Mochachocolata-Rita

Creamy Sweet Corn & Bacon Pasta Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:58:00 +0000

Sweetness of corn & saltiness of bacon. I always love such a combo. Initially I made this for my toddler (OMG, feeding my son bacon - that makes me a bad mom, right? Oh well... just once in a while... and mommy wants some too!). So here goes.

Recipe
(serves 2)
- pasta for 2 (measure using those pasta measuring rings), I used spaghetti
- 2 fresh sweet corn kernels
- 2 strips of bacon per person (I used lean back bacon and removed the fat)
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- butter, cream, salt, pepper

Cook pasta according to the instruction on the packet - do not overcook. If pasta's done before sauce is done, drain and set it aside. Meanwhile, melt about a tbsp butter, add garlic, saute until fragrant, add bacon, add corn, cook until there's a bit of brownage going. Add cream to your liking (I added about 120 ml), season with salt and pepper. Toss the pasta with the sauce and serve hot.

Add some fresh herbs if you like. I didn't since I'd have to pick them out one by one as my big boss (the toddler) demanded. Oh man, I'm such a loser mom.

Anyway, enjoy the pasta!

How To Make Ridiculously Easy Cheat No Bake Chocolate "Cake"

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 14:43:00 +0000

I love anything cheat and anything lazy. Short cuts, I adore thee!
What else is new? :)
When I first saw the idea on TV (TLC, Buddy's cooking show), I fell in love with it immediately and decided that I HAVE TO make (an adaptation of) it! And here goes...

This beautiful gorgeous gorgeous "cake" isn't a cake. It's made of bread, soaked in chocolatey goodness. Uh huh! Oh yeah! So, pick a bread with desired texture, you can pick fluffy ones, or chewy ones... but make sure you pick one that can withstand liquid and won't turn into mush. I picked a chewy one made of mixed grains with lots of nuts in it. I love that it has a bit of saltiness in it. So, here's how I made this.

Recipe (Adapted from Kitchen Boss)
- Chunks of bread that you like, cut the crusts, I made two thick chunks
(if you wanna make more, adjust the liquid recipe)
- 100gr dark chocolate (or you can use milk chocolate or white chocolate - the world is your chocolate box)
- 1 cup coffee
- 2 tbsp sugar (you can adjust the sweetness)
- 2 tsp rum essence
- 1 shot vodka (you can use rum and omit the rum essence, I did this because I only had vodka)
- Strawberries (or fresh fruits of your choice to go with chocolate)

Cut chocolate into chunks (or you can use baking chocolate chunks), melt over double boiler. Add coffee, sugar, rum essence and vodka, mix well, take it off the heat. Cut crust off bread and cut into chunks. Soak bread in the chocolatey liquid, make sure the liquid gets all absorbed the inner parts of the bread. Baste them, flip them upside down. Once all the chocolate liquid gets absorbed by the bread, you can serve it.

On the TV show, it's served with whipped cream. Since I am not a fan of whipped cream, I planned to serve it with ice cream. But in an effort to be healthier, in the end I served it with fresh fruits instead.

Beyond yum and so damn easy. Perfect for me.

And here's a behind-the-scene shot of baby M "helping out" during the photoshoot.

He flipped the mirror around, took the mirror away, and threatened to touch the chocolate a few times :D

Have fun, hope you like the crazy lazy recipe.

James' Kitchen - Private Kitchen, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 16:07:00 +0000

Good deal decent dinner! We had the privilege to order the VIP members only set dinner because my colleague is the chef's secondary classmate! Yay! We love good deals!

James' Special Platter.

Salad with Serrano ham. Nothing earth shattering...

Poached egg salad with black truffle paste. The egg's poached beautifully, but I am maxed out on black truffle paste. I wish there's more dressing with more acid and seasoning.

Yummy yummy oysters. Many of my colleagues don't eat oysters, which means - more for me!

Love the foie T_T really really love it. Pear's poached perfectly. Yum max!

Duck soup. Very well seasoned, very tasty. I finished every single drop of it. And I'm not even a soup person :)

Spinach & cheese homemade ravioli with king prawn. Perfectly cooked prawns, decent ravioli. The creamy sauce is a tad to sweet for me though. I wanted more salt and acid.

Perfectly cooked and well seasoned Australian grain-fed rib eye steak. It's served with black pepper sauce, which is yum. But I am not a big fan of the lotus root chunks, sweet potato mash, and taro crisp part. I was happy to just demolish the steak.

Now... some serious desserts. They are mostly yummy and the servings are generous. Value for money!

Epic baked Alaska. There are black sesame mochi ice cream balls hidden underneath. We LOVE!

Creme brulee. Yummy.

75% dark chocolate cake. It's yummy too.... until I had the next one...

