Sui Mai - A Wai Sik Guide

Jumping on the Dinner Bandwagon

2011-02-10T20:26:00.025Z

I know, I know... Dinner, Dinner, Dinner, that's the most talked about restaurant of late, at least in London. And by luck, when I clicked on the reservations website to bookmark it, it was live....two hours before the designated booking start! So by pure dumb luck, we got in on our anniversary during the second week of service. On the booking form was a space marked special requests. I wrote in "Anniversary", not expecting anything. However, the staff were very thoughtful and wished me a Happy Anniversary when calling the day before to reconfirm the room. I had also left instructions that lunch was to take no longer than 2.5 hours as we had a show to go to in the afternoon.

When we got to the Mandarin Oriental, we followed the sign for 'Restaurants' and saw one but with no signage and just an illuminated pear, we retreated to enquire at concierge, only to be told that was Dinner. We were shown into the bar to await our table. We leafed through the extensive menu, ordered drinks, then settled down only to have an insanely piercing alarm go off. The alarm went on for a good few minutes and I was the only one who was half out of my chair in alarm, everyone else carried on with their cocktails. Sadly even after the alarm went silent (it was a test), we still didn't have our drinks, which we still hadn't received even after being seated at the table.

As soon as were sat down and before our drinks had arrived and before I had even had time to glance at the menu, our waiter arrived. He asked what we thought about the place, the decor, whether we had read the reviews and then told us what to look at, what to notice, where the private function room was and pointed out the Ebel clockwork powered rotating spit and the chef's table. All in all, it was a bit much. He also mentioned that they had rave reviews and a lot to maintain. In reality, I read a few raves but many mixed reviews but what could one say in face of all this? The boy pointed out that Heston was sitting at the table behind us and I got so excited I switched seats. Yes I admit I'm sad but I don't give a shit. Then after all this, asked us if we wanted drinks. I pointed out that we had ordered drinks at the bar. He then *finally* withdrew for us to look at the menus when someone else came by, asked about drinks yet again and then explained some of the menu items. Particularly the tipsy cake, which he said took 35 mins time in order to continually baste the brioche with a rum concoction and roast the pineapple.

We then ordered, greedily ordering the set lunch menu (£28) in addition to two starters, a main and two desserts. Yup, we ordered enough for 3 people. That's how we roll.

The starters all arrived at about the same time, I had the Ragoo of Pig's Ears (anchovy, onions and parsley) as part of the lunch set menu. I was curious about how Heston would cook the pig's ears, which I quite like as a cold starter, cut into thin strips and marinated so I get the jellyish crunch if that makes sense. Heston served his on a piece of grilled bread...burnt grilled bread to be exact... in fact, we smelled something burnt when it arrived but we thought it might be the slightly burnt grill marks on the bread which came with another starter. But when I took a bite, I could only taste the bitter acrid taste of burn bread. It was really really awful. I had to have a few sips of juice and eat something else to rid my mouth of the taste. I very rarely send stuff back but I sent this back. It was ruined. They graciously took it back to the kitchen and we started on the Meat Fruit.

The Meat Fruit is one of the most famous dishes already and comprised of mandarin, chicken liver parfait shaped like a mandarin orange. I had read raves about it looking incredibly lifelike. I also saw the episode of Heston's Feasts where guests were able to pick it up and bite straight into it. Having incredibly high expectations (have you seen the pics of Fat Duck?!), I really thought I would be wowed. It was nice. It was a bit deflated looking and not as lifelike as marzipan but pretty and tasted nice...not on the burnt grilled bread but on the sourdough bread they provided for the table. It was good but not outstanding.

The Ragoo returned, on a very lightly grilled bread, the waiter told us. The pig's ears had been cut into strips and cooked in what I think might be a braise as it was very tender. Even the inner cartilage bit was quite soft to the bite. It was salty, sticky and quite nice but very sweet. I kept thinking it needed a hit of acid as it was just a bit too salty sweet.

The last starter was Rice and Flesh (saffron, calf tail & red wine). An exotic name but was not as impressive. Perfectly cooked saffron rice with tiny nubs of calf's tail braised with what tasted like a similar sauce to the Ragoo. Very tender and tasty but I was a bit disappointed. I love ox tail and I thought this would be similar but maybe more tender and different but it was such a small piece that there was very little chew so not anything distinguishing. Again, I thought this dish could have been enlivened with a bit of lemon or something to bring out the flavour a bit more.

Moving on to the mains, I had Roast Quail with smoked parsnips and thyme which was part of the set lunch. It was beautifully cooked, pink inside and very very tender. The parsnips were nice and perfectly cooked but I thought that the mashed parsnips were a bit too much of the same thing.

The boy had Beef Royal, 72 hour slow cooked short rib of Angus (sous vide), smoked anchovy and onion puree and ox tongue. He loved it! Barely wanted to give me a taste. It was very very tender and the sauce was very nice, rich, sticky and tasty. This is the second time I've had sous vide beef short rib in as many weeks and I have to say, I don't think I'm a fan. Something about the texture of the meat makes it a bit ... plasticky to me. I don't know what it is but it just doesn't appeal to me. The boy enjoyed every bit of it and I had to steal a cube of ox tongue off his plate when he wasn't looking. It was very good but made me want a huge piece of ox tongue!

Halfway through my dinner, I asked for a glass of coke. Ten mins later when it still hadn't arrived and I was feeling extremely thirsty, I asked the waiter whether it had been ordered. He assured me the bar had the order. Another 15 mins passed before my coke arrived. 25 mins. For coke. Out of a bottle he poured at the table. Really!? The restaurant was busy but when I reminded the waiter, I would have thought he would have gone to rush it or even get it himself. Especially since he hovered around the tables a lot despite having other staff supporting his tables. I did notice, much to my dismay, that tables which ordered wine got their orders much quicker, although it may be because they were served by the sommelier rather than the bar.

Moving onto desserts, we had the Tipsy Cake, which was served in a petit Staub pot divided into 6 segments. It was very good, soft, custardy and rummy. Actually it reminded me a lot of a very good Baba au Rhum. Alongside it was a long wedge of the roasted pineapple. It was good. It just didn't blow me away. Roasted pineapple, which they made a huge deal about didn't thrill me. I've had my fill at churrascarias before, where they come around to the table and carve you these lovely wedges of warm, just charred roasted pineapple and squeeze a wedge of lime all over before you tuck in. It was good, it just didn't feel 'new' or exciting.

Then my most anticipated dessert, the Brown Bread Ice Cream. I had fallen in love with the brown bread ice cream I had a few years ago at Betty's Tea House in York and was very much looking forward to it. Upon first bite, I was surprised to find that it was not sweet but mildly salty. Truth be told, I hated the first bite. Then as the flavours developed a bit, it was fascinating. Yeast extract was drizzled over the top of the ice cream and it was mildly bitter, malty and yeasty with a crunch or crumb texture around the bottom layer of crunchy praline cracker. Even after ingesting a good third of it, I couldn't decide if I liked it... But at the same time, it was the most interesting dish I'd had as it was unusual and different.

The last dessert was one I almost didn't order. It came with the set menu and was the Orange Buttered Loaf (mandarin and thyme sorbet). It was delicious! Described by the waiter as a take on Millionaire's shortbread, it was nothing of the sort. Crisp caramelized praline encasing thin bittersweet citrus custard, it was the most delicious take on french toast. It was lovely and really refreshing at the same time. Bar one bite given to the boy, I finished the lot.

They gave us a lovely table due to it being our anniversary and served us a complementary finishing dessert of white chocolate earl grey ganache, with cardamon shortbread. When it was first served to us, we were exchanged glances. We share a hatred of white chocolate and shortbread. However, it was very well done and couldn't taste the white chocolate and the shortbread was really nice, light and fragrant.

So, after that epic review and if you're still with me, here are my thoughts. It was good, not great, not new and not as exciting. I like that they took a lot of inspiration from historical recipes and reinterpreted them but I felt a bit let down. The names of the dishes sounded exciting, primal and exotic. The food was of a high standard but nothing exciting. The service was a bit patchy but overall very friendly. The prices were reasonable and the service charge was 10%. We did tip extra as we appreciated the efforts made by our waitstaff... especially as he asked Heston if he would come say hello to take a picture with me! I'd post the picture except I look crazy and Heston looks scared....

I liked it but I think my problem was I went in remembering the new and exciting new flavours from Fat Duck. I'd definitely go back and I think I'll enjoy it more keeping in mind that it is not supposed to be exciting and new, just tasty and enjoyable. The boy went in just expecting a high end hotel restaurant and was a lot more satisfied than I was. In fact, his comment at the end of it was that he could go through the whole meal again...immediately!

PS. Anyone know an easier way to put in pictures and make the font stay the same fricking size?????

Wok with Nana

2010-09-10T09:19:00.004+01:00

New cooking series brought to you by Cha Xiu Bao and Nanamoose.

First episode was Dan Dan Noodles and now the second episode is up, Mooncakes galore. Must see.

Taipei eating on the drive

2010-05-25T04:29:00.003+01:00

We hired a driver for our short sojourn to Taipei to visit my Grandmother, who was meeting the babe for the first time. We hired a driver for the journey as there were a lot of places we wanted to hit and there were 7 of us. The driver was a really friendly man to whom we chatted a lot about food. However, we knew that there was something special about him when we saw a cart selling my beloved pig's blood glutinous rice cakes on a stick in the lane next to us. He rolled down the window, somehow convinced the lady on the bike pulling the cart to pull over at the next set of lights to sell us 3 sticks.

So despite racing our way to the airport, we managed to cram in one last snack. Fantabulous.

Not once but twice

2010-05-10T08:40:00.003+01:00

If any one reading this blog remembers one horrifyingly embarrassing moment I had queuing up for the changing rooms in Paris, I just had it repeated over the weekend.

It was a beautiful wedding wedding in a lovely venue. My eyes stayed dry during the ceremony but my mouth was definitely upturned. The situation was much different a bit later when one of the wedding party enquired as to whether I was expecting. As I said no through my smiles, my eyes met the other guests who had overheard the question and were kindly hoping to offer me their congratulations. I have learned recently that people who ask these kinds of questions have the best of intentions and are usually wonderful people but reactions to a 'no' are very varied and in this case, a poke to my stomach was made and the phrase "I guess it's just the tummy then" uttered.

When I made my excuses and went back to the boy and the babe, my eyes were definitely wet and my mouth not so upturned.

I want to say that I don't blame the poor woman but my own greed.

Election Night

2010-05-07T10:21:00.003+01:00

Election night in my mind requires pizza.

Preferably in large amounts, with a side of crisps (UK election after all), lots of fizzy pop (to produce burps disdainfully at the candidates we don't like) followed by ice cream straight from the tub.

However, there were no crisps nor ice cream and we ordered pizza not from Dominos as I preferred (trashy food for trashing, I say) but Pizza Express (the boy won't eat trashy pizza), where the manager serving us implied that we were a Conservative supporting, middle class family, having lively debates as the election results unfolded.

What they didn't realize was that neither of us voted Conservative and lively debate consisted of "quit hogging the spicy one".

The babe may look like the boy but she's definitely mine. You can tell by the way she gets all the meat off her lamb chops and shovels pizza in her face. I'm so proud.

Fat Duck

2010-04-07T15:57:00.038+01:00

For our wedding, the boy's parents and brother + wife gave us a meal at Fat Duc k. And it has taken us only 25 months to cash that in and finally book in to go.

One of the only times we've been out without the babe and was a lot of fun. We dropped off the babe at nursery, went over to my Wednesday regular, the Regency Cafe, for breakfast. Then off to do a few errands, pick up a rental car (cannot rave enough for local car clubs, we use them loads!) and head off to Bray.

Bray, the teeny, tiny village Fat Duck is in, is extremely quaint, very picture postcard perfect, with charming little arches and some lovely big houses sitting side by side with the small doll like houses along the main road.

Our reservation was for 1:45pm and it was very busy already. We were one of the last tables to be seated. Presented with the menu, I was excited to see the Mock Turtle Soup, as featured in an episode of Heston's Feasts which focused on Victorian era food. I especially liked it as it was one of the first things the boy and I clashed about when I insisted that turtle soup was a traditional English food, to which he denied all existence. Happily he knows by now not to argue food with me.

As we had rented a car for the day, the boy could only have one glass of wine, which the sommelier recommended to go with one of the courses mid meal.We started with the 'Lime Grove', described as Nitro Poached Green Tea and Lime Mousse, which is a kind of a mild meringue poached in dry ice in front of us. We were advised to eat it in one bite whilst they sprayed lime scent around us (a bit of a gimmicky touch). Nice and clean, it felt a bit like a palate cleanser. Urged to pop it into our mouths, I only have the pic of the plate to show you!

Next up was 'Red Cabbage Gazpacho', Pommery Grain Mustard Ice Cream. I was fated to love this as I love all the ingredients and the method of delivery. It met expectations and was creamy, smooth and made me smack my lips at the umami-ness of it, wanting more.

The next course was brought to us in three separate parts. 'Jelly of Quail, Crayfish Cream', Chicken Liver Parfait, Oak Moss and Truffle Toast. The first was a wooden tray of oak moss, on top of which was a little plastic box containing a oak moss 'film'. These were akin to the breath strips you can get at the chemist which melt upon contact with the mouth and dissolve. I've never been a fan of these as they give me a claggy mouthfeel which sticks my mouth shut (probably much to the relief of the boy). Anyhow, these were infused with the taste of oak moss. We were to put these in our mouths while dry ice was poured over the oak moss tray so it evaporated in a white fog, scenting the table with oak moss. The purpose, which was explained to us, was so that we smelled, saw and tasted the oak moss all at once. I have to admit, I disliked the taste and texture of the film but loved the smoky smell of the oak moss and the experience of seeing and touching the moss. Served with this was the chicken liver parfait, which was nicely chilled and yummy. The truffle toast was tasty but was not as truffle fragrant as I thought it would be.

'Roast Foie Gras' was served with Rhubarb, Braised Kombu and Crab Biscuit. The foie gras was perfectly cooked, succulent and creamy but I was more average on the sweet crystallized sugar (I'm guessing here) shards. The rhubarb jellied sauce was a nice contrast although personally, I preferred the foie without, and the little powdery sesame and what I think was wakame topping provided nice textural contrast. The kombu was the thin light brown film at the bottom and was ok but didn't add much although the wakame may have been cooked with the kombu to add umami-ness.

The next course was the highly anticipated 'Mock Turtle Soup (c.1850)' from the "Mad Hatter Tea". Highly anticipated, it was as gorgeous as it looked on TV.

It started with the rabbit's gold watch, over which was poured boiling water, which dissolved into a broth, which was then poured over the gorgeous plated bits, such as what ox tongue layered with lardo, and a turnip and swede puree. If you're ambitious, the delicious soup recipe is here but I think we had slivers of kombu as opposed to truffle cubes.

It was very yummy. I looooved it. Everything worked somehow and the broth was so flavourful. I personally would prefer it to be a bit warmer but I am not sure that the accompanying ingredients would stand up to a boiling hot broth.

The next one is the famous 'Sound of the Sea' dish, which came with a large seashell with an iPod hidden inside. We were instructed to put in our earphones and enjoy the crashing waves whilst eating our dish, which was crafted to look like the wash after a wave, with foam and dark sand and bits of seafood. All of it edible and all of it was.... delicious! I loved it and was very pleasantly surprised to find it yummy. After my experience at El Bulli, I was extremely apprehensive and had gone off food which exuded style over substance but everything so far tasted good as well as being extremely whimsical and not taking itself too seriously.

As I was saying this to the boy, the next dish came and was, I must admit, my least favorite of the meal. 'Salmon Poached in Liquorice', Artichokes, Vanilla Mayonnaise, Golden Trout Roe and Manni Olive Oil. The salmon was beautifully poached, soft and melting, but wrapped in a thin layer of jelliefied sauce or coating which was liquorice flavoured. Despite my recent conversion to liquorice, it tasted a bit bitter and at odds with the richness of the salmon. The roe and the artichokes were a touch bland and I didn't like the sweet, odd vanilla mayonnaise. Altogether it was just ok.

The next dish more than made up for it. 'Powdered Anjou Pigeon (c.1720)', Blood Pudding and Confit of Umbles. The pigeon was absolutely delicious, rich and succulent, the blood pudding like a thick sauce of blood. Umbles, in case you are wondering, is offal, or the unwanted bits and apparently in this case, it refers to the heart. Yum! Loved this. The only thing I wasn't keen on was the the long shard of what was like prawn cracker but didn't taste of prawn.

After this, we were served 'Hot & Iced Tea', which was a lightly sweetened tea which w

as both hot and cold, which started off hot and dissolved into a cold drink. It was very refreshing and signalled the end of the mains and the

beginning of the sweet courses.

I must admit, I wasn't thrilled by the descriptions of the desserts. The first one, 'Tafferty Tart', Caramelized Apple, Fennel, Rose and Candied Lemon. As some of you may know, floral flavors are not my favorite. I was happy that they weren't overwhelming in the dessert, which was good, light and delicate but nothing revelatory.

The next, I was dreading just a little bit. It was 'The "BFG", Black Forest Gateau'. A child of the seventies, black forest cake is to the 80's what tiramisu was to the 90's and the molten chocolate cake to the first decade of the 3rd millennium. Over played, much maligned and a culinary bore as far as I was concerned. This,

however, was a lovely version which I ate up but given a choice, I probably would have chosen something else. I apologize for the super exposed photo. Brown on brown never shows up well!

The next course, I loved. 'Whisk(E)y Gums' came on a frame. Five different types of whiskey flavored gums stuck onto a framed map of Scotland. Served with this was a bottle of water from the Scottish highlands. The boy loves his whiskey and I love smelling the peaty, smokiness of the whiskey but not so much the slightly acrid taste. So this was perfect for me. I liked all of them and especially the whimsical 'plating'.

The last course, which we sadly had to rush as we were running late and needed to pick up the babe, was called 'Like a Kid in a Sweet Shop', came in a pink and white striped old fashioned 'Sweet Shop' bag. In it were four items as printed on a vanilla scented card:

- 'Aerated Chocolate' with Mandarin Jelly, which was lovely, with a Aero like texture and a nice tart sweet jelly;

-'Coconut Baccy', Coconut Infused with an Aroma of Black Cavendish Tobacco, which I wasn't too fond of;

- 'Apple Pie Caramel' with an Edible Wrapper, which was very sweet with a nice soft chew; and

- 'The Queen of Hearts' which was a gorgeous thin, thin, thin tart with jam wrapped in white chocolate with one side imprinted with the traditional red diamond checks and the other, a meticulous reproduction of a Queen of Hearts card. Sadly white chocolate is one of those things I just cannot get myself to like.

On the whole, I LOVED the experience. The whimsy, thought and meticulous and care which was put into each dish was very much apparent. Expensive but when you think of all that went into it, definitely worth it. The service was smooth, completely unpretentious and friendly. They explained everything and understood that many came for not just a meal but an 'experience', so many things they were happy to include as little mementos, from a printed menu in an envelope and sealed with wax presented at the beginning of the meal for you to follow, to the box the oak moss film came in. It was very thoughtful and much appreciated. The only very very petty criticism I have was that as were one of the last to have our meal, we were able to see what was coming ahead by watching the other tables, which took away a little the surprise and delight which comes from discovering a new way of presenting food.

All being said, one of the best meals ever for the fun, the food, the company and of course, knowing it was a kind, thoughtful gift from loved ones.

F-odd: Genghis Khan - a sweetie?

2009-11-30T16:25:00.000Z

A good friend of mine went to Hokkaido and she got the boy a little present.

Genghis Khan may not have been a sweetie but he is now a sweet.

That's right, Genghis Khan Caramel, an "Hokkaido Original", it would seem. Only in Japan indeed.

I gave it blind to the boy, who chewed it thoughtfully and said that it was "earthy... and weirdly meaty with some sweetness? Not unpleasant but definitely not something I would crave."

The friend who gave it to me was so intrigued by the taste, she kept trying them until she finished the whole packet!

I cannot understand this. I put it in my mouth and chewed for a while. First of all, it was quite milky, then for some reason, I tasted very sweet, icky garlicky type marinade, if that makes sense. It was awful. So bad I had to spit it out, dig out a little piece from my teeth and dry heave. Then brush my teeth. I really could not swallow it.

Unsurprisingly besides 2 pieces missing, I still have the whole packet! Anyone want to try one? Let me know and I'll mail you one!

I think you listen carefully, you will hear someone turning over violently in his grave....

Oh the shame...

2009-11-10T16:21:00.003Z

Its been shameful the way I've been avoiding blogging....

Shameful because I know I've been so sporadic and unregular.

