My Orange Notepad

bonjour 2015, et à jamais 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Sat, 03 Jan 2015 16:02:00 +0000

永不再見，2014

My brain has been constantly fabricating sentences but when it comes to write down something, I still find it difficult.

My 2013 and 2014 have to be read or watched as one story in two episodes, the first one being a cheap novel full of incredibly dramatic events one after another while the second the aftermath of a ruthless storm that has taken her time dancing around till her skirt has swept away everything in the world. If I were ever to choose a year that I'd never like to live again, 2014 would be the undoubted one. And thank God, we can never repeat a single day in our life.

2014 is such a year that has made me realize how cruel people can be and how some little, unaware sweetness and sympathy could save a person. It is such a year that I rediscovered how weak (and probably how strong) I can be and how "love", or "in the name of love" deceives and empowers people to cause unbearable pains to one another. It is such a year that I had been made and re-made to admit that the taste of life is more bitter than sweet. It is the year that I was finally cut off from the romantic youth while being kicked in the bloody adulthood, though it comes apparently too late compared with my real age.

The ever-torturing relationship that turned into a wound, the exhausting yet low sense-of-reward job and never-ceding family issues have completely overwhelmed me. When the waves seemed to ebb I found myself full of holes deep enough to see through. I can't be more grateful to my close friends and many amazing people that I've met, or to even those strangers who have smiled at me when I was really down. You probably never knew how you have meant to me. But I don't feel like appreciating those life events. They did teach me to be more generous and empathetic to people as everyone has his/her own epic but I was also made to be much tougher, colder and much more reserved dealing with people, especially with those ignorants.

To say something to 2015? Yes, it would be the time to rehablitate and to restore myself. I wish that I could forgive myself for not being good enough and that I can still find and keep that very soft part of me deep inside a total, unhealed(-yet) mess.

et oui, à jamais, 2014.

有時候很抗拒中文寫作，因為中文太貼近自己。能夠太過熟悉的使用一個語言時，常常會覺得自己幾乎毫無保留地攤在陽光下。

我幾乎是連滾帶爬地離開了2014。更精確一點的說，是疲倦到了一個程度，無法繼續在乎剩下的日子，只有心裡一個小小的聲音拖著自己、完全不管過程裡一路被磨掉了哪些東西，然後終於慢慢跨進了終點，才發現原來自己還活著。還能活著、還在活著。

人生裡面似乎從來沒有這麼在意過12月31日這個斷點，雖然也不過就是指針又跨過了一個12。但當每一個12都過得如此迅速、可每一個當下都漫長如同永寂的時刻過多了，會很希望真的有一個能夠徹底切斷過去的標誌，然後就可以歸零重來。即使我們都明白人生的問題從來不可能因為時間的前進而就此消失在想像的斷裂裡。

2013年底不安地回到了巴黎，接續著前半年種種離奇的遭遇，2014年的一開始終於還是面對了一個早知結果、但始終不知該如何處置的情傷。接著一路牽連至七月，最終徹底地壞掉到我至今不忍回看的狀態。太多暴烈的情感湧上來，即使是現在的我都還是只能無聲地抱著眼淚流個不停的自己，言語完全沒有用處。那以後我難以相信他人、再也相信不了自己，即使我有這麼多從來沒有改變、一路堅持愛著我的朋友與家人、也遇到了許多充滿著善意與從不吝於給我一些安穩的人。我知道自己的心裡有個地方徹底的壞了，我能做的只是輕輕地別過頭去。

工作則仍然一直在低薪、低成就、高剝削感的實習裡打轉。無法面對清晨的憂鬱幾乎把我擊垮，我忘不了每日失眠倒數的焦慮，同樣也不可能忘記在凌晨的公車上反覆看著kindle裡的舊書，在穿過rue gay lussac的那個街角最後還是掉了眼淚。偶爾握著手機拼命想和誰取得一點聯繫，然後公車悄悄越過了塞納河。自己的愛情故事靜靜地倒影在與甜點的緣分上，愛再多從來不是重點，永遠企及不了的命定感讓我始終走在放棄的邊緣。

在此同時，與家人之間的緊張關係一直無法妥善解決。父母莫名的焦慮及超乎常理的堅持讓我束手無策。我總是看著朋友們因為家人到訪發自內心的開心而疑惑，因為我從來不明白那是甚麼感覺。與家人關係緊密的朋友衷心地和我說不要放棄家人，但他們不能理解即使是那樣的好意都讓我瞬間壓力膨脹。我一直想要解釋自己為什麼不回台灣，後來明白不用解釋，因為難以有人可以完全理解與想像另一個人的苦痛。遇到主動勸我別回台灣的家人朋友，除了心裡難以言喻的感激之外，同樣也會升起對自己竟然有這種情緒的自責與罪惡。希望哪天我能夠原諒自己，如果我最終還是選擇放棄。

然後就在那個忙得日夜不分、不知今夕何夕的大塊混亂裡，2014終於走了。

我拉開窗簾，1月1日早晨的陽光安穩地照在我窗前通往萬神殿的那條路上。許多人走著，不知道他們心裡是輕鬆還是沉重，還是只是盡力如常的生活。

親愛的

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 18:41:00 +0000

親愛的，說了這麼多，我滿意了嗎？我甘心讓你走了嗎？還是我還想在心裡留下那小小的、那溫柔的，只有我記得的、我相信的，你的碎片？

深深的話要淺淺地說。那些來不及的，就先收起來了吧。希望有那麼一天，我還可以深深看進你的眼睛，而你和以前一樣，什麼都不用說，就都明白了。

然後那個時候，我就可以打從心底笑出來，因為我讓你走了，可是我知道自己還是擁有全部。全部的自己，全部的好，還有全部被祝福過的傷口。

等著我，那一天。

荷式點心 - 荷式可樂餅/ Dutch snacks - Kroket (the Dutch croquettes)

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 11:02:00 +0000

[本文刊載於Oranje Express荷事生非 Facebook fan page]

@Image：在荷蘭「snack automaat」 (點心販賣機)中的荷式可樂餅
圖片來源：Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcelthomson/3915674012/

在日劇裡經常看到可樂餅 (コロッケ) 出現在日常生活中，它不僅是便當裡令人期待的配菜，同時也是市場裡最引人食慾的一景。因此大部分的台灣人可能都認為可樂餅是日式食物，但其實它有著純正的法國血統。這個法式點心不僅風靡了日本、也同樣席捲了鄰近的低地國。而且，荷蘭人對可樂餅的熱愛可是完全不下於日本人喔！

許多人也會好奇，可樂餅和可樂有什麼關連？其實是可樂餅的法文原名為croquette，是從動詞”croquer”變化而來，原意是形容咬下酥脆的食物時齒間發出的聲音。這個名字相當貼切地點出了可樂餅的特徵：麵包屑包裹著馬鈴薯泥、或是與奶油白醬混合的各式肉類、海鮮或蔬菜，再下鍋油炸成一個個小小的酥脆金黃圓餅。1691年，法國太陽王路易十六的御廚在自己食譜上寫下第一個可樂餅的做法，那之後沒多久，隨著法國美食與文化席捲歐洲，可樂餅就風靡了整個低地國。可樂餅也在明治時期開埠通商傳入日本，接著和漢堡排等其他西洋美食一起，發展成與「和食」相對的「洋食」，豐富了日式料理的內涵。

荷蘭文的可樂餅寫成「kroket」，正是法文croquette的荷式拼法。荷蘭人熱烈擁抱油炸食物的程度是眾所周知，除了炸薯條外，他們對可樂餅的鍾情程度也接近瘋狂爆表。不僅在超市可以隨意買到冷凍的、新鮮的、三合一四合一開趴專用的Kroket，超市買不夠，在荷蘭人發明的點心販賣機「snack automaat」裡，各式各樣的可樂餅更是必備選項，選擇之多可媲美台灣的鹽酥雞攤(驚訝請見：食尚玩家《荷蘭阿姆斯特丹的一天》)；甚至連荷蘭麥當勞都有世界唯一的McKroket可樂餅漢堡在常備菜單中。此外，和台灣日本不同，這些荷式可樂餅，特別是在automaat裡販賣的，大部分是長條圓柱型，以方便拿取。

對勤儉的荷蘭人來說，可樂餅不僅僅是美味點心的代名詞，同時也是清冰箱的好方法。冰箱裡還有一些剩下的燉牛肉、魚片或是起司嗎？那就來作個可樂餅吧！不過荷蘭可樂餅的能耐可不只這樣，除了最經典的牛肉可樂餅(rundervleeskroket，由燉牛肉與奶油白醬製成)、與大受歡迎的爆漿起司可樂餅(kaassouffle)之外，反映地方特產與季節特性，當然也有蝦可樂餅(ganaarlkroket)和蘆筍可樂餅(aspergekroket)。但是最令人驚奇的，是印尼炒飯與炒麵可樂餅(nasikroket & bamikroket)。酥脆的麵衣裡面包裹著貨真價實的麵與飯，初次吃到的人絕對會印象深刻(註一)。

說了這麼多，你是否也很好奇荷式可樂餅的滋味呢？荷事生非將於明日為大家介紹正宗荷式牛肉可樂餅食譜，並附上影音步驟教學。很快又要周末了，不妨自己動手，和朋友與家人分享來自荷蘭的好滋味！

註一：印尼過去曾是荷蘭殖民地，在長達約三個半世紀的殖民時間裡，印尼料理深刻地影響了荷蘭的飲食文化，炒飯、炒麵、米粉等食物也成為荷蘭人習慣的日常食物，在超市裡和stamppot有著不相上下的陳列排面。炒飯與炒麵可樂餅，則是荷蘭飲食地貌另一個有趣景點。

延伸閱讀及影音：

如何自製McKroket/kroketbroodje

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=236619819741995&set=pb.225292010874776.-2207520000.1390429454.&type=3&theater

食尚玩家《荷蘭阿姆斯特丹的一天》：

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF59RyhXiM8

同樣來自印尼殖民背景，荷事生非也曾分享過「荷蘭千層蛋糕」(spekkoek)的故事。有興趣的讀者可以參考以下連結：

http://blog.sina.com.tw/yalcinchen/article.php?pbgid=39383&entryid=602462

In Taiwan, croquettes are mostly considered as “Japanese”. Yet those deep-fried little things made of mashed potatoes or stuffed with ground meat, seafood or vegetables, mixed with béchamel sauce actually have a French origin and are as common in the Netherlands. “Kroket”, the Dutch spelling of croquette clearly tells its French root. It is said that croquettes made their debut in 1691 in a recipe from the chef of King Louis XIV. The first ingredients used were truffles, sweetbread and cream cheese (how French!!). They soon made an international presence and became popular in the Low Countries in the 18^th century and were introduced to Japan in the Meiji Era.

While the name “croquette” comes from the French verb “croquer”, meaning “to crunch”, it is not difficult to imagine why the Dutch, the passionate fritter-lovers, would passionately embrace them. There’s no exaggeration about the popularity of kroketten (croquettes in Dutch) in the Netherlands. Being the second most popular fast food in the Netherlands*, one can easily find those breadcrumbs-covered ragout fries everywhere. They are sold in the supermarkets in both ready-to-eat and frozen forms. Warm kroketten are the must-haves in the unique Dutch food vending machine “snack automaat”. Even McDonald’s in the Netherlands has McKroket on its menu.

Back to the history, soon as kroketten have conquered the Dutch stomachs, the frugal Dutch people found them the best way to consume leftovers. Kroketten in the Netherlands can be made in a wide range of ingredients. The most common one is “rundvleeskroket” (beef croquette), made from thickened beef ragout. They are cylinder-shaped and are enjoyed with mustard. Other kroket varieties include ganaarlkroket (shrimp croquette), aspergekroket (asparagus croquette), groentekroket (vegetable kroket) and the “bitterbal”, a popular appetizer when having a drink. As the Dutch food landscape has been strongly influenced by the Indonesian cuisine because of historical legacies**, don’t be surprised to find the Asian twist in the kroketten: there are nasi- and bami-kroket, the breaded and deep-fried fried rice and fried noodles.

