One Time when we were all together in one place...

One time, before we all went pro, we had a little dinner party. Four of us worked and cooked, the other lazy four just enjoyed all our hard work.

Yogurt-Marinated Lamb Kebabs With Lemon Butter

Active Time: 25 min

Total Time: 45 min plus overnight marinating

Servings: 4 to 6

Ingredients

2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt

1 1/2 cups water

2 pounds trimmed boneless leg of lamb, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes

1 1/2 teaspoons pure chile powder, such as ancho

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 large garlic clove, minced

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Kosher salt

Six 1-by-2-inch strips of lemon peel

3 tablespoons ghee or unsalted butter, melted

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Directions

In a large bowl, whisk 1 cup of the yogurt with the water. Add the lamb cubes, toss to coat and refrigerate overnight.

Light a grill. Drain the lamb and pat dry with paper towels. In a large bowl, whisk the remaining 1 cup of yogurt with the chile powder, turmeric, garlic, cayenne and 1 teaspoon of salt. Add the lamb, toss to coat and let stand for 10 to 20 minutes.

On each of 6 metal skewers, thread a piece of the lemon peel. Thread the lamb cubes onto the skewers and season with salt. In a small bowl, combine the ghee with the lemon juice.

Grill the skewers over moderately high heat, turning, until starting to char all over, about 3 minutes. Continue to grill, turning and basting with the ghee and lemon juice, until medium-rare, about 4 minutes longer. Serve the lamb on or off the skewers.

Vietnamese-ish spring rolls

We made this meal based on a recipe we found on the kitchn, but we modified it based on what we happened to have in our fridge. The intern did most of the chopping, and prepared the peanut sauce, I just sliced the tofu, and fried it.

Ingredients:
tofu- extra firm, pressed, and sliced into thin slices, and fried in the wok until golden (we sprinkled sesame seeds on ours)
carrots- sliced and baked for about 10 minutes to soften
lettuce
bell pepper
baked sliced eggplant- sliced into strips, salted and coated with olive oil, baked for about 20 minutes until tender
cilantro
rice wrappers- we buy these at Manila Oriental Market where we like to go on dates to watch people in the stinky meat department buy frogs to eat for dinner. Its very romantic. We recommend you buy your wrappers at a place with frogs.

While eating we realized we wished we had other vegetables in our spring rolls, like bean sprouts or asparagus, and maybe also some grilled chicken too.

The following recipe is mandatory. Blend ingredients in blender or mini Cuisinart (like us).

Peanut Sauce
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon chili oil
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
1 clove minced garlic

Once you've had someone else do all the chopping, slicing, and preparing, have a beer while complaining bitterly of hunger. Then, once they start moving faster, you can open the rice wrapper package, and be careful not to rip it open and hold it upside down so all the wrappers fall out. You're going to eat those, so be careful. Dip the rice wrappers in hot water for a few seconds until the wrappers are moist, then fill with your vegetables and roll. Dip in peanut sauce and enjoy.

I dare you to try and wrap your spring rolls to make them look like what you might get in a restaurant. The intern and I discovered we do not have a future in spring roll wrapping, but they tasted really nice anyway, just like the real thing. I can wrap spring rolls slightly better than the intern. If you are going to photograph your meal, be sure to stage the spring rolls in such a way that no one can see that it looks like the spring rolls were wrapped in the dark by a cat.