The Departed (Seafood, that is)

At the Hilton (nothing to do with the hotel or the scandalous fashionista heiress) Seafood Restaurant in Lamma Island we devoured huge platters of fresh seafood one glorious Sunday. At around 12 noon they were alive and kicking, swimming happily in their tanks while tourists and locals alike ogled them and pointed accusing fingers at their intended "victims". By 12:30 the first of the departed started arriving at our table. In our excitement to partake of these jewels of the sea in all their fresh, perfectly-cooked and reasonably-priced glory, we forgot to take pictures of the heaping plates. Instead, we made up for it by clicking away just before the final pieces entered the bottomless depths of our tummies.

Oh, and did I mention we rode a company yacht to get there? Lovely weather, a cool breeze, a pristine white vessel with attentive staff... sitting on the top deck pretending I was part of the "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" show, what a fantastic day that was!

Before eating a friend requested the following: pungent garlic slivers; bright red chopped chillies, seeds and all; red vinegar
It comes with the territory: red vinegar, dark soya sauce, chili-garlic paste
We wanted something ice-cold to wash down our enticing lunch: freshly-squeezed orange juice and Tsing Tao beer. Ahhhh, this is the life.
A shrimp head frantically trying to get included in this shot. Look at the orange pulp!
Mantis shrimp (some might say crawfish) deep-fried with salt and pepper. It was crunchy, and the sweet, oily juice spilled down out chins as we bit into its purple-streaked flesh. It tasted like a cross between squid, lobster and prawns. We ordered another plate of this just because it was so tasty and fun to eat. The tiny legs were abrasive to the tongue but we still ate all the parts, except the head and shell.
The last piece of mantis shrimp... all for me!
The last 7 members of the hipon family. Steaming shrimps should be relatively easy, but many restos bungle the task and return the crustaceans to the table an overcooked deep-orange, and customers can barely peel them. These ones were cooked exactly right. Their shells glistened with moisture, the heads were plump and juicy, the flesh slid right off the shell like smooth hands from a well-fitting glove. Paired with some vinegar and garlic, their simplicity reminded me of summer vacations with my family where we would welcome fishermen with their catch, grill seafood by the beach, and eat with our hands.
The baked lobster in cheese sauce wasn't a big favorite. The sauce was bland, watered-down and thin. I ate a similar dish at Lei Yue Moon, also known for their fresh seafood, and although the lobsters there were tad rubbery and I ran out of Mandarin phrases when haggling with the seafood guy, the sauce was excellent! A creamy, cheesy, butter-yellow velvety coating for the 3 large lobsters we ordered.
Bamboo clams sauteed in black bean sauce. These funny-looking creatures are housed in a long, razor-like (they're also called razor clams) receptacle. The flesh is cream-colored, slightly rubbery, and as we divested the hard brown shells of their inhabitants an explosion of three flavors assaulted us: salty, sweet, spicy.
Crabs cooked with eggwhite. The taste was ho-hum, but the meaty crab was a sight to behold and I enjoyed sucking the life out of its many crevices.
The Chinese have taken steamed fish to a new level. A sauce made of soya, ginger and spring onions never fails to marry well with steamed white rice. Teasing the bones from the tender flesh without breaking up is easy to look at but difficult to master. As evidenced by this picture, the vultures at our table made short work of stripping this fish down to its bones, tail and fins. It was a massacre of the gastronomic kind!
On our way back to the yacht we passed by a street food vendor. Manong fishball or isaw in Manila. In Hongkong there are various kinds of balls to choose from. In this cart we see curried fishballs at the bottom left, plain fishballs with soya at the bottom right, octopus balls on the top right, and siomai on the top left. The siomai is the cheap kind made with processed fish paste and not your usual pork and shrimp.


A view of the cart: there were also cuttlefish tentacles ready for deep-frying, and an array of sauces.

On a sad note: the little store in Lamma selling the yummiest taho (soybean) drink and dessert I've ever tasted, along with some native Hong Kong kakanins (sticky rice pastries) filled with sesame paste, red bean paste and peanuts and a red bean bibingka was still there, but it was yummy no more. I took pictures, but I'm so sad at the decline in taste and quality I'd rather grieve silently, without visual reminders of the desserts that were.

