Royal Mandarin, Uncle Cheung’s, Cherry Blossom – Realised.

Being a Reform American Jew – growing up meant Chinese food at least once a week, complete with chicken fingers, boneless spareribs and fried rice. Sunday nights at Uncle Cheung’s on Rt. 9 meant half of Temple Beth Am waiting patiently for a table.

I’m proud to say I’ve progressed from chicken fingers to Szechuan bean curd and sea bass with ginger and scallions. Still, I wouldn’t throw a Crab Rangoon out of bed for eating crackers, I can’t tell a lie.

Having recently spent two weeks in and about Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, I’d done a fair bit of research early on. If I was going all that way, I wanted to make sure I’d hunted down the perfect Peking duck in Beijing (check), stuffed myself silly with dumplings in Shanghai (check-check), and scoped out the underbelly of the Chinese food we always read about (check-check-check). Even if I was too chicken to eat barbecue scorpions – I still wanted to see them.

Was the food everything I’d hoped for? Well, yes and no. While I did have some of the most delicious Chinese dishes I’ve ever had – not everything was as outstanding as I’d hoped for. I suppose not too surprising really since I was eating it nearly every day for lunch and dinner (there was a mini break down towards the end of week one where I needed to eat Fries like it was nobodies business – if I saw one more grain of rice I was going to flip out). So fries for lunch – and then I was ready to go back to rice for dinner.

For years I’d heard that Chinese food in China is completely different from Chinese food in America (or England). And while I’ll not take the time to lament the differences between American and British Chinese food (the latter using significantly more vinegar), I can attest to some of the main differences between ‘real’ and ‘fake’ (aka Western) Chinese food.

With not a chicken wing or General named Tso’s in site, one thing I found was that just like the US (and even more so) China is huge with drastically different regional cuisine. Granted I spent my time in the ‘touristy’ Eastern cities, but I still happened upon a number of different dishes. I gave the sheep’s penis a pass – but fought JB for the last piece of gorgeous braised pork we got when visiting the canal town of Zhou Zhuang.

The soup filled dumplings (pork being my personal favourite) was another treat I’d never come across before (although apparently there are a few spots in NYC where you can get some good ones). I’d originally thought that they always had to be fresh – as how could you really make them ahead of time with the soup inside such a thin but fluffy dumpling skin. However, in my reading I came across the secret whereby they use gelatine in the soup - and it’s only when they are heated that it turns soup like. Eating these little jewels is a bit of an art form and I’d be lying if a few of them didn’t result in a ricochet of soup squirting across the table or occasionally onto my lap. I got there in the end though – looked like a pro, I’m sure.

The highlight of my food adventure in China would be, without a doubt the Peking duck which I had at a restaurant called “Made in China” (ridiculous name, I know) in Beijing. So enamoured and star-struck was I by this perfect specimen that ACB and I actually went back 2 out of 3 nights in the city. Considering we’d made a long list of fabulous sounding restaurants we wanted to try – it shows just how amazing this duck was.

As I ate it there was literally a halo of happiness emanating from me. All I could think of was that if this was how Peking duck was meant to taste – then I’d always had a poor imitation of the real thing. Served with the typical hoisin (plum) sauce, cucumbers and green onions – it was also served with a piquant garlic sauce and granulated sugar to put on the skin and in the pancake before eating.

As someone who has always listed Peking duck as a guilty pleasure and one of my favourite meals I’ve been both spoiled rotten and ruined for life, for I’m not sure I’ll ever have any which is nearly as good or as addictive. I suppose that just means I’ll be back to Beijing for it. Ah, maybe that’s part of their master plan?

Birthday Parties

The past few days I’ve realised that no matter what sh$t has been thrown my way in the past year, I am truly blessed with some of the most remarkable and wonderful friends a gal could ever ask for.

Celebrating my (ahem) 29th birthday on Thursday with the lovely AW, we drank fabulous cocktails at Milk and Honey (I had a Bison Sour which while strange sounding on the menu - vodka, lemon, sugar, egg white and cinnamon - when served was a glass of yumminess). It was sweet and tart and always a sucker for texture – loved the strange cappuccino like froth at the top. We continued our tour of Soho by moving on to dinner at Arbutus. Hands down the highlight of dinner was the company and chat, but giving credit where credit is due, I need to give a shout out to the starter that AW and I shared: Roasted squash with fresh sheeps ricotta, air dried ham, & fragolina grapes. We were questioning our decision on sharing once we’d taken the first bite.

After Thursday night the party bus pulled into a rest stop. On Saturday though, it refueled and picked up 10 of my nearest and dearest for an absolutely perfect Saturday night.

