Green Olive Tree

Second attempt at the no-knead bread

2011-04-08T13:22:00.004+08:00

[No-knead bread]

Baked the no-knead bread once last year, wasn't too hard, but just didn't get around doing it again. Recently, I got interested again, bought some yeast and was waiting for the baking mood to come along. Realizing that the instant yeast I bought were going to expire in July, the frugal-not-wanting-to-waste me got to work. After consulting several food blogs and receipe versions online, and after lotsa trial and errors, I've been baking non-stop for the last two weeks....based on this this amazingly fool-proof recipe by www.seriouseats.com. Try it, happy baking!

A practical call

2011-03-15T13:03:00.003+08:00

[Call to conserve electricity - March 11 Japan]

For the Japanese, practicality overrides all things. First things first: BE ENERGY EFFICIENT - conserve electricity.

A hideaway enveloped by forests

2011-03-14T20:57:00.005+08:00

[Arcana Izu, Japan]

Was considering this onsen resort in Japan for my honeymoon, I guess not anymore... Would love to spend a weekend there at some point though. Monocle Magazine raves about it, looks like a fabulous place to escape from Shanghai for the food and fresh air.

Arcana Izu, Yugashima
〒410-3206　静岡県伊豆市湯ヶ島1662
T 0558.85.2700 F 0558.85.2701
E-mail: reservation@arcanaresorts.com

Japanese Black Seseame Butter

2011-03-07T13:10:00.003+08:00

[Breakfast]

Just the right tint of sweetness - goes with anything, especially good with Ritz Crackers.

Unique food gifts from Tokyo

2011-03-03T22:15:00.005+08:00

[Higashiya Ginza's sweet potato chips]

Uniquely sliced and packaged sweet potato chips - no additives, so it actually taste like nothing :)

Get it at Higashiya Ginza

Hot Pot King

2009-04-08T18:16:00.011+08:00

[Authentic Chongqing Hotpot]

This devilish concoction is none other than the famous spicy hotpot of China. Mind you, your spice tolerance level has got to be 5 chili peppers and beyond. Otherwise you're gonna suffer.

We savored this particular hotpot dinner in the city of Kunming, located in the Southwestern province of Yunnan, in the company of an old friend Qingqing. It was supposed to an authentic Chongqing-style hotpot from the ex-Szechuan province, made out of a sort of butter and lots of different spices including the tongue-numbing Szechuan pepper.

Notice the little partition in the middle, that's the non spicy broth for those without an acquired taste of all things spicy. The usual practice is for a group of people to sit around a table, order numerous plates of sliced meat, seafood, mushrooms, vegetables, tofu products, cook the food in the bubbling pot and dip them in their own custom-made dips. Indeed, the highlight of every hotpot place in China is the huge buffet-style dip section. You can make you own dip with every kind of sauces, spices and herbs such as vinegar, satay sauce, cilantro, sesame oil, sesame seeds, 5 different kinds of soy sauce, and 10 different kinds of chilli paste or sauce.

I was told by my chinese colleagues that the hotpot phenomenon is more of a winter get-together thing so I would suppose that hotpot restaurants would be less busy when the days get sunnier. In Shanghai, we like to frequent this less chaotic and more upscale chain - Hotpot King, at their two locations, one in the west side of the city and one in downtown.

Shanghai Eats

2009-03-12T17:24:00.012+08:00

[Xiao Long Bao]

It's unbelievable, we've been in kungfuland for almost six months now! When I first got here I found that I wasn't able to add new posts to this blog. Friends and readers have emailed me to inquire of my whereabouts and realizing it's been almost a year since I've posted anything, I decided to post this picture I took of my first xiaolongbao in Shanghai. Notice it has a little opening on top!

I had just saw some friends in Singapore over the weekend and all of them have asked how we've been adapting here. It' s been really easy considering there are so many comforts in this city. Massages are 7.70 euro per hour, housekeeping services are 2 euro per hour, and taxi fares are 1.10 euro. Food-wise, there are so many interesting restaurants around that I've probably got all the weekends for the rest of the year to check out new places to eat.

Before I pen off, here are two addresses to try out xiaolongbao while you're in Shanghai.

Ding Tai Fung
2/F, South Block, Xintiandi
6385 8378

Lynn
99-1 Xikang Lu
near Nanjing Xi Lu next to the Portman Ritz-Carlton on Xi Kang Lu
西康路99-1号, 近南京西路
6247-0101

An island getaway at Tioman

2008-04-23T12:15:00.009+08:00

[Japamala Resort, Tioman Island]

Blame it on writer's block... here comes the long awaited trip report. Three full days of complete indulgence and relaxation is how I would summarize our trip last month to Tioman, an under-the-radar island off the Eastern Coast of Malaysia on the South China Sea. The trip came about because I had to think of something unique for T's 30th. As I couldn't quite yet grasp his design barometer, so a piece of design junk was definitely out of the question. I thought hard and long, and since he had never been to any interesting parts of Malaysia, a surprise island getaway would be a novelty, I had hoped.