Where to get DESSERTS around Soho and Lan Kwai Fong

Pictures, locations and descriptions to follow. In the meantime, try these decadent sweets.

Chocolate Tiramisu from Fat Angelos
White Chocolate Cheesecake from Uncle Willie's
Lemon Tart and Chocolate Truffle from Vanilla
Dessert sampler from Baci and M at the Fringe
Remy Martin and Banana Caramel offerings from Antique Bakeshop
XTC's Lemon Pepper and Cocoa Ice gelato

Coming soon

A Yacht. Victoria Harbour. Lamma Island. The Departed Seafood.

A Lorcha in Macau- mah favorite!

V-Best Tea House and Bistro Manchu

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!

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.

Chomping Our Way Through HK and Macau

Chocolate and Egg Mille -feuille at CaffeChocola in Macau
The rissol camarao (shrimp rissoles) beckoned...
A closer look at the deep-fried wonders with shrimp and potato. My friend loved it!
I always have this for breakfast in Macau -pao con chourico (chorizo bread). 90 % bread, 10% chorizo. Yummy, nonetheless.
From top clockwise: galao de maquina (coffee with milk, and, like the chorizo bread, it's probably 10% coffee, 90% milk), pan con chourico, rissol camarao and, peeking from top right, Black Forest cake. The cake was one of the densest versions I've tried. They could have added more liquor and cherries, but the cake's dense crumb was moist , the chocolate shavings on top generous, and I appreciated the fact that there was infinitely more cake than buttercream. We also ordered ham and cheese quiche but it was too dry. Overcooked, most likely.
The last small piece of chorizo bread sharing space with the Black Forest crumbs on my plate. I lugged home a heavy can of chorizos and have served them for chorizo rice; pan-grilled with some garlic; to enliven a chicken and okra stew. I have 3 pieces left. Pasta maybe, and if anyone has ideas, feel free to comment. :)
In Macau, the bread will always be bigger than your fist (unless you have big fists), freshly-baked, with a thin,crisp crust and soft, chewy, fragrant, absorbent core. Mopping up sauces has never been this delicious!
At Fernando's near Hac Sa Beach, Coloane: their FAMOUS, and I mean FAMOUS garlic prawns. Succulent meat, easy- to -peel shell, the sauce a heady mixture of garlic, olive oil and chili. Suck the juice out of the head, use the bread if you can't get enough of the sauce. This dish is simple yet outstanding. You could forget yourslef while eating this. Need I say more?
Sliced and grilled chorizo. Lots of off-white fatty bits on each reddish-brown slice of ecstasy. Woohoo!
Dimsum lunch at Metropol. Top row: Steamed BBQ pork bun (no way can any siopao in Manila compare to this), siomai (only in HK, and maybe Vancouver, do they come as generously-sized as this, with 1 whole crunchy shrimp on top), beancurd sheet roll stuffed with mushrooms. 2nd row: the ubiquitous ha kaw or steamed shrimp dumpling, deep-fried spring rolls, condiments for congee, assorted meat congee. Bottom: Sticky rice dumpling with chicken. Although I miss my Aunt's Fookien-style ma-chang (the pork fat of which I ingest without shame or guilt), this parcel of savory brown glutinous rice is a delightful replacement.
Close -up of the BBQ Pork Bun (or cha siu pao), siu mai and ha kaw.
From a different angle. We were 3 diners. Did we order too much or what?!
Roast crispy pork with a salty sauce that tastes a bit like a quirky blend of hoisin and shrimp paste. I need to research on what this sauce is made of. I think black beans, maybe. The strips are resting on a bed of peanuts in all their pure, fattening, "who-cares they-taste-so-good" glory.