Celebrating with my London A-list – I’d booked us into Wodka. An Eastern European restaurant, I knew I’d chosen wisely when I saw the dishes of pickles adorning the tables. Also, they’d sorted out a square table (instead of the typical rectangle) so we were able to see and chat with each other without too much effort. Plus, it made the vodka shot drinking that much easier.

Wodka sells over 40 vodkas (half of which are homemade) which are sold by the shot, 1/2 or whole carafe. Introducing my friends to the Russian tradition of starting a meal with a shot of vodka chased by a pickle - I'd definitely converted a few tequila shot drinkers before the night was through.

Delicious food aside, throughout the night I also managed to try the following homemade vodkas (listed in order of preference).

- Strawberry
- Spiced Orange
- Vanilla
- Pear
- Flowers and Herbs

For dins I shared a few starters with LM & RL but absolutely loved my main course of Golonka, a roasted pork shank with sauerkraut. It was simply prepared but the most tender and fat-free pork I’ve ever eaten. Moist but slightly crunchy on the outside, it also worked really well with the vodka because unlike some of the other dishes - there wasn’t a heavy sauce to distract me.

The 11 of us ordered 4 desserts, 3 of which I really enjoyed. Leading up the pack were a homemade cinnamon ice cream and a white chocolate cheesecake which was gobbled right up (so fast that both RL and I managed to end up with a bit of candle in our mouth - the cheesecake having been the conduit of my Happy Birthday candles). The third dessert which I loved simply from a nostalgia perspective was the Nalesniki – Crepes (or as the menu stated – ‘Crapes’) filled with sweet cheese, raisons, and almonds. Basically a glorified blintz – but so good.

At the end of the day I picked a great Birthday venue - from the atmosphere and the drink selection, table set up and food. However, give me my friends and a dozen Burger King whoppers and I would have been just as happy. Hehe.

Bake Sale

Except for a brief stint playing Maria in Joey and Maria’s Comedy Italian Wedding way back when, this week’s cupcake making extravaganza was the best time I’ve ever had making money. A few weeks back a friend of a friend contacted me about making some sort of cake for a product launch party. We played a bit of phone tag as we were both in and out of the country traveling, but all I knew from her messages was that she was looking for a purplish-lilac coloured cake.

Now a delicious cake with purple frosting I could do, but did she want a massive sheet cake with a big purple dinosaur? My commission definitely wasn't happening if it was.

We finally touched base about 7 pm on Tuesday night. No, a big purple dinosaur (or in this particular case a big purple superhero) wasn’t necessary but what could I offer her? And for that next day - Wednesday morning. Now normally with a bit more notice I might have gone all out and been a bit more creative – but beggars can’t be choosers. She said she was happy with whatever I created. So at 7:15 p.m. I headed home, to get crackin’.

3 ½ hours, 750 grams of butter, 8 cups of sugar later – I’d created nearly 3 dozen purple cupcakes. I’d doubled a failsafe butter cake recipe and once doubled, divided it in half again. To one half I added lemon juice & zest and to the other half melted chocolate and chopped hazelnuts. I was a woman possessed as I baked, partly in my zone and partly in frenzy.

Considering I was under a huge time crunch, my hand mixer smoking and needing to be thrown in the bin straight off the cooking bat (thank goodness for crazy food processor attachments), and dealing with the temperamental fickleness of food colouring I ended up making one of the biggest messes of my cooking career.

Seriously, anyone who knows me can attest to me being a whirlwind with my stuff, be it in the kitchen, my living room, or bedroom. I’m that person that finds clothes in my kitchen cupboard and a jar of pickles with my t-shirts. So considering that I’m messy on a good day – the mess was a beast like no other. Forget about getting cake all over me, I somehow managed to get purple frosting on my ceiling too.

However, at the end of the day – they came out looking great. A woman picked them up at 7:30 am the next morning and handed me a wad of cash-ola for them. Funny thing is, I had so much fun I would have done it for free…although the clean up was brutal…so it did soften this blow.

Who knows, maybe this is the beginning of a fun part-time job – I’ve already had an offer for a co-worker’s son’s birthday…apparently he's having a dinosaur themed party...just my luck!

The August Olympics (of food)

Here I am 2 days before the end of August sitting and writing for the first time this month. I’d like to admit that it was due to a hectic work schedule, but with 2 and a half weeks of holiday in the US visiting friends and family – I just couldn’t bring myself to boot up my laptop beyond an occasional email check. Truthfully, the most labour intensive technology I used whilst at home included two items:

First was my mother’s universal remote – it took me nearly a week to successfully turn the TV on and off without messing up some secret settings she'd set up.

Second was her Wine Preserver vacuum pump - with this one I spent a good ten minutes trying to insert nozzles, both backwards and forewords. Once that was sorted, I started frantically pumping and pumping the top of it to “release all the air” (or so the packaging claimed). Having broken out in a sweat, and nearly chipped a tooth, I figured out a better solution – I took the damn Wine Preserver off and just finished the bottle of wine. There, problem solved.