How should I describe this place that I finally nailed down? Japamala tries to be lavish yet laidback. With only 12 Thai-Balinese-styled chalets, the secluded resort made us feel like we were the only ones at the place. Service was impeccable with extremely well-trained and well-mannered Burmese attendants. After all, that's how you would coin a boutique hotel, wouldn't you. For me, it's that personal attention that matters. Here, you don't get noisy families and throngs of people everywhere at some of the mainstream hotels on the island. Along the sun-dappled beach on our side of island, we could kayak or swim out to see the colorful marine life underwater, or take a walk out to another stretch of sand for some solo sunning.

[Whole lobster fresh off the grill]

Apart from having time to just chill by the beach with a book and a nice cool drink, the retreat is sprinkled with what I call instant gratifications. You can get a Thai massage by a skillful Thai therapist on an open-air deck, or you can have a nice picturesque lunch at the bar-restaurant, pearched up on stilts 100 metres away from the shore. Pictured above, the kitchen serves up a casual Italian fare with quite decent pizzas, pastas and grilled seafood. It boggles my mind as to why the management didn't choose to focus on local cuisine, since most of the guests hail from international places. I guess the forgiving bit was that the seafood served are fresh catch of the day by local fishermen around the island. We had big tiger prawns, lobsters and fish such as sea-perch and grouper, locally known as Kerapu and Kerisi. And for the very least, the sauces accompanied are sprinkled with local flavors like tamarind, lemongrass and chillis.

The other restaurant at Japamala serves up scrumptious breakfasts and dinners that we savored daily. Thai and Vietnamese influences are heavy on this one since the resort grew out of the success of the owners' first Indochinese restaurant venture in Kuala Lumpur. We had some really good squid stir-fried, curries, and salads made out of local ingredients like cilantro, peanuts, and green papaya.

Dusk on the island -- the view of the restaurant on stilts -- is mersmerizing. Attendants start to light up candles everywhere on the wooden walkways leading to the chalets perched up on the hill. For the two of us, spending three days there was just about right given that all you do is to hone the skill of doing nothing. A time of rest, relax and reflection, can all be had at this tiny boutique resort if you're willing to forgo having to do different things on your vacation.

In the know:
Japamala Resort
Tioman Island, Malaysia
http://www.japamalaresorts.com/

Air-flown desserts from Hong Kong

2008-03-25T11:53:00.007+08:00

[Sweets from Hong Kong]

These cute little mochis in unusually creative flavors were a little surprise gift from T's recent business trip to Hong Kong. Milk Tea, Yellow Split Peas with Coconut Milk, Red Beans and Green Tea... how funky is that. My favorite flavor is Tofu with Fresh Mango, which got me hooked during my Christmas visit to the city. The filling is a smooth mélange of fresh mango bits in a mango-flavored tofu puree.

Traditionally, mochi is made by pounding steamed glutinous rice in a large wooden mortar with a wooden mallet until it becomes a powder form. This is made into a dough and formed into little balls with sweet red bean paste as a filling. The type of rice used is a stickier variety of rice - glutinous rice - different from the steamed rice on everyday dining tables.

Originally a Japanese confection, these small, round rice cakes with fillings are getting into the mainstream of Asian confections. To be fair, the Chinese has a variant version of mochi, which are called "lo mai chi", translated as glutinous cakes. It is so popular that even ice-cream versions can be found in the frozen department of Singaporean supermarkets.

The next time you're in Asia, do look out for them!

A whole lot of recipes from Weekend Herb Blogging

2008-03-17T14:00:00.025+08:00

From Seattle to Sydney, we've got 30 cooking ideas (including mine) for last week’s Weekend Herb Blogging. This should make a home dinner planner very happy for the remainder of spring with all these recipes featuring healthy vegetables, herbs, spice and grains. Let’s dive right through the list...

Meatball Barley Stew
Location: Vendee, France
Katie’s official good-bye to winter is this stew that she claims doesn’t require hours of cooking and could be adapted with ground chicken or turkey, and even a vegetarian version. Read more at her blog Thyme for Cooking.

Beans and Beans with Garlic and Tomatoes
Location: Seattle
Finding an innovative way of cooking green beans, Kaykat of Cooking From Matoz decided to create a gravy-laden dish with a can of cannellini beans and a generous portion of chopped tomatoes and crushed garlic.

Rogan Josh: the ultimate comfort food
Location: Toronto
Elizabeth from “Blog from OUR kitchen” features the Bay Laurel for WHB. Her recipe is adapted from a Kashmiri dish named Rogan Josh. She has made her own version with pork instead of lamb.

Salt Lassi
Location: Mexico
Relatively new to the food-blogging scene, chef and cooking school owner Victoria of Flavors of the Sun gives us a run down on everything we need to know about cooking with salt, along with her simple yoghurt drink.

Mushroom Fried Rice
Location: USA
DK of Culinary Bazaar shares with us a rice recipe using a variety of fresh and dried mushrooms and a whole lot of other vegetables. Sounds like a tasty and complete vegetarian meal.