My photo didn't do this molten chocolate cake justice. It's absolutely delicious! Love it!
My colleagues signed up for VIP membership as soon as they finished dinner :)
And because of my colleague, we got a platter of free dessert too - yay! Thanks, Chef!

VIP Members only set dinner: HK$488 for two (not including dessert) + HK$90 for foie

James' Kitchen
9/F, H8, 8 Hau Fook Street, Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2368 3833
尖沙咀厚福街8號H8 9

Cutest Farmer Ever at Produce Green Foundation Hong Kong

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:00:00 +0000

We had an awesome experience visiting Produce Green Foundation last weekend. The place is beautiful, full of wild flowers, fresh produce, gorgeous butterflies everywhere, and did you notice that goat in the background?

First, we learnt how to plant lettuce. Missy taught us this awesome "Miss Hong Kong" pose, the most optimum pose to work the field. It was hilarious...

And here's the cutest farmer ever...

Clearly, following instructions isn't his thang :D

Voted most vain farmer ever...

...of course it's SC.

After that, we learnt how to make recycled paper.

Our paper has holes here and there, but SC did it. It's pretty easy and cool. I'll make something out of the paper he made.

We brought our own lunch. We all brought different things and shared the food.

Most popular item, fastest to finish... those yellow fish siu mais.
Nothing tasted yummier after farming.

Some of our colleagues are really hard core.

They brought camping gas stove and made instant noodles, fried eggs... amazing!

After lunch, we learnt how to make organic whole wheat bread.

Baby M did a good job stirring the empty bowl. Heheeheh

SC posing with someone else' bread ^_^'
The most vain pretend bread maker ever...

While waiting for our bread to be baked, we had a tour around the place.

Beautiful swiss chard...

Gorgeous tomatoes.

We had no idea broccoli looks like this...

And those slimey green veggie that we hate has such lovely purple flowers...

Or how beautiful radicchio is...

And I wouldn't mind being given a bouquet of fennel on Valentine's day... how pretty!

We also learnt about natural fertilizers and methods to drive away nasty pests.

And finally, our bread's ready to be devoured. Yum yum. Unexpectedly decent!

We had lots of fun!

Some tips:
- They don't sell food/drink, so bring your own - bring lots of drinks
- You can't spray mosquito repellent there. Spray prior to entering the place, or use stickers
- Wear light colored long sleeve tees and long pants and comfy shoes
- Wear hat and sunglasses on sunny days
- Other than that, enjoy!

For more info and how to go there, visit Produce Green Foundation's website.

Weekend Fun - Strawberry Picking, Kam Tin Country Park Hong Kong

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:20:00 +0000

Need something fun to do this weekend? Try strawberry picking! We went a couple of weeks ago and it's awesome!

Tip #1: Go early, or all the huge red ones would have been picked up by the early birds.

French strawberries cost HK$60 per lb, Korean ones HK$90/lb. Most people picked Korean ones, including us. I don't know why... for me, well because I am a K-pop fan. Heheheh. I know, I know, irrelevant.

Tip #2: Whatever you do, DO NOT do this!!!

For each strawberry you ate on the field, you'll be fined HK$100. I repeat, HK$100 per piece of strawberry eaten. Marcus just could not hold himself... he grabbed one big red juicy one and put it straight into his mouth... without washing T_T

Tip #3: Strawberry picking is only available until late March. Better check with them before going.

Pretty strawberries in colors I've never seen on a strawberries before....

Very pretty!

And cute strawberry flowers...

Here's our loot...

Exactly 1 pound of juicy & fragrant strawberries.

You can also buy fresh local organic produce there.

You can go for a BBQ or have lunch there. We noticed that many people brought their own lunch, which is clever. Marcus scored a few skewers of pineapple and sausages from fellow strawberry-pickers at our table.

And of course, he ate his sausages in style.

There are lots of activites for kids there, like cookie baking (HK$80).

We just did cookie decorating (HK$30)

Sweet KODAK moment... what did they make?

MASTERPIECE!

There are also some balloon type of playground which Marcus loves very very much (HK$20/10 minutes).

He loved it so much, he refused to leave and cried like heck when we dragged him out of it.

Oppps.

We took this fun ride for HK$40 per round. Oh yeah, everything costs money.

And after a bunch of activities, fishballs, fish siumai & Vita chrysanthemum tea never tasted so good...

There are many more activities which we didn't get to try.

Check out their website for more info (it is in Chinese, but you can use google translate & see the pictures).

How to get there?

Take MTR West Rail to Kam Sheung Rd Station, and take a short taxi ride to Kam Tin Country Park 錦田鄉村俱樂部

Opening hours: 10am - 6pm
Tel: +852 2442 0909

ENJOY~!

Yummy Food Sights from Bangkok

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:30:00 +0000

What I love the most about going on a business trip to Bangkok is, I get to eat like my local colleagues. Throughout the trip, I've ordered an obscene amount of servings of fried rice noodles. I ordered it whenever I had a chance, it is ridiculous. This particular one has pork sausages in it. Oh my, I adore pork sausages! And with stretchy and smooth and garlicky fried rice noodles, I love even more!