And its not that I don't have anything to say, nor eat, nor blog about but simply because of bad time management and the issue of having my little one going on hunger strike. Talk about a blow to my heart! I tell you that strong willed baby is going to have to get with the eating system soon. Baby cannot subsist on cream cheese and Cheerios alone.

So next post will be a food one, I promise... candy to be specific... a unique taste sensation indeed... Genghis Khan Caramel anyone??

New Year's resolution begins NOW!

To improve on perfection

2009-09-17T12:47:00.000+01:00

is to add the last bit of cream cheese from the tub into your Marmite spaghetti.

Do NOT hold back on the black pepper.

Yooo hooooooo

2009-09-09T22:01:00.003+01:00

Anyone out there?

I'm not surprised if there's no one reading my blog anymore after my long absences. For anyone who still is, you'll be in for a surprise, a baking project worked!!!

Yes, I had a semi-successful baking project! Mark this on your calendars as it may never happen again!

Oh, it was biscotti. Yup, that hard Italian biscuit that goes perfectly with a cup of tea or coffee at about 11am or 3pm.

I mentioned it casually to my visiting friend and being the very focused person she is (and therefore extremely successful), nagged me about it until one evening after the little had finally gone to sleep, I quickly put it together following this recipe. I omitted (simply because I can NOT follow a recipe... and I didn't have it), the anise extract and the Amaretto. I added sour cherries, chopped dark chocolate and my slightly too roasty almonds.

Result!

Timing wise, it was true to the recipe. Taste wise I think they could have benefited from the Amaretto but otherwise, they were easy to make, came out nearly perfect and were a joy to eat with tea.

Also, the mere fact that I made them myself and didn't ruin them made them taste all the sweeter.

I promise, there are more posts coming!

Spaghetti a la Marmite

2009-07-25T12:36:00.001+01:00

Reading Nigella's interview regarding food heroes in this month's Observer Monthly where she lauded Anna Del Conte, I came across the most appealing recipe. A recipe which, in fact, which is made for me. Easy peasy and as easy as ramen, it is touted as a children's recipe. Spaghetti with Marmite!

The recipe is posted verbatim here:

350-380g dried spaghetti
50g unsalted butter
1 tsp Marmite
freshly grated parmesan cheese, for serving

Cook the spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water. While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the Marmite and 1 tablespoon of the pasta water. Mix thoroughly to dissolve, then pour over the drained spaghetti. Serve with plenty of grated parmesan cheese.

So of course I made it the first chance I got but being me and therefore lazy, I omitted the bit where the butter and Marmite is melted together, instead, I bunged it all together after draining the pasta in a hot pan and generously sprinkled cheese all over as well as white pepper. Delish and the ultimate in comfort food.

About the Marmite I used... I had an unopened jar of Guiness Marmite which Umami had kindly given me ages and ages ago. Although it had clearly passed its best before, being unopened, I have no qualms eating it. Its so salty that I would highly doubt something bad had happened to it. Not that I advise other people to do the same but I'm familiar with my tummy (too familiar...) to know what abuse it can take. Now to sit back, relax, eat my Marmite Spag and wait for the cries of EWWWW to pour in...

Fool proof pasta?

2009-07-22T13:42:00.003+01:00

A kind friend sent me an Imperia pasta machine for my birthday.

If ever I find the time, I'd love to try it out.

Anyone have a fool-proof recipe and method for me to try out?

I have a bolognese sauce Susan sent me, just need the pasta.

It really needs to be fool-proof as I'm the biggest fool I know.

Birthday Cake

2009-07-13T17:29:00.010+01:00

Birthdays should always be celebrated by cake. Something about a birthday with no cake strikes me as a bit sad. Whether it is some store bought thing stuffed full of faux ingredients and sugar or something a bit more refined and decadent, a birthday just isn't a birthday without a cake to cut.

So, having missed out last year, I needed to get one this year and so I thought I would bake one myself.

I know.

Yes, I KNOW!!!

My experiences with baking have been.... challenging to say the (very) least.

But I had no choice. It was either buying one for myself or baking one and I thought baking one sounded a bit less sad!

Chocolate cake being my favorite, I thought I'd try the Black Magic Cake.

So while the babe was having her nap, I got the ingredients out and had the dry ingredients all mixed when she woke up with a vengeance. Crying babe in arm, I quickly threw in the wet ingredients and turned on the mixer much to her distress. I couldn't stop, my chocolate cake was at stake! I undermixed it but had to stop before the wee one went into turbo mode. Slopped the results into two pans and baked for requisite time.

Out came these slightly unevenly lumped cakes.

I debated for the rest of the afternoon regarding how exactly to put the cake together. Was it to be store bought icing or was I going to actually attempt to make some kind of frosting? I wasn't sure due to the whiny nature of the babe.

Finally I found a recipe for which I had all of the ingredients at hand, this chocolate buttercream frosting. So to more tears and screams, I whipped it up. Sadly, I was a bit too free handed with the milk so it was a bit.... melty.

Put together, it looked like... well to be frank, it looked like a big turd.

Thankfully it tasted ok if a bit too moist but then again, I never believe fudginess to be a bad thing.

The stars must have been all aligned beautifully so my turd cake would turn out edible.

I hate it when...

2009-07-09T13:38:00.002+01:00

... you order a burger and pay extra for mushrooms but when your burger comes, there's just one sad little mushroom sitting in the middle.

I'm looking at you, Giraffe.

But then I got to thinking, would it have been less insulting if they had sliced up the mushroom and spread it around a bit, making me think I had gotten more than one mushroom?

All I know is I'm not paying for mushrooms anymore.

Credit where credit is due, when I complained, the waitress promptly took it to the kitchen where there was a small row but she returned triumphantly with three mushrooms.

The Battle of the Crisps

2009-06-11T05:49:00.003+01:00

Even though the votes are now closed and the winners announced, I thought I'd still post my late, very, very late review... at 5am. Ah, such is the life (or lack thereof) with a newborn.

In a blind taste test with the boy, we put a few crisps from each flavor in identical glass bowls and tried to identify them based on smell/taste. We're happy to say that we were able to identify ALL of them based on taste, which goes some way to show that Walkers did try very hard indeed to get the flavors spot on. Like a geek, I made notes so I can accurately transcribe how the test went (edited to make it more family friendly, I am not the most, um... fine, I have a potty mouth and yes, I kiss my mother with it).

Me: Ur, no question, this is Chili Chocolate. Ick.

Boy: Yup, it's Chili Chocolate alright... (takes a small handful and shoves in mouth barbarically) with a spicy aftertaste.

Me: No more for me, tastes greasy and like a chocolate air freshener with a bad spicy aftertaste... kind of like a burp after eating spicy Korean food.

Boy: No, wouldn't buy this.

Me: This is odd... definitely Fish and Chips, can taste the salt and vinegar... the slight fishiness is very off putting.

Boy: (Munches on a handful rather than the dainty single chip I had) It has a lemony much though. A bit like scampi crisps but with a lemon zestyness. Wouldn't buy it again though.

Me: Definitely not. Ok, I have to stop you for a minute, what's up with the handfuls? It looks so caveman-esque. Eat one chip at a time like a normal person!!

Boy: What are you talking about?? This is normal! This is JUNK food, you're supposed to be indulgent and shove handfuls at a time in your mouth, what do you think this is? Fingers sandwiches and tea? How else are you supposed to get a good MUNCH?

Me: A MUNCH? What the hell? It's a CHIP!!! A single one munches fine and is the way to eat chips, eating a handful just looks greedy and rude!

Boy: Can we get on with it? (shoves an annoying handful of the next flavor into his mouth) Oooh, this is definitely the squirrel one.

Me (sulkily): CAJUN squirrel. It's very woodsy.

Boy: I'd buy this again (shoves ANOTHER handful). Smells like camping.

Me after a dramatic sigh: It has some woody paprika flavors. I'm not sure I'd buy this again. Its very squirrelly.

Boy: Squirrelly?

Me: Yes... a bit gamey like. Develops flavor as you eat.... (I have a few more... ONE at a time). I like the woodyness but it gets a bit much after a while.

Boy: Oh, you won't like this next one.

Me: Is it the Onion Bhaji? I don't like Onion Bhaji as it is....

Boy: I'd buy this one again as well.

Me: This is gross!!! It's like a burp after a bad Onion Bhaji! Ewwww, I need something to wash out my mouth. You CANNOT kiss me after eating this... same rules that applies to when you eat Onion Bhaji or have a lot to drink. Stay away!

Boy: This is so romantic...

Me: Moving on... OH! This is interesting!

Boy: Good hearty munch...smells like those bacon crisps you can buy.

Me: I like this... very interesting and tastes like it sounds. Builder's Breakfast, I get a hit of bacon and then develops into eggyness.

Boy: Could do with more bacon flavor.

Me: You think everything can do with more bacon flavor.

Boy: Your point being?

Me: This is interesting, I quite like this! Couldn't eat much of it though. The eggyness would get to me.

Boy: I'm not sure I'd buy this to eat regularly but would be fun to buy for others to try.

Me: This next one is interesting as well.

Boy: Papery munch. Smells like hoisin. I like it, its pretty good!

Me: I get cucumber and then the duck with an aftertaste of hoisin.

Boy: Well no mistaking the Crispy Duck and Hoisin flavor. Tastes a bit like paper though.

Me: Might be the pancake wrapper for the duck they are trying to emulate? It's interesting but I wouldn't buy it again.

So in conclusion, it was really good fun actually! I am very impressed at Walker's ability and reach to make such odd/interesting flavors and on the whole, I think they did a good job. It might all be a marketing ploy but it's a good one and I'm impressed at the effort they went to. They are priced the same as their regular flavored crisps (which is cheap as chips anyways... har dee har har). The only niggling complaint I have is that you can only buy a pack of six with 2 of three flavors rather than a packet with one of each of the flavors, which I think would be more appealing as you can road test them all.

Finally, as you may or may not know, Builder's Breakfast won and will be a staple on the shelves. I would recommend trying it as it's a fun flavor.

One last question: do you eat your chips by the single or your crisps by the handful??

Posh Ices

2009-05-19T20:51:00.002+01:00

I know that ice cream trolleys are the harbingers of summer but as I walked down Sloane Avenue (on my way home, can't afford to shop there), I passed by Hermes, which had an ice cream trolley decorated with ties outside. I can't imagine it was just some random man selling ice creams as Hermes doesn't seem the type to allow that without careful vetting! Then, a bit further down, at the Anya Hindmarch store, they had a pop up ice cream parlour!

What is going on? Sweets for the children of the posh customers? A gimmick to get people in the stores? A marketing scheme for the luxury brands?

Most importantly, does anyone have any clue if the ice creams are any good?

GIANT Cheetos!!

2009-04-06T17:36:00.002+01:00

I just found out they have GIANT Cheetos in the States. Not only that but Flaming Hot GIANT Cheetos.

Here's a review.

My kingdom for a bag of those.....

Cajun Squirrel Crisps we have but no Cheetos, are they kidding me??

Crack Biscuit

2009-04-01T11:05:00.003+01:00

This post is NOT about MTV's Pimp My Ride's Xzibit, whom the boy insists on calling 'Cross Biscuit', but about a new discovery of a biscuit (or cookie, if you will), which is so delicious, it's like crack.

McVitie's Caramel Digestives.

A digestive biscuit, covered with a thin chewy layer of caramel and then with a topping of milk chocolate. The only way to make this better is to change the milk to dark chocolate.

A quick dip in hot tea and it's melty chocolate, slightly chewy caramel and nutty biscuit. I'm ashamed to say I finished almost half a packet with one cup of tea. Crack biscuit indeed.

New discoveries

2009-03-29T21:21:00.002+01:00

A few things I am liking at the moment:

Heston's Feasts, particularly the Victorian one. The voice over is very annoying and badly edited but still heaps of fun. I need to book dinner at the Fat Duck....

'Quick, where are the grissini?' - although I'm not that familiar with the English class system and its stereotypes, the comments made me laugh, particularly the ginger one!

What have you read/seen lately that's been fun?

Hang tight, the boy and I had a blind taste test of the new Walker's crisps flavors and results coming up soon!

Quick and Easy

2009-03-20T16:39:00.000Z

Since the wee babe, I haven't had much time to cook. Happily the boy makes a mean bolognese with Quorn...faux meat crumbles may sound bad to you but I like the toothsomeness of the faux meat product and the lack of greasiness. Besides which, he also made a lasagna from scratch for the first time and it was good. However, due to his late working evenings, I try to prepare a few things in between feedings, changings and crying fits.

This week I've managed four meals. If I can prep these in 10 mins and have them come out well, you can too!

Two meals came courtesy of Umami, her Baked Beans on Pork on rice, which has quickly become a good fall back meal, and the delicious roast pork belly 'siu yok' which I served with fried rice and steamed french beans.

The third was from Garlic and Thyme Roasted Chicken with Crispy Dripping Croutons from the NY Times. Although I followed the recipe closely (and you all know how rare it is I actually do that, the bread turned out completely burnt and the two pieces that turned out tasted like fried bread, both greasy and dry. The chicken was ok but I prefer my own recipe.

The last meal was beans yet again. The chicken carcass and remnants of the ingredients used to make a stock in which beans were simmered along with bits of leftover pork and flavored with thyme and white pepper.

Yay for quick and easy meals!

Recess!!

2009-01-24T10:37:00.002Z

I loved recess! Besides being a chance for a break amongst the boringness of elementary school, it was a chance run around with my friends. Most of all, however, it was when you got to see the contents of the snacks inside my friend's lunchboxes and see what you could trade. Chocolate went for more than candy bars and chips (or crisps) for more than chocolate. Biscuits were quite low on the trading scale, except for chocolate based ones of course and rice crispy treats, while tasty, were far too common to have much value.

All this to say that I'm taking a tiny "recess" from the blog. I have just had a little premature baby and am concentrating all my energies into eating (I love it when other people cook for me, yay!) and feeding (she's not doing so well, big, big, big, boo!).

So in the meantime, take a little recess yourself and trade yourself a nice snack... or two or three...

In the Terminator's famous (not last) words, "I vill be back!"

Crispspspspspspsps

2009-01-19T16:29:00.003Z

What is it with the Brits and their crisps??

By the way, that's chips to the rest of us

I mean I love crisps/chips as much as the next guy...um, ok, maybe a bit more given my love of ketchup chips and Cheetos, but seriously, the Brits seem to be a bit obsessive.

Strolling through my local Sainsbury's, there are thousands of choices of different kinds of crisps and all sorts of flavors ranging from pickled onion (please do NOT eat if you plan to talk to anyone that day as your breath will smell of onions and your fingers of pickles) to roast chicken.

Whatever happened to my good old standbys of sour cream and chive, BBQ, all dressed, ranch, etc.? Well here in the good ole United Kingdom, they are inventive, I have to give them that. So much so that they have "seasonal crisps".

My case in point:

I mean, really.

Ham and Mustard?

Ploughman's?

Turkey and Stuffing?

Is this what da peeps want?

Well, for youse alls sake, I tried them.

Ploughman's was quite mild and tasted mostly of pickle but not too sour.
Ham and Mustard did taste quite true to its name oddly enough.
Turkey and Stuffing tasted like chicken spice... the boy thinks it tastes just like the roast chicken flavor.

But wait, it doesn't stop here. Apparently the next wave of crisp flavors to arrive in store shelves near me are:

Cajun Squirrel
Fish and Chips
Builder's Breakfast
Onion Bhaji
Crispy Duck and Hoisin
Chilli Chocolate

I'm a bit scared to be honest but if I see them, I shall do my duty and report back...

You can also vote for the flavor you want most to remain on the shelves by the 1st of May on the Walker's site.

The Duck who ate the Chicken who ate the Partridge

2009-01-16T08:39:00.000Z

I know this is 3 weeks late but some may still be curious about what became of my three bird roast.

Well, happy to report that my cooking skills are just a smidgen better than my disastrous baking ones.

On Christmas Eve, I served up roast pork, much to the delight of my brother, who was thrilled with the crispy crackling and the moist meat. He was even more happy when he heard that it was to be accompanied by braised red cabbage, a favorite vegetable of ours.

Christmas Day, however, was a bit less easy. I sent the boy down to our wonderful local butcher, Wyndham Butchers, to pick up my order of 3 bird roast. Meanwhile, I peeled and cut carrots, parsnips and sprouts.

We ended up with a 5.5kg bundle of joy... meaty joy, that is! I was told to roast for approximately 2.5-3 hours and rest for 30 minutes. I went for the 3 hours as I was told that there was enough fat within it to self baste and carried on with the prep for the rest of the meal. Of course, I couldn't resist sprinkling a layer of Schwartz's poultry spices as it seemed oh so naked without anything.

The meat turned out perfect. Moist, delicious and a joy to eat, all five of us had two pieces left and there was 2 pieces left for leftovers so a perfect portion. It was duck on the outside, sausage meat between that and the chicken (which I found a bit 'spongy' but acceptable) and then the dark meat of the partridge. I would definitely make this again for a special occasion, especially as it was easy and different. Much more interesting than a single bird as the different tastes and textures were there.

Sadly the rest of the meal I was responsible for didn't turn out so good. The carrots and parsnips were soft and overcooked, the brussel sprouts bitter and the stuffing, to which I admit I cheated a bit and used a boxed stuffing to which I added onions, chestnuts and bacon to, horribly over salted. The boy's mustard mash and parsnip, chestnut and potato mash were wonderful though, the former nice and tangy and the latter earthy and just slightly sweet.

In any case, it was a lot of fun and I wouldn't mind doing it all over again. Minus all the cleaning, scrubbing and prep involved of course!

I freaking give up.

2009-01-10T16:45:00.003Z

....on baking.

Today, last minute since I had workmen come in to *finally* fix our leak and I was asked to bring dessert, I thought I'd make brownies from scratch. From Jamie Oliver's book, Cook, which I got for Christmas.

Since I had only enough ingredients for one shot, I checked everything.

I used a scale to measure out my ingredients (a first for me).

I pre-heated the oven to the correct temperature and even used an oven thermometer and checked.

I didn't replace, omit or change a single thing from the recipe.

I checked the pan half way through and cooked to the precise time indicated.

And what happened?

The brownies were supposed to be gooey inside.

Mine were so dry it crumbled off the side and was almost liquidy raw inside.

WHAT THE HELL??

I freaking give up.

Now that the workmen have left, I have to rush down to the Marks and Spencer's to pick up dessert now.

I am cursed I tell you, CURSED!!!!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-09T16:17:00.002Z

Happy New Year!

Sorry I've been away for a while but it's been busy busy busy over here!

Happily the big meal turned out ok with a few minor issues and things generally went well. I'll do a longer post on my 3 bird roast soon, I promise!

For the time being, anyone fancy Cajun Squirrel chips/crisps???

Happy Christmas!

2008-12-24T07:32:00.002Z

Happy Christmas!

Stress is building up as in-laws arrive today. On the menu for Christmas is a three bird roast: pheasant, chicken and duck.

With friends such as brussel sprouts (courtesy of Orangette's recipe), roasted veg, stuffing with chestnuts, cranberry sauce with port, and the boy's special mashed potatoes.

No baking. Bought all the puddings I need.

Wish me luck.

And lots of it....

I am cursed!!

2008-12-20T09:27:00.002Z

Woke up at 6am this morning and couldn't sleep despite the tiredness.

Get intense craving for chocolate cake.

Find next best thing, brownie mix. Betty Crocker.

Can't possibly screw that up.

Mix water, egg, oil and packet, put in oven, wait 25 mins.

Take pan out, manage to slip, try to rescue with BARE HAND, glass pan cracks, end up with glass all over the floor.

Boy wakes up 30 mins later to find me in foetal position on sofa, sucking burnt finger, vacuum cleaner taken out, pan of glass brownies all over floor of kitchen.

Cue 1 hour later. Picking out bits of un-glassified brownie to nibble on while boy heroically deals with the mess.

Sadly this is a true story.

Marmite products

2008-12-19T10:49:00.000Z

Its no secret that Umami and I love Marmite.

We love it on toast and we love it in congee.

But what about crisps (chips to us North Americans) and cheese?

Apparently the English are just as passionate about this yeasty, salty spread because they use it to flavor not only rice crackers and breadsticks but also these new finds:

Walkers' Marmite crisps and cheddar.

Of course I couldn't resist buying them.

And how were they? The crisps were very nice although more subtle than I would have liked.

The cheese was very salty and flavorful, a nice savory snack for the middle of the afternoon when the craving for something intensely salty hits.

For me, of course, it is always followed by something intensely chocolatey!

Da Cheweeeeee..... oh.

2008-12-16T10:44:00.000Z

I am the most unaccomplished baker I know.

However, I have spirit. Or at least greed.

I came across Alton Brown's simply named, The Chewy.

This of course, refers to the chocolate chip cookie.