Peruvian Quinoa Stew
Location: Sydney
Anna from Morsels and Musings conquered three of her 2008 Food Challenge and succeeded in replicating a Latin American recipe from the cookbook “Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. Her key ingredient is the quinoa grain, something that I would love to attempt as well.

Spring Carrots with Mint & Quinoa
Location: Southern California
Another quinoa creation, this time by White on Rice Couple’s Dianne and Todd. Their recipe is lovingly made with miniature palm-size carrots harvested from their very own edible garden.

Roasted Asparagus Recipe with Creamy Tahini-Peanut Dipping Sauce
Location: Utah
From the creator of WHB, Kalyn adapted a sesame-peanut sauce to go with roasted asparagus (instead of the usual way of cooking them in hot water). Sounds like a very easy starter, good for appeasing hungry guests at the dining table.

Borscht
Location: Southern California
Wandering Chopsticks features what she calls a “gloriously vibrant soup” with Ukrainian roots. Borscht is made with beets, and is said have been brought in to America by Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.

Pineapple Prawns
Location: Clermont-Ferrand, France
Pamela aka The Cooking Ninja shares with us a stir-fried pineapple and prawns dish. Learn more about the pineapple fruit and try her tip of using its juice as a meat-tenderizer.

Nectarine and Raspberry Strudel
Location: Melbourne
Johanna of Green Gourmet Giraffe gives us this amazing fruit-paring dessert recipe complete with photographs of the assembly process and lots of research on the vitamin-rich nectarine fruit.

Sticky Ginger, Fig and Nut Loaves
Location: Sydney
Lemonpi has got some sticky ginger, fig and nut loaves to share. This cake is simple and not too sugary, and the figs make this perfect weekend treat fibre-rich and low in fat.

Lemon & Honey Drink
Location: Sydney
Zoe of Puku shares with us a soothing citrus remedy and tells us why lemons are great for cold and flu. Her entry is also loaded with lovely pictures of her cooling creation.

Mint Tea
Location: Melbourne
Featuring one of my favorite herb, Haalo from “Cook Almost Anything” creates a batch of mint tea using fresh mint leaves and gunpowder green tea leaves. Learn about the goodness of the herb on her blog.

Kohlrabi and Apple Salad
Location: Cesseras, France
Jennifer of Like to Cook introduces us to the curious looking kohlrabi or cabbage turnip. Love this healthy fruit and veg combination. Thanks for your courage of picking that first kohlrabi up from your market!

Chervil Kohlrabi Soup
Location: Northern Germany
Also using Kohlrabi as a key ingredient, Ulrike of Küchenlatein creates a soup with the addition wonder herb Chervil, which is purported to aid digestion and liver and gall functions.

Brussels Sprout Stir Fry with egg, chilli, ginger and garlic
Location: Oxford, UK
Sophie of Mostly Eating gives us a fun way to up our Brussels sprouts intake with her stir fry. She convinces us that growers have been working hard to come up with sweeter tasting varieties of the vegetable, and she offers a list of other recipes to tinkle with.

Herbed Hemp Seed Balls
Location: New York
The Chocolate Lady tries her hands on these balls with lot of other seeds that she thought turned out a bit more like falafel balls. A great finger food that also goes along perfectly good with pasta and sauce.

Olive Chicken Stew
Location: Lima, Peru
Olive-obsessed Gretchen of Canela & Comino gives us a lesson that olives cannot be eaten straight from the tree; only the processed are edible. Her recipe is a great complete meal fit to feed the entire family.

Vegetable Lumpia
Location: Philippines
Spring rolls are a mainstay in various Asian cultures, and Lumpia is the native name of these delicate parcels in Gay of Scientist in the Kitchen’s home country. This version is absolutely fun with its use of sweet potato, taro and Thai basil.

Shrimp Risotto with Sugar Snap Peas
Location: Canada
Jerry’s risotto recipe features the use of a homemade shrimp stock and a complex intermingling of flavours including a hint of mint, a touch of chili pepper spice and lotsa sugar snap peas.

Sun-dried Tomato Hummus
Location: Atlanta, USA
Chris of Melecotte gives us a fun variation of my favorite party food, the Middle Eastern chickpea dip, Hummus. Check this one with the addition of sun-dried tomatoes and parsley. Absolute yumm!

Kimchi Pork Stir Fry
Lcoation: California
Tigerfish of Teczcape is getting into the "heart" of kimchi -- Korean pickled cabbage. Recounting a little story she heard one day, she explains how a kimchi pork stir-fry is done.

Just-About-Spoonbread Quick Corn Muffins
Location: Iowa City, USA
Genie of the Inadvertent Gardener has got all the mileage for her prized Iowa sweet corn which she even got some frozen from last summer. There’s more you can do with basic cornbread and muffin mix with the addition of fresh corn kernels. Wicked.

Chicken Tikka with Onion Relish
Location: Victoria, Australia
Pam from the Backyard Pizzeria has got a great chicken dish you can’t resist, especially for a spice-seeker like me. This recipe has got the chicken sitting in a yoghurt marinade, complete with the flavours of coriander, garam masala and just a hint of chilli.

