Missing In Action Again

For the past 2 months, I had been traveling quite a bit, first to Ireland, then to the far east and recently I just got back from the States. Traveling bit was fun but I must say that my natural body clock all gone haywire due to different time zones. After catching up the much needed sleep or sleeps here I am. To my readers out there, apology for the rather "silenzio" moment in my blog for the last 1 month or so.

It was rather a good opportunity to return to US before my visa runs out. I was attending a conference in Dallas for a week. We didn't get to see Dallas very much as the conference programs were rather compacted from early morning to evening. Only on one evening, we went out to Galleria Dallas for shopping. Most of Christmas lighting is up. Apart of that we don't get to experience any cultural event. From food point of view, there are no lack of choices of good to very good restaurants along Belt Line Road close to where our hotel is. We even won over by an authentic Japanese Sushi Bar, known as Mr. Sushi, we went back twice to dine there, so oishi!


After Dallas trip, we flew to San Francisco, stay tuned for more exciting stories of San Francisco..........

To Far East and back again

I was away for 2 weeks in the Far East, wished I was scuba diving or scaling peaks in Asia. But this trip has brought me to Taiwan on a business trip. I've been to Taiwan several times and one can't resist the temptation of over indulging in "varieties of good food". Taiwan is well known for it's delicious street food, spicy hot pot which is uniquely Taiwanese, modern Japanese cuisines, in short so much choices that you are likely to overeat ( ahem! time for strict diet after returning to UK :-) )

I'm still experiencing jet lag and potentially down with cold at the moment, therefore this is going to be a short post I promise. Hope you enjoy some lovely food pictures.

This Japanese restaurant-Shinbashi earned it's reputation to create modern fusion Japanese food.One of the recommended dish is deep fried soft shell crab in golden pumkin sauce-absolutely delicious. Their sashimi plate tasted so fresh. If you're fan of good Japanese food and happen to be in Hsinchu, check this restaurant out.

I went to another city, Chung Li to visit some friends. They brought me to try out the authentic Taiwanese Spicy hot pot. If you're fan of spicy food (I mean seriously SPICY), you'll love it. One of the special item in hot pot is the congealed duck blood cubes. It tasted alright, with tofu like textures. The trick to tone down the spiciness is to dip your items in bowl of white vinegar.



This restaurant we discovered accidentally in Hsinchu which served good quality Shanghainese cuisines. The Xiaolongbao here tasted very good. Good Dongbo pork (however a bit disappointed with their bun to wrap the pork).

Roast Figs with Honey, Cinnamon and Thyme

Figs in season right now. Before I came over here, honestly I don't know how fresh figs look like and taste like. All I know figs are dried, sweet with thousands of seeds that make the textures so unique, you either hate or love it.


Few years ago, I did try fresh figs but I'm not bowed over, I thought dried figs tasted better or perhaps I didn't choose the "Finest" fresh range. So this season, I thought I will give it a try by roasting them instead, so just to start with, I only bought 2 figs.....
So I found this simple recipes and thought would give it a go.....

Roast Figs with Honey, Cinnamon and Thyme
Ingredients

• 3 tbsp clear honey
• 1/2 tbsp butter
  
• 1 tbsp brandy
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 12 figs
• few sprigs of thyme

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (fan assisted oven).
2. Pour the honey butter, brandy and cinnamon in small saucepan. On low heat, continue stirring until a liquid formed.
3. Using a sharp knife , make a cross cut from top to almost at the base.
4. Place them on roasting tin, add thyme and drizlle with the liquid from(2)
5. Roast for 15minutes and leave them in oven for additional 5inutes or so.
   
6. Serve with yoghurt, ice cream, cream or even on it's own with the tasty roasting juice.

It's a nice and simple desserts..... healthy as well.

Autumn Elixir-Rose Hip

As evening are drawing in, temperature has gradually dropping, autumn has sets in. There are things to enjoy in autumn-I mean simple things that just make the day. Me and Alge went rose hip picking near our work place. Rose hip are the berry-like fruits of the rose bush left behind after the bloom has died. They are typically red or orange, but may also be dark purple to black in some species. Although nearly all rose bushes produce rose hips, the tastiest for eating purposes come from the Rugusa Rose. Rose hips have a tangy, fruity flavor similar to that of cranberries. Each hip comprises an outer fleshy layer which may contain up to 150 seeds embedded in a matrix of fine hairs. The irritating hairs should be removed before using the rose hips in a recipe.

The red hips are in abundance at the moment, what a joy. I decided to use it for making rose hip syrup, a remedy to ward off cold/flu as it's high in Vitamin C. Homemade elixir, full of goodness. Two years ago, Alge made the syrup and gave me a bottle. So this year I decided to make and gave Alge a bottle too. I used the recipes from here.