I have a thing for bottles... sad didn't bring this one home.

Oh... you must've noticed that I also have a thing for tasty pork...

Crispy, juicy, tasty chunks of pork... served with sticky rice.
Nuff said.

Refreshing longan drink. Perfect for hot days in Bangkok.

My colleagues brought me to Bangkok's flower market. Beautiful flower arrangements everywhere!

Yummy food at every street corner...

The lively Chinatown.

I wanted to try everything.

So pretty!

Very yummy kwee cap. Rice noodles with roast pork, pork meat & organs in tasty broth, served with vinegary hot chilli sauce. Perfect.

Soft buns with butter & sweet chilli sauce.

That's right! Butter toasted bread served with more butter and sweet chilli sauce!!!
So yummy!

Can't wait for my next trip to Bangkok.

Yummy Indomie Mie Goreng Cabe Ijo & Other Sambal Ijo Recipes

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 15:32:00 +0000

My sis brought me this from Indonesia & I squealed with delight when I saw it!
I absolutely ADORE Indonesian style cabe ijo (green chilli) flavor profile, and I hardly find it in Hong Kong. That's why I got so excited when Indomie came up with mie goreng (my top favorite instant noodle) with this flavor. And finally, I've tried it!

Yeah yeah, my weekend breakfasts aren't exactly healthy. Weekends are dedicated for indulgence :D
Hmm... weekdays too T_T

My verdict, I tried it twice. The first time, I mixed everything from the packet, although I found it weird that the seasoning included sweet soy sauce (Indonesian sambal ijo flavor isn't normally sweet). It was good, but I'd prefer it without the sweet soy sauce. So the second time I tried it, I left out the sweet soy sauce and it was perfect! The "green chilli" flavors came through and I love love love it!

I had it with a fried egg, Indonesian style, crispy egg white, with still runny egg yolk.
Perfect.

I am not sure if it is available online, but here's how the packaging look like.

Hmmm, sometimes I miss sambal ijo flavors so much I cook stuff with sambal ijo flavors.
Here are some of the recipes:
Udang Goreng Sambal Ijo

Nasi Goreng Sambal Ijo

ENJOY!

Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden - Where To Go On Weekends in Hong Kong?

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:06:00 +0000

Want a breath of fresh air? Get out of the malls (I know it's hard because of all the mega mega SALE going on...) and explore Hong Kong's new territories! We absolutely fell in love with Kadoorie park! So easy to go to.. and I don't have to say much. Enjoy the photos, the place is heaven!

Beautiful flowers everywhere!

A treat for nature photographers, with all the cherry blossoms blooming everywhere.

Dewy foliage everywhere we look...

Simply stunning!

Beautiful rose garden...

... there's an orchid garden and butterfly garden too! Get your zoom and macro lenses clean up and haul them here.

Hello bee...sorry to interrupt your snacking time...

SC & baby M's cactus encounter. It's a great place for kids to explore. Baby M was so happy there despite having to walk a lot. You can bring a stroller too if your kid would sit on it (M won't)

Baby M's favorite character, the owl.

There's a wild boar, and reindeer too... upon seeing the reindeer, baby M broke into a song. Can you guess which song?

There are sections where they grow organic vegetables, fruits, etc...

... and you can buy some produce too!

There's a beautiful beautiful place for you to chill out and eat...

...it serves vegetarian only though. If you can't live without bacon, BYOB then :)

We ordered pumpkin soup (yum), Hong Kong style samosas (yum)...

Omelette with mushrooms and sweetcorn (yum, the sweetcorn so sweet but you gotta season it yourself), and my favorite was this mushrooms and cheese toasties. Yum.

I was intrigued by their orange pancake, so I ordered it... but too bad the pancake's not nice at all T_T

SC had orange juice which was freshly squeezed then and there, and I had a cup of mocha, but I didn't like it.

We had an amazing day, and we'll definitely be back!

Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden
- How to go? Take the MTR West Rail to Kam Sheung Rd Station, and then take the 64K bus (it is quite frequent, and the ride takes about 15 minutes), stop right in front of Kadoorie Farm. So easy!
- The ticket costs HK$20 for adult, free for kids below 3 years old
- Don't go too late, the place is enormous!
- Book the shuttle bus going to the upper side
- If you go with kids or babies that need carrying, after exploring a bit of the lower side, take the shuttle bus to the upper side, but I'd recommend not getting off at the first few stops or the peak. You might have to wait for a long time to get catch the shuttle bus down. We chose to drop off at the owl's sanctuary and it was the perfect distance for us.
- Bring plenty of water and some snacks, we even saw some people bringing in pizza! Hello, picnic!

For more details, check out their website here.