Food Shots II

This is why I love grocery-shopping in HK. Food so fresh, the colors literally leap out! Each detail is a visual caress, igniting tastebuds. The internet grocery site, no matter how convenient, can never ever let food come to life like this. I have to walk the aisles, touch, taste, see, feel, hear, savor. I even love the "beeps" emitted by computerized scanners.
When my friend was here, we ate lunch out but had dinner home most nights. There was a pasta and pizza night, burger and calamari night, and a pseudo-Japanese night. The soup bowl looks out of place, I know. I lack dinnerware. Time for another Shenzhen trip. The miso soup in the bowl came from my sis-in-law in Japan. It's an instant thing: squeeze out the paste and mix with hot water. Not bad for soemthing that takes 30 seconds to prepare.
Japanese fried rice with seafood
Not very Japanese. On 2nd thought, not Japanese at all. Beef and Mushroom with Garlic.
My take on squid teriyaki. The sauce is quite popular with guests.
Heehee.The tempura pieces are packed like sardines. I'll get a basket next time. Shrimp, squash, eggplant, okra tempura.
egg tarts: according to Lord Stowe (who isn't really a Lord), his egg tarts aren't even the orginal ones. He tweaked the recipe, came up with a winner, and everyone has called them Portugese egg tarts since. In any case, the crusts are flaky, lovely vessels of sugary sin.
At the Macau Museum: Cooking implements of long, long ago
A Portugese feast! Very realistic-looking renditions of Macau's festive food. And this is just for afternoon tea! They all resembled Filipino dishes in some way. It's the Spanish influence.

Food Shots I

Tried my hand at capturing images of food as my friend and I traipsed all over HK and Macau seeking to fill our stomachs, expand our waistlines and tip the scales. Hehe. Used both my trusty 3.2 Cybershot and her Nikon D70 SLR. What peanut candy is made of
Chopping peanut candy into bite-sized pieces
Any self-respecting bakery in Macau makes this
and piles of this: beef jerky, anyone?
so much jerky, so little time!
A pavlova-like offering from CaffeChocola in Macau
I love it when cherries are in season: oh so sweet, oh so juicy and oh so affordable!

Wish the same could be said for Manila. Papa loves cherries.

M at the Fringe- The Fig Festival

That wasn't a typo. It was literally a festival of figs for me. But come to think of it, it was a festival of pigs too for hubby and his friend. :)

We arrived at Lower Albert Road and got off in front of the Fringe Club. It being a Sunday, the club was closed and darkness hovered as we tried in vain to look for the restaurant. We almost cried "failure" when viola, the almost hidden sign of M at the Fringe suddenly jumped out and cornered me! I suppose the growls my tummy made led me to the sign and vice versa.

When we entered the dimly lit, unfinished (that's how the floors looked) hallway and climbed up the staircase hubby kept on asking if we were in the right place. Upon entering the richly-decorated French-style dining room there was no room for doubt. We were seated by a Chinese server who was thoroughly knowledgeable, pleasant and discreet; so well-trained it was a treat to be served by such a rarity.

I perused the menu. It was short but sweet. Long lists of food confuse me. To cook only a number of dishes, but to cook them right makes a fantastic restaurant. The prices seemed downright inexpensive for the remarkably huge servings.

I had a salad with gorgonzola crostini and figs. Imagine the flavor of strongly-scented cheese on a crisp base warring with sweet, fleshy figs; with nutty, sometimes bitter greens acting as arbiters. What a sensual battle! I was almost full after this starter. Hubby had foie gras 2 ways: seared and as a terrine, served with thinly-sliced baguette and stewed apples. He forgot to share some with me so I'm not commenting on this dish.

For my main course I ordered their famous slow-cooked lamb leg with fig jam, root vegetables and lamb jus. Hubby and his friend had the equally famous crackling pig on a bed of savoy cabbage and potatoes. The pork was mighty fine, the skin so crisp I could hear the "crack, crack" as my companions savored each mouthful. The meat was tender, a bit on the salty side, but eaten with the cabbage and potatoes it tasted just right. The serving was good enough for two! Or, for someone with my appetite, just 1 1/2. The lamb leg was so soft it disintegrated upon contact with my fork and knife, and while the flavor was intense and paired well with the too-sweet fig jam, I found it too "gamey" for my taste. The first few bites I happily devoured, but by the time I had finished half the serving I was put off by the dish. Maybe because lamb leg reminds me too much of dark meat from chicken, which I can only enjoy if there's more white meat on the plate. Hmmm, next time I'll try the beef or the stuffed quail, if they still have it on the menu.

