skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and a happy new year.
As for me, my mother visited and so did my aunt, all the way from Hong Kong. My mother being the force of nature she is, cooked and pampered me as if she knew I needed it to be strong again.
Needless to say, the food I had during the Christmas and new year period was brilliant. For Christmas I ordered an organic Aylebury duck and it was the tastiest duck I have had for a very, very long time. I ate at Jamie's Italian again, had several lunches at Loch Fyne, been to Fishworks, lunch at Gascoyne's... the list goes on.
I am in a better place compared to my last post. I have been doing a lot of thinking, and I believe this was for the best. I've moved on and am a much better person for it. :)
As for resolutions, is there a point of making them if you aren't sure you can keep them? I for one will focus on my happiness. I think this is something I have neglected for a very long time. I will also ensure I make things happen instead of moaning about it, (yes, I am hitting the gym). I also believe all my years so far could be better, but somehow always been rollercoaster rides, practically bipolar in the way there is so much happiness then sadness. I wish 2009 to be the year I am actually in control - I will take a step back, breathe, then act. I will treat myself more to cinema, books, art, music and love. The stuff that makes life worth living, all of that I will embrace like never before and appreciate the beauty out there.
As for my cooking mojo, I know it will return. I can't wait for it to come back. It will have to, as I need to feed myself! But fear not. Hopefully by this week I will get some inspiration... I made these ramen with lovely pork dumplings not too long ago, so the cogs are slowly turning.
Until then, thank you for your words of encouragement. I will be back very soon. This blog is a year old tomorrow. Who woulda thunk it?
Kharina x
I'm not going to be here for a while. Wookiee and I are no longer an item and I'm not in a good state of mind.
Knowing the person I thought I would grow old with may not had shared the same feelings for me is hurtful. My heart has been demolished.
Needless to say, I doubt I will be cooking properly for a while. The reason I cooked was to show him my love. It will take a while for me to feel anything, so please be patient.
I don't know if anyone actually reads my blog. If you do, leave a message or such. I will return, it's just a matter of when.
I'm so sorry about all this. I'm sorry Wookiee we didn't work out. I do love you so much. I hope you are happier now.
This credit crunch malarky is depressing. The news at the moment is dominated with horrible incidents; Baby P's death, Sharon Matthew's idiot mother, piracy outside Somalia, the madness in Congo, recession and unemployment in the UK. As for me, my news ain't that great either. Nothing I want to disclose, but I am feeling low, very low.
Money is tight nowadays and Margurite Patten, the once queen of rationing is popular again. People are more inclined to shop around to find the best deals; offal is trendy and so is baking - or is that because Christmas is round the corner?
I don't know what you think, but it seems Christmas started early this year. M&S were putting out X'mas treats the same time they were offering scary Halloween goodies. Is this an attempt to gain more clients, or is this just the norm now? Cafes and shops have Christmas carols gently playing in the background.
My dear Mum and Aunt from Hong Kong will spend Christmas with me this year. I was meant to go to Sweden but ticket prices increased by more than 100% and that is just plain stupid. I'll get two mad Chinese ladies instead to stroll about town, drinking tea and show them the sights. Sad they can't make it for the Chrismas Market in Bath, it's always fun and cosy (why do they insist on the market so early - end of November and beginning of December).
I have today and tomorrow off, and the plan was to go through my flat with a white glove and start chucking rubbish out. An exorcism if you will. The problem is I have no hot water or heating. My landlord is changing the system in the house from oil to gas. This is a huge operation as the building is old and massive. They require knowledge and technique of industrial side of things, but this is a domestic house. It boggled the tiny brains of British Gas and we are doomed until next Thursday! Luckily my landlord have spoken to The Bath House at The Royal Crescent Hotel, and I will get vouchers for showers and baths. I will get them tomorrow and that will come in handy as I intend to start cleaning tomorrow morning. So it's not all that bad. ;)
I got this great idea though, to heat my chilly flat, baking would be great. The kitchen is getting slowly toasty and my tiny lump of dough has risen twice its' size so it's working. I don't have a scale so the ingredients are measured in volume and a lot of gut feeling. I used a mix of Richard Bertinet's basic dough recipe and one from Salt & Sill, a very popular inn situated south of Sweden.
