French Asian Kitchen

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2011-11-24T01:35:00.002+01:00

Green Tea Cake

2011-11-11T01:56:00.003+01:00

Green Tea Cake

This is my second attempt to make a Green Tea Cake. I am a big fan of green tea and I have been having a slice or two with a glass of milk for breakfast since I made this. Sweet yet deep favour coming from the bitterness of the green tea powder. Almost like a bitter sweet chocolate. Except it is tea. The texture is soft and light.

Tropical Paradise

2011-10-14T05:41:00.006+02:00

Tropical Paradise, a photo by IceCatSeoul on Flickr.

I finally got time to complete an entremet which encompasses flavours of the Tropics. Think of a nice beach vacation in a cup. This is what I got: Tropical Paradise - Coconut and Mango Mousse with Soft Coconut Lime Biscuits. It didn't end here yet. Just to add an intensity to the exotic, I paired the mousse up with Passion Fruit Curd.

Spicy asian food for this weekend.

2009-06-06T18:23:00.005+02:00

It had been some time since I had Tom Yum Gung. I missed the hot and sour taste of the seafood broth. That Friday morning I walked to Chinese quarter at Guillotiere to pick up some fresh lemon grass, galangal as well as herbs like cilantro and spring onions. On the way back I picked up some fruits from the morning market. There were so many seasonal fruits to be spoilt for choice. The dark cherries from nearby farms, the strawberries from spain, the fully ripe apricots with lovely shades of red and orange.

Voila, afternoon lunch menu was Tom Yum Gung with Rendang Lamb, with market fruits.
Making tom yum gung is pretty simple. It was my first attempt but a success.

Recipe: Tom Yum Gung(Thai hot and sour shrimp soup)

Ingredients:

400G of shrimps
1 tbsp shrimp paste
5 small red chillies, deseeded and chopped
one inch of galangal, sliced
4 stalks of lemon grass, lower potions cut into 1 inch length and pounded to release the flavour
10 Dried Kaffir lime leaves
I tbsp Dried tamarind, soaked in 1/2 cup of hot water; strained and reserve the water
1 cup straw mushroom
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
6 tablespoon of Fish sauce

Garnish:

chopped cilantro
chopped spring onion
limes wedges

Remove shells and heads from shrimp. Put the shells and heads in a pot and cover with 1 litre of water. This is to make a shrimp broth. Let it boil and simmer for 10 mins.
Strain broth and discard the shells and heads.
Boil the broth and add the rest of the ingredients except the shrimp. Let it simmer for 10minutes.
Add the shrimps and let it cook for another 1min.
Serve it in a bowl, topped with chopped cilantro, spring onions and a wedge of lime.

I made Lamb Rendang with premade Rendang sauce from Malaysia. It was just as simple as adding some onion and diced lamb cubes to the sauce and simmer for 30 mins. Served with white rice.

Here is my dessert for the weekend, les fruits du terroir - Abricots, fraises, cerises.

English lemon cake

2009-05-12T19:02:00.011+02:00

After my trip to London, I still dream about the lemon cake from the natural history museum cafe. The cafe has a nice ambiance with exhibit displays of dinosaur and panda. In the center of the cafe there was a long table with an elegant arrangement of English cakes. The Englishs must have bestowed afternoon tea with great importance. The museum was awesome with so many different zones to visit. Since Ced and I arrived 2 hours before the closing time, I just did the blue zone - Dinosaurs, Fish et mammals- and I briefly glanced through the other zones: Darwin and the precious stones.

Back to the lemon cake, it was very moist and soft in the interior with a fresh citrus tang. Pure simple delight.
So when I came back to Lyon, I scoured though recipes online before I found one, similar to the english lemony ones, at Tentations gourmande de Chris.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

2009-04-26T19:57:00.003+02:00

Just some pictures of the famous Hainanese Chicken Rice from Singapore that I have made this weekend. Gosh, I miss Singapore, Ice Kachang, Satay, Popiah and all.

Rojak and me in Geneva.

2009-04-21T16:43:00.000+02:00

It was 2 weekends ago, Ced and I took a road trip to Geneva. We were supposed to sample Ethiopian food that afternoon when we arrived in Geneva but it was too late for lunch as we left Le Salève later than anticipated. At 1097m, there was an open air cafe with a stunning view of Geneva and Leman lake. There was also the smell of bbq food on the grill that was simply enough to make us stay an extra hour. Grilled lamb, merguez, grilled chicken legs with baked potatoes. It had been a long time since I had a bbq. Reminded me of summer and my good old days in Singapore. In Singapore, we have bbq all year long.

Bref, we arrived at Geneva around 3pm on a Saturday. Everyone was enjoying the sun, strolling around the lake. So did we. Ced shot a few hundreds of pictures for his hdrs while I just people- watched. Along the lake, we found some huge white eggs in a nest on the rocks and 2 swans were taking turns to defend them. It was very impressive watching the swans fighting off a dog or other nearby ducks. They just hissed and raised their wings to frighten them predators.

As the sun began to set we went to the old town to check out the Cathedral. It was around 6pm and everything was closed. The Cathedral or the surrounding shops. I checked all the opening hours of a few shops. It looked like shops closed at 5pm on saturday in Geneva. That is early!
Even the French closed at 7pm which I considered too early.

Given that we have done most of the touristic stuff by 7pm, we headed to a Singaporean restaurant which I had made a reservation the day before at 8.30pm. I looked forward to it because there is no Singaporean restaurant in Lyon.

The restaurant is called Jak's place. When we entered, I kind helped noticing 2 lions on each side with some teak wall sculpture. Then we were greeted by 2 Asian server probably Singaporeans, dressed in sarong Kebaya, clothing in batik from SE Asia.

After studying the menu, we ordered only the Singaporean dishes: Rojak, Satays, Beef Rendang and Char kway Teow. There were Thai dishes available but they were not part of the real deal of a 2 hours drive to Geneva.

Soon came the food served on a warmer with lit candles. A unexpected touch to Singaporean food. Perhaps food gets cold in Geneva rather quickly.

The rojak was served cold with Kangkong, bean sprouts and pineapple chunks with dark shrimp paste sauce. It was refreshing and fruity. I can't say the same for the Satays. The satay sauce was good but the meat skewers were not tender or juicy like the ones from Lau Pa Sat. They tasted like plain meat with satay sauce.

Beef rendang was exceptional. Soft beef with lots of sauce. And the Char Kway Teow had the wok taste and came with cockles. Just like the one from typical hawker centers.

At the end of the meal, I was looking forward to some chendol or some ice kachang or even some pulut hitam(glutinous black rice soup). Well, they had none of this on the dessert menu. So we got some thai sticky rice with mango which cost 10 Euro. It only lasted 3 mouthful and it wasn't exceptional.

Prices run from 10Euro per appetizer, 20 Euro per main dish and 10 Euro for dessert.

Jeck's Place
Rue de Neuchâtel 14
1201 - Genève
Tél.: 022 731 33 03
Fax: 022 731 16 11
http://www.jecksplace.ch/

Simple Cannelé Bordelais

2009-04-17T04:06:00.001+02:00

Cannelés are small french crown-like pastries that is soft and airy inside and little crusty at the caramelized exterior. They taste like chewy custard with vanilla and rum but baked. They are so small that you could pop several in a go. The ingredients are very simple. Almost like a crepe paste with a strong rum taste. The baking of canneles was quite a show. After baking at 250 C at 5 mins, the paste in 3/4 filled mould popped up like a souffle. And another 55 mins at 180 C to deflat and caremlise the cannelés. I used a new silicon mould for 8 small canneles and they were so easy to turn out at the end of baking.

Some history of Canelés de Bordeaux
They became popular in France in the 1980s. Originated from Bordeaux, they have gone through several name changes, forms and versions since the 17th century. Canole, Canaule, Canaulé or Canaulet. The basic recipe consisted of sugar, milk, flour and eggyolk. Back then, only the artisans from Canauliers guild are permited to make and sell them. Sounds like the modern day licence-franchise thing.

In the early 20 century, rum and vanilla was added to them. Only in the 1985 that brotherhood of the Canelé of Bordeaux was formed and thereafter the name Canelé was used.

Canelés are found everywhere in France now, not just in Bordeaux anymore. I guess that there is no copyright to the name Canelés anymore. Everyone can make it. You won't have to join the guild.

Recipe: Cannelé Bordelais/Canelé de Bordeaux

1/2 l of milk
2 whole eggs & 2 egg yolk
1 tablespoon of vanilla essence
3 tablespoons of rum
150g of sugar
125g flour
30g butter with 10g butter to grease the mould
A pinch of salt

Bring milk, 30g of butter and vanilla essence into a boil.
Beat sugar, eggs and egg yolks until pale yellow. Add flour, salt, rum and then boiled milk. Mix well until a smooth paste. Leave it in the fridge for a full day at least.

The day after:
Take the paste out of the fridge for an hour and leave it at room temperature. Grease canelé mould with melted butter using a brush. Preheat oven 15 mins to 250C. Stir the paste well. And pour it into the greased mould until 3/4 filled. Do not overfill as cannelés puff up enormously during baking.

Bake for 5 mins at 250C and then lower the heat to 180C. Bake for another 55 mins at 180C.

Take the cannelés out of the oven and let it cool for 5 mins.
Turn out the cannelés while they are still warm.

Fondant au chocolat...literally translated as melting chocolate?

2009-04-15T17:11:00.006+02:00

I have been thinking of making Portuguese egg tarts these days. It seems that it would require a little more effort than I thought. Instead I made a fondant au chocolat in 5 mins. It's a very moist soft dense chocolate cake. Not the one with the melted center(same name but different recipe). Bref, it would make a nice warm tea cake for this afternoon goúter with a nice sugar rush.

Fondant au chocolat

200g baking dark chocolate
125g butter
150g sugar
4 eggs
70g flour

Melt butter and chocolate with 1-2 tablespoon of milk in microwave. It should take about 1 min or less. Mix well.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the slightly cooled chocolate-butter mixture and mix well until the mixture is smooth.

Pour the mixture into a greased rectangle/square pan and bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 15 mins.

The cake should be soft and moist inside, not dry.

Nothing beats a bowl of warm Niu Rou Mien

2009-03-19T00:36:00.007+01:00

Back in Seoul, my favourite Chinese restaurant was DTF(short for Din Tai Fung). Like always I would order the Niu Rou Mien, which is Taiwanese Braised beef noodles. It's wheat noodles in a thick beef soysauce broth, with chunks of tender and juicy beef. I'm not sure how long the beef had been cooked but the meat was soft enough to be pull apart easy from my teeth with just a pair of chopsticks.

In Lyon, the closest Chinese food we can get is Vietnamese food. You see, all the Chinese restaurants are usually opened by Vietnamese. The typical names you would see on the menu are Nems (spring rolls with lettuce and mint, dipped in fish sauce), Riz Cantonais(fried rice), Aigre-Douce (Sweet and sour), Poulet à l'ananas (pineapple chicken) or Canard Laqué (Peking duck swimming in sauce). It's like in the States where you see General Tsao Chicken or Beef & Broccoli everywhere.

It was hilarious when I first arrived in France. My french family was so stunned when I told them Nem is not Chinese.
"But they have them in every single Chinese restaurant." That doesn't make it Chinese. For the french, it's the must-have appetiser.

Don't get me wrong. I love Vietnamese food when it comes down to Pho, Bobun and even the nems. I just miss real Chinese and Singaporean food sometimes. And I made Niu Rou Mien for dinner today! Alsolutely delicious with fresh noodles- in this case I got fresh tagliatelle from a low-end supermarket called Leader Price. Oh yeah, blame it on the crisis.

Taiwanese braised beef noodles

2 tablespoons of oil( I used olive oil, that's what I have in the kitchen)
3 cloves of garlic, smashed.
1 inch ginger, smashed
1 tablespoon Lee Kam Kee's spicy(chili) bean paste
2 cloves
2 star anise
3 cardamom pods
some cinnamon powder(i guess it's better with cinnamon stick, but i don't have it)
2 Carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
2 purple radishes, peeled and halved
1 leek, green & white part, cut into 2-inch length (or 3 stalks of scallions if available)
1kg beef for braising, cut into 1-inch chunks
Sauce:
1/2 cup light soy sauce
2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
4 tablespoons of sesame oil
6 tablespoons of Shaoxing wine
1-2 tablespoons of brown sugar

Heat oil in a pot. Add garlic, ginger, chili bean paste, cloves, star anise, cardamom and cinnamon to heated oil. Stir for 1 min.

Add beef to the pot and stir to coat with the spices. Continue to stir until the beef gets brown.

Add all veggies and all seasoning for the sauce. Fill the pot with enough water to cover the beef and veggies.

Bring it to a boil and simmer covered for 2 hours. While simmering, more water can be added if the stew gets too dried.

Top the stew over a bowl of fresh tagliatelle or any kind of Chinese noodles. Garnish with chopped cilantro and spring onions.

Swedish Cardamom Rolls

2009-02-05T00:20:00.014+01:00

I first tasted Swedish Cardamon Rolls when I was in Cary, North Carolina. My good friend Rebecca made them for me. It was about 4-5 years ago. They were so good that I dreamt of making them all the time. Why dreamt? Being a total bread baking beginner with no electric mixer, I was intimidated by the labour + skill required. Come on, I tried baking brioche with my hands. It was such a big failure that they were hard like rocks. I made inedible plain rolls that were rock hard and stinked the whole apartment with that intoxicating yeast smell. Then came the focaccia with not enough rising. One disappointment followed by another.

Finally, the focaccia and pita recipes are the only ones that I can manage to produce pretty good end results.

Yesterday, with my new sidekick, the Kenwood Chef Titanium, I successfully baked one batch of Swedish Cardamon Rolls. With the mixer, I still spent 3 hours making them and it was labour intensive. The sweat was worth it, I could say.

Swedish Cardamom Rolls

Dough:

5cup bread flour
1 1/4 warm water
2 packages of bakers yeast
100g butter melted
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2cup of sugar
1 tablespoon ground cardamon
3 eggs, beaten lightly
2 tablespoon of milk powder

Spread:

70g butter melted
1 tablespoon ground cardamom
3 teaspoon of cinnamon or less.
5 tablespoon of sugar

Egg wash

1 egg
2 tablespoon of water
a pinch of salt

Sprinkle yeast over warm water and stir to dissolve

Mix flour, milk powder, cardamon, salt and sugar in a bowl. Make a well in the center. Add to the well, melted butter, followed by yeast-water mixture and beaten egg. Using a electric mixer, beat for 1 min on minimum speed and beat for 7-9 min on the next speed (1 for the kenwood chef) until the dough is elastic and smooth.

