鮮陳腎煲西洋菜湯 Watercress & duck gizzard soup

The day after I wrote about my dad's unique way of eating instant noodles, I had a sudden crave for watercress & duck gizzard soup!!! (That's very normal of me.... my spontaneous food "crave" always stemmed from the food memory that I blogged!)

The very next day, I went to gather all the necessary ingredients being, watercress (西洋菜), pork fillet (痩肉）, carrots (紅蘿蔔), duck gizzard (鮮鴨腎） from the supermarket. I then dug out the "stock" from my fridge being, preserved duck gizzard (陳腎）, sugar coated dates (密棗), dried mandarin peel (陳皮）, and Chinese almonds (南杏).

Dumped everything into the humongous claypot, simmered it for 2 hours on low fire.

Gosh! That soup definitely soothed not only my body, it soothed my soul as well. I felt so comfy sipping the warm soup. The taste of my dad, my family, my roots!!!

Yet, I didn't endeavor to add waxy instant noodles inside!!! ha ha ha.... One thing I found out was that I love "clear" soup rather than the murky green, gooey, thick kind of soup that my dad adored.

Totally satisfied. Even A & C loved it! Daily training from mum.... my kids love Chinese soup, too!

醃子薑 Home made ginger pickles

I have to say, I am WAY behind in IT technology. My sister asked me to install WhatsApp on my i-phone and I thought to myself, "What App is she asking me to install???" Not knowing "WhatsApp" itself is an App!

Next, after installing WhatsApp, I didn't even know how to get the "password"!!!! With much help of my friends, I finally managed to obtain it.

GOSH..... this lacking in technology knowledge is a serious fallback of me. Got to "upgrade" myself to a more powerful engine, a full upgrade of my "brain!!!" is essential in order to catch up with the rest of the world.

Later, I learned that WhatsApp is a free SMS application where it enables you to SMS overseas at no cost. Ah ha.... IC!

Sometimes, I felt my sister was talking to a Taishan grandma (台山阿姆 being ME!), especially on new technology. I really had no CLUES as to what-so-ever she was trying to tell me.

So, after installing WhatsApp, the whole family happily SMS each others.... until I found out I couldn't get any "buzzes" from i-Phone without turning on the app itself.

So I missed a message from No. 3 asking, "How to make "子薑炒牛肉" (beef stir fried with ginger pickles).

No. 3 SMS the "gang" at 11.46 a.m. hoping to find our majesty highness, but failed, and me (the recipe provider backup), didn't read her message until 20.40p.m. , the time where I opened up the app.

By the time I replied, she had already finished her dinner and of course, the "子薑炒牛肉"(beef stir fried) was not done so properly. Then, I thought, without the phone buzzing me for messages alert, it defied the whole purpose of "real time" chat.

Was there something "wrong" with my phone again? I went to ask my "gig" sister, and she asked me had I turned on the "notification" in i-Phone.

Ha!???? What's that?

Thanks to her detailed explanation, I finally turned it on. Now, I get very timely SMS.

What an IT lesson I had.

No. 3, sorry about the delay, here is your recipe for 醃子薑 (ginger pickles), again, Tokyo C9 流.

This is how I make it and I am sure you can find other variations on the internet. However, I never fail with this recipe and it always turn out good!!! I hope you will enjoy them.

2 chunks of young ginger, about 350g (IT MUST BE YOUNG GINGER!!! Please do not replace it with ordinary ginger.)

Thinly sliced them. Anything thicker than 2mm should be discarded. Use it for soups.

Add a tea spoon of salt, give it a gentle massage.

Place it in a plastic bag until the ginger turns soft.

Pat dry them on kitchen towel. Make sure you squeeze out any excess water until it is rather dry and DO NOT RINSE the ginger. If you rinse out the salt, you will ruin everything.

Melt 2 tablespoons of sugar into 3 tablespoons of vinegar. Put the ginger into the marinate liquid. The ginger will turn "pink". Also , avoid using any metal containers for chemical reactions. Use glass bowl or ceramic.

Sterilize a few bottles, place the ginger and the marinate liquid in the bottle. If there is a "airway" between the cap and the ginger, place a layer of cling-wrap to seal off the air passage. To do so, the bottle can last longer.

Why young ginger will turn pink when mixed with vinegar? That's because in younger ginger, there is still abundant of anthocyanin where when reacting with vinegar will turn pink. 100% natural! So, please don't worry.

Now, you can make your "子薑菠蘿炒牛肉", "子薑菠蘿炒雞丁， 鴨丁", etc.....

L’Osier （ロオジエ） @ Ginza (銀座）

My friend came visited me today and that reminded me of our "grand" visit to Shiseido's Losier last year in November.

It all began with ME (who else....), I wanted to try some genuine French and my French veteran friend who is also an excellent French patisserie herself, strongly recommended L’Osier.

Another reason why I wanted to go so desperately was that L’Osier closed this March for a grand renovation and it won't re-open again until Autumn 2013! So, I must tried it before it closed.

All the organization and booking was done by ME (who else!!! ha ha ha...) where I managed to have a "private room" for no additional cost!

It was a very wise decision that Losier "locked up" this bunch of gossipers, so our excessive chatting, overly gasping and endless questionings will not disturb other customers who wish to have a peace of mind to enjoy their food.


Our "printed" menu..... where did I dump that! I clearly brought back as a souvenir and now it is gone with the wind~~~


Fig bread. I wasn't sure if they house-baked their breads or not but it was lovely.


Nori-pan. Seaweed baugette. Fusion with a Japanese twist.


Amuse Bouche.




