It’s been three hundred million years since we updated!!! David was the loveliest bf and helped me out with a BBQ for friends. I love David very much, he’s so talented and always willing to help.
See the smile on his face - the joy of cooking foie over the BBQ for the first time.
i’m always thinking of new flavors worth trying and my next mission is ube ice cream. around maybe 10 years ago, we used to have these rando vans driving around the neighbourhood that would stop and sell ube and macapuno ice cream. my nanny would buy it and share it with us. for her , it was something that reminded her of home (philippines) where ube and macapuno is grown in abundance and used in all sorts of cooking.
so the mission begins today, and hopefully i’ll be able to share it soon!
the start of summer
this time last year, I had just finished junior year at Cornell and was anticipating my stages at River Cottage and Noma. both experiences have propelled my understanding of animals, plants, people, and cooking.
River Cottage: built the first automated irrigation system using pressure (thats hugh and will from the gardening team in the tunnel where we built the system), organic farming, happy & friendly pigs, passionate crew, potato planting (serious hard labor).
Noma: the summer just after they were number 1, great international team, non-stop pushing, great life-long friends, some time on the line/serving guests, hours of foraging. the photo of nils, emil and I really captures the intensity, organized chaos, and focus in the kitchen.
Cheers to the summer ahead. Get out there, make the most of it, and take your loved ones along (via skype at least)!
last week, the obama administration showed off a new nutrition guide to replace the pyramid. they should have put another plate for dessert…maybe some ice cream?
Green Peppercorn from Dad’s Garden is Singapore (:
Mom’s 50th Birthday Dinner
Mom celebrated her 50th with some friend last night…
The other dishes not photographed were…garlic white wine prawns, calamari with romesco sauce and berry gratina! Bummer, I can’t cook, plate and take photos at the same time. Our domestic helper, Mary, is a BBQ queen. She loves bbq-ing so much that she willingly started a charcoal grill for the quail.
Being the snack-monster that I am (D can attest) , my favourite was the sweet potato crisps. I found my alternative to Terra chips! They’re way too expensive in Singapore. I also have some sort of idea what to give my other snack-monster friends for Christmas.
MOONCAKE-MAKING
Mid-autumn festival a.k.a Mooncake Festival: a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese and Vietnamese people, dating back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China’s Shang Dynasty. (Wikipedia, duh.)
The labour-intensity of mooncake-making has taken all the energy out of me. My 2 aunts and I must have made > 100 mooncakes today.
Mooncakes always bring back fond memories. Back in the day, my aunt used to sell mooncakes. I remember how the house would be transformed into a mooncake factory. Rows and rows of mooncakes were piled high on makeshift shelves. In the first few days of the mooncake making mayhem, the aroma would attract you. Soon, the attraction would turn into nostril-assault and finally, your sense of smell would be so over-stimulated that they no longer responded to anything mooncake-related. I can also remember the pain of accidentally driving staplers through my thumb while fastening plastic boxes due for delivery. Yeowch.
In case I’m making it sound like all work(/pain) and no play, I must set the record straight and tell you that the kids’ efforts were always rewarded with a generous meal after the festival. Having said that, the most tangible manifestation of the hard work was the new pieces of jewelery added to aunt’s collection annually. Yup, ‘nuff said.
xE
René Redzepi on the Story of Noma
Check out Mister D’s 0.5 seconds of fame. Somewhere between 1:52 and 1:54 seconds.
The write-up by Phaidon can be found here.
xE
Pulled Pork
Marinate pork shoulder with brown sugar, coriander, cinnamon, mustard seeds, paprika, chili flakes, salt and pepper. Leave in refrigerator overnight. Roast on rack @ 150degreeC for 5 hours (covered with foil) together with some apple juice in a roasting pan. Collect juices. Pull pork, simmer meat in juice till sauce is reduced to desired consistency. Eat.
If only we had apple sauce.
On the other side of the world, D made siew yok (roasted pork belly with crackling).
D just reminded me that last year, we were at ground zero. It was a dreadfully grey and wet day, befitting of the solemn mood. After catching a bit of the 9/11 memorial, we went to Katz Deli for the best (and only) pastrami sandwich I ever had in my life. The pickles!!! Oh the pickles.
xE
Pork Chops, Parmesan Crisp, Mushroom Risotto.
Apologies for the lack of updates! Dave and I have been sooooo super busy. That’s just the way it is in Singapore. Meals with his family, meals with my family, meals with friends, errands…
One of the more adventurous things we did was hosting a muji-packet-dinner. The “challenge” was to use a sauce/ seasoning/ prepacked-something from muji in every dish. It was great fun and arguably the least stressful of all the dinners we ever hosted! Roasted vegetables with yuzu pepper, squid ink pasta, mango and roasted tea pudding… Thankfully, our friends were such great sport and didn’t mind eating “un-gourmet” food. Unfortunately, I have no idea which memory card we stored the photos on. Like I said, we were busy, cameras exchanged hands, family members flew around the world…Memory cards got lost in translation.
In the past 2 months, I also learned how to make kaya, hainanese chicken rice and snow skin mooncake. Yup, no idea where the pictures are either.
Tonight, I made a small dinner for my family and friend alv. Nothing fancy. Just home-cooked food. Parmesan crisps were a hit. Thanks Mrs. Chris Martin for the recipe via goop.com.