Shape the dough into a smooth ball and leave it in a greased bowl and roll the dough around the bowl to coat with oil. Cover the dough with cling wrap and cover the bowl with a kitchen towel.

Heat a cup of water in a microwave oven for 1 min. After it is done, place the bowl inside with the door close. This is a good tip for winter bread baking.

Let the dough rise for 1 hour or until it doubles its volume.

Punch the dough down. And divide the dough into 2. Roll the 2 dough using a rolling pin into 2 rectangles roughly about 30cm x20cm each on a floured surface.

Spread melted butter all over the flattened dough.

Mix sugar, cinnamon, cardamon together and sprinkle it all over the dough.

Fold the dough 2 times: Top 1/3 to the bottom 2/3 of the rectangle. It looks almost like a flatted Swiss roll 30cmx7cm. Cut the dough into strips of 2 cm x7cm. Holding both ends with each hand, twist and stretch each strip until it's long enough to make a knot.

Place the rolls directly on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Let them rise in a warm place for another 20mins until they double their volume.

Preheat the oven to 190 deg Celsius
Mix egg with 2 tablespoon of water and a pinch of salt. Apply this eggwash, with a pastry brush, to the top of the rolls. Bake the roll at 190 deg Celsius for 15 -18 min.

This recipe makes roughly about 24 rolls. Leftover rolls can be frozen in Ziploc.

Latest gadget in my Kitchen.

2009-02-03T23:31:00.003+01:00

A Kenwood Chef Titanium Mixer. In France, they call it a robot. Don't ask me why. It is stationed on my Ikea counter top, barely fits that tiny space between my Nespresso machine and fruit bowl. I could say it looks very Pro, with the titanium coating. It comes with5 attachments - a dough hook, Glass Liquidiser, a k-beather, a flexible 'Double K' and a whisk. And I flipped through the brochure, there were like 20 other options I could get: Sausage maker, pasta maker, potato peeler, Meat slicers, shredder, mincer, icecream maker. The possibilities are endless, or rather excessive.

For the past 2 weeks, I have been gathering ingredients for my baking projects. Swedish cardamom rolls and Alsacian Kugelogf. It seems to take forever to shop for ingredients. I will either forget this or that. And there we go again, back to the supermarket. The key actor for the Kugelogf is still missing: the kugelogf mould.

All ingredients for swedish cardamom rolls are checked in. I shall bake them tomorrow. All set.

Fondant a la creme de marron

2009-01-19T09:34:00.004+01:00

For creme de marron(french chestnut cream) lover, this dessert is a must try. It's a little crusty on the top and soft and moist in the interior.

Fondant a la creme de marron

1 can of 500g creme de marron, sweetened.
3 eggs
75 g butter
1 tablespoon of cacao powder, sifted
1 tablespoon of flour, sifted
a pinch of salt

Preheat the heat to 180 degrees C. Grease a rectangle baking pan (the size is about 12cm*15cm?). Or you can use muffin pan instead and you serve the fondant in individual portion. I think you can make about 5-6 portions.

Butter the butter in the microwave. Cool it. Add the melted butter to the chestnut cream. Mix before adding the rest of the ingredients to the paste. Mix again until the paste becomes smooth.

Pour the paste into the baking pan. And bake for 25 mins.

A $300 Lunch at Pierre Gagnaire a Tokyo

2008-10-26T18:51:00.030+01:00

Not exactly something I would do very often! Moreover, the decor was very bourgeois and the ambiance was neither relaxing nor romantic. Everyone was in suit and tie. The waiters wore bows. Overall it freaked me out having the waiters staring at me throughout that 3 hours meal. Even though the restaurant was packed with businessmen and rich housewives, it was extremely quiet that I could hear Ced's SLR clicking away. Not wanting draw attention to ourselves, we switched to our smaller Canon powershot.

Seductive Food?
The presentation of every single course was artistic, a pleasure for the eyes. The chefs really worked hard to ensure that the colours, shapes and textures fell in their perfect place.
But later I realized the food portion was so minuscule. The smallest dish was just covering 5 % of the plate. This was the first time I encountered a French gastronmy this scandalous.

Given that Pierre Gagnaire is a three-Michelin star chef, I expected more in my plate! :) Food is more than just art. I'm not expecting American portions but neither am I expecting anything smaller than the French ones. Oops, I forgot my magnifying glass today!

Food ingredients used were a mixture of French and Japanese. Some include miso paste, seaweed, sea urchins and rice cakes. Pretty exotic for la haute cuisine francaise.

$300 per person, a la carte and no wine?
After putting $500 on my credit card, I picked up a $8 Japanese bento from a nearby supermarket that same very afternoon. I really needed that to satisfy my hunger.

$300 vs $8?
$8 bento is more like my kind of food. Brown rice with soy-braised pork, soft daikon and egg strips on the side. Traditional, tasty and filling. What else can I possibly ask for?

For those who are interested to try, taking a lunch set menu might be better for the pocket, starting at $70-100. Reservations have to be made weeks in advance. I did mine online.

Pierre Gagnaire a Tokyo
4F Aoyama Square Bdg., 5-3-2 Miani-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Japon (at Ometesando station, a few steps from Prada).

(Updated: April 2008):
There is another Gagnaire restaurant in Seoul that was opened last year. There is a local Seoul blogger from Wine Korea, who wrote an excellent thumb-up review about it, as opposed to my negative review. Looking at the menu from Gagnaire Seoul site, it had my mind wondering all over Asia. With an orchestra of unusual ingredients used in French cuisine, ranging from Kimchee, ginseng, Sarawak black pepper to garam masala. You can expect Korean citrus fruit Yuzu in the dessert choice. Yumm, Yuzu cha was one of my favorite Korean citrus tea back in Seoul.
A nice discovery of flavours, I would say.

Pierre Gagnaire Seoul
35th floor of Lotte Hotel, Seoul, Korea
1 Sogong-dong, Chung-gu Seoul
Tel:02-317-7181-2

Making Tiramisu after 8 years

2008-10-12T12:37:00.003+02:00

About 12 years ago, I worked as a server in an Italian restaurant called Spaggedies in Singapore. It was a vacation job between school breaks. The only Italian food I knew before that was Pizza Hut's pizza and pasta.
While working in Spaggedies, the store managers would always make us push their Tiramisu to our diners. No diner left the restaurant feeling unsatisfied, not especially after the Tiramisu. The servers there were sometimes given a few free slices of Tiramisu to share after their shift. Now, I understand fully their strategy: You can't possibly sell a product that you don't believe in.

After all these years have passed, I'm faithful to Tiramisu. It's almost my profession to check out authenticity of every Tiramisu in every restaurants I went to. I will simply not touch one made with Kraft cream cheese.

A simple Tiramisu consists of Italian mascarpone cheese, eggs, sugar, ultra strong coffee, lady fingers and cocoa powder. No baking required and easy to assemble. Failure rate is 0%.

When Ced's cousin Julie and her boyfriend Aurelien came to visit us last weekend, I prepared a big tray of Tiramisu the night before instead of the usual french habit of getting assortments of cakes from supermarkets or local patissiere.

Having not made it for 8 years, I was extremely slow at the preparation. In a bowl, I creamed 2 egg yorks with 4 tablespoons of sugar until pale and creamy. I mixed in 250g of Mascarpone cheese until a smooth cream was obtained. With a clean whip and a clean bowl, I beat a egg white with a pinch of salt until white,light and fluffy. Possibly 3 times the volume. The egg white was then gently folded into the mascarphone mixture. That was the mascarphone cream.

The next step was to dip the lady fingers into the cold instant espresso- I made 3 cups- one by one, they were dipped and placed in a baking rectangular dish to form a even layer.

Then I topped the lady finger base layer with a layer of mascarpone cream(I used 1/3 of the cream. Followed by, sifting Cocoa powder evenly on the cream.

I continued the same steps above 2 times. One layer of ladyfinger, one layer mascarpone and some cocoa powder. Et voila, a perfect Tiramisu. After leaving it overnight, I sifted more cocoa powder before serving it to my wonderful guests who were big fans of espresso.

We were too busy eating Tiramisu and I forgot the picture part :( Tant Pis!( too bad!)

Macaroon tower from Bouillet

2008-03-25T17:31:00.002+01:00

Macaroon tower from Bouillet
Originally uploaded by IceCatSeoul

Sebastien Bouillet is very popular among the Lyonnais for his exceptional fine cakes and chocolates. I was told he made the best macaroons which melt in the mouth. The selections are endless: Salty caramel, caramel passion, praline, chestnut, grenadine, rose, tonka beans. Those are just the sweet ones. The salty ones include goat cheese with zucchini, carrots, guacamole and more.

La Maison Bouillet has only 4 boutiques in the whole world. Three of which are in Lyon, France and one in Shinjuku Tokyo, Japan.

The main boutique is 15 Place de la Croix-Rousse, 69004, Lyon.

If you happen to be in Japan, don't forget to visit their Japanese boutique inside a department store called Isetan.
Isetan Shinjuku, BIF3-14-15 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0022.

Roadtrip to Southwestern Frace

2008-02-11T19:50:00.000+01:00

My road trip in SouthWest of France

Last Tuesday, Ced and I took a road trip to the South/Southwest coastal region of France.

Day One Albi
We were supposed to leave home at 8am. But, since we woke up late that very first day of the trip - because of the very last minute packing- we departed at 10ish and drove for 2.5 hours reaching the Albi around 30 past noon.

Etap Hotel, Albi
We checked into Etap Hotel Albi for 34 Euros per night with parking for 5 Euros per night. The room was rather spacious, basic and clean. It came with a clean bathroom furnished with towels and soap. The only complain was there was no shampoo or conditioner. There were hot and cold drink vending machines at the lobby. It was about 1 Euro per drink. There was also a restaurant within the hotel that served 5 Euros breakfast which looked extremely basic: Tea, coffee, toast and jams and yogurts. I would definitely recommend it for anyone on budget travel.

Lunch at L'esprit Du Vin, Albi

After checking in, we hurried to our lunch destination which is about 20 mins walk from the hotel. We circled the small streets a few times before arriving at the restaurant that had no signage. The name of this 1 star Michellin restaurant is L'esprit Du Vin. It is the only one star restaurant in Albi. David Enjalran is the chef behind this gastronomic cuisine in medieval cave with contemporary decor and tableware. The ambiance was very tranquille with paintings of Toulouse Lautrec in the background and planted with beautiful soft lighting.

As soon as we ordered from the menu, we were served delicious piping hot breads in a long lacquered-black bamboo bread holder. One of the bread that I liked the most was fig and walnut breads. There was also black olive mini baguettes as well as plain mini baguettes. Next, we had the amuse-bouches that were too beautiful to be eaten. I had my camera clicking for the next 20 secs before I sank my teeth onto them.

It was a Boudin Noire(Pig's blood sausage) rolled in roasted sesame with Mousse De Harricot Blanc (Navy beans mousse).

My 30 Euro menu came with an appetizer, a main and a dessert.

For appetizer, my Nem de Aubergine et foie de veau with feuille de sesame(Spring rolls of eggplant and veal's liver with leaf of sesame) came with a bed of Mesculin Greens.

My main dish came in a marmite and 5 fried onions rings. The marmite has chunks of queue de lotte(monk fish), leeks and carrots with a white wine creamy sauce. The fish was very fresh and tender and it was great with the wine sauce.

The waitress served us a glass of beetroot sorbet to cleanse our palate before dessert. The sorbet tasted a little sweet and sour like plums, but unusual and strange to my liking.

To finish my meal, I had a Trio Of Orange, with a refreshing orange sorbet with freshly cut oranges slices with orange marshmallow with a crispy sugar nougatine.

Before we left the restaurant, the waitress offered us some chocolates. We paid a total of 100euro for 2 without wine, just some San Pellegrino.

L'esprit Du Vin
11, quai Choiseul
ALBI
Tél : 05 63 54 60 44

In Albi

After a heavy lunch, we promenaded around the city. We crossed the 2 bridges and saw lots of interesting houses that I would never had seen in the Southeastern France. Lots of woods and stones were used in the construction of these medieval houses, some walls were not aligned straight.

The cathedral Saint-Cecile was overlooking the river with couples relaxing by the riverside and some dog lovers walking their dogs. We were there at the backyard of Saint-Cecile during sunset and the view was magnificent. The sun casted its light on the cathedral, making the whole place beam in gold. Toulouse Lautrec Museum, just steps away, was closed for renovation. Between the museum and the cathedral was a Japanese-style Zen garden which seemed a little out of place with the French tradition and culture.

Chicken Liver Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

2008-02-04T11:52:00.001+01:00

What I made for lunch the other day.... Chicken Liver Salad. Sadly to say, this is the only liver dish that I could prepare.
Like most Chinese who love pig or chicken's livers/organs, I am one of them. My favorite unusual food in in Singapore is the Pig Stomach Soup and Kway Chap which consists of braised pig intestines and tofu. I don't particularly know how to cook with livers or intestines. The kidneys and intestines of pigs and cows are always a chore to clean and rinse. The dish smells intoxicating if they are not cleansed well. I wouldn't want to put that in my mouth!

Aroma of Cherry Tomato Focaccia from the oven

2008-02-02T19:16:00.003+01:00

I'm typing this blog post while sitting at my marble dinner table, awaiting for my Focaccia in the oven to be done. I can smell from here, the scent of yeast which reminds me of working in bakery back in the States.

No electric mixer here as I can't afford one in my luggage. Until we move to a permanent home, I would have to use my hands as the main baking tools.

Oh the oven is beeping. I'm going to check on the bread and try a small slice of it. Will post some pictures and recipe of my Cherry Tomato Focaccia the next time.

*************

Voila my Focaccia!

Ingredients:
250g of flour
150ml of very warm water, it should be comfortable enough to dip your finger in it.
1 packet of active dry yeast( 7g?)
1 teaspoon of salt
3 tablespoon of olive oil
a pinch of sugar
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, sliced.
1/2 teaspoon of dry Herbe de Provence

Dissolve yeast in warm water and drop a pinch of sugar in it. This is to make sure that the yeast is active. If it is active, the mixture would become very foamy.

