L's Chicken Chok!

Merrily turned up at J and L's for dinner. Chicken chok was on the menu. Never say no when they invite you over for dinner. It's wonderful company, and very awesome homecooked food. I'm not hot about chicken, but I lurrrrrve congee. Nobody said that I have to eat the chicken. It's about the chok! The chicken meat was boiled separately and placed in a serving bowl.

Since this was a sort of potluck, we all brought something. There were damn good smoked pork ribs and pulled pork from Decker Barbecue, roast duck and the accompanying eggs and tau kwa and such. If chicken chok wasn't sufficiently meaty, people could go to town with the pork and duck. Oof! J and A have been experimenting with kombucha and found a balance they like, and brought three bottles in different flavors for us to try. It was good. Loved it as an aperitif. The hosts are always generous with their wine. They brought out easy reds to go with the meal. It was amazing how none of us asked for gin or whisky that night. Hurhurhurhur. Before we switched over to a new bottle of Rioja, I saved a last glass of Merlot to go with that delicious Beemster cheese at the end of the meal. J and L's Christmas tree is up, and so are their Christmas decorations. Friends, laughter, and good food. What lovely Christmassy vibes, and these, make the season blessed.

L offered me a taste of the congee bubbling in the pot. Mmmmmm. The almost-finished pot without any sort of garnish was already perfect. It was full of umami- all them dried oysters and scallops. She blanched squid and fried up spring onions and shallots, and saved the shallot oil to go along with the chok.

You know how fussy I am about congee, and how much I love a good thick bowl. L's iteration of century egg chok is on point. Her congee was so delicious that I had 3.5 bowls of it. Yup, totally not shy. I lurked in the kitchen, and was this close to scooping the pot clean. This giant pot fed 10 people who each had two or three bowls of congee. What a magic porridge pot!

This rainy weather is great for hot food items. Lots of curries, stews, soups and such that I love. And most of them all, congee. Hahahaha. Congee is not Teochew muay hor. I'm not interested in the spread that is typical of Teochew muay or Taiwanese porridge; I'm especially iffy about its watery rice or whatever that passes off as 'congee' in the meal. I HATE THIN CONGEE. I don't need to wait for rainy weather to aid my appetite—I can eat congee every day, for all meals. To me, congee is never viewed as 'sick people's food' because I've always had wonderful homecooked congee all my life. Good congee doesn't just appear when I'm ill.