Post 196: Come Dine with me round 2, Scallops and Crunchy Rice Duck Noodles

Sunday night was the second round of our in-house Come Dine with Me competition, which was VegBoxBoy junior's evening. We clearly played very nicely, as it's taken me until tuesday evening to recover sufficiently to blog about it.

We were asked to eat in the dining room, either at an effort for sophistication or so that we couldn't see the armageddon being unleashed in the kitchen. The side effect of this is that the light was not so good in there and so, sadly all the photos are terrible. In a tiz advice of smaller serving dishes were sought as apparently the the scallops were going to come particularly small. So - here they came:

In a ramekin. Scallops with garlic, coriander and ginger. Knowing that I would be the person who like scallops the most, I got an extra one; making 4. They tasted good and were well cooked - cooked through but not so much as to go rubbery. You might note the christmas themed placemats..... you can tell how often he normally sets the table.

Unannounced on the menu, was a little in-between course garlic bread. This was rammed with garlic: and all the better for it.

Next up, after a slight delay enlivened with some comedy dancing was duck with stir-fry noodles with crunchy rice topping.

You might note that there's some soggyness on my placemat. By this stage, I was having ever such a nice time and there had been an incident with some under-chilled prosecco; through which I forged manfully onwards.

The photo, especially for this dish doesn't so the dish justice. The duck was soft, moist and not at all greasy. The crunchy rice was pretty interesting, very different. Not unpleasant, although I'm not too sure I'll be rushing to make it again. There had been intended to be a sauce with this, but he drained it over the sink instead of over a bowl. I felt the dish didn't really need the sauce; I'd had enough as it was. Unlike the noodles; I could really have done with a few more.

Last up and again unannounced were rice crispy cakes. Just the one. Can't go wrong with one of those (although it could've been improved with a mini-egg on the top)

Scores to be revealed later, but we played very nicely. Next up is Mrs VegBox's Special Kebab night. I'm slightly concerned that she may take advantage of the nice weather for a BBQ - a sure fire vote winner!