Mix flour and salt in a big bowl and make a well in the center. Pour the yeast mixture and the olive oil in the well and mix with the flour from the side. Form a ball with the sticky dough.

Sprinkle some flour on a clean work surface and place the ball on it and knead for 15 mins. The way I knead is pressing both palms on the flatted dough, one palm will hold the dough and the other would pull/stretch it away from the me. The dough is ready when it is smooth and elastic.
Shape the dough into a ball and place it into an oil-coated bowl. And gently roll the dough around the bowl to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and leave it in a warm place around 30 degrees Celsius. Let the dough rise until it has doubled in volume, around 40 mins or more.

Punch the dough to release the air and add Herbe de Provence to the dough and knead to mix well. Roll the dough out to a 1cm thickness in square or any desired shaped and place it on a greased baking tray. Cover it with the towel and let it doubled in volume in a warm place.

Then use the index finger to make small holes in the dough. Place slices of tomatoes all over the dough and brush the dough with some olive oil. Bake it for 20 mins at 180 degrees celsius in a preheated oven.

Serve it warm with a drizzle of olive oil.

So long my Seoul Kitchen

2007-10-27T22:29:00.008+02:00

After spending 2 years in Seoul, I moved back to France with my husband. Not sure how long we might spend in France, I will definitely have enough time to catch up with my blogging. I had spent last 3-4 months sorting out some personal stuff. I miss the time posting my blog and being my own photographer.

I miss my minuscule kitchen in Seoul.

Adieu Seoul!

Where can you get Char Kway Teow in Seoul?

2007-06-08T17:13:00.000+02:00

In my kitchen.

I don't think I have seen it in any restaurants in Seoul. Getting the ingredients - Dark soy sauce and sweet soy sauce and thick flat rice noodles (more than 1 cm width) can be rather tricky. But thankfully I brought the dark soy sauce from Singapore, bought some sweet soy sauce from the Foreign Food Mart in Itaewon and found the thick rice noodles from Lotte Mart. Another important ingredient I almost forget to mention is the Chinese sweet preserved sausage, Lap Chiong. I got mine in vacuum packed from Bee Cheng Hiang which specialises in delicious Ba Gua(bbq pork slices).

Typical Char Kway Teow in Singapore also comes with scrambled egg, bean sprouts, cockles, lard and sambal chilli. It is usually very greasy. Usually it is served with fresh lime halves and sometimes on a banana leaf.

I'm not a big fan of cockles and lard. I hate greasy food. So my recipe is written in my own style which is non greasy and healthy. You can add seafood and chives to this dish if you like.

Homemade Char Kway Teow ( Singapore Famous Fried Rice Noodles )

Ingredients for 2-3 servings, you'll need:
200g of Rice Flat Noodle Stick, usually comes in a dried form
2 garlic cloves, minced
100g of Chicken skinless thigh meat, diced
4 cups of bean sprouts, roots removed
1/2 Chinese Sausage, sliced thinly
1 tablespoon of Kecap Manis, sweet black soy sauce
2-3 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons of light soy sauce
1 tablespoon of sambal chilli
3 tablespoons of olive oil
White pepper and Salt

First cook the rice noodles in salted boiling water for 2 mins, until slightly soft. Do not overcook. Under cooking is the key of this recipe. Then drain and rinse the noodles under cold running water for 1 min. Drain the noodles and toss with a tablespoon of olive oil

Heat 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a wok under medium-high heat. Fry garlic and chicken dices for 1 min. Add sliced Chinese Sausage and stir the wok mixture for another 30 seconds. Now, add the noodles and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Stir in Kecap Mains, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and sambal chilli and mix thoroughly. Stir in the bean sprouts and cook the noodles for another 1 min. Season with white pepper and salt.

Serve the noodles hot with fresh lime halves. Give a quick squeeze to the lime over the noodles before eating.

Taiwanese friend

2007-06-08T03:02:00.001+02:00

When I was living in North Carolina, my Taiwanese friend, Julia, would always invite me to her place to eat and watch Chinese or Japanese drama. I miss Julia's mum's Taiwanese Cooking! One of her signature dish is San Bei Ji(San Bei Chicken). San Bei means 3 cups consisting of 1 cup each of soy sauce, sugar and wine. Another interesting dish she had made was braised pig's ear with fresh cilantro. It took me quite a while to enjoy it.

Living only 1 min drive away from her place, I always invited myself to their place. It was almost like a little Taiwan where everyone spoke Chinese and ate Taiwanese tidbits brought by Julia's mum all the way from Taipei, with the TV playing the recent Japanese drama.

I decided to make my own little Taipei at home with tonight dinner being Soy-Braised Eggplant with Steamed Rice. Soy-braised Eggplant is a Taiwanese local dish. It has both salty and sweet taste just like San Bei Ji. Well, given that my sugar tolerance is rather low, I modified the recipe to a low sugar one with a little hint of star anise.

That night when Ced came home, I went straight to the door, covered both his eyes and led him to the stove area. He sniffed and immediately guessed it was Taiwanese food. Wow, he indeed has the French nose. So sharp! I had never cooked Taiwanese food in my whole life until then. That was my first time making a shoot at Taiwanese food. I could tell my dish was a success immediately without having him taste it.

Taiwanese Stewed Eggplants

Ingredients:
4 Asian eggplants, cut into 4 x1 cm strips
1 large onion, sliced
5 tbsp soy sauce
1-2 tbsp sugar, depends on how sweet you like it
5 tbsp Chinese rice wine
1 star anise
3 tbsp corn starch mixed with 1/3 cup of water to a smooth paste
1 cup water
1 tbsp olive oil
salt & white pepper

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a wok. Fry onion and star anise for 2 mins. Add eggplant strips and saute until brown. Stir in soy sauce, sugar, rice wine and 1 cup of water. Let it simmer for 15 mins over low heat. When the eggplants are tender, pour the corn starch mixture over the eggplant while stirring the eggplants continuously. Season with salt and pepper. Serve warm with Steamed Rice.

Finally some cheap Dim Sum in Seoul that won't break the bank.

2007-05-08T15:58:00.000+02:00

One day after a walk in Seolleung Park, we walked in the back streets to check out the shops and restaurants. There was one that caught my eye from far, right across the street.

This restaurant had towers of bamboo steamers at the glass windowed kitchen which is facing the road. The chef dressed in white uniforms were working without paying much attention to any passerby on the sidewalk. Hung at the front of the restaurant was a very modern bistro design signboard that reads 'chiu chow chinese cuisine'.

Since I had some pricey Dim Sum already at Yum Chinese Restaurant that very day, we skipped this restaurant and planned to come back to try it one day. I had a feeling that Chiu Chow wouldn't disappoint me like most Chinese( or rather Korean-Chinese) restaurants.

Today another Chiu Chow opened at Daechi-Dong, near Dunkin Donuts. I was extremely delighted. At lunch, I went there with 2 other guys and we had a really good time there.

The ambience was very modern Chinese, red with laquered black wood theme, with waiters and waitress dressed in chinese traditional black silk shirts with butterfly buttons. I saw a Buddha Bar CD among other CDs at the cashier counter. But I didn't hear any music in the background. Maybe they would play it one day?

Their ChiuChow style dim sum menu consists of the XiaolongBao, SiewMai, Steamed Pork Buns, Zambing( sounds like zian bing in Chinese, which is fried bread), fried eggrolls, Guotie( fried gyoza?) and more. There are 11 items in the Dim Sum section. A steamer basket usually comes in 3-4 pieces for 3,500won. Sounds very reasonable to me in Seoul.

They have other dishes on the menu, rather similar to a menu in a typical Chinese restaurant in Seoul: Jjamppong, JapchaeBap, Jajangmeon and Tangsukyuk(12,000). One thing that looked interesting was the Cripsy Egg Noodles in Seafood Gravy.

The crab fried rice(6,000won) was exceptional with Wok Hei, a smoky taste associated with high heat woking. I could taste the crab too.

JapChaeBap that Ced got was very good indeed. It was a medly of mushrooms, seafood and noodles served with white rice. What I got wasn't up to my expectations. It was called Chiu Chow sik meon, noodles with bok choy and fatty boiled pork in soup. Everything in the bowl was ok except the main ingredient - the broth. The broth tasted like some cheap Japanese instant stock that has a fishy taste.

As for the Xiaolongbao and SiewMai, I would give them both my thumbs up. I hadn't tried real Chiu Chow Dim Sum before, but the food at 'Chiu Chow' is as good as Ding Tai Fung in Seoul.

Will I come back to this restaurant? Definitely! I will try the Chiuchow-style coffee next time.

chiu chow chinese cuinine:
Daechi Branch is closed to Daechi subway station, next to Dunkin Donuts.
Their number is 02-567-6115 and their website is http://www.station4u.co.kr/

Kcal count: Bouillon Aux Celeri et Choux Chinois (Celery & Cabbage Soup)

2007-04-30T14:46:00.000+02:00

A nutritious yet simple bouillon I had make tonight with 5 vegetables - celery, chinese cabbage(long-leafy kind), carrot, turnip and onion. With a little salt and pepper it was perfect to counter this chilly gloomy evening.

For this bouillon, the main ingredients were celery and cabbage. Carrot, onion and turnip would be the side kicks.

Celery and cabbage are very good diet food as they contain very little calories and 0 fat. A cup of celery diced has only 17 calories, 8% of daily values(D.V) for dietary fiber (based on a 2000-calories diet), lots of vitamin A and C. A cup of chinese cabbage has an unexpectly low calories of 9, and 63% and 53% D.V for vitamin A and vitamin C respectively. Kim Chi, the basis of all South Korean food, is made with cabbage, chilli pepper and vinegar. No wonder the Koreans never get fat from eating loads of Kim Chi everyday. The old people here are extremely healthy and sportive compared to those in Singapore. It must be the vitamin boost they derive from the daily Kim Chi intake.

Ingredients for 4 servings:
4 cups of celery, diced
4 cups of cabbage, cut into bite size pieces
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 medium onion, sliced into thin wedges
1 cup of turnip, peeled and diced
salt and black pepper

Place celery, carrot, onion and turnip in a soup pot with 1.5 litres of water. Bring it a boil and season it salt and pepper. Let it simmer for 10 mins uncovered

Add cabbage and let it simmer uncovered for another 5 mins. Serve hot.

Bouillon Aux Celeri et Choux Chinois

Kcal Count: (68+36+30+46+33)/4= 213/4 = 53.25 calories per serving

Wow, this really comes at a big surprise. I didn't know this bouillon has so little calories until I did the calculations a minute ago. It is almost equivalent to 100 ml of low fat 2% milk, which is less than half a cup.

Hi Seoul Festival: World Food court

2007-04-29T12:19:00.000+02:00

Saw Royal Guards Ceremony at Deoksokgung

Just came back from the international food fair at City Hall, Seoul. It was really a treat for my stomach. I couldn't care less about my diet. This is an once a year event that I surely couldn't miss.

The first stall I hurried to was the Singapore Booth. There were only Yakun Kaya Toasts and Chicken Curry with French Baguette. I was rather disappointed since the Singapore Club said that the menu list include Hainanese Chicken Rice and Laksa. I couldn't complain.

Forget about the Laksa. Stop whining!

So, I bought the curry at 3,000 won. It was rather tasty despite the bad presentation - a bowl of curry together with 2 slices of baguette half-soaked in curry. I skipped Yakun since there are 2 branches in Seoul and I just wanted to try all the food unavailable in Seoul.

Next cuisine I tried was Malaysian. The Roti Canai there looked delicious. One cook preparing the Roti Canai was just a student on an exchange program in Seoul. He was flipping the dough and pulling it like a real Prata Man in Singapore. For only 1,500 won, I got myself a general serving of Roti Canai with egg and curry to dip.

Malaysian traditional Costumes

Detecting some Satays nearby with my Singaporean antennae, I followed the scent and it led me to an Indonesian booth with a long queue. The satays smelled really meaty and smoky, just like those back in Singapore. I missed Southeast Asian food a lot but I would give these Satays a miss. The queue was simply too long.

There wasn't enough tables and chairs set up at the fair. Ced and I just had to stand in the shade, finish eating and move on to the next booth.

Sudanese food

We continued walking and bought some Austrian sausages and meat loaf with bread. Then we got some Sudanese food and Israeli's Couscous with vegetable and refreshing iced mint tea.

We saw another long queue at the Lebanon. The booth was selling Shawarmas with a professional chef showing off his slicing skill on the skewered meat.

Other cuisines include Japanese, Chinese, Korean, German, Australian, Mexican, Peruvian, Laotian, Vietnamese, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Russia, America and so on. I think there were at least 40 over countries participating in this event.

So much to try in one afternoon. If only it can be like this everyday!

Time to start the herb seeds

2007-04-27T02:59:00.000+02:00

It's almost the end of April, I finally manage to seed my herbs after weeks of procrastination. I have been busy with biking since I got back to it again beginning of this week.

This morning, I planted basil, parsley as well as cilantro. All these herbs are extremely useful for Southeast Asian and Mediteranean cuisine. Chives and spring onions are available cheaply at my local produce market.

Now, all the seeds are planted in recycled Denmark Yoghurt plastic containers, sitting on the window sills, facing the morning sun. Currently, the weather has been around 18 degree celcius and sunny. I wish it would get a little warmer to start the seeds.

It would probably take a week to see the seeds sprouting.

Kcal count:Tomato Egglant & Clam Linguine

2007-04-26T11:48:00.000+02:00

Tomato Eggplant and Clam Linguine

Serves 4

4 large ripe tomatoes, diced
100g of clams
2 Korean eggplant, cut lengthwise and sliced
1 large onion, sliced thinly
1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano(add more if you like)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of fresh pasley
4 servings of package linguine
Salt & Pepper

Heat oil in a large non-stick sauce pan. Fry Onion with eggplant for 5 mins. Add diced tomatoes, oregano and salt. Let it simmer for 10 mins until the sauce thickens.

Cook linguine according to package instructions.

Add clams to the eggplants and let it boil for another 2 mins. When the linguine is cooked, drain it and pour eggplants over it. Sprinkle some fresh parsley all over.

Enjoy.

Seoul Event: 'Origin Art: From Africa to the Inca' at Olympic Park

2007-04-25T11:42:00.000+02:00

It will be held at Seoul Olympic Museum at Olympic Park from Apr 24 2007 - Jun 20 2007. The closest subway station is Mongchontoseong Station on the pink line (Line 8).

