Thursday, October 19, 2006

An Indian Buffet

A dark, sinister craving for Indian food hits my hubby every few weeks or so. We have yet to try Veda, Tandoor and Gunga Din, all around the Soho and Lan Kwai Fong area, all highly recommended by Indians. Personally I'd like to try Chungking Mansions in Tsim Sha Tsui. We've feasted on the yummiest chicken tikka at Bombay Dreams. But our favorite is Jashan, located in Hollywood Road. Their lunch buffet costs HKD 98.00, including one drink.

Hubby always gets loads of butter chicken (chicken makhani) with pullao rice and after stuffing himself twice, he'll try the other dishes. I always try a salad, some vegetable samosa with raita, then enjoy my small servings of lamb vindaloo (fiery hot) or lamb rogan josh, tandoori chicken, fish tikka, lentil dahl, various curried vegetables (usually cauliflower, potatoes or spinach) and curried cheese cubes (paneer). All these are washed down with ice-cold sweetish tea. I have a fruit slice for dessert and we're done!

Fruit Frenzy and A 16 Dollar Lunch

When my good friend Ivy was here, we hied off to Stanley to do the touristy thing, namely: walk around the tourist trap hiding under the guise of being a Market and admire the various overpriced, tacky bric-a-brac and kitschy stuff on display; purchase one of the above overpriced, tacky items to show off to friends and family back home; take tons of pictures; eat at McDo; walk barefoot around the beach.

After an hour of trolling around that warren of shops, we spied a small, roadside snack house. It was smelly; an odd combination of pork fat, spring onions and incence (it was beside a small temple) scented the tiny eatery, so we decided to sit outside and endure the sun's glare. One bowl of wonton noodles costs a mere HKD 16. That's still P100.00, but those who have lived in HK long enough know a food bargain when they see one. If you want some beef brisket with that add HKD 6.00. It was satisfying, warmed our insides, and the wontons were surprisingly large and tasty and boasted a whole fresh shrimp. This place is not for the faint-hearted though. The tables are sticky, we sat beside a group of smoking bare-chested men, and we definitely soaked our chopsticks in the hot water for more than 3 minutes. Just to be sure. Still, it was cheap and good.

At the beach we sipped fruit shakes. She with her strawberry one, I with my honeydew melon, guava and apple. As if the shakes were not sweet and fruity enough, we finished off, between the both of us, a half catty of shiny, at their peak, blood-red cherries; mushy, overripe, purple plums; juicy, fragrant, bright yellow-orange nectarines. Fruit overload!

Monday, October 16, 2006

Teaching is Fulfilling

Filipinas who have little or no experience in the kitchen created all these. For three hours they cooked, baked, grilled, tossed, tasted, garnished, plated, decorated, made mistakes, rectified them, all for the sake of learning a little bit more about cooking. Bravo to them!

A table full of goodies
Portobello Mushroom and Roasted Vegetable Ciabatta
Making use of both tomato and cream sauce to create something child-friendly.
Parmesan, cream and pasta. Alfredo at its simplest. Adobo Flakes in a Canape.
Shrimp. Olives. Feta. Chili. Tomatoes. Farfalle. Olive oil. So Mediterranean, so good.
Crunchy Purses filled with Chicken lying on a bed of "grass". Plum sauce.
Ricotta, Gorgonzola and Mozarella. Spinach and Artichokes. Melted. Taro chips. Poppyseed Breadsticks. Crudites.
Pesto Pasta Salad...
with Savory Grilled Chicken
Cream of Apple Butternut Squash with Parmesan Crisps
Bean Dip. Fresh-baked Pita Chips.
My thanks go out to Pam for all the pictures.