Rose hip has excellent natural source of vitamin C, rose hips have been used for centuries as a medicinal herbal remedy in teas, syrups and tinctures. During World War II, under instruction from the Ministry of Health, British school children were given the job of collecting rose hips from hedgerows to make into a vitamin C-rich rose hip syrup, and replace the imported oranges that were no longer able to land in the United Kingdom.

Vitamin C or ascorbic acid is a vitamin absolutely necessary for the body to remain in good health as it not only acts as an antioxidant and protects the body against free radicals, it protects against infection, helps with wound repair and promotes healthy cell development. However, since ascorbic acid is a water soluble vitamin it is not manufactured by the body and therefore has to be ingested.
Rose hips are thought to be richer in vitamin C than many citrus fruits hence their traditional use in teas and syrups. However, vitamin C is not the only vitamin that rose hips contain and it is certainly not the most important one in Rose Hip Oil. Vitamin C is largely found in the shell of the rose hip and it is the shell that is used in teas, jams and syrups. The seed of the rose hip contains a host of other essential vitamins, antioxidants and fatty acids which make Rose Hip Oil an altogether amazing natural ingredient.

Crysanthemum in my garden has started to bloom nicely, indicating autumn is here.

Connemara Photo Opportunity

This is a must do thing while you're passing through Galway. Driving in the Connemara, this area of West Ireland is all about outdoor, open space with a touch of wild factor to it. A real therapeutic experience away from the life on the fast lane.

Scenic shot at Screeb

Starting in Galway City head west towards Spiddal along the scenic coastal route. I've been warned that road signs will all be in Gaeltacht(traditional Irish language) once I'm in Connemara. I don't really mind, somehow I deemed it as a challenge and fun drive trying to comprehend what the road sign says.

Gaeltacht Road Sign

Once at Rossaveal drive northward and suddenly the distant Maum Turk and Twelve Bens mountain ranges appear on the horizon. I continue to dry till I reached Maam Cross and decided to take northwest toward Clifden. It was an easy drive through wild landscape, sparsely populated area, scenic mountains, grassland, lakes etc. Decided to take a break at Clifden for lunch. A little Irish town with nice feel to it. Quite a few seafood restaurant offering lunch menu. Went to a nice cosy restaurant for sandwich and seafood chowder.Wow, the seafood chowder tasted so fresh and fulfilling. One of the best chowder I ever tasted.

Best seafood chowder with chunky chicken and melted cheese sandwich

After lunch decided to drive eastward towards Connemara National Park. Since the weather is still fair, I decided to hike up Diamond Hill, a trek of 6km to the top. The main landscape here is of bog, grassland and heathland.

Diamond Hill at the background, Connemara National Park

Path leading up to Diamond Hill

Hike up and you'll enjoy nice view of rolling hills and coastal plain of Atlantic ocean. I enjoyed my time at the National Park embracing the great outdoor.

I stopped at several places along the drive for photo opportunity. Connemara is truly magnificent place to drive around, I enjoyed it very much. I hope the pictures will do the talking for me. Enjoy.....

Drive Around County Clare, West Ireland

I left Athlone early Sunday morning and headed westward to Galway. My self drive route will cover roughly about 120 miles which took me through the fascinating landscapes, the sweeping limestone rocky hills and plateau known as The Burren, passing through little villages & country side, leading me to the dramatic and stunning vertical Cliffs of Moher.

These are sheer striated cliffs, rising over 200m out of Atlantic ocean. The cliffs stretches over 8 km along the coast. These cliffs create a haven for seabirds - nesting gulls, puffins, kittiwakes etc. The coastal area constantly battered by high winds from Atlantic ocean. On the main stretch, the main walkways and viewing areas along the cliffs have been surrounded by stone wall which were set too far back from the edge. Oh dear! I wonder how to experience living life on the edge. Fear not, there's relief and joy for those who seek a bit of thrill, walking close enough to the edge. Walk southward towards Hag Head, allow around 1 hour walk, you'll be amazed that you chose this walk, of course take note of the pounding wind from Atlantic, proper clothing and walking shoes recommended...... and of course not going too near to the edge :-) .

After Cliffs of Moher, I drove along small road along the coastal route to Ballyvaughan. This is yet another scenic drive around the tip of the coastline at Black Head, waves ideal for surfing.
It was a nice and enjoyable drive of the western coastline this time of the year where the summer holiday crowds had gone.

Some brave souls surfing and swimming in the Atlantic

Stay tuned for my next self drive through Conemera....