I looooove chocolate chip cookies and preferably, ones that are chewy and not just crunchy all the way through. I sometimes even under cook my cookies, pancakes, etc. just slightly to get that chewy texture. Doesn't always work and as I'm the only person I know who does not like raw cookie dough (yeah, yeah, so sue me), it doesn't always succeed.

In any case, getting into the holiday spirit and all that kind of nonsense, I decided to go for it. Also, it would mask the stench of microwave popcorn before my in-laws arrived.

So I followed the recipe (Susan, are you proud of me) and made the cookies.

Here's how it looked like right before I chilled the dough:

And here's what it looked like cooked as per instructions (175 for 14 mins, checking and turning sheet after 5 mins) and after only 11 minutes:

And here's what happened after I lowered the temp to 150 and cooked for only 12 minutes.

Yup, the instructions didn't work for me.

But even though the second and subsequent batches looked better, it still wasn't chewy. It was still a bit dry and tough. Did I overwork the dough? Should I not have used the hand mixer to mix the dough? Or was it my big chocolate chunks?

In any case, I would not repeat again, just wasn't that good. Now somebody please send me a fail proof cookie recipe!!

Michelin Results - Hong Kong

2008-12-02T14:00:00.002Z

Thanks to my ... ahem... sources, I have the results from the first Michelin Guide in Hong Kong:

Three Stars ***

- Lung King Heen

Two Stars **

- Amber

- Bo Innovation

- Caprice

- L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

- Summer Palace

- Tang Palace

One Star *

- Fook Lam Moon

- Forum

- Hutong

- Lei Garden (IFC and Tsim Sha Tsui)

- Ming Court

- Petrus

- Regal Palace

- Pierre

- Shanghai Garden

- Golden Leaf

- The Square

- Tim's Kitchen

- Yung Kee

I've tried to link most of the ones who have their own website.

Well.... What do you all think? A lot of hotel restaurants, non?

Agrree/Disagree??

Here's a link to an article, and discussions on Chowhound.

Crabby Patties

2008-12-01T12:55:00.001Z

So, long time no good food.

Sadly, its been a bit of a drought for me too. I've not been inspired much and not had much of an appetite for anything interesting. It's one of the annoying things of being out of work. You feel like you should save money and subsequently eat at home much more often. And as I've said before, I am NOT a cook. I'm an eater.

I have, however, last week, made a huge pot of Ginger Vinegar Pig's Trotters to bring to two friends who have recently given birth to adorable baby girls and even given a taster to a friend who has never had them but come to love them, much to my surprise and delight!

Last week, I was in Weymouth. Yes, I didn't know where that was either but it's where the boy is working at the moment during the week and I thought I'd tag along. It's been....um... interesting. But this review is timely, seeing as Weymouth has just completed the sailing venue for the 2012 Olympics on time and on budget!

While the boy spends his time working, I've spent my time exploring the town. Which took about 1 hour. Hmmm, it wasn't going to work out. I've looked in a lot of closed little shop and cafe windows and thought about how fun it could be in season. Teeming with senior citizens, it has been an experience to say the least. I even went to Poole to find some excitement only to find it mostly shut as well.

In an effort to keep my interest, the boy discovered that the Crab House Cafe was within distance and we went to have a look on the Monday we arrived only to find that it was only open Wednesday through to Sunday. We returned on Wednesday with low expectations.

However, inside was a cosy little restaurant with about a dozen tables and we were one of three occupied tables that night. Although I was a bit concerned of the lack of custom, my fears were assauged as soon as I glanced at the bright-eyed, impossibly fresh seafood, caught earlier that day which was laid out by the open plan kitchen.

When we looked at the menu, printed daily mind you, the boy bemoaned the fact that it was only open during the days he wasn't in the city. I must admit his love of fish is directly proportional to my opposition to cooking it and having the smell linger in the flat. The deprived boy began immediately with 1/2 a dozen oysters, which he slurped down without a word to his colleague and myself, as well as a cod and skate (....) which was prepared much like coronation chicken (curry, mayo and raisins) and was a bit too strong for my taste, overwhelming the delicate flavor of the fish.

His colleague and myself both had the Thai fish cakes, which were perfectly crispy on the outside while being moist on the inside. I would say they are more like French quenelles or croquettes. But then again, I have an aversion to putting the "Thai" label on anything prepared with lemongrass. It also came with sweet Thai chili sauce which went well but a squeeze of lemon would have been just as nice.

For a main, the boy smartly chose the fish pan, which came with 5 varieties of fish (clockwise from top): John Dory (St. Pierre in French), skate, grey mullet, cod and one other fish whose name escapes me. It was a fairly large portion but the boy managed to finish it.

His colleague had the grey mullet, which looked good, with nice crispy skin on the top.

I opted for the "crab to crack". Although I was given the choice of the spicy Chinese crab or the plain, I opted for the plain. I was dubious about the spices that were going to be used and I did want to taste the crab unmasked by sauces. I was given a "kit" which included a bib (this was definitely useful), a small hammer, crab crackers, a crab pick and a little wooden cutting board. Then the gigantic crab came out. This was completely unlike the much smaller crabs I was used to back home. This was a big'un, cooked, cooked and then cut up for me to dissect.

I looked at the roe..... gosh, it was drippy, rich and unctuous. It was also a male and came with just a touch of the gooey bits that I so love in hairy crabs. It was meaty and sweet but not as sweet as the smaller crabs but oh, so satisfying. The roe was delicious. It was a little hard to get into the meat and the use of the hammer was definitely needed. by the end I really needed a full bath to rid myself of crab shell still clinging to my hair.

I ate and ate and ate.... in fact, this is the ONLY time I was too full to eat the lower legs. Usually I hate to waste crab and eat everything but this time, I was full of crab and the boy and his colleague had been waiting at least 40 minutes for me to finish so I gave up the lower legs and called it quits.

Sadly the pictures didn't turn out so well as I only had my camera phone. I would show you the roe but it looks like a blurry over-exposed mess!

Definitely worth going to (if you're in the area... maybe to attend or see the Olympic sailing competition in 2012) and the warm welcome was a real bonus.

Crab House Cafe
The Fleet Oyster Farm
Ferrymans Way
Portland Rd, Wyke Regis
Dorset
DT4 9YU
Tel: 01305 788867

Turkish De-yuck - Part 2

2008-11-18T14:03:00.006Z

Well, I had to. After all, I did promise.

So of course, I choose a day when the boy was around the house (in case I needed to be resuscitated), and conquered my fears.

Inspired by the Sound of Music Singalong I went to on Friday (which was a LOT of fun), I began by first singing my off-key rendition of "I have Confidence" in order to summon up some courage to tackle the metallic purple horror sitting right next to my computer.

First I unwrapped it.

As you can see, it looked innocuous enough... and was covered in and smelt like chocolate. Not something I normally object to.

I cut it in half.

Ok, the dark red Turkish Delight lurked inside, insidiously daring me.

Not being that brave (nor that stupid), I cut it into tiny pieces and chose a corner piece (i.e. higher chocolate to gelatinous perfume ratio).

And for those of you who doubt that I actually ate it, I present to you exhibit D, which shows the slight gap between my two front teeth.

See? I did eat it.

And it was yuck.

I mean, it wasn't as strongly perfumed as the fancy stuff (and for that I am grateful) but it was still very much like eating some jelly-fied perfume. Ick.

I passed on the rest of the plate to the boy and decided to go in search of some Tolberone to ease my pain. To be fair, he didn't think it was very good either.

So all this to say that Turkish Delight is disgusting, no matter what my friends with taste say.

Fry's Turkish Delight - Part 1

2008-11-14T10:44:00.008Z

As punishment for my lack of posts and general laziness, I have promised you a review of my food nemesis, Turkish Delight... let's just call this one the starter because...

I'm still not sure I can go through with this.

Umami, whom I hold in very high food regard, has rarely ever steered me wrong when it came to food. The canned Heinz Mulligatawny soup turned out to be very perfect for those cold winter days where you want something tasty and quick but yet not too filling. Herbal tonics for general health and her favorite restaurants. Let me just stop here and say, the woman knows her stuff. Her penchant for cherry flavored things made me pause in the past, but that's not a question of taste, its more a question of preference. Besides, I cannot say I haven't changed regarding the question of cherry.

But this.... a perfumed jelly? She recommended THIS? I'm not sure I can take it.

Besides, it's wrapped in a garish purple foil wrapper with faux Middle-Eastern font exclaiming TURKISH Delight.

Other descriptions include "As Good as Ever" and "Full of EASTERN PROMISE", which, truth be told, is hardly a description. I mean, as good as ever? If it was bad, they haven't improved is what it says to me.

And full of EASTERN PROMISE (their capitalisation, not mine)? What kind of Eastern promise is it making me? To gag?

It is mocking me.

The only thing I can say for it is that it is covered with chocolate. Now if only I can bring myself to open the packet.

I will, I will.... just let me get used to the idea first. *shiver*

In the meantime, here's their cheesy commercial, courtesy of YouTube.

*Did you see the inside? It's a bright pinky red jelly....ewwwwwww.*

Some husbands....

2008-11-11T11:46:00.001Z

bring back flowers for their wives.....

but mine brings back McDonald's fries.

*dopey sigh*

Mine is better than yours.

Uh oh...

2008-11-10T16:18:00.004Z

Yeah, I know.

I've been very lax about updating the blog. I will do but at the moment, I'm going through a bit of a down period with food. I feel a bit like that guy on the Fast Show, Jesse's Diets, who spends a week eating "mostly" one thing.

This last week, I have mostly been eating convenience food.

Blech.

Although I did have a lovely afternoon tea at Fortnum and Mason's with the in-laws!

A proper update coming soon (end of this week) ... one in which I TRY to conquer my fear by approaching the Umami recommended and my nemesis, TURKISH DELIGHT!

4pm: The Vessel

2008-10-30T10:54:00.000Z

Now I've talked about the tea and talked about a biscuit so I suppose I should say something about the mug.

This is a major concern for the boy. He has rejected all but 2 of the dozens of mugs which came with our apartment, deeming them "unsuitable for tea".

At first I scoffed...

I mean seriously, are you that hung up on mugs for tea?

Then, as I began to drink my mug of tea, I realized just how right he was.

Our landlord has left us dozens of mugs but many of them just on the small side. As the boy rightly pointed out, they are just too unsatisfying. They contain just bitsy amounts of tea, not enough for 3 or 4 biscuits and to warm your belly and quench your thirst. It's also too easy to let it get too strong or too weak.

Luckily, a good friend in Hong Kong solved the problem for us with his and hers mugs. Customized no less. They were a wedding present and based on a themed surprise birthday party (Spongebob Squarepants if you must know) the boy threw for me where he dressed up in the said absorbent, lemon-colored cartoon character (complete with 3 pairs of vibrant yellow tights to cover the..uh... hairs) to present a self-made Spongebob Squarepants birthday cake in front of dozens of friends he had never met.

You can see why I married the boy despite his occasional quirks about his tea.

Anyhow, these two mugs are just the perfect size for a cup of tea and biscuits.

It also saves us from bickering over the mugs despite how awfully smug and silly we look toasting ourselves with mugs with our cartoon selves on the front.

'Nana Cake

2008-10-17T10:50:00.000+01:00

I love, love, love Banana bread. So when I heard rave reviews about a certain banana cake which had a unique 'cooling' process, I had to try. It also doesn't hurt that the recipe itself had more than 330 reviewers rating it 5 stars!

Impatiently I waited for my bananas to go black, strictly checking and warning the boy NOT to eat them. Luckily, like me, he likes his bananas on the firm, green side.

Finally it was time. I mixed up all the ingredients and found I was 1/2 cup short of flour.

D'OH!!!

After Susan's comments last time I baked, I thought that for ONCE, I would follow the recipe exactly. The ONLY change I made was using salted butter (that was all I had) and omitting the salt, figuring it would even itself out.

As I had already done the grocery run once that day, I asked the boy to pick up some more flour on the way home from work.

The process involves baking the cake for an hour (took 1.5 hours for me, even though my thermometer showed that I had the right temperature) and then straight into the freezer for 45 minutes.

Those 45 minutes were agony as the smell of the cake had already permeated and the boy kept asking me "Is it done yet? Should I put the kettle on now? How much longer?". Finally I pulled out the cake and cut out a big piece each for me and the boy. I omitted the frosting as, quite frankly, our butts didn't need it.

It was good! A bit too sweet for my liking but nice and moist with a gorgeous crackly crusty top. I didn't know how to wrap the cake as I wanted to preserve the crackly top so I left it overnight in the cooled oven but sadly when I went for my breakfast piece (hey, cake is a perfectly decent balanced breakfast), the topping had become sticky and moist. Not bad but not the lovely crumb of last night.

Anyhow, I wouldn't mind making it again with more banana, less sugar and less butter although not sure how I could decrease without affecting the texture... any suggestions?

4pm: Tunnock's Dark Chocolate Caramel Wafers

2008-10-13T10:56:00.001+01:00

I thought I'd start off round 2 of 4pm with a recently discovered and fast becoming favorite biscuit.

Although, to be fair, you can hardly call it a biscuit and it's more in the realm of chocolate bar.

It is T unnock's Dark Chocolate Caramel Wafers.

Tunnocks has had a long history of providing many a packed lunch with that sweet treat at the end or as an afternoon snack. Two of its most famous products are the Tea Cake, a biscuit base with a marshmallow dome, all enveloped with chocolate, and the Caramel Wafer, containing 5 layers of wafer with 4 layers of caramel.

Tunnock's is still family owned and operated out of Scotland, and the scrolling trivia on their site tells me that the Caramel Wafer is regularly featured as one of the top 10 selling chocolate biscuits in Scotland. After eating my way through two packs, I know why.

*sigh*

What I have to go through in the name of research....

I bought the multi-pack, which , I think is the way to go, lasting a good week with one extra in case your *cough* significant other decides to steal one *choke*.

First of all though, you must make the tea and your cheerily wrapped Caramel Wafer (keeping it away from the tea otherwise you risk chocolate meltage), and find a good space to sit.

Then, have a slurp of your tea and begin to unwrap. STOP. Do NOT rip the top bit open and eat like a chocolate bar, you heathen. Unwrap it fully.

Then, using the wrapper as your 'plate', pick it up with your thumb and forefinger and bite.

The warmth of your mouth from the tea should nicely melt the chocolate, which combined with the slightly chewy wafer and caramel leave you nice and happy.

Then, a further sip or two of tea then another bite.

Proceed until finished.

Assuming, like me, you are a hot blooded individual, you should be left with traces of chocolate to be licked away regretfully after the Caramel Wafer has finished.

Usually this is the time to sigh, look sadly down at your chocolate streaked empty wrapper and begin to fold. I fold mine according to the fold already in place, turning it over to admire once again the wrapping before folding it into an every smaller thin strip and wrap around my finger like a ring.

I leave this bit to your own imagination as to how you'd like to fold your empty wrapper.

Lunch

2008-10-10T13:50:00.000+01:00

Lunch is not a fun affair.

I'm usually by myself, at home and try to either finish off any leftovers of the previous evening (of which there are never many), or make something simple. Sadly, I often turn to instant meals bulked up by something at home.

Today's lunch was Nong Shim's Chapagetti, an instant noodle of which my Dad and I are inordinately fond. Introduced to me by my Korean flatmate in university, I introduced it to my father and we have been buying it by dozen ever since.

Based on Cha Chang or Zha Jiang Mein, a savory spicy sauce which can reddish with lots of ground meat in the Cantonese style and dark black (using black soybeans) in the Korean style and usually served with thick chewy noodles. My favorite is the Korean version, one in which my Taiwanese aunts make particularly well along with their own handmade noodles and accompanying pickles....thinking about it makes my mouth water. But as a hopeless cook I make do with this version of Cha Chang Myun by Nong Shim.

I just want to take a second here and acknowledge that Nong Shim is one of my favorite makers of instant noodles. Their noodles, which are very much deep fried, are thick, chewy if cooked right and have a great bite to them.

It comes with a little packet of dehydrated soy/meat and veg, a packet of powder for the sauce and a small packet of vegetable oil. I, heathen that I am, usually toss away the oil, and after boiling the noodles to a consistency I like, dump out the water, put in two tablespoons of fresh water, a splash of white vinegar (I like my noodles with a bit of tang) and the sauce powder, putting it back on the hob at the lowest heat possible. I then attempt to stir, mix and coax it all together, turning it into a lovely curly black mess.

Today's meal was made complete with a surprisingly double yolked hard boiled egg and 3 sticks of surirmi (faux crabmeat, seafood extenders, whatever you want to call it), and a dollop of spicy Sriracha sauce on the side.

A quick, tasty, if not exactly healthy, lunch for one.

4pm: Tea

2008-10-06T11:05:00.000+01:00

I've decided that since I'm in England, I might as well adapt some of the weird quirks about the English, but mostly about the boy, that I enjoy.

One of these is the 4pm Cup o' Tea.

Now that the boy has beaten the sugar out of my cup of tea, I like it strong, with a dash a milk so its a nice caramel color. I'm picky about it because I'm not fond of too much milk and weak tea is a waste of my time.

But since the sugar has been taken away with me, I've taken to biscuits (cookies in my book) with an alarming alacrity. I figured that it balances it out nicely, no?

The everyday 4pm cup of tea is not meant to be a nice dainty affair with real china and platters of scones and sandwiches, as much as I'd like it to be, but a reinforcing cup of warmth with a biscuit (or two, or three or four....) to sustain you until dinner. I find it a perfect way to begin thinking about what I'm going to prepare for dinner and not making me so hungry that I want to bite a chunk out of the raw meat I'm preparing.

My tea of choice had been the long held favorite, PG Tips. However, as I find myself just that bit chilly all the time, and craving that hit of hot liquid, I find myself wanting to cut down on the caffeine... just a little. So when the boy brought home the wonderfully retro box of Tick Tock Tea with no caffeine, I was excited... at first. However, upon seeing it rooibos and smelling just that little bit funky, I became apprehensive.

After my sip, I wasn't exactly sold, but I wasn't put off either. Much, much weaker than normal tea, it nevertheless had a comforting aroma and flavor to it. I have surprisingly taken to it quite well and have now cut down to 1 cup of normal tea and three of the Tick Tock Tea.

I have to admit, the cheery box does help.

The Feet o' Pigs

2008-09-30T10:53:00.000+01:00

My Mom mentioned a dish the other day and immediately a craving hit like a punch in the belly.

It was a dish I often requested at dim sum restaurants and one for which I will unashamedly hang around women who have just given birth.

This dish, pig's trotters in ginger and sweet vinegar, is traditionally given to a woman after labor as a way to help ward off 'wind', keep the body warm, help in the replenishment of blood lost and serves as a tonic to help women recuperate.

I eat it because it's tasty.

I have never tried cooking it myself but if my Mom (who, shockingly is an even worse cook than myself) can make it, so can I.

So off I went to try to buy the vinegar. It must be Pat Chun Sweet Vinegar, at least that's what everyone tells me! I was lucky enough to find it at See Woo in Leicester Square. Then I bought some old ginger. I wasn't sure how much so I bought 3 hefty pieces approximately the size of my hand. I like things on the spicy side but this should be adjusted to how much spice you can take.

Then it was off to the local butchers where I put in an order for 3 fresh pig's trotters for the following week. A half dozen eggs and I was set to begin.

I first began by peeling all the ginger and cutting it into thickish slices and putting them into a pot with the whole bottle of vinegar and heat until just barely simmering. Once the ginger slices had softened and taken on a bit of color, I turned off the heat and let it sit overnight.

In the meantime, I hard boiled the half dozen eggs and peeled them and put them into the cooled vinegar to marinate overnight.

When I got the pig's trotter's the next day, I asked that the nails be chucked away and each trotter to be cut in 6 pieces. Happily the butcher cut them with the cleaver so none of that powdery bone dust you get from machines. Then I came home, rinsed them very well, pulling off any tough bits of skin and put them into a pot of cold water to cover and heat to boiling. You will see a lot of grey scum rise to the top. After it had boiled about 5-10 mins, I removed, rinsed and started again with cold water and heat to boiling. This time there was little scum but if there is, you may need to do it a third time.

I rinsed off the pig's trotters as well as I could and took out the eggs from the vinegar marinade (which were a lovely brown color by this time) and replaced them with the pig's trotters. I then topped up with about a cup of water to almost cover the pig's trotters and lets simmer on the lowest possible heat for 3-4 hours or until the pig's trotters look very soft and ready to eat.

At this point, I let the whole pot cool, replaced the eggs and leave overnight in the fridge. This way, I could easily scoop out the hard white lard the next morning before returning to the boil. Then it was ready to eat.

Don't be put off by the length of time it appears to take. I'm sure you could make this in a single day but I like having the flavors develop and really marinate into the egg and the pig's trotters. I like the sauce to be almost sticky and deeply flavorful.