Lazy Potatoes
Location: India
Sra of When My Soup Came Alive has got it right with this spice-laden baked potato dish for that lazy day in. Her rethoric of “lazy days are great for food” proves that with the odds and ends that you have at home you can end up with a stunner.

Colcannon
Location: USA
Getting ahead of St. Patrick’s Day, Glenna of A Fridge Full of Food gets into the festive mood with her cardomom-spiced colcannon served with corned beef and green bread.

Rose Petal Ice Cream
Location: Somewhere on the globe
Ever thought about spiking delicate desserts with rose petals like what the Indian Maharajahs do? Snehal of Gel's Kitchen Blog shares this creation using perfect rose blossoms from her garden.

Taro Root Fry
Location: Glendale, California
Divya of Dil Se tries her hands for the first time at some taro root fries, easy enough to give yourself a try.

Butternut Squash and Pancetta Risotto
Location: Alaska
Laurie of Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska made up a batch of butternut squash risotto that looks absolutely lovely. She even shares with us a bonus accompanying recipe, pan-fried scallops and capers.

Fried Onions for Indian Cooking
Location: Croatia
Maninas gives us the run down on how to brown onions, a base for most classic Indian cooking. She tells you what fats to use, how to slice it and how to brown them to the edge short of burning.

Want to participate? Weekend Herb Blogging for March 16-23 is hosted by Katie from Thyme for Cooking. Send your entries to thyme2 (dot) kate (at) gmail (dot) com before Sunday March 23.

Tanja's sunflower & pumpkin seed wholemeal bread

2008-03-15T12:19:00.013+08:00

[Down to the last morsel]

As I butter the last piece of homemade bread that my friend Tanja baked for me, I pondered upon the possibilities of the aroma of freshly baked bread coming out of my own oven. I think what really appeals to me about making your own bread is knowing what goes in the ingredients. As a German living in Singapore, I bet what drove Tanja into making her own breads is the lack of hearty country loafs available. The local palate ranges from the fluffy to the chewy, more like a brioche than a bread.

Cookies, brownies, sweetbreads, all the baked goods not requiring proper machinery, I've been able to churn out with ease. But there's a whole lot of dog-eared pages in my recipe books that are classified for a later time when I've got more kitchen space for that bright red heavy-duty KitchenAid cake mixer... and now I'm toying with the idea of a bread machine.

It ain't gonna be an easy task, selecting the perfect bread machine. So far the ones I've seen on the market are pretty much aesthetically challenged. Armed with the curiosity of how bread machines actually work, I scoured the Net and found a fact sheet titled "Selecting a Bread Machine." How wild is that? There are also loads of discussions and forums on the Net about hand-kneading versus using the bread machine. I suppose there's no fool-proof way. Both methods require lots of trials to perfect the recipe.

For Weekend Herb Blogging, which I'm hosting this week, I thought it would be fun to feature Tanja's own adapted recipe. She's kind enough to sit down and transcribe it for me. I had thought about sending the recipe to my mum who is an avid baker and bakes her own bread as well. This recipe is really precious since it's the labored result of all of Tanja's trials and errors. THANK YOU TANJA!! For those who are gonna really try it out, I hope you get to taste the same wholesome goodness as this last piece I'm savoring.

Wholesome Bread a la Tanja

200gm plain flour
150gm wholemeal flour
1 packet dry yeast (about 1 tbsp)
1.5 tbsp fresh lemon juice or rice vinegar
1 potato
30gm wheat grain
30gm barley grain (or any other preferred grain)
40gm sunflower seeds
40gm pumpkin seeds
300ml water
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp sugar

Cook potato in about 300ml of boiling water in a saucepan. Add wheat and barley into the boiling water to soften them, half way through before potato is done. Drain and place cooked ingredients plus 250ml of the cooking water into a food processor or blender. Give it a few pulses until it becomes a mushy consistence. Add salt and sugar and let it cool down a little.

Mix both the plain and wholemeal flour and the yeast together and build a mountain with a hollow in the middle. Add the processed mushy grain fluid into the hollow, followed with butter and lemon juice (or vinegar).

Mix it all together and form a dough. The longer you knead the dough, the better it will rise, so keep kneading. Place moist and clean dish towel over dough and let it rest and rise for about 30 to 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, roast seeds in a dry Teflon pan (do not add any fats). Stir them every now and then and watch them carefully to prevent scorching. Let them cool, while waiting the dough to rise.

Knead dough again, add more flour when needed and add the roasted seeds. Knead carefully and leave it to rest again for an additional 30 to 45 minutes.

Now more kneading to be done; add some flour when needed and knead until you have a dough firm enough to form your desired loaf shape. Leave it on an oven-tray letting it rest and rise for another 10 minutes. Bake in preheated oven (180ºC) for 50 to 60 minutes.

Tip: You can place a cup of water into the oven; the water vapor will give your loaf a crispy crust.

Lunch at Waterstone Piccadilly

2008-03-06T15:41:00.013+08:00

[Salmon and chive quiche with chickpea salad]

I have taken the effort to think about some interesting things to write about my food experiences in Asia, but I have not been able to work with the log of pictures I have captured in my camera. There's a story idea related to Hong Kong, and one to my trip to Bangkok last weekend, and certainly there's one coming up on an island resort in Malaysia, which I'll be visiting tomorrwow, spending a long weekend of sun, sea, and savor.