Curious about how they taste? Just make yourself some of these delicious Dutch treat and see how different they are from those you used to have! Tomorrow, Oranje Express will share with you a class Dutch recipe of “rundvleekroket” with a step-by-step how-to video. So stay tuned!

DIY an McKroket (a kroketbroodje)

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=236619819741995&set=pb.225292010874776.-2207520000.1390429454.&type=3&theater

參考資料/References:

Kroket on About.com

http://dutchfood.about.com/od/k/g/Kroket.htm

Kroket/Croquette/Krokke on Wikipedia

http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kroket

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croquette

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korokke

Japanese Korokke

http://podcollective.com/fora/viewtopic.php?p=8372&sid=416964d24bb4340b3e47753e55c0f7dd

http://ajimi-japan.blogspot.nl/2009/04/in-praise-of-korokke.html

http://ginkgraph.net/articles/fooddrink/korokke.html

*The most popular fast food in the Netherlands is “frikandel”, a deep-fried sausage made of minced meat.

**Indonesia was once a Dutch colony. Immigrants and the repatriated Dutch migrants from Indonesia have made a deep cultural influence on the present-day Netherlands. Oranje Express has shared one post about the Dutch “spekkoek”, in which you can have a sneak peek into the Dutch delicacies and its culinary history intertwined with that of colonization.

http://blog.sina.com.tw/yalcinchen/article.php?pbgid=39383&entryid=602462

un cadeau pour toi

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 14:08:00 +0000

什麼東西都有失了時的時候。

un aprèm d'été, Paris

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 19:52:00 +0000

去年夏天我們花了好多時間在一起。不對，是妳花了好多時間和我在一起。

那是一個異常燠熱的夏天。晚上不開窗就幾乎睡不著的夏天、就算睡著了也可能在床單一片濕的狀態下醒來的夏天。熱浪侵襲了整個巴黎，但我心底從來沒有這麼寒冷過。妳說，我們今天晚上就去Hôtel du Nord吧！Simon說那是個好餐廳。然後我們一起慶祝那來得不易的、我們的暑假！我說好啊，但其實心底還在抗拒，因為我本來應該還在工作的。我們在聖馬丁運河旁邊來來回回地走，啊，真的好熱，我忍不住說出口。好像說出來之後就不會被路面反射的陽光蒸發掉一樣。我們還打了個電話給一個住在附近的同學，但不知道為什麼，和她的時間永遠都對不上。

時間太早，我們還要等一個小時。所以繼續往前走吧！妳說。然後妳接了個電話，剛好路邊有長椅，所以我們坐下。妳講電話，而我開始這個夏天、還有以後大概六個月我唯一能做的事 - 等待。等待時間過去、等待下一個行程開始、等待可能是好的、或是壞的、但總是會發生的下一件事。我坐立不安，我心裡像有個壞掉的發條一直在震動，然後我努力讓自己冷靜，不要讓那個像發電機的嗡嗡聲再加到眼前令人暈眩的夏天裡。我拿出了iPad，照了那時在我們面前踱步的一隻鴿子，背景是悠閒無比的聖馬丁運河。河岸邊到處坐著在聊天、野餐的年輕人，傍晚慢跑的人就從我們眼前經過。然後妳說，欸我也好想開始運動喔。

我發著呆，想著還好今天下午和晚上都和妳在一起。我們可以好好地吃完一頓飯，然後我慢慢搭地鐵回家，由北至南。回到家洗完澡，我就可以名正言順地上床睡覺，告訴自己又活過了一天。然後身上的膠帶都還在，我還沒有散開碎落一地。一整個晚上我們講了好多話，我們說暑假、我們說學校、我們說甜點、我們說未來、我們說巴黎。但是我們都知道，那所有的話題裡，有一個人頑固地站在中間。雖然妳點的鮪魚美味無比，而我點錯了菜，來了兩次的牛排依舊乾柴得令人難以置信。而且隔天是星期一，我剛剛查了日曆才知道。

然後我其實沒有想過有一天，我會像這樣再次坐在巴黎的書桌前，這麼平靜地回想半年前的夏天。雖然過去一個月我又再度死了一遍，而我現在還可以聞到那個夏天的氣味，背景總是每天晚上伴我入眠的The radio dept.。那確實是個令人難以忘懷的夏天，也是我在巴黎真正的夏天。我把人生中所有離奇的遭遇全部在巴黎演過一遍，我每天想辦法把自己時間填滿，而妳想盡辦法把我裝進妳的行程裡。我開始對晚歸習以為常、開始對地鐵的髒亂視若無睹、開始常去「那似乎很危險」的北邊。但其實是因為這樣，我才真正愛上巴黎，那個讓我體驗了夢想、愛、希望、幻滅，以及種種難言的感情，差點都要讓自己面目全非的巴黎。

如果今年夏天，我可以坦然地和妳說：來吧！我們來慶祝妳在巴黎的最後一個夏天，然後我們談起那些，我可以和妳碰碰杯子，說別在意，那太vintage了。那妳就會知道，對一個值得的人來說，等待和陪伴永遠是有價值的。

Utrecht, stad van en naar mijn hart

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 19:56:00 +0000

一個以前在Utrecht很好很好的朋友，在我即將啟程到巴黎的時候，寫了一封信和我說，希望我搬家順利、順利跨過分離焦慮。以前一直以為separation anxiety是只有要離家的小朋友和青少年才有，後來才發現自己年紀越大焦慮越嚴重，不是只有對人，還包括對地方。這兩年生活變動太多，不管是搬家、還是要好好定在一個地方都變得很不容易，也越來越難在變動裡抓住一些不變的東西穩定自己。在家的意義越來越模糊的同時，也越來越渴望家。

以前無論何時何地都會隨時想起Utrecht，閉上眼睛就能浮現在Utecht騎車、散步的路線。沒想到這大半年過去，Utrecht在我腦子裡出現的次數越來越少，我還是直到上次重置iphone的時候，才發現自己在離開Utrecht前往巴黎前，曾經錄了一段11路公車上播報站名的廣播: volgende halte: Neude --> Janskerkhof --> Wittevrowen --> Oorsprongpark --> Rijnsweerd noord ...在哪一站下車有哪家餐廳、哪個朋友住在哪個轉角，不想騎車的時候從哪邊下車到AH比較近，都像自己一筆一劃刻在腦子裡一樣。我的身體記憶著Utrecht的四季。是那樣的Utrecht，幫助我從零開始建立了自己的城市、自己的世界，還有自己。

12月的Sinterklaas meeting，和曾經在Utrecht共度一年的好朋友們視訊，大家開始討論自己最喜歡的城市的時候，才發現只有我一個人一直從一而終的愛著Utrecht，然後才發現朋友們已經紛紛脫離了那個"學生/少女時期"。直到今天，在巴黎的公車站看到"6 Fun Trivia about Utrecht, One of theHappiest Places in the World" 這篇文章、和Oudegracht的照片，我也才忽然懂了，原來我在Utrecht成長的時候確實已經過去，縱然她永遠是我在歐洲的家，且我永遠不可能再愛一個城市像愛Utrecht一樣。

然後我就迫不及待地想回鹿特丹了現在。那個我在客廳裡不開暖氣就會凍得發抖的鹿特丹。還有走廊盡頭那個溫暖的燈光，那個在我進門說"Hello!!!"的時候，永遠有兩個人也會大聲回答"Hello!!!"的鹿特丹。

Ebi chili えびちり

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 13:41:00 +0000

蔥細切、蒜細切、薑細切。

三大匙酒、四大匙番茄醬、一小匙豆瓣醬、兩小匙醬油、兩小匙糖、兩小匙醋。

不記得上次這麼氣定神閒地做菜是什麼時候了，因為我久已沒有自己的廚房。去年這時候，我和過去在Utrecht的每一年一樣，和你一起騎著腳踏車，到Bunnik的Albert Heijn買菜，一邊在路上閃躲凌空飛過的鞭炮與煙火。每年我們總是要興高采烈地討論除夕晚餐的菜單，然後無論如何，chicken karaage和ebi chili永遠都是你的首選。還記得嗎？我說過好幾次再也不做karaage了，因為每回雞腿去骨和油炸總是去掉我半條命。但是新年嘛，我還是笑笑地花至少兩小時做完，好看到你開心的笑臉。ebi chili就簡單多了，雖然我這麼不耐煩的人，還是好討厭把所有的材料都要細細切碎，所以過去的每張照片裡，都可以看出我用剪刀剪蔥花的痕跡。但是今年好意外，我住處的廚房裡有一把不錯的菜刀，而且今年買到的蔥，也意外地纖細，所以真的可以切得漂漂亮亮地，灑一把當裝飾還不夠。

啊對了，起鍋前也別忘了灑些麻油，鍋邊的熱氣會讓麻油溫潤的香氣充滿整個房間，這樣才有過年的感覺。盛盤的時候總是要用圓盤，而且最好用白盤，這樣我們才有不被稀釋的、年節的紅。

不知道從什麼時候開始的，1月1日也幾乎要和春節一樣重要，所以我們總是可以過兩個年。元旦的時候就開始預習那些迎新送舊、歡樂惆悵，總是要想辦法找個誰來一起團圓一下，因為自己一個人在這個時代裡，總是被教養得和缺憾無異。所以兩個年節的孤單，就要被提醒是雙倍的缺憾。那怎麼辦呢？我們今年準備好了嗎？今晚你為自己準備了什麼呢？我知道你大概也一直想問我同樣的問題，所以只能和你說，我雖然還沒有準備好，可是我很努力喔，我很努力地告訴自己，原本的一個人，就是完整的一個人。所以我還是在這個下午做了ebi chili，因為那個溫暖的紅，從來不會被只有一個人的時間沖淡。

我們一起等候了那麼多年的元旦，今年你要自己倒數了。願你在滿城煙花那麼張牙舞爪的時刻，還是能靜靜地享受片刻的寧靜與幸福。

新年快樂。

The most beautiful sea

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 03:42:00 +0000

親愛的，當我再度走在巴黎的路上，總會想起妳那時候和我說：「生活是不能比較的，我們唯一能做的，是做了決定之後勇敢地走下去，也相信自己能夠make the best out of it。」

回到巴黎至今已經一個禮拜，開始慢慢重新建立自己的生活。妳知道那不是一個很容易的過程，而我在短時間內已經經歷太多次，多到在哪都恍如夢中。而當我在卡片信封上寫下自己的地址、在郵局裡把它們寄出的時候，郵局的工作人員和我說：「Oui, ça c'est bon. Bonnes fêtes, madame.」我才終於有點回過神來。是啊，我是要在巴黎過聖誕節和新年了。

而我還是在夜裡搭著地鐵一路晃回家。六號線的車廂裡總像有藍光濾鏡，人們絮絮地談話如抽屜裡的老照片。從地鐵站到家的那段路也熟悉地像走過無數次。我仍然會一路確認著門牌號碼，好幾次卻真的還是過頭。但是我突然發現，其實窗外真的看得見鐵塔，只是很不容易；而且即使如此，鐵塔本身其實像張觀光明信片，連錯覺都不給。

然後當我想起妳家旁邊那個公園，曾經我無數次地照了極其平凡、但無比美麗的天空、雲影、小小的運河與天鵝、鴛鴦，我讀到了土耳其詩人Nazım Hikmet的這首詩：

The most beautiful sea hasn't been crossed yet.

The most beautiful child hasn't grown up yet.

Our most beautiful days we haven't seen yet.

And the most beautiful words I wanted to tell you

I haven't said yet...

En güzel deniz:
Henüz gidilmemiş olanıdır.
En güzel çocuk:
Henüz büyümedi.
En güzel günlerimiz:
Henüz yaşamadıklarımız.
Ve sana söylemek istediğim en güzel söz:
Henüz söylememiş olduğum sözdür...

於是我想起妳還說：「現在想起來，我們年輕的時候花了多少時間在抱怨當時的生活、幻想未來的可能，但到了現在、那個當初想像的未來，才發現自己還要花多少時間懷念過去。」然後我才明白，所有走過的路，儘管那麼不容易，每個時刻都有值得紀念的那一瞬間。我看著眼前朋友們的笑臉，不忘一邊聽妳極度clumsy的聖誕節故事，然後知道我們其實一直還在一起。離別雖然總是離別，但也是錯覺。

And yes, the most important thing is to decide, and to move on. Because we know that the best is yet to come.

