January 23rd, 2012
“Toss another shrimp on the barbie, will ya love?”
It’s the Australian catch-cry advertised since a time before I even came to be.
It was a rather confusing catch-cry, though, to my younger Malaysian-Chinese self as “shrimp” always meant the tiny dried prawn-like bits (often no bigger than a thumbnail) used by my mother to make soup and to be fried with leek. Prawns, on the other hand, were the bright orange creatures with black eyes that stared at you while your stubby five year old fingers wrestled with their tomato-sauce-laden shells.
…continue reading garlicky butter prawns
January 19th, 2012
The festive season is almost upon us!
A time for eating and drinking and eating some more. A time for presents and new clothes and seeing your relatives and celebrations. A time for cleaning the house from top to bottom and eating nothing but leftovers for days on end.
(“Whaaaaat?” I can hear you say to yourselves. “This girl’s lost the plot. We just finished the festive season… didn’t we?”)
Well yes. And no. Not if you’re Chinese anyway.
So grab a lettuce for your local lion dancer and stuff some dollars (notes, not coins please) into a red packet because Chinese New Year comes Monday morning!
…continue reading dragon’s eggs (tang yuen)
January 16th, 2012
Chocolate.
Rich, gooey, melty, oozing, smooth, handsome, delicious chocolate.
Give me a fruit crumble with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream any day.
No! Don’t switch pages! Not just yet… I mean, just because I’m not a devout chocoholic doesn’t mean I don’t like the occasional nibble or two. Sometimes even three! It’s just… chocolate is so… overwhelming.
And I am easily overwhelmed.
…continue reading dark chocolate espresso mousse cake
January 11th, 2012
I remember the first time my mother made mango pudding. She’d borrowed the recipe from a friend after tasting it somewhere-or-other and (in what appears to be a habit I’ve since inherited from her) made it with little regard to her friend’s careful notes.
She bought mango jelly crystals from the Chinese supermarket in preparation for the task (this was long before regular stores stocked such ‘exotic’ flavours).
A tin of evaporated milk.
A bowl full of ripe, fresh mangoes.
…continue reading mango pudding icecream
January 10th, 2012
Summer time and the livin’ is easy…
Unless you’re a vegetarian at a barbecue (or so I’ve heard from my meatless mates).
“Sure there’s veggie patties and soy sausages” they say to me, resignedly, “but it’d be so nice – just for once – to be the one with an enviable portion of food instead of the poor sod with a disintegrating tofu burger because someone mistook silken for firm.”
(And yes, I know nobody really talks like that, but I’ve a habit of paraphrasing badly).
…continue reading miso mushrooms with polenta
