Three pretty good things: January 21

1. Les Misérables (the musical).

After growing almost 20 years older since discovering it for the first time, I will now call this my favorite musical. Yes, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera is hard to beat but Schönberg's music with Victor Hugo's story just wins out by a long distance for me. The daily human struggle between right and wrong in a society where it is no longer black and white, this transcends all races, cultures, social classes and time. Although Les Misérables means "The Miserable Ones", the story is not about hardship and injustice, but about hope, not giving up and fighting for what you believe in. I simply find it inspiring.

2. Getting onto the list of a patent inventorship.

After working on this project hard for 6 years, finally. I am glad. Thanks, team.

3. Home, at last.

This gives me millions of smiles, always.

Hiatus

Work and family will keep me away from this place again.

See you in a while.

Thanks for stopping by!

Bye Bye Petit Donkey

Our car of 15 years will retire in three days. It has given us good 10 years of solid service which we are very grateful.

Yes, we nicknamed our car. It's not the shiniest, fastest or quietest car on the street but Petit Donkey has taken us everywhere we wanted, even all the way up to the Lake District with the exhaust pipe broken off half way at Leeds. Oh, how fondly we will remember this episode (and of course Petit Donkey was nursed back to health afterwards).

Sadly the Vet has delivered to us the bad news after he did the final check-up on Petit Donkey. Petit Donkey is better going to a retirement home, we all thought.

Luckily, we found a Mini Ilama and will bring her home later this week. So long, Petit Donkey. Thank you for all your service. You will be missed.

Welcome to our life, Mini Ilama.

New Year's Eve for Two

Starter: Coquilles St-Jacques au Beurre Blanc

This is my first time making beurre blanc (literally white butter). Wow what a delicious sauce this is and perfect for seafood. I followed Hopkinson's recipe all the way right before adding the butter. I whisked in a mixture of single cream and butter, and adjusted the sauce amount just enough for two. Yes, I know sprinkling some chopped parsley on the final product would have been nice. The good thing is my next trial in this recipe will be soon!

Salad: Apple, beetroot and grapefruit salad

The salad is here to create an illusion of a balanced meal. 

Main: Bouef en croute (aka Beef Wellington)

Only three words: YUM YUM YUM!!!

I have become a faithful follower of Felicity Cloake's Guardian column. In every post, she features one dish and summarises her thoughts/experiences in trying a number of recipes she's come across. In the end, she presents her version of the featured dish, incorporating the elements she feels most complement to the dish. I found one of her comments quite useful on the protective layer for the beef before wrapping it with the puff pastry. In her experience, not only none of the protective layer worked (crepe or parma ham), but also it created an unnecessary distraction from the awesome beef. She wrote, "if the pastry is good and thin, buttery and rich, nothing is nicer than a meat-soaked crust". I admitted I had some doubts initially when I first read this. Once I bit into my meat-moistened crust, I was a believer. In fact, the button crust remains some of its crispiness and is not soggy. And you always have the top crust for your ultimate enjoyment.

I really enjoyed my cooking experiments this holiday. And now I have another year to look forward to.

Happy New Year to you all!

I wish you

I cook - Spicy prawns with garlicky bread crumbs

I first tried this dish at Yauatcha, spicy soft shell crab (避風塘軟殼蟹). It was delicious, very moreish. For such a visually complex dish, it must be quite complex to make, I thought. Until one of my favorite bloggers showed that it is possible to make it at home, without sweating your rear end off. I've bookmarked her recipe since.

This is my first practice, adapting her recipe to what I have in the pantry. I left out one key ingredient she used, fermented black beans. I also added bread crumb and almond flakes because that's what they did in Yauatcha (and I like it very much). I like my adaptation, but I think I will try the black bean version next time, to see which one I prefer.

Spicy prawns with garlicky breadcrumbs

- 3 tbsps vegetable oil (I fried the prawn heads in the oil and used that for cooking)
- 1lb of prawns, shelled and deveined (a mixture of cod and prawns are nice too)
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 3 garlic cloves, finely diced
- 3 green onions, white parts minced and green parts chopped
- 2 slices of ginger, in the size of matchsticks
- 1 red chilli, roughly chopped
- 3 tbsps bread crumbs
- 2 tbsps almond flakes
- 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- 1/2 salt
- ground black pepper

Dry the prawns with paper towels. Coat the prawns in corn starch. Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the prawns until they are 80-90% done. Remove the prawns from the pan and keep them warm.

In the same pan, add in the garlic, white parts of the green onions, ginger and red chilli. Fry for 5 minutes on medium heat. You don't want to burn the garlic so keep stirring at a low-medium flame. After that, add in bread crumbs and almond flakes. Season the crumb mixture with black/white pepper, salt and sugar. Keep stirring when all oil is absorbed by the bread crumbs and almond flakes seem toasted/crunchy.

Put the prawns back to the pan. Be careful not to include any liquid coming out from the prawns. This dish should be quite dry, not soggy. Stir the prawns until each one of them is coated with the golden crispy bread crumbs. Taste and season to your liking. Serve in a big plate and dot it with the green parts of the green onions.

To be enjoyed with a plate of steamed rice.

I cook - Day-After Soup

You know how it is. Every time after a dinner party is over, invariably there are always awkward number of morsels left, like one and half boiled potatoes, five carrot coins, three half moon roasted onions, you get the idea. I sometimes pack them in my lunch box but I just discovered a much better way to use it. Oh my, I think I have stumbled over something wonderful here. I don't know whether it's the Harissa (different from the original recipe) or the roasted ingredients I used which makes this brown looking soup taste so divine. It makes me want to make roast more often, just for the day-after soup.

Very Tasty Day-After Soup

- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3-4 cups vegetable/chicken stock
- 2 tbsps Harissa paste
- salt and pepper to taste
--the ingredients below vary depend on what you have left from the roast--
- 6 mushrooms, halved
- 2 cooked potatoes
- 6 brussels sprouts
- 2 roasted shallots
- 1/2 cup roasted pork, shredded

In a soup pot, fry the onion in olive oil for 5 minutes. Stir in Harissa paste and mushroom. Keep stirring until the fragrance of Harissa comes out. Add in the rest of the ingredients, including the stock. Although the ingredients will vary depending on the occasions, I would say that the only essential ingredient is potato to thicken the soup.

Bring the pot to boil and turn the heat to low. Simmer the soup for at least 30 minutes, up to 1 hour. Before serving, use a stick blender to purée the soup. Remove the meat chunks out first, if using, before blitzing. Taste the soup and season with salt and pepper.

Serve plain or with lemon juice or yogurt.