As I've mentioned in my previous posts, there are several places in Europe that I've visted last year, which I've not finished blogging. So here you go, a little tip on a good meeting place in central London. A few reasons why this place is on my recommendation list, with the largest appeal being it's not too crowded (you can actually get a seat) and it offers a rooftop view of the city. Also, it bookstore location is great for killing time if your date is fashionably late. And lastly, they have a decent serving of lunch food in a classy casual environment.

Set on the fifth floor of what is coined the "largest bookstore in Europe", the cafe/bar in Waterstone's Picadilly offers a great selection of quiche, soups, and sandwiches. My picture above can attest to the quality and presentation of the food, I hope. I was told that the former tenant Simpson’s of Piccadilly was London's iconic menswear department store. The building was also the first British shop to feature an uninterrupted curved-glass frontage. (This last bit of information of course comes from my googling exercise.)

The last time I was in the city late last year. I met my auntie Christina there. We had a hard time deciding where to meet, me coming from East London and her coming from West London. We had a fabulous lunch and I was very pleased that she had a good time herself discovering some place out of the ordinary and she could do a little post-lunch shopping in the area too.

In the Know:
5th View Bar & Food
203-206 Piccadilly, London W1J 9LE
Tel. +44 207 851 2433

I am hosting Weekend Herb Blogging for March 10-16. You can write about any herb, vegetable, or flower, and if you like, share a recipe with us. To participate, check out the rules and send me your entry by Sunday March 16. If you do not have a blog, send me an email to greenoliva (at) gmail (dot) com.

Herbed Risotto

2008-02-11T18:32:00.000+08:00

[herbed risotto]

Ever since the move to Singapore in October last year, things have been extremely eventful for us. Friends and family visiting, vacations abroad, the holidays… Even though the kitchen has been quite seasoned for day-to-day meals, I haven’t seen myself having extra time for baking cakes and whipping up a special meal from a cookbook, let alone styling and photographing food! Though there was an occasion when I had the inspiration to improvise an herbed risotto recipe I have.

The result is the picture above, which I’ve taken the effort to photograph a blog entry. The only misgiving was that I have procrastinated this post for two months, do forgive me. I’ve had an anonymous reader asking me where I have been and an aunt from London who inquired me of my whereabouts as she has not received any blog updates from me. So I thought I’d better pull my act together and get this post out. Here's the recipe...

Herbed risotto

1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, diced
1 cup spinach (you can substitute with another vegetable. I've used pumpkin and it was great!)
3/4 Arborio rice
2 cups hot chicken stock
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary (and, or other herbs)
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in a large skillet. Sauté onion until fragrant for 1 minute. Add vegetables and sauté for 2-3 minutes until rather tender. Add rice. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add stock, salt and pepper. Cook, covered until the rice is tender on the outside and chewy inside. While the rice is cooking, sauté the mushrooms in olive oil. When the rice is done, fold in the mushrooms, cream, herbs and cheese. I garnished mine with toasted black sesame seeds for some visual interestingness!

Meal Muji

2007-12-07T21:49:00.000+08:00

[Eating at Muji]

I must say as a big Muji fan myself, the highlight of my recent trip to Tokyo was a pilgrimage to the Japanese design retailer's flagship store at Yurakucho. Despite being housed in a warehouse-style building, the minimalist designs of Muji permeates each space, making all the 5000 well-designed and simple products stand out in its own "less is more" way.

[Healthy set at Y650]

The huge non-smoking deli-style cafeteria is a great spot to have a bite break from all the shopping one would have done. The food is a fusion of Western and Japanese, with entrees such as pumpkin quiche, broccoli with scallops and tofu, fried chicken, lotus root salad, and five grain rice. A set meal starts at Y650, which is a bargain, and the menu changes depending on the time of the day.

[Muji Yurakucho's flagship store in Tokyo]

For those not in the know, the name Muji is short for Mujirushi Ryohin, which means "no brand, good product". This alludes to their design philosophy of not having the company logo or name to appear on or inside their products. Even their advertising campaigns are so streamlined, it uses impressive images to convey its message with only a tiny "Muji" imprinted on it. If you are are tempted to make your own way to this huge Muji shrine, be reminded that it is just walking distance from the Ginza shopping district.

In the know:
Muji Yurakucho
3-8-3 Marunouchi
03-5208-8241
http://www.mujiyurakucho.com

Food as an art form in Japan

2007-12-03T11:30:00.000+08:00

[Artful Japanese kaiseki service on board ANA]

Most visitors to Japan will take notice of a uniformed monoculture society with a high level of politeness and civil awareness. On the contrast, there is also the high level of creativity and attention to aesthetic details that I marvel every time I'm there. Apart from the gift packaging tradition that promises a beautifully wrapped item that the assistant will bring to the store exit and handing to you with a full bow, a visit to the restaurants will ensure that all your senses are stimulated with the intricately presented culinary offerings.

