Shrimp Dumpling Soup

Stuff I Cook

I woke up early today and decided to clean the refrigerator. It could be argued that there are far better ways to spend a day-off than hunch and scrub cold surfaces off white, crumbly things which I can only hope are cheese curds, but cleaning is the only way I can take stock of what I’ve been buying. And true enough, I just discovered that we have three opened jars of mustard, 14 different kinds of cheese in various stages of freshness and decay, and dog ice cream. Someone has been buying various brands of dog ice cream that has started to occupy valuable real estate in my freezer.

It’s a cold day today so I thought of making some sort of soup. I really want to try making xiaolongbao (soup dumpling) but I’m too lazy. It takes a lot of time and skill. And if you’ve been scrubbing for almost an hour, those kind of dishes are a no-go. So I decided to make shrimp dumpling soup. The fact that I discovered that i have 3 bags of shrimps in the freezer may or may not have come into play in making that decision.

To make the dumpling, simply wrap a shrimp with some chopped ginger. I don’t do fancy wraps, i just want to make sure it won’t open up . One pound of shrimp should be enough for a family f 2-4.

For the broth, boil the shrimp heads and carcass in a cup of water for about 5 minutes drain, set aside. Chop some onions and ginger. Boil about 3 cups of chicken broth then add the onions and ginger. when boiled add the shrimp broth.

Add the dumpling one by one, slowly, without crowding. Stir gently and cook for about 4 minutes. Take picture. Enjoy.

Easy. Simple. One less bag of shrimp crowding my freezer. More room for dog ice cream. #winning

La Villa

I have been to the South of France as often as I’ve been to Paris (3x). It is that beautiful. With a beautiful city, almost always, comes fantastic food. La Villa features French Riviera cuisine. Two weeks ago, they featured their brand-spanking new chef, Kevin d’Andrea. He brought with him authentic creations that brings me back to many good memories that I spent in Nice, Cannes, Eze and St. Tropez.

Here’s a throwback pic from 20 pounds ago. Behind me is the City of Nice and the French Riviera

Wine list is fantastic. We got ourselves a Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
Good selections on their cheese plate
Lobster Linguine, homemade pasta, roasted whole lobster
Burgundy Black Truffle Risotto, Arborio rice cooked with fresh vegetable stock and melted Parmesan cheese
Truffle Mashed Potatoes
Poached Pear – it had some sort of caramel filling and sits on top of a very light and crispy cookie
Banoffee Pie

Overall, the food was overwhelmingly good. The service was excellent. Pricing surprisingly not French-like. I remember eating at this exact location but it was a different French restaurant then. The service was atrocious (although the food was good). I’m glad that a better restaurant took its place.

The manager mentioned that they will be expanding their wine list pretty soon, all within $88! She believes that a good wine-pairing is important for a good dining experience and did not like price to be a deterrent. I love that kind of progressive thinking. We’ll be back soon!!!