China Videos - Part Seven - Zhaoxing

This was one of the most peaceful villages we visited in China and one of our favourites. It was so amazing just to wander around this Dong village.
It is miles from anywhere, not that hard to get to, but does take a little bit of effort, but the rewards are endless here. The village is famed for its drum towers which are in perfect condition.
I will follow up with a write up on Guizhou later this week. I hope.

Foto Friday # 94

A hot dog vendor selling his all beef sausages on the streets of New York

Tapped and Packed

I'd been recommend to visit Tapped and Packed by a few people ever since a shout was put out for more coffee shops for me to try. I was hoping for some closer to home, but these things are never as you want them.
Tapped and Packed have two stores one number 26 and the other 114. Neither of them are on the same street, but you'll have to goto their website to find out where exactly they are. More fun that way.
I had some urgent studying to do for an interview I had the next day. I needed to remember what sights are in which Indian cities, so I thought a trip into busy central London and away from the sereneness of Stoke Newington was the best thing to do. You could see I was slightly stressed and not thinking straight.
I went to 26, which just happens to be literally in front of Koba where we were a few weeks before sampling some fine Korean cuisine.
There is no sigh mentioning Tapped and Packed, just a large 26 glaring out at you like a beacon. For some reason this never hit me, I walked straight passed it, hit the corner and it dawned on me that I was there. Was a million miles away.
It reminds me a lot of Fernandez and Wells but with a slightly less industrial look and feel about it. Tapped and Packed has a few more seats and some nice seats against the side wall with nice mini tables   to the side. Reminded me a little of the Middle East in that way.
I was here to relax and study. Fat chance. The place has a good buzzy vide, with plenty of foot traffic, so i gave up trying to remember which city the Jamal Masjid is in and enjoyed my flat white and a baguette of chicken and a lemon thyme mayonnaise.
The flat white with its wonderful latte artwork, drunk well. Nice smooth roasting of some fine beans made this one of the nicest flat whites I've had in a while.
The lemon, thyme mayonnaise and chicken baguette was nice. It was nothing spectacular, i was a little saddened that it was not warmed or toasted, but the choicken was soft and juicy, the mayo was more lemon than thyme. But it was pretty good. Sorry no photo, as I'd ate most of it before i thought of taking a snap.
They have a wide range of other baguettes and some salads and soups on offer, which all looked pretty good on the eye. But it's the coffee that this place will drag me back time again and again.
On the interview the following day. It went well. Hopefully I impressed them enough to offer me the job. I'll find out next week no doubt when we are in New York.

We're in New York

Yup that's right, we are in New York for a week of eating, drinking and sightseeing, although more on the first two than the latter for me.
Maybe not the best time to go away as I've no job and not much hope of finding another, but who cares.
Live for the moment is my new motto, much to my wife's dismay.

Foto Friday # 93

Vietnamese coffee in the old imperial city of Hue in central Vietnam. There is something about the sweet condensed milk and the strong nutty tasting beans that makes this perfect. Also it is a delight to look at as well.

China Videos - Part Six - Xijiang

Xijiang is the largest Miao village in Guizhou. Even though it is very commercial and a lot of things are in place for the tourists, it still remains a simple Miao village with a emphasis on rural life.

K is for Korea @ Koba

There wasn’t really any doubt as to what cuisine we were going to eat for the letter K. I made a half arsed attempt to look for something else, but really let’s be honest it was only ever going to Korean.

The difficulty lie with which restaurant we were going to sample this wonderful cuisine and what to have.

As none of really had eaten Korean food, apart from a couple of bits and bobs here and there, it was and well still is a bit of a mystery.

Out of all the restaurants I’d read about Koba kept getting the better reviews for its bar-b-q, which really as a newbie to Korean food, I think this had to be a major thing on our collective first visit.

The plush restaurant is very modern, lots of dark colours, moody lighting and a youngish crowd. The vibe was nice and easy, vibrant but calming.

Between 6 of us we had quite a good selection of starters and 2 bar-b-q combo’s. The highlight of the starters were the fried pancake and the fried chicken. The pancake was crunchy and crispy and was very well seasoned.

The bar-b-q which was the highlight of the night, turned out to be a fun thing. Thankfully Koba have an exhaust shaft above every bar-b-q, otherwise the entire restaurant would have been chokey smokey.

For large groups the combo bar-b-q selections turned out to be pretty good value. We did find it slightly annoying that the staff literally cooked our meat for us, maybe they thought us novices didn’t know how to cook Korean bar-b-q for ourselves.