A kaiseki restaurant offering haute Japanese cuisine is a case in point. Visitors are promised an odyssey of flavors, textures and colors. Originating from the Zen monks, the characters for kaiseki means "stone in the bosom", referring to the monks' practice of warding off hunger by tucking hot stones in their kimono sashes. My friend Michiko in Kyoto was telling us over lunch that this zen tradition where the cuisine evolved from explains why most kaiseki meals are so light and consists of largely vegetarian ingredients, such as different types of tofu, tiny cut vegetables in different colors and forms.

Today, a traditional kaiseki meal is often a multiple-course meal with a focus on harmony between food and nature. Emphasis are placed on seasonal ingredients, different preparation techniques and the presentation. From the tiny ceramic bowls and the few slivered sashimi floating on dry ice, everything shouts of the artful forms that the Japanese are so well known for.

[Mini Kaiseki in Kyoto]

Depending on how much you want to spend, a proper kaiseki meal averages about 8000 yen per person. However, in many restaurants in Kyoto, where this form of cuisine originated, you can get a simple version like the picture shown above for about 2000 yen.

Green Beans with Sesame Miso Dressing

2007-12-03T10:37:00.000+08:00

The following recipe is a sample course of a kaiseki meal. It is adapted from Kyo-ya Restaurant of San Francisco.

2 cups green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
Sesame Miso Dressing:
2 tablespoons shiro miso (white miso)
3 tablespoons white roasted sesame seeds + more for garnish
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce

Parboil green beans in a large pot of rapidly boiling water for 45 seconds. Drain and immediately plunge into a bowl of ice water.
Using a mortar and pestle, blend together shiro miso, sesame seeds, sugar and soy sauce. Smash and mix until the sesame seeds are not visible when stirred.
Drain green beans and blot dry. Transfer to a bowl and fold in the dressing until the beans are evenly coated.
Serve in small bowls and lightly sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Osaka's Okonomiyaki

2007-11-28T11:54:00.000+08:00

[okonomiyaki + yakisoba]

Delay no more... I'm starting to get emails from readers checking my whereabouts. My wanderlust has gotten me to Japan and back. This time besides shopping and more shopping in Tokyo, I got around taking the Shinkansen bullet train to Osaka and Kyoto for a bit of outside-of-Tokyo reality. Though I must say, I'd rather spend the entire 10 days in Tokyo alone. There's just too much to see and too little time to fit all in.

With a food-themed blog like this, a snapshot of the food I savored is a must. First off, let's check out this Japanese pizza-like delicacy from the Osaka area. Okonomiyaki restaurants are so much fun. They're more like street food than anything else fancy. You get a server turning the gooey dough into a irresistible crispy pancake filled with seafood or meat right in front of you on a grill. Top it up with bulldog sauce, mustard and Kewpie mayonnaise, you've got just the right flavors oozing through the thick yet light pancake. I'd say it's like a cross between savory pancake and pizza. To check out how this is done, here's a recipe to attempt.

[Japanese pancake/pizza]

In Osaka, we were fortunate to have an old college mate of mine to take us to the best restaurants around. Ryutaro and I went way back to our junior year when we both had part-time jobs at the same place. Those were the days when we had to show up at 7 in the morning, preparing salads, fruits, sandwiches and packing them into clear plastic cases for delivery across different cafes on campus. Now 10 years later, he's a successful businessman having been expatriated to Egypt where he met his wife and now having a new-born daughter named Marina. It's so much fun to relive the good old days with lotsa beer and good japanese bar food. Ryu is just how I remembered him to be, his ability to down pints of beer before the first course is served and his laughing reprise of what life brings.

Autumn notes in my pumpkin soup

2007-11-02T09:43:00.000+08:00

[La calabaza - Fresh pumpkin]

I love the seasons. They somehow serve as a time marker for me and I love the change of wardrobe and the different holidays and foods that comes with each change of season. With no signs of falling leaves and a drop of temperature, a bowl of warm pumpkin soup serves to remind me of November, the only month left before fairy lights are lit up and year-end reigns in.

Living in a metropolitan city means as long as you have the resources, you can get just about any ingredient you need for the enterprising cook. My first attempt with pumpkins here were quite a bit stressful as I realized right before serving my guests that the local variety made the taste completely off. So last minute measures to save the tureen of soup included throwing in some curry spice and that somehow helped.

While food-shopping in a Japanese grocer the other day, I discovered a completely different species -- Japanese pumpkins -- with its beautiful dark green hue on the outside and radiantly golden flesh in the inside. Aha! I found the closest substitute to recreate my trustworthy German pumpkin soup. With all those jack-o-lanterns chucked aside for disposal, you might want to think about using them to impress your love ones with this easy culinary treat, spiced with loads of tarragon and nutmeg. If you are a little adventurous, here's a spicy Asian take on the vegetarian soup, the Thai pumpkin soup, made with lemongrass and coconut milk. And most importantly, be mindful about how you would spend the second last month of the year. Before you know it, a good year would have just flown past.

adventure with vongole clams

2007-10-30T23:18:00.000+08:00

[one bag of vongole clams; two ways of serving]

My foray into Fishes one evening after work led me walking away with a bag of vongole clams flown in that very morning from Italy. I must say I was definitely in the mood for trying something new. With the enthusiastic assistant giving me a classic Italian recipe off the top of his head, I couldn't resist paying premium price for these tasty morsels from the sea.

