Recent Eats

Hubby has been away quite a bit lately. And when he's not around I like to help myself to my simple Asian stuff, no need to put on the European Gourmet Act. Tomorrow he leaves for the week, so we'll be having rice porridge week-long with all kinds of different dishes (e.g. pork with black bean sauce, sambal prawns etc). The last time he was away, we had some of the following :

Char Siu Puffs (made the char siu myself but not the puff pastry)

Lemon Chicken

Pork Rib Udon Soup

with its garnishing

Cod Fish in Thai Green Curry (the filets were lightly battered)

Potato and Dal Curry (served with Dosai)

Hot and Sour Soup/Soupe Pékinoise/Suan La Tang

Baby Boy before he was even two, would tell us that he wanted to eat soupe pékinoise (Hot and Sour Soup). And whenever we ate in a Chinese restaurant, you can be sure that that's exactly what he would order for himself for his entrée.

Without fail, the waiter/waitress would inform us that the soup would be too hot for the child. They must be joking, calling the fadish soup you usually find here in Europe "hot". They do not know the real meaning of the word.

Actually, Big Boy and Baby Girl are fans of the soup too. Thanks to in vitro chilli and curry training. In Paris, we usually eat it chez Da Jia Le (one of these days I'll install a Chinese keyboard - if I manage to figure out One Wheel's Greek instructions...) in the 13e arrondissement. Not too bad. Could be very good or mediocre depending on the Cantonese chef's mood.

Well, the other day, I told myself, why not make it myself? They tend to slurp it up by the bowlfuls, it'll be cheaper this way. Besides I'm on a carbo (reduction) diet, over here in Germany, free-flow of rice comes with the (usually lousy) dishes in the Chinese restaurants and I'm the see-rice-eat-rice kind of person...So if I do not walk into a Chinese restaurant I will not be eating alot of rice!

I basically experimented quite a bit with the vinegar, pepper etc à mon goût, so measurements will not be exact.

Chinese dried mushrooms or fresh Shitake mushrooms (julienned)
Brown button mushrooms, black fungus (optional)
Spring Onions (julienned)
Ginger (julienned)
Garlic (diced)
Chicken filets (diced)
Cooked ham (julienned)
Carrots (diced or julienned)
Zucchini (julienned)
Bean curd (the medium-soft type)
Sherry
Chicken stock
Vinegar (White rice or Dark)
Soy Sauce
Fish sauce
Sesame oil
Chilli Padi
White pepper
Cornflour
Egg

I started by browning the chicken, ginger, spring onions and garlic (everything finely diced or julienned). Followed by the mushrooms, carrots and cooked ham. Next, I poured in some sherry, chicken stock and water. Followed by loads of white pepper (the heat of the soup comes from pepper rather than chilli), 1-2 Tbsps of soy sauce, fish sauce and black Chinese vinegar. A touch of sesame oil. 1 chilli padi (diced). The julienned zucchini (I dislike bamboo shoots so I used zucchini instead and it has to be added in quite towards the end so as to remain crunchy), and tofu. Then I stirred in cornflour mixed in water, as much as is needed to thicken the soup. Finally drizzled a beaten egg into the soup.

The soup turned out really great and the fun part is that we get to decide what veggie etc go into it. And no MSG.

Hubby said that I had gone a bit crazy with the chilli, which I found puzzling 'coz I was thinking as I was drinking it that I should have added more...

Mama I Love You!

Baby Girl came up from the Hobby Room in the basement one afternoon to inform me that Baby Boy had just peed on the carpet.

A few minutes later I heard Baby Boy climbing up the stairs. And singing at the same time, very loudly, the song that I've been singing him since he was born, "Armand baby, Mama loves Armand..."

He came into my office. Looking extremely nonchalant. Hard to imagine that this was the boy who just peed (once again) on my carpet and who was walking around with wet and stinking pants and all. I gave him a dirty look.

He started screaming at the top of his lungs, "MAMA I LOVE YOU!!! MAMA I LOOOVE YOU!!!"

Galette des Rois

January 6 (3 Kings' Day or Épiphanie) is not a public holiday in France. But everywhere in the country mothers, fathers and bakers would be busy baking Galette des rois, basically puff pastry filled with an almond paste (frangipane). It commerates the day Baby Jesus was presented to the 3 Kings Balthazar, Melchior and Gaspard.

Children especially like this occasion, as a porcelain figure would normally be hidden in the pastry before it was baked and the person finding it would be King. He/she gets to wear a crown, choose his/her Queen (and normally offer the next Galette to those around him/her).

I made four Galettes this year on three separate days. I was glad that they turned out really well and that I received plenty of compliments from my guests (and especially from Hubby - a frangipane lover).