賦別

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 03:24:00 +0000

昨天傍晚看著窗外十二月的葉落，突然間想起鄭愁予的《賦別》，其中兩句「這條路，我仍體切的踏著，而已經是你底夢境了」，讓我不得不對照起自己近期在鹿特丹巴黎兩地往返，總像從一個夢境駛向另一個夢境。臉頰還沒溫暖，就得急著搭上下一班的車，在下一個夢境裡踏著暈眩的腳步，想著上一個夢裡，髮間流過的風。

找出全詩重讀，結果在開頭就被重擊撂倒。是啊，這次我離開你，是風、是雨、是夜晚。為甚麼說這次，其實是因為還有多少個前次、多少個從未成功的企圖。每回的道別，都像是和那個從來無法下定決心的自己揮手，然後又忍不住把自己裝進你胸前的口袋、好好放進你的手心，告訴自己再過一會，就會溫暖起來的。你說了再見，長長的睫毛閃著眷戀，但另一個口袋裡傳來的震動，催促著你轉身。詩人說，而我風雨的歸程還正長。

而我風雨的歸程還正長。

我搖晃著坐完那整段地鐵，車窗上鑲著夜的藍邊，總有時光旅行的錯覺。我走過吵雜的人群、昏暗的地鐵站、路邊亮著燈的小酒館，我把大衣的領口立起，接著走過住處旁邊的花店、印度餐廳，然後才折回正確的門牌號碼。我按了幾次大門的code，開了門就是闃黑、似乎能延伸至永恆的長樓梯。我總是在家門邊摸索著好久，才能終於取出鑰匙開了門。那到底的走廊，喊一聲也許會有回音吧。

而當我終於把自己的大衣掛好、鞋子踢掉倒在床上，用手心試圖溫暖自己的耳朵，你是不是已經再度置身一個熱鬧的國度，還是安坐在家裡的沙發，電視已經轉了一輪。我都可以聽到你廚房開著水龍頭，水嘩嘩地流著、你有一搭沒一搭地和誰說著話。你的簡訊在床邊閃動，可是我還在努力地把手邊的書一頁一頁的翻下去。

不像當初說的，窗外其實看不到鐵塔。那樣也好，屹立的燈光總給我堅定的錯覺。

我說，今年冬天買的新圍巾又大又溫暖，被那樣的溫暖包覆著，我有點想要放棄一個人走在夢境的兩端，就這樣不說再見的睡去。可是怎麼辦啊，你總是那樣溫柔又急切地喚醒我。我總是在練習道別，但說出口的總是再見。

nostalgia

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 13:05:00 +0000

對台灣的鄉愁一直對我來說是個很模糊的概念。印象中自從來到歐洲，我從來沒有想過家。誠然每一次吃飯，都能深刻體會到自己的文化背景，但食物從來都不是讓我想回家的理由。反而偶爾回到台灣，走在路上那種深刻的焦慮，才讓我明白，原來我真的是來到歐洲才找到自己。

我也從來都沒有身為異鄉人的感覺，直到最近。當開始正式找工作，面臨一堆visa和語言的困難，才知道原來以前的自己果然太天真。能夠這麼優遊自在的生活在一個地方，其實還是因為心裡有個anchor，不管它是一個確切的目標、是另一半、還是當地的朋友，或是與城市之間建立的感情。然後我才稍稍能體會身為一個移民需要面對的種種複雜心理課題、什麼叫做無根的飄零，還有why social capital is so critical (because it's simply almost everything)。

但儘管如此，我仍然無法和家人(或者一些朋友)解釋為什麼選擇不回去台灣。除了嚴重的反向文化衝擊、還有生活方式的選擇外，誠實地說，大概是我自己不夠強壯。不夠強壯到能夠面對環境與社會壓力的影響，還能好好的守護自己。所以我寧可選擇在歐洲，而不是在台灣當個stranger。在自己的文化圈中當異類的那種疼痛太強烈。

不過啊，總還是有某些時刻，會想起餵養自己的那些點點滴滴，譬如小時候放學，總是期待的那張熱騰騰的蔥油餅。我到現在還記得我們家附近那位老伯伯熱氣蒸騰的大鍋，還有他俐落的煎餅、切餅的手勢；那總是在陰雨的台北冬天，那混合著雨和植物的潮濕氣味，還有躲在媽媽雨衣下面的我。

所以當那些感覺襲來的時候，就吃一張自己做的蔥油餅吧。不過就和我最後用了整顆leek(韭蔥)代替青蔥一樣，雖然我知道青蔥優雅的香氣不是韭蔥能夠代替的，但也就這樣了吧。我還是我，但總有些東西是不同了。

No step back, no regret

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 18:52:00 +0000

I took a deep breath. I read my interview on CAREhER again (and Liz's too). And then I thought of you, you, and you. I decided not to be ruled by fear anymore. I clicked "send" and held my breath till the "cancel" was gone. 19:46 18th November, 2013.

a parallel universe

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 23:06:00 +0000

晚上11點29分，我在Châtelet的地鐵站。無意識地數著身邊飛駛過的車廂，搞不清楚這個星期以來，這是我第幾次那麼晚一個人回家。看著與下班時間等量的洶湧人群，我不知道心裡的麻木其實還能再度被撩撥。眼眶熱熱的，可是我說不明白那是什麼。

車子開始往前飛奔，我眼底的餘光掃過車窗，發現了自己的倒影。車門邊有個亞洲女孩，正用標準的美式英語和她同伴說著一個有關侏羅紀公園的話題。視線越過他們，我看著對滿車廂的乘客和嘈雜的法語無動於衷的自己，滿腦子只想著，也許真有平行世界吧！那入口會是在哪呢？會在Cité島的哪一邊，還是會在過了塞納河的左岸呢？我想起1Q84裡青豆輕易地抵達彼端，卻艱難無比地返回此岸，不禁思考起自己現在究竟在哪個世界，在一個少了誰又多了誰的世界？還是不管在哪個世界，其實都只有我自己一個人？我可以不被扭曲的想法毀壞嗎？我能夠給車窗上映出的那個自己一個擁抱嗎？

我低下頭又一次仔細看了我的手：左手小指上還有上次被plaque壓到的痕跡，兩手指節和手臂再度開始紅腫發癢，還加上不規則的細碎傷口，是無法忍耐的我自己抓傷的。休息了一星期，原本裂開的指節已然癒合，發炎的跡象也逐漸緩和，但不知道為什麼，皮膚過敏卻有越演越烈的趨勢，繼頸項、胸口之後，今天終於在手上捲土重來。我告訴自己，等會回家洗完澡後要擦藥、要吃過敏藥。然後，然後如果我能好好睡一覺，並在睡前把那些在風裡冷卻的眼淚流完的話，也許我就能順利又晃過一天，像終於騙過了誰一樣，把那些裂痕成功地再貼起來一次。

為了聚會的告別

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 21:24:00 +0000

直到真的要提筆寫下什麼的時候，才知道那傷根本還沒癒合。我想了無數的開頭，但始終沒辦法成篇。

那天在火葬場，看著婆婆平常慣穿的那些衣物隨著紙錢在空中翻飛、與火起舞，逐漸燒成焦炭的時候，我怎麼都沒辦法忍住眼淚。那件駝色的毛衣、毛褲，您過年會穿去吃飯的那件藍色緞面旗袍外套，還有那些新的襪子、內衣褲，唉，婆婆您就這樣帶去天上的家了嗎？我們就這樣要和您說再見了嗎？農曆年還沒到，南台灣的太陽已然驕人，那火越燒越旺，濃煙和漫天的灰燼幾乎要竄到身上，可是站在繩圈外的我們，卻這樣和您分別在兩個世界了。

告別式前，我原本說好要進去看婆婆淨身，卻在最後關頭臨陣脫逃，想說告別式當天還能再見到婆婆一面。但為了確認會場的花圈，我竟然幾乎錯過了蓋棺前最後的幾分鐘。阿姨們說，婆婆睡得很安詳，婆婆的皮膚也和生前一樣柔軟細緻，但是我擠在人群裡的最後一瞥，卻覺得那口紅好不像平常婆婆會用的顏色，婆婆的臉色也跟平常不一樣。我寧願相信真正的婆婆已經去到了別的地方。紙蓮花圍了婆婆滿身，我們還要跟著禮儀師說要您保佑子孫都升官發大財，我幾乎都不肯應聲說有。我在心裡說我們都會好好努力，讓自己活得精彩，您不會應許我們這麼膚淺又不負責任的願望。

骨灰入塔後那天晚上，我們大家在客廳裡，就像每年過年一樣吃著晚飯。忽然間是誰說起婆婆的拿手菜，大家你一言我一句說了好多好多，但我心底好疑惑，為什麼我都記不得了呢？是不是我在您身體還硬朗的那幾年，錯過了好多開心的時刻，怎麼我腦海裡對您健康的記憶只到小學那幾年，之後就飛快地轉到您病弱了呢？是不是我在那幾年之間注意自己太多、注意您太少，結果連話都沒有和您好好說過幾次呢？

去年11月奶奶過世，我和這次一樣趕回台灣。我堅持回了台南一趟，和您說說話。我說，婆婆，我現在在巴黎學甜點，妳不要擔心，我會好好努力，對自己的選擇負責，有一天您會為我驕傲。我說，婆婆我愛您。但看到已經插管、再也不能正常進食的您，我知道自己已經浪費了太多時間。那些滿足和快樂，我再也沒機會和您分享了。我還幫您照了相，當時心裡只有心酸，現在才知道，原來後面還有更多是我難以承受的。

我們幫您準備了一個很漂亮的新家，有大花園、竹躺椅、小狗，還有您喜歡的黃包車。房子很大有三層，讓您可以和外公、太婆還有舅媽一起做伴。房子剛剛送來那天，我們為了究竟真身是平面紙人還是立體人偶弄不清楚，還去了葬儀社確認。我手拿了兩個女人偶，一個穿紫衣一個穿黑衣，大家都說穿黑衣的應該是您，但我覺得您應該喜歡紫色多點。可是為什麼啊婆婆，甚麼時候您已經變成哪個人偶都可以，甚麼時候我們還幫愛漂亮的您選擇您應該穿甚麼衣服呢？

我一直都還沒有和您說再見。即使火化完幫您撿骨也始終沒有真實感。骨灰罈上您的照片年輕美麗，那時和外公站在一起一定是一對璧人。是啊，怎麼可能這樣的一個人就剩下這幾片骨頭與一抔灰了呢？

我們在影劇三村的房子裡找到了好多您以前的旗袍，從裡面挑選幾件讓您帶走。我留了一件帶來巴黎，希望這樣您就能跟著我一起看看嚐嚐那些漂亮精緻的甜點。婆婆您知道嗎，我這次還帶了臭狗和胖米妮跟我一起回去。以前每年寒暑假，您都幫我縫補這幾個我一直帶在身邊的布娃娃。您說我是個戀舊的人，可是我怎麼知道有一天，再戀舊有些事情卻永遠不可能再回來呢？

婆婆您知道嗎？雖然好多事我已經忘了，但我始終還記得小時候爸爸出國出差，您來我們家幫忙媽媽看顧我們，曾經有一次我問您，是不是可以彎腰手指摸到地上，結果您二話不說當場就做給我看。我那時候好驚訝，還被媽媽念了一陣，說怎麼讓婆婆做這麼大的動作。可是我相信，如果我現在再問您同樣的問題，您絕對不會怪我小孩不知輕重，而還是會毫不遲疑的做到吧？那樣就好，因為您現在一定是和那時候一樣健康強壯。直到我們再見面的那一天還有很長時間，但這迢迢的路總會走到終點，所以我們現在暫時的告別，就是為了再見。

我不哭，我會好好努力。

Turning a new page of my life in Paris

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 15:57:00 +0000

It’s been two months since I moved to Paris. I confused, hesitated and suffered from all kinds of emotions, but I made up my mind at the end. I decided to go to Paris to learn French pastry at a culinary school. It was indeed the most difficult and most important decision I’ve ever made, although I had switched my directions a couple of times already.