The museum is hosting the “Origin Art” exhibition which consists of primitive art and artifacts from all over the world. Thoughtfully placed throughout the spacious airy rooms and halls of the museum are large collections of masks, statues, figurines and other relics from Africa, Asia, the Americans and Oceania.

In the Africa section, twelve African nations are represented. Many of the pieces such as the masks and statuettes are imbued with cultural significance and meaning which is still relevant today. A collection of masks from the Ivory Coast, for example, shows masks which are used to represent the souls of both gods and the deceased. Other treasures include ancient lambskin Bibles found in Ethiopia and primitive musical instruments made from wood and animal skin. There is video footage showing different tribes participating in ceremonial rights of passage, from birth to death. This is a rare chance to glimpse into the dark and mysterious world of the rituals of Africa’s tribes.

In addition to the artwork and relics, the exhibition has imported male artists from South Africa and Kenya to give performances of traditional Zulu and Masai tribal songs and dances everyday. Enjoy a quality latte from the outdoor organic café while being enthralled by the tribal pounding of the drums.

The performances are scheduled at these times:
Weekends 11.30 am 1.30 pm 3.00 pm 4.30 pm 5. 30pm
Weekdays: 11.30 am 2.00pm 3.30 pm 5.00 pm

There are also facilities where you can paint your own primitive mask and try your hand at printmaking.

For more information, visit the website http://www.seoulolympicmuseum.com/

Seoul Event: Hi Seoul Festival 2007!

2007-04-25T10:24:00.000+02:00

It is opening this Saturday the 28th April and ending on the next Sunday 5th May. There will be lots of Korean cultural events, Korean traditional and Kpop music, dance and concert at different areas of Seoul. There will be a re-enactment of 'The Coronation Ceremony of King Sejong ' at GyeongbokGung. Sounds pretty interesting to his some Korean history.

I wanted to ride the hot- air balloon crossing the Hangang from Jamsil to Teuksom this weekend but the free tickets are already given out. There is a Seoul World DJ festival which is free. Lots of famous DJs will be performing.

Most important of all, the festival also features Seoul Friendship Fair on 29th April Sunday. There will be lots of traditional performances, food samples from many different countries including Singapore (yes!). I heard the Singaporean Club in Seoul will be selling Laksa, Hainanese Chicken rice and Ba kut Teh! Wa lao!(Singapore English, Singlish , for 'oh my god')

For more information about Hi Seoul, please visit their site http://www.hiseoulfest.org/eng/

Kcal count: Vegetable Sukiyaki

2007-04-23T16:36:00.000+02:00

I made this during my diet. It is not a traditional Japanese Sukiyaki which comes with beef and some fat and eaten with rice. My Sukiyaki is purely veggies in soy mirin broth with enough Korean potato noodles (same noodles used in Korean Jap Chae) to fill up any empty stomach. It is very easy to prepare, it is an enjoyable healthy meal with no fat.

Vegetable Sukiyaki

Ingredients for 2 servings:

2 cups Korean King Oyster Mushrooms, sliced and cut into bit sizes.
1 cup of broccoli florets
1/2 carrot, peeled and cut into matchstick-size strips
5 leaves of nappa cabbage, cut into bit sizes
1 small onion, sliced thinly
100g of Korean Potato noodles or glass noodles(enough for 2 servings)
4 tablespoons of sauce soy
2 tablespoons of mirin
Some salt

Boil 4 cups of water with sauce soy, mirin and mushroom and onion. Let it simmer for 5 mins. Add carrot, nappa cabbage and noodles. Let it simmer again until the noodles is soft and add broccoli. Season with some salt. Cook for another 1 min and remove from heat.

Divide the Sukiyaki into 2 large bowls. And eat till your heart's content without any calorie guilt!

Scrumptious Saturday lunch at Focacino

2007-04-21T12:32:00.002+02:00

Maybe I broke my diet. Not sure about that.

After a whole week of dining in, Ced and I decided to spoil ourselves. Not that the meals that I prepared was unsavory, but staying home was boring and dining out is a fun experience. Imagine dining in 7 days a week. I really needed to get out!

Eating out during a diet is rather painful. But I would rather practise some self-control than to be bored.

So that Saturday afternoon, we went to our newly discovered cafe, Focaccino. The very first time, we ordered 2 focaccias (one Cherry Tomatoes and one Potatoes); for dessert, I got myself a Tiramisu and Ced got an Opera. The Tiramisu was indeed to die for and surely I would help myself to another serving if my stomach would allow. It is probably the best I had in Seoul.

I almost forget to mention the focaccias which are the bases of this cafe.
Focaccino has the best selection of focaccias, ranging from Bacon, Onion, Peppers to Chocolate, Fig and Tropica. I have only tried 5 out of 12 so far. My favourite being the Cherry Tomatoes with Herbs de Provence.

On that second visit, I treated myself to a plate of Tomato Seafood Spaghetti, that came with complimentary warm focaccia and a dip which tasted pretty much like Ranch Dressing. The spaghetti was healthy and light compared to regular Italian cooking that uses tonnes of olive oil. I was so glad that I ordered that. I skipped the Ranch dressing entirely.

While seated close to the service counter, I saw plates of Tiramisu flying past me. Too bad I wasn't one of customers ordering it. I can understand the reason behind its popularity. IT IS SIMPLY HUGE, with thick layers of mascapone cream, genoise, coffee and chocolate. It is more than enough for 2 people. For someone on diet, it was just too tormenting to look at it.

Til then, I resisted all high calories loaded food . Until...

Ced ordered a small Chocolate Dome. I took a few spoonfuls and left the rest for him to finish. How dietic!

I was getting frantic about the calories I had consumed until I saw a sticker on the gold plastic plate on which the dessert was served. It had the nutritional values of the cake and the manufacturer info which turned out to be Shilla Bakery (probably Focaccino doesn't have inhouse dessert production). Most importantly, it had only 400 calories.

Phew! I always thought a piece of mousse cake had 800 kcal or more.

Big lunch meant light dinner. So that Saturday night, we had Vegetable Sukiyaki, made with soy sauce-mirin broth and Korean Potato Noodles (Glass Noodles used in Jap Chae). Will be posting the recipe later.

Focacino is located at Sadang Station next to Coffee Bean.

Kcal count: Vegetable Udon Soup and BlueberryYoghurt

2007-04-20T11:11:00.000+02:00

Today's lunch: Homemade Vegetable Udon Soup(350 kcal) and Swibell Blueberry Yoghurt(80 kcal).

Udon Soup for 2:
4 cups of vegetable broth(I used leftover soup made with onion, potatos, carrots, cabbage and a bunch of parsley)
4 chicken tenderloins/strips, skinless
1/3 of medium carrot
5 leaves of cabbage
4 cups of fresh spinach
200g of fresh Japanese udon
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
salt & pepper

Boil the broth in a pot. Peel the carrot and cut it into 3cm matchstick size. Cut cabbage into bite size piece, 3-cm squares. Cut stems off spinach leaves and rinse well.
When the broth is boiling, add chicken and carrot. After 2 mins, add Japanese udon and stir well with chopsticks, making sure the noodles are not sticking to each other. Let the broth boil again. Season with soysauce, salt and pepper. Add cabbage and spinach and cook the vegetables until soft, about 1 minute.
Divide the udon soup into 2 bowls and serve warm.

Calorie count:
1 serving of udon = (160*+160+26+21+28+300+16)/2 = 695/2 =350 kcal
*160kcal is rather high for broth. So it might be better to use a low calories broth such as pure vegetable broth without potatoes. 4 cups of chicken bouillon is only 90 kcals.

74 calories of fresh strawberries

2007-04-19T11:09:00.000+02:00

Fresh strawberries ready to be blended

A glass of refreshing strawberry juice.

Everyone's having the weight issue at some point of their lives

2007-04-19T10:20:00.003+02:00

Current situation
The winter had provided me a few good excuses to eat like a glutton. But let's go back to reality: I have gained 2-3 kilos that I am frantically anxious to shed them off. I am bloated like what the chinese would describe - rice dumpling wrapped in lotus leaf, tied up tightly with a kitchen string. Or you can picture it this way: A big piece of beef tenderloin, tied up tightly in several rounds of string. My eyes look like they are swallowed up by my chubby cheeks. I can still fit into my pants but they look tight on me.

Choco Addict
I'm done with dark chocolate for the time being. I used to joke with a close friend of mine that ' Everyday is Easter', meaning I have chocolate every single day. It lifts my spirit up instantaneously. Now I have to kick that strong addiction out of my daily diet. Think about all the nice swim suit I can wear! Maybe I should photoshop a picture with my full body, add 20 kg to it, print the picture and paste the poster on the wall to remind me every day I could look like that.

More veggies, fish and seafood
My daily menu(lunch and dinner) would change to a more vegetarian diet and less beef since meat has lots of calories, beef being the highest of all. Seafood and fish would probably be the best substitute for meat. I shall include them in my grocery shopping list.

Olive Oil
As for fat for cooking, I always use olive oil for sauteeing, soup and salad. So I won't have to change that.

Cooking methods
I almost never used deepfry method of cooking. I hate greasy food deepfried battered food. So I don't have to worry about getting greasy food out of my meals. However, my main style of cooking is sauteeing which requires at least 1-2 tablespoon of olive oil. I'm considering steaming food, proaching and baking as an alternative.

Breakfast (at home)
2 slices of Toast bread with jam, half a grapefruit, a yoghurt and an Earl Grey. No Lu Petit Ecolier 45% dark Chocolate biscuits (Something that I snack on every morning. It is going to be a hard habit to kick.)

Weekday Lunch outside
Usually Korean food at a food court. The food is rather healthy. Lots of rice, veggies and grain. Very little meat. The portion at the food court is usually big. What I need to do is to share my food with someone or eat only half the amount of food on the tray.

Weekend Lunch and Most Dinner
This is when I cook. I'll cook according to my diet menu. It is easier to count the calories when preparing food on my own. I frequent this site called Calorie Count which provides nutritional information of food. It has a very comprehensive list of food, including supermarket premade frozen meals and ready made sauces.

Dessert at dinner
Unlimited amount of fruits, no banana and sometimes low-fat yoghurt(about 60-80 calories)

Snack
Fruits basically but no banana, no walnut or almond, no chocolate bar!

Drink
Unlimited amount of tea(occassionally with honey for a small treat) and water. No more daily cuppuccino I swear! I bought a 1 usd electric frother from Singapore, it is simply too tempting to make a cappucino at home with the automatic espresso machine I have.

Exercise?
I haven't got time to think about it yet. I really hate sweat.

Blog posts for the next few weeks
Well, I will document my diet, write about all the healthy food or dishes and take lots of pretty pictures. In order for a diet to work well, the diet menu has to be fanciful. Imagine the 'joy' of eating a plain salad with low fat dressing from the supermarket everyday. I would use my creativity to make appetising meals without jeopardising the diet. Sounds like a big challenge.

This blog will serve the biggest motivation for me to keep up with the diet. My goal is simple: lose that 4 kg.

Related posts:

Guess what are the green pods?

2007-04-17T15:27:00.000+02:00

Mystery of the day

I love grocery shopping. I love checking out new things. In the case of supermarket, it's the vegetable section to see what is in season.

My last trip to the local supermarket Emart, I saw these green pods bagged in a small net bag. They looked like Edamamee at first. On second thoughts, they looked rather like sugar snaps.

I had never used sugar snaps in my cooking before. Wouldn't it be fun to cook with something different for a change?

Thus, I bought a bag of "sugar snaps" home and cooked them in a pot of boiling salted water. 3 or 4 minutes later, I heard loud popping sound coming from the pot. Could it be that the sugar snaps are ready?

I took a one out of the boiling water to try and chewed the whole pod. Realising how strange it tasted, I immediately spat it out in the sink. I splitted a second pod open and ate only the seeds. They are very delicious! A little crunchy and very starchy to taste.

Oh yes! Green peas!

They are usually sold in their seed form, canned or frozen. But never in pods like this. My experience reminds of Kevin Spacey in K-Pax, an alien eating banana together with its skin. Yuck! I wonder if he really chewed the skin.

I made a salad for dinner that night. It was a potato salad with salad greens and caramelized onions. I added a few tablespoons of shelled green peas to the salad. And the salad was extremely pleasant with the subtlety of green peas and caramelized onions.

Potato Salad with Caramelized Onions and Green Peas

For 4 servings

A few handful of mixed Salad Greens, rinsed and spun dry

A cup of fresh green peas, cooked in salted boiling water about 3-5 minutes until soft

8 small potatoes or 4 medium potatoes, peeled and cooked in salted boiling water until soft

Prepare vinaigrette and caramlized onions (recipes follow). Tear salad greens into bite-sized pieces. Arrange equal portions of greens on 4 plates. Place 1 or 2 potatoes on each. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of green peas over the potatoes. Top the potatos with caramelized onions. Drizzle 2 tablespoon of vinaigrette on the salad.

Caramelized Onions:

A large onion, sliced

2 tablespoon of Olive oil

Salt

Heat olive oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add onion slices and stir to coat evenly. Cook gently for 10 mins until brown, stirring the onions frequently. Season with salt.

French Red Wine Vinaigrette:

I tablespoon of French Dijon Mustard( Maille is the best in my opinion)

2 tablespoon of Red Wine Vinegar

5 tablespoon of Olive Oil

a pinch of salt

Icecat's quick method: Put all ingredients in a small zipbloc container( a cup size). Cover the container tightly with its lid, and shake it vigorously until the vinaigrette thickens into an emulsion. It should only take 5-10 seconds.

Traditional method: you can mix the mustard with red wine vinegar until a smooth paste. Pour olive oil slowly into the paste while stirring continously it with a small whisk/spoon. Season with salt. It takes around 2-3 mins to prepare.

Meat in Korea

2007-04-08T14:19:00.000+02:00

Meat is priceless in Seoul. You would be lucky if you find some in your bowl!

I learnt it the painful way after going to a Chinese restaurant near my house for a casual dinner last year. It was my third time there. The last 2 times I got noodle soups less than 6-8 usd each. The seafood noodle soup(Jampong) had plenty of toppings; however, the chicken noodle soup had basically noodle and broth only.

That rainy evening in winter, I craved so badly for big chunky meat. I could eat a cow! So I told myself to splurge and I ordered the cheapest meat dish I can see in the Chinese menu. That was Stir fried Beef with vegetable at a price of 22,000(22 usd). All right!