To Athlone again

Just back from Ireland, mission number one: attending my good friend's wedding, mission number two: self drive holiday to scenic Ireland's west coast.
After landed in Dublin on Friday evening, I hired a car and drove all the way to Athlone, relying on my good ole GPS. Reached my destination on time. So good to meet up with my friend and her family and relatives again.
The wedding reception was held at Athlone Springs Hotel. The menu consist of 5 courses :

Appetizer - Crispy Duck Salad with Cherry Tomatoes of Balsamic
Soup - Cream of vegetable soup with freshly baked bread
Passionfruit Sorbet
Main course-Duo of sea trout and lemon sole with pesto reduction & creamed emulsion
Desserts - Assorted treats

I must say the food was very delicious, nicely done to a high standard by chef Michael Talty.

Stay tune for my mission number two.......

Roti Jala (Net bread)

I have wanted to make roti jala for a long time but never come round to it. So the mould has been sitting in my kitchen cabinet for awhile. Since I've prepared curry chicken the night before, so it's high time to put my roti jala mould to good use.

Roti Jala
Ingredients (make about 12 pieces)

• 125g flour
• 1 large eggs
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 cup of coconut milk
• 1 tbsp of vegetable oil
• 1 tsp tumeric powder
  
• 1 pinch of salt

1. Mix all the above ingredients except oil to form a runny batter. Then add in the oil, mix well and set aside.
   
2. Prepare a non stick pan. Heat on low heat, lightly grease with some vegetable oil. Once it's hot, scoop a laddleful of batter onto the mould and run it over the pan. You can see the video here how it's being made.
3. Once it's cook, transfer from the pan to a plate. You can wrap it in traingle form or roll it.
4. Served with curry.

I like my roti jala, tasty with authentic Malaysian curry.

Apple Pie

I saw my colleague brought in a bagful of cooking apple - to be precise it's Bramley apple. Apparently it's from her garden. She told me to bring back some and make lovely apple tart. Oh, I told her honestly I have never cook with apple before let alone Bramley apple. Alright I told her, I'll give a try, so I picked out 4 large apples, thanked her with a smile.

Apple Pie
Ingredients

For the short crust pastry
225 gm plain flour
120 gm unsalted butter
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp of cold water

For the filling
3 large Bramley apples
75-100g soft brown sugar
1 teaspoon of mixed spice/cinnamon/nutmeg
1tbsp plain white flour
25g butter

1. Preheat the oven to 190C, 15minutes before baking the pie.
   
2. Peel and core the apple and cut into thick slices, set aside. Mixed in sugar, cinnamon powder and flour.
   
3. Make the short crust pastry using rub in method. Divide the dough into 2 portions. Roll 1 portion to form 8 inches diameter circle of 2-3 mm thick. Then lay the circular dough onto 7 inches pie tin. Prick the pastry with fork on the bottom. This will allow the pastry to breath while it's baking.
4. Roll out the other dough to 8 inches diameter of 2-3mm thick as well. Then place the apple into the pie tin. Cut the 25gm butter and dotted them over the apple.
5. Cover the pie with the dough. Firm the edges by pressing with your thumb and index finger. Remove excess trimming. You can use the trimmings to decorate the top of the pie. As for me I use Christmas cookie cutter to form the pine tree decoration.
6. Bake for 15minutes, then quickly brush with egg wash on the surface and continue to bake for additional 15minutes till the pastry turn golden brown.
7. Remove from oven and let it cool.

I always find the pie tasted better the next day :-)
In my picture...even the wasp is attracted to the lovely pie.

Chilli Crab

This is the last bank holiday weekend for 2010, therefore no more holidays till Christmas period. One have to make full use of the long weekend to get outdoor especially now we're approaching the late summer. I joined an outing to Great Yarmouth, a typical British seaside town with my friends and colleagues. Even though it's just an hour and a half away, I have yet to explore this seaside town by myself. So it's a good opportunity to join in the fun and if courage took hold of me, I might try to swim in the North Sea ( brrrr...... even the thought of it, send chill into my bone ... hehehehe).
We're given good weather to start with (sunny blue sky and slightly on the chilly side-but hey I can't complain....it's typical of North Sea climate this time of the year). This seaside town is quite quaint, dotted with lots of fish and chip shops, restaurants, shops, market etc etc. Too bad I didn't bring my DSLR with me, as I don't want to risk my camera when I have a friend who wanted to push me into North Sea :-) .
I ventured to the town market to see what they've over here especially the fresh seafood. I saw plenty of Cromer crabs on sale, an usual treat during summer months. Of course I prefer the mud crabs, but here they do Cromer crab at a fraction of price compared to supermarket and it's pretty fresh (over here they normally sell crabs which has been pre-cooked, you hardly ever find live crab in the market over here). So I decided to buy 4 whole crabs. Singapore Chilli crab or black pepper crab? ........ scratching my head..... :-)
I decided it shall be the famed Singapore chilli crab .....