The recipe :

2 round discs of Puff Pastry (for 6-8 persons)
125g of Butter (I used salted butter)
125g of Sugar (I used fruit sugar)
4 Eggs (one for brushing the galette with)

300g of ground Almonds
25g of Maizena

2 Tbsps of Rum
1 Tbsp of Fleur d'Oranger

Beat the melted butter (in pieces but not warm nor liquid) with the sugar till you get a creamy dough. Add 3 eggs, the ground almonds, Maizena, rum and fleur d'oranger extract. I like to leave the filling in the fridge for a few hours before using it.

Spread the frangipane/almond filling in the middle of one of the puff pastry discs, hide the porcelain figure in it, cover with the other disc. There should be a 2-3 cm border of empty space between the edge and the filling (so that the filling will not flow out of the pastry) and one must seal the edges firmly (but not too hard or we'll not see the different pastry layers) with cold water. Make patterns on the top disc with a knife and brush a beaten egg over it. Bake in a pre-heated 200ºC oven for 20-25 minutes.

The youngest person at the table normally gets to close his eyes and designate who gets a particular piece of the tart. Do not bite into your galette too hard or you may break your teeth if it happens to contain the porcelain figure.

Bistro Steak

It is not easy finding good beef for steak in Stuttgart. Beef usually comes in three basic forms : for steak (often badly cut), chopped or for goulash. They do not know how to cut up the carcass into lovely and distinct parts like the ribs (côte de boeuf), cheeks (joue), faux filet, entrecôte, bavette, rumpsteak, onglet etc etc. And when you found some supermarket selling entrecôte, it turned out to be the type of meat that gave out a lot of water when you started to cook it and that could never be grilled. And a few other French mothers here have told me the same thing, we were getting quite resigned to the whole thing.

Then I saw this big piece of vacuum-packed beef in the REWE supermarket near my house. From Brazil. I bought it, sliced it myself and grilled it and it was really quite delicious. I ignore if it contained any hormones, but it didn't give out water when cooked and was really quite tender and beggars can't be choosers so I'll live with the doubt.

We eat our steak rare. So basically just a few thick slices, and maximum 5 minutes on each side on a really hot grill, some olive oil, salt, pepper, Herbes de Provence.

I've also done a Roast Beef with the meat, most recently feeding 6 adults and 6 children with it. I heated up my porcelaine receptacle in the oven with some olive oil inside catching my meat on it as I put it into the oven. 20 minutes for a nicely rare Roast. It is true that the blood below the slices of beef looked a little gross in the picture, but it was great mixed with the red wine and shallot sauce that Hubby made to go with the roast. I served the meat with sauteed mushrooms, green beans and fried potatoes.

Sale Sale Sale!!!

January and July are two of my favourite months. I am at my most motivated and active in those months. There's nothing like a good Sale/ Soldes/ Saldi/ Rebajas/ Schlussverkauf to keep the adrenaline going, give meaning to life etc.

When I was living in Singapore, I used to consecrate a day or two to 8-hours-at-a-stretch Sale outings during THE Season. I would start at Palais Renaissance and finish at Plaza Singapura. And another day or two for the different neighbourhood malls. By the end of THE Season, I would more or less be able to look at whatever someone was wearing and guess where she had gotten her stuff from. And I wasn't rich. But window shopping needs no purse, just some stamina and lots of spirit. It's a free and healthy sport.

I sometimes wonder if I really needed to buy anything at all. I have to admit that the joy lies more in having fun trying on all sorts of clothes and accessories, and in finding a really good bargain. It's the Hunt. I almost never buy anything that is not on Sale. And pretty often I would discover (yet again) that I have no room in my wardrobe for more and would end up giving stuff away. Like this weekend. Invited 2 friends over and distributed some of the stuff. But the rest (some new and never worn) I usually just put them into the old-clothes box one finds here and there in the neighbourhood. Am trying to convince myself that I'm doing my little bit for charity this way.

Ever since I have a Hubby and a few kids, shopping has become even more wonderful and fun. Now I enlarge my repertoire and get to shop in the Men's and Kids' Departments. I have the excuse to spend more money, decide what they wear. It is like my paper dolls come to life. Of course as Hubby pointed out often enough, the problem is that I buy so much the children often do not really have the opportunity to wear their clothes/shoes more than a few times, if at all. And I tend to hide them so well (as I also tend to buy for like a season or 2 in advance) I often forget that I even have them and then it would be too late and they couldn't even wear them at all.

Then my sister has children. Also 3. And I can pass on some of the nicer clothes to my nieces and nephew :-).

Now my best friend just got pregnant :-) ;-). This is getting really interesting.

Actually outside Sale Season I also shop alot. If you think about it, I'm like Singapore, evergreen and equatorial, I buy all year round. I am a member of several Private Sales (vente privée) websites in France. It has become a career, if you wish. I like to say that both Hubby and myself we are Buyers. He spends his company's money and I spend his.

This Season I started out in Stuttgart City centre, chez Zara, Mango, Esprit, Oasis, H&M, the usual. Not too bad, there were not many shops, but there were not many shoppers either, so there were often still sizes etc up for grabs.