I've been getting a lot of russian kale in my veggie box from Riverford. Looking online there was this soup recipe which looked mega simple but very tasty. Problem was of course I didn't have any chorizo around. I did however have a nice piece of beef I cubed. With some paprika it worked a treat!
Phoney Caldo Verde - Portugese Green Soup
You will need for 2 servings:
Approximately 1l of rinsed and de-stalked and chopped kale.
4 medium sized potatoes peeled and diced.
1 large onion diced large.
3 fat garlic cloves, minced.
1 l of chicken stock.
150g of beef, I had topside which I diced.
1 tsp of paprika.
Sea salt and black pepper to taste.
1. Start of by adding a little olive oil to a pot and add the onions and garlic on medium heat to let it sweat out. Make sure it doesn't colour and the garlic doesn't burn. Once the onions are translucent, add the beef and add the diced potatoes and cover them in the oil and the onions. Let them cook until the meat is seared then add the hot chicken stock over the veg. Put the lid on and let it cook on medium for 10 minutes.
2. Add the kale, cover up again and give it another 20 - 30 minutes, depending on the toughness of the kale. Once done, season with a tbsp of sweet paprika, salt and pepper. Serve immediately for the hungry and diabetic. Simple!
This was a pleasant surprise. The kale was soft and tasty, the paprika went really well with it. The beef was tender and the potatoes although had crumbled a bit, added chunkiness and thickened the soup slightly. Will I be making this again? Oh yes! I have a feeling this could cure colds.
And here are the buns I baked.The dough rose but sank as soon as I touched it. It was ok, not fantastic bread, although the crust was amazing.
I do apologise for the lack of posts. There is a lot on my mind and unfortunately this affects my cooking. If I don't cook, there isn't anything to blog about so it is a vicious cycle. I hope it's temporary and that my mojo comes back. Watch this space. Until then, have a lovely weekend. It will be cold so wrap up really warm!
Hello again. I am alive and well. I've also been eating quite well, thank you very much. :)
My friend and I go dining once a month to new and fabulous places. Last month it was to the very popular Beaujolais in Bath, which was lovely. This month we went to the newly opened Jamie's Italian which didn't disappoint.
I had not been to Beaujolais for years. They had a fire and had to renovate the restaurant, a change I certainly noticed. I remembered it looked very much like a sauna (all wood) and now it was more trendy but still warm and inviting in cream white. I wore my very cute Marc Jacobs mules and my feet suffered badly. I can't remember the last time I was in such agonising pain thanks to blisters. Lets just say that my feet looked almost like the steak tartar I so eagerly wanted to try. The staff provided me with blue plasters, bless them!
At the Beaujolais we opted for half a bottle of red which was the Pinot Noir, as we both were really keen on the Duck Confit with pancetta potato cake and the caramelised baby onions. I was brave and chose the steak tartar, whilst my friend went for the chicken liver parfait with toasted brioche and home made chutney. The pictures here won't do them any justice. I forgot my camera, so forgive me!
The steak tartar was a show stopper. I like my steak rare, but never eaten it raw and this was a real eye-opener. The quality must have been top notch as it was so meltingly tender. It had capers and herbs in the meat, but they all complemented the beef without overwhelming the flavour. Together with the steak there was raw egg yolk and some kind of spirit I couldn't identify. You pour these liquids over the beef and eat it that way. I thought the booze overpowered it too much, and will next time I try it, only use half. I know Wookie would go nuts on this one.
My friend's chicken parfait was perfection. Silky and creamy, it went wonderfully with the brioche. The home made chutney I think was made of plum, I wasn't sure. It was slightly tart but spicy and sweet. It was a perfect acompaniment for the rich parfait.
As for the mains, my friend and I were mm-ing and aah-ing non-stop. The duck just fell off the bone when you poked at it. The knife was really unneccessary and it was beautiful meat. Here came the disappointment though: the pancetta in the potato cake was really salty. Who ever cooked this couldn't have tasted the pancetta, for there was absolutely no need to salt that meat. Other than that... it almost acheived perfection.
