A visit to the  Asian grocery store in Milnerton’s China Town inspired me to try and cook an authentic Chinese Red Cooked Beef  dish for date night.  We do not eat Chinese food that often – the American Chinese versions of chow mein and chop suey that you get in most Chinese restaurants here does not appeal to us.  As is often the case, if you want to get close to any authentic ethnic cuisine you have to cook it yourself.

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We recently had the in-laws over for an 8 course Italian style dinner to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary.  I originally wanted to cook Braciole (a type of roulade) as a main course.  I made Braciole 3 Ways (with 3 different fillings) last year and it was delicious.   Adrienne really wanted to braai.  We compromised and went for a South African/Italian style fusion dish by cooking a rump steak with a braciole style filling  over the coals.

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We have not had proper Mexican food in ages. Most “Mexican” restaurants around here is decidedly more Tex Mex – load of tacos and chilli poppers but sadly not a  Mole or Recado Rojo sauce in sight.  Not that we don’t enjoy Tex Mex  occasionally but it doesn’t come close to the real deal.  I made  Chicken Mole Poblano  and Adrienne made Achiote Chicken and Ancho Pork a while back. Since then our  Ancho (dried Poblano) and Guajillo (dried MIrasol) chillies have been sitting in the back of the food cupboard. To make up for this travesty I decided to make 3 main dishes for our Mexican date night.

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