For dessert we went overboard and ordered the sampler. Cappucino creme brulee (hubby finished this off), napoleon with something, lemon pudding (divine), raspberry and chocolate sorbet, souffle with something, mixed fruit pavlova (their specialty) all took center stage on a long white plate. Artfully presented and all tasting so wonderful, it was a fitting end to our sinful meal. I was too stuffed to take notes and this entry is so delayed I don't remember half of what was on the dessert plate. :( I really should take pictures next time.

M at the Fringe-highly recommended!

Nadaman, finally

While still recovering from that diet-busting dinner at Magnolia, we were forced by circumstances beyond our control (gluttony) to heave our lazy bottoms from their cushy corner on the sofa and trek all the way to Island Shangri-La. Nadaman, with its teppanyaki table overlooking HK park, was waiting.

I had my usual house salad and cold green tea noodle. Anywhere I eat I have to partake of the salad. It makes me feel less guilty about the calorific delights I am bound to order and finish off like a starving prisoner of war. I used to shudder at the thought of cold noodles with raw quail egg, wasabi and soya sauce, but after a brave evening ages ago I gave my heart and have been in love ever since with cold soba, cold udon and any manner of cold noodle served Japanese-style. They taste so refreshing, not least because of their temperature - definitely not ice-cold but cool to the lips and tongue, balanced by the salty-sweet sauce and given a zing by the wasabi. It acts like a sorbet for me, and cleanses the palate after rich, fried offerings like tempura or Angus beef teppanyaki. Sometimes I eat it as an appetizer, more often than not it stays with me throughout the meal. Just like pickled ginger, those crunchy pinkish slivers that are sweet, sour, and go perfectly well with some sushi or sashimi balanced delicately on a chopstick and slightly dipped in soy sauce. I eat pickled ginger with everything, from my raw fish to my fried rice.

Although I enjoyed the salad and soba, the highlight of the start of the evening (yes, the middle and end had highlights too) were the toro handrolls we ordered, the tuna so fresh and fatty and flavorful, each mouthful redolent of perfectly-made sushi rice mixed with a generous amount of cubed toro that left a pleasant lingering sea-taste on our tastebuds. Afterwards we watched while an expert chef moved around the teppanyaki table, his movements graceful, his eyes alert, his hands swift. We had large, firm scallops, wagyu beef tenderloin and the highlights, two of them, if you please -- a whole, live, quivering mass of abalone; and codfish cooked in the most interesting manner. The abalone, which looked like a barnacle-crusted sea monster, was quickly relieved of its tough outer fringe by a sharp knife and the flesh was seared and sliced, seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper, and served to the most grateful of guests who ooohed and aaahed the entire time it was being prepared. It was wonderful, a sweet-tasting, resilient piece of seafood. After this a fistful of sliced white onions were sauteed and partly caramelized in butter. Two fillets of buttery, soft-fleshed cod were seared, then placed on a small copper pot on the bed of onions. Sake and brandy were added and left to reduce. A knob of butter and a squeeze of lemon juice finished off this highly aromatic dish whose preparation was a show in itself. The combination made for a heady, exciting broth that cradled the fish and teased the senses with its superior flavor. I will definitely eat this again, and again, and again. I could eat several orders of this and get drunk with happiness. It was heavy on the senses but light on the tummy. We enjoyed all these with a bowl of Japanese sardine (looked like tiny silver dilis) fried rice.

An auspicious beginning demands a superlative ending, and the apricot mousse with melon ice cream was just that- superlative. It was like eating the fruits with all their perfume and sweetness encased in ice and cream which made biting unnecessary, as every wonderful spoonful melted in one's mouth and flowed with ease and grace further down, hitting just the spot that sends replete, happy signals to the brain. Ahhhh, success in our chosen restaurant. Life is good.