I was busy thinking about how I should go about with this project -- well, following a recipe IS a project for me since I hardly ever cook with a recipe -- when T went, "don't you have to like soak those clams in salt water for a couple of hours?"

This coming from someone doesn't cook and who has yet to make me the risotto that apparently was the one star dish honed during college days. I was skeptical but dished out my collection of cookbooks right away in search for the proper way to deal with my clams. Voila, sure enough, there it was, instructions to soak clams in salt water for a few hours to naturally release the sand and impurities trapped inside the shells.

I was thinking that one big bag of clams for a simple pasta dish for two just doesn't do it. I could save one third of it for another new culinary experiment I thought. So the next day I decided to tackle the signature spanish dish -- la paella. Truth is I have been procrastinating about putting the paella pan that came with the rental apartment to good use. And with Mark Bittman a.k.a. the Minimalist at the New York Times publishing a simple paella dish that cuts the laborious steps of the traditional cooking method and ingredients used down to just one third, I couldn't help but got hooked on the idea of putting aspirations into action.

The end result was an improvised version from the combined wisdom of the Minimalist and Penelope Casa, who has a classical Paella a la Valenciana in her cookbook - the Foods and Wines of Spain. Ingredient-wise, mine has tomatoes, chicken, and clams. We had a German vistor that day from Singapore and he had the honor of being the "official taster" for my ambitious tryout. Wasn't too bad I reckon. Everyone had a nice share of the dish that evening.

If you want to try it out yourself, here are the recipes.

Tagliatelle alla Vongele

4 large garlic cloves, peeled and diced finely
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
30 vongole or little neck clams (about 3 1/2 pounds)
1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper (chili) flakes, plus extra for serving
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 cup of white wine
12 ounces linguine
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
sea salt and freshly milled pepper

Soak clams in salted water for a few hours before hand.
Cook pasta in a plenty of salted water. While pasta is cooking, in a wok or large skillet add half the oil and all the butter and saute garlic till fragrant.
Add washed clams and saute on medium-high heat. Add salt and black pepper and pepper flakes. Saute for another minute. Add white wine and keep stirring and let sauce reduce. About 2 mintues later (when majority of clams are open) add chopped parsley and cooked pasta.
Serve right away garnished with more pepper flakes and salt to taste and the remaining olive oil.

Quite Easy Paella

Serves 5

4 cups chicken bouillon
Half a whole onion
1 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into thick wedges
4 scallions, chopped
1 medium onion, minced
3 clove garlic
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp of saffron
2 teaspoons Spanish pimentón (smoked paprika), or other paprika
2 bay leaves, crumbled
Chicken (wings or legs)
30 clams
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2.5 cups Spanish or other short-grain rice
Minced parsley for garnish.
Lemon wedges for garnish

Heat broth with the saffron, pimentón and whole onion. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.
Remove onion and measure broth -- you need exactly 4 cups.
Preheat oven to 420 degrees. Put tomatoes in a medium bowl, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle them with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Toss to coat.
Cut chicken into small serving pieces -- Dry pieces well and sprinkle with salt. In a metal Paella pan, with about a 15 inch base, heat the oil. Add chicken pieces and fry over high heat until golden. Remove to a warm platter.
Add the chopped onion, scallions, garlic, and pimentos and saute until the onion is wilted. Stir in tomato paste, saffron if you are using it, and paprika and cook for a minute more.
Add rice to the pan and stir to coat it well with the oil. Sprinkle in the chopped parsley and the crumbled bay leaves. (You can make in advance up to this point.)
Stir in hot broth and the wine. Salt to taste. Bring to a boil and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, over medium high heat about 10 minutes.
Bury chicken in the rice. Add clams and mussels, pushing them into the rice, with the edge that will open facing up. Put tomato wedges on top of rice and drizzle with juices that accumulated in bowl. Put pan in oven and roast, undisturbed, for 15 minutes.
Check to see if rice is dry and just tender. If not, return pan to oven for another 5 minutes. If rice looks too dry but still is not quite done, add a small amount of stock or water (or wine).
When rice is ready, remove from the oven and let sit on top of the stove, lightly covered with foil, for about 10 minutes. To serve, decorate with lemon wedges and chopped parsley.

Edible Lego building blocks

2007-10-24T18:41:00.000+08:00

[Lego cake]

Running out of ideas for your next birthday cake or potluck party? With color frosting and marshmallows on hand, you can recreate these fun-looking cakes. Here's how you put together the building blocks.

Three degrees north of the equator

2007-10-17T17:28:00.000+08:00

[Once a favorite of mine]

It was vacation, and the next thing it was relocation. I am now going to be based in Asia for those of you not in the know. This bar is in the National Musuem of Singapore and I took this picture back in March. Unfortunately, it's changed hands and it doesn't look and feel quite like it used to be anymore.