Situated on rue de l'Abbé Grégoire, Ferrandi is the leading culinary school in France. It offers two 11-month intensive programs in French cuisine and French pastry for international students. The intensive programs are composed by 5-month in-school training and 6-month internship in famous pâtisseries, salons de thé, restaurants or hotels. I chose to enroll in the pastry program although I love cooking (probably more than doing pastries). It wasn’t an easy choice but I think learning pastry would definitely enlarge my capacity for creativity, artistic sense and precision. And pastries make everyone happy. A good pastry can save a bad meal. In addition, I’m much more into French pastries than French cuisine. ;-)

So here I am, in Paris. Yet life is still real in the dream land. It’s never as sweet or relaxing as everyone might imagine about a pastry lab. Everyday is challenging, competivie, and very likely frustrating. However, it was never as clear that this is what I want to do exactly. I’ve cried, I’ve doubted but I always decide to carry on. And I believe I can make it.

The program organization is in weekly themes. Until now we’ve made tarts, feuilletage, Viennoiserie, pâte à choux, entremets, and petits gâteaux. We also had classes in arts, boulangerie and catering. Numerous pastries were made during the past 8 weeks. The fridge in my apartment is literally stuffed by pastries everyday.

Ever since the program began, I soon realized how much I need to learn, practice and improve. I am most of the time the slowest one in the class, yet given more time I used, I still can’t produce better products. During the week before last week we made entremets, a French term meaning a sweet course between meals. It seems nowadays to refer to bigger cakes that are shared among several people. It was the most frustrating week I’ve had till now. Every single day I felt that I screwed my cake and I screwed another chance to make a better impression to our chef. It was dudring that week that I got to know how immature I am as I always hope someone would come to clean up the mess I’ve made and save my ruined cakes. And I realized that I had a tendency to turn my back and give up if I felt that I couldn’t fix something to the extent that I felt satisfied (which means, perfect). I’m a perfectionist but I don’t have enough flexibility and persistence. It was until that moment that I knew that I have to admit that I’m still way from good and capable and there’s a long way to go to improve those things that I’m short of. It was as well at that same moment I realized that I still want to challenge myself and believe that one day I can master those skills.

It’s been half way of the in-school training. In the following weeks we’ll be making macarons, more classic cakes and petits fours. We’ll also do more chocolate and sugar works. After that we’ll be starting our internships. So, stay tuned as there will be much more challenges and updates ahead.

For more photos of my creations during the training, please visit my pinterest page: http://pinterest.com/yingc/ferrandi-sept-2012/ (constantly updated)

Alsatian Peach Tart (peach custard pie)

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 20:45:00 +0000

I recently added 3 French baking cookbooks to my cookbook collection. It was quite a risky investment as I have to move very soon. However, it was really hard for me to resist anymore those beautiful illustrations, the wide coverage of recipes and the secrets of the techniques those books reveal. It was of course related to my fancy of going Paris for the pastry program, but I guess the pure curiosity to baking was the main cause. I have been studying (yes, literally STUDYING) and comparing the recipes and methods in these 3 books together with one reference book I have. I thought that I now know much more than I did a year ago, but the peach tart I made yesterday proved that more practices may be more helpful. So, more tarts/pies to come! ;-)

Alsatian Peach Tart (peach custard pie)
Adapted from Alsace Tart (tarte à l’Alsacienne)
in The Art of French Baking by Ginette Mathiot

For the pastry: 1 quantity pâte sucrée

250g cake flour, sieved
125g butter, softened
125g confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)
1 large egg yolk (in room temperature)
1 teaspoon salt
Extra butter to grease the baking dish
Extra all purpose flour to dust the work surface and the baking dish

For the filling:

500g peach, halved (I used the canned peach halves in syrup and drained off the syrup)
50g all purpose flour
2 eggs
100g caster sugar
150ml kwark

A 25cm tart tin or a 20cm*30cm baking dish, greased and dusted

Instructions:

To make the pastry -

1. Cream the butter, salt and sugar together in a bowl until well combined and the mixture becomes light and fluffy, adding in 1/3 of the sugar at one time. Beat in the egg yolk until fully incorporated and form a smooth mixture.

2. Mix in 1/3 of the flour and combine until no crumbs. Add in rest of the flour and combine it with the mixture using a spatula. Add in 1-2 tablespoons of chilled water if the mixture is too dry. Knead very gently until it just comes together as a ball of dough.

3. Cover the dough with cling film and chill in refrigerator for at least an hour before use.

4. Bring the dough back to room temperature and roll it out to a 3mm thick pastry on a dusted work surface. Use it to line your tart tin or baking dish. Chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

5. To bake the pastry blind, preheat the oven to 180C. Cover the pastry case by baking paper and fill with baking beans (pie weighs) or uncooked beans/rice. Bake for 15 minutes, preferably at the lower rack in the oven. Remove the baking beans and bake for another 15-20 minutes until light golden brown in color and cooked.

To make the filling -

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2. Arrange the peach halves in the cooked pastry case.

3. In a bowl, beat the flour, eggs, sugar and kwark until smooth. Pour over the fruit and bake for 30-40 minutes.

4. Remove from the oven and cool down on a rack. Sprinkle with extra confectioner’s sugar to decorate or to taste when the tart is cooled. You may also glaze the fruits with the saved peach syrup.

Notes: The most common tarte à l’Alsacienne uses apples or apricots. But the apricots in the photo of the book are so much reminiscent of the canned peaches. As I so missed the sweetness and nice memory of these peaches, I decided to make a twist of the original recipe. The original recipe calls for 50g flour and 100ml crème fraîche. I substituted kwark for crème fraîche since I still have a pack left in fridge. The batter seemed too “solid” when it was made, so I added some water to make it more fluid. But this probably was the cause for a rather hard custard at the end. Next time I'll reduce the amount of flour and add more cream/kwark for a more tender and creamy texture. I also replaced the original pâte brisée with pâte sucrée for the pastry crust.

媽媽的甜椒鑲肉 - News98全民出好菜活動

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Fri, 25 May 2012 00:27:00 +0000

許久沒上ptt，一上站卻在信箱裡發現意外的驚喜，News98的節目製作人Jasper來信邀請我參加該台主辦的「全民出好菜」活動。不過因為最近才剛忙完論文，心裡一直有掛念，所以和Jasper信件往返了幾次，拖到現在才發文，實在是很不好意思。

其實心裡原本還有幾道菜候選，但有的不太適合最近火熱的豔陽天、有的創意必須要歸功食譜，斟酌了半天，最後還是決定要把媽媽的拿手好菜「甜椒鑲肉」拿出來分享。其實媽媽一直都是用青椒，那特有的辛香，讓肉餡的鮮美中帶著一點挑釁的意味，是十足的下飯菜。無奈在荷蘭最近只去超級市場的我，怎麼都找不著在台灣常見的那種糯米椒，幾經考慮最後還是下手買了兩根就要1.69歐的puntpaprika。不過這紅椒的果實飽滿多汁，甜美的香氣倒也符合這家常菜親切可人的個性，沒為襖熱的夏日火上加油。配上清炒的四季豆，鮮明的紅綠對比，讓餐桌莫名添了幾分南洋風情。以下就是食譜，希望大家吃得開心囉！

媽媽的甜椒鑲肉[材料] 約2人份
長型甜椒或燈籠椒2根 (長寬約為5cm*18cm)
四季豆1大把

肉餡:
豬絞肉120g (我用的是豬牛各半的絞肉)
中型洋蔥0.5-1顆，切小丁(或以適量青蔥代替)
蒜粒1-2瓣，切細末
薑末1小匙
米酒1大匙
水3大匙
醬油1-1.5大匙
鹽1/4小匙
白胡椒粉1/4小匙
香油1小匙
自製紅油1小匙(可省略)

[步驟]
1. 將洋蔥、蒜末、薑末及米酒加入絞肉中混合均勻，接著打水：將水一大匙加入絞肉中，然後用筷子以順時鐘方式攪拌絞肉，等水完全被吸收後再加入下一匙水。打水是讓肉餡鬆軟多汁的祕訣之一。接著加入鹽、醬油及胡椒粉調味，最後拌入香油及紅油增添香氣、並鎖住肉汁。
2. 將甜椒去蒂，接著小心地去籽。可以用手輕拍甜椒將籽彈出，也可以用長型湯匙輔助，小心不要讓甜椒破裂。
3. 將肉餡填入甜椒中，開口處將肉餡抹平。
4. 起油鍋，鍋熱後將甜椒放入，以中小火煎至兩面微皺、略焦黃後起鍋。因為我用的是相對大型的甜椒，擔心內餡不夠熟，所以中途還加了一點水並蓋上鍋蓋悶煮了一陣子，最後再打開鍋蓋煎到水份飛散。甜椒起鍋後可以等溫度稍降後切段擺盤，如果用較小型的糯米椒也可以不切直接盛盤。
5. 將四季豆放入原油鍋中煎熟或加少量水悶熟，如想減低油量，也可直接另用一鍋水將四季豆燙熟。四季豆起鍋後擺在甜椒上，可依自己喜好裝飾。

喜歡口味更重一點的，可以在甜椒起鍋後，於原油鍋中加入醬油兩大匙及糖兩小匙煮滾後，再將甜椒放回鍋中，以小火煮到略收汁，盛盤後再將醬汁淋上。

配上白飯，再加上自己喜歡的配菜或湯，就可以享用滿足的一餐囉！

昆蟲食譜 Het Insectenkookboek / The Insect Cookbook

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Tue, 22 May 2012 12:00:00 +0000

太久沒有發文，就先發一篇之前在<荷事生非Oranje Express>發過的舊文來暖身好了(完全是為自己的懶惰找藉口)。不過我前兩天去Oudegracht的Selexyz書店時，有看到作者之一的Marcel Dicke將在5/29晚上在該店舉辦示範昆蟲料理的訊息，心癢癢地很想去參加呢！

Sorry for not updating my blog for a while. I just submitted my thesis last week and I’m still bothered by the ultimate existential question - what to do next – although it seems quite clear if I listen to my heart carefully. Anyways, today I’m re-posting the news about <Het Insectenkookboek/The Insect Cookbook> as I came across the news of Marcel Dicke’s demo in the Sexlexyz bookstore Utrecht last Friday. If you haven’t read it on the <Oranje Express>, enjoy it!

[荷式態度 Dutchness] 昆蟲食譜 the Insect Cookbook/Het Insectenkookboek

Do you mind eating worms/insects? Do you know that one day they can be your most important source of protein? Together with chef Henk van Gurp, two professors in Wageningen University recently launched an insect cookbook, promoting insect eating and cooking. It has getting more and more difficult to feed all people in the planet, let alone eating well. Research at the university has shown that insects can provide the best source of protein while meeting the needs of a rising population. In addition, insect production is much more environmental friendly than other livestock productions. Raising insects emits 100 times less greenhouse gas than raising pigs. Professor Marcel Dicke said that the launch of this cookbook is a step further to the introduction of insects on restaurant menus in the Netherlands. Besides solid recipes, this book includes interviews with researchers, food specialists, innovators and chefs who have been paying efforts on this issue and who have been making insect cooking more enjoyable and fun. The authors also try to justify their seemingly unusual attempt by introducing readers traditions of eating insects in different cultures.

To be honest, although I still feel nauseous thinking having insects in my meat balls or on top of my quiche, I can hardly not applaud the establishment of this unique cookbook. The recipe editing and food photography are just so honest and outspoken. They simply were not developed to conceal. I see a blunt Dutchness in promoting something that is believed to be right, although it might stir many's stomachs.