Singapore Chilli Crab
Ingredients (serves 2)

• 2 whole crabs - washed, cleaned and chopped to different segments
• 2 tbsp of chopped ginger
• 3 cloves of chopped garlic
• 1 shallot finely chopped
• 5 red chillis- finely chopped
• 1 tbsp of sambal (optional)
  
• 1 cup of chicken stock
• Sauce-4 tbsp of tomato ketchup, 2 tbsp chilli sauce, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp lemon juice, salt to taste, mixed well
  
• 1 egg lightly beaten
  
• Spring onion or corriander for garnishing
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  

1. If you're using fresh crab, wipe dry, coat it with some corn flour and quickly deep fry for 30 seconds on high heat. Removed. For me my crab has been pre-cooked therefore I skipped this step.
2. In a wok, heat the vegetable oil. Once it's hot, fry the shallots, garlic and ginger until fragant-take care not to burnt them. Add the chopped chilli and sambal to sizzle.
3. Add the crab and stir fry for around 2-3 minutes on high heat. Then add in the sauce and continue to stir fry. Add the stock too. close the lid and let it simmer for 2 minutes. Then add in the eggs and continue to stir until the egg set. Off the heat. Garnish with spring onion/corriander.
   
4. Dish out onto plate, served with rice or Chinese bun.

Enjoy.....

Summer Salad : Grilled Nectarines

There are so much to buy from the market, I couldn't resist to buy back some juicy plump nectarines. One of my favorite fruits, so juicy, sweet and taste a bit like mango, well almost.
So I thought of grilling the fruit and mix them with some homegrown salad, dress with balsamic vinegar. There you go a healthy lunch, simple and refreshing.

Summer Salad : Grilled Nectarines
Ingredients (serves 2)

• 2 nectarines - ripe and still firm
• handful of lollo rosa salad leaves
• some cherry tomatoes
  
• some fresh mint leaves
• some grated lemon zest
• some grated parmesan cheese
• dash of black peppercorn
  
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• dash of sea salt
  
• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar + 1 tsp sugar- boil over hob to reduce the amount by half as it thickens.

1. Slice the nectarines. Place over grill pan and grill about 4-5 minutes on each side on high heat. You'll have nicely grill mark on nectarines. Remove and set aside.
2. Place the nectarine, tomatoes, salad leave, chopped mint leaves in a mixing bowl.
3. Add all the other ingredients and mixed well with your hand. Set aside.
4. Serve on plate as starter with toast or baguette.
   

Simple and nice.....

Cheese stuffed burger

I've been counting that this summer, I have attended quite a few BBQ summer party over at friends. Indeed I've shy away from the fast food burger chain like Mc Donalds, Burger King during this summer as I realized homemade burger tasted so good, better still if you could grill it over the BBQ. As I'm hoping for Weber BBQ gas grill to be presented to me , I can only be contended grilling it with my lovely cast iron grill and my Neff oven, result is still good :-)
So I decided to make do with the leftover minced beef and some gorgonzola cheese hoping it will turn out lovely. Cheese stuffed burger.....anyone interested out there?

Cheese stuffed burger
Ingredients (make 2 burgers)

• 330-350 gm minced beef 9preferably with 80% lean and 20% fat)
  
• 60 gm Gorgonzola cheese
• 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
• 1-2 tsp of salt-or to taste
  
• 1 medium white onion-finely chopped
• 1 egg
• 2-3 tbsp bread crumbs
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• dash of black pepper

1. In a mixing bowl, add all the ingredients except gorgonzola cheese and give a good mix with your hands. Form 2 patties.
   
2. Shape the Gorgonzola into 2 balls.
   
3. Wrap the patties over the cheese ball. If you prefer you can coat the burger patties with chopped taragon leaves.
4. Set the burger to rest in the fridge for at least an hour before you grill them.
5. You can use oven at 160C to cook for 30minutes or over the grill pan for 20minutes or so. Please note that the cheese might leak out during grilling. Therefore I prefer to oven baked them for 25minutes, and finally subjected them to grill pan for 2 minutes each side.
6. Serve with salad, cucumber, onion and tomato over white bun. If you prefer you could actually add guacamole as sauce over the burger......rather than the usual tomato sauce.

One bite and the runny cheese oozing out ............. Burger will never be the same ..... :-)
Delicious..... and I throw in some homegrown salad/tomato too.





Pictures from my garden as usual.....