Last week I met 3 Swedish students that are here in Hangzhou to study a semester at the local university. I’m an extrovert (I’m sure most of you figured THAT out by now!) and the young man in the group was wearing a Miami Dolphins cap, so of course, being the Dolfan that I am, I said hello! By the end of the conversation I had invited Jacob, Diana and Hanna to my flat for dinner on Friday. Tatiana, one of my colleagues, also joined us.
On the menu:
Roast (this one was a prime rib hunk of love!)
Spaghetti squash (that turned out to be pumpkin, lol!)
Roasted vegetables – Onions, yam (which ended up being Taro) and carrots **TARO IS *NOT* LOW CARB… just so you know.
Fresh salad
I cooked the roast for 3.5 hours in the toaster oven and it was PERFECT… I had to fight the urge to not consume it before the guests arrived! The meat fell apart with the fork. In the container with the roast I added the onions, taro and carrots.
I also put the “spaghetti” squash I cut in half, cut size down in a different pan and added the balance of the onions, taro and carrots and baked in the toaster oven (after the roast was done) for 50 minutes. This is when I realized that the “spaghetti” squash wasn’t and went to plan B 😀
Plan B was removing the flesh from the pumpkin, mashing it, adding in 4 pkts of Splenda, a Tbs of ghee and a tsp of cinnamon… OH MY GOODNESS was this yummy!
I threw the salad together and welcomed my guests… we had a lovely dinner! Here’s the pics!
After everyone left I did a quick clean up and then went for a short 3 km run around the block… perfect way to end the evening!
Hunk of prime rib love… Mmm! You should always brown each side of the meat before roasting in the oven.
Just browning this made the house smell delish!
Carrots, celery, taro and onion… perfect compliments to a roast!
Seasonings… keep it simple!
Taro in all it’s purply glory… It’s quite starchy, but has a lot of bang for it’s buck… it’s full of fiber and tastes a bit nutty.
Ready for the toaster oven!
My Un-spaghetti squash… it was yummy anyways!
Falling apart with a fork!
The veggies after I removed from the roasting pan… Nom!
Making Mashed Pumpkin
Mixed Salad… I love adding purple cabbage for color and taste!
Dinner ready for the guests!
Hanna, Tatiana, Diana and Me… Lovely dinner companions!
One of the awesome things about living abroad is the people you meet. We have choices in life. We can go about our business and walk around with our eyes averted or we can keep our eyes open and look for new friendships. I choose the latter. I have met so many amazing people from all over the world these past 4 years living abroad… treasures, every one of them and lots of stories I have of my journey, as I head back home for good in 10 days.
Do you extend yourself to strangers?
Ciao!
p.s. added a pic of my Blue Sparkly Notebook to the last post 🙂
Flamidwyfe's Blog 
Yum, your roast looks wonderful 😉
It was amazing! Having the leftover for lunch right this minute!
Delicious! Roast dinner is my favourite dukan meal! I’m amazed what you can cook in a toaster oven! I extend myself to strangers all the time, in my job as a Ta we always have visitors to the school, when I travelled round the world I had many adventures with new people- I love it!
I think it’s one of the advantages to traveling alone!
And I must admit, in looking forward to a REAL oven, LOL 🙂
You are inspiring me to be more outgoing!! I have noticed that I often just go about my business and don’t observe the world and people around me…that is going to change! Fun meeting new folks. And the roast looks yummy.
My world has been tremendously blessed by people I’ve just said ‘hi’ to. Lifelong relationships formed with people all over the world. Start small and go from there… I’m looking forward to meeting you, Sandra and Anna and that happened because we reached out 🙂
You are so fortunate to have the opportunities open to you. Your meal looked very inviting and I’m sure your new friends will tell their families and friends at home how an American in China invited them to dinner.
Thanks, Mom… They were wonderful people to share dinner with 🙂
Lucky college kids to find some great home cooking 🙂 I love your openness Sandi, it is a testament to how to live fully and engage in LIFE!
*anna
Thanks, Anna… lucky me for running into them, they are delightful! They hiked with me last Sunday, 5+km mountain hike, much more fun with friends!
Thanks for sharing! I was just telling my boyfriend I wanted to try making a roast! We’re gonna try this!
You’re welcome! Let me know how it turns out… I think roast makes the house smell so yummy!