We ended the evening downing amaretto sours at Beaubar and talked and talked and talked. It was a great evening. The staff were lovely and it was informal yet nice enough to impress a date if you had one. ;)
So this month, we decided to go to Jamie's as it just recently opened. I was a little worried when a colleague at work said certain aspects were great, but he was really disappointed by the flash steak he ordered. I personally believe when you order a steak under £20 you will most definitely get disappointed 90% of the time. For a steak to make you go down on your knees and want to kiss every cow you meet it has to be at least £25 a pop. But that is just me. :D
The Tuesday evening was very cold and the heavens opened up. We left work and walked swiftly to the restaurant only to meet a long queue outside the restaurant . Twenty minutes later we reached the front door, only to have the Maitre d' tell us that there may be an hours wait - on the inside! My friend and I had a little huddle but decided to stick it out even if the gods were against us. After 15 minutes wait we were sitting inside by the bar, sipping Messina beer and awesome Bloody Marys that instantly made me drunk. A waitress with a large wood plank offered us antipasti consisting of home made sour dough bread, cheese, slices of mortadella, olives and capers. Nice touch!
We waited over an hour to finally get a seat. My poor friend had her heart set on baby tortellini, but it appears certain parts of internet menu is different from the Bath one and so she chose the 'Catherine Wheel'. It's a coiled pork sausage served on oozy polenta with cheese and mushrooms. A hearty dish for a cold evening. I decided to go for the fish of the day, which was the sea bass. It would be grilled whole. We both had the same starter, in fact we had been drooling about it since we saw the option online: meat plank antipasti. Oh yes!
The meat plank had the softest and freshest mozzarella I had ever eaten. There was also the tastiest pecorino with a sweet and spicy chilli jam. The hams and sausages were mind blowing. Again, we were oo-ing and aah-ing like there was no tomorrow. We also had polenta chips with sea salt and rosemary which were pretty amazing. I need to try to make some of those at home!
When our main courses arrived we couldn't help but smile like 2 overjoyed lunatics. The seabass was huge and had been grilled to perfection with fresh herbs and lemons, served with a salsa verde and a fresh rocket and cherry tomato salad. Her 'Catherine Wheel' was so comforting, the polenta cheesy and the flavoursome sausage was seriously meaty and of supreme quality. My friend doesn't like fish. I had her try some of the seabass and she made a face as if she suddenly discovered the meaning of life. I think it was a good face.
My poor friend admitted defeat and decided against pudding, whilst I, on a low carb dinner instantly ordered a pannacotta. It came served with a rhubarb confit or something like that. It was still quite chunky, so you could tell by looking at it that it was rhubarb. The tartness cut through the creamy vanilla of the pannacotta and I ate with relish.
Aside from the waiting there was an issue at the restaurant. Every time the Maitre d' spoke to the people queueing outside, all that cold air entered the premises and we were freezing! The people of Jamie's knew of this, as they too were suffering of the cold. As I ordered the dessert, the waitress said they are offering complementary hot drinks as it was so chilly. We ordered a mocha each. :)
Both restaurants were worth visiting. Jamie's is fantastic to go for an impromptu bite to eat (when the queues have died). To share that antipasti plank after a gruelling shopping trip would be heaven. They cater to kids too, so it's really friendly. I loved Beaujolais even though they flunked in the salty pancetta department. The steak tartar and the duck were so astoundingly good, I can't really fault them for that.
This doesn't mean I haven't been busy in the kitchen. I have! This Sunday I am having a mini Mexican fiesta and will finally cook that Puerco Pibil I have been talking about. There will be quite a few coming over, so I'm very excited. Stay tuned!
You are probably sick of my excuses now, but please bear with me. I've been working non-stop as we had a soft launch at the company. I wanted to put some effort into it as it's huge and also, I get paid overtime. ;)
Problem with working that hard (honestly!) is that I come home tired and worn out - I don't want to stand in front of the stove and be overly adventurous and flamboyant. I just want some filling grub to stop my stomach doing a coup d'etat.
Riverford supplied me with wonderful runner beans. I don't think I ever ate them until I came to England. I certainly don't recall eating them in Hong Kong or Sweden. First time was at an ex's. His parents grew them in the garden and I was so impressed. Turns out they are one of the easiest beans to grow. My former flatmate did a half hearted attempt and it actually worked. They had the prettiest red orange flowers then the beans came. The problem was the beans decided to turn up in late October when the frost arrived. But I did manage to pick some early ones and they were delicious.