Weekend Family Trip to Nam Sang Wai, Hong Kong

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 16:11:00 +0000

Dunno where to go on weekends in Hong Kong? Bored of the city? Try going to Nam Sang Wai. It is the place where so many beautiful photographs of Hong Kong countryside have been taken... and we pretty much failed to take any. EPIC FAIL.

But, we had a fun time anyway... so here goes..
First stop, 敬輝農場(King Fai farm)

There are fruits and veggies to buy...

The place is so out-of-this-world cute.

Homemade chilli sauce for food shopaholics. We didn't buy any... my "luggage" was already so heavy with camera & baby M's stuff.

Yummiest, sweetest, most perfectly cooked sweet potato I've ever had!

And soft beancurd pudding. We love!

Lots of fun stuff to explore too!

You can go fish-feeding...

Check out fluffy cute bunnies...

...and the most impressive of all, our most memorable moment of the day...

...was an encounter with this cutie pie. Baby M was sooo happy to meet him.

The back of the farm is this huge pond. I bet it's beautiful during lotus season, but at this moment it could use a bit of cleaning...

We walked a bit more to explore the place, but it's hard carrying a naughty toddlers with lots of cars and bikes passing by. Next time, we'd take a taxi to the biggest attraction and call a taxi back ^_^ (lazy family).

Another highlight of the day...

I got a shot of this gorgeous fly (two words I'd never thought I'd use together).

How to go:
Take the West Rail MTR to Yuen Long Station & take a taxi to Nam Sang Wai.
For more details, alternative transport, other points of attraction, and examples of beautiful pictures others have taken there, click here.
The site is in Chinese, but google translate helps.

Now... Monday blues T_T

Shirokuma Japanese Curry, Tsing Yi - Super Yummy! Must Try!

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 14:21:00 +0000

Too yummy not to mention! This is a beef burger curry (two huge burger patties), served on top of rice, with dark curry sauce and melted creamy cheese sauce. HEAVEN!

A huge pork ball served on top of moist, perfectly cooked omelette, on a bed of rice, drenched in pork curry sauce with creamy melted cheese. OMG! Too yummy to be true! Very satisfying!

Their desserts are lovely too! This is Hokkaido milk ice cream served with strawberries, blueberries, chocolate corn balls, and mango. There are green tea ones too. Absolutely heavenly!

The place is kids friendly too, they provide baby seats and kids utensils, and the servers would tell the kids to finish their food first before they can enjoy the desserts. They have an ice cream counter too if you don't feel like curry. WE ADORE THIS PLACE!

The only small thing is.. you have to wait to get seats. My solution would be... be the early birds. Or while one parent wait, the other can bring the kid to play the toy cars near Log-On. For couples, well you can either do some extreme public display of affection, or play with your own phone until you get your table.

Shirokuma Curry
Shop 218A, 2/F Maritime Square, Tsing Yi, Hong Kong.
Tel: +852 2432 9988 (too bad you can't book)
The other branch is in Tuen Mun.
About HK$100 per person for curry + dessert to share

My Birthday Lunch at Gaddi's - The Peninsula Hong Kong

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 14:43:00 +0000

My sparkly birthday lunch date with SC at Gaddi's.

I love the croissant. I ate three of them :D

I ordered the Ladies' Leisure Lunch, it comes with a non-alcoholic Bellini, which is great for me (I hate champagne based cocktails T_T). I love it!

SC's set lunch comes with a glass of wine, and it's very very delicious (this means a lot coming from someone who dislikes wine). And he insisted that I took this shot ^_^'
I'm glad I did. I love my 40mm f/2.8 pancake lens! Affordable, super light, super cute, sharp, with killer bokeh! (No, Canon didn't pay me to suddenly plug this ad in the middle of my blog post. I just love it THAT much).

My appetizer, smoked eggplant caviar with sliced marinated duck liver. It looks pretty, but I didn't really enjoy the mushy eggplant.

SC's appetizer's so pretty! It's sea bream tartar with whipped lemon cream and herring roe. Very light and refreshing. Love it.

My soup, shellfish consomme with lobster dumpling. Light, fragrant, tasty. It's nice.

My main, pan fried Australian beef filet with colorful carrots. Love it. Perfectly cooked meat. I adore.

SC had the beef cheek bourguignon with winter vegetables. It's lovely but it felt way to heavy for lunch. We should've picked something lighter.

SC's dessert, winter fruit compote with milk chocolate sphere and mandarin sherbet. Love the tart fruits & chocolate combo.

My dessert's a surprise. The Gaddi's sweet taste surprise (the name's a bit weird eh?). I am not a big fan of this dessert platter...not decadent enough to celebrate the depressing event of getting older. My bad. I shouldn't have ordered something I don't know, like... a surprise. Argh, I knew I wasn't a "ladies lunch" material.

Here's the obligatory couple photo.