When the waiter brought a plate of,what seems like to me, stir-fried noodles with shredded veggies. I explained to him in a mixture of very broken one-word Korean, some body language and English, that this wasn't the dish I ordered.

To my dismay, he insisted that it was what I ordered. To prove that he was wrong, I picked up my chopsticks and raked the noodles in search for beef. With no evidence of chunky beef in the dish at all, I smiled at him and asked him, " Solgogi, Odi-yo?", which translated into "Beef, where is it?

He took my pair of chopsticks and picked up a few strands of something which I realised was beef. My jaws dropped to the ground immediately, too numbed to response.

From then onward, I would go straight to the supermarket to get meat whenever I have meat cravings. Indeed there is some meat in regular meals in food courts or restaurants - they are very thinly sliced meat, very minced meat(as in meat dumplings), processed meat(Spam, ham, hotdogs) and canned tuna.

In response to this incident, I would like to share with everyone my interpretation of Ginger Beef Stir-fry, remade in my kitchen.

Icecat's Ginger Beef Stir-fry

Annyeong! Pikachu Im-ni- da!( Hello! My name is Pikachu!)

2007-04-08T04:05:00.000+02:00

"Would you like to eat me?"

These lovely Pikachus were found in Seoul, stuffed with vanilla cream and strawberries in their mouths.

Preparing Crepes in Seoul

2007-04-07T03:02:00.000+02:00

High fruit concentration jam!

Some European Jams found in Emart Yangjae, Seoul. I like St Dalfour Four Fruit Jam which doesn't contain any sugar. It's purely fruits and it is sweetened with grape juice. Extremely high quality jam. However, St Dalfour costs 5,500won( 6 usd) for a 284g jar.

Prima fruit jam from Italy contains 55% fruit and you can see lots of chunky fruits in the jam. You can choose from a variety of fruits: cherry, raspberry, apricot, strawberry and peach. The price is only 2,500won. A real value of money!

Forget about Nutella!
I found Nutella spread to be insanely priced in Seoul. A 400g jar has a hefty price tag at 6,000won(6.5 usd) at Emart. Ouch!

A shot of espresso with some hot crepes. That's how breakfast should be everyday!

French Crepe Recipe:
4 eggs
2 cups of flour
2 cups of milk
1 tbp of oil
3 sachets of vanilla sugar (20g total)
1 tbp orange flower water
pinch of salt
Butter to cook

Mix all the ingredients together and let it rest for 30 mins before cooking it.

Melt a teaspoon of butter on a crepe pan on medium heat. Add a ladle of crepe mixture to cover the pan thinly. It should sizzle or else the pan is not hot enough. Cook each side for about 1 min until light brown.

Serve immediately with some fruit jam or Nutella.

Mad about Cla-fou-tis

2007-04-05T10:52:00.000+02:00

Clafoutis aux Abricots

I first saw it in a French bakery in centre ville in Toulouse where I was studying French. It was a baked custard covered with lots of dark red cherries with a shiny clear glaze in a pretty white porcelain ware. Looked like a tart without crust. No doubt my French was pretty poor back then, I was able to get the pronunciation right!

"Cla-foo-ti."

Such a beautiful name! I decided to research online for the recipes. That was the start of my unfounded love of Clafoutis.

Clafoutis is traditionally made with unpitted cherries. So if you happen to eat some Clafoutis Aux Cerises, keep that in mind!

Clafoutis aux Abricots

For 4-6 servings:
400 g of canned apricot halves
3 eggs
300ml of milk
3 round heap tbsp all-purpose flour
60g sugar
1 tbsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp rum

Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius. Grease a 10in x 8in cake pan.

Beat eggs with sugar until the mixture becomes creamy yellow. Add flour and continue mixing until the mixture is smooth. Add milk, vanilla essence and rum. Mix well.

Arrange the apricot halves on the greased pan, with the cut sides facing down. Pour the egg mixture over the apriocot halves and bake the Clafoutis in the oven for 30-40 mins until the top is golden brown.

Serve it hot or cold. If you have luxury of having some raspberry coulis in your fridge, you can drizzle some on the side of the Clafoutis when you serve it.

Pot au Feu au poulet ( healthy version)

2007-03-19T12:10:00.000+01:00

Pot au Feu au Poulet Recipe:

1 whole chicken(about 1.2 kg, with all or most skin removed)
3 stalk leeks, only the white part
3 stalk of celery
2 carrots
equal amount of turnip as carrot
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp black peppercorns
2 medium onion
1 clove pricked in just 1 onion
salt, pepper
2 tbsp Dijon Mustard

Peel carrots and turnip. Cut all veggies(carrots, turnips, celeri and leeks) into large chunks.

Put the chicken in a pot filled with 3 litres of water and bring it to a boil. Skim the floating white foam before you add all the chopped vegetables, onions and garlic in the pot.

Place bayleaf, thyme, parsley and black peppercorn in a cheesecloth bag and seal the bag.

Add the herb bag to the soup.

Simmer the soup for another 90 mins. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the herb bag from the soup.

Served the soup hot with a small portion of Dijon Mustard to dip the chicken and veggies. This is how we eat Pot au Feu the French way!

Coquille St Jacque

2007-03-17T01:35:00.001+01:00

Coquille St Jacque
Originally uploaded by icecat_seoul.

Shopping
I found some really nice looking scallops in Lotte Mart last Tuesday. I bought only 2 of them since they were pretty expensive. 1.5 USD each. The shells were the size of my palm but the scallops themselves were of the size of cherry tomatoes, seen in this picture.

The job
Prepping the scallops were not easy. I had to slide a knife inside the shell and scrape the scallops and pry open the shell. Holding the scallop meat with my fingers, I removed all the yucky looking black stomach. Then I had to remove all the white membrane carefully without breaking the orange coral attached to the scallop meat.
Since I was going to use just 2 shells, I got them scrubbed and rinsed.

Cooking
Cooking the scallops was a breeze. I covered the interior of shells with a layer of boiled spinach. Then I placed a prepped scallop on each shell, followed by some salt and pepper seasoning. Next I covered the scallop with sauce bearnaise, sprinked a layer of grated emmental cheese and another layer of breadcrumbs.
The Coquilles St Jacques were then put into the oven for 30 mins at 200 degree celsius.

Et voila!
The result was 2 beautiful crusted scallop shells and slightly overcooked scallops. So cooking time needs to be cut down to 20 mins at 180 degree celsius. Maybe I will add some mushrooms next time.

Best Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup in Seoul

2007-03-16T08:30:00.001+01:00

Best Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup in Seoul
Originally uploaded by icecat_seoul.

The Korean name for Ginseng Chicken Soup is Samgyetang.
The best ginseng soup is found at Exit 2 of Gyeungbokgung station, take a left after GS( about 3-5 mins walk). The name of the restaurant is Tosokchon.

There is no english menu available but it's not a big problem for foreigners. Everyone goes there for Samgyetang. So just point at the soup stone pot at the next table. Make sure it's a white chicken because they have Black Chicken Ginseng soup too!

A ginseng chicken soup costs around 11,000 won. The chicken is stuffed with rice, chestnut, ginseng and jujube. The soup is rather bland, so you would have to add your own salt at the table.

The restaurant also provides a few side dishes - kim chee, pickled radish, raw garlic and chilli paste - and small metal bucket at the side of the table. I didn't know what the bucket was for until the kind waitress explained to us to discard the chicken bones in it.

Also, everyone at the table gets a small cup of cold ginseng wine for free too!

Bo Lo Bao aka Pineapple Bun

2007-03-16T03:21:00.001+01:00

A typical afternoon snack in Hong Kong to go with milk tea or coffee. It is a sweet bread with crusty top, usually served with a slice of butter.

When I was back in Singapore for Chinese New Year, I realized lots of HongKong style cafes have spruced up all over the island. I actually went to one cafe for some quick lunch. The name of the restaurant is WanChai.

What I ordered was a Bo Lo Bao and a Hong Kong milk tea. Rather delightful.

Food bloggist doing her part to save the earth

2007-01-30T07:45:00.000+01:00

I watched the Inconvenient Truth By Al Gore and was deeply disturbed by the facts he mentioned about global warming.

As a citizen of planet earth, I have a responsibility to spread the words to fight global warming. During the last few days, I immersed myself in all the global warming sites. I wanted to find out as much as I could to make up for my ignorance for my past 20 years. Global warming has been mentioned over and over again for decades, not a new term coined over the last few years. Yet no one really listens or cares. I care now. I hope it is not too late to start changing my habits and to inspire anyone I know to change their view about global warming.

Steps I have taken:

I have joined the march to stop global warming. You can join too!

I have emailed everyone I know to take actions against global warming and I posted banners on my blog. Everyone living on planet Earth needs to be educated about global warming and it is true.

Cut down on electricity, water and heating: It's winter in Seoul now, my appartment is usually around 19 degrees celsius. I would put on more sweater and thicker socks or cover myself in blanket. I would stop heating my apartment unless it gets unbearably cold.

I am using less water to brush my teeth.

I am trying to cut down on kitchen paper towels, instead I am using a dish sponge and kitchen cloth towels to wipe up spills or to mess.

I am already recycling most of my garbage given that South Korea is very strict on recycling, all garbage needs to be separated: food trash, paper, plastic, glass, glass. How spoilt and selfish I was to complain about how the Korean government is making lives more difficult for its residents. I am willing to suffer a little for a good cause.

I turn off my computer when I am not using it. I am already using a energy efficient PC. My phone charger and hair dryer are unplugged when not in use.

I turn off the lights when not in use.

I am using a drying rack to dry my clothes even though clothes dry slower in winter. I shall not be attempted to use the electric dryer unless I have bulky items like bed comforter.

I bring reusable bags when I go shopping. Sometimes I forget, but I will try harder to remember it.

I am taking public transport - bus and subway.

I am going to have meat only once a week. I will go green on my diet - more veggies. ( Do you know cows are one of the greatest methane emitters, methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas?)

I shall plant more herbs and even bigger houseplants in my apartment.

I hope to change the view of many Americans regarding global warming. We must pressure George Bush and his adminstation to sign the Kyoto Protocol. I hope all countries can speed up their actions to reduce emission carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases. Economy is not everything. Climatic change will continue to do irreversible damages at an accelerating rate. Glaciers are disappearing, some wildlives will be driven into extinction, eg polar bears, birds, fishes. Global warming is man-made and we must undo it.

New Year's Eve Dinner

2007-01-15T14:43:00.001+01:00

New Year's Eve
Originally uploaded by icecat_seoul.

A great 7-course dinner at The Bistro, Novotel, at 88,000won each. Best of all, it was a quiet night for a New Year's Eve. We were the only ones there, obviously with all the other 10-20 tables, all candles lit, clean and empty at 9pm.
I wondered what happened to all those food prepped for this mega event: mushroom and leek mousse, roasted chestnut soup, trios surprise(a raw oyster topped with goat cheese mousse, foie gras terrine, minced fresh crab cakes), white wine peach granita, the steamed veggies for the main course beef medallion topped with grilled squab and pan seared foie gras and lastly, the dessert and petits fours- all of which prepared in advance to cope the big audience expected to come and dine on this special day.
Sitting there at a table decorated artistically with salt-like confetti, just like snow flakes on the background, white plates and silver ware scattered on the snow, I thought what was the food cost of an even like this. I couldn't help thinking about it since I was taught to reduce food cost at the French bakery I used to work in. It's one of the first thing you learnt in the food industry.
No doubt it seemed like an unexciting night for a New Year's Eve, it was a surprise haven for us to get away from the usual crowdedness of Seoul.

Enter The Meatrix

2007-01-14T14:16:00.000+01:00

Check this out: http://www.themeatrix.com/ .

I won't divulge any details of the movies but they are rather fun, educational and enlightening. Ooommm.....

There are 2 1/2 videos. Make sure you check all out.

Chinese dessert soup from Singapore

2007-01-10T11:26:00.000+01:00

Last winter when my relatives visited me in Seoul, I prepared Pulut Hitam- also known as Orbeebay in Singapore- to welcome them. It was a treat as well for me. I miss the aroma and texture of the sweet black gluey-looking soup. On the contrary, during my childhood, I hated it. Too bland, too heavy. I would rather have some icecream back then. Or even an Ice KaChang, an ice shaving dessert with red, green and brown syrup, topped with red sweetened beans and condensed milk. Great for the 360 days of hot weather in Singapore.

Everyone changes their taste every now and then. So have I. Possibly being homesick plays a major role in my change of taste. I can't think of any other reasons.

Pulut Hitam is actually a piping hot sweet soupy dessert, made with black glutinous rice, water, palm sugar and coconut milk. It is sold in the food market in Singapore usually for less than 1 usd a bowl enough to keep your stomach full for an hour or 2 since it is extremely filling. It can be eaten any time of the day.

Pulut Hitam Recipe ( Sweet black glutinous rice soup)

1 cup of black glutinous rice( rinse and soak overnight with enough water to cover completely);
1 litre of water.
2 pandan leaves, knotted (Optional- it is not easily found outside SE Asia) ;
100g Palm sugar( usually comes in compact form, available in asian supermarket). If it is not available, use white sugar as substitute;
4 tablespoon Corn flour, mixed with 4 tablespoon of water to a smooth consisitency;
1 can of Coconut milk.

Put the black glutinous rice and 10 cups of water into a pot big enough to hold twice the volume of the content. Bring the pot into a boil and simmer it uncovered for 40 mins or until the rice is soft. (Note: Check on the soup during this period of time to make sure the soup doesn't get dry, add more water to the rice if necessary.)

Break the palm sugar into smaller pieces and add it in the soup. Add pandan leaves. Stir the soup and let it simmer for another 10 mins.

Remove the pandan leaves.

Add the corn flour mixture to the soup and stir. Bring the mixture to a boil. It will be ready.( If the soup is too liquid, more corn flour-water mixture can be added to it to make it thicker. )

To serve, spoon the soup into bowls and drizzle 1-2 tablespoon of coconut milk on the soup. Serve hot.

Enjoy!

I want to be an astronaut

2006-12-19T08:35:00.000+01:00

BBC news
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6202314.stm#map

Astronauts sample haute cuisine

Saying "the food was out of this world" has taken on a whole new meaning as the international space station crew has been sampling haute cuisine in space.

