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Ria and Nitya went to serve at the Friends of Youth shelter. There was a small crowd this time and we ended up with leftovers. It turned out perfectly since there was a meal donation shortage the next day, they gladly stored the leftovers in the fridge. 

​

We would like to thank Rama and Goplas again for sponsoring 2 months in a row! Thank you for your generosity and committed support. Your donations are making an immediate and direct impact to the ones in need! -Neha