Until I get the inspiration to start taking pictures here again, I'll be blogging about a few places worthy of sharing in Europe that I've been lately. This little note signals that I'm alive and well, as they say in Spanish - dar señales de vida. Hasta muy pronto, te prometo.

De vakantie

2007-09-14T22:23:00.000+08:00

*The long-awaited vacation is finally here. I'll be in London and Venice till Sept 27. A presto!

Fishes

2007-09-13T22:23:00.000+08:00

[Fresh fish and seafood at Fishes, Amsterdam]

With a 9 to 5 work schedule, I could never indulge in the luxury of selecting the freshest seafood from one of the open-air markets in town. The neighborhood Albert Heijn (the ubiquitous Dutch supermarket) around the corner is one of the bigger stores in town but there’s no fresh meat or seafood counter in sight. Cellophane-wrapped ground round and chicken breasts abound, and so are cooked tiny shrimps and sickly colored farm-raised salmon. But other than that, I really did have a problem finding a good source for the fresh catch of the day.

That was before I stumbled on Fishes, an unusually sleek fishmonger, unbeknownst to the unsuspecting eye on Utrecthsestraat. Flanked by two facing rows of funky cafés, ethnic restaurants, quaint little shops, traditional delicatessens, hairdressers, and high-end furniture stores, the fish shop stays open 30 minutes past the 6 p.m. closing time for almost all stores in town, allowing people like me to slip in for a few fresh scallops for the evening pasta.

[A fish delicatessens on funky Utrechtsestraat ]

The minimalist and chic interior makes it an experience to select the freshest ingredient for that special homemade dinner. The staff is extremely friendly and helpful and they really know what they’re selling and what to do with them. Fresh whole dorados, deboned monkfish, marinated shelled jumbo shrimps, wild trouts, imported Spanish sepia... all these you can find alongside freshly made raw fish sushi and that emergency lemon that has yet to be checked off from the shopping list.

In my next post I’ll blog about one of my retail adventures there: a splurge that resulted in two surprise culinary creations, one of the recipes given to me on the spot by the enthusiastic assistant. Next up, I'm eyeing at the live lobsters swimming in a built-in tank in the wall. I'd have to research a little more about dealing with the king of crustaceans.

In the know:
Fishes
Utrechtsestraat 98
Amsterdam

Loading up on kitchenware in Amsterdam

2007-09-11T01:30:00.000+08:00

[Duikelman's porcelain section]

There's one address in Amsterdam that avid bakers and passionate cooks show up for their tools and wares. I first learned about Duikelman because Talia was raving about this awesome zester/grater that gets the zest off lemon without that white pith. And she was sure that I would be able to find it at this store loaded with every kitchen gadget imaginable close to De Pijp's Albert Cuypstraat open-air market.

Sure enough, the store had the Microplane zester that I was looking for. Not only that, the person who helped me was very helpful -- gave me a whole run down of all the options I had, and he seemed extremely knowledgable of every item stocked.

With two adjoining stores and a prominent window displaying a colorful row of Kitchenaid cake mixers, the family-owned business has been around for 60 odd years. Across the street, they have another storefront for fine porcelains and a showroom for home and professional kitchens. I was so drawn to the minimalist display in the porcelain storefront, with an upstairs corner dedicated to a fine collection of cookbooks in both Dutch and English.

My sudden urge to stock up on bakeware has gotten me a 30cm Kaizer loafpan, a glass-bottomed springform pan, and a fluted tart tin. I am comtemplating going back for a paella pan sometime this week, and for your information, the search on the perfect egg cup is still on.

In the know:
Dzuikelman
Ferdinand Bolstraat 68-68A
1072 LM Amsterdam
020-671.22.30/ 671.75.69

Sleek Restaurants of Amsterdam: Brasserie Harkema

2007-09-08T01:27:00.000+08:00

[Lunch fare at Brasserie Harkema, Amsterdam]

The last two times we dined at this sleek eatery, we found ourselves being the only guests at their premises. The reservation I made was unwarranted but the quality of service and food (rack of lamb and tuna steak) we found extremely good.

Second time around was a bit disappointing. The renovation in the main dining hall had just been completed, it was lunch time, the server noticed our presence, but went on about her business by the kitchen. It probably took us a good five minutes before we decided to seat ourselves by the huge window and at this point the server slowly strolled by. The saving grace was the food served -- best fries in town. I succumbed to my craving for a good hamburger and T had a dish made with mussels and a wine sauce.

Despite the fact that this restaurant is in the Wallpaper city guide, it's not getting a whole lot of traffic and momentum these days. And so it goes in the competitive world of setting up restaurants, the fad will aways give way to the other new kid on the block. However, if you want a decent meal in a design-conscious environment, this is a good place to go. It's very easy to get to with its location so close to Het Spui and the flower market. And you can easily take a design detour to visit Wonderwood and Droog nearby after your lunch.

In the know:
Brasserie Harkema
Nes 67
+31 (0)20 4282222