This keeps incredibly well and you can add to it with more sweet vinegar, ginger or pig's trotters and reuse the sauce as the base for the next batch.

I like to serve it with white rice, lightly sauteed spinach and beansprouts with the egg cut in half, attractively showing three colors of the yolk, the white and the marinated brown, and a few pieces of pig's trotters. You won't need much of the sauce as the egg and pig's trotters should be plenty flavorful.

It is an easy and cheap dish to make (under 6 pounds!) and would be greatly appreciated by any new mother.

I'm no baker...

2008-09-20T08:47:00.008+01:00

...but I do love my chocolate baked goods!

I decided to make cookies.

I had two conditions. It must be easy and it must be chocolate-y.

So I found this recipe for Chocolate Crinkles and decided to give it a go.

And it was me, I made a few changes. I decreased the sugar by 1/4 cup and upped the cocoa by 2 tablespoons. Oh and no powdered sugar. Instead I put a few flakes of salt on top.

First dozen I made were too dry. It was my fault, I baked for 14 minutes instead of the 10 to 12 as they looked undercooked.

The second dozen I made I baked for only 10 minutes and they were undercooked. They spread a bit and was too moist inside. The third dozen was at 12 minutes on the nose.... still too dry.

Hmmm, next half dozen (all the dough I have left) will be at 11 minutes and hopefully I'll have that nice balance of crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside.

Taste-wise, they were better than expected. Nice hit of salt, not too sweet and a bit brownie like, especially the undercooked ones.

Not the best cookies in the world but they'll do for now. Oh and it was definitely easy and very chocolate-y.

Finally, a baking project that didn't go terribly wrong.

Follow up - 100 Chinese Foods...

2008-09-16T10:35:00.002+01:00

As a follow up to the Omnivore's 100, we now have Appetite for China's 100 Chinese Foods to Try Before you Die!

I scored 97%, and a hard craving for food back in Hong Kong. Bittersweet.

1. Almond milk
2. Ants Climbing a Tree (poetic, not literal, name)
3. Asian pear
4. Baby bok choy
5. Baijiu
6. Beef brisket
7. Beggar's Chicken
8. Bingtang hulu
9. Bitter melon
10. Bubble tea
11. Buddha's Delight
12. Cantonese roast duck
13. Century egg, or thousand-year egg
14. Cha siu (Cantonese roast pork)
15. Char kway teow
16. Chicken feet
17. Chinese sausage
18. Chow mein
19. Chrysanthemum tea
20. Claypot rice
21. Congee
22. Conpoy (dried scallops)
23. Crab rangoon
24. Dan Dan noodles
25. Dragonfruit
26. Dragon's Beard candy
27. Dried cuttlefish
28. Drunken chicken
29. Dry-fried green beans
30. Egg drop soup
31. Egg rolls
32. Egg tart, Cantonese or Macanese
33. Fresh bamboo shoots
34. Fortune cookies
35. Fried milk
36. Fried rice
37. Gai lan (Chinese broccoli)
38. General Tso's Chicken
39. Gobi Manchurian
40. Goji berries (Chinese wolfberries)
41. Grass jelly
42. Hainan chicken rice
43. Hand-pulled noodles
44. Har gau (steamed shrimp dumplings in translucent wrappers)
45. Haw flakes
46. Hibiscus tea
47. Hong Kong-style Milk Tea
48. Hot and sour soup
49. Hot Coca-Cola with Ginger
50. Hot Pot
51. Iron Goddess tea (Tieguanyin)
52. Jellyfish 53. Kosher Chinese food
54. Kung Pao Chicken
55. Lamb skewers (yangrou chua'r)
56. Lion's Head meatballs
57. Lomo Saltado
58. Longan fruit
59. Lychee
60. Macaroni in soup with Spam
61. Malatang
62. Mantou, especially if fried and dipped in sweetened condensed milk
63. Mapo Tofu
64. Mock meat
65. Mooncake (bonus points for the snow-skin variety)
66. Nor mai gai (chicken and sticky rice in lotus leaf)
67. Pan-fried jiaozi
68. Peking duck
69. Pineapple bun
70. Prawn crackers
71. Pu'er tea
72. Rambutan
73. Red bean in dessert form
74. Red bayberry
75. Red cooked pork
76. Roast pigeon
77. Rose tea
78. Roujiamo
79. Scallion pancake
80. Shaved ice dessert
81. Sesame chicken
82. Sichuan pepper in any dish
83. Sichuan preserved vegetable (zhacai)
84. Silken tofu
85. Soy milk, freshly made
86. Steamed egg custard
87. Stinky tofu
88. Sugar cane juice
89. Sweet and sour pork, chicken, or shrimp
90. Taro
91. Tea eggs
92. Tea-smoked duck
93. Turnip cake (law bok gau)
94. Twice-cooked pork
95. Water chestnut cake (mati gau)
96. Wonton noodle soup
97. Wood ear
98. Xiaolongbao (soup dumplings)
99. Yuanyang (half coffee, half tea, Hong Kong style)
100. Yunnan goat cheese

There's also a 100 Japanese Foods to try.... or has the 100 Food List's five minutes already expired?

St. John Bread and Wine

2008-09-11T12:21:00.019+01:00

In the words of Fergie's annoying and shrill song, "London, London, Lon- DON!"

Yes I'm back and I've been slow. I have no excuse.... Well... I kind of do. I've been eating crap food mostly. For some reason I've been craving spaghetti bolognese like nobody's business and I can't seem to cook a decent potful of the stuff! Instead I've been eating the frozen stuff from Sainsbury's with ketchup and Tabasco. Yes, I'm disgusted with myself.

But I am here back to tell you about a restaurant I went to with Susan, who was so impressed, we went back a mere 3 days later, joined by the gracious Fushia Dunlop. The restaurant being St. John Bread and Wine in Spitalfields.

The first time Susan and I went, we got there early at noon and was the earliest lunchtime table. It was a nice, casual setting, with a counter separating the kitchen from the main dining room. Lots of white and dark woods, it was very clean and modern looking, with a small selection of breads and pastries available for take out.

The menu was printed and handed to us with the day's specials on the board. We were instantly drawn to the Pig's Tail, Chicory and Mustard, which we decided we most definitely had to have. Then we ordered a selection of dishes including Peas and Ticklemore, the simply named dished of Tomatoes, Deviled Rabbit's Kidneys, and Old Spot and Lentils.

Susan started with a single razor clam, which looked like it had been drizzled with a vinaigrette and thinly sliced red onion. I'm not sure how it tasted but I'm sure she can enlighten us in the comments... Please?

The Peas and Ticklemore (type of cheese) arrived next, a really fresh, sweet, delicious tasting peas with tangles of pea leaves and the slightly tangy, thin slices of cheese. It was dressed simply in some olive oil and was wonderful. We ordered this again on our second visit, which came with gorgeous edible purple flowers from another species of pea plant.

The Tomatoes, we had to try since we wanted to understand how a dish of tomatoes could cost . The came all different colors and types, some small and some a bit larger, cut in half and dressed. Accompanied by a small salad with these lovely pickled walnuts. The tomatoes were good but not anything special tasting, despite their probable unique heritage.

But the Pig's Tail. It was great! All crispy on the outside and soft, fatty and cartilage-y. Yum, yum! It was very rich and with all our other dishes, we couldn't finish it and by the end of the meal, the crispy bits had softened somewhat, making it less delicious. Although we did hope to see it on our second visit, it wasn't available.

Old Spot and Lentils, which we had high hopes for, was slices of pork belly on a bed of lentils. It was ok but nothing spectacular. The pork, although a fatty cut, was slightly dry and salty. We ate little of it due to the temptation of all the other dishes.

The Deviled Rabbit's Kidneys was delicious. Tender little nuggets with just enough chew with a lovely sauce over a toasted piece of bread. I do love kidneys and luckily, so does Susan!

The second visit lasted from breakfast to lunch and we started with a bacon butty, a wonderfully piggy bacon sandwich, which just made us a bit more hungry for the rest of our meal.

We ordered the Smoked Eel & Horseradish, which was just sooo good, smoky, oily and rich, and came in two small pieces with real horseradish. Upon tasting it, I really wanted to immediately order another one all for myself.

The Snails, Nettles & Brown Butter came in a buttery, chewy tangle with bread underneath to mop up the juices, of which there were a plenty. It was good but I was still fixated on the eel.

The Girolles & Goat's Curd was very 'forest-y' tasting if that makes sense. The tang and creaminess of the goat's curd was a good contrast as it brought out the foresty greeness of the just tender girolles.

Crab Meat on Toast was sooo rich, even with the squirt of lemon. It was a bargain in my opinion, with two generous slices of toast slathered with crab meat (which is a pain to remove). Happily, they didn't include just the white crab meat but bits of roe, which gave it a slight discoloration but made it all the more rich.

The first time we went, we had an Eccles cake to share. This was a huge piece of dense and surprisingly delicious sugared pastry wrapped with dark, dense, sweet currants and perhaps other fruits. It was served with a big piece of Lancashire Cheese. I am not usually a fan of anything with raisins (crunchy eyeballs...ewww) or dried fruit but this was very good, sweet, chewy and was definitely moreish.

The madeleines we ordered, on the other hand, were a big disappointment. Dry and a little too large, they were nothing to write home about. As much as I like dessert, I say, stick to the small plates here and maybe finish with an Eccles cake...only if you have others to share with, it's a rich dessert!

The second time we couldn't manage dessert but I did manage to finish off the yogurt and strawberries which we had ordered with our bacon butty but had completely forgotten about by the time the savories arrived.

All I can say is that writing this post has made me hungry for more food there. Simple yet complex yet delicious and hearty, I can't wait to go back for more.

St. John Bread and Wine Spitalfields
94-96 Commercial Street
London
E1 6LZ
Reservations: 020 7251 0848

Bad spacing

2008-09-08T12:06:00.000+01:00

About the post below... I have no idea how come my spaces don't show up on blogger!!

It looks fine in the preview but is all squashed into 1 neverending paragraph for you to read.

Sorry and if you have any hints as to how I can sort this out, let me know!

The Ominvore's Hundred

2008-09-05T15:08:00.002+01:00

Very late to the game but I still want to play!!

The Omnivore's Hundred...

In bold are the ones I've tried... and the 24 I haven't tried. None of them have been crossed out as I'd try anything....once.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu - it was dried...does that count?
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse - it was raw tartare...do I get double points??
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

So, what about you? Any of you tried all 100?? Any of you tried none at all?? I'm so curious...

El Bulli - sección tres

2008-08-16T12:50:00.000+01:00

All right, still with me?

I hope so!

Only part three of the El Bulli experience left....

We continued with green walnuts and with endive, this was a bit like a creamy stew, with Roquefort, tiny little endives caramelized and slightly drizzled with a bit of passion fruit essence.

I enjoyed this dish although it was a little bit strange, a bit crunchy and a little odd but tasty, with most of the flavors coming together quite nicely and not tasting heavy at all. Oddly the Roquefort didn't taste so good. It was in little pillowy pockets (you can see one on the lower left hand side and another on the upper right) and didn't seem to go together with the rest.

Another gnocchi dish followed, gnocchi of polenta with coffee and safran yuba. It was quite nice although again it was again a film encapsulated burst of liquid cornmeal. You can definitely taste the ground coffee but not so much the saffron. I quite liked this one as it tasted more substantial than some of the other dishes.

Ok, this was the one dish I had differently than everyone else. This was named sea anemone 2008. And sadly, it sent me running to the bathroom. It smelled awful, looked awful and from what I gathered from everyone pushing it around, it didn't taste great. It consisted of oysters and rabbit brains. Sadly, the brain had a visible bloody vein running through it, which the boy had to pick around. I was proud of him for actually trying what he termed as "zombie food".

I was given a dish of ackees, a fruit commonly used in Jamaican cooking. It was served with cooked cucumbers and tasted quite mild, a little bit like corn. The cucumbers are quite good. Reminded me of a cooked pickle I had in a lovely African stew once.

The next dish consisted was abalone, accompanied by shimeiji mushrooms, fat of Iberian pork (the clear big in the middle) and flavored with ginger. It was definitely fresh abalone, not the sugared heart ('tong sum') preserved abalone but still good. It was very Asian flavored with strong soy notes. I enjoyed this but couldn't manage to eat the fat despite my usual liking of fat!

The next course was called castanet, a distinctive part of the pig, which the waitress kindly pointed out was somewhere on the side. It tasted very much like sweetbread. On the side was lemon soup with baby shitake mushrooms with braised cactus on the left hand side. The soup was light and flavorful from the shitake and the castanet was a bit tougher than sweetbreads. The cactus was quite juicy and slightly tart.

The flower canape which followed was the first of the dessert selections. It was very pretty to look at with edible flowers sprinkled over the top and a small mouthful of sorbet at the end all on a thin plank of meringue (can you sense a theme for this year yet?). Again, as it was flowers, it wasn't to my taste but it was inoffensive and light with a refreshing sorbet as the last flavor.

Next came a box with 'trufitas', or liquid truffles. Obviously, this being El Bulli, you don't expect a normal truffle. This was truffle all right but truffle the fungi and not the chocolate. Rolled in cacao powder it was the true essence of truffle which lingers in your mouth.

Carrying on with the cacao theme was the simply named cacao, which was a beautifully molded shell made to look like a cacao pod. Sadly I don't remember much of the taste of what was underneath the sugar shell but in my notes are cinnamon, coffee jelly, macadamia nut. Perhaps the others could help me out?

At this point, as Umami and my birthday was a scant few days apart and this being the eve of mine, Cha Xiu Bao had informed the staff who came out with two huge cards with pop up birthday cakes and stuck a candle for us to blow out. It was amusing but less amusing when the hurriedly, a scant few seconds after we blew out the candle, rushed to close the cards to take them away. They were also not amused when Cha Xiu Bao jokingly asked if they would sing like they did at TGIF.

We were then presented with the first of the ''morphings", which was a chocolate egg filled with a sort of strawberry truffle. It was very good quality chocolate and definitely very satisfying for my sweet tooth. The egg was speckled with gold and very pretty to look at.

The next was a Catalan berry biscuit with mint, very similar to the Parmesan and tomato biscuits we had at the beginning. However, it did taste quite dry and not as concentrated in berry-ness. I somehow managed to forget the photo for this one but you can see the pics on Cha Xiu Bao's Flickr account.

Next we were served a very moist yogurt sponge cake with apricot. The sponge cake looked a sea sponge and was very frilly and hole-y. It was nice and light and although I was suffering a bit from food coma, I couldn't help but pick at it.

Finally we were presented with amber filled liquid balls. I don't remember eating it and the only thing the boy can tell me is that it was very sweet and syrupy and infused with a delicate flavor which he can't remember. We are rubbish at this...

So finally, what say I about the meal? It was interesting. I don't regret going at all. It was different and very special. However, as far as the taste of the meal went, I can't say I loved it. I admit it may have been a combination my own slight nausea, my distaste for a few of the ingredients which were frequently used (umeboshi, shiso and flowers), and my own lack of refined taste buds but it just didn't do it for me. And sadly, I feel a bit let down. I expected the different, unexpected textures and visuals but I also expected it to taste GOOD. And while most of it was ok, nothing I really wanted to repeat except the razor clams.

Moreover I am off molecular gastronomy. If I've tried the best and wasn't impressed, I ain't gonna try the rest. (My grandfather, a published poet, is turning in his grave now...).

So when Susan suggested a trip to a new, cool restaurant with fancy food on a recent trip to London, I suggested more solid, non-fusion food instead.

I'm expecting some controversy and comments of how unqualified I am to make this review and I agree with all of them but again, this was MY experience and I feel that I have to be honest.

Now will someone get me a bowl of noodles please?

El Bulli - sección dos

2008-08-12T12:27:00.000+01:00

We continued on our El Bulli adventure with some other interesting tastes.

However, I missed a few of the small tasters in my first post on El Bulli. A mint leaf with coconut sorbet was one of them. A little bit of a same theme as the coconut from before but very refreshing as a palate cleanser.

Yes, there was a smear of something... but I'm afraid that I don't remember what it was (bad, bad food blogger, I know...).

But the next course was a bit different and consisted of two parts. I think it was called the LYO cream. The first part was a meringue with whipped egg white cream which you put in your mouth as a puff and then a spoon of egg yolk with parmesan. Together it was to mimic a mouthful of carbonara.

Unfortunately, the egg yolk had congealed a bit and the puff was a bit too powdery (causing hilarity as the mouthful caused one blogger to cough half the puff ALL over another blogger's arm... I will not name names but the graciousness of the coughed on blogger put my persistent giggling to shame). It was not a successful mouthful. I admit it might be our fault as we dallied before putting the egg yolk with parmesan in our mouths but the combo didn't work well in my book. Perhaps if the meringue had been floated on top of the egg yolk so it was all one mouthful.

Another one which came up was a cube of what I think was Turkish delight. It was very delicate, beautifully colored and the texture was like soft jelly. I did take a bite despite my instinctive gag factor reflex when in comes to eating anything floral.

I passed the rest to the boy.

This roll, or "Averantos" was both salty and crunchy, with what tasted like deep fried quinoa rolled around a soft crumbly textured black sesame like mousse.

It was very nutty and and crunchy and a little difficult to eat, which made me very grateful for the paper so that I could, in a very unladylike way, shovel it into my mouth.

The next taste before the savory main tastes, was a soup. Entitled buffalo milk , I believe it was made from the whey remaining after making buffalo cheese, topped by freeze dried strawberry and with basil matcha.

It was quite refreshing and at the bottom was a bit of honey like substance, perhaps royal jelly?

The next taste was my favorite of the evening. It was the razor clam/Laurencia. The fresh razor clam was just beautiful. Ever so slightly steamed, it was sweet and tasted of the sea. I have a weakness for razor clams anyways I must admit.

Even better was the agar agar ponzu jelly with Laurencia (a type of kombu, or seaweed from what I gather). Tasted all fresh, juicy and delish. Definitely a wonderful interpretation of the sea.

Mandarine flower/pumpkin oil with mandarine seeds - This was a mandarin sorbet which was drowned in fragrant pumpkin seed oil. You were asked to dig your spoon in to ensure you had both the sorbet as well as the oil in your mouth at the same time.

To me, this just didn't work at all. It tasted waxy and oily and the pumpkin oil just completely overwhelmed the sorbet. I could only manage 2 small tastes.

The next dish was savory/spun egg with egg yolk gnocchis - We were quite excited to get this as it was one of the few foods we thought we would be able to chew and use our jaws to eat. But looks can be deceiving. The gnocchi of egg yolk was made with the same encapsulated technology as the olive and burst in the mouth, while the dashi soup with shizo powder was very much overwhelmed by the amount of strong sesame oil which was drizzled on top. It was enhanced by fish roe (the little fuzzy orange blobs you see on the edges). Some of us loved it, while others had one bite and pronounced them over the bursting technology. I ate most of it, enjoying the mouthfeel of the different textures but disappointed by the amount of sesame oil which overpowered the dish.

The next dish was one which we all identified with as having strong Asian influences. Veal tendon in bone marrow soup. Flavored by star anise, braised until ultra tender, it was gelatinous in the best kind of way, melt in the mouth and sticky at the same time. It was delicious and made me want a bowl of "ngau gun ho" (beef tendon noodles) immediately. Very well done with a great stock which was sticky yet delicate and flavorful.

The next dish was something completely different for me. It was black garlic ravioli, paired with fresh almonds & a beautiful nub of what looked like cactus but tasted fresh, juicy and crisp. The ravioli had a sliver of garlic inside and was a bit too strong for my taste but when paired with the fresh almond, it tasted pretty good. I could only eat one of the black ravioli as strong garlic is not my friend (nor the boy's after I eat it) but the fresh almonds were delicious and I wouldn't mind more of those little cactus-y things!

Next up was mussel 2008 - half a dozen mussels, half flavoured with umeboshi sauce and the other half with dashi jelly, laid on top of laurentian seaweed.

Sadly, I'm not a fan of umeboshi but I liked the combo of the sweet tart taste of the umeboshi with the salty, sea taste of the mussel. The dashi jelly had a bit of texture to it, a little like a very, very fine fish roe jelly. The seafood was incredibly fresh and the flavors worked well together and tasted complimentary.

The water lily soup with cashew fruit has to be the most visually beautiful dish of the night. I loved the way it looked and was fragrant and pleasing to the eye and nose. It was so delicate and perfect, I was reluctant to dip my spoon in. I felt like I was destroying an live art installation.

Sadly, I'm not a fan of floral tastes so am not a good person to judge but I did like the delicate flavor of the refreshing soup and the flowers were not too floral (if that makes any sense) and I enjoyed the contrast of textures with the little bits that tasted like, but wasn't, pomelo (these were the little sprinkles you see best on the lower right of the picture). And yes, everything in that picture is edible...urr, except the dish of course.