More photos will be uploaded to my FB page.
Outfit posts here: SC's or mine.

And he had to do this while waiting for our food... he's so proud of it, he made me record a video T_T

Gaddi's
1/F The Peninsula Hong Kong
19-21 Salinsbury Road
Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2696 6763

Ladies' Leisure Lunch costs HK$358 + 10%
Lunch Set costs HK$458 + 10%

Peanut Butter Indomie Goreng - Happy New Year 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 04:06:00 +0000

Wanna crank your Indomie Goreng up a few notches?
Add 1 tbsp peanut butter mixed with 1 tsp hot water, freshly chopped chilli & a touch of lime juice.
My first breakfast in 2013.
Happy new year, everybody!

Ps. Excuse the iPhone photo, my DSLR is in Canon hospital :(

Sunday Roast at St Betty, IFC, Central, Hong Kong

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 15:48:00 +0000

Look at that scrumptious spread! Went to try St Betty's famous Sunday Roast with a couple of friends including blogger Gastronomous Anonymous. Since we're crazy big eater, we were wondering if the Sunday Roast set's gonna be enough for us. We were assured that it'd be enough (look at the above scrumptious spread!), but since we're greedy bastards, we ordered more anyway.
Portion control has always been our problem.

We also ordered the ox heart tomato with pesto, dried black olives with 8 year old balsamic vinegar.

It's hilarious how we've overlooked the word "tomato" since we had our eyes fixed on the words "ox heart". We were totally shocked and couldn't believe what we saw when the tomato salad arrived. Our bad! Fortunately, it looked amazing and tasted fantastic. Phew!

We ordered this sweetcorn fritters with ricotta, corn salsa and morteau sausage for baby Marcus, who is now no longer a baby, he's now a cute two year old with a healthy appetite.

We thought we could feed him a bit of this and share the rest, but unexpectedly, Marcus could pretty much finish the whole plate and we only got to try one tiny bite each. It's absolutely delicious!

The Sunday Roast's SUPER YUMMY! I especially LOVE the roast beef, yorkshire pudding, and the Chinese cabbage confit with Japanese bacon. Perfectly cooked beef, fluffy yorkshire pudding, and tasty veggie with bacon! I adore! Plus horseradish cream? I pretty much slathered everything with that.

The set also came with roast potatoes and crushed root veggies. I don't mind them, but I'd rather concentrate of my favorites :D

We almost ordered extra desserts, but luckily our server reminded us that the Sunday Roast includes this yummy rhubarb crumble.

SC helped me with that money shot :D

Buttery deliciousness! Not too sweet, but sufficiently rich & satisfying. I like!

SC & Marcus had fun enjoying the crumble too!

Everybody were stuffed to the brim, but we (I) managed to finish most of the beef. Heheheh.

The meal's a tad pricey (HK$440 per person but that's because we were so greedy & ordered lots) but I do love their beef. Hmmm beef. I crave some right now.

Check out Gastronomous Anonymous review here.
The rest of the photos will be uploaded to my Facebook Page.

St Betty
Shop 2075, Podium Level 2
IFC Mall, Central
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2979 2100

Pandan French Toast - Ugly Delicious

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:57:00 +0000

The color might be lurid green and scary, but I can assure you that it's very yummy!

Bread soaked in mixture of egg, melted butter, coconut cream, sugar & pandan essence. It's a no brainer, really! Must be yum! I will definitely use coconut cream more often when making french toasts. It gives me that much needed kick-in-the-gut richness.

Recipe
- bread of your choice (I used 1 small mixed grain bun, sliced to 1 cm thick slices)
- 2 tsp sugar
- 5 tbsp coconut cream
- 3 tbsp butter (salted), melted
- a pinch of salt
- 1 egg, beaten
- a few drops of pandan essence (add bit by bit, I added half a teaspoon)
- some more butter mixed with vegetable oil for frying

Melt butter, let cool for a bit while preparing other ingredients. Mix sugar, salt, coconut cream, pandan essence and melted butter in a bowl, soak bread pieces in the mixture and let them "marinate" in fridge for a couple of hours. Before serving, heat up some butter mixed with a bit of vegetable oil to prevent from burning, pan fry bread pieces until golden.

Rich, fragrant, sweet, and fluffffffy! I really adore the scent and creaminess of coconut milk in these babies.
Enjoy!

Peas and Bacon Crumble

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 15:32:00 +0000

I've been crumble-topping everything eh? I can't help it! It's super easy, it makes everything tasty... and pretty too! I love it.

Recipe
- 2 heaping tablespoon of all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- 1 tsp of grated parmesan
- a bit of sugar, black pepper, nutmeg, grated lemon zest
- 1 small bowl of green peas
- 2 strips of bacon, cut into chunks

In a frying pan, render bacon fat, add peas, mix well and pour into vessel (I chose sturdy paper muffin cups, you can use cute small ramekins). Preheat oven to 200C. Using hands, mix flour, butter, grated parmesan, a bit of sugar, black pepper, nutmeg and grated lemon zest - never mind the chunks. Add on top of the peas and bacon, dump into oven until the top's golden brown.