I’m not sure of the quality of the meat, as the marinades over powered the beef and pork. Not to say that the marinades were not good they were. Nice and hot. Just how we like it.

I do have one quibble about Koba and that was the amount they charged for the kimchi. My little knowledge of Korean cuisine extends to kimchi. As far as I am aware, it comes with every meal, and I feel it should be a free accompaniment, not a £5 side. 

All in all we had a great night with lots of good banter and good food. I would imagine however that a modest bar-b-q joint in Korea would be a match for Koba on its food, but for London I think this is probably as good as it gets.
Oh and love the name of the beer, and no there is not an S before that H.

Foto Friday # 92

Outdoor eating in Guangzhou, China.

What We Ate for Lunch : Hainan Chicken of sorts

I was going to take this into work yesterday, but as it was my final day, I felt I had to have for one final time Singapore Fried Rice from the take away opposite. It was disappointing to say the least. A bit like working for that company for 18 months. Can you sense the bitterness in me.
Anyhows I have had a yearning for Hainan chicken for a while now, no idea why, but this urge was brewing so I thought I would quench it.
So a small poussin was poached for half an hour in some simmering stock that I had left over from my daily noodle soups.
Once cooked the chicken is plunged directly into some iced water. This keeps the skin a little flabby and jelly like, as my Singaporean friend says it has to be. Whose to argue.
The stock therefore seasoned with a little salt and mirin vinegar makes a perfect soup, and  with the rice (cooked in some of the stock) makes a great quick and easy lunch.
It's a shame I never had this yesterday for lunch as it would have been more memorable than my Singaporean fried rice I ate.
My last day was a day of two halves. I was so glad to leave, but very sad to be leaving some good people behind. It was all a bit emotional.
But my new life starts now, all i have to do now is find another job. Easy huh?

What We Ate Last Night : Lamb Fillets

I have been lucky enough to be sent a wonderful box of lamb and vegetables from Silver Fern Farms this week to try out.

The Kiwi based Silver Fern are a new supplier to a certain supermarket, who shall remain nameless of around 95% fat free New Zealand lamb. Fat free you say.

They are pre packaging portions of Loin fillets, rump, racks and leg roasts in individual portions that can be easily chilled in the fridge and used as and when.

To be honest I’ve never been a fan of New Zealand lamb, as I’m sure the best quality lamb is never shipped over here, plus this being fat free I was pretty skeptical. But I agreed as I was intrigued and wanted to give it a fair shot.

So in the week a wonderful box of 2 packs of loin fillets, a bunch of spring vegetables, fruit yoghurts, butter and ice coffees arrived on our doorstep. Awesome package all nestled on a bed of hay. Looked like a really country hamper.

Cannot comment on the yoghurts as they went pretty quickly for someone else’s lunch the following day. But I’ve been well informed they were very good. Same really with the iced coffee, but I’ve never been a fan of, unless it is in Hanoi with lots of condensed milk in it.

I never really buy the fillet, as I’m a rump man myself. I love the fatty parts, as it’s where the flavour is.

In each pack were two fillets, and I was became very curious and wondered if they would cook the same as a fillet of beef. Guess what. They did.

After 10 minutes lingering on a plate of olive oil and black pepper, then seasoned with salt at the last moment, they were put onto a hot griddle pan and cooked away for a few minutes on each side until they were done rare. Just how I like them.

Maybe they could be cooked to medium rare, but any more and you may as well bin them, just like beef.

As I am fast becoming addicted to bulgur, I thought I would use that instead of the medley of vegetables we were sent. Well it was kind of mild and I so want Spring to come as soon as possible.

So I soaked the bulgur in a bowl of boiled water for 10 minutes or so, and then dressed it as I normally do my couscous.

Mixing in plenty of olive oil, chopped tomatoes, parsley, mint, cumin powder, paprika, crumbled feta cheese, some small cucumbers, salt and pepper.

I think this was the quickest meal I’ve had this week and there was enough to last for lunch the next day. Brilliant.

To be honest there is a reason I go for the fattier parts of meat. Fat equals flavour. But this surprisingly had a subtle lambyness about it that with the nutty bulgur worked very well, as nothing over powered each other. A good combo.

The lamb was very soft and melted in my mouth, pretty surprised. It actually tasted better the next day, and we had a few slices left over that went into a noodle soup the day after and again tasted a little stronger.

We have the 2^nd pack in the freezer and I’m wondering what else I could do with it, apart from griddle it. Maybe a lamb Wellington could be in order. Defiantly have to pull my finger out for that. But I’ll let you know.

I’m not sure if I would buy these packets, but as I do the above but with bavette steak in the summer for lunches this could be a very good alternative.