I'm a bad, bad, blogger

No time to blog, but with all these ideas in my head I have to blog about blogging so I'll remember... did that make sense?

More blogs....

5. Pam's food shots of the numerous recipes created by smart and talented Pinay students
6. Fat Angelos - A late dinner for the glutton in me. Salmon fettucine, Chicken parmesan, Seafood rissoto, Flourless chocolate cake, Chocolate tiramisu anyone?
7. A wish - to work with a premiere Chinese chef and learn the secrets of Chinese regional cooking which, to my mind, is the most varied, interesting cuisine in the world
8. More wishes - to live in Italy and France and unearth the secrets of their home cooking; to taste all the freshly-caught delicacies at Tokyo's fish markets; to retire in the Mediterranean, or at least have an expert Mediterranean (and yes, Chinese!) chef work for me:)
9. A dream - to live, breathe and eat dark, bittersweet chocolate, to absorb all knowledge of the food-of-the-gods, to open up a dark chocolate dessert bar in Manila.

Blogs Coming Up...

1. M at the Fringe - that esteemed HK institution
2. Food Shots - pictures of food, food, food
3. A Week of Gluttony with my best friend featuring: Caffe Chocola and Fernandos in Macau, dimsum lunch at Metropol, Japanese dinner at home, fruit frenzy and the 16 dollar lunch in Stanley
4. An Indian buffet

The "Stuff Ourselves Silly" Weekend

Last Friday hubby and I found ourselves standing outside the very first food enterprise in HK where I applied for a job. Go-gourmet is a gourmet catering pioneer. Owned and operated by exuberant, boisterous, talented New Orleans native Chef Lori Granito, it boasts of a well-equipped cooking studio in Sheung Wan where innovative team-building cooking sessions are hosted for large companies.
It is located on the ground floor of little boy's kindergarten, so while walking along Po Yan Street one afternoon I decided to drop by and see if they needed a kitchen assistant. I never pushed through with the job offered but great things have happened since then (but I'll leave this to another blog entry, some other day). Lori will always be remembered in our household though as the first person to ever offer me a job in HK, and for her support I am grateful.

Aside from catering and holding cooking parties, Lori has also published a cookbook (a very useful guide to entertaining, with marvellous recipes on every page), and is looking into packaging her Cajun and Creole mixes and spices for distribution in households and upmarket groceries. She also runs Magnolia, a private kitchen on the 2nd floor of her cooking studio specializing in homestyle Creole and Cajun cuisine, the only one of its kind in HK.

Which brings me back to last Friday with hubby. We booked a table for four that night at Magnolia. I brought by camera but the dim lighting made the pictures look dark and sinister, while the flash made them look garish. So I'll have to resort to words (when have I ever not?) to capture that memorable dinner.

Hubby and I were the first to arrive, and while waiting for our friends, a few other people started arriving as well. The concept of Magnolia is for small groups to be seated at a long, grand table and get to know each other while enjoying the food. Nothing too formal or private, unless you're a large group. That night there were two large groups so we had a room of our own, which was fine with my antisocial hubby. I sauntered to the kitchen and had a chat with Lori while observing the goings-on. It was like being invited to a friend's house for dinner. Lori hides nothingand shares everything. Her kitchen is open for scrutiny and she chats away while preparing her mouth-watering specialties. While we waited for the groups to be complete, we were served a welcome drink and some savory appetizers. The crackers with dip, crab claws and goat cheese cake were all delicious, although the dip, composed of a bottom layer of pesto, a middle layer of cream cheese and the top a deep red sundried tomato mixture, was something relatively simple and easy to replicate at home. The crab claws were made of shredded crab meat and spices, and eaten with a dollop of tangy and spicy cocktail sauce. A far cry from the starchy "fake" frozen crab claws you can buy at any supermarket. :) Almost like crab cake on a claw stick, it was flavorful but not overpoweringly so. The outside was a golden brown coating that hid juicy depths of crabmeat. The goat cheese cake was a tiny dice - literally as large as a dice-- of baked goat cheese with a savory crust. I thought it bland but the texture was interesting, the crust slowly disintegrating in your tongue followed by the slightly tofu-like cheese.

