Random Pizza

Next time I make a batch of dough I'll do a making of the pizza post. Just the end product this time.

Sort of a jambalaya pizza. Cut too many peppers, onions, celery for jambalaya so threw them on this pizza with some andouille sausage and a kale and spinach mix.

Hula Girl Bar & Grill

I'm always up for trying out new restaurants, so jumped at the chance to check out Hula Girl Bar and Grill located in Shirlington. Hula Girl features traditional Hawaiian dishes and a modern Hawaiian cocktail list. They started as a food truck and now have their own brick and mortar store.

I ordered Today's Catch because the catch of the day was ... shark! The waitress said the shark is similar to swordfish. Dinner dishes come with two sides so I got the Mac Salad and the Kitchen Sink Fried Rice with Char Sui & Spam.

I didn't love the shark, but as I ate it I also remembered that I'm not a huge fan of swordfish. So if you like swordfish you would probably like this dish. The sides were good, nothing amazing but I did finish them all. We also ordered as appetizers the Lomi Salmon Poke and the Waialua Root Beer Sticky Ribs (which can also be ordered as an entree). The ribs were good, but the Lomi Salmon Poke was delicious. I want a plate of that to myself.


They also have an interesting cocktail menu. I had a sip of the Say Pineapple 5x Fast which was delicious. Pineapple infused rum, roasted pineapple puree, sparkling pineapple wine, pineapple-sugar rim, pineapple air. N thought the drink was advertising it would make you 5 times as fast, but depending on the amount of alcohol in it, it might easily make you 5 times slower. :) Aloha!

Dumplings

Dumpling making time! Stocking up the freezer. I love freezers.


Dumpling Dough - Made from just flour and water, amazing! When the dough is ready, take some of the dough and roll it into about a 1 in wide log and then cut into even sized pieces. I find it best to make a small batch of wrappers and then fill and wrap them one by one. Laying them out like I did in the above left pictures dried out the wrappers and made them harder to seal. I learned that is not the best way to do it. Also use flour to keep the wrappers from sticking to each other and place a piece of plastic wrap over the dough and wrappers to keep them from drying out.

Wrapper rolling - Roll out a basic circle shape then hold the wrapper in one hand and with the other hand roll the rolling pin from edge to center rotating the wrapper after each roll. This helps make wrappers that are thicker in the center and thinner at the edges.

Pork Dumpling filling - I like this recipe, though I didn't add the cilantro or ginger as I'm not a fan of either. I also made a second batch where I used chicken and shrimp instead of pork. Experiment and make your own filling! I had a few extra wrappers at the end so I rummaged in my fridge and made a few grilled chicken and hot habanero cheese dumplings.

Dumpling folding - This is a classic way to seal the dumplings. You can fold them in any manner that works for you, just make sure that the edges are sealed so the juices don't come out when you cook them. Also if you make different fillings you could use a different fold for each filling to differentiate them.