We were then served game meat canape, which came as a thin piece of jerky, slightly toasted until a little bit crisp with a pate smeared across it and topped with flowers.

It was not as game-y or as intense as I though t it would be. I appreciate the effort that went into it but I thought it was only ok but nothing not something I would choose to have seconds of if offered.

A fitting end to part two is the suckling pig tail - served alongside a ham soup containing tofu and cantaloupe melon. The pig tail, in my own point of view, could have been crisper. It was a little chewy and much less crunchy than crackling. It was served with a sweet hoisin type sauce and again a little too salty for my liking.

The soup was delicate and slightly sweet, a nice counterbalance as it was served chilled.

Hope to have part three and my explanations (and excuses) up soon!

El Bulli - sección una

2008-08-06T14:40:00.008+01:00

I am sorry this post has taken so long in coming and will be coming in three parts but truly, the meal was that long.

The reason? I'm reluctant to post my opinions about the famed, revered and extremely difficult to get into restaurant. I mean, the cheek of me, a junk food...junkie (I've got a way with words), an amateur blogger and a lucky, LUCKY last minute invitee to join Cha Xiu Bao and Umami at the world famous restaurant actually review it?

But I shall. For the sole reason that I owe it to you and I also owe it to the people who I've grilled over the years about their experience at El Bulli.

First of all, we took a well-advised taxi up to the restaurant, which was located remotely next to a private beach, up a very, very windy and steep road. Having driven that morning from the South of France, I got there a touch car sick and very hungry, but unspeakably excited.

We were greeted warmly (well actually I basked in the afterglow of the greeting Cha Xiu Bao received) and led into the kitchen where we met the man himself, Ferran Adrià, who was very kind, stood patiently for photos and was incredibly gracious.

After a peek around the kitchen, we were led to our table where we had a good look around the dining area and a view over the beach. Unfortunately it was evening when we arrived so the view was fleeting but still pretty in an isolated type way.

We were given refreshing sake and with a swirl of frozen tonic water, which was flavored with yuzu.

Then the parade of little plates started arriving. These came fast and furious, with strict instructions on how to eat them.

First up were nori-Trias - little dried seaweed wrapped black sesame butter.

Although the sesame wasn't exactly sweet, I didn't think the combination worked as well as it could have done. Wasn't quite Japanese enough if that makes sense. But that is very well because of my own biased tastebuds, which expect a more Japanese-type taste to the two flavors.

Next came the shiso soft candy, a soft, gelatinous, with the sweet sharp taste of shiso to refresh the mouth.

Sadly, Shiso leaves are not a personal favorite of mine and I did not enjoy this. It's just a flavor I don't enjoy although I know many who do. This was made with the red Shiso leaves rather the more common and stronger flavored green Shiso usually used with sushi.

Then two types of biscuits arrived, one with Parmesan and one tomato flavored.

I looved these, especially the tomato one, which made with what I think were very concentrated sun-dried tomatoes. It even stuck to the teeth, even as it crumbled in my mouth. The Parmesan biscuit was less high impact and memorable but still a very tasty beginning.

Then, the spherical olives came. Authentically scooped out individually by the waitress from a jam jar, they are one of the taste sensations that El Bulli was famous for and have been described as even more olivey than olives themselves.

It burst in the mouth, releasing essence of olive and olive oil. The table seemed to love it. It was very special, something I've never had before and it was different. I think I might prefer real olives rather than these but they were very different indeed and did live up to my expectations of how this would taste.

The next taste however, was unexpected and not as welcome. They were pinenut and chocolate bon bons, quite bitter from what I assume to be the high content cacao and the texture was somewhat muddy and sandy. I didn't enjoy this and declined seconds. I couldn't distinguish the taste and they didn't seem to 'teach' me anything new in terms of tastes or textures.

I was happy to see the next dish, a beautiful, delicate passion fruit orchid, beautifully formed, with lots of attention to detail.

It tasted wonderful as well, like concentrated fruit leather with a hard shell like texture. Sadly I can't remember what was inside the flower. Hopefully Umami or Cha Xiu Bao can remember.

The next dish was also beautiful in the same way, entitled basil leaf, it looked like a beautiful long green leaf. We were told it was made of mango and basil, I'm guessing made in the same way as the passion fruit flower as it had the same shell like texture with the fruit leather taste but this time not as intense mango and not as basil-y as I thought it would be.

The Asian influence was even more apparent with the next taste which was named a Pekin crêpes and filled with crab and soya wonton.

This tasted ok but I seem to remember it being a touch salty for my taste and the wrapper a bit oilier than I'd prefer

Next up was a coconut concoction that I can't place the name of. It was like flaked coconut ice sorbet shaved into a dry ice like state.

It was interesting because it had a moist like touch but a dry type of texture. To my untrained tastebuds, it tasted just like flaked fresh coconut so didn't impress me much. However, I'd be interested if the others could shed light on what I missed in this.

I *think* the next dish was "brazo de gitano" but I can't be sure as the order in the menus we were given may not match exactly the order in which the dishes came. I asked the boy who knows a bit of Spanish and it translated as arm of the gypsy. Hmmm...

It was essentially a beet root meringue wrapped around a thick creamy yogurt. Certainly great textures and almost like a mini pavlova with unusual ingredients. Taste wise, it wasn't a win for me.

The next one was a lot of fun. A Gorgonzola moshi, it was exactly that, a very thin outer layer, it tasted intensely of gorgonzola and was lovely. But then again, I like gorgonzola!

It was very good, creamy and unctuous and I didn't think the thin outer layer detracted from it and I can't be sure it was actually made of pounded rice flour or mochi ingredients.

Finally (for this post anyways), we had a grilled strawberry. It was very warm and fragrant. We were instructed to put it into our mouths in one bite.

It was a surprise because the warmth increased the fragrance of the berry but it was filled with some sort of stock so was salty at the same time. I enjoyed the taste of this and the surprise when put in my mouth.

What I didn't enjoy so much is when the waitress abruptly pulled the plate away as soon as they were taken, spilling strawberry juice over my bit of the table and onto my white cardigan. I also didn't exactly enjoy it when she signaled to another wait staff to lay a napkin over my table as "I" spilled strawberry juice over the table.

I must admit that we started to become a little overwhelmed by the speed in which the food came and with cameras and pens flying, the wait staff became a little annoyed at the delay with which we ate the snacks as they deteriorate with time. We couldn't help it though, they were so beautiful we wanted to savor them with our eyes as well as our mouths.

End of sección una for now. Oh and the boy has promised to post his comments in the comments section as a supplement. He and I, surprisingly, came away with very different impressions of the meal overall so its definitely worth reading! Oh, but no promises on how quickly he will post these comments!

BIG Food

2008-08-06T13:02:00.003+01:00

Any girl who can eat a 5kg burger is a hero in my book...

Also links for big food:

Giant Burger Project

Pimp that Snack

Birthday in Spain

2008-08-05T05:46:00.001+01:00

After a night of El Bulli (yes, yes, it's coming, alright?), we awoke the next morning to see off Umami and her husband, as well as the walking stomach that is my Cha Xiu Bao (respect man, respect!).

Then the boy and I headed into Girona, where we were a bit shocked to find was an incredibly sleepy town on a bright Sunday afternoon, in search of a birthday worthy lunch... the trick was finding one which was open.

We found one alright, Casa Marieta. We sat outside, enjoying the quiet half hour before the restaurant filled up and looked over what we wanted to eat.

I started with the melon soup as it sounded refreshingly cool, which it was. However, it was outshone by the very umamilicious gazpacho, which was served with condiments on the side (I much prefer it that way). The boy and I kept switching bowls and devoured the flour dusted warm rolls.

Which wasn't too smart for when the Fideuà for two came. Made similarly to the Spanish paella, it was made with short thin noodles. Very similar to a slightly thicker, broken Chinese mai-fun (rice noodle). It was infused with the rich seafood broth and served chock full of seafood in the form of calamars, shrimp and clams.

It was delicious, with little crunchy bits where it had been cooked on the top and rich soft noodle-y bits. Perfect rich comfort food.

We were expecting that the white asparagus and the grilled calmari we ordered to come at the same time but they were served after the fideuà, which meant that we were a bit too full to enjoy it. The boy loved his garlicky calamari and I struggled to finish the plate of very average, canned-tasting asparagus.

The service was lovely and it was a great way to while away two and a half hours. The food was a bit hit and miss but still a very nice birthday lunch in Spain.

Oh, and if you do go, don't miss going down to the basement where the toilets are, there's a little rock fountain and stream there under glass.

Casa Marieta
Plaça Independència, 5-6
17001 Girona
Tel. 972 20 10 16

Just a bite...

2008-07-24T15:20:00.009+01:00

Before I actually begin the trilogy of an El Bulli post, which is coming soon to a blog near you (three blogs actually but I digress...), I thought I'd give you a taster from London.

The boy took me to Portabello Road market to walk around, look at the people, fashions and have a nose around the antique stalls and stores along the way. Besides buying a toaster rack (I couldn't resist, I hate sweaty toast), we searched for sustenance along the way. So we took a little detour to find a shop selling some snacks when we came across a sweet little shop/cafe named Tom's. Inside we found Poilane bread (yipee) as well as a variety of imported snacks from all over Europe. The cafe was full but we only stopped in for a peek as well as to pick up some drinks. However, at the cashier, the boy spotted Scotch Eggs and couldn't resist picking one up.

Two steps outside of Tom's the boy eagerly took a huge bite into the Scotch egg, rolled his eyes, took another bite and ran a little bit away from me. A sign that it was good.

I had a look and eventually wheedled a bite out of him. Yep, it was a good one, with a molten yolk, good quality sausage meat lightly crumbed studded with onions, it was quite delicious.

The boy declared it the best Scotch egg he had ever had. A bold statement which he asked me to challenge you all to beat. I do suspect, however, that he simply wants to know where else to find good Scotch eggs.

Tom's
226 Westbourne Grove
Notting Hill, London W11 2RH
Tel: 020 7221 8818

Ridiculous excuses

2008-07-17T11:38:00.002+01:00

Yes, yet another ridiculous excuse instead of a proper post.

However, I put the blame squarely on the shoulders of Apple and O2.

Switching computers with my Mom for a Mac might not have been a good idea before a massive life changing move....

And damn it, will O2 please deliver the broadband package as promised already???

Ah yes... El Bulli..... hmmmm.... initial thoughts is that he is an artist of food, absolutely beautiful..... I think I will have to divide the photos and my review (used in the loosest sense, of course) into a series of posts, once my computer and broadband kicks in.

Sitting in the basement of a smelly cafe with a constant whining sound and the wafting, ripe smell of sweaty armpit from the man next to me doesn't inspire me to write somehow....

"Hoi Wei"

2008-07-06T07:37:00.000+01:00

Sometimes in Shanghainese restaurants, you get given little dishes of pickled onions or pickled vegetables. As opposed to peanuts, which are designed to stave off that intense hunger that makes you bolt the first few dishes, leaving you less able to enjoy the rest of your meal, these are designed to make you hungrier.

That's right, hungrier. These sour, slightly tangy vegetables get the salivary glands going and are what we call "hoi wei". Or, in English, 'open your stomach', which should make you hungry for the dishes to come.

Which is exactly what this little post is. A small, tangy little bit that should make you hungry for more. But first, a bit of a drought because I'm off to Spain.

And which restaurant should be in Spain? Any hugely famous ones?

That's right kids, I'm going to El Bulli. This is thanks to a kind invite by a very, very well respected blogger. I'm also going with some other special people but I'll leave it up to them to "hoi" your "wei”.

F-odd: Cornolate

2008-07-03T06:54:00.002+01:00

Yes, I've been slacking off. You would too if you had to deal with the millions of utterly thankless exhausting tasks I've had to do lately. Or maybe you wouldn't. You wouldn't whinge, whine, stamp your feet and take deep, deep breaths to calm yourself down when faced with someone in the service industry whom you've waited in a long queue to see, turn down your perfectly reasonable request. All I know is that I am no saint and I don't like being told no.

What I do like is chocolate. And corn.

But corn chocolate? That's a different story.

As opposed to how corn is seen in France, us Asian peeps love the stuff. From soft serve sweet corn ice cream served at 7-11 (ick and so, so wrong), to hot steaming cups of buttered nibblets to keep you company while waiting in line for the bus, to just the little corn on the corb skewers they serve at the local KFC. This is definitely a place that doesn't believe that corn is only fit for animal consumption.

But this particular treat, the corn chocolate, first appeared on my radar about 6 years ago, when a colleague brought back a package from her trip to Hokkaido. I was given a single piece out of her stash. Since then, I've seen it appear from time to time wrapped in a box ready to be gifted (another thing us Asians like to do). But now, you can often find them in the large Japanese supermarkets in a foil packet. Expensive enough to hesitate over but not as expensive as the high end boxed chocolates.

Seeing how these are wrapped and how crazy my colleagues went over them, I'll be the first to admit. They ain't all that. Seriously. It's CORN chocolate for one thing. Not a flavor I associate with chocolate. Oh, and it's white chocolate. Not something I like anyways.

But this one smells cloyingly sweet when unwrapped, very milky and pale yellow, with clear nuggets of corn (kind of like firmer rice crispies), when tasting it, its very crunchy, not as sweet as it smells and tastes wrong. Like it was a salty puffed rice treat that had been accidentally dipped in a sugar coating. It has a fragrant corn taste to it, which I'm guessing is the draw. All I can say is, you can keep it. Give me and my cheap ass a Tolberone any day.

You can find more on Corn Chocolate here.

Late Zhong

2008-06-18T08:29:00.009+01:00

Yes, I know its been almost two weeks since Tuen Ng Festival but I've been busy stuffing my face with 'zhong', the official food of Tuen Ng.

I looove zhong but have been discouraged from eating it most of my life from friends and family whose concern that my body shape looks more zhongzi like by the mouthful.

However, my mother thankfully brought back some that a family friend wrapped herself. Being Taiwanese, these were Taiwanese zhong, somewhat smaller than its Cantonese counterparts and chubbier in status than its Shanghainese ones, which are elegantly long. Who says we're not what we eat?

Unlike the zhong that I blogged about during previous Tuen Ng Festivals, these were filled with glutinous rice, salted egg yolk, stewed pork, dried conpoy and shrimp as well as soft blanched peanuts. Rather than dark soy or granulated sugar, the Taiwanese prefer sweet chili sauce as accompaniment. Sweet with a slight tangy kick, it is perfect with the rich, fatty tasting zhong.

Definitely worth looking like a zhong for.

Head of the family

2008-06-11T11:09:00.006+01:00

We were having dinner at home the other day, having bought half a roast duck for dinner when my Dad suddenly asked:

"Anyone want the head?"

We all looked at him incredulously, my Mom and I never ever dream of eating, let alone fighting anyone for a half a duck head.

When I asked to take a picture before he demolished it, he said:

"Why? It's only a duck head! You're wasting your time. No one wants to read about me eating a duck head!"

Lucky for you I managed to wrestle it from him before he put half the duck bill in his mouth.

And I managed a snapshot of the remains after he ate all the "edible" bits. I don't know why I'm decidedly unsqueamish about other animal brains but duck, pigeon and chicken freak me out.

Good thing the H5N1 bird flu virus wasn't found and announced until this Monday....

La Bouffe de L'Amérique

2008-06-05T04:52:00.010+01:00

As promised, a selection of food eaten in America during our honeymoon.

However, before I start this, I finally "get" why Americans complain and attempt to sue companies for making them obese. While I truly believe in personal choice making one a chubster (ahem, I take responsibility for my "orange shaped" silhouette), I do sympathize with them. The lack of healthy choices and the abundance of cheap, plentiful and convenient fast food in the States is quite a little surprising. On more than a few occasions, the boy and I found ourselves with the choice of buying either a hot fast meal at Roi du Hamburger or paying almost double (!!) for a two day old sandwich and water. Granted this was at an airport but it was a bit shocking how easy it was to just eat rubbish. When faced with a choice like that, we tried to placate the rumblings of our bellies with the trail mix from Paris I had in my travel bag. However, as you will see, we indulged in a LOT of junk! Hey, I may get why Americans complain but I take responsibility for my bad choices!

First up, one of the worst things you can put into your body. We were walking along the depressing and sad area of Fremont Street which was recommended by our guidebook in search of something, anything interesting when we saw the sign: Fried Oreos, Fried Twinkies.

Come on. As if you wouldn't!

So I did. It came in a little cardboard box of three deep fried Oreos sprinkled liberally with icing sugar and chocolate sprinkles. What you see in the background is a chocolate dipped frozen banana with nuts. Very yummy.

Surprisingly, the Oreos became quite soft and cake like after being fried. And was it good? Hell yes they were. I didn't think they would be but they were delicious. And as delicious as it was, the boy and I couldn't finish one each.

In Hawaii, we indulged in macadamia nut pancakes, which were way too heavy and doughy for first thing in the morning.

And in San Francisco, we had to have a bucket of seafood. We couldn't resist the siren call of the classic "Eat at Jo_'s" sign for the Joe's Crab Shack. To the boy's dismay, it was what he described as TGIF with a "crabby" theme. It was done up to look like a Disney interpretation of a crab shack. After some initial hesitation, we decided to stay, if mainly to watch the scaring antics of the "bush man".

Not to worry, we didn't just go for this kind of cheap and cheerful (and average) food, we also went to the somewhat touristy Alioto's where the boy had some impeccable lobster and I had some lovely sweet fleshed crab.

Of course, since we were on the West Coast, I couldn't help but drag the boy to In N Out for a tasty burger...animal style bien sur. We returned twice.... once right before our ride to the airport.

And I am still dreaming about the crab macaroni and cheese I had for breakfast one day.... so SO good..... luckily we had that bike ride across the Golden Gate bridge to burn off the unimaginable amount of fat in that dish.

So while not the best food I've had on vacation, certainly the variety and the fun we had made it all worthwhile.

D'oh!

2008-05-31T07:50:00.000+01:00

Sometimes I feel like the female equivalent of Homer J. Simpson. A walking idiot whose brain and tongue don't work in perfect harmony.

I'd been home three days when Susan invited me over for a dinner party yesterday. Despite the 5 hour advance notice, this is not something you turn down. Susan was cooking. 'nuf said.

Anyhow, lo and behold I'm there early and get to meet the Fuschia Dunlop. In those five minutes before someone else saved me from digging myself deeper into the pit of mortification, I have managed to a) insult London, where, unbeknownst to me, she was living; b) admit that I didn't really know who she was; and c) tell her that Londoners were unfriendly.

Upon coming home and googling her, I find out that I've had her books on my Amazon wishlist. D'OH!!!!

I'm an absolute idiot.

However, the dinner party was fabulous fun and Fuschia incredibly gracious. Although I didn't know many of the guests besides Susan and Sunday Driver, they were very nice and thankfully forgiving even after the sharing of embarrassing anecdotes. It wasn't upon coming home that I found out that some of these ladies were professional foodies... I'm actually glad I wasn't forewarned. I think that while I wouldn't have backed out (did I mention Susan was cooking?), I would have been very intimidated. As it was I think I was a little too loose with my tongue.

The food.... well... what can I say? It was delicious of course! My favorites being the pork neck and the desserts. Desserts consisted of Susan-made Meyer lemon sorbet, mango sorbet and the intoxicatingly addictive chocolate cherry ice cream. That's not all though... there were canneles.

Yes, you heard right, deliciously rich with a caramelized crunchy exterior giving way to a plush, chewy, pudding-like interior... painstakingly made with molds specially bought from France, beeswax ordered online to brush the molds with and an hour of baking of the thumb-sized treats.

And if you feel like learning to cook in Hong Kong, check out Corner Kitchen!

F-odd: Clothes make the Man

2008-05-28T09:20:00.005+01:00

Recently, while browsing in some of the stores in Hong Kong, I came across a number of food themed useless items.

First of all was the incredibly life-like slab of braised pork belly phone decorator, then it was the stuffed chicken wing phone decorator (complete with "cleaning function"... a terry cloth side you can use to wipe down your phone after you made it greasy with your face apparently).

But this beats them all.

Yes, you saw that right. It's a bacon scented bacon print tuxedo.

If only I saw this before the boy and I got hitched.

The Good, the Bad and the Angry

2008-05-20T13:54:00.003+01:00

I'm back and I'm Angry. More annoyed really but a high alert state of pissed off. Not at anyone in particular, you understand, just generally.

But really, let's start with the Good....the honeymoon...

- Seeing "O" and "Penn and Teller" in Las Vegas;

- sunset helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon, evening view of the Las Vegas Strip (I got to ride in front!);

- seeing the Wholphin as well as swimming, kissing and getting a belly ride from a dolphin at Sea Life Park in Hawaii; and

- biking over the Golden Gate Bridge (despite the boy getting a flat).