After these teasers we were asked to go up and settle ourselves in our respective rooms. At Magnolia they don't serve alcohol, but you are free to bring in whatever beverage you prefer and they chill and serve these. The other rooms brought beer and wine and as the night wore on you could hear them getting decidedly tipsy and garrulous. We, the sober ones, had to settle for water and Magnolia's version of Iced tea, which, to be completely honest, tasted like cherry-flavored water. A totally unsweet flavored water. We tanked up on plain old H2O instead.

Lori came in after a few minutes and told us about the menu for the night, how we should pace ourselves so we'd have room for dessert, and graciously swiped a can of Sprite from one of her staff so hubby could have a break from the water and "iced tea". First on the menu was gumbo soup with crawfish and okra, a spicy, hearty, slightly sticky blend of seafood-based broth and Cajun spices. Everyone loved it. I could never replicate it, I can't even name half the ingredients I tasted. The salad was a lovely plated mound of mesclun greens with a ring of succulent, fresh prawn and crawfish, drizzled with a remoulade sauce. Just the thought of that dressing is making my mouth water right now. I squeezed some lemon juice on the seafood and became silent while I enjoyed this seafood wonder. While the soup and salad were served individually, the main dishes came "family-style", in huge platters placed in the middle of the table. First came Lori's famous Cajun ribs, then shrimp etouffe and plain rice , smothered okra and tomatoes, a shredded chicken stew, cornbread with heaps of butter, jambalaya and fried soft-shell crab amandine. Ooooh, the sight of all those dishes elicited gasps of delight from us. I've never been to New Orleans and never tasted its cuisine, so this was a treat for me. The ribs were, as expected, fork tender and juicy, although, as hubby commented later on, the ones from Dem Bones in Canada were crazy better! I had to agree. The shrimps, sauteed with lots and lots and lots of onions and garlic, were wonderfully fresh and cooked perfectly, while the sweetness (from the soft cooked onions) of the etouffe mixture lingered on the taste buds. Hubby loved the soft-shell crab, which was crispy with a tangy and spicy chili dressing. I finished off the okra because it reminded me of a Creole atsara. For soemone who avoids carbs like the plague, I sure ate a lot of jambalaya and three pieces of corn muffin slathered with a killer amount of butter. Everything was different from what I usually cook or eat so I had fun trying to guess the ingredients of each dish. Before long it was time for dessert and although I did try to pace myself, I was a quivering mass of blubber by this time. I had a slight headache and my tummy felt like I had inflated it to impossible proportions. I had visions of gastric bypass surgery and told hubby I couldn't possibly have room for dessert but then the pecan pie arrived... and boy I never knew my tummy had the willpower to make space, but create space it did! The dessert was the pinnacle of the evening, the crowning glory to a night of good food and flowing conversation. It was HEAVENLY. Hubby and I didn't think we'd like pecan pie but this pie was sweet but not cloyingly so. The pecans were crunchy and honey-coated, the pie crust was buttery but light, and melted in our mouths. It came with a square of fried something - tasted like bread and milk to me but I forgot to ask Lori- with butterscotch sauce. On both sides of the pie were huge mounds of cream, one white, one dark (this the chocolate bourbon one with a strawberry pertly sitting atop). The chocolate cream was so light and airy and fluffly and reminded me of a low-fat mousse. I dipped the strawberry in what chocolate clouds must taste like and sat back, happy and sated.

After a night like that I thought I wouldn't have room for anything but crackers and yogurt the next day, but Saturday night was once again a night of feasting, this time at a teppanyaki table in Nadaman, Shangri-La's premier Japanese restaurant. Post to follow...

Random takes

I always forget to immortalize memorable meals here at home using my trusty, rusty camera.

Yesterday my lunch consisted of leftover meatloaf and gravy (not so memorable) and two kinds of salad: mixed greens with white wine vinaigrette, artichokes and pomegranate seeds, and a warm mixed mushroom salad.

