foodierudy

A little while ago, I pickled some veg. Finely sliced white and red cabbage, flavoured with some onion, garlic and salt were firmly pounded with my trusty beech rolling pin and pressed into a preserving jar. I kept pressing it down from time to time the rest of the day, until enough juice had escaped from the veg to cover and seal them. Then I left it out on the bench top for a few days, making sure the veggies were submerged in their own juice. It started bubbling quite soon, and developed some acidity. About 3 days later, when it had slowed down a bit, I put the seal on the jar, and popped it into the fridge. I kept tasting once a week, both to release the pressure in the jar, and to check it was maturing nicely.

Now 5 weeks later, we’ve broken into that first jar. It has turned a nice shade of pink, and the taste of the onions and garlic have mellowed. I was surprised at its taste - tangy, but not too sour, and much less salty than the commercial stuff you buy in supermarkets. It makes a nice accompaniment to meals, and we’ve been enjoying its fresh taste and crunchy texture. M, who’s usually not too keen on Sauerkraut, even had some, and liked it! Success!

I have made another 2 jars, sans onion, to see what plain cabbage will taste like. I will keep using a mixture of red and white cabbage, because the red’s компютриanthocyanins might be good for us. Anyway, it makes for a far more interesting colour! I plan to keep us fully supplied with health-giving pickled veg every winter from now on!

Next project - Kimchi…

We recently ate at Cha Cha Moon, Alan Yau’s new take on a Hong Kong noodle bar. I’ve been quite excited when I read he was opening up just off Carnaby Street, so, one Fri night, I dragged the ever-patient M along to try it out. We arrived to find a very long queue (life, after all, is one big queue…), but were assured by the friendly staff that it would only be about a 20 min wait. It must have been our lucky night, since after about 5 mins’ hobnobbing with the plebs, a waiter took us right to the front of the queue, and we were in! (Still don’t know why, but it sure made my day!) Once seated at the bare wooden tables, we were smartly joined by our waiter who sported a snazzy grey t-shirt asking “are you going to the Moon?”. Well, yes we were!

(more…)

I love pancakes.

I’ve been searching for the perfect pancake recipe for a while now. I grew up with Dutch-style pancakes, which Dad would cook for us sometimes on Saturday evenings - thick, heavy pancakes the size of dinner plates, studded with raisins, chunks of tinned pineapple, or pieces of apple for Mum and us kids, and bacon and cheese for Dad (a man’s pancake!). A typical recipe would be 1:1:1 - 1 cup of flour to 1 cup of milk to 1 egg - even I could remember that!

When I started cooking professionally, I came across crepes - the delicate, thin French-style pancakes, which were great with lemon juice and sugar (or nutella!). Good, but I need more substance for breakfast! (more…)

Just got passed this bit of news - Stefan is a friend from way back. Great to hear they’ve done so well! Congratulations of the achievement and recognition! However, what I found cooler was the parts about how they prioritise their life - God, family, work. Good on them!