Then moving onto the Bad ....

- lack of time meant not great food... although highlights will be shown in a future blog;

- my camera not working properly in the middle of our honeymoon (hence the lack of photos);

- our flat, the one we found, paid and rented in 3 days in London between our leaving Paris and going away, being held hostage by real estate agents from the far depths of hell despite us paying rent on it already; and

- arriving in London, after a 10 hour flight and more than 15 hours travel time, to find out we can't get into our flat, staging a sit-in at the real estate agents for 3 hours then travelling another 3.5 hours back to the boy's sister's house in Wales.

So to arrive to London feeling cold, wet, hungry with a home you can't get into and 60+kg of luggage between the two of you.

Hell yes I'm Angry.

I promise you all a more cheery food post next time. Happily I'm going home to my beloved family in Hong Kong this weekend so there's bound to be lots of good food to blog about soon enough.

So long and thanks for all the memories...

2008-04-27T18:33:00.003+01:00

I have been dreading writing this post.... my last from beloved Paris.

As people who know me know, Paris has been the land of my dreams since I was a wee young lass. I have always wanted to spend a year here and now, I have.

And what a year!

A huge change from my life in Hong Kong, I have experienced everything ranging from acute loneliness, the joy of finding a like-minded, food-obsessed blogging friend, the unexpected kindness of strangers, countless visitors, and the absolute freedom of being a flâneur, roaming the streets of Paris for hours on end with a dinner reservation to look forward to.

What was originally a six month stint turned into a 15 month stay after a proposal and subsequent marriage... um yes, that would be my own.

Now unfortunately as we begin our move to London, find a flat, go on honeymoon and return to Hong Kong to pack up my belongings, I will be on a break from blogging. I will be back end of May but for now, I leave you with a list of things I'll miss most from Paris. This list is by NO means exhaustive but may give you a taste of a few of my favorites.

Cherry (thanks Susan!) and Salted Butter Caramel ice cream from Berthillon

Peering into lit apartments and seeing wonderful decor

Biche au Bois

Stumbling onto an unexpected and utterly peaceful courtyard in the middle of a busy street

Sandwiches and tarte fine aux pommes from our bakery

Free museum days on the first Sunday of every month

Bastille market (especially the salted butter caramels and the mediant mix)

Special evenings such as Nuit des Musées, Fête de la Musique and Nuit Blanche

Fresh fruit chocolates only available Saturdays from Jean Charles Rochoux

Pretty dresses from Les Petits...

Falafel from L'As de Falafel and the Foie de Vollaile in a pita from Chez H’anna (both on Rue de Rosiers)

Rosewood body wash and oil from Patyka

Meeting the boy for a sandwich lunch in Parc Monceau

Lemon olive oil from O & Co

Le Marais... we've been so lucky to live in the Marais

CHEESE!!

Being only a 10 minute away from the Seine and a view of the Eiffel Tower

I am sad to be leaving but I am so very grateful that I have had this chance to live here in this wonderful city. It has lived up to all my expectations and I have been very, very happy here.

As I walk around the city eating and drinking on my last day, sighing and making goo goo eyes at all the buildings, the boy turns around and says to me,

"We'll always have Paris."

and indeed we will. Indeed we will.

Le Petit Saint Benoit

2008-04-27T08:51:00.002+01:00

So I thought I'd end the way I began. With food. I started with the first thing I ate in Paris and now I bring you my last evening meal in Paris.

It was at the Le Petit Saint Benoit, which I have been to on several occasions but have not yet blogged about. I have had very yummy meals there including the bestboudin and my first steak tartare in Paris.

But tonight, I had one thing on my mind. The Pot-au-Feu a l'Os a moelle. This was a lovely shallow dish of perfectly cooked vegetables with a large bone filled with meltingly fatty, rich, unctuous bone marrow, together with a large piece of what I *think* is brisket marbled with gelatinous bits. It was wonderful and rich but yet soothing and went surprisingly well with the bright warm spring day.

The boy had the special of the day, the cote de boeuf, which was a generous slab of meat with a wonderful green peppercorn sauce which kept the boy very happy indeed.

We didn't have dessert as we had luckily managed to snag the very last fresh fruit chocolate bar from the lovely Mr. Rochoux. Happily for us, it was the new season gariguette strawberries that day. Sadly for you, we ate it too quickly to take a photo.

We love the Le Petit Saint Benoit not only for the food but the wonderful atmosphere, the old bar, the interior, which looks like the restaurant car of an old train, the fun waitresses, and the old style 'patron', whose only job is to greet the regulars and make sure they are happy.

Le Petit Saint Benoit
4, rue Saint Benoit
75006 Paris
Tel: +33 (0)1 42 60 27 92

My Favorite Sammich

2008-04-25T18:50:00.001+01:00

One of the places I will miss the most in Paris is my friendly neighborhood bakery. Although it is part of the chain, Ronde des Pains, although oddly, it doesn't seem to be listed there. I have visited other ones and still have a biased towards the one in my 'hood. After all, I've never seen the addictive paper thin apple tarts at the other ones (although they may have sold out!).

It didn't always start out being a love affair. For 10 out of the 13 months or so I've been here, they've had construction obstructing the front of the shop. And very fickle opening hours with it being open one weekend and closed the next. They were also the first one to put up a notice about an increase in price due to the price of flour. Besides the thin apple tarts I fell in love with from the beginning and have gotten many, many people addicted to, I often shopped elsewhere for my baked goods. After all, their croissants were merely passable and their pain au chocolates, while a complete fantasy while warm, were a bit tough when cold.

They won me over with the darnest thing. Sandwiches. I am NOT a sandwich person. Too many school years with soggy bread containing tomatoes and ham with a tiny stingy spread of mayo has scared me off. This is no slight on my mother, it was me who made my own horrid sandwiches. I obviously didn't know what I was doing and didn't really care.

These however, are a completely different beast. Sandwiches with a variety of ingredients and breads, all matched to complete perfection. Examples? I had one last week made with their "campaille" bread which has a soft, creamy "mie", stuffed with a soft cheese, bresaola ham, tangy, salty slices of parmesan, crisp lettuce and pickled, slightly hot cactus.

Fancy something...um... fancier?

How about the "Savoureux" made with foie gras with rocket and gingerbread? Yes, that's right, those are bits of gingerbread in the sandwich. And delicious it was.

Or a lovely simple but delicious "Rambuteau" which simply consists of rocket, delicious ham and slices of the gorgeous parmesan cheese. This was eaten too fast... twice... to take a photo.

The only which I didn't enjoy so much was the special that day of smoked trout on creme of asparagus spread, pale asparagus spears, lettuce and fresh dill. However, look at the variety of the sandwiches!

The choices kill me each time I go in. I stand in the queue, making the old ladies behind me angry as I decide which one to go for. All priced at between 4 to 5 euro, it's just perfect.

And if you like desserts, I can always recommend the tarte fine aux pomme. Or sables for those of you who are into those things! And its a very short hop, skip and a jump away from Centre Pompidou if you're visiting!

Ronde des Pain

16 Rue Rambuteau
Paris, 75003

F-odd: Snout Salad

2008-04-23T16:46:00.000+01:00

While I may not be able to find frozen corn kernels at my neighborhood supermarket, I did find this:

Yes, you saw right, it's beef snout salad.

And by what I can see on their website, looks like it's a popular product.

So popular is the snout salad, that they have 4 varieties:

- Lyon style beef snout,

- Dijon mustard beef snout,

- Lyon style pork snout, and

- Provence style pork snout.

Clearly this is something worth exploring. And for you, I did.

And what did I think?

Not so good. It had an odd, slightly 'dirty' taste, slightly reminiscent of andouillette, which I have yet to develop a taste for.

I do love the food in France and I am not opposed to eating all kinds of animal innards but I think the French have beaten me in all foods with that distinctive aroma. I think I can safely strike off snout, andouillette and tete de veau (veal head).

But, as my Dad loves to say, "Never try, never know."

"Milk" Chocolate

2008-04-17T09:00:00.005+01:00

Whenever I go to buy dairy section at my local Franprix, I'm always curious about the little Kinder chocolate bars I see there.

It's a good idea, especially in the heat of summer, to have a cold chocolate bar to melt slowly in the mouth.

These are usually packaged in a bundle and upon closer inspection, claim to be a "milk" product, which is supposedly a healthier 'treat' for the young'ns.

I had to pick one up of course. I chose Kinder Pingu. They also had Kinder Hippo but I didn't like the association. Some call me too sensitive.

It claims that it contains 26% of milk and has no preservatives and no colorings. The ingredients list milk first, then chocolate (made with cocoa butter) and then sugar. It clocks in at 136kcal per portion.

The composition is a thin genoise sponge with a milk mousse inside enrobed with a thin shell of chocolate, which also runs through the middle, for 'crunch'.

And how did it taste?

Well, not bad. Not too sweet, it was pleasant if a little bland. I don't know that I would give a whole one to a child but it wasn't as sweet or as heavy as many chocolates.

The chocolate didn't so much crunch and gently crackle and the milk mousse texture was a bit odd while the thin genoise wasn't really apparent, lending more texture than anything.

Not something I'd buy again but it was ok. I think if I was a parent, it would be a decent once in a while treat. But I'm not a parent.

So, would you buy them for your child?

The Go List 2008

2008-04-11T16:23:00.002+01:00

Might be late to the party but here you go!

The Go List 2008

Happy eating!

Are you a licker?

2008-04-10T08:28:00.001+01:00

Don't get me wrong, I'm thrifty.

I save elastic bands from packets of noodles "just in case" I need elastic bands.

I hate wasting food so even though I'm full, I force myself to finish whatever is left on my plate (a habit I'm desperately trying to break).

But one thing I refuse to do is to lick yogurt tops. I can't do it. Looks silly for one thing and just to get that thin scraping of yogurt? Ridiculous. Undignified.

So why do I feel ever so slightly guilty about it?

It's the same guilt I feel about not drinking the leftover milk after eating cereal.

What about you? Are you a licker?

A Day Out on the Champs

2008-04-07T10:06:00.000+01:00

Besides the wonderful city of Paris, I will also miss my friends here.

In particular, I will miss hanging out with Umami, who is a kindred spirit in all things foodie.

Both of us arrived in Paris at the beginning of 2007 having given up our jobs back East and now finding much time on our hands, we got straight to work with the exploring. While I entertained guests and flitted around, Umami at least got down to business with the learning of French.

Having gotten down with the French comedy scene, she suggested we go see the hot movie Disco, which premiered last week.

We met after her hair appointment, bought tickets and proceeded straight to lunch at the, unknown to me, much hyped and trendy restaurant in the Toyota showroom, Kaiseki Bento.

Let me digress here a bit and ask, does anyone else know that all the automobile showrooms have restaurants? I had absolutely no idea! Apparently they all do! A bizarre concept to me but one, I'm sure, which will be welcome to those car fanatics like the boy.

Anyhow, a small cafeteria type restaurants containing 5 tables with 4 chairs each, arranged in a puzzlebox type setting, we worried we wouldn't be able to get seated. However, as it was only noon, we got in quite easily, although we were requested to vacate our table by 1pm.

It was a little bit odd. We were seated with windows on one side, a view of the 'behind' of a Prius with the table and counter area to the other side of us.

As to the setting, it was a bit bleak. There was a screen behind us but it was so very corporate, without much of the glitz and glamour, and the wall of blinking lights blending into the decor was... well a bit dated to be frank. Early 90's it would have looked all techno and cool but now it just looked a bit boring. The chairs were uncomfortable and the setting, not at all living up to the hype of "coolness". It was just so very corporate. And this is coming from someone who has worked in corporate marketing her whole career!

Ok, the food. There were 3 categories bentos, priced from 50 to 25 euros. The 50 and 30 euro bento was a set meal of various things incorporating both cooked and raw items. The 25 euro menu offered a choice of buckwheat noodles or 6 pieces of nigiri with 8 pieces of maki. This latter is what we both opted for.

It looked very pretty, with half the maki spread with crushed mango and passionfruit and the other with avocado. It tasted ok too, if a bit odd. After about the second piece, I felt that something was off... I lifted up my pieces and saw that the bottom was sitting in a thin film of oil. I thought at first they used oil so the sushi wouldn't stick to the bento box but Umami said it was a strong flavored olive oil. Sure enough, as we continued on, the olive oil soaked into the rice and I felt tasted very strange. It was a strong olive oil and I didn't think it went well with the sushi at all. I would have much preferred it without. The waitress told us that the chef was Japanese and liked to experiment with different types of sushi. I'm not fond of a lot of fusion foods and I think this is probably not something I'd like to try again.

After lunch, we wandered over to the Nespresso Boutique Star which, despite its cheesy name, is a huge 2-story showroom of their coffee, coffee machines and other products. It was rather impressive, I must say. It comprises of a number of areas such as a small bar at the front for coffee, a lounge at the back, a 'smelling salon', which was quite interesting. As you bend down to put your nose to the filters, it lights up and heats up the candle or essence (I couldn't tell what was in there) so you can smell it quite strongly. You can pick your machine to match your wallpaper and customize a machine to the way you like as well. There were people joining up Nespresso club memberships.

It all served to show you that Nespresso is no longer the tacky instant stuff you get at the supermarket but it is tres chic. It was marketed very exclusively with all the accompaniments such as sugar packets colored and labeled to match your favorite coffee. Huge walls full of tubes of coffee pods. Of course we got sucked in and had a cup of coffee at the little bar in front. How could we resist?

After a nice little cuppa, we indulged in a bit of beauty miracles at Sephora before heading towards our movie, which was as funny as promised if the story a bit disjointed and unbelievable.

It was a very, very tai-tai type of day filled with 'leche vitrine' (don't you love French for window shopping, window licking?), trendy places for lunch and coffee followed by a movie mid-day. *sigh* ... I'll miss this life!

Kaiseki Bento

at Le Rendez-Vous Toyota

79, avenue des Champs-Elysées 75008

Tel: +33 (0) 1 56 89 29 83

Nespresso

119 Champs Elysee

Corn-spiracy Theory

2008-04-03T09:39:00.004+01:00

I was craving corn in a bad way.

After all, in the fall in Canada, we get beautiful fat kernels of corn on the cob, and all year 'round in Hong Kong, we can get imported corn.

I love corn. Yes, I know it's all sugar and fiber but I love the crunchy sweetness of it. I have rarely eaten it in France. Instead I turn towards those vegetables I rarely see but are usually priced too highly, such as artichokes and asparagus.

But the other day I needed my corn fix and I needed it now. Most of all, I wanted frozen corn to make a corn casserole.

Unfortunately it was Monday and most shops around me were closed. I luckily have a Picard nearby so googled to see if it was open.

And it was.

So off I went. I looked in all of the freezer cabinets and saw artichoke hearts, mange-tout beans, everything except the yellow gold kernels. So I asked the cashier who replied with and icy,

"We don't DO corn at Picard."

I was not surprised at the attitude but more surprised that they didn't "do" corn. After all, everyone loves corn, don't they?

I was even more surprised when I didn't find frozen corn at the Franprix or the G20 nearby. I settled for the canned stuff. Something was up.

I queried Umami the next time I saw her. She said it was because the French think of corn as animal feed and beneath them to eat.

Can this be true? A nation who is happy to eat the colon and stomach of a pig rolled up into a sausage with a lingering aroma of feaces (according to Wikipedia) turns up its nose and scorns the lowly corn? Or is there a corn-spiracy against corn?

(Props to the boy for the horrible pun. He proudly pulled corn-spiracy out of his pocket as I complained... *sigh*)

La France re[cuisinée]

2008-04-01T17:50:00.008+01:00

Although I have eaten in Alain Ducasse restaurants, I always thought he was one of those pompous chefs who think they are the best there is and ever will be. However, Susan once told me of the tremendous effort he makes in giving young chefs a boost or a start and on his website, he makes a point of saying that his vision is "best expressed in his endless endeavours to make ‘Haute Cuisine’ simple, approachable and understood by everyone".

He makes good on his vision here with the (badly publicised) La France re[cuisine] which runs for 2 months from March 1st to April 30th in 100 or so restaurants offering a set lunch menu for 28euros. Now while this might not seem like the best bargain in town, they are mostly restaurants which can and usually charge more. Of the restaurants participating in Paris, all three are Alain Ducasse's associated restaurants.

The boy and I, along with Umami and her husband, decided to try out the Rech on a weekday (offer only available Mondays to Friday) and I duly made the reservation. I was a little surprised as the lady taking the booking had no idea of what I meant by La France re[cuisine] but kindly went to check with the management and confirmed my reservation.

The boys had the starter of Daurade crue on salade a l'huile d'olive vierge de Ligurie", which was really nice, fresh and delicate. The boy loved it.

Our main was salmon en aiguillettes, aux oeufs de truite et perles de hareng. There was a moment during our ordering process when we all wondered whether salmon had wings (aiguillettes de poulet refers to chicken wings) but of course it was simply thinly sliced salmon steaks. The salmon was very well cooked. I prefer my salmon raw or only partly cooked as I find cooked salmon very dry. This wasn't dry in the least and was very nice, especially accompanied by the light yet flavorful sauce. It was very nice.

Although it was slightly curious that the boys' dishes arrived accompanied by spinach while Umami and my dish came with thin haricots, tiny carrots, half dried tomato slivers and a tender radish like root vegetable. We're not sure if the kitchen ran out of sides to plate all four plates or this is done randomly or they felt that the boys weren't getting enough greens.

The dessert. What can I say except I loved it? It was named Mister Rech and described as a succes noisette glace, sauce au chocolat chaud. It arrived as an innocuous puck of ice cream dredged and crusted with finely crushed hazelnuts. The waitress then poured on a thick, thick, warm dark chocolate sauce on it. Then all hell broke loose. As in, it all went in my mouth. Every single mouthful. Umami was much more gracious and seeing how much her husband enjoyed it, pushed over the majority of it to him to finish. I was not so gracious.

It was lovely for us to come together for a dinner and a nice break for the boys in the middle of the day. As for the food, I think it was very decent value for the price, however, I fail to see how the menu itself lived up to the "symbolic" dishes of France, which La France re[cuisine] was supposed to promote.

I do highly suggest going to at least one of them during the promotion. Act quick, it ends at the end of the month! Also, this is not just limited to Paris, it is across France so check the website for a full list.

Aux Lyonnais

32, rue Saint-MarcParis (75002)
Réservation+33 (0) 1.42.96.65.04

Benoit

20, rue Saint MartinParis (75004)
Réservation+33 (0) 1.42.72.25.76

Rech

62 avenue des TernesParis (75017)
Réservation+33 (0) 1.45.72.29.47

Clos des Gourmets

2008-03-27T16:38:00.006Z

As the boy and I begin to countdown our remaining weeks left in the city of light (four for those of you who are curious), we're also making a point to go to those restaurants we want to try.

One which I had previously heard raves about was Le Clos des Gourmets. So, in light of our German friends staying near the area, we decided to go for dinner on Good Friday.

I made the reservation on Tuesday. I point this out because on the phone, I emphasized that we would have a little 2yr old guest with us. However, when we got there, just a few minutes shy of our 8pm reservation, they seated us in a corner table, smack up against a hot radiator, having filled up the banquet seats earlier. This irritated me because I have worked in restaurants before (my Dad owned one.... yes, I am one of those people who grew up in a Chinese restaurant... how very cliche) and we always put children in banquet seats for convenience for the parents and the children. I would understand if we didn't reserve in advance or failed to mention it but there is a reason for reservations. It allows the staff to arrange optimal seating. Instead our friends were obliged to carry the little one on their laps the whole time. Don't get me wrong, they didn't complain about it at all, in fact they expected as much. I, on the other hand was annoyed that they gave us an inconvenient table when we had given them prior warning.

There is much I would forgive for fabulous food. Sadly, nothing they made really perked me up.

I started with their entree of the day of chicken and escargot. This consisted of 5 nuggets of chicken with escargot, covered in a cream foam sauce dotted with pesto. I found the chicken nuggets a little heavy as an entree and the escargots horribly over salted. Surprisingly, the sauce was the star of the dish, tasting light and fresh for a cream sauce.

I continued on with chicken for my main. Again, it was the special of the day, a roasted Gers chicken with black truffles. It required a supplement of 7.5euros. When it arrived, it smelled wonderful. Rich, earthy and chicken-y. It came in little Staub pot with two pieces of chicken (dark meat, thigh and drumstick), a handful of potatoes and thin slices of truffle. Of course, I didn't expect for the price to have mounds of the fragrant fungi so it was fine. It was beautifully scented but the flavor didn't translate to the chicken. But the chicken itself was very nicely cooked. I was a little surprised to see no other vegetables served with it at all.