Dinner was special. After clearing a bowl of cream of pumpkin soup from the table I presented a creamy mushroom and asparagus risotto to hubby with a flourish! A sprinkling of cracked black pepper and a tiny mound of shaved parmesan on top and it was good to go. Hubby likes risotto. He doesn't eat paella, arrozcaldo, valenciana kakanin or anything with sticky, mushy rice except for sushi and risotto. The thin stalks of Thai asparagus still retained a bit of crunch, and the smooth, buttery flavor and texture of fresh shitake and oyster mushrooms blended well with the seasoned rice. Parmesan strings stretched from plate to mouth with every forkful. The rice was creamy yet semi-firm in the middle. Next time I'll use porcini mushrooms and portobello.

Tonight I'm serving a baked cheese dip to be spread on melba toast or eaten with good ol' nacho chips. In a saucepan I sauteed chopped garlic in olive oil and when it was fragrant and slightly brown I added well-drained, cooked, chopped spinach, chopped artichokes, gorgonzola cheese, shredded mozzarella, ricotta and some cream. Salt and pepper nicely rounded it off. I'll bake it for a bit before bringing it to be table. I like it to be an oozing, bubbling mass of melting goodness. Gorgonzola has such a strong odour and flavour I like to temper it with the milder ricotta and the perennial favorite mozzarella.

After this appetizer a nicely-plated dish of chicken breast with sherried tomato cream will follow. Grilled zucchini, capsicum and asparagus will serve as the smoky base of the grilled nutmeg-scented chicken, and a sauce tinged with mustard and boasting of sliced mushrooms will coat the whole thing.

Hm, getting hungry here.

my dream kitchen

- will have gleaming copper pots and pans
- a blackboard instead of a wall on one side where i can jot down reminders, grocery lists, the menu for the day, recipes and what-not; a blood-red Kitchen-Aid, lime green coffee maker and hot pink toaster (this for my modern/edgy/retro informal kitchen)
- subzero, miele appliances (for my show kitchen)
- 2 built-in ovens (i've been deprived for so long i will bake all day once i get my hands on a gleaming oven)
- a wood-fired oven for my home-baked pizzas (yes, this kitchen will be HUGE)
- a built-in fryer and grill
- refrigerators and freezers that blend in with the cupboards (haven't decided whether i prefer a dark blue and white ultra modern finish or a maple/cherry wood finish.
- a sink large enough to bathe 2 babies
- wine storage
- a pantry at least 1/3 the size of the kitchen
- a center island with a wooden bench on one side for long chats with friends while sipping wine and preparing food
- a china cabinet for all the beautiful stone and ash dinnerware and holloware I plan to buy
- a drawer for my silverware
- a cabinet for displayng my crystal glassware
- a small nook where my computer, recipe files and tons of cookbooks and food magazines will rest
- lots and lots of countertops!!!!!!
- a salamander if possible, and if not, a handheld torch will do (for browning and top-grilling)
- a split-type aircon
- a marble countertop for chocolate making
- all the knickknacks and bric-a-bracks that make a kitchen so wonderfully pleasant like spice and herb racks, salt and pepper grinders, cool sponge and dishwashing liquid containers, an ultra-modern bacteria fighting rubbish bin
- proper lighting and flooring

Currently my pantry looks like this:

It's semi-organized, I know. The bottles on one side, cans in the middle, breakfast items together etc.. but IT"S TOO DAMN SMALL! Which is why some non-food items share space with food. :(

My essentials: extra virgin olive oil for salads, and sauteeing, peanut oil for frying, an herb/spice rack with paprika, cayenne pepper, chili powder, oregano, basil and rosemary. All my other herbs (cinammon, whole peppercorns, thyme, tarragon, garlic powder, ground coriander, cumin and many more) are in the cabinet.

A sneak peek into my tiny kitchen reveals how obssesive-compulsive I am, eh?