Last Sunday the ISS astronauts swapped their usual rations for quails roasted in Madrian wine and duck breast confit, European Space Agency officials said.

The gourmet menu was created by French master chef Alain Ducasse.

The ESA asked Mr Ducasse to come up with meals which could be used to mark celebrations on long space voyages.

The superior food would be dished up at New Year, on birthdays and to mark the arrival of a new crew.

It is hoped that in the future such meals will help men and women on long-term missions, for example to Mars, to survive for 1,000 days in space by raising their spirits as well as providing nourishment.

The meals which Mr Ducasse supplied to the Expedition 14 crew currently living on the ISS were developed in association with the French National Centre for Space Studies (CNES).

Each meal was prepared using the usual rigorous hygiene standards applied to food being sent to the ISS and then packaged in tins.

The crew astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter were simply required to heat the tins up in the ISS oven.

"It was absolutely delicious. It was a really nice treat for a Sunday evening," said Reiter, who has been on board the ISS for almost five months.

"Food is really something which gives us a break. It is something where we find some joy and we are really trying to take some time for our meals," he added.

In fact Reiter and his fellow space crew could only find one flaw:
"We have no doubt that it would taste much better if we had some wine with it as well!"

Main dishes:
Effiloché de volaille en Parmentier (shredded chicken Parmentier)

Dos d'espadon façon Riviera (Riviera style swordfish)

Volaille épicée, sauté de légumes à la Thaï (spicy chicken with stir-fried Thai vegetables)

Cailles rôties au Madiran (quails roasted in Madrian wine)

Magret de canard confit, condiment aux câpres (duck breast confit with capers)

Side dishes:
Carottes de sable au goût d'orange et coriandre (sand carrots with a hint of orange and coriander)

Céleri rave en délicate purée à la noix de muscade (a light puree of celery with a hint of nutmeg)

Caponata (tomato, aubergine and olive dip)

Desserts:
Gâteau de semoule de blé fine aux abricots secs (semolina cake with dried apricots)

Morceaux de pommes fondantes (apple fondant pieces)

Far de l'espace Space (a Brittany 'far' tart)

Rice pudding aux fruits confits (rice pudding with candied fruit)

Cheese Platter

2006-12-19T08:21:00.001+01:00

Cheese Platter
Originally uploaded by icecat_seoul.

Got any spare cash?
Splurge on some expensive European cheeses in Seoul! It is worth every single cent.

My cheese platter last Saturday: Bleu d'Auvergne, Brie and Baby Gouda.

Tips for cheese newbie:
- Best to start with the least strongest first - in this case, Gouda. Next Brie and then Blue Cheese.
- Serve cheese with Baguettes and a variety of other bread: walnut bread, sourdough bread.
- Cheese platter can be accompanied by walnuts, grapes, sliced apples. These helps to cleanse the palate between complement them.

Here is a gift for my chocolate lover!

2006-12-15T08:44:00.000+01:00

Lemon Madeleines

Dark Chocolate Brownie Tower

Unlike the other lazy mornings, today I woke up with a list of baking tasks to complete. I seldom bake in Seoul. However today is a special day which I needed to make a gift with my hands.

I would make a sinful dark chocolate brownie with .12kg of the Nestle baking dark chocolate that I bought in France - I brought only 1 kg total to Seoul, I'm saving this chocolate up just for special occasions. This is a treasure in Seoul.

Not only did I make brownies, I baked 2 dozen of lemon madeleines for the gift.

The results were a tray of dense and moist brownies - which were very pleasing- and 2 dozen of deflated madeleines. The taste of the madeleines were really excellent but why wouldn't they rise? Wouldn't that be perfect? I guess the yeast didn't work. What a big disappointment.

Dark Chocolate Brownies

2 eggs

70g sugar

100g butter

125g bittersweet baking chocolate

50g flour

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 200 degree celsius.

Melt butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water.

Mix egg, sugar and flour together until the mixture looks creamy.

Add chocolate butter mixture to the egg mixture and mix them together.

Pour it into a greased baking pan and bake it for 15 mins.

Place the pan on a cooling rack to cool. You can eat the brownie straight out from the oven too. It tastes good while warm.

Cafes and Bakeries in Seoul

2006-11-28T11:12:00.002+01:00

Lord Stow Bakery

A chain bakery from Macao specializing in traditional Portuguese egg tarts with moist flaky crust with delicious creamy egg custard. Best eaten hot right out of the oven with a cup of milk tea or coffee.
Located in Apgujeong.
http://www.lordstow.com/

Kim Young Mo

Doggok station exit 4, next to Coffee Bean (orange line)
A French Bakery with lots of tasty samples, go there with empty stomach :) Mr Kim is a very famous baker in South Korea and has won many awards. You will see all this awards on the wall facing the front door. The staff working there are are extremely polite, greeting and saying goodbye to every customers. I always feel very welcome when I step into the store.
"All good things come with a price." So are Kim's products. I always leave Kim's with a hole in my pocket.

Focacino

Sadang Station Line 2. Foccacino is next to the station and Coffee Bean. See my review on the focaccias and desserts.

Indian Restaurants in Seoul

2006-11-28T11:02:00.001+01:00

Chakraa at Itaewon

Itaewon Station, Exit 6, Behind Hamilton Hotel.
I love Chakraa weekend dinner buffets (w15,000). Beware, Saturday nights are always packed and the buffet never gets replenished fast enough. Chakraa has a few branches in Seoul. In my opinion, the one at Itaewon is the best. I went to the one at Cheong-dam and it was a ghost town with us as the only guests on a Saturday night and food was really terrible.
www.chakraa.co.kr

Middle Eastern Restaurants in Seoul

2006-11-28T10:44:00.000+01:00

Petra at Itaewon

Noksapeyong Station, Line No. 6, Exit 2. Use the pedestrian overpass to cross the road, turn right and walk up the hill. Petra is about 20 meters along on the second floor of a red brick building on the left side of the road. Tel: 019 840-9630.

Marrakesh Night at Itaewon

Branch 1:1F 57-16 Itaewon-Dong, Yongsan-Gu. Tel: 010 5801 9444. At Itaewon Station, walk towards Pizza Hut. Marrakesh is up the hill next to the the antique shops.
Branch 2: get out at Exit 3 at Itaewon Station and walk straight for about 5 mins. You would pass the Fire station and the gas station. It would be on the right.

(updated on May 07)

Mexican restaurant in Seoul

2006-11-28T10:22:00.000+01:00

Dos Tacos

Gangnam Station Line 2, Exit 6. Next to Kyobo building, behind Tour Les Jour Bakery.
Inexpensive non-greasy Mexican food and you can choose your level of spiciness. It is the best in town in my opinion. It is a rather small restaurant with less than 20 seats. So to avoid long wait, go in pairs or group of 4. Dos Tacos is very popular with the expats. One way to tell if the food is authentic, check the expat: Korean ratio in the restaurants.
Prices are around 4,000-5000 won for burrito, quesadilla and soft or hard shell taco.

Vietnamese/Thai Restaurants in Seoul

2006-11-28T10:16:00.002+01:00

Little Saigon at Coex

Samsong Station Line 2, Close to City Air Terminal.
Fav dish: Chicken Pho Soup with extra cilantro & bean sprouts(W8, 000)

Pattaya

Serves spicy hot Thai cuisine with flavorful spices and herbs. Dishes on menu includes tom yum spoon, fried glass noodle, thai noodle soup, green curry.
Restaurant located at Apgujeong, not far from Lord Stow Bakery which sells delicious Portuguese egg tarts. Great for desserts after a Thai meal.

Looking for good foreign restaurants in Seoul?

2006-11-28T10:08:00.004+01:00

For those expats who are interested in dining out, I have compiled a lists of foreign restaurants in Seoul that I personally adore. They are in my opinion authentic, not too adapted to local Korean taste.

Singaporean

Yakun Kaya Toast

Specialty: Coconut jam from Singapore on crispy toast with butter slices, coffee and tea with condensed milk.
Apkujung Outlet: 652-16 1F KMD BuildingShin-Sa Dong, KangNam-GuSeoul, South Korea 135-897Tel: (82-2) 516 9760
Mok-dong Outlet: Hyundai Department StoreMok-dong Branch, Floor B2916 Mok-dong Yangcheon-kuSeoul, South KoreaTel: (82-2) 2163 2184
Yeoksam Outlet(New) at Star Tower right at Yeoksam Station. It is located on B2, next to all the eateries.
http://www.yakun.com/korea.html

Crystal Jade Palace

A Singaporean restaurant Chain serving Cantonese cuisine. Menu: HongKong-style Roast Duck, Peking Duck, Chinese Roast Pork, Dim Sum, XO Beef Fried Rice Noodles
First Floor, Grand Inter-Continental Seoul, 521 Teheranno, Gangnam-Gu( Samsong Station Line2)
W10,000 for a basket of 4 Har kow( Steam Shrimp dumplings)
http://www.crystaljade.com/southkorea.htm

Crystal Jade Shanghai Delight restaurant

From the Singaporean chain of Chinese restaurants, serving Shanghainese specialities like Xiao Long Bao and Stewed Pork Belly and the typical Singaporean dessert like Almond Jelly.
5th Floor Hyundai Department Main Store 429 Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu Seoul, Korea 135-900
Dishes from 5,000won. Competitive with Jacky's Kitchen or Din Tai Fung.
http://www.crystaljade.com/southkorea.htm

Chinese

Ding Tai Fung

Myeong Dong, Euljiro 1-Ga Subway station, Line 2. Tel: 02-771-2778
Gangnam Station Exit 5. Walk straight for 2 blocks and take a right after Marche. It is located at the same block as Marche.
A Taiwanese restaurant franchaise, specialising in Shanghai Xiao Long Bao. Long queues on weekend. Fav Dish: Xiao Long Bao dipped in ginger vinegar, Stir-fried Spinach, crab soup.

Crystal Jade Palace

A Singaporean restaurant Chain serving Cantonese cuisine. Menu: HongKong-style Roast Duck, Peking Duck, Chinese Roast Pork, Dim Sum, XO Beef Fried Rice Noodles
First Floor, Grand Inter-Continental Seoul, 521 Teheranno, Gangnam-Gu( Samsong Station Line2)
W10,000 for a basket of 4 Har kow( Steam Shrimp dumplings)
http://www.crystaljade.com/southkorea.htm

Crystal Jade Shanghai Delight restaurant

From the Singaporean chain of Chinese restaurants, serving Shanghainese specialities like Xiao Long Bao and Stewed Pork Belly and the typical Singaporean dessert like Almond Jelly.
5th Floor Hyundai Department Main Store 429 Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu Seoul, Korea 135-900
Dishes from 5,000won. Competitive with Jacky's Kitchen or Din Tai Fung.
http://www.crystaljade.com/southkorea.htm

Yum China, Dim Sum

1B, I'Park Tower, 160 Samsung Dong, Gangnam-Gu, Seoul. Tel: 02-562-0779
A Chinese restaurant that has a very lounge feel to it. Contemporary furnishing with beautiful tableware and setting. Most important of all, the Dim Sum there is made by Chinese chefs, I heard some of the chefs speaking Cantonese. Probably the best authentic Dim Sum you can get in Seoul. Downside: Be expected to pay 7,000(7usd) for a basket of 3 Har Kow( steamed shrimp dumplings), plus tax and service. We paid 60,000won for 2, leaving with 3/4 full stomachs.
http://www.yumchina.co.kr/

Lord Stow Bakery

A chain bakery from Macao specializing in traditional Portuguese egg tarts with moist flaky crust with delicious creamy egg custard.
Located in Apgujeong.
http://www.lordstow.com/

chiu chow chinese cuinine, Dim Sum

Daechi Branch is closed to Daechi subway station, orange line. Next to Dunkin Donuts. Tel: 02-567-6115.
http://www.station4u.co.kr/ and check my review on chiu chow.
(22/04/09: website not working anymore, perhaps the restaurant is closed down?)

Vietnamese/Thai

Little Saigon at Coex

Samsong Station Line 2, Close to City Air Terminal.
Fav dish: Chicken Pho Soup with extra cilantro & bean sprouts(W8, 000)

Pattaya

Serves spicy hot Thai cuisine with flavorful spices and herbs. Dishes on menu includes tom yum spoon, fried glass noodle, thai noodle soup, green curry.
Restaurant located at Apgujeong, not far from Lord Stow Bakery which sells delicious Portuguese egg tarts. Great for desserts after a Thai meal.

French

Le Petit Paris at Sinchon

2F 52-18 Changcheon-Dong Seodaemun-Gu, Seoul. Tel: 010-6353-0901 Sinchon Station line 2 exit 2. From exit 2, walk straight. Restaurant is located in an alley on the left which is directly opposite the church.
Affordable simple french dining. Limited menu. Fav dish: Beef Tenderloin with Red wine shallot sauce, accompanied by sauteed potatoes with bacon and mushrooms (w12,000-15,000)

La Cigale at Itaewon

Itaewon Station at Exit 6. Walk about 2-3 mins. It's on the left, next to Kraze Burger. Tel:02-796-1244
Interesting menu with occasionally new dishes added every now and then.

Table 34

34 Flr, Grand Inter-Continental Hotel, Samsung Station Line 2.
Upscale, expensive Southern French dining with a beautiful view of Seoul at night.

Mexican

Dos Tacos

Gangnam Station Line 2, Exit 6. Next to Kyobo building, behind Tour Les Jour Bakery.
Inexpensive non-greasy Mexican food and you can choose your level of spiciness. It is the best in town in my opinion. It is a rather small restaurant with less than 20 seats. So to avoid long wait, go in pairs or group of 4. Dos Tacos is very popular with the expats. One way to tell if the food is authentic, check the expat: Korean ratio in the restaurants.
Prices are around 4,000-5000 won for burrito, quesadilla and soft or hard shell taco.

Middle Eastern

Petra at Itaewon

Noksapeyong Station, Line No. 6, Exit 2. Use the pedestrian overpass to cross the road, turn right and walk up the hill. Petra is about 20 meters along on the second floor of a red brick building on the left side of the road. Tel: 019 840-9630.

Marrakesh Night at Itaewon

Branch 1:1F 57-16 Itaewon-Dong, Yongsan-Gu. Tel: 010 5801 9444. At Itaewon Station, walk towards Pizza Hut. Marrakesh is up the hill next to the the antique shops.
Branch 2: get out at Exit 3 at Itaewon Station and walk straight for about 5 mins. You would pass the Fire station and the gas station. It would be on the right.

