Going local yocal

Saturday morning will never be complete without going to the local ''car boot'' sales. Next Saturday will be the last car boot in Oakington before they wrap up and start again next spring. So no Saturday car boot after next , but there will always be Sunday car boot which open all year round except during December. So what's car boot sales? Allow me to explain, car boot sales are mainly British form of day market in which private individuals and even traders come together to sell used/rarely used/ not used household and garden goods at really low price out from their car boot. It's quite an experience....I would say this is British culture, no tour group to UK will bring you to car boot sales to experience a piece of this culture. So I've got to be a local yocal :-)
So today after the car boot, I went for a drive around North & West of Cambridgeshire villages just to check out some local produce this season. To name a few, pear, apple, cauliflower are in season.

I found a farm shop in Willingham that sell pears and apples directly pluck from the farm behind their shop. I have never been a fan of apples for example, because I find it rather hard to bite and sometimes too sharp in taste for my liking. But truth be told ,some of the eating apples we got here in Cambridgeshire even beat the famed gala. Today I tried for the first time the Honey Crisp variety , as recommended by the really nice farm shop lady, yes only a bite, I'm hooked, so juicy and so crispy. Next came the conference pair. It taste sweet and just rightly soft to the bite. So I decided to buy a few bags each for my fruit supply over the next week. Better to nimble on a pair of pairs , or hearty apples than to snack on the likes of Cheese & Onion crisps. Another interesting find is the purple cauliflower, deemed to have the same nutrient like blueberries because of it's color, so I will labelled it super food. No idea how it taste like, will buy and give a try. I'm going local yocal on local produce again.

A pair of pears

Hearty apples-Honey Crisp

With bags of October fruits, I went home and cooked myself a simple lunch. I wonder if my sis read this post , she knows how much I missed the Teochew porridge food stall back in Bukit Gombak. We used to share this meal together quite often. We fight over who will have more luncheon cubes obviously :-).

Teochew porridge with sweet & sour luncheon meat

Ingredients

• 150gm luncheon meat (cubed)
  
• half pepper bell (cubed)
  
• half medium onion (cubed)
• 2 ring of pineapple from can/or fresh
  
• 1 tbsp sugar or honey
• 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 1 tbsp Maggi chilli sauce (optional)
  
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1.5 tsp light soya sauce
  
• 2 tbsp water
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
  
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• Porridge ( 1/3 cup of rice with 700ml of water)
  

1. Mix the tomato ketchup, sugar, sesame oil, soya sauce, water in a bowl.
2. Heat the pan and pour in 1 tbsp vegetable oil.
3. Once heated, put in the cubed luncheon meat and stir fry for about 3minutes(slightly brwoned).
4. Then add in onion and pepperbell and continue to stir fry for additional 2 minutes.
5. Lastly pour in the mixture in (1) and stir fry for one minute until well coated.
6. Serve while it's hot.

Note: Can serve with rice or porridge, can also use sausages instead of luncheon meat.
I like cucumber & lettuce pickles whenever I have porridge. This brand of pickles I got it from my business trip to Taiwan.