Food Expo

Last Saturday I forced hubby to accompany me to the HK Convention Center for the annual Food Expo. Back in Manila I used to attend food expos and fairs every year, partly to check out suppliers, importers, franchisors and winners of the cooking and baking competitions, but mostly for the free food tasting that abound during events like these. :)

It was my first time to attend the HK Expo, and it was crowded, noisy, and very much like Ocean Park on a Sunday, minus the stifling heat and sun bearing down on bare heads. The second floor hall featured international and mainland vendors. There were some "lazy cook" products that I felt could be easily marketed in the Philippines (such as frozen crispy coated cheese balls and cheese sticks made by a Korean company, and some Thai meals in a pack). I know of a cooking supplies store in Manila that sells a lot of Thai ingredients for the serious cook. These almost instant meals will fare better for the mass market and lazy cooks. The distributor said no self-respecting Thai would ever use these pre-packaged products, but for the rest of the world, it beats stocking up on various Thai herbs and spices and looking for the perfect recipe for pad thai. I'm the perfect combination of a serious/lazy cook so I bought 2 packs of the "taboo-for-Thais" stuff. Let's see how they turn out.

We saw a Philippine Department of Agriculture booth and made a beeline for it. Hubby thought there would be Arce Dairy Ice Cream we could stock up on. Imagine his disappointment at seeing bottled pickled papayas, pickled nata de coco, coconut juice with nata, coco jam, fresh mangoes and fish sausages. Imagine my delight as I bought sweet-smelling, golden mangoes, coconut juice and atsara. The coconut juice tasted like dishwashing water, though, and was quickly discarded. The atsara, which I tried last night with fried fish, was too sweet and mushy. I'll have to wait for my friend Pam's talented cook to teach my Beth how to make fresh atsara and kare-kare from scratch. Once Beth gets it right, I'll have her make atsarang kangkong and ampalaya, 2 favorites of mine. On my end, I'll try to recreate my mom's crunchy radish and carrot pickle. I love eating all manner of fried things with pickles, but the best pritong dip I've ever tasted is something my mom-in-law makes and everyone in the Constantino family calls Velocity. It's diced kamias, chili and bagoong alamang cooked together. To- die- for! I also bought a pack of Italian spaghetti No. 5 (at 5 dollars it was a bargain), a pack of Italian olive oil and salt potato chips, 3 packs of China-made baked apple chips, and a teeny bottle of chipotle salsa from the Mexican vendor. A large Korean booth had beautiful displays of vegetables, the bright and glistening greens, reds, and yellows competing to catch everyone's eye. Another one had a freezer full of sausages and preserved meats, but hubby was wary about the taste so we didn't buy any. Among the international community, the Koreans and Italians had the most number of booths. Sadly the Philippines only had one (and to think we have a lot of export-quality products back home like preserved meats, dried fruits, jams and jellies, kakanins, milkfish in all its reincarnations, crab fat paste, all sorts of pastries and regional delicacies). Some interesting booths we passed by were the Middle Eastern one selling dates, nuts and sweets, the German one with flavored gingerbread (the chocolate one was yummy, way better than cloyingly sweet Krispy Kreme), and the Mainland ones with their mounds and mounds of tea leaves.

On the ground floor was a cavernous hall, garishly lit and extremely palengke-like. Here local vendors held fort, their red and gold booths displaying mountains of canned goods, boxes of bottled sauces; with promo girls handing out flyers indiscriminately and irritating hubby with their nasal twang and incessant chatter. Most of the items on display are available at your nearest Wellcome or Park n Shop, except they were discounted. The funny thing was, most of those who milled around brought wire baskets/trolleys and shopping bags with them. They treated the Expo like one huge bargain store. Costco or Wal-Mart, anyone? There were very few "serious" buyers, importers, exporters, food distributors, chefs or restaurateurs around. Or maybe I didn't stay long enough to see anyone acting in a businesslike manner. Everyone seemed to be either haggling, pawing the goods, or lining up for free tastes. It got tiring after a while, and as the aisles started to become more and more narrow, hubby and I decided to call it quits and head home.

P.S. I blended the mangoes and sipped my cold, summery drink while daydreaming of white sands and aquamarine seas.