Chakraa at Itaewon

Itaewon Station, Exit 6, Behind Hamilton Hotel.
I love Chakraa weekend dinner buffets (w15,000). Beware, Saturday nights are always packed and the buffet never gets replenished fast enough. Chakraa has a few branches in Seoul. In my opinion, the one at Itaewon is the best. I went to the one at Cheong-dam and it was a ghost town with us as the only guests on a Saturday night and food was really terrible.
www.chakraa.co.kr

Nepalese

Namaste

Dongmyo station line 6 exit 5. On the 2nd floor right above the exit.
Namaste has an extensive menu with Indian and Nepalese dishes. Tried Chicken Tikka which was very tender(W7,000). Saffron Rice was great for 3-4 person at W4,000, very light and buttery. Lamb curry was thick and contained lots of juicy lamb chunks w8,000, a little on the sweet side though. Aloo gobi( cauliflower and potato curry W7,000) was too sweet. Kheer was very thick and piquant with whole black peppers, rather surprising touch. Chai was excellent.

French Bakery

Kim Young Mo at Doggok, next to Coffee Bean (orange line)

Lots of tasty samples, go there with empty stomach :)

There are lots of foreign restaurants I have yet to try. Let me know if there is any good ones that I'm missing out.

French Restaurants in Seoul

2006-11-28T10:04:00.006+01:00

Le Petit Paris at Sinchon

2F 52-18 Changcheon-Dong Seodaemun-Gu, Seoul. Tel: 010-6353-0901 Sinchon Station line 2 exit 2. From exit 2, walk straight. Restaurant is located in an alley on the left which is directly opposite the church.
Affordable simple french dining. Limited menu. Fav dish: Beef Tenderloin with Red wine shallot sauce, accompanied by sauteed potatoes with bacon and mushrooms (w12,000-15,000)

La Cigale at Itaewon

Itaewon Station at Exit 6. Walk about 2-3 mins. It's on the left, next to Kraze Burger. Tel:02-796-1244
Interesting menu with occasionally new dishes added every now and then.

Table 34

34 Flr, Grand Inter-Continental Hotel, Samsung Station Line 2.
Upscale, expensive Southern French dining with a beautiful view of Seoul at night.
www.seoul.intercontinental.com

Pierre Gagnaire Seoul

35th floor of Lotte Hotel, Seoul, Korea, 1 Sogong-dong, Chung-gu Seoul Tel:02-317-7181-2
Subway station: Myeung Dong.
Tel:02-317-7181-2
3 Michellin stars restaurant with a stunning view of Seoul. Menu created by reowned French Chef Pierre Gagnaire with restaurants in chic cities like Paris, London, Tokyo, Hongkong and Dubai.
Menu price: Set Lunch at 120,000won and above (excluding taxes and drinks). Set Dinner at 300,000won.

Chinese Restaurants in Seoul

2006-11-28T09:58:00.006+01:00

Ding Tai Fung

Myeong Dong, Euljiro 1-Ga Subway station, Line 2. Tel: 02-771-2778
Gangnam Station Exit 5. Walk straight for 2 blocks and take a right after Marche. It is located at the same block as Marche.
A Taiwanese restaurant franchaise, specialising in Shanghai Xiao Long Bao. Long queues on weekend. Fav Dish: Xiao Long Bao dipped in ginger vinegar, Stir-fried Spinach, crab soup.
www.dintaifung.co.kr

Crystal Jade Palace

A Singaporean restaurant Chain serving Cantonese cuisine. Menu: HongKong-style Roast Duck, Peking Duck, Chinese Roast Pork, Dim Sum, XO Beef Fried Rice Noodles
First Floor, Grand Inter-Continental Seoul, 521 Teheranno, Gangnam-Gu( Samsong Station Line2)
W10,000 for a basket of 4 Har kow( Steam Shrimp dumplings)
http://www.crystaljade.com/southkorea.htm

Crystal Jade Shanghai Delight restaurant

From the Singaporean chain of Chinese restaurants, serving Shanghainese specialities like Xiao Long Bao and Stewed Pork Belly and the typical Singaporean dessert like Almond Jelly.
5th Floor Hyundai Department Main Store 429 Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu Seoul, Korea 135-900
Dishes from 5,000won. Competitive with Jacky's Kitchen or Din Tai Fung.
http://www.crystaljade.com/southkorea.htm

Yum China, Authentic Hong Kong Dim Sum

1B, I'Park Tower, 160 Samsung Dong, Gangnam-Gu, Seoul. Tel: 02-562-0779
A Chinese restaurant that has a very lounge feel to it. Contemporary furnishing with beautiful tableware and setting. Most important of all, the Dim Sum there is made by Chinese chefs, I heard some of the chefs speaking Cantonese. Probably the best authentic Dim Sum you can get in Seoul. Downside: Be expected to pay 7,000(7usd) for a basket of 3 Har Kow( steamed shrimp dumplings), plus tax and service. We paid 60,000won for 2, leaving with 3/4 full stomachs.
http://www.tani.co.kr/kan/index.asp

Lord Stow Bakery

A chain bakery from Macao specializing in traditional Portuguese egg tarts with moist flaky crust with delicious creamy egg custard.
Located in Apgujeong.
http://www.lordstow.com/

chiu chow chinese cuinine, Dim Sum

Daechi Branch is closed to Daechi subway station, orange line. Next to Dunkin Donuts. Tel: 02-567-6115.
http://www.station4u.co.kr/ (22/04/09: website not working anymore, perhaps the restaurant closed down?)

Chon Il Bang, Dim Sum & Chinese

Gangnam subway station, exit 5. Walk straight for 2 blocks and take a right after Marche. Walk for another 2 mins. It's above the dessert factory place, on the 4th floor. There is a glass exterior lift for access. Tel:02-536-3955.
Over 10 different Dim Sum on the menu. My Recommendations: Pork bun and Glutinous Rice in lotus leaves.

Singapore Restaurants in Seoul

2006-11-28T09:29:00.006+01:00

Yakun Kaya Toast

Specialty: Coconut jam from Singapore on crispy toast with butter slices, coffee and tea with condensed milk.
Apkujung Outlet: 652-16 1F KMD BuildingShin-Sa Dong, KangNam-GuSeoul, South Korea 135-897Tel: (82-2) 516 9760
Mok-dong Outlet: Hyundai Department StoreMok-dong Branch, Floor B2916 Mok-dong Yangcheon-kuSeoul, South KoreaTel: (82-2) 2163 2184
Yeoksam Outlet(New) at Star Tower right at Yeoksam Station. It is located on B2, next to all the eateries.
http://www.yakun.com/korea.html

Crystal Jade Palace

A Singaporean restaurant Chain serving Cantonese cuisine. Menu: HongKong-style Roast Duck, Peking Duck, Chinese Roast Pork, Dim Sum, XO Beef Fried Rice Noodles
First Floor, Grand Inter-Continental Seoul, 521 Teheranno, Gangnam-Gu( Samsong Station Line2)
W10,000 for a basket of 4 Har kow( Steam Shrimp dumplings)
http://www.crystaljade.com/southkorea.htm

Crystal Jade Shanghai Delight restaurant

From the Singaporean chain of Chinese restaurants, serving Shanghainese specialities like Xiao Long Bao and Stewed Pork Belly and the typical Singaporean dessert like Almond Jelly.
5th Floor Hyundai Department Main Store 429 Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu Seoul, Korea 135-900
Dishes from 5,000won. Competitive with Jacky's Kitchen or Din Tai Fung.
http://www.crystaljade.com/southkorea.htm

Street food in Seoul

2006-11-28T08:38:00.000+01:00

Last week my family visited me in Seoul. Just when the temperature took a dive. On their very first night, I brought them to a place buzzling with young people, bars, loud korean music and street food vendors. People were seen surrounding the madeshift food store tent, standing and eating and chatting among friends.

Out of curiosity, we ordered a plate of the white cyclinders simmering in crimson red sauce sold by some ladies in aprons on the street. It was huge serving on a styrofoam plate with bamboo skewers for picking up the cyclinders. I wondered if it tasted delicious.

I took a bite of the red saucy cyclinder which turned out to be rice cake. Hot, sweet, spicy and chewy were the only few words that could simply describe the dish. In such cold weather, it became a cheap luxury food for the Koreans - just 2 USD.

I later came to know the name of these spicy rice cake: Tteokbokki.

This tteokbokki store didn't just specialise in tteokbokki. It carried on the menu Twigim and Takkochi. Twigim is like the Korean version of vegetable, seafood and dumpling tempura; Takkochi is grilled chicken with red spicy sauce on skewer.

If you want to experience the Korean culture, you got to eat like the Koreans. Give the street food a try!

Bitter winter cravings

2006-11-10T08:53:00.000+01:00

This winter has brought November to a very cold and windy start. I stopped my regular morning 1- hr walk in the park close to my apartment. I dread the cold wind slicing through my skin and bones like a knife. Neither can I conceive the arrival of glacial December, not to mention January till May. Oh yes, it snowed in last May!

There is something peculiar about me in every winter: I have a tremendous appetite. I have cravings for anything hot, rich and sweet - Dark Chocolates, Nutella, Hot Chocolate, Crepes, Roasted Chestnuts, Sweet Chestnut Puree, Candied Chestnuts, Sweet Black Rice Soup( Singaporean dessert, aka Pulut Hitam, it's like a hot glutinous black rice pudding served with coconut milk ), Sweet Red Bean Soup and Bobo Cha Cha(Sweet potato cubes cooked in coconut milk and palm sugar, with or without tapioca pearls). I cannot resist Bungol Pang - a Korean pancake filled with sweet red bean paste, shaped in a fish - sold in every corner and street in Seoul. I guess in winter, walking in penguin-like motion, struggling with the icy wind, my nose has learnt to detect the aroma of piping hot, freshly made Bungol Pang.

Singapore Vacation Part 2: Mid Autumn Festival

2006-11-05T03:21:00.000+01:00

I was extremely lucky to be back in Singapore during the Mid Autumn Festival. Why? Because this is the only time you can find mooncakes. Traditional Cantonese mooncakes are usually made with sweet lotus paste, salted egg yolks and sometimes with melon seeds or other nuts. It has a rich golden brown baked crust with Chinese characters imprinted on the top of the mooncake. Nowadays, recipes of mooncakes are so diverse: Cantonese, Teochew, Taiwanese, Suzhou and Modern Snow Skin. Some recipes even come with a Singaporean touch - Durian mooncakes and Pandan mooncakes.

Durian .. is the most loved or hated fruit by people. It's like the cheese affair. It is yellow, stinky and smells almost rotten. Despite the smell, the taste is pretty sweet and creamy. It melts like chocolate in the mouth.

By chance, I was at the Mooncake Festival Far at Takashimaya. There were lots of vendors offering free samples to everyone. I couldn't resist but gave in to the mooncakes samples. It surprised me to see every vendors' creativity in mooncakes had gone over the top. Durian mooncakes were no longer a novelty. Any flavours you could possibly imagine were there: Strawberry, blueberry, white and milk chocolate, champagne, walnut, hazelnut,cuppucino, green tea, tiramisu and bird's nest. How about some Haagen Dazs Belgian Chocolate Coated Ice cream Mooncakes? Raffles Hotel came up with the Champagne Truffles & Ganache, Rum & Raisins, Baileys as well as Ginseng & Wolfberries Mooncakes. Not something that I had expected from traditional Chinese mooncakes. 3 days before the event ended, these mooncakes from Raffles were all sold out! I guess originality sells.

Given all the flavours I could choose from, I love only traditional Cantonese mooncakes. Especially accompanied by freshly brewed Earl Grey or Japanese Green Tea. Now the Mid Autumn Festival is over, only the reminiscence of the festive taste is left of me: the chewiness of the

crust, the sweetness of the lotus paste and the saltiness of the salted egg yolks.

Singapore Vacation Part 1: Singaporeans live to eat

2006-10-14T20:13:00.000+02:00

I have taken a full month of vacation in Singapore. The whole month has been pretty exciting: Eating, shopping, window shopping, visiting touristic places, taking a trip to nearby island Batam to swim with dolphins, etc.
Local Singaporean food is awfully cheap compared to Seoul. The normal prices at a food court is around 3-4 usd for a meal including a cup of freshly squeezed tropical fruit juice. The variety of food is simply enough to impress any guests studying photo displays of each vendors at the food court. There are usually 10-15 food stores in the food court, each selling at least 5 -10 different items. I really sympathize those tourists coming to Singapore for the very first time. For those people who haven't been to Singapore before, a note to keep in mind is Singaporeans live to eat.

All pictures below were taken in Takashimaya food court:

This is a Yong Tau Foo store. It always has a huge display with veggies like Bok Choy, cabbage, Kang Kong, eggplant, bitter gourd stuffed with fish paste, red & green chilli stuffed with fish paste. Also in the display you would probably find Stuffed Tofu, Deep fried Tofu, Crabstick, Fish Balls( like meat ball, it's made with minced fish), different kinds of fried fish cakes. You may pick any item(toppings) as you usually. Probably around 6 toppings. You can choose the kind of noodles - mee (thick yellow noodles), mee hoon (rice vermicelli), kuay teow (flat rice noodles) or a combination of 2 noodles - to be serve in a soup or sauce with all the toppings you have choosen.

Any idea what curry puffs are? They are horn-shaped crusty pastry, stuffed with curried potatoes, eggs and somethings chicken, fried in boiling hot oil. They are Singaporeans' favorite snack which can be eaten any time of the day.

Over the past decades, with the influx of western(purely American pop culture) influences, Singaporeans are becoming connoisseurs of American desserts such as brownies, cheesecakes, mudpies... I don't remember myself growing up with brownies or cheesecakes. My first brownie was probably in mid 90s. I confess my love for brownie, not to mention the dripping hot fudge and huge scoop of good vanilla ice cream with vanilla beans coming with it. My favorite place to have such sensational brownie would be Coffee Club at Holland Village Singapore.

*About Singlish*
Sometimes we(Singaporeans) don't even greet each other with a Hello. Singaporeans usually start a conversation with "Have you eaten?" in Singlish, Chinese, Hokkien, Malay or even Tamil, other dialects or a mix of some of the languages I just mentioned. Thanks to the multi-racial society, here in Singapore. We simply don't speak English anymore. No doubt it is the first language in Singapore. We tweaked it to our own flavours and called it: Singlish.