Yum! Great as a side dish or snack or party food!

Jean-Paul Hevin - All Day Afternoon Tea for Dark Chocolate Lovers

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:25:00 +0000

I love dark chocolate (who doesn't?), and if you loved chocolate so much and you want to have a very chocolatey afternoon tea as breakfast, lunch, and dinner, then this is perfect for you :)

This is one of Jean-Paul Hevin's all-day afternoon tea sets. It has two chocolate cakes, two macarons, two chocolate bonbons and two chocolate coated almonds.

The chocolate cake in focus is voted the best chocolate cake in Japan!

I must admit that I've never loved macarons... to me, they are just way too sweet, until I tried Jean-Paul Hevin's macaron last year.

I love how they are not too sweet, and I love the dark chocolate ganache here.

One of the chocolate coated almond had a hint of Earl Grey Tea, which I love.

If you're looking for a nice quiet place to sit down with friends after (well, or before) a crazy shopping around Central, or a place to have dessert after an early bird dinner (just like me - a senior citizen who likes to dine latest by 6:30pm..), before clubbing, or if you just need a good dose of dark chocolate... (you don't need a reason to want chocolate, right?), then check the place out!

Christmas is around the corner, and I know what to get MIL (who's a dark chocolate maniac) for Christmas.

Oh hello, chocolate! Come to mama!

I want to keep the "rustic" wooden box.

And this will surely cure all kinds of Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday blues...

More photos on my Facebook page.

Jean-Paul Hevin
Address etc here.
Afternoon tea set: HK$168.
Chocolate cake: HK$58/slice
Macarons: HK$25/piece

Thank you Jean-Paul Hevin for the invitation! You've brightened up my gloomy weekday night.

Hairy Crab Feast

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 13:06:00 +0000

'Tis the season to get our hands dirty and wrestle with these hairy ones.

Steaming the crab.

Enjoy while still hot.

In SC's family, the boys only eat the roe, and they leave all the crab legs and claws to my MIL.

Here's how SC eats the crab (well... crab roe).

Claws and legs removed... transferred to MIL's plate.

Open the flap (this one's a boy - as can be seen from the pointy flap).

Open the body, discard the lung (those soft pointy bits).

Pour some vinegar with minced ginger onto the roe.

Ready?

Slurp.

Have you had any hairy crab goodness this season?

Super Easy Mini French Toasts

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 05:56:00 +0000

The first French Toasts I tried was the Hong Kong style golden brown deep fried one. I do love it, but I didn't realize that I'd love these non-deep-fried ones, and they are so simple to make too!

Recipe
(yields 6 mini french toasts. they are very rich and filling tho)
- 1 egg, beaten
- half cup of milk
- 1cm thick slice of butter, cut from 1 stick - melted, and 1 tsp for frying (mixed with cooking oil)
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 small mixed grain bun, cut into 1 cm thick pieces

Mix beaten egg, milk, melted butter and sugar, add slices of bread, make sure the bread pieces are fully soaked in the mixture, let them "marinate" for at least 15 minutes. Heat up frying pan with cooking oil and butter, pan fry pieces of bread until golden brown.

You should get very fluffy, creamy, eggy inner part and crispy outer part. Very yum! And as if these aren't sinful enough...I ate mine with peanut butter, cream cheese, and Nutella. Perfect for breakfast or tea time.

Super Easy Choy Sum Shrimp Stir Fry

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 14:43:00 +0000

Another dish my MIL always makes, super sweet veggie, fresh shrimps. Beautiful. Finally I saw her making it recently. It's amazing how she can make the dish taste so good without even using aromatics like ginger or garlic. Very minimal, and the ingredients shine through.

Recipe
- 1 cup shrimps, deshelled, deveined, butterflied
- a pack of choy sum
- vegetable oil, salt, and pepper

Season shrimps with salt and pepper. Heat up frying pan with some vegetable oil, stir fry shrimps until half done and set aside. Stir fry choy sum until they reach the level of tenderness that you like (don't let them turn yellow), season with a bit of salt, add shrimps, stir fry until shrimps are just cooked, and serve.

Perfect for a light meal!

Crabtastic Dinner at Man Wah, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 15:47:00 +0000

Hello, yummy crab roe, come to mama!
Hairy crab season is here, and this is a preview to Mandarin Oriental's Man Wah hairy crab menu.

Ohhh... where do we start?

Smoked black cod. Tasty and succulent. I like.

Crispy "eel" - actually they are mushrooms. I always love anything crispy.

Drunken crab. Actually, it's more like drunken me. My face was red, I turned giggly and loudly obnoxious after eating this. Yep, it is that easy to get me drunk. Oppps.