是的，你沒看錯！這就是一本道地的昆蟲食譜！版主前一陣子在新聞中讀到，荷蘭Wageningen大學研究指出，昆蟲是比牛豬等動物更好、更環保的蛋白質來源，將在世界糧食大戰中扮演重要角色，且研究人員計畫推廣昆蟲料理。沒想到前兩天逛書店時，便赫然發現書架上安穩擺著這本"昆蟲食譜"！仔細翻了翻內容，實在是激賞荷蘭人的務實、坦誠和開放。不僅食譜的設計非以"讓讀者/吃客感覺不到這是昆蟲做的"的心態出發，食物攝影本身也毫不隱諱昆蟲的存在。有些料理將炸過的蟲蟲當成如油蔥酥般遍灑其上、有些則是以昆蟲構成本體，如昆蟲穀物棒、巧克力等。除了食譜以外，這本書中更收錄了許多研究學者、專家與大廚的訪談，以及介紹世界各國以昆蟲入菜的傳統(如墨西哥與中國西南省份)，除了展現嚴謹的學術精神外，更充滿了為世界未來找尋方向的熱誠。這也不禁讓版主重新思考，我們認為吃昆蟲是噁心、但吃其他動物是美味這樣的認知，究竟是如何被文化所馴養？除了文化以外、是不是也有許多非關理性的成分參雜其中(例如對多毛多腳的生物感到不自主的厭惡與恐懼)？你們覺得呢？

Steamed Fish with Fermented Bean Sauce - An authentic Cantonese taste 豆豉蒸魚

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:34:00 +0000

It’s been a long while since my last update. I went back to Taiwan visiting my family and had a great Chinese New Year. I was fully occupied since I was back to Utrecht. The data and method assignment reminded me that the completion of my thesis might not be very smooth. Although I’ve been cooking still, I was not and probably still am not in a mood of writing. But I decided to get started anyhow, choosing something that really comforts me.

The steamed fish with fermented bean sauce (豆豉蒸魚) is a typical Cantanese dish. The Cantonese are known for their skills of cooking and especially of cooking and handling seafood. The principle is to use light and least seasoning that brings out and even intensifies the original taste and freshness. Steamed fish (清蒸魚) is one of the best example. It’s also really easy to make and the real cooking time is less than 10 minutes. This dish is a variation of steamed fish. The umami taste (or xian (鮮) in Chinese) of fermented beans (豆豉, douchi) adds depth to it. It’s the power and magic of time.

This dish also reminds me of my grandma and mom’s cooking. My grandma was a great cook. I’ve got to taste so much great food since I was very little already. Unfortunately she is not able to talk or even express her feelings freely anymore now. It’s really a pity that I didn’t start cooking earlier. There’s no chance learning from her anymore. My mom and my memory are what I can truly rely on. This one is a success, however, without many trial and errors. I’m sure that you’ll love it as I do.

Steamed Fish with Fermented Bean Sauce

[Ingredients] Serves 2
300g white fish or 1 whole fresh fish with less bones - bass or grouper are both good choices (about 600g)
1 tb salt
1 TB white wine
2 tb cooking oil (optional)
1 tb white pepper powder (optional)
1 TB garlic, finely chopped
1 TB fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 TB scallion (spring onion), finely chopped
2 TB fermented bean paste (豆豉, douchi) (or use 2 TB fermented beans with 1 TB soy sauce as substitute)
1 TB zha cai (榨菜, pickeld mustard tuber), finely chopped (optional)
1 tb sugar
1 small fresh chili, finely ringed
1-1.5 TB cooking oil (I use peanut oil)

[Instructions]
1. Carefully wash the fish and dry with kitchen towels. Rub salt, pepper powder, white wine and 2 tbs of oil on both sides of the fish. Put on a plate and set aside.

2. Boil enough water for steaming. Combine and mix the chopped garlic, ginger, scallion, fermented bean paste, zha cai, sugar and chili. Pour the combined sauce/paste on the fish.

3. Set the dish of fish in your steaming pot. Steam for 7-10 minutes with high heat until the fish is just cooked.

4. Heat the 1-1.5 TB cooking oil (until the temperature for stir-frying). When the steaming finishes, take out the dish and pour the heated oil onto the fish. Serve!

[Notes]
1. If you don't have a steaming pot, you can always use your frying pan, cooking pot or even wok to steam. Just put a small and shallow plate (or a pair of chopsticks!) at the bottom of the pan or pot to hold the dish to be steamed so that it doesn't touch the water directly. The pot or pan you use must be wide enough to accomodate the dish and deep enough as well so that the lid can cover the dish with enough space in between.

Bread-Crumbs-Crusted Tofu with Sweet Chili Sauce 乾燒炸豆腐

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:56:00 +0000

Fried tofu is common in both Taiwanese and Japanese cooking. I’ve fried tofu several times but never thought of coating and braising it with sauce. This recipe came just in time when I had a block of tofu left from Chinese hotpot made for Christmas dinner.

Frying food ingredients first and then braise it in sauce is a common Chinese cooking technique. Some famous dishes using such a technique includes General Tso’s chicken and Chinese spareribs, to name a few. The delicious Taiwanese fried pork chop, a must-have lunch box menu in Taiwan, is also made by this way. The fried coating absorbs the braising sauce, resulting in a juicy mouthfeel that allows you to fully enjoy the tasty sauce. In this perspective, tofu seems to be a top choice. Its mild flavor does not outperform the taste of the sauce, and if you freeze it in advance, the transformed texture makes it the greatest “sauce-absorber”. You really should give it a try!

Bread-crumbs-crusted Tofu with Sweet Chili Sauce
adapted from Matzoh-crusted General Gau's Tofu on Serious Eats

[Ingredients] Serves 2
1 block Chinese tofu, frozen overnight in advance
1 egg, beaten
1/2 to 3/4 cups bread crumbs
1/2 cup chicken stock or water
1 TB soy sauce
1/2 TB vinegar
1 tsp Chinese chili bean paste or Doubanjiang
2 TB sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp cornstarch
4 TB water
2 cloves garlic, finely choped
2-3 scallions, chop finely the white part; ring thinly the green part (optional)
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
2 fresh bazil leaves, finely chopped (optional)
peanut oil for frying (or other oil suitable for deep-frying)

[Instructions]
1. Take the tofu out of the freezer. Put on a microwave-safe dish or bowl and microwave for 1 to 2 minutes over medium heat. Carefully drain the microwaved tofu and cut into mouthful cubes. It's really hot so be very careful!

2. Mix well the stock, soy sauce, vinegar, chili bean paste and sugarin one bowl. Mix well the cornstarch and water in another and set aside.

3. To prepare for the coating, set up the egg and bread crumbs in separate bowls. Working on one cube at a time, dip the tofu in the egg and drip the excesive back in the bowl. Toss in the bread crumbs and set aside on another plate. When the coating is about to finish, in a deep-bottomed sauce pan or a wok heat the oil to 180 C.

4. Add prepared tofu cubes in the heated oil. Agitate constantly with a slotted spoon or cooking chopsticks. When they are crisp and deep golden brown in color (about 5-8 minutes), remove them from the oil and transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to drain the excessive oil.

5. Pour the frying oil through a fine mesh strainer into a saucepan or a bowl and leave 1-2 TBs of oil in the wok. If you use a deep sauce pan to fry, return 2 TBs of oil to a frying pan. You may discard the excessive oil or leave for another use. Heat the wok over high heat until it almost starts smoking and add in garlic, ginger and the white part of scallions. Fry until fragrant, which might take only 10 to 15 seconds. If you're using a frying pan, add them when the pan is warm but not too hot. Fry until fragrant. Add immediately fried tofu cubes and toss to combine. Add in the prepared sauce. Lower the heat and stir well to combine. Make sure that the tofu cubes are well-coated with the sauce and let simmer for a couple of minutes. Stir in the cornstarch mixture. Mix it well with the sauce. Further cook until it thickens and has a glossy glaze.

6. Turn off the heat. Drizzle over the sesame oil. Dish out and garnish with thin scallion rings and chopped bazil if desire. Serve with steamed rice.

[Notes]
1. Frozen tofu changes its texture to something like a tough sponge. Its capacity to absorb sauce increases to a greater extent and its firm texture also provides extra chewiness. Microwaving is an easy way to push the water inside out so that the tofu absorbs the taste of the sauce fully when it's being cooked.
2. I mixed cornstarch with additional water and separated this mixture from the sauce to allow the tofu cubes to be cooked in the sauce for some extra time before cornstarch makes it thickened. In this way the tofu absorbs more of the sauce and tastes juicy. It is also a more common way to cook in a Chinese kitchen.
3. I replaced cilantro with bazil for my own convenience and it worked great as well.

在台灣常常吃到炸豆腐，但似乎很少看到炸了之後再放進醬汁裡燒的做法。前幾天我在瀏覽聖誕節食譜時，驚喜地在Serious Eats上發現一些結合猶太與中國料理的創意食譜，其中一個就是這個乾燒炸豆腐(原文是稱為Matzoh-Crusted General Gau’s Tofu - 酥炸左宗棠豆腐)。這個食譜結合了猶太麵包Matzoh與中國的豆腐，並使用中式烹調方法、及美國人最愛的左宗棠醬燒製而成。Matzoh是猶太人在逾越節吃的未發酵麵包，以紀念出埃及時那段倉促逃難的苦難歷史。Matzoh在本食譜中是磨成麵包粉當成炸粉使用，所以用一般麵包粉代替即可。而先將食材酥炸再加入醬汁中燒，則是中式烹調常見的手法，左宗棠雞、京都排骨、甚至台式滷排骨等都是如此。炸好的麵衣會吸收美味的醬汁，讓人一口接著一口難以停箸。從這個觀點來看，豆腐善於吸收食材鮮味的特性，倒是非常適合這種烹調方式。剛好我冷凍庫裡有一塊聖誕節做日式火鍋剩下的豆腐，凍豆腐不僅更富咀嚼的口感，而且比板豆腐更易吸收湯汁，那就拿來一試囉！

乾燒炸豆腐
食譜由 Serious Eats 的Matzoh-crusted General Gau's Tofu 調整而來

[材料] 約2人份
1塊凍豆腐
1個蛋，打散備用
1/2到3/4杯細粒麵包粉
1/2杯雞高湯或清水
1大匙醬油
1/2大匙白醋
1小匙豆瓣醬
2大匙砂糖
1小匙香油
2小匙太白粉
4大匙清水
2瓣蒜粒，切細蓉備用
2-3根青蔥，蔥白部分切碎、蔥綠部分切成細蔥花備用
1小匙嫩薑，切細蓉備用
2片九層塔，切細備用(非必要；也可使用香菜)
花生油或其他適合高溫油炸的炸油

[步驟]
1. 將凍豆腐自冷凍庫中取出，放在可微波的盤或碗中以中火微波約1-2分鐘。小心將水從豆腐中壓出並瀝乾，然後切成一口大小的豆腐丁。剛微波完的豆腐非常燙，要特別當心！

2. 將雞高湯(或清水)、醬油、醋、豆瓣醬和糖在一小碗中均勻混合，另取一小碗混合太白粉與清水。放置一旁備用。

3. 將打散的蛋液和麵包粉分別裝在容器中，然後將豆腐丁均勻沾上蛋汁、再充分裹上麵包粉，放在乾淨的盤中備用。一次一塊會比較容易操作。裹粉即將完成的時候，可以先將炸油放入鍋中，加熱至約180度C。

4. 將裹好粉的豆腐丁放入油鍋裡，用筷子或有洞的湯勺輕輕翻動。炸約5-8分鐘直到豆腐金黃酥脆就可取出，並放在廚房紙巾上瀝油。

5. 如果油炸時是直接使用炒鍋，可留下約1-2大匙的炸油在鍋中，然後將多餘油瀝出(可丟棄或留置其他用途)。否則即將所有的炸油瀝出後，再從中取兩大匙放入炒鍋或煎鍋中。熱油鍋後放入蒜蓉、薑蓉及切碎的蔥白炒香，然後放入炸好的豆腐丁，混合均勻後加入2中備好的醬汁。轉小火，把醬汁混合均勻，確認豆腐丁都有充分沾到醬汁後煨數分鐘。接著加入太白粉水(如果已經有沉澱，記得攪勻後再加入)，再度將醬汁混合均勻。小火燒至整體醬汁呈光澤濃稠狀。

6. 淋上香油，關火。盛盤後再視個人喜好灑上切碎的蔥花與九層塔裝飾就完成了。這道菜真的超級下飯，非常推薦大家試試看！

[補充說明]
1. 原食譜使用板豆腐，但我使用凍豆腐代替。不僅口感更好，而且能吸收更多醬汁，吃起來跟多汁的雞肉幾乎沒有兩樣！微波後讓豆腐出水，可以讓豆腐在烹調時吸入更多醬汁、增加美味程度。
2. 原食譜將太白粉與醬汁直接混合，而沒有另外使用清水。為了讓豆腐能夠在醬汁中煨久一點，我還是用了我們比較熟悉的烹調方式：先加入醬汁煮幾分鐘再加入太白粉水，這樣會比較入味。
3 使用香菜感覺上會比九層塔更搭，但我沒香菜也沒辦法。不喜歡香菜或九層塔的人可以直接省略。

Limburgse kruimelvlaai (Limburg-style Flan) 荷蘭林堡式卡士達布丁塔

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 02:10:00 +0000

I received the cookbook De Nederlandse keuken Dutch Cuisine as a birthday present from Tine and Jana last year. They were very sweet to pick up a cookbook that in bilingual so that I can learn Dutch while enjoy cooking. It’s a very interesting experience reading over a Dutch cookbook since many of us wonder whether there is really a Dutch cuisine.