If you are baffled, let me give an example to explain Singlish is. It is just plain English with Singaporean slangs. Singlish is a very colourful language. Every sentence ends with a la, lor or leh.
Just try to solve the riddle in the dialogue below:

Fifi: Hey Jen, makan already? Want to go makan?

Jen: Ai-yo, cannot la! Stuck at work leh!

Makan means eat. Aiyo means Oh or simply an exclaimation to show excitment or disappointment, depending how you say it. La and Leh both words don't mean a thing, just an add-on.

Please give me some lamb

2006-09-09T13:52:00.000+02:00

Couscous with Lamb Stew is a very famous dish in France. My husband's grandma can make it really well. She is a French born in Algeria and lived there for many years.
I never got a chance to steal some cooking secrets from her.

So, Moroccan-style Couscous with Chicken in this picture on the right, is the fruit of my trial and errors.

Why chicken?
Frozen Lamb is only available at Itaewon at an Indian supermarket, 1 hour away from my place. That translates into no lamb in my couscous dish. But I miss lamb. I can never understand why anyone would not like it. In fact, lots of people find the smell offensive. I simply love the taste AND the smell. Just give me lamb-anything: mutton satays, grilled lamb chops, Taiwanese style lamb-stew with herbs and best of all, lamb curry.

Back to Moroccan-style couscous with any meat stew. The main ingredient is Ras el Hanout. In arabic, it means "top of the shop" or in other words, "best of the shop". The shop usually creates their own blend. It is a complex blend with as few as 12 and up to 100 different ingredients. The composition for any Ras el Hanout varies.

You can also make your own Ras el Hanout. However, given the numberous ingredients involved, it would be best to leave this to the spice maker to source them. Some of the ingredients are cumin,coriander, cinnamon, anise, cloves, rose buds, ginger, nutmeg, cayenne, peppercorns, mace, cardamom, nigella and turmeric.

I got my Ras el Hanout from a supermarket in France in the spice section. If you need to get some, it is probably available in middle eastern grocery stores.

I'll post the recipe of my dish next time. A bientot!

Marinated Peppers in Olive oil and Herbs

2006-08-29T01:47:00.000+02:00

This is a Mediterranean dish that is very versatile. It can be served with crusty baguette, roast meat, in salads or simply as an appetizer by itself. The colours of the peppers are beautiful - Orange and red peppers coated in a golden glaze of extra virgin oil and speckles of green herbs.

Marinated Peppers in Olive oil and Herbs
Ingredients( for 3 jars):
6 large peppers( I use 3 Orange and 3 Red peppers)
i cup of extra virgin olive oil
1 tbps dried parsley
I tbps dried basil
Juice of half lemon
Salt to season

Preheat the oven to 220 degree Celsius. Arrange the peppers on a baking pan, stem-side up. Leave enough space so that they don't touch. Roast them at 220 degree Celsius for about 15-25 mins, until the skin chars completely and blisters.

Remove them from the oven and place them in a big air-tight container or a sealed zipbloc bag. Let them sweat for around 15-20 mins.

Peel the skin. It should come off easily. Collect any juice that drips. Halve the peppers and remove all the seeds and stalks. Slice the peppers in 1inch strips.

Mix pepper strips, pepper juice, olive oil, lemon juice, herbs and salt in a bowl. Keep refrigerated overnight in 3 jars. It can be kept up to 2 weeks.

To serve: Let it sit at room temperature for 10 mins before serving.

Bon Appetito!

Beef Hor Fun with Shitake, Just any Chinese would love it

2006-08-25T02:22:00.000+02:00

I missed Ipoh Hor fun from Singaporean hawkers. Ipoh is a city in the state of Perak in Malaysia, Singapore's neighbour country. As for Hor Fun, it is a flat rice noodle. In Singapore, Fresh Hor Fun can be bought from the local wet markets where most people shop for fresh produce. Wet markets are extremely crowded in the morning, not to mention the noise. It's not the place for the fainthearted.

Combing every parts of Seoul, I couldn't find any Chinese grocery store. Sadly to say, I was able to find just thin Thai Ricesticks in Walmart, Shinsegae and Lotte Mart. Call that lucky. Even though it's not the thick as Hor Fun, well, it's better than nothing!

With that Ipoh Hor Fun images floating all over my mind - the shredded chicken, the Chinese mustard greens, the dark Shitake mushroom gravy sauce over the Hor Fun - I was determined to make some something close to it to appease my desire.

Here is what I made:

Top: Beef Hor Fun with Shitake;

Bottom: Chinese Bok Choy with Fresh Garlic Oil

Peppers and thoughts

2006-08-22T14:29:00.000+02:00

Last Friday, I went on a pepper craze. I snapped up 8 red and orange peppers from my local food market because they were only 4 for 2,000 won.

The following Sunday, I roasted all of them in the oven and prepared my favorite pepper dish: Marinated Peppers in Olive oil and Herbs. It was kept overnight in the refrigerator.

The following Monday, I brought my Marinated Peppers in a plastic zipbloc lunchbox to a lunch picnic. On my way I went to Paris Croissant and bought a baguette with a prejudice that it would never be as good as the baguettes in France, that it would be soft and rubbery, that I was buying a substitute.

I was utterly wrong. When I sunk first my teeth into the slice of baguette I was eating, I could hear the crackling noise. The baguette was croustillant, just as any French would say.

Feeling excited as I anticipated how the baguette and my marinated peppers would complement each other, I topped my slice of baguette with a slice of red pepper. The juicy pepper melted away in my mouth as I took my first bite. The mélange was heavenly!

In the empty park, my subconsciousness told me that I wasn't in Seoul anymore.

Making Caviar d'Aubergine with Korean eggplants

2006-08-18T04:08:00.000+02:00

It's summer time in Seoul, eggplants are plentiful at the local food market in Seoul. These eggplants are different from the European eggplants. The Korean eggplants has no bitterness, they are very slender and long with less flesh than the big fat monstrous European ones.
I decided that I would make Caviar d'aubergine, often called Poor Man's Caviar. I'm not a big fan of Russian Caviar or any kind of Caviar. But I love eggplants.

The making...

... My first attempt was distrastrous. The making of Caviar D'aubergine usually involves grilling the eggplant at high heat, charring the skin and removing the flesh.
So, I grilled eggplants and charred the skin. The catastrophe arrived when I tried to scoop out the flesh from halved eggplant. I couldn't. Because there wasn't much flesh left after grilling. The flesh was adhering to the skin. I attempted to skin it with a sharp knife. That worked but it took me a whole 30 mins, leaving the muscles in my arm aching. The result was a microscopic amount of flesh from 3 Korean eggplants. Not worth the effort, considering the time and the pain.

A few days after, I bought 4 eggplants from the local market again. This time, I peeled them first, cut them into 2 cm cubes and put it into a microwavable casserole(covered) which was set in my microwave oven on Hi-heat for 7 minutes. I then added a few more ingredients to the cooked eggplant and pureed them. Well, the end results was spectacular: 2 Jars of Caviar d'Aubergine, lasted for a week.

Anyway if you happen to live in Seoul, AND you want to make Caviar d'Aubergine, AND you can only find Korean eggplants, my advice to you is microwave the peeled eggplants!

The downside of microwaving is the slight compromise in taste. Give me the European eggplants juseyo!

Vermicelli Kheer

2006-08-10T10:46:00.000+02:00

Vermicelli Kheer ( aka Payasam)
Originally uploaded by icecat_seoul.

An Indian dessert made with Vermicelli, milk, butter, cardamon, sugar and sliced almonds. I usually make it for Breakfast. Eaten warm or cold.
If you are interested to make some Kheer, here is the recipe.

Cooking time: 10 min
Ingredients:

500ml of milk
1 tbsp of butter
1/2 cup of chopped yellow vermicelli, available in Indian grocer.
2 tbsp of white sugar
Seeds from 3 cardamon pods, ground using mortar & pestle
6 almonds, sliced or chopped
handful of raisins

Heat butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add vermicelli and coat with with the butter. When the vermicelli turns golden brown ( Be careful not to burn it), add milk, cardomon and sugar to it. Bring the kheer to a boil. Simmer it in low heat until it thickens (around 5 mins).
Serve it warm or cold. Garnish with sliced or crushed almonds and raisins.

Plumz art

2006-07-23T04:40:00.000+02:00

Plumz art
Originally uploaded by icecat_seoul.

3 Plums in a white bowl, with a spearmint plant in the center & Chess horseman of a DVD-R box .

Click on Plumz Art to get a clearer picture

Flickr

2006-07-23T04:19:00.000+02:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

I love Marmiton!!!

2006-07-20T10:44:00.000+02:00

Fondants au Chocolat has become weekly treat for 2 consecutive weeks.

Thanks to Valerie Paysan who posted the recipe on Marmiton.org. For those who don't know Marmiton, it's a French recipes website where food enthusiasts post recipes and also review them.

Approx. 1000 people have tested this recipe and given 5 out of 5 rating.
Worth a try! Wait till you sink your teeth into the warm hot chocolate interior.

Check my link for the recipe!
http://www.marmiton.org/recettes/recette.cfm?num_recette=15816

Fondants au Chocolat, tested on 1st July 2006

40 Mins to Prepare a 3-Course Mediterranean Dinner

2006-07-20T10:06:00.000+02:00

Oui, C'est possible!
I did it yesterday. I made an own version of my Potato & Leek soup. My Potato & Leek soup is unblended. Meaning, not mashed up. Anyway this soup only contains 5 ingredients other than olive oil, salt and pepper. So it should very easy to cook. Another motivation to cook this is it is very light. I read that leek soup is good for weight loss from the book, French Women Don't Get Fat by French author Mireille Guiliano. Well, mine contains potatoes....??

That was just my appetizer. My entree was quick to prepare. Al dente Tri-Colour Fuscili with Fresh Tomatoes, Garlic and Parsley. It only took the time to cook the fuscili. Perhaps, 15min at the most.

POTATO & LEEK SOUP (aka Soupe Aux Poireaux et Pommes De Terre)

Ingredients
5 Leeks, only the white part, chopped into 2 cm
5 potatoes, peeled and diced into 2 cm cubes
2 carrots, peeled and chopped into small pieces
3 stalks of celery, chopped into 1cm pieces
1 large onion, diced
3-4 tablespoons of dried parsley
3 Tablespoons of olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Heat Olive Oil in a large pot in high heat. Fry onion and leeks until transparent. Then add potatoes and fry for 2-3 mins before adding carrots and celery. When the vegetables become a little brown, add 2 litres of water to it. Bring it to boil and add parsley. Simmer it for another 10-15 mins until the potatoes are soft. Season it with salt and pepper.

Quick Tri-Colour Fusili with Fresh Tomatoes( aka Pâtes aux tomates fraîches)

Ingredients
Tri- Colour Fusili, enough for 3-4 person.
2 large ripe tomatoes
1 Garlic
3 Tablespoons of fresh parsley
5 tablespoon of olive oil
Coarse salt & fresh ground pepper

1. Cook fusili according to package instructions. ( Add 1 teaspoon of salt and 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the water used for cooking pasta. Personally I like pasta al dente)

2. Don't stand and watch, waiting for the pasta to get cooked. In order to cook this dish within12-15 mins, dice the tomatoes, chop the parsley leaves, crush the garlic and mix them in a bowl. This preparation should only take 1 min. Then I went to prepare my next dish: Stir-fried Mushroom with Tomatoes ( A side dish for my pasta. Don't get me wrong. The pasta is delicious by itself. I just made a side dish since I have lots of tomatoes and mushrooms in the fridge)

3. Strain fusili when it is cooked. And add it immediately with chopped ingredients. Season with more salt and fresh pepper. Drizzle the rest of the olive oil. Mix all together. Serve hot.

A note: The heat from the fusilli will gently cook the tomatoes. This is why this pasta tastes so refreshing. Nothing is overcooked or raw. Best of all, only 3 simple steps to prepare it. Just follow the highlighted green instructions :)

Stir-fried Mushrooms with tomatoes (aka Champignons Aux Tomates)
It's really just sliced mushrooms and diced tomatoes stir-fried in olive oil, garlic and dried parsley. Season with salt and pepper. That simple. Just use your own imagination to cook but it it should only take 5 mins.

Toulousains' Paradise

2006-06-28T11:23:00.000+02:00

This is a Marche Victor Hugo, a market in Toulouse, France. This is a paradise for all chefs and food lovers. Fromage, Jambon, saucisson, fresh foie gras, fresh seafood(including huge scallops), french pastries and espresso can be found here. YES!

A fromagerie. All kinds of French cheese are available here. The variety here is more than regular french supermarket. Shopping here is very fun as free samples are always drawing the crowds.

French Pastries. My favourite is Opera. It contains a crispy biscuit at the bottom, 3 layers of cream(Chocolate, Coffee and Butter), alternating with cream and genoise. It is finally topped with a dark chocolate ganache and some gold dust.

Handmade Chocolate by a Chocolatier. A lot of times, a patissier is also a chocolatier. So it won't be a surprise to see a impressive number of pastries and cakes as well as fine chocolates in a same store.

Makrout aux dates, a Tunisian delight made with semolina, butter and dates dipped in honey. It's my family favourite.

Tender and Juicy Lamb with Pan-Seared Foie Gras with crispy potatoes and steamed carrots. A plate I ordered in a restaurant that served only lamb. (outside Marche Victor Hugo, France)

Minty Cucumber Yoghurt Dip for Summer!!

2006-06-28T09:48:00.000+02:00

This is my favourite dip. It is not only refreshing, it simply goes well with anything. Anything: Oven-Roasted Garlic Potatoes with Parsley, Taboule, Chinese Fried Rice, etc.

Minty Cucumber Yoghurt Dip:

Ingredients

1 Cucumber
2- cups of low-fat plain yoghurt
10 leaves of fresh mint
salt & pepper
a sprig of mint for decoration

Peel the cucumber and slice it lengthwise into 8 strips. Remove
seeds. Sprinkle some salt all over the cucumber and leave it on a
colander for 15 mins. Then Rinse the cucumber and dry it with paper towels. Chop the cucumber into tiny pieces.
Chop the mint
Mix mint, cucumber and yoghurt together. Season with salt and pepper. Decorate it with mint. Serve cold only.

Surprise?

2006-05-18T13:18:00.000+02:00

I finally got my own blog, here in my apartment in Seoul.