Shabu Shabu For the Win

Shabu Shabu is one of those cuisines I have wanted to try for a long time. There is actually a sushi place in La Jolla, right by my house that does it. Unfortunately, it is extremely expensive. So when the President of my company, George, said that he and his family do it at home for all his family parties/events my ears perked up instantly. Apparently, so did the rest of my co-workers...because our Quarterly Meeting was promptly scheduled to take place at his house. YESSS!

Fast forward a few weeks, and I'm on my way to the O.C. (I may or may not have been singing a certain theme song whilst traveling up the 5) for our quarterly meeting and SHABU SHABU! It was a beautiful day, and I loooove driving along the highway with the ocean on my left. So pretty.

The meeting was good. Lots of projections, goals and analysis. Feeling pumped about the next few months. But really, let's get to the heavy stuff.

Shabu Shabu!

George and his wife Alice went beyond anything I might have expected. They mean business. Seriously. They purchased their own meat slicer so that they could slice the steak to the appropriate thinness. These people do not mess around.

Take a look at the spread.

Just Another Friday Work Lunch...

Those silver pots? Individual burners and pots for everyone. Yes.  They have purchased not only their own industrial meat slicer, but they have an army of burners and pots.

For those of you not in the know, Shabu Shabu is Japanese cuisine made up of very thinly sliced beef (usually ribeye) that is dipped into boiling water that is flavored with veggies and other spices. A quick "swish swish" and you remove the now cooked beef, dip it into some ponzu sauce and voila! You can also do this with various fish and other meats. Veggies are good too.

Everyone had their own platter. From left to right: shrimp, fish balls and sliced ribeye.

It's sliced very thin. But don't be fooled - there is a lot of meat here!

Uncooked. But not for long...

The shrimp were ENORMOUS!

Veggies for our pots.

In the mix: mushrooms, corn, carrots, cabbage.

George was an excellent host. Walking around the table and instructing us all on how to proceed. He also filled our cups with cold sake :)

It's delicious AND fun to eat

George's kids, Justin and Serena joined in on the fun. These kids are experts! They wasted no time...

Ain't no thang. 

Me however, not so much....

I'm concentrating very hard here.

The meat cooks almost instantly. The shrimp I let stew for about two minutes/until it turned nice and pink.

Taking the plunge!

A "swish swish" later.

Into the ponzu! (Ponzu was flavored with green onions, tons of garlic and sesame sauce....drool)

We quenched our thirst with some chilled sake. The added raspberry was amazing! It took the bite off the sake and made it go down incredibly smooth. I think I'm going to steal this idea...

So refreshing

After we had filled out bellies with all the fixins',  George instructed us to save at least one piece of meat for the "soup." SO GLAD I DID. The soup is basically the broth that you have been cooking the meat in. I had left a fishball in the broth the entire time to give the broth a nice flavor. That, and some of the leftover veggies that I hadn't already eaten were added to the bowl. It was amazing.

Slurp!

The damage.

And as if we weren't spoiled enough. George whipped out the Vitamix and made us all fresh sorbet.

Strawberry, mango and pineapple.

I am happy to say that this was easily one of the best meals I have ever had. It was surprisingly incredibly light. It was not surprisingly incredibly satisfying.

I think I'm going to have to fork out the dolla bills (yo) and make my way to some Shabu Shabu in La Jolla afterall...

Happy team

Thank you George and Alice for spoiling us so! It was amazing!