This cookbook did not let me down. It does include some typical down-to-earth dutch potato-mash and one-pot dishes, but at the same time also covered many interesting Dutch treats such as Uitsmijter (fried egg sandwich) and Kroket op brood (croquettes on bread). The first time that I saw an Uitsmijter was in Café Broers where we used to spend time making assignments. Jana ordered one and Tessel explained that an Uitsmijter literally means an “out-thrower", which didn’t leave me a very nice impression. But when it was served, I found it a hearty quick meal, although it wasn’t really thrown out of the kitchen as its name suggests. The same goes for a broodje kroket. I wasn’t fond of the smashed croquettes on bread until I tried it myself. I have to say that the Dutch cusine is really not something that would attract you by its appearance but you may fall in love with it once you overcome its terribly mashed and muddy look and put it into mouth.

I joked to try each of the recipes offered by this cookbook since my Dutch classmate Tessel was also curious about the contents, but so far only two were realized: the Limburgse kruimelvlaai and olibollen. I guess I’ll have to speed up before I graduate.

Limburg is the southernmost province of the Netherlands and borders the Limburg and Liège province of Belgium. The capital of the Dutch Limburg is Maastricht, a place that boasts itself to be the gourmet capital of the Netherlands. The Limburg-style flan introduced in the cookbook uses the Flemish yeast dough method, which is a basis for many Belgian desserts.

Limburgse kruimelvlaai (Limburg-style Flan)adapted from De Nederlandse keuken Dutch Cuisine

[Ingredients] makes 1 flan
For the crust:
250g all-purpose flour
7g instant yeast
100ml milk
20g butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
15g sugar
3g salt

For the filling:
400ml milk
35g custard powder
40g sugar

For the topping:
200g flour
140g sugar
140g hard butter

a 30cm or 12-inch tart tin, preferrably with a removable bottom

[Instructions]
1. To make the crust: Warm the milk to 38 C and sprinkle in the instant yeast. Stir well and sit for 5 minutes until foamy. Mix together all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Make a well in the center and add in the yeast mixture, egg and butter. Mix well the dry ingredients with the wet and form a smooth and soft dough. Adjust the wet and dry ingredients if needed. Knead briefly and gently to make it smooth and elastic but do not overwork as the dough becomes tough. Cover and rest in a lightly oiled bowl for 60 minutes.

2. To make the filling: Mix some of the milk with the custard powder and form a smooth paste. Heat the rest of the milk over a low heat on the stove to the simmering point and stir in sugar. Pour in the custard paste and stir constantly. Once the mixture starts to thicken, lower the heat and gently stir to form a smooth texture.

3. To make the topping: Mix the flour and sugar. Cut the hard butter in small cubes and rub them with your fingertips into the flour and sugar mixture until crumbly. Or place the cubed butter, sugar, flour into a food processor and pulse briefly for several times to mix until crumbly.

4. Generously butter and flour the tart tin. On a floured counter top punch and roll out the crust dough until about 6mm (1/4 inch) thick. Lay it into the prepared tin. Prick the bottom with a fork. Cover and let rise for another 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220 C.

5. Fill the custard in the tart case and sprinkle the crumbles on top. Bake the flan at 220 C for 25-30 minutes until it's set and golden brown.

[Notes]
1. I don’t have a proper tart case so I used my 6-inch cake form to replace, which resulted in a much-thicker filling.
2. The crust making uses the traditional Flemish yeast dough method, which serves as a base for many Belgian desserts, such as the Belgian chocolate ganache tart. The texture of this crust is somewhat in between an English bun and a bread.
3. You may of course make the custard in a traditional way with egg, sugar, milk and flour or corn starch, which tastes even better.

去年過生日的時候，收到Tine和Jana送給我的一本荷蘭食譜書<De Nederlandse keuken Dutch Cuisine>。她倆很貼心的選了這本有英荷文對照的食譜，除了知道我沒事就愛在廚房摸摸弄弄外，也不忘勉勵我在休閒的同時能順便練練我的荷蘭文。當時我們大家都很好奇這本書裡到底介紹了哪些荷蘭名菜，連我的荷蘭同學Tessel都希望我拆封後帶去給她瞧瞧。在荷蘭只有觀光區能看到打著傳統荷蘭菜為招牌的餐廳，因為荷蘭菜不像法國、中國、義大利或日本菜一般博大精深，不講究複雜的調味與烹飪技術、也不屑雕琢華麗優雅的外觀，兩個字「樸實」就能一語道盡荷蘭菜的精神。最正統的荷蘭料理就是stamppot - 各式各樣的蔬菜馬鈴薯泥搭配荷蘭煙燻香腸，全部搗爛了再一起吃。荷文 "stamppot" 指的就是在一鍋 (pot) 中搗爛 (stamp/mash) 的意思。另外還有如青豆湯 erwtensoep及麵包夾可樂餅 broodje kroket等。大概就是因為本土菜餚貌不出奇，再加上許多過去殖民與移民的歷史，荷蘭人對各式各樣的異國料理有著非常開放及勇於嘗試的精神，不僅超市架上擺滿著各種東西方調味料，冷藏即食食品區也充滿著各式炒飯、炒麵、炒米粉，完全是當成自家料理般深入民心，下次可以開一篇專文來談。這本書既然介紹荷蘭料理，自然也不例外地呈現荷蘭食文化的精髓，裡面甚至有介紹諸如荷包蛋土司 Uitmijster等簡單樸實到不行的料理 - 如果那也算是料理的話。

我曾經開玩笑和Tessel說，我應該把食譜裡所有的菜都做過一遍、再po上網，這樣她就知道這食譜裡到底收錄了哪些荷式美食。不過我至今也只嘗試過兩道，一個就是這篇文章介紹的林堡式卡士達布丁塔、另一個就是上一篇oliebollen。看來我得在畢業前加緊腳步，不然在心中眾多美食的環伺下，這薄薄的一本書也不是那麼容易就能完食的。
Limburg 林堡省是荷蘭最南邊的一省，省會是Maastricht 馬斯垂克。該省和比利時的林堡省(同名)與列日省接壤。這個地區號稱是荷蘭的美食之都，高級餐廳林立 (我懷疑大概正是因為與比利時接壤，所以才成為美食之都，哈哈！)。本食譜中的派皮，正是使用比利時北部佛蘭德斯區的發酵派皮法製作，和一般派皮做法大不相同。比利時許多甜點都是使用這種派皮，例如知名的比利時甘那許巧克力塔。

林堡式卡士達布丁塔食譜由 De Nederlandse keuken Dutch Cuisine 中的Limburgse kruimelvlaai調整而來

[材料] 可做一個約28cm的塔
塔皮:
250g 中筋麵粉
7g 速發乾酵母
100ml 鮮奶
20g 奶油，融化備用
1個蛋，打散備用
15g 砂糖
3g 鹽

內餡:
400ml 鮮奶
35g 卡士達粉
40g 糖

奶酥顆粒:
200g 麵粉
140g 砂糖
140g 冰奶油

一個30公分(12吋)的塔(派)盤，最好是底部可分離的那種

[步驟]
1. 製作塔皮：將100ml鮮奶加熱至約38度C，加入速發乾酵母。攪拌均勻後靜置5分鐘等酵母開始活化，最好等到表面有一層細細的泡沫。將所有的乾性材料混合，然後在中央挖一個洞，加入鮮奶酵母液、蛋液和融化奶油。將濕性與乾性材料混合均勻至一光滑柔軟的麵糰，可視情況用額外的牛奶或麵粉調整乾濕度。為讓麵糰混合均勻，可輕輕揉捏數分鐘，但千萬不要揉太久以免麵糰變硬。將麵糰用濕毛巾或蓋子加蓋，然後放在刷了油的容器中靜置60分鐘。

2. 製作內餡：將少部分的鮮奶與卡士達粉混合均勻成糊狀，然後把剩下的牛奶放在爐上用小火加熱，並加入砂糖攪拌均勻，小心不要讓牛奶沸騰。倒入混合好的卡士達糊並不斷攪拌。當鍋底開始出現固體狀態時就把火轉至最小，然後快速攪拌至均勻沒有顆粒的滑順狀態。

3. 製作奶酥顆粒: 混合麵粉與砂糖，然後加入切成小丁的奶油。用指尖慢慢將麵粉與砂糖混合，揉搓至大小不一的粗粒。家裡若有食物調理機，也可以直接將奶油、麵粉和糖放入調理機中打個幾下，到呈現粗粒狀即可。

4. 用奶油將塔盤上油、並灑上麵粉，讓等等烤好的塔容易脫模。在工作檯上灑上麵粉，把發好的派皮取出，將空氣壓出麵糰後桿成約6mm厚的片狀，然後放入塔盤中整型。將塔皮底部用叉子刺一些洞好讓空氣排出，接著再加蓋靜置約30分鐘。同時可將烤箱預熱到220度C。

5. 將卡士達醬倒入塔盤中並塗抹均勻，然後灑上奶酥顆粒。以220度C烤約25-30分鐘至整體呈現金黃酥脆。

[補充說明]
1. 我手上沒有塔盤，所以就直接利用我的六吋小蛋糕模製作，但這樣會讓內餡厚度大幅增加，所以烤的時候要注意是否有烤透。
2. 如上所述，這款塔皮採用傳統的佛蘭德斯發酵派皮法製作，是很多比利時甜點的基礎。塔皮的口感較接近麵包。
3. 如果不嫌麻煩，可以不用卡士達粉而使用傳統方式(使用蛋、糖、牛奶、麵粉或玉米粉)製作卡士達醬。

Oliebollen – Traditional Dutch Treats on New Year’s Eve 荷蘭傳統年夜點心 - 油炸球(荷式甜甜圈)

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 21:27:00 +0000

It’s New Year’s Eve tonight. Have you had any oliebollen? Oliebol (plural: oliebollen) is a traditional Dutch treat served on New Year’s Eve. Each year when winter time approaches, oliebollen booths would appear at the corner of many streets in the Netherlands. Supermarkets also start selling those delicious treats from mid December.

The deep-fried Dutch donuts not only warmed your heart but also was believed to be life-saving in Germanic traditions. It was said that during the Yule (26th December to 6th January), the Germanic goddess Perchta and other evil spirits would fly over the winter sky. To appease those evil spirits, oliebollen were made and offered. Oliebollen were said to protect those who ate them by rich oil so that Perchta’s sword, which cut open the bellies of all whom she encountered, would slide off the bodies.

Some believe that the American donuts originate from the Dutch oliebollen although the two vary in shape and texture. In my opinion, oliebollen closely resemble a similar treat we have in Taiwan, 炸雙胞胎 (literally means "fried twins"."Twins" refers to the dough shaped like two identical horse hooves). The most common flavor of oliebollen contains currants or raisins. Other popular and fancier alternatives may have apple, banana or even pineapple inside. It is easy to make oliebollen at home but difficult to eat just one delicious ball. Why not consider treating yourself tonight while celebrating for the coming 2012? After all, It might bring you good luck as the folklore suggests!

