Who needs Kogi when you have a Korean friend

Lately, my friends and I have been trying to throw more dinner parties at home, with an unintentional theme of cooking food from our respective cultures. So last night, we convened at Albs and Betty's place for some Korean tacos. In a cultural melting pot like Los Angeles, you can easily find ethnic condiments at the grocery store. So you don't need to prepare the marinade from scratch, unless you're the type of person that loathes Sandra Lee of Semi-Homemade and scoffs at the idea of using store brought products. Well, Alb's is a bit less lazy than I am so his marinade was homemade.

Pick your protein such as short ribs, chicken, pork and tofu.

Then marinade them in separate containers overnight. Korean BBQ marinade consists of soy sauce, sugar, red pepper, garlic, ginger, green onion, sesame oil and rice wine. It's really that simple.

Cook your meats over stove top or on the grill, then serve on taco shell with a topping of diced onions, green onions and drizzle of sriracha hot sauce.

Chicken taco

Beef taco

Tofu taco

Our friend Sara also made some latkes which were delicious. Who can resist fried pancakes? Latkes are made with potatoes, eggs and onions and then fried up.

Warm cranberry brie and crackers. Apparently very good if you like brie.

Finally, desserts made by Betty. For someone who is a health nut that runs everyday, I was expecting low fat, bland cookies. Unfortunately, these were too delicious that I had to return for seconds and thirds.

Festive Sugar cookies

Whoopie pies/oreos

Sugar cookies with mint M&Ms

Christmas brownies

Weeknight dinner parties need not be laborious. Tacos are simple to make; the preparation and cooking was quick. They cater to meat eaters and vegetarians. And why wait 30 minutes in line at the Kogi truck when you can have something similar while hanging out in the comforts of your home, drinking wine and catching up with friends.