Anyway, it was quite a cold evening and I was feeling rubbish but craved proper and light food. I bought some fry steaks and decided to go down the black bean route. I know it is easy to grab a pouch of the Amoy ready made stuff, but they don't taste nearly as good or punchy as a home made one. It is also really quick. This recipe I got is from Ching-He Huang's "Chinese made easy". It's a great book with traditional recipes and also more modern. Great thing about this book is that it's the classic healthy Chinese food, the kind I grew up with. If you are looking for a good chinese cook book, I recommend this one highly.
Fermented black bean is readily available in supermarkets nowadays. Otherwise you can find it in an oriental shop or online. They last forever and the sauce work wonders with poultry, pork and seafood. It's low in fat too! The whole thing takes about 25 minutes. You do have to spend about 5 minutes whacking the beef flat, but it's a great way to vent out frustrations of the day and you end up with the tenderest beef!
Beef and black bean sauce from Ching-He Hua's Chinese Made Easy with alterations.
Serves 3 generously and is suitable for diabetics.
You will need:
Garlic after your own taste, I used 4 very large cloves, finely chopped.
1 Shallot finely chopped.
1 Red birds eye chilli, finely chopped.
2.5 cm of fresh ginger, finely grated.
1 tbsp of fermented salted black bean, washed and turned into a paste.
1 Screw top full of Shaoxin wine.
2 tbsp of light soy sauce.
Water for making sauce.
A big handful of runner beans washed and sliced thin diagonally.
1 large carrot, juillienned.
2 Beef fry steaks you've whacked thin with either a meat mallet or a rolling pin then sliced into thin strips.
1 Spring onion sliced thin.
Salt and pepper to taste.
1. Heat some neutral tasting oil like rapeseed or sunflower oil in a wok. When the oil starts smoking, throw in the strips of beef and fry them on high heat until the meat is seared. Blast them with lots of pepper. Remove and put aside.
2. Heat more oil and when it is really hot and starts smoking, throw in the garlic, chilli, shallot, ginger, carrot and runner beans. Stir them around and when the aromatics hit you in the nose and throat, add the beef minus any liquid as we don't want to boil the meat and veg at this point.
3. Add the black bean, soy sauce and the Shaoxin wine. Mix it about and let cook for a few moments. Taste and see if you require more pepper or salt. I like my black bean spicy. :)
4. Add some water if the sauce is too dry. Do a little at a time until it's the beef and vegetables are coated.
5. Serve with steamed thai rice and sprinkle spring onions over. Enjoy!
It was darn tasty, and good for my waistline too! Too bad Wookiee didn't get the chance to try this one. Speaking of which, he's currently down with man flu so I haven't seen him since Saturday morning. I will hopefully catch him tomorrow night after work. Boy, am I ready for the weekend!
We've had amazing sunsets here the past evenings. Luckily I was able to capture it as soon as I got home today. A lady I never seen before stood silently looking out across the field and later asked if I lived here. She then asked if we always get such sunsets. I told her we didn't always get them, but when we do they are often magnificent.
I am very lucky to live here and get to witness this kind of rare beauty. Hope it brings a smile to you on a dreary October day.
I've lost my cooking mojo folks! It frustrates me no end, but I think I may have gotten it back with autumn arriving with the chillier weather. My landlord is kind enough to whack the heating on and I have started to get my veg from Riverford again. This puts me in a domestic mode and I was lucky enough to have Wookiee over this weekend so I could use some of those vegetables.
Anyway, after cooking up a cheesy leek and mushroom risotto and a delicious chicken and sweet potato stew, I felt this worthiness and healthy eating needed something to sex it up (I am human after all) and decided to try out this weird little recipe a friend of mine sent me. It's a chocolate cake you make in approximately 5 minutes!
I made two attempts and the 2nd version came out much better. The original recipe had 3 table spoons of oil which didn't agree with my tastebuds. It needed a little butter to give it a more authentic taste. I also used soy milk as I don't drink cows milk, but you use whichever you are comfortable with. It is scary at first as you think you will end up with brown goo all over your microwave, but watching this batter grow in front of your eyes as you catch a whiff of baked chocolate goods is pretty amazing!
Mug Chocolate Cake
You will need:
A large mug you can microwave with.
4 tbsp of white flour. 4 tbsp of sugar.
2 tbsp of cocoa.
1 tbsp of melted butter.
1 egg 3 tbsp of milk or soy milk.