[Ingredients] makes 5-6 oliebollen
125g all purpose flour
125g milk
10g butter
1 TB sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3.5g instant yeast
20g sultanas, currants or raisins of your choice
1/3 apple, diced (optional; you may also use pineapple or banana)
peanut oil (or other frying oil) for deep-frying
icing sugar

[Instructions]
1. Rince the sultanas in warm water. Cut butter into small cubes and put in a microwave-safe bowl with half of the milk. Microwave 30-40 seconds over medium heat. Set aside and allow it to cool down.
2. Combine the flour, salt, sugar and cinnamon. Make a well in the center.
3. When the milk-butter mixture is just warm (about 30-40 C), stir in the yeast and let it sit for a couple of minutes until it starts to activate.
4. Add the yeast mixture into the well. Stir in the other half of the milk a bit by a bit and form a smooth batter until no lumps.
5. Drain the sultanas and add them in the batter.
6. Leave the batter to rise in a covered bowl at a warm place for at least an hour.
7. In a deep bottomed sauce pan heat the frying oil to 180 C.
8. Stir the diced apple into the batter if desire. Scoop the batter to form a small ball and carefully put in into the hot oil. Fry for about 2-3 minutes and turn it aside. Fry for another 2-3 minutes till it's golden brown.
9. Drain on kitchen papers once they are done.
10. Sprinkle generously the icing sugar on top and serve.

[Notes]
1. The batter might be wet and sticky when it's formed, but it is the right condition. There's no need to add additional flour.
2. If the room temperature is too cold, you may put the batter into the oven to rise with a cup of hot water.
3. To make it easier to scoop the batter, rinse the scoop or spoon you use with warm water after each scoop.
4. If you'd like to use less frying oil, you may use a smaller but deeper bottomed sauce pan for frying.
5. It's possible to fry several oliebollen at once, which depends on the size of your pan. Take care of the oliebollen so that they don't stick together. Too many might reduce the oil temperature and makes it difficult to cook the balls through.
6. To test the oil temperature, fry one oliebol until it's golden brown all over. Halve it and make sure the inside is done.

去年的這個時候，也寫過一篇關於荷蘭人的冬季小點oliebol(複數為oliebollen)的簡單介紹文章。Oliebol是荷蘭傳統的跨年點心，熱騰騰的oliebol撒上雪白的糖粉，甜蜜的滋味除了溫暖身心外，也有為順利度過惡寒的冬季祈福的意義。有一說指出美國的甜甜圈前身正是oliebol，但比起如今大家熟悉的鬆軟甜甜圈，oliebol的組織和結構更為紮實，其實更接近台灣的炸雙胞胎。最普遍的傳統口味是在麵糰中加入葡萄乾，但也有其他加入鳳梨、蘋果丁、香蕉等的變化。
今天正是歲末，起床後在<Oranje Express荷事生非>的版上po上一張oliebol的照片，問大家今天吃過oliebollen了沒，便突然想起昨天最後還是忘了在AH買oliebollen回家。一陣扼腕之餘，想起來我手邊也有一些荷蘭食譜，材料似乎也很齊，為什麼不自己做做看呢？原本都已經要立刻開工了，但參考了手上的兩個食譜，其中一個提到可以在炸之前混入蘋果丁，我一想既然都要自己做了，當然要做豪華版的。猶豫了一陣子還是起身整裝，在附近小超市關門之前搶下一枚蘋果回家。想到最後還是為了olibol出門，而且還不是買做好的回家就有點無言，還好oliebol的做法還算簡單，只要將所有材料混合，等麵糰發酵後油炸就完成了。而且自家炸的比市售產品鬆軟許多，真的有令人一口接著一口無法停手的魔力。以下是食譜，也祝大家新年快樂！

[材料] 可做5-6個oliebollen
125g 中筋麵粉
125g 鮮奶
10g 奶油
1 TB 砂糖
1/4 tsp 鹽
1/4 tsp 肉桂粉
3.5g 速發乾酵母
20g 葡萄乾
1/3個蘋果，切丁(非必要，加了口感會更豐富；也可使用香蕉或鳳梨丁代替)
花生油或其他適合高溫油炸的炸油
糖粉(裝飾用)

[步驟]
1. 將葡萄乾放在溫水中泡開。奶油切丁與一半的鮮奶一起放入一個可微波的碗中，以中火加熱約30-40秒。先放在一旁讓其略為冷卻。
2. 混合麵粉、砂糖、鹽、肉桂粉，然後在中間挖一個洞。
3. 當1的鮮奶奶油混合液降溫後(約30-40度C)，加入速發乾酵母，然後稍稍等個幾分鐘讓酵母活化。
4. 把3的酵母混合液倒入2的洞中，然後一點一點的加入剩下的鮮奶，攪拌成滑順而無結塊的麵糊。
5. 瀝乾葡萄乾並加入麵糊中。
6. 將麵糊加蓋、並放置在溫暖的地方發酵至少一小時。
7. 在一個深鍋中將炸油加熱至180度C。
8. 將蘋果丁混入麵糊中(非必要)然後使用一個湯匙或冰淇淋勺舀起一匙麵糊，將它整成圓球狀後小心地放入油中。炸2-3分鐘後翻面再炸2-3分鐘，至整體呈現略深的金黃色。
9. 將炸好的oliebollen放在廚房紙巾上瀝乾。
10. 撒上厚厚的一層糖粉即可食用。Oliebol一個很結實，別一不小心吃太多囉！

[注意事項]
1. 攪拌好的麵糊可能看來很濕黏，但那是正常的，不需要額外再加麵粉讓麵糊變成麵糰。
2. 如果冬天室溫太低，可以把麵糊和一杯熱水一起放在密閉的烤箱中(不用設定溫度)幫助麵糊發酵。水冷了再換一杯。
3. 可以在每舀一匙麵糊後，將使用的湯匙或冰淇淋勺過一下溫水，這樣麵糊比較不容易黏在匙上，會比較好操作。
4. 如果想要減少油炸用油，可以使用一個小但深一點的湯鍋，炸的時候也可以傾斜鍋體讓麵糊均勻浸泡在油中。
5. 如果湯鍋夠大，可以一次炸數個，但要小心不要一下次放太多球麵糊，以免它們黏在一起或油溫快速下降，而難以炸熟。
6. 在開始大量的油炸之前，可以先炸一個試油溫。將測試的那個oliebol炸到通體金黃後取出，切開一半確認裡面都已經熟了，即表示油溫夠熱。

鶏のからあげ Japanese Fried Chicken (or Tori no Karaage) 日式炸雞

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:09:00 +0000

I've read about 鶏のからあげ (Japanese Fried Chicken or Tori no Karaage) on many Japanese cookbooks but never was appealed to try, until I watched the episode of 唐揚げとハイボール (deep fried chicken) of a Japanese TV drama - Shinya Shokudo (深夜食堂).

I learnt many delicious Japanese home cooking recipes from this TV drama. The warm and healing atmosphere in that small restaurant, opening only in the deep of night, has really caught me. If I were to open a restaurant, this is the one that I’d like to have – small, cozy, a place that both old and new customers alike would enjoy and relax. The fried chicken presented in that episode looks so delicious that I finally persuade myself to overcome my aversion to deep-frying things in my small kitchen. The taste was so great that it appeared on my dining table again even on this Christmas Eve.

It is a pity that Shinya Shokudo did not provide a recipe in detail but only some key points. I therefore based my recipe on Harumi Kurihara’s first and award-winning English cookbook <Harumi’s Japanese Cooking>. I hope you enjoy it too!

[Ingredients] Serves 2-3
250g boneless chicken thigh or drumsticks (with skin)
3 TBs sweet potato starch
2 TBs plain flour
Sunflour or other vegetable oil for deep-frying

(for the marinade)
1/2 TB dry white wine (or Japanese sake)
1 TB soy sauce
1/2 TB crushed garlic
1 tb finely crushed ginger

Some pickled cucumber (or fresh herbs and salad leaves) to serve together
Sweet chili sauce, ketchip or mayonnaise for dipping

[Instructions]
1. Make up the marinade. Cut the chicken with skin into mouthful pieces. Let them sit in the marinade for at least 30 minutes. Make sure that every piece of chicken are well coated.
2. In a sauce pan heat the oil for frying (170-180 C).
3. Meanwhile, mix the sweet potato starch and flour. Well dust the marinated chicken pieces.
4. When the oil is hot enough, deep fry the chicken pieces for 4-5 minutes until they are cooked, turning golden and crisp. Drain the cooked chicken pieces on kitchen papers.
5. Serve with the dipping sauce, pickled cucumber and/or washed herbs and salad leaves.

[Notes]
1. Using sweet potato starch makes the crust more crisp than using plain flour only. You may use potato starch or cornflour to substitute.

2. You may use a smaller but deeper bottomed saucepan for deep frying to reduce the amount of frying oil. But remember not to put too many chicken pieces at once, otherwise the oil temperature will reduce very soon and it becomes difficult to cook the chicken through and make it crisp.

3. To judge the oil temperature without a thermameter, you may toss into the oil a drop of the mixture of the marinade and dusting flour. It is hot enough if the drop sinks a bit and then quickly rises to the surface.

4. Make sure that you fry the chicken immediately after it's dusted with the flour. The coating will become soggy and therefore won't be crisp anymore if you wait for too long.

5. Serving fied chicken with pickled cucumber or salad leaves and fresh herbs significantly refreshes and reduces the greasiness of fried chicken. Harumi Kurihara in her <Harumi's Japanes Cooking> recommends wrapping the chicken in the leaves with some fresh herbs like chives, mint or coriander. I personally think that shiso (perilla in Japanese; 紫蘇) would a be even better alternative if it's available. I used pickled cucumber instead because it's easiest to find and prepare. To pickle cucumber, just cut cucumber into thin and fine slices, sprinkle with salt, and sit for 10-30 minutes. Squeeze to drain (you may put sliced cucumber and salt into a clean plastic bag in advance to avoid directly touching it) and it’s done.

ps. If you’re interested in other Japanese home cooking featured in Shinya Shokudo, you may have an overview in their recipe section here: http://www.meshiya.tv/gochisou/.

鶏のからあげ(日式炸雞)是我在<深夜食堂>習得的菜色裡，第一個端上桌的。其實我在許多日本食譜書裡都早已久仰大名，但始終沒想到要做，原因就是我實在不愛在自己的廚房裡油炸食物，一來耗油、二來油煙味總需要一段時間才能散去。衣服會吸滿炸物的味道不說，連頭髮和皮膚都會變得非常油膩，實在令人不快。但那回在晚餐前看了深夜食堂，突然想起冷凍庫裡那些棒棒腿，熟悉的煮法既然已膩，不如就來試試看，還可順便消耗那包買了一直沒用的地瓜粉。大受好評的結果，就是聖誕夜再做一次，變成名副其實的日式聖誕夜大餐。

日式炸雞其實很簡單，麻煩的只有炸的步驟。重點就是將雞肉先行醃過入味，裹粉後立刻下鍋炸才會酥脆。我參考了Harumi Kurihara 栗原はるみ的Leaf Wrapped Chicken食譜，並調整如下：

[材料] 約2-3人份
250g無骨雞腿肉(帶皮)
3大匙地瓜粉
2大匙麵粉
葵花油或其他油炸用植物油

(雞肉醃醬)
1/2大匙白酒(或米酒、日本清酒)
1大匙醬油
1/2大匙蒜末
1小匙薑末

另備一些醃小黃瓜(或新鮮香草及沙拉葉)與炸雞一起食用。沾醬可選用泰式甜辣醬、番茄醬或美乃滋(請選用日式或歐式美乃滋)。

[步驟]
1. 混合雞肉醃醬材料。將雞肉連皮切成適口大小(不好切的話可以使用利剪)並放入醃醬中醃製至少30分鐘。所有的雞肉塊都必須均勻裹上醃醬。
2. 在一小湯鍋內倒入油炸用油並加熱至170-180度C.
3. 等候油加熱的同時混和地瓜粉與麵粉，並將雞肉均勻裹上炸粉。
4. 當油夠熱時，把裹好粉的雞肉放入油鍋中炸4-5分鐘，確認雞肉有炸熟(可取一塊切半確認)，且表面成金黃酥脆。把炸好的雞肉放在廚房紙巾上瀝乾。
5. 盛盤並附上沾醬、醃小黃瓜或洗淨的沙拉葉及香草。

