ALEXANDER!

AND HAMA!
There aren't many people in the world that get me as genuinely excited as Alexander. Take a cold shower; I don't mean it like that! He has that contagious fun energy that you don't come across in most people. When I see him I am instantly pumped and basically hug attack him screaming. 

Alexander MADE my water balloon birthday party this past summer. As best friend Arica walked into the backyard, all cute in her sun dress, he pelted her in the eye with a water balloon. She was visibly stunned and it takes a lot to catch that girl off guard. He then walked over to her, stuck out his hand and said, "I'm Alexander, nice to meet you." What a greeting! 

When you are super great, you tend to have super great friends. So when Alex invited me over to his place, I knew I was going to meet a lot of awesome peoples. A blast from the past, old friend from Ecko Unltd., Marz was there and I also got to meet Hama!, who is as amazingly awesome as Alexander, so its not surprising that they are roommates and great friends and we took to each other right away.

Hama and Alex are not only hospitable and generous with food and drink, but with the people around them, and that makes for a great party energy. They are friend sharers, if you will, the opposite of self monitors, who often compartmentalize friendships and relationships because they often act differently around different groups of friends. Alex and Hama are always stupendously great so no need to self monitor. A little friendly psychoanalysis never hurt anyone!

The theme of this dinner party was East Meets North: "a multi-cult-y dinner party" ... mixing "Japanese and Swedish pub-style food in a Swedanese Japstravaganza." Who could possibly say no to that?

Little place card all mixed up around the long table was a fun way to introduce everyone. Everyone was so friendly, positive and had interesting shit going on. Let's face it, at most parties, there is at least one dick in the room. But not at this party.

Hama was a busy bee in the hot open kitchen, but after all the hard work was done she just kicked it with everyone. What a down to earth chick with a genius head on her shoulders. Like Alexander, a special someone you don't meet everyday.

The food was absolutely divine and the mash of cultures well complemented one another. 

Hama made:

Linguini with shiso pesto topped with uni (sea urchin). (shiso is a japanese "basil", also known as perilla) - DROOLSEY! The pesto had this slightly sweet spicey aroma from the shiso and the texture of the sea urchin is so unique.

Inari zushi (fried tofu stuffed with sushi rice; topped with julienned egg crepes. sushi rice was mixed with Japanese rice vinegar, root veggies, and ground seasoned chicken) - What I adored about these babies was how gigantic they were and the perfect sweet sour flavor on the fried tofu skin. Scarf alert!

Alexander made yummy finger sammies with dill everywhere! The textures and flavors were bursting all over. Some people cook with passion, Alexander cooks with curious excitement. Can anything taste more kickass than Japanese mayo, potato, bacon, parm and radish? Answer = no.

Gravlax, dill, lemon, parsley, Japanese Kewpie Mayonaise, Radish 

Japanese Kewpie Mayonaise, Potato, Bacon, Parmesan, Radish
Butter, pressgurka (thinly sliced pickles), Pickled white wine herring, dill

Cod Roe Caviar, Egg, Dill on knäckebröd
Pickled beets, Radish (plus something I [Alexander] can't remember, maybe parsley?) 

All that sounds great, but it tasted divine. I did my usual food shoveling routine. Not one dish wasn't phenomenal. 

While photo swapping, I was honored to have an email exchange with Fanny, Alex's Mom. One way to understand why Alex is so superb is to know Ms. Fanny, whose emails back and forth culminated in this precious dialogue:

Fanny: "I think 'Sir Alex and Miss Fanny' sounds very Brittish Theater TV Movies. Miss Fanny is wearing a white cotton lace dress and a parasol. Sir Alex in a dapper riding suit comes up through the hedge on the way to the stables."

Me: "Can I adopt myself into you family and be on the television show?

I can be the weird neighbor who is always caught falling out of trees or ruining the hedges, trying to do some bird brain thing. Mostly I'm trying to spy on Ms. Fanny to see what she is making for dinner. Then I rudely invite myself over."

But for real, can I come over? And get adopted. You people are awesome. Hama and Alex, happy to know you and look forward to stuffing our faces together very soon!