Here I go on another tiny rant so feel free to skip this paragraph. The waiter kindly asked if he should put together a plate of vegetables for our little guest and when we said yes, he announced that they don't do very many vegetables but that he would see what he could do. While we sat there a little puzzled since he suggested it, he walked off to the kitchen. He brought out a small plate for the toddler while we were having our entrees and it consisted of small pieces of boiled carrot and potato. It looked like barely half a potato and perhaps a third of a carrot. And for this luxury? We paid 8 euro. Yes, I am outraged. For that tiny amount, they really should have comped it or at least charged considerably less. Perhaps that is just me. Any thoughts?

I finished with the crystallized fennel with soft spices and lemon sorbet topped with fresh basil. Umami raved about this dish last time. Perhaps they have changed chefs or lost their touch as I felt that the fennel tasted of nothing but sugar although the lemon sorbet was nice. That may have been only me though as one of our guests said it was the best of all of his three dishes. Although that may speak more about the other dishes. Our other guest had a vegetable risotto, which, when it came, looked like fresh pea soup but accordingly to her, tasted very nice, although the portion was disappointingly small.

I'm not sure what has happened to this seemingly good restaurant. When we met up with Umami and her husband earlier this week, they both agreed that the standards had slipped and they have not returned to the restaurant in a while.

Menu of three courses ran at 35 euros.

Le Clos des Gourmets
16 avenue Rapp
75007 PARIS
Metro: Alma-Marceau or Ecole Militaire
tel : 01 45 51 75 61
fax :01 47 05 74 20
contact@closdesgourmets.com

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T18:21:00.004Z

A lovely holiday and another excuse to eat chocolate!

How very nice.

Here's my little bunny from our wonderful friends.

As you can see, the boy has almost demolished his already.

I, on the other hand, have shown considerable restraint.

Although it may have more to do with amount of apple pear clatoufis I consumed rather than will power...

Hoping you have a nice, chocolate laden Easter.

Pig Candy

2008-03-23T17:56:00.006Z

I said I would and of course I did.

Make and eat Pig Candy, that is.

I know its not to everyone's taste but I like my bacon very, very crispy, to the point of almost burnt, with a nice crunch and not all flaccid and fat.

I love it best on toast spread thinly with raspberry jam. It's the supremely savory-ness of the bacon contrasted with the sweet textured jam on some nice toast that makes it the best treat ever.

Given my love for sweet savories, wouldn't Pig Candy be the ideal next step?

So, Pig Candy, what is it made of?

Bacon, paprika and brown sugar.

Happily I found some maple sugar from my trip in Canada in my cupboard, so I couldn't resist using it... especially since the bacon I bought was smoked.

So, basically, the "recipe" consisted of placing the bacon on a baking sheet, sprinkling on the maple sugar and paprika and broil until crisp.

Turned it over twice to get it nice and crispy and before too long, I took it out and rested it on paper towel to soak up some of the excess oil.

Look at this beauty...

all crispy, caramelized and flat out delicious. This batch was super crispy as per my liking, but I tried the next batch a bit softer and malleable. Oddly the softer version tasted a lot like Chinese bak kwa, which I just learned, is often called Chinese Pig Candy

In any case, I liked it a lot but I still preferred my crisp bacon on raspberry jam toast better

I asked the boy what he thought, as he's not usually a fan of bacon. His response?

"It feels wrong, I really shouldn't be eating it."

Of course this was said with his mouth full and he had no problem finishing off the second batch either.

Birthday Baking Disasters (BBD)

2008-03-12T12:13:00.007Z

The boy's birthday was the epitome of the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

The good intentions being dinner and dessert.

The hell being dinner and dessert.

Ok. Let's review, shall we?

1. Check with boy what he wants for birthday dinner

Done - Korean kimchi pork stew

2. Think up something to make the boy as birthday cake

I know! FLAN! The boy has a fondness for custard and since arrival in Paris, best format for eating out of hand has been flan.

3. Find recipe for French flan

Great! Found one here! Ignore fact that blog's name is garlic breath and I am about to embark on making something I've NEVER EVER made before.

4. Assemble ingredients

Go to Chinatown, cannot find kimchi in the 3 big supermarkets I look in. Go get fresh tofu from Rue Rampal. Get soaked during sudden thunderstorm, retreat to metro where I proceed to slip and fall on the pee-smelling floor of disgusting metro station. Pick up now crushed tofu and what little dignity I have to stumble onto packed metro where people push their bodies into ever smaller spaces to get away from me. Hooligans throw piece of trash through the open window of train as it pulls out of the station. It hits me on the side of the head. I pretend it didn't happen.

5. Start prep and bake flan

After a long, scaldingly hot shower, cut up huge side of pork into three portions, two of which go in the freezer, while painstakingly cut off all fat to please the boy, marinate meat for stew in Dou Ban Jiang (chilli bean paste) and turn my attention to the flan. Read directions and Susan's addtional tips over and over again and proceed with caution. Custard looked great after 20 minutes of constant motion. Hand feels like its about to fall off. Coats back of spoon nicely, holds even after finger is swiped across (Susan's tip!). Pour carefully into the pastry. Looks great. Just a tiny bit of splash as it goes into the hot oven. Proceed to clean up disaster area (kitchen).

6. PANIC

The flan is bubbling... THE FLAN IS FREAKING BUBBLING!!! Which means all that careful mixing so it doesn't turn into scrambled eggs is all for naught. Check recipe obsessively to see if there's anything about putting it at a lower temp. Nope. Check other recipes to see if they require cooling down custard before pouring into pie. Nope. Tear out hair. Have a short cry. Frantically search other recipes for something which can be made, preferably with 5 egg whites.

7. Shop for ingredients... again

Settle for David Lebovitz' Coconut Chocolate Macaroons, run out to buy shredded coconut. Run in to see if local tiny Chinese supermarket has kimchi. Score!!! Run home with stuff to find message from the boy saying he'll be home in an hour.

8. PANIC

Rush to make stew, rice, part 1 of the macaroons, clean up house, set up table with his birthday cards, presents, durian wafers (ick), dried mango, cold beer.

9. Enjoy Result of Long Hard Day

Rice was undercooked, stew was about 4 times as much as we could possibly eat, flan was as thin as a bad crepe and tasted like sweet scrambled eggs and the smell of the durian wafers lingered heavily in our apartment, which, mixed with the smell of kimchi and flan made us the most popular people in our building.

However, the important thing is, the boy enjoyed it. Or so he said!!

Hélène Darroze

2008-03-11T15:04:00.001Z

As a wedding gift from the boy's company, we received a "Forfait Lys" from the Relais & Chateaux, which is, essentially, a gift certificate.

We received the Lys de Cristal, which entitled us to one dinner or lunch, without beverages, at a selected list of restaurants.

Looking through the restaurants, most of the Michelin starred ones were for lunch rather than dinner and we settled (ok, the boy gave in to me actually) on Hélène Darroze, a two Michelin starred restaurant.

I was excited to eat there for two reasons. For one thing, it was meant to be a birthday lunch for the boy, as it was a few day before his birthday and also, it was a female chef so I had a cliched moment of "Girl Power" (how very Spice Girls of me).

Anyhow, we had applied to the website for lunch on Saturday but since we hadn't heard back, I gave them a call on the Friday and although they didn't receive the request, was able to accommodate us. The lady on the phone was surprisingly nice. I had been expecting some hoity toity-ness for the last minute request and for the fact that the Michelin Guide was put out just a few days ago which had them maintaining their 2 star status, but it goes to show that I really shouldn't expect the worst.

I should mention here that all of the staff were incredibly pleasant and in particular our waiter with the devastatingly beautiful eyes. When asked if I was permitted to take photos, the maitre d' wheeled over the gorgeous machine with the ham to the best possible angle, patiently waiting for me to adjust my camera and encouraged me to take as many photos of the restaurant, personnel and food as I wished. After Umami's experience, I was well chuffed!!

He then sliced off some of the ham and presented it with a thick bread stick rolled in toasted popcorn kernels, which gave a nice crisp fragrant texture, both sweet and salted butter and a gorgeously fragrant green olive oil.

But the ham... OOOOH the ham.... it was simply magic. Thin slivers that melted on your tongue and coating it with the most delicious essence of porky goodness.

The boy kept eyeing the plate of two Taiwanese ladies next to us who were pescetarian and thus did not touch their ham. He desperately wanted to snatch it from them and was near tears when their plate was taken away whole.

We were then presented with a trolley of breads. Yup, a whole trolley of breads of which we were served some of the pain aux cereals and pain tradition to start with. He graciously offered to let us try all of the breads but it turned out we couldn't even finish what little we had. When asked if the bread was homemade, he told me that no, they didn't make their own bread but sourced them from Poujauran. From the bread I tried, I clearly need to move my arse over there to try some more.

Of course all thought of bread flew out of our heads when we were presented with our amuse guele of foie gras creme brulee topped with green apple sorbet and crushed pistachio nuts. Unusually but very very nice. Perfectly crispy, sweet, crackly top of the brulee, the tang and chill of the sorbet and the richness of the foie gras with the crunchy pistachios somehow worked really well together and got us excited for the food ahead.

Which was the "Comparaison de deux foies gras confit: foie gras de canard des Landes confit aux epices douces, foie gras d'oie des Landes confit au naturel, chutney de fruits de mendiant". So basically 2 foie gras. Two sizable portions of the foie gras, I might add. The boy preferred the richness of the goose foie gras but I liked the slightly spiced taste of the duck foie gras. I didn't like the chutney, which tasted a little too similar to Christmas pudding and really overwhelmed the flavor of the foie gras when paired together. By the end of my starter, I was starting to feel just slightly full... that was when our main arrived...

Our main of "Lard de porc basque de la valee des Aldudes confit longuement puis roiti a la broche, puree de carottes aux agrumes, jus en infusion de coriandre". What a mouthful. DAMN, what a mouthful of fatty, caramelized meat. However, that being said, I must admit that I could taste the star anise rather a lot, which is not something I enjoy as a dominant flavor. And while I appreciate that the fat adds to the flavor of the meat, the amount of it was quite shocking. I am quite happy to eat some gelatinous fat from my meat but when the fat portion was equal if not more than the meat, I start getting a bit squeamish. The meat itself was delicious and soft, infused with flavor but it was the skin, chewy, caramelized and unctuous that won me over. I found the carrots (which the waiter, in an attempt to explain the dish in English, appetizingly called it, 'mushed carrots') way too sweet. It was sweetened with orange juice but it seemed to turn it into a too sweet baby food. I couldn't do more than taste it.

The cheeses.....OOOOH, the cheeses..... the cheese trolley was a delight, which cheeses under huge glass bells to keep the smells separate. The selection included a great crumbly, 48 month Comte, a brebis cheese of 7, 12 and 24 months, a cow's cheese washed with a nut liquor and our absolute favorite, a particularly pungent and strong Spanish blue cheese, Cabrales. This latter was sooo good... tangy, astringent and rich. The boy finished before me and started giggling, leaning across and telling me that the aftertaste was just a little bit like after being violently sick. It is a little bit true... and if someone had not served it to me in a restaurant, I might have taken one whiff and agreed with them that it was time to throw it away... as it was, we were both enamoured and must buy more!

The dessert was a pinacolada creme glacee a la vanille Bourbon, gelee au citron et au curry, ananas Victoria et croustillant a la noix de coco. It was a nice, light refreshing dessert tasting mostly of well chilled pinapple with light whipped coconut cream.

But the mignardise served with the coffee. Now THAT is something to talk about.

Another trolley, this time laden with sweets such as salted caramel macaron, passion fruit marshmallow, myrtille marshamallow, lychee and rosewater gelee, apricot and coconute pate de fruit, pistachio and cherry financier, chocolate praline (like a wonderful ferro rocher), dark chocolate covered almond slivers and a bitter chocolate caramel and another one of milk chocolate with ginger.

When I said I couldn't decide, the waiter told me to have one of each and really, not to hesitate. So I agreed, with much shaking of the head from the boy.

I admit. I suffered afterwards. Even after a 2.5 hour walk and much peppermint tea at home. I couldn't face eating until the next morning.

Absolutely wonderful experience. That being said, I don't think we would have gone if we'd had to pay for it ourselves.... it was very pricey... so our thanks to the boy's company!

Hélène Darroze
4 rue d'Assas
75006 Paris
Tel: + 33 (0)1 42 22 00 11
Metro: Saint Suplice

Poujauran
20, rue Jean Nicot, Paris,
France 75007
Tel: 01 43 17 35 20
Metro: La Tour-Maubourg

Gone vegg'n

2008-03-07T17:00:00.011Z

**Please note - post has been edited to take out comments which may have caused offense. My apologies to those who were offended. I will try to do a better job of reading over my writing before posting!**

I've been back to Wales again this last week.

My excuse was to see my fabulous sister in law in a play (Blue Remembered Hills for those of you who were wondering), however, I ended up having a great time, walking 'Uncle Monty' in the morning, spending time with my other sister-in-law and my adorable and incredibly smart nephew, and generally having a grand ol' girly type time.

Oh and I went veggie.

"WHAT THE F?", you ask.

Well, I figured besides being polite (since I was staying at a veg-head household), it might prove to be a challenge.

And was it? Hell yeah!!

I'm the one biting my lip when deciding which dish to go for in restaurants since I can't decide between some delicious meaty dish or another tasty sounding meaty dish. Having these restraints on me made me feel quite sorry for veg heads, as usually their choices are limited to three categories:

- pasta
- potatoes
- complete boredom

The lack of variety in the restaurants I approached surprised me, truth be told. Because although I am by no means a vegetarian, often when I cook at home for me and the boy, the absence or presence of meat is dependent on how lazy I feel. If I didn't go to the shops that day, then we we won't have meat that evening and it is often not missed. I never make a quiche with meat and I prefer my pizzas vegetarian but when I went out to eat, it seemed like besides the pasta and potatoes, there were no other choices.

Because of the lack of variety, it made me not want to go out for food. Often I'd instead go buy a candy bar and of what to eat. And no, I didn't go for any salads....I need hot food in cold climates, remember?

I'm not saying its not doable. It is but it calls for a lot of restraint and a willingness to cook for yourself a lot. It reminds me of being on a diet and as everyone around me knows, I'm not the most happy when I'm on a diet. I guess I'm just not good at self-control. That being said, I have a new found respect for vegetarians for making the decision to cut out a whole portion of their diet for what they believe to be right.

I had soup, crackers and cheese on most days but one afternoon, I picked up a "Pot Noodle".

This is an English take on instant cup noodles. Pot Noodle. I don't know why but that name just sounds odd... so unimaginative.

The flavor of this one intrigued me though.... sweet and spicy. Hmmm, needed to find out more....

Hmm... mango chutney in an instant noodle? I must try.

So I did. I followed the directions to pour boiling water, stir, wait 2 minutes, stir, wait 2 minutes and enjoy.

Except for the last part. I don't think 'enjoy' would have been the best way to describe it.

It tasted... if not exactly dreadful then at least it was something unidentifiable. It tasted quite sweet and thick, if that makes any sense... the noodles were of very poor quality (and I've eaten some cheap ass noodles in my time) and the soya pieces? They were honestly soggy cardboard.

Ick.

Seriously. Do NOT eat. Please. Let me buy you some nice 'cup noodles from Asia.... please!

In any case I came back home triumphant. I have a reservation for a three Michelin starred restaurant for lunch tomorrow and I have stumbled upon a recipe which has me salivating...

Pig candy..... bacon (American) coated with brown sugar and cayenne pepper then broiled.....

How GOOD does that sound???

You know you want to!

Prunes: Not just for Grannies

2008-02-27T16:19:00.006Z

Look. I know what you're thinking.

You're thinking "ewwwww, PRUNES? Who's she trying to kid? I mean seriously. She likes ketchup chips! Where do dried bits which look like poo and make you do the same thing even fit into it?"

But yes. Prunes.

Ok, so I never was a big fan of them. In fact, when a friend's boyfriend offered his personal bag of them on the table we were assembling for a snack-y finger food and drink night, I immediately made fun of, belittled and laughed at him. It was deserved. Who the hell offers up prunes on a table of cheese, wine, charcuterie, olives and French bread? Sadly when he offered them to the guests, they each took one. He took it as a triumph on his part, I took it as politeness on their part.

In any case, this dried black thing may be a best friend of the colon but it sure isn't my best friend. Until this recipe that is.

I first read about Frankie's Spuntino's Wine-Stewed Prunes on The Wednesday's Chef and as it happened that I had a bag of prunes left over from my grandmother's visit (yes, she actually eats them) and about a glass of wine leftover, I thought I'd give it a go. I mean, after all, her description sounded good, no?

Well, besides making the flat smell like a delicious version of Christmas, I had it over thick Greek yogurt and I can formally announce that I'm a convert.

Deep, dark, rich, sweet, slightly spicy and oh so moreish, it is fabulous.

And with the prunes d'Agen that I bought last week at the market, it makes a wonderfully indulgent snack spooned over some yogurt.

Only 4 ingredients, how can you NOT try it? Go, try and report back... in the meantime, I think I'll have another one thank you very much! I've made some modifications to the recipe to suit myself.

Wine Spiced Prunes

20 prunes
3/4 cups sugar
1 cinnamon sticks
1 cup red wine (give or take a tablespoon... basically whatever you have left over, assuming that its approx. 1 cup!)

1. Dump all into a pot, heat and simmer until the liquid is syrupy

2. Remove from heat, and rest ... basically so you don't scald your mouth!

I think 3 prunes per single serving container of yogurt is perfect but you can go with the traditional recipe on The Wednesday Chef's blog entry here.

I put what I don't eat that evening in the fridge. It lasts a while... although not in my fridge it doesn't. Mmmmmnn...

Excuses, excuses

2008-02-22T09:42:00.010Z

Well.

It would be remiss of me not to mention my absence. But this time, I have a rather good excuse, which, you'll be happy to hear, can only be used once.

I went and got married! Yup, the boy and I are officially hitched!

It came from 6 months of frantic planning, countless trips to the North East of England, coordination between people in 4 countries, kind, patient parents and a hefty chunk of change.

But was it worth it?

HELL YEAH!!

Highlights included:

The absolutely incredibly gorgeous, 14 degrees weather. Yep. You heard right, 14 degrees in the North East in FEBRUARY, ladies and gentlemen. Which means yes, God was on our side!

Our wonderful family and friends who helped us pull it all off and the incredible amount of air miles our friends put in to join us. We were truly honored.

The old London double decker we rented, complete with uniformed conductor, to drive guests to and from the church.

The response of the boy when the Vicar asked him when he knew why brides wore white.... I'll never live that one down.

The Northumbrian piper when we walked in and the Ceiligh band which kicked off the evening.

The candy buffet which featured candy and treats from Hong Kong, Canada and the United Kingdom (my personal favorites were the Coffee Crisps, Black Jacks and of course dark sugar embedded sour plums!).

The dance coordinated by my fantabulous sister-in-law... a shock to many, including the boy, when the bridesmaids and I sauntered to the dance floor in a "choreographed" cheesy dance to... wait for it.... "Play that Funky Music White Boy".

My four dresses... and of course my snow cape! Hey, it went from 9am to 2am, a girl's got to have some fun!

Now, for those of you who are here for the food!! I'm sad to report it wasn't all that...

Dinner homemade tomato soup served with warm rolls (which were so good my Uncle had 4!!), Oven baked Loin of Cheviot Lam flavoured with Rosemary and served with a Redcurrant Jus and finished with Pear flavoured Bavarois topped with Glazed Pears and edged with Raspberry Coulis. I didn't get a chance to take any photos but Aaron, my Matron of Honour's husband, who was a STAR the whole day, thought of Sui Mai and snapped this one. Thank you!

Although I didn't get near it, I was told that the evening buffet of roast beef and pork with all the accompaniments (gravy, applesauce, mustard, etc.) was outstanding. And for those who worried about my veg head friends, they were catered for with veggie burgers. Prompting of course my father to ask what that "weird burger" was after the wedding.

There is so much more to say and people to thank but I will do that on another medium. However, I did want to publicly thank everyone who was there, people who sent their well wishes and those of you who were there with me in spirit.

Thank you for the cards, the gifts and your support. It is more than I could ever have hoped for.

Ol' Skool

2008-02-04T09:37:00.000Z

Someone asked me the other day why I didn't update my blog.

I was quite surprised, truth be told because I thought I did quite a good job of updating the blog at least once a week (I try for twice but often we eat at home and my cooking just isn't blog - worthy... I promise. I wouldn't hold out on something good, would I?). And I said as much:

"I'm quite surprised."

At which they said, no, no... they meant the look of my blog. I apparently still have an "old school" style blog. In that I use the blogger picture tool to put pics right and left all along my posts and don't use Pictobrowser or other things.