1 tsp of vanilla extract (optional)
1. Add all the dry ingredients into the largest mug you have and mix it up.
2. Crack an egg into the dry ingredients, add the milk melted butter and the extract if you are using and mix it up properly.
3. Pop it into your microwave and cook it on high heat for 4 minutes if it's an 800W or 3 minutes if it's 1000W.
4. Eat and be amazed that science can help one conjure up something like this!
I didn't tell Wookiee when I made this first and he was gobsmacked. It did look really rude whilst cooking in the microwave, kind of like the mug was doing number two. I experimented with less sugar and had oil as the recipe suggested first, but it just didn't taste right. The consistency was also a little wrong. With more sugar and butter it was more cake-like, although this is a very spongy and compact cake. Texture wise it resembles a steamed cake. This is something that would be brilliant for people who need a quick chocolate hit but know a hot chocolate just won't cut it. I will try with agave nectar to see if I can get it healthier with unrefined sugars. Less guilt means I am more likely to make this more often. :D
As much as I love food, I've been skipping breakfast on weekdays which is a very bad thing. I've started to eat breakfast and cooking my own lunch whenever I can. Considering I've been really unlucky with weird infections and bombarded my poor body with penicillin, this hopefully will help. It's already helped me to lose some weight! It would be ideal if I could make a spicy, tasty and healthy fajita like this one for lunch. Gotta be made fresh though or it's just soggy and tragic. 
I am a very bad blogger and I apologise profusely! I've been ill too so cooking hasn't really been on the agenda.
I purchased a while back a coffee grinder to grind my spices. I had a stash of achiote which I've been dying to use, but you can't do anything with it until you ground the little hard suckers into powder. And ground them I did.
I mixed some coriander seeds with achiote seeds and two dried piri piri chillies to the grinder, whizzed a few seconds then added this amazing powder to some olive oil I had heated up in a pan. The aromas were amazing! Achiote almost has a citrussy scent to it.
I added some gammon I had defrosted earlier on and cut to bite size chunks. I had cooked some new potatoes and sliced some fennel thinly and mixed them with some sliced spring onions. Once the gammon was done, I just added them on top of the veg with a generous sprinkling of flat lead parsley, coriander and mint. Drizzle some olive oil, lemon juice and add some sea salt and black pepper. Delicious!
The achiote delivered a lovely and earthy flavour to the gammon and complemented the coriander seeds and the chillies perfectly. I will definitely try this one again. The achiote, also known as annatto coloured the gammon in lovely red. I can't wait to use the achiote to cook that traditional slow roasted pork dish Puerco Pibil!
Also, I discovered a local independent grocery shop in the neighbourhood that sells locally grown veg. They are so old school they can't accept card payments, only cash or cheque! I picked up these beautiful looking rainbow chard and proceeded to cook a lovely pasta dish with them. Imagine spinach but with a much stronger flavour. They work brilliantly with garlic. Again I added diced gammon to this and served with tagiatelle and lots of freshly ground pepper. It didn't just look good, it made my tastebuds do a jig.
I watched a new cookery show with chef Valentine Warner called "What to Eat Now" this evening. I am always keen to see what new shows have to offer and considering the abundance of cookery shows out there this had to be extra special considering all the hype he's gotten from all the food magazines I've read. It turned out to be a real treat. He used to be an art student but gave up when he realised food was what drove him. He grew up in a farm in Somerset so is used to the outdoors. He concentrated on autumnal ingredients and shot rabbits with air rifles then cooked them with cider. Warner also made an incredible slow cooked autumn lamb dish and was hunting for the elusive British truffle. He couldn't find any, but prepared an amazing wild mushroom lasagne. I think I've become a fan of his rustic cooking and will get hold of his book as soon as possible.
Wookiee has been away since last Wednesday, his dear mum had her birthday on the Saturday just passed, (happy belated!). He's been bitten by the baking bug and before he left we studied the DVD that came with the book "Dough" he got me for my birthday. I think the comments that flew out were in line of: "That S.O.B (the SOB was Monsieur Bertinet, the baker and author)... the dough is alive! How? HOW?!?!"
But he experimented and these are the results. How amazing is that? I'm so proud. :D
I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and a happy new year.
Until then, thank you for your words of encouragement. I will be back very soon. This blog is a year old tomorrow. Who woulda thunk it?
Posts
My StumbleUpon Page