I have a group of friends who I used to work with that occasionally gets together for some very fine feasting.  This time we had a post Christmas/pre-New Year’s potluck at the Wong Dynasty imperial household located in the fair southern region of Daly City.  When I received the Evite for a potluck,  I just knew that we would be treated to a lavish banquet the likes of which epic poetry is written, if our previous one was any indication…  I shivered with delight when we walked in from the cold winter night into the cozy, warm home filled with the rich smells of roast cooking and garlic and fried foods.  Lots of stuff was going on in the kitchen and we were pointed over to the table where already there were plates of enticing appetizers waiting to be explored.  Garlicky crostini and breaded fried mushrooms.

And Kristina who none of us had seen in years, brought this plate of spicy hot links and Pork ribs from Everett Jones barbecue in Oakland.

JT brought this huge tub of fried chicken wings.

Jaycee and Suzywoo brought a delicious juicy rotisserie chicken that was falling off the bones.

AmyM brought this amazing Octopus dish that was spicy hot and smelled fantastic – just look at all of the garlic slices and all of the fresh looking vegetables.  It was a little too spicy for my tender and overly sensitive tastebuds since a small bite made my lips go on fire.  I had to limit myself to feasting with my eyes and nose on the fresh and colorful extravaganza.  I wish I had talked to her about this dish, I don’t even know what it was, but it looked like it could be Korean…

She also brought this dish that I took a picture of but never even tasted!  How could this be?  When I downloaded the pictures from my camera I remember  seeing this dish and that it reminded me of of beef sukiyaki that my mom used to make.  She said it was a Korean dish and that’s the only information I have about this mysterious dish.

Here is a stunning sight, two roasts sitting side by side.  The one on the left was cooked by host Chris and his wife Amy.  It is a savory pork roast covered with a garlicky crust and the juices were dribbling as his knife cut through the tender flesh.  The one on the right side is pork shoulder that Tim from New Orleans brought.  It jiggled ponderously and the glistening slices of rich fatty meat sported an attractively charred and crisped exterior.

This was served with a bowl of homemade apple sauce that was spicy and tart, a perfect complement to the leaner white meat as well as the rich and unctuous shoulder meat.

Ahhh, caramelized yams with tantalizing spices.

Oven fried potatoes liberally dosed with garlic and fresh herbs

Daisy and P brought a huge platter of Pancit Palabok from Red Ribbon Bakery in Daly City.  I’d heard of pancit, but never one like this… Thin rice vermicelli threads were smothered with a thick gloopy gravy and topped with diced green onions, slices of hard-boiled egg and crushed pork rinds.  Mesmerized, I watched her dose the plate with lemon juice from little packets provided by the bakery which imparted a lemony tartness to the salty and deliciously slurpable noodle dish.

Here’s my plate, the entire bottom is the pancit which was heaped with some of everything…  It was a very heavy plate!

I hardly had room for the dessert that Daisy also brought from Red Ribbon Bakery.  I think she said it was a Sansrival Cake, which translates to cake without rival.  It was a heavy dense cake with layers of lip-smacking, sticky meringue wafers with creamy butter cream icing and crunchy toasted nuts.  It was rich and sweet – almost like eating candy!

Oh and you were wondering what I brought? The infamous Bacon Peanut Caramels and 2 containers of hagen daaz ice cream that I forgot to put in the freezer so it was too melted to serve…  but really, we were so completely stuffed that I think we were secretly glad to be spared another course!