It’s been a while since we had scallops around here. Or, at least, it’s been a while since I blogged about them.
We do eat dinner seven days a week, but there are those days when I just don’t have anything to say. Strange, considering I never shut up, but you know what I mean. Some days are just uneventful.
Today’s uneventful day was spent gathering up stuff to send off to my siblings. Somehow, I ended up with a lot of miscellaneous china pieces and different tchotchke’s from my grandparents, uncle, and great aunts. I think I just happened to be around when my father was clearing stuff out – pulling things out of his trash heap saying you can’t throw that away! I did not inherit my pack-rat gene from him…
We’ve used most of it over the years – platters, bowls, decanters, lots of decorative stuff from my great aunt who traveled the world – but it’s time to see this stuff move on to another generation – we’re not using it as we once did and it’s a shame to see it just gathering dust. It’s also a pain to keep dusting it.
I set up a web page with photos of everything and let them choose what they wanted. None of it is serious Antiques Road Show caliber, but a lot of it is also a bit too good to just drop off at the local Goodwill. And there is some family history involved…
Getting things boxed up and mailed meant I had a china cabinet that could be completely rearranged – so I completely rearranged it. Somehow, it doesn’t seem like I have as much empty space as I should…
One thing that did see the light of day was a set of dishes I really like – and had been buried for a while. They’re the dishes I used, tonight. We bought them at Sur La Table in Seattle 10 years ago and last year when we cleared out a half-dozen different china sets, they made the cut. We’ve both been dish and china fanatics over the years, but at some point, reality strikes. We’re simply not going to keep using them, so it’s better for them to see a new home.
Back to scallops…
It took me more time to cook the rice than it did to make the scallops and bok choy. For the scallops, I seared them in a hot pan with just a thing coating of olive oil, flipped them, and added soy sauce, chili paste, garlic, and a splash of rice wine. Done.
The bok choy went into a hot skillet – also coated with a thing olive oil film – and seared. Then I added a pat of butter, black vinegar, a bit of minced ginger, and crushed red chili flakes.
Dinner was served.