[注意事項]
1. 地瓜粉能讓雞肉的脆皮更香酥。如果沒有地瓜粉的話，也可用馬鈴薯粉或玉米粉(或太白粉)替代。

2. 使用一個小而深的湯鍋可以減少炸油的用量，但要特別注意不要一次下鍋太多塊雞肉，否則油溫會快速下降，這樣不僅雞肉會很難炸透、也很難炸出酥脆的表皮。

3. 可以在雞肉下鍋前先放一些粉漿測試油溫，如果粉漿稍微下沉接著很快浮至表面，即表示油溫適當。另一種方法則是直接將筷子插入油鍋中測試，若看見稍大的泡泡延著筷子筆直上升，表示油溫約達170度C左右。

4. 雞肉裹好粉後應立即下鍋油炸，否則粉漿一但變得濕黏雞肉就炸不脆了。

5. 附醃小黃瓜或新鮮沙拉葉及香草的作用，都是減少炸雞的油膩感。栗原小姐在她大受西方世界歡迎的<Harumi's Japanes Cooking>裡，推薦用沙拉葉裹著炸雞、並搭配如蝦夷蔥、薄荷或香菜食用；但我個人認為如果紫蘇葉會更合適。在荷蘭幾乎不可能取得紫蘇葉，所以我使用家裡常備、也可在緊急時快速做出的醃小黃瓜當作配菜。只要將小黃瓜切薄片、加鹽醃製10-30分鐘，然後擰乾水分即可(不想用手直接擰乾水分的話，也可以將切片的小黃瓜放入乾淨塑膠袋中加鹽醃製，之後再隔著塑膠袋扭擠、瀝乾水分並取出小黃瓜)。

[其他補充]
對深夜食堂內的其他食譜有興趣，請參考該劇官方網站的食譜專區。

Merry Christmas 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:37:00 +0000

The Christmas this year might have been the most festive one I’ve ever had. I had been following many food bloggers, e.g. Sweet paul, who started Christmas count down a month ago and updated every day for the preparations for the Christmas. I also collected many Christmas special issues/brochures from Albert Heijn, Hema and La Place. I am not a very big fan of Christmas itself, but I really couldn’t resist those beautiful photos and creative ideas on table setting, food styling and food. Yes, food, one of the most important factor that constitutes festive atmosphere.

I had been held in this mood for several weeks until Christmas Eve since I just handed in the first half of my thesis the day before which. I had no idea what to cook and prepare until that afternoon. I looked over many websites, blogs and cookbooks but too many fancy ideas only got me more indecisive. Even when I was already in the supermarket I was still half-hearted on all kinds of roulades (Dutch: rollades) and a turkey. But at the end, we decided to cook something Japanese and Chinese – fried chicken and hot pot.

You might or might not know that it is really common, or rather a national custom in Japan to enjoy fried chicken, especially KFC’s buckets, on Christmas Eve. It was originated from KFC’s holiday campaign in 1974, marketing its buckets as a holiday essential, with an aim to replace turkey in traditional Christmas dinner’s menu. Since then, fried chicken on Christmas Eve has had its root in Japan. Since my Japanese fried chicken (鶏のからあげ) was a success (recipe to be shared soon) and was so much praised by my Japanese partner, we decided to simply replicate it. The Chinese cabbage hot pot was chosen because it’s a harty dish that’s easiest to prepare without too much work. On top of that, hot pot has long been considered as a must during family and friend gatherings, especially on Chinese New Year’s Eve and in general during winter time in Taiwan and China. The round shape of a pot and a bounty of food in that pot resemble completeness and abundance, making it a perfect choice of a year-end dinner. In Japan, doname cooking (Japanese hot pot) is also popular in chilly months. For the appetizer, I made mini tomato tarte tatin with the tomato confit I prepared the other day. Voila, this was what I had for Christmas dinner, and it was great.

However, I started feeling really “Christmas” only in the next afternoon, after those delicious chocolate rolls were baked. The sweet fragrance buttered the air and my mood. Initially I was so desperate for a Kerststol (Christmas stollen) but it was too late when we finally made ourselves in the supermarket. All of them were sold out. All I managed to get was only two mini feest stolletje. Luckily I found the sweet glazed orange rolls recipe in the morning. I made a twist by using chocolate paste and cream cheese glazing instead. When they were done, I was almost convinced that I’d like to be a baker rather than a cook during the rest of my life. I didn’t like bread and pastries that much before, but baking has completely changed me. Bread and pastries have become my comfort food and I now associate the smell of baking with happniess only although my own baking experience was not always satisfying. Those chocolate rolls were nevertheless so delicious (and the cream cheese glazing was wonderful!) that they also appeared on the dinner table that evening. I decided to bake some more of them before I go back to Taiwan and share with my family.

Well, I guess that’s a kind of wrap-up of my Christmas. I hope I’ll have time and energy re-organizing and sharing those recipes I used and adapted. What about you? Did you enjoy your time in Christmas? What did you have for Christmas? Are you already looking forward/prepared for the coming new year? I wish you all had a great time and of course, a fantastic year to come!

三杯雞 Three Cup Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:55:00 +0000

Three cup chicken, this is the dish that saved me from a recent regression from cooking.

Probably due to the stress of finalizing the fist half of my thesis, I haven’t been really cooking for a while. The most scary thing is, what was lost was not only my motivation but also skills. Much of my cooking ended up in a disappointment and a disastrous event also took place. I made some toast bread literally on fire for a while in my oven. I still can recall vividly how I drew a blank watching the fiercing fire, the heavy smoke and the piercing alarms, thinking that the oven might explode in next second and how I could put it off. Luckily I survived and oven turned out to be fine. I thought this incident might traumatize me but it didn’t. I tried the three cup chicken the other day and it was a success. The fragrance of heated sesame oil, the caramelized color, the savoury yet sweet soy sauce flavour and the refreshing touch of basil altogether was such a comfort. I was then led back to the normal track.

Three cup chicken is a classic Taiwanese cuisine. Its name hints at the three key ingredients: Chinese rice wine, sesame oil soy sauce of the equal ration. Nevertheless, it apparently would be greasy and salty if you follow this measurement precisely. I adapted the recipe of 阿基師, a top chef in Taiwan, who suggests that the best ratio of these three should be 4 (rice wine):2 (soy sauce):1 (sesame oil). Apart from this, to achieve an authentic Taiwanese taste, a good bunch of basil is required. Bazil leaves give a refreshing trace to the taste and adds depth to this dish. The fragrance of bazil in Taiwan is in general more intense then that in Europe, lending a wilder and bolder flavor.

[Ingredients]
450g chicken knuckles or drumsticks (with bones) or 250-300g boneless chicken thighs in pieces
4 TB rice wine (you may replace it with other dry white wines)
2 TB soy sauce
3tbs sesame oil (preferrably dark sesame oil)
2 TB sugar
A bunch of fresh bazil leaves
5 slices of fresh ginger
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly pressed (no need to chop)
2 spring onions, in strips
1 red chili pepper

[Instructions]
1. Bring a good panful of water to boil. Add the chicken, return to the boil and simmer for about 2 minutes to remove excessive blood in meat. Remove the chicken from the water and allow to cool. Dry with kitchen towels.

2. In a wok or a frying pan heat 2 tbs sesame oil over the medium flame. When the oil is warm (but not hot!) add the ginger and garlic.* Stir fry for a wihle until you smell the heated aroma. Add in spring onions and chili. Wait also until the fragrance comes out then add in chicken. Leave the chicken skin-side down for a few minutes until it turns golden and then stir fry for another 1 to 2 minutes.

3. Mix well the wine, soy sauce, the rest of sesame oil and sugar and then add the mixture in the wok. Continue to stir fry the chicken and bring the sauce to boil. Cover it and let it simmer over medium heat until the sauce is thickened and mostly absorbed by the chicken. Every piece of chicken should then be well-coated with the sauce.

4. Add in bazil and mix it well with the sizzling chicken. Dish out and serve.

[Notes]
Three cup chicken is best cooked and served with an earthenware pot (clay pot), which preserves the heat and continues to cook while serving. It no only makes this dish tastier but also more appetizing in its presentation. If you’re using a clay pot, firstly heat it until very hot and then add in the sesame oil. Before the oil gets too hot add in spring onions and garlic. The rest of the steps remain the same. The key is not to over-heat the dark sesame oil, resulting lt in a bitter taste.

Een verse munt thee

noreply@blogger.com (Ying Chen) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 14:12:00 +0000

在台北的家裡一直種有薄荷，而我也年復一年地為我窗外的薄荷澆水、除草、除蟲，但除了夏日的滿目綠意、以及偶爾爸爸會摘幾片薄荷葉讓我聞聞它的香氣外，薄荷與我似乎僅有單向的關係。另外大概是因為中菜不若東南亞菜系，廣用香草入菜食用，因此除了與巧克力間的經典搭配外，薄荷做為食品的存在感一直對我來說很薄弱。而且雖然早就知道有薄荷茶的存在，但在到荷蘭之前，我更沒有仔細地思考過薄荷做為飲品的可能。

在荷蘭交換學生那一年，我在土耳其餐廳與茶舖喝過一兩次薄荷茶，不過它對我而言仍然只是一種過眼雲煙般的異國情調。我還是偏愛中國茶與英式紅茶，薄荷茶被我歸於花草茶一類，向來就不屬於我的調調。更何況，薄荷的味道讓我想起牙膏。喝下一整杯薄荷茶，簡直就像灌了一杯牙膏水一樣。

薄荷茶開始真正在我生活中生根，是去年再次回到Utrecht以後的事。我和同學們習慣下課後到圖書館旁邊的咖啡店 Gutenberg 一起喝杯咖啡或茶，聊天之外，也從緊繃的課業中放鬆一下心情。不知道是看到誰點了薄荷茶，我立刻就被那杯盈盈綠意給迷住了。荷蘭人喝的薄荷茶和摩洛哥人不同，糖是隨自由喜好加的。如果在荷蘭咖啡店或茶舖點新鮮薄荷茶，端上來的就是一杯除了薄荷與熱水外什麼都沒有的飲料。綠色的枝葉在熱水中漂浮伸展，沒有其他任何的人造成份、就和我窗外那片綠地與森林一樣，似乎在向我招手，並偷偷保證只要喝了幾口，就能立刻神清氣爽、舒緩神經，並恢復活力與健康。那樣的保證與安慰，是咖啡與一般茶包沒辦法給的。從那之後，不管到哪，新鮮薄荷茶總是我的第一選擇。大部分時候不加糖，偶爾放些蜂蜜，我突然之間便能安然享受那在許多人眼中仍然是牙膏水的飲料了。某次在AH看到新鮮薄荷盆栽，甚至不顧已經重得難以提攜的購物袋，應是要帶它回家。當天晚上我自然給自己來了杯新鮮薄荷茶，隨著熱水沖入茶杯，薄荷的香氣逐漸逸散至空氣中，我把茶杯在手中轉了又轉，當下真能體會何謂生活中的小確幸。

有趣的是，“Een verse munt thee, alstublieft (A cup of fresh mint tea, please)!” 竟也因此成了我最溜的一句荷蘭文之一，且從這一句開始，我也學會了其他不少在咖啡店和餐廳使用的慣用語，大大減少說完第一句後就必須切換為英文的窘境。和花生醬一樣，新鮮薄荷茶大概也成了我荷蘭化的憑據之一。

後記：
如果想要多學學如何使用香草入菜，Albert Heijn的雜誌Aller Hande有不少編寫經美的食譜和專欄可以參考。以下這篇算是入門，沒事可以逛一逛，裡面也有介紹新鮮薄荷茶：
http://www.ah.nl/allerhande/#/2011/allerhande-3-het-lekkerste-van-de-wereld/kruiden/