Anyway, technology snafus aside it was a wonderful few weeks of best friends, quality family time, 3x/week personal training sessions, and new fall/winter clothes stock-up sessions.

Side bar: It’s all well and good for my family to tell me how lucky I am when visiting the States since the $ is so weak against the £. Well, not exactly when I proceeded to buy EVERYTHING in site. Please, if anyone has an occasion for me to wear a new sparkly purple sequin dress, please let me know.

Lovely food and eating occurred on most days. We tended to do a lot of eating and cooking in - which worked out to everyone’s benefit. In honor of this month’s Olympics I’d like to share this month’s food winners:

Bronze Medal: Matt’s Chicken Shawarma

Marinated for 24 hours and with enough garlic to kill off the entire Vampire Chronicle series, I’d been hearing about this famous chicken shawarma for months. Served in whole wheat pitas with home-made tahini sauce, cucumbers from the farm, a wee bit of feta and all washed down with a Blue Moon (with lemon) a good time was had by all.

Silver Medal: Spicy Tuna salad at Fugakyu

Everything I love about really fresh spicy tuna rolls but without the rice. Fresh pieces of tuna with spicy mayo and little flecks of tempura crunch were served in a martini glass over a bed of seaweed. When out to eat with friends I never like to eat the last bit of anything unless strongly prompted, however Jai and I were fighting over the last bit like 2 women who’d spotted the same discount handbag at Loehmanns red tag sale.

Gold Medal: Dinner in three courses prepared by Davida, Audrey, and Dana

With the 3 of us in the kitchen at the same time it was particularly (and surprisingly) smooth sailing and by far the most enjoyable and delicious meal of the month:

~Roasted peaches and goat cheese served with prosciutto and an olive oil drizzle
~Fresh crab and corn cakes served with a brandied cream and shrimp sauce
~Squash blossoms stuffed with 2 types of Italian cheeses, dried apricots, garlic and chives

Lovebox cookies

Last Saturday was an amazing day out filled with good friends, amazing music, a fair bit of sunshine and big warm fuzzy feelings for London. I'd been at the Lovebox music festival during the day and while it finished around 10:30 p.m., there were definitely a few more hours of music, dancing, and an all in all jolly time to be had. So much so - that by 3 am when I was excusing myself to go catch my #43 bus home I was accosted by some friends of friends.

Nope, they were not letting me leave. There was more fun to be had they insisted: “The night is young! Plus before we know it – 5 years will go by and then we’ll all be like 32 and married with kids. We won’t be able to party and go out anymore.”

I wasn’t sure whether I was laughing, crying, or coughing (having recently run out of Allergy medicine earlier in the week). But I informed them that now I really did need to go home. I needed to get my rest because I didn’t have 5 years like them! Ha! The bunch couldn't believe I was 30. “You don’t look THAT old” they kept saying. Hmmmm....

Well needless to say after about 15 hours of merry-making, Sunday was a bit of a waste of a day and went something like this:

1. 10 am - wake up starving. Bizarrely decide I must make pancakes. Eat pancakes and go back to bed.

2. Noon - wake up and move to couch

3. 1 pm -take shower and return to couch

4. 3 pm - decide I need to do SOMETHING productive so bake cookies (chocolate cookies with dried cherries, toasted pecans and chocolate chips)

5. 5 pm - take nap

6. 7 pm - join friends for dinner

7. 9:30 - go to bed

Right, ok then...not the most productive of days but my extended team at work were loving the cookies so there you go.

Notting Hill Village Fete

I’ve been in a lucky girl in having some truly remarkable friends. Like a pair of coveted Jimmy Choos, each is uniquely special in their own way. My recent visit to the "Notting Hill Village Fete”, showcased AW in all of her quirky, thoughtful, perfectly detailed Englishness.

Celebrating her 28th she’d managed to transform her flat into a Village Fete complete with proper bunting, “whack a rat”, and a male bake-off competition. Only white wine and Pimms were allowed past the front door.

I’ll admit I went into this blind. My idea of a “Village Fete” was a typical Americana “Country Fair” complete with quilting bees and blueberry pies, of which I can’t remember ever having attended one before. Embarrassingly enough, I didn’t even know what bunting was, and “whack a rat”? I thought she might have rented a UK version of Whack a Mole. Yeah, I know – so wrong, but I'll bet every State-side reader would have thought the same thing.

After learning some country dances, drinking a hefty bit of Pimms, and judging the male bake-off competition I realised that for the first time in a long time I didn’t want to scramble away to make the last tube - so what if my taxi was going to be £25 to get home? Most definitely worth it.