Hmmm.... I thought about it for a bit. And while I have to admit that one of the reasons is that I'm technically a bit behind the crowd (I was always the chubby girl struggling to keep up with the rest of my running group in PE), but also I found that my favorite blogs to read are those that have the pictures IN MY FACE!

I love that Robyn posts pictures throughout her blog so that I can read and see what she's talking about at the same time and I find that often I don't .... scroll through the PictoBrowser (sorry!). Maybe its laziness or maybe I just like instant gratification (chocolate, NOW!).

Perhaps I will change when I get my new logo from Spicy Icecream.... but likely not really.

So to all my readers (all 5 of you), sorry but I think I will remain "Ol' Skool" and maybe even become retro one day. One can only hope.

(picture included is a T-shirt I got for Christmas from my favorite veg heads... I am using it as a cheap ploy to hold your attention. At least I didn't use SEX... oops, I guess I did now.... darn.)

Pan, Kettle, Black

2008-01-31T11:49:00.000Z

I don't know how many of you remember my dilemna with the cast iron pan but lately, I have been incredibly fortunate to leap at an offer from Umami for another, bigger cast iron pan, seasoned by her wonderfully patient Gigi.

I received it just last week and have been told its gone through three rounds of seasoning.

The boy came home and saw it, compared it to my old pan and asked whether Umami was feeling sorry for him for having to eat off a greasy spoon cafe pan and so offered a pre-seasoned one.

I was a bit annoyed. Until we did a comparison.

I'm almost reluctant to post these pictures as I'm cringing from shame but here's my pan...

And here is my lovely new pan.

Words fail me.

Lucky ducky

2008-01-28T10:44:00.000Z

I admit it. I am very lucky I have the boy.

Because of the boy, I got to fulfill my dream of living in Paris. And that's not the only reason I adore him. He was also raised right. By that I mean he thanks me for EVERY SINGLE meal I cook him. And this includes lunches which I rarely pack for him, and breakfasts on those rare occasions I wake up before the sun.

But yesterday he went grocery shopping at my request.

And forgot my list. Uh Oh....

He came back with this.

Apparently "for Sui Mai" but for him....and to impress my father.

Other things in the shopping basket: Ostrich steaks;

Kumatos (some new type of dark tomatoes that ripen from the inside, sweet and crisp);

and of course, he always gets overly enthusiastic in the fish section (ending up with 3 pieces of fish we need to eat within the next day!) and conveniently forgot that we had enough cheese to feed a small army when he hit up the cheese selection.

The boy's attempts to sabotage my diet is transparent.

And when he asked me if I needed him to go to the shops this week, I smiled widely and thanked him.

"Thank you but no."

A Fowl Attempt

2008-01-25T10:06:00.000Z

I met Umami the other day at Atelier Maitre Albert for a roast chicken lunch. She had been craving roast chicken and having done her research on Figaro, was determined to try the best roast chickens in Paris.

We had an interesting discussing during lunch. The two dishes I never, ever order in restaurants is pasta and chicken. I always think that pasta is one of those dishes that unless its dead cheap or has something special, then ts one of those dishes you can make pretty well at home. As for chicken, it always seems dry to me when I eat it outside. And, surprisingly, roast chicken is one of the few dishes I pull off surprisingly well. Probably due to the ease of preparation.

However, always eager to share Umami's latest food obsessions, I tried the chicken. It was good ... very good ... but I still didn't think it was worth paying the 18 euro (a la carte) for. I don't think my home roasted chicken fared much worse. And had more of the crispy skin that I so love.

I don't often do recipes here and I'm not sure I want to start now but I thought that I'd share my seasoning and some of the tricks and tips I use. As you read through, you'll notice that my emphasis is on the crispy skin...

Chicken Seasoning

- handful of sea salt
- poultry seasoning (I use Schwartz's from Montreal) - this is optional, I leave it out sometimes and increase the other ingredients - about a third of the sea salt
- honey - generous tablespoon or two
- juice of a lemon
- a few drops of olive oil (flavored is fine)

Adjust all amounts according to side of the bird. I typically use approximately half a cup for a 3-4 pound bird

1. Mix until its a thick paste

2. Take a handful and smear, spread or dollop under the skin of the bird. I like to throw in a handful and massage all over so its spread under the skin. Use approximately half of the seasoning under the skin.

3. Take half of the remaining and spread on the outside of the bird and the other half on the inside cavity of the bird.

4. Shove cloves of garlic, the lemon halves, onions, shallots, celery, whatever you have inside the cavity of the bird.

This recipe is very very flexible so use whatever you have on hand. Rosemary or chili are also great additions. And yes, I have read that seasoning on the outside doesn't penetrate the bird. That's true but then I get lovely seasoned skin on the outside, which I think is still very enjoyable.

And again, yes, I know that the chicken has enough oil so there is no need for more oil but I like putting a bit of oil on as I believe it enhances the crispiness of the skin.

And as for all the onions, garlic and celery inside, you may or may not wish to eat it or add to your gravy but I think because it all steams inside the bird, it enhances the flavor.

The honey helps with the caramelization of the bird and makes it a nice toasty brown color and gives it a subtle sweetness I love it with the chicken.

Tricks and Tips:

- For a tender breast (of chicken): Roast breast side up as there's no 'weight' on the breast so the meat is more tender

- For a juicier breast (I prefer juicy): Roast breast side down so that the fat and juices run down and give it a constant basting

- Start the bird off in a very hot high temperature oven and let roast for approximately 20 minutes until slightly browned at top then turn oven temperature down to roast for the remaining time. There are various opinions about this. Some find that it "seals" in the juices, much like browning, whereas others feel that there is no difference. I like doing it this way as it makes the skin crispier.

- Once finished cooking, take out of the oven and let sit for 15 minutes to let the juices settle before carving. Sneak the wing tips and chicken bum as the 'delice du chef'.

A roast chicken is very popular with the boy and I. It's democratic eating. Breast for the boy, big drumstick and both chicken wings for me. A chicken oyster each when dissecting the remainder of the bird after the meal and the carcass saved for soup while the leftovers go into a chicken salad the next day.

Atelier Maitre Albert
1 rue Maitre Albert, 75005
Metro: Maubert
Tel: 01 56 81 30 01

Pickles and eggs

2008-01-21T13:21:00.000Z

I was intrigued when my favorite veg-head (and soon to be bro in law) brought out a huge jar of pickled eggs during the Christmas season. Of course I had to try... if only to show the leafy ones that I was "down wit it".

Eggs and vinegar in my mind immediately screams, TUMMY ACHE.

However, seeing as the nut roast they procured at the festive table was nothing short of scarf worthy, I thought this must be a good thing. Besides. I enjoy eating sulphurous black duck eggs with sugar, don't I?

Well the egg white tasted mostly of pickle and the egg yolk nothing more than just yolky. What I found interesting was when the green one told me that you can make your own with nothing more than boiled eggs and vinegar.

Hmmmm....INteresting.

Of course I needed to experiment. And, in an effort at one-upmanship, I had to do something different. And so this is where beets come in.

Having an almost empty jar of pickles, I polished off the pickles, added some vinegar to the remaining pickle juice, heated it all up and poured it over some peeled pickled eggs and diced beets.

Two days letter, I tasted one of them. Not quite pickle-y enough but a pretty and interesting shade of pink which contrasted nicely with the white and yellow of the egg.

Would definitely make a pretty addition to a Salad Nicoise.

(proper recipes can be found here)

Galette de Roi

2008-01-18T12:49:00.000Z

T'is the season for Galettes des Roi, flaky pastries traditionally filled with either marzipan or frangipani. These King Cakes, associated with the festival of Epiphany in the Christmas season are on sale until the end of January and are a favorite of the boy's. Anything with frangipani or marzipan and the boy gets that glazed expression in his eyes....

In any case, having been invited to the lovely Umami's house for a day of majong and hotpot, we brought one from our favorite local bakery...the one with the impossibly thin apple tarts. Of course, knowing that Umami had a hankering for the apple tarts, we bought one of those as well.
Unexpectedly but happily, I won the coveted 'feve' or trinket, which was hidden inside, thus got to wear the crown for the rest of the dinner.

Having not had enough of the Galette de Roi, the boy went and bought a mini sized one from one of his favorite bakery shops, Malineau. The boy even had the gall to say that he bought it for my sake. For comparison reasons.

This one was very very flaky and buttery, and to my taste, a bit *too* flaky and dry. (and yes, in my world there is such thing as too flaky). I preferred the one from the local bakery which had texture and lovely layers to bite through to get to the rich frangipani.

And yes, we did end up buying a third one. From the local bakery to take to the boy's grandparents in Sunderland.... his grandfather ended up almost eating the feve!

Umami and I, in a fit of time indulgence, traveled all the way to the 13th arrondissement to find Pain et Passion, which was recently rated in the Figaro for having the best Galette de Roi. Although we only had a small individual one, the boy and I agreed for having been the worst of the three, all dry and heavy.

My advice is to buy your Galette de Roi from a local bakery from whom you buy your pies.

For a wonderful round up of Galettes, see Umami's latest post!

I'm a Winner!!!

2008-01-14T16:14:00.000Z

Not to boast or anything, but I won, I won, I won!!!

And I won the prize I wanted too!!!

I've always, always wanted my very own logo and now I'll get one courtesy of Spicy Icecream.

I simply can't wait and I am grateful to Lisa for donating the gift.

A big thanks to everyone who also participated in Chez Pim's Menu for Hope.

Participate next year and you too can be a winner ... just by donating!

Cough-fee

2008-01-08T12:38:00.000Z

For Christmas I got a great many lovely things, one of which was a packet of chocolate based food items. Do my future in-laws know me or what??

One of the items kept tempting me.... a chocolate marshmallow coffee from Cocoa & Co. Blasphemous to coffee drinkers I know but if you had to sleep in the room where this little sack sat, all innocent except for the lovely fragrant scent of rich dark coffee and chocolate, I dare you to refuse its mating call.

I was good though, I waited until I got home to try it out with my somewhat leaky Bodum press. And of course, to complete the slightly trashy picture, I decided to drink it out of my fancy Krispy Kreme travel mug. I'm all klass.

And how was it?

Tasty, not too 'marshmallow-y', the scent was mainly what reminded you of the chocolate marshmallow, the taste was thankfully more coffee.

In the box were also some interesting handmade chocolate bars, including a Strawberry Black Pepper one I hope to review once I get rid of this dratted *COUGH*

Hippy New Year

2008-01-02T13:40:00.000Z

This is going to be a problem.

I got myself into trouble, you see, over the holiday season.

I received a dress for the wedding and it was too big. No problem, took it to a local seamstress to take in. In a fit of ambitious headiness, I told to the seamstress during the fitting:

"Please make it very snug, I plan to lose a bit of weight"

Um. She kindly pinned it tightly. Very tightly. Let's just say the rolls, they were aplenty. The seamstress asked if it was too tight.

As my future Mother-in-Law was standing patiently nearby, having driven me across villages to make my appointment, I couldn't lose face. I also couldn't breathe.

"No, I'm sure it'll be fine", I said.

In my head, I was going "WHERE did those rolls come from? I don't really look like that do I? I have 5 weeks, what am I going to do?"

As to where those rolls came from, let's review shall we?

Over the last 10 days, I have had:

Homemade Almond Cherry Rocky Road (which I made myself, thank you very much!);

<------Fried Fish with no chips but a hunka fried haggis... do NOT recommend unless you're trying to kill yourself;

Cream tea with multiple cakes------->

<--------------------Haggis;

and my first pickled egg. ------------>

Also countless cups of tea, ginger biscuits, fig rolls, cakes, puddings (all with custard of course), chocolates received for Christmas, and old fashioned sweets to keep us going while opening presents.

Luckily the boy was very good with Christmas presents this year. Besides particularly beautiful photographs he had put on canvas, I also received a red iPod nano, complete with...

Yup, you guessed it, the Nike + set....

Let's hope that if my rolls don't give me a fright enough to start exercising, than the music will get me moving.

So here's hoping you have a Happy New Year, regardless of the state of your own hips.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T10:36:00.000Z

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and share some of my recent loves:

Chocolate: Jean-Charles Rochoux, hands down... especially the fresh fruit bars available only on Saturdays and also, he's a lovely, friendly man

Wine: Still partial to the Chinon we bought from Monsieur Sourdais, particularly Les Cornuelles 2003 from the year of the 'canicule' (heat wave).

Bread: Pain au Levain from Au 140

Cheese: Please don't make me choose............

Meat: Filet de Sanglier, available at the Christmas fair at La Défense and at Place Saint Suplice. Delicious, more-ish, perfect texture wild boar.... soo good.... and so unfair of the stall seller not to give me a contact where I can get more. All I know is that they are at the Christmas fair, at the Salon de Agriculture and at the Bastille market for 1 month during May. GO GET IT NOW!!! So delicious.............

Restaurant: Still Biche au Bois

Best skincare discovery: Patyka Huile Absolue

Book I most enjoyed reading: Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid - Bill Bryson

Book which haunted me the most: We Need to Talk about Kevin - Lionel Shriver

Site which makes me almost wet myself laughing: Elf Yourself - you have got to try this!

Sorry this isn't a comprehensive list. I'll have to try harder.... yep, there's a New Year's resolution right there!

I do wish you all the very best Holiday Season with much overindulgence, laughter and of course, food.

Happy Christmas.

F-odd: Haribo Zanzigliss

2007-12-21T11:05:00.000Z

In the interests of fairness, seeing as I had written about the popular Bassett's Licorice Allsorts, I felt compelled to pick up the French offering, Haribo Zanzigliss.

First off. What the hell is Zanzigliss??? I wiki-ed it, I googled it, I can only conclude that its a stupid name.

Secondly. Why is there a English Queen's Guard on the front with these crazy licorice pieces trying to make him laugh. So the packaging begins by making fun of the English and tourists. Alright, I have no problem with that. And there's also a little icon with a weight with its arms (weights have arms? This one does!) on its hips, looking very proud that it weighs 300g.

Now we get to the inside. From the outset we can see it's a much, much heavier licorice to whateverthehellitis ratio, unlike the Allsorts, which were dominated by colored coconut *shudder*.

On closer inspection, we find an assortment of licorice wheels, licorice twigs, fondant-type flavored filled licorice as well as the sandwich of licorice. However, I also found these:

I know what you're thinking. WHAT THE *(insert epitaph of preference)* are THOSE???

Come on. Couldn't you guess?? A pointy hat, slanty eyes and a frowny moustache. It's a Chinese of course! Wow, Haribo has gone international! Wonderful!! I bet all Asians, myself included, feel wonderful at being part of a truly international bag of Zanzigliss.

But wait.......... there's more!

Hang on...... what's this?

Curly haired, big nosed thick lipped figurehead.... are there any stereotypes we haven't covered?

I'm not even going to go there.

Also, don't let us forget the mock Lucky Luke type character, which I believe, represents the West.

I don't know what the Haribo people were smoking when designing these type of things but I can't wait to find out what other crazy things they have going on in their fun packs. I've never picked up much beyond the Goldbears and cola bottles which I enjoy.

Can I just ask, who IS is the target market for these things? White supremacists?

Oh! I almost forgot to say how they taste... too distracted by the weirdness. The fondant is pretty gritty and awful but the licorice itself is fine I guess.

Oh and in case you want to know where to buy these, I picked them up at Toys R Us, you know, the place where you buy toys of learning and fun for kids.

Those crazy Europeans!

All Sorts of Coconut

2007-12-18T10:57:00.000Z

As I shamefully admitted previously, I have succumbed to the lure of licorice. And although my former boss stopped short of pointing and saying "Ha Ha!" like Nelson from the Simpsons, I did figuratively get deservedly mocked in an email.

So, what do the famous Bassetts Allsorts taste like?

Well, in one word, coconut.

Nope, I have no idea why either.

Apparently, the story was that Allsorts came about when a salesman clumsily spilled his tray of samples and so all the flavors got mixed in a somewhat serendipitous accident. Formal story can be found here.

Now yes, although I am a beginner to licorice, I may not understand some of the subtleties.

Number 1 - Why SALTY licorice? No idea.

Number 2 - Why COCONUT licorice? No idea

Licorice in and of itself tasted quite benign with the coconut being the dominant flavor. In fact I strongly disliked the coconut and much preferred the little aniseed flavored gum drops covered in non pareils as well as the little licorice bits and of course, the adorable little Bertie, whom I ate before I could take a picture. Unfortunately these pieces were very few in my bag, which was instead taken over by the play-doh looking colored coconut.

Quite honestly, I thought they looked like fake candy used for decorations. Which, in my opinion, was probably all they were good for.

Hairy crabs

2007-12-14T10:45:00.000Z

Today's lesson is not about some kind of STD, thank you very much! We're a food blog so obviously we're going to talk about the hairy crabs you can eat..... um, hang on a minute ... I meant the shellfish once again.

So anyhow, back to the eating.

While I was back in Hong Kong (yes, I'm now back in the city of light), I was lucky to be there during the delicious hairy crab season. A delicacy enjoyed by my whole family... although I'm not sure my brother is so dexterous with the extraction of crab meat from its hairy claws. But yes, it is much loved by many and thanks to my Aunt and the absolutely charming Cha Xiu Bao, I got to eat them with much enjoyment.

I only had a total of 5 crabs during my 6 week holiday back in my homeland but they were memorable... not least because my Mom exclaimed her enthusiasm loudly in the middle of a popular spa that she "loved the males due to the sticky white stuff!". I shushed her immediately and lead her immediately to a quiet corner, admonishing her to refer to the CRAB please least they think her a woman of the street.

Anyhow, back to the crab. I was lucky enough to have all males, which made for lots of yumminess. You can tell the male in the picture I have on the left, which has a pointy middle bit. A female will have a rounded bit.

First though, we received them as per above, all splayed out and ugly, then we had to dissect it. Everyone has a different way of doing so. My aunt likes to rip off all the legs first and put that to one side, then rip off the shell and attack the insides.

Personally, I prefer to peel out the middle bit and ripped that off, then turned it over to rip off its shell then rip off the two, hairy claws. Then we have to remove it's 'heart' (not sure if its really its heart but it is inedible), its gills and all the tiny inedible parts.

Just look at that ooey gooey stuff and all that roe! Doesn't it make you want to attack it?

What I do after this is take a tiny spoon and eat everything from the top, then pour a tiny bit of the dark vinegar in its shell to dip the crab flesh in later.

Then, being careful to not let any roe spill, I crack it in half, eat all the roe then slowly start eating everything else. Very delicious and fun to eat (in my mind at least). I always wish I could eat more to my heart's content but given its high price as well as its high cholesterol content, it might be best to limit myself.

I'm very slow and messy at eating hairy crabs so it takes me approximately an hour to eat one. And apparently I really, REALLY shouldn't be allowed to eat this in public. The mess, the sucking and and the concentration makes me the worst dining partner ever. All I can say is thank you Cha Xiu Bao and others for still actually speaking to me. I hope that I'm not struck off the invitee list next time!

Saga au Allsorts

2007-12-10T13:46:00.000Z

I read this and am still crying over it. Too funny

http://allsortssrsbzns.livejournal.com/

Of course I just *had* to go out and get my own bag of Cadbury Bassett Allsorts... you know, for research purposes!

Review to come...

*By the way, yes, I'm horrified that I've suddenly discovered a taste for licorice after much mocking of my former boss for bringing in salty licorice after his holidays...

Menu for Hope

2007-12-10T09:46:00.000Z

Chez Pim is once again hosting Menu for Hope, a fundraising event in support of the UN World Food Programme. Gifts and prizes are offered by bloggers around the world to be bid on and won by donors. A much much better explanation is available here.

Its a great cause and it is so heartwarming to see the generosity of all the bloggers around the world. There are some great prizes *cough*Susan...elbulli*cough* by some wonderful bloggers, including of course, Umami!

Last year I was lucky enough to win a lovely set of books by Chubby Hubby and I fully intend on bidding again this year!

So, in between shopping for those elusive perfect Christmas presents, do some good, spoil yourself a little and get bidding!

Oh, and good luck!

Happy Holidays!

F-odd: Huh?

2007-12-04T11:27:00.000Z

I was at the market the other day when I came across these:

I thought they were pickling cukes,

or baby courgettes...

I finally asked the stall owner.

They turned out to be stoneless, baby cocktail avocados.

Who knew?

They were slightly sweeter yet more bitter than normal avocados. Meant to be peeled and sliced into coins to sprinkle over salads.

I love finding foods I've never seen before! One of the many joys of having time on your hands to explore.

F-odd: Bland Chips

2007-11-24T09:29:00.000Z

Spotted this can of Pringles in Sogo.

I think perhaps their Marketing people need to do some work rather than depend on the Japanese-English dictionary.