The star of the show.

"Dismantling" a hairy crab beautifully in less than 3 minutes. Oh man, may I take her home?

YEAH BABY! Check out the crab roe. Slurpppp. I had to remind myself that I was not alone and... must... not... grab... all... the... roeeee. Argh!

Now, my top favorite dish of the night.

Crab tart. Oh my! I loveeeeeeeeeeeee!

Crab meat and crab roe in crispy shell, served piping hot. Abso-bloody-lutely delicious! I almost wanted to steal my neighbor's when he stepped outside. Too bad he came back too quickly.

Braised Shanghaiese cabbage with crab meat. Seriously scrumptious! Love love love it!

Stir fried hairy crabs with rice cake & salted fish.
Normally, I am not a big fan of sticky rice cakes.... and would avoid it, except for this one! They are wonderfully chewy and the super tasty sauce clings to them. So yummy, I even had seconds!

Crab broth with tomatoes, wood fungus and baby greens. Adore the broth, and was also in love with the fish tofu cake.

Premier crab roe with steamed rice. Rich roe and fragrant rice. Love it!

Pleasantly full, now it's time for something sweet!
And breakfast was served.

Huh? Oh yes, this dessert's inspired by Shanghaiese breakfast. How adorable!
Soy milk ice cream with crispy Chinese fritter and fried sticky rice cake. I always love a combination of sweet and savory. So, this is perfect! Satiny smooth and light soy milk ice cream with crispy savory fritters. Amazing!

Thank you so much for the invitation, Man Wah!

Wanna try?
Call Man Wah.
Hairy crab menu starting from HK$558/person for lunch, or HK$988/person for dinner +10%

Wanna read what other bloggers think of the dinner?
Hong Kong Fashion Geek
joie de vivre

Sweet Corn Crumble - My Island East Markets Loot

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 15:31:00 +0000

I heard a lottt about the super sweet corn from Island East Markets, and finally, this week I got my chance to buy some!

Look at these beautiful corn kernels. Super sweet, good enough to eat raw!

Yes baby, come to mama!

I decided to make them into a crumble.

Have you ever smelt the aroma of corn and butter in an oven?

OMG. Heaven!

Recipe
(yields 2 ramekins)
- Corn kernels from 1 corn
- 2 heaping tbsp plain flour
- 2 heaping tbsp sugar
- 2 heaping tbsp salted butter (divided)
- 2 pinches of salt
Preheat oven to 180C, divide corn kernels to two ramekins, add half of the butter into both ramekin. In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, salt and the remaining of butter, mix with your hand. Add crumble mixture onto corn, bake until golden brown.

OMG.

Yes.

Now, about Island East Markets. It is definitely something to look forward to every Sunday. Awesome fresh local produce, cute handmade/vintage stuff, fun for kids, delicious food, great crowd, and very close to Quarry Bay MTR Station! If you're in town, it is a MUST VISIT!

Click here to see more pictures from my visit.

Marcus wouldn't let papa's apple juleb go...

The first week of Island East Markets, I didn't get to shop properly because, my friends and I opened a stall sharing our love for vintage clothing! Click here to see more pictures.

We had a lot of fun and can't wait to book another stall to spread more vintage love!
See you at Island East Markets, everybody!

Steamed Pork with Black Beans and Garlic - Hong Kong Style, My Mom in Law's Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 04:00:00 +0000

I am so blessed with a MIL whose cooking I absolutely ADORE! She makes dishes that are tastier than those from the restaurants! Last weekend, she made us this absolutely delicious steamed pork dish and I was right by her side taking notes.

What's so special about the dish? She doesn't use pork ribs, because she raised 3 naughty boys who wouldn't eat anything with bone in them. She used "mui tao sao yuk" part, and we get juicy tender bits (daam daam yuk) with tasty sauce that could make us eat 10 bowls of rice.

Here's her recipe:
- Pork meat (about HK$15 worth from Park & Shop - sadly, sometimes cheaper than local wet markets). You can replace the pork with chicken, or tofu puffs as vegetarian option
- a handful of Chinese fermented black beans, rinsed
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- a dash of oil
- 2 tsp corn starch
- a dash of light soy sauce
- chopped fresh chillies and spring onion

Throw everything into a plate like this:

Mix well.

Add chopped chillies. She added on just half of the dish, to accommodate those who can't eat hot stuff.

Steam for 15 minutes.

Garnish with spring onion.

Serve with lotsssssssssssssssssssssssssssss of rice.

Hong Kong classic flavors at its best.

Earl Grey Tea Cherry Soda - Refreshing Drinks

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 02:00:00 +0000

Last week, we had a couple of beautiful 23C days in Hong Kong, and I thought summer's over.
But of course I was wrong. We're back to hot summer days again :)
Time for refreshing drinks such as this one.

