I turned 30 last Friday. What a weird experience that was. I don’t really do much for my birthdays because honestly, they are not that big of deal to me. This one for some reason was different. When you’re little, or a teen in junior high you have all these high hopes for where you will be when you’re 30, successful, with a huge house, cool friends, exercising, and generally being weird. When you get to 30 and some of those dreams are not real yet it’s a strange feeling. It’s not like I have accomplished nothing, or that I feel like I have let myself down in anyway, it’s more like “Wow, life moves fast, and it’s kinda scary.” In the week leading up to my 30th I had lots of mini melt down, and a couple of bigger ones. Most involved crying, and some involved sobbing for no reason. I was totally weirdly emotional. Yuck. Luckily, all my friends who are in their 30’s were telling me how much better the 30’s are than your 20’s. So I do feel a lot better. I also feel a renewed sense of ambition to do things, lots of things, different things. Kind of exciting! I wonder how you all felt when you turned 30?
Some of you probably have seen from our Instagram that one of us is in Tokyo. That’s me! I’m there! Eating sushi and ramen and gaining a million pounds. This is my birthday trip! Follow along! ☺
To cheers to my 30th can we all just please eat some meatballs? Meatballs are one of my favorite food groups. You can eat them as an appetizer, put them on a pasta, or put them in a huge sandwich, which is my preferred way of consumption. These meatballs are a little spicy and a lot delicious. Another way I will totally eat these are cold, like left over pizza the next day, still delicious. Is that gross? I hope not. Enjoy!
♥ Teri
More meatball recipes you will love:
Ginger-Garlic Cocktail Meatballs
INGREDIENTS
sweet chile sauce
- ⅔ cup rice vinegar
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons (Sambal) hot chile sauce
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch (dissolved in 3 1/2 tablespoons water)
meatballs
- 1 slice white bread
- ½ cup milk
- 1 pound lean ground beef or pork
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 ½ tablespoons minced ginger
- 1 ½ tablespoons minced cilantro
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
- For sweet chile sauce: Place vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan and simmer until sugar dissolves, 7 to 10 minutes. Stir in chile sauce and cornstarch slurry and bring to a boil. Once mixture has come to a boil, remove from heat and allow to cool (sauce will thicken as it cools).
- For meatballs: Preheat oven to 375˚F. Place bread and milk in a large mixing bowl and soak for 30 minutes. Add ground meat and gently mix together. Add remaining ingredients and mix together until well combined. (be careful not to over mix the mixture)
- Roll small balls (about 2 teaspoons) with the meat mixture and place onto a baking sheet ½ inch apart. Bake meatballs for 18 to 20 minutes or until they’re completely cooked through. Allow meatballs to rest for 5 minutes before brushing with glaze. Serve.
Did you make this recipe? We want to see!
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Celebrating a birthday in Tokyo sounds like a fabulous way to spend a birthday :) These meatballs sounds amazing. I like the idea of Asian-flavored meatballs! I love meatballs as appetizers, but then I end up eating enough for a full meal. Oops.
This looks delish! I think I’m trying some of the ingredients on your recipe when I make meatballs next time!
I just turned 30 too a few days ago, and I feel empowered. Cheers to us! ;)
♡Rika
Um yeah, so these sound absolutely amazing! PINNED!
my FAV food blog. keep up the good work <3
Georgina at itotallypaused.com
Love the previous comment. Who wants to be 20 something with less confidence, a shitty car, and fu#ked up clothes & make up lol
I love these garlic cocktail meatballs. I couldn’t eat them now though cuz I’m currently on a diet “I don’t want belly catching back up with me, esp giving the fact me & belly get on so well lol”…but I’ll defo scoff these on a cheat day sometime :)
Love the meatballs! And don’t worry, I’m relatively new at the 30 thing, but I can tell you at heart I am just my 20 something self with a bit more confidence, a car and better clothes and make up!
Happy belated birthday! LOVE your tooth picks! Recipe looks delicious :)
Teri! HBD! I felt very much the same way about turning 30. And I also celebrated in Japan (I hope it’s as awesome for you as it was for me). I think it’s a good reminder that life moves fast, and you gotta focus on what makes you happy. x
Happy 30th! Keep kicking ass!! :)
These were so delicious!
These look great! At what temperature did you bake them? Happy 30th!
Oh my gosh, these were fantastic.
Well girls, 30 is nothing…wait until you turn 50!! The time flys and you just can believe it! My 30’s were some of the best times of my life…every decade brings its challenges and great opportunities! Happy belated birthday..can’t wait to make these!
Loving the little Asian flair in these! I’ve been obsessed with cilantro lately, so I’ll have to give these a go.
My fiance is a lot older than me, and he’s realized a lot of lifelong dreams in his 30s already, and they’re not over yet — so here’s hoping the same happens for you! Plus, I always thought that if I could choose one age to stay forever, it would be 33. Not sure why, but it seems the perfect balance of youth and maturity :)
Love these!!
Yumm, these look like a great party food! When I turned 30 (two years ago) I really felt it was the right time for me to turn 30, if that makes any sense. I had finished Uni two years earlier, was in my job, about to get married and everything – it is now, two years later, that I already meet 20-ish people at work (still Uni) and sort of perceive them as not yet grown up. THAT’s the weird thing for me. Happy Birthday!
I have to try these. Next time I go to make Spaghetti, instead of using plain old mince I’ll be trying these out. Thanks for an awesome recipe!
What a nice change of pace from the boring plain meatballs. I remember as a kid at family gatherings we’d always have some bbq sauce covered frozen meatballs. Homemade are so much better. These were fabulous!
Happy 30, Teri! It’s true what they say about your 30s being even better than your 20s. I’m 4.5 years in myself, so I speak from experience. Keep up the great Japanstagramming. : )
Is their anything you can sub for the cilantro? Maybe parsley?
I’m turning 30 today! Minus the meltdowns, I have been feeling the same sense of renewed interest in the future and ambition to experience more. I’m certainly not where I thought I’d be, but then again I had lots of different ideas about how my life would unfold and that started coming apart a long time ago. I’m jealous that you’re in Japan right now! That’s one of the places that I’ve been wanting to travel to and perhaps now I will make more of an effort to make that happen :) Happy Belated Birthday!!!
I can’t wait to try this recipe. What temperature do you set the oven to?
375 degrees Fahrenheit.
I am also approaching the 30 year mark and have very mixed feelings. I haven’t cared about getting older… until now. But I hear the exact same things about 30s that you have been hearing, that’s its a pretty awesome decade. So Happy Birthday!! And I’ll be cheers-ing to 30’s with these super delicious sounding meatballs (although I’m going to make them with ground turkey… one of my ‘before-I-turn-30’ resolutions is to get healthier, which is a coy way of saying drop a few pounds).
Nah 30 isn’t that big. You still have a long way to go before you should regret anything.
These look like heaven. love the glaze!
These look delicious! Can’t wait to make them. Happy belated birthday!