Entree

Truite Du Mont-Fuji Cuit - Chaud-Froid de Persil Creme de Raifort et Legumes Crus
(The above alphabets has NO meaning to me, because I don't understand FRENCH! ha ha ha...)
In English: Shizuoka rainbow trout cooked just right topped with parsley aspic glaze covering and accompanied by horseradish cream.

My first impression was, "Why do I have a piece of Christmas wreath looking trout in front of me!" (LOL....!!!).

The trout was cooked just "right", very tender, full of "river" taste but surely no muddy river stink. The parsley jello covering helped to alleviate the fishy smell and at the same time, enhanced its look greatly.

The horseradish cream was uber delicious. Everything was very well matched, each ingredient inter-assist each item, canceling out the bad flavor of one another.



Plat

Variation Autour de L'agrean, Chou Roule Aux Epices a Couxous, Puree de Patate Douce.
(In English: Roast lamb with Chinese cabbage roll and sweet potato puree)
If you don't know me, I love sweet and savory all in one plate. This is exactly the kind of combination I really love. That's why I love Peking duck so dearly because you need the sweet bean paste to go with the crepe and the crispy duck!

Pre-Dessert

Bottomed with mango jelly, layered with cream and raspberry sorbet. I thought this WAS the dessert but it was only the beginning of the MAIN COURSE.

Macaron and creme brulee


Caramel rice bubbles crisp and Meringue with raspberry on top.

Fresh strawberries with 3 different sugars.

Pitaschio mousse. I LOVE pitaschio!

So, after a series of "pre-dessert", finally, the REAL dessert came out.

Tarte a la Vanilee de Madagascal et Chocolat Blanc Sorbet Orgeat
In English: White chocolate vanilla tart with almond syrup sorbet
To be frank with you, I was too stuffed to fully "enjoy" this. I got knocked out by the pre-dessert already.

MORE SWEETS~~~~!!!!! (I couldn't possibly eat anymore, so I took them home. They gave me a very nice box for take away!)

All the petite desserts were served from a wagon.

Totally stuffed and I only paid 6800 yen! Not bad for a Grande Maison price, honestly. Now, I need to wait until 2013 autumn or even longer (expecting to have a long long booking queue) until I can try again.

葱油叉燒撈丁 BBQ Pork with Spring Onion "Oil" on instant noodles

No one in HK doesn't know what "出前一丁"(instant noodles) is. My family used to stock them in the kitchen drawer, but with one very special phenomenon. On the side of all the neatly placed packets of noodles, many tiny packets of "味精" (taste enhancer soup powder) were also arrayed in such neat manner.



Probably, it was our "house rule" of eating instant noodles. We never use its inclusive soup powder.

Dad loved to eat the waxy noodles with the leftover double boiled Chinese soup. In one occasion, I saw him eating the noodles with "西洋菜湯" (watercress double boiled soup) where "strings" of watercress got intertwined with the noodles and dad just slurped everything into his mouth.

My instant thought was, "YUCK!". Murky green soup + slimy, slippery, waxy noodles...... just the thought of it wasn't very appetite stimulating.

Yet, same as my dad, Hong Kong people has the tendency to "drop off" this MSG packet and transform this instant noodle to become Hong Kong snack-style daipaidong soul food.

One good example would be, "葱油叉燒撈丁" BBQ Pork with Spring Onion "Oil" on instant noodles.



This C9 loves an extra fried egg on top plus a hefty load of spring onion oil. Mind you, you don't fry the spring onion to bring out the flavors. You simply pour hot oil over the ginger and spring onions, add a pinch of salt, some oyster sauce, sugar and soya sauce then coat this "sauce" with the waxy instant noodles.


Where can you find this noodle? Go to a local Hong Kong style cafe "茶餐廳" or daipaidong, that's the starting point.

Ivan Ramen (アイバン ラーメン） ＠ 経堂 （Kyoudou)

Playing with "30 Mins" on my i-Phone became a deleterious habit and I couldn't stop GOING OUT!!!

My first target was Macina Mecina　マッシーナ・メッシーナ, and I found my next target pretty much the very next second!

Ivan Ramen (アイバン　ラーメン）, opened up by Ivan Okin, a New Yorker with a Manhattan's Lutèce history, a Ramen lover, a Japanese food lover.

The Kyoudou (経堂）shop was his 2nd shop where Rokakouen （芦花公園） was his first.

The Rokakouen （芦花公園） shop used to be another ramen shop but the owner wanted to close it, that triggered his interest in opening his own ramen shop at the same location.

Like all ramen, the soup was its soul! His soup was a slow cooked chicken （丸鶏）and sun dried sardine （煮干） combination, which was JUST the kind of soup I love!

I loved the depth of the soup as it remained in my mouth for a long time. Definitely not SALTY, but the soup had a full body with rich flavors.

I chose their soya sauce ramen (醤油ラーメン） and my friend chose their seasonal ramen (エビ香おるピリ辛マヨベジまぜ麺), which was sun dried Sakura shrimps (桜海老) mixed with various veggies's mayo non-soup type ramen.

The decor was very jazzy. Instead of entering into a ramen shop, I felt like entering into a jazz bar.

I believe, with this quality of ramen, the decor and the good service, it can be a potential hit overseas. Obviously Melbourians would love to have this kind of ramen shop!

I am so tempted to go for my 2nd visit soon................ perhaps tomorrow?????

I passed by his shop recently and saw him in PERSON!!! He was chatting with the tattoo guy (the American chef with full tattoo on his right arm!).

I almost wanted to ask for his autograph but thought that may ruin "my decent" image .... ha ha ha..... let's save the autograph for my next visit.


Meanwhile, he even wrote a book about his shop.... only if you are interested....

C was totally satisfied with the fresh strawberry and banana homemade ice-cream. Too sweet for mummy but C had her 100% satisfaction smile on her face.