Recipe (for a glass)
- 2 bags of Earl Grey tea
- 1/4 cup hot water
- 2 tsp sugar (or more depending on how sweet you want it to be)
- 3-5 fresh cherries, pitted, halved
- soda
- ice cubes

Dunk earl grey tea bags into hot water remove after 2-3 minutes, add sugar (it should be quite sweet, considering that we will add soda water and ice cubes later), stir until dissolved. Pour into a serving glass, add soda water, cherries and ice cubes.

Of course you can add booze if you wish ;)

Have a great week!

SC's Epic Birthday Dinner at Hong Kong Mandarin Grill

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 15:36:00 +0000

SC's birthday is just my annual excuse to splurge on dinner ^_^
I've asked for recommendations from my crazy foodie friends, one of them (that's you, Gary) even suggested that I made a poll to see where we end up dining in. I loved that idea, but in the end was too lazy to execute the poll. Heheheh.

Finally, I picked Mandarin Grill. I've heard so much about this place (thanks, Jason!), and because I heard the dishes are a lot of fun (SC loves creativity) and very photogenic too (this is for my benefit).

Did we have a yummy night?
When considering which tasting "tour" to order, I asked our server, "Are you sure we'd have enough to eat if we ordered tour 1 from the tasting menu?" - he was a bit taken aback. I bet he couldn't believe I was even considering quantity and worried that I wouldn't be full ^_^'

Anyway... here we go.

This was not the first dish, but the picture comes out first, because... doesn't it look gorgeous? Heheheh... I am superficial like that. This is the salad, it's a flower pot.

We "watered" aka "dressed" our salad. Too cute!

The edible soil. Adore the idea, but this soil is very filling. Just have a couple of bites and leave it. Don't feel "ng dai" (not worth) or you'll have no room for the rest of the meal like SC ^_^' heheheh.

Can you see the heart shaped shadow on it? Cute huh? (This is my code for - I can't remember what they were but I just remember they were tasty)

The bread basket.

The selection of olive oil. I chose fruity (second bottle from left), SC chose peppery (second bottle from right). I never thought that I'd love peppery more than fruity. But seriously, the one SC picked's awesome.

Again. Too cute! This is not a pear (duh!)

The softest shade of pink inside!

You can spread the "pear" on these bread.

Savoury cookies. Yum.

Liquid olives. I love. And no, it doesn't taste like you're swallowing olive oil.

Succulent scallops. I munched on an oyster leaf that tasted like the sea at the beginning of this dish. I am not a big fan of the greens that tasted (a tad too much) like the sea, but the scallops were lovely.

Sirloin steak with baked potatoes in edible "foil" and edible "charcoal". The charcoal turned out to be cassava (server said tapioca) covered in squid ink. The cassava part cracked me up, because I am from Indonesia and we eat singkong (cassava) a lot back home - never thought it'd ever make its appearance in a fancy schmancy restaurant.

The steak came with this pot of very lovely sweet corn. Buttery, fragrant, and oh-so-sweet!

The dessert, Oreo. It's cookie crumbs, vanilla ice cream, & hot chocolate - I don't know how to call it - thick foam? It's very very rich. I love that feeling of a-kick-in-the-gut richness from chocolatey desserts, and this particular one kicked ass. Love it. It is a bit too rich for summer though...

For the gentleman, a chocolate cigar.

And a make up powder for me, with a cotton candy puff too. The cotton candy's so sweet, I couldn't taste the powder anymore. The idea's cute tho.

Of course SC had to "light" his "cigar".

And for the birthday boy...

.. a chocolate birthday "candle".
Actually we've pretty much maxed out on chocolate after 1/2 of the Oreo dessert. So we just had fun with the petit four and the candle.

Overall, it is a fun dining experience!

Tour 1 - HK$1,188 per person + 10%

Mandarin Grill

Coca Cola Lime Prawns - Eat Your Drink

noreply@blogger.com (Mochachocolata Rita) — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 15:47:00 +0000

It's been a longgg time since I made prawns, and I was suddenly craving it when I saw my colleague brought tomato sauce prawn as her lunch at work. Finally, I managed to make prawns tonight!.
I used Coke & lime this time, I love cooking with my favorite drinks flavors. Sweet, savory, & sour at the same time! It's light too, perfect for summer.

Recipe
- 12 pieces large prawns
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 1 cup of Coke
- 1 lime
- pinches of salt
- a dash of Worchestershire sauce
- olive oil, butter
Melt butter & olive oil in a frying pan, add garlic and onion, saute until fragrant. Add prawns, and quickly add coke and pinches of salt, tasting as you go. You gotta be quick so that the prawns wouldn't get overcooked. If you want, you can mix the "sauce" in a bowl first until you get the desired balance of sweet and salty. Finish with lime juice.

Don't forget to suck all the tasty goodness out of those prawn heads. Lip smacking!