I brought with me a home-made carrot cake. I’d been craving one all week, but really can't stand the stuff they sell in places like Starbucks. As luck would have it, by the time I finished with all my Pimms and bake-off tasting I only had room for a few bites of mine and then ended up leaving the rest with AW and TD for later consumption. However, even if I didn't give it the artist's eye, it was still met with rave reviews. I believe I even blushed when told by one fete goer that it was the best carrot cake he’d ever had. And another who said it was “Da Bomb…totally blissed out by it”. My coveted shoes keep me feeling confident and fabulous – and with such compliments on my cake – so do my friends.

Village Fete Carrot Cake (aka The Silver Palate’s recipe with a few distinct variations I’ve noted below):

http://www.relishmag.com/recipes/view/31242/the-silver-palates-carrot.html

Swap out the cooked carrots for shredded raw ones and up the total amount to 1 ½ cups
Replace the walnuts with pecans

2 1/2 times the frosting (I frost the sides of the cake, the recipe doesn't. Also, I'm in love with cream cheese frosting.)

Summer Bounty

Having friends over for dinner is always as much a treat for me as it is for them. Sunday I spent my morning with a big grin plastered to my face as I bought two armfuls of fresh produce at my local farmers market. Strawberry, raspberries, cherries, rhubarb, lettuce, courgette, cucumber, tomatoes, shallots, onions - I felt like I had quasi-Popeye arms by the time I walked home with all my goodies in tow.

I actually pulled a fast one on myself by keeping it simple with a new potato and spring onion tart purchased at the market. Even if it hadn’t been home-made be me – it was by the woman selling it. After a moment or two of “should I? am I cheating”…I was in. I knew that combining it with a superdana salad and dessert it wouldn't be cheating – It would just be smart.

The tart was lovely the best bit being how the pastry was made with olive oil instead of butter. However, while the tart was singing Kenny Loggins “I’m Alright”, the salad and dessert were rocking out to Queen’s “We Are the Champions”.

The salad was like a Vegas slot machine or if like me and a bit pussyfooted about gambling more like a game of travel Yahtzee. …every bite as an unexpected surprise! Would I get the fresh strawberry with a bite of beet and goat cheese? MAYBE I’d get the spiced pecan with the crispy shallots and dried cranberries. Oh boy was it a fun game!

Dessert was a vanilla bean cheesecake with strawberry rhubarb compote. The cheesecake was sweet but not OTT. If any fault could be found it was that because I switched the recipe up using two small spring form pans my measurements were a bit off. As such the crust, while yummy, was quite thick around the edges. However, what put the cheesecake on the short list of recipes I’ll make again was the strawberry rhubarb compote I made to go with it. Part skill, but mostly luck – I threw just a few ingredients into a pot to cook on the stove top. Didn’t measure and didn’t even look much (was too busy chatting)…but what I ended up with was perfect. It was exceptionally tart (my favourite) but not too much so when paired with the cheesecake. Though even on it’s own it’s been fantastic. I’ve been spooning it into my eagerly awaiting mouth most days this week after dinner.


Yahtzee Salad

Half a head of lettuce
Sliced cucumber
Sliced avocado
Dried cranberries
Fresh strawberries
1/3 cup pecan halves
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Cooked beetroot
Crumbled goat's cheese
2 shallots, diced
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp olive oil
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
1 small garlic clove, finely diced
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 176 C or 350 F
2. Toss pecans with cayenne pepper and cinnamon, roast in oven for approx 12 minutes
3. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil is a small sauté pan over medium heat. Add shallots and cook for 6-8 minutes until crisp and brown. Set aside.
4. Combine olive oil, balsamic, garlic, lemon juice, 1/4 of fried shallots, and any herbs you have lying around (I used a wee bit of oregano)
5. Toss the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl. Sprinkle pecans, leftover fried shallots and dressing on top


Vanilla Bean Cheesecake
The cheesecake recipe came from a slightly doctored version from a 1998 issue of Bon Appetit:

A few notes:
1. Graham crackers don't exist in the UK so I used Waitrose brand "Rich Tea Fingers". For you Yanks, they're basically the cookie part of a Vienna Finger.
2. I skipped out on the Vanilla-Vodka Berries in the linked recipe and replaced it with my strawberry rhubarb compote below
3. The vodka in the actual cheesecake was halved and vanilla extract doubled.
4. Once I scraped all the vanilla beans out of the pods I threw the pods into a bottle of vodka in my freezer for vanilla martinis at a future date and time.

Strawberry Rhubarb Compote - Note measurements are approximate

3/4 cup apple juice
2 cups rhubarb washed, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 cup strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Over medium heat boil rhubarb in apple juice, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon - approx 10 minutes
2. Add strawberries and cook for an additional 5-6 minutes
3. Cool completely