What is really exciting about Stuttgart though is the existence of Metzingen. More precisely, of Designer Factory outlets in Metzingen. A few years ago when Hubby first visited Metzingen, there was more or less only the Hugo Boss Factory Outlet in the town. A few years down the road, other brands have sprouted up like mushrooms around the historical Boss outlet and carloads of tourists turn up at 10 sharp every morning to hunt for bargains in the different shops : Polo Ralph Lauren, Esprit, Burberry, Nike, Hugo Boss, Bally, Puma, Escada, Marc O'Polo, Möve, Joop...to name but a few.

Metzingen's just 40 minutes by car from where I live. The only problem is that I do not have much time to myself everyday, so last week I actually went to shop there 4 mornings in a row (Wed - Sat), each time having only 2 hours to do so. And I'm still not done yet! I'll return next week when Hubby's in Mexico and I get the use of the car. I've stupidly given away two down jackets before I have bought a new one and we're still in the middle of winter...

Well, I am left with one Summer Sale before we leave for Italy. But Italy is second in Europe for Designer Outlet shopping (after the UK and just before France) and we'll be living 2 hours away from Milan. It looks promising for the continuation of my shopping career. Hooray!

But one thing I miss about shopping here in Europe is the lack of a decent place to lunch in. In Singapore, we would have been spoilt for choice. When I think of the lousy bakery between Esprit and Polo in Metzingen or McDonald's in the MacArthur Glen in Troyes...If only they knew how much more rewarding shopping would be if we could have something delicious to snack on in between digging through the clothes. Which is why I think I'll bring along my own foie gras sandwiches next week.

Conversation Between Two Babies

Overheard yesterday (in French) :

4 year old girl : "What is wrong with you baby cat?"

2 1/2 year old boy : "The doctor poked me with a needle..."

G : "Does it hurt, baby cat?"

B : "Of course. Miao..."

G : "OK, let's kill the doctor."

B : "With a pistol?"

Me Lucky Star?

I just received a call from Hubby. He was quite excited about the interviews he just went through this afternoon for a new position. With a famous company boys both big and small dream of :-).

It would certainly send his flying career soaring. Though as usual, something has to give and it will be our family life - whatever's left of it, that is.

If he accepts the job, he'll have to live away from the kids and myself during the week. Because the town where the company is situated has no French school. But come to think of it, we see little of him as it is anyway since he travels regularly for business. And as he liked to tell me each time I complained about it, "If you want to see your man every day, you should have married the Postman..." Touché.

When I met him many years ago, he was just a French Engineer who recently switched to doing something other than R&D. Earning a French Engineer's decent salary, not more not less.

I was never a fan of Engineers. I do not share the French's enthusiasm, love and admiration for this race of humans. In France, very often, to succeed in life, even if all you want to do is sell or market, very often you would have to have an Engineering degree to start with. They don't find them "square" or boring, which when you come to think about it, is logical since they really do have a thing for Cartesians.

Myself, Doctors in white, Lawyers in black and Professors with PhDs were more likely to turn me on. But I didn't count on my Tarot reading... :-)

Actually, before Tarot, mom brought me once to a Chinese fortune teller at Clarke Quay and the guy said that I've "Guì Rén" life. Meaning that I bring meaning and fulfillment to those who come into close contact with me. Well, I certainly have been filling up quite a few stomachs if that's what he meant...

Back to Hubby and his career : ever since he married me, his career literally flew. I left my own budding career (after 2 scholarships and a few Postgrad degrees in Political Science) behind to follow him to Spain after we got married. We never looked back since, it has been one expatriation leading to another, each job more interesting, important and of course better paid than the last one. And 3 kids.

Hubby said that this is normal because I have given up my own ambitions (among them the Diplomatic Corps) and have been pushing him to fulfill his own (and mine as well). It is true that he always consults me when it comes to making major decisions about his career, and I am always on the ready to provide the pros and cons (good training - Political Science), and most of all, encouragement and all kinds of support. I mean, let's be fair. If the guy has to work, he must be motivated about it, right? Heh heh he wasn't far off the mark when he said that I am working him to the bone so that he could afford to buy me diamonds and other goodies. Well, I like having something concrete to look at every day, and retail therapy for tired and frustrated housewives works very well as long as there is always credit in the credit card.

But seriously, I've always said that if he earned less, I would have spent less. I am delicious, not delirious. The Asian in me says that what is important is that the guy be ambitious and smart. Everything else naturally follows. Normally.

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised.

So says my Tarot card from yesterday. When I mentioned that to Hubby, he started singing some tune from John Lennon and ended up by saying that I'm his Star. (grin)

I seriously do not think that money should be the most important consideration in any career. Though of course I would be the last to spit on it. I rather treasure the challenge (both external and personal) factor. Thinking (of), knowing (that you can) and wanting to stretch yourself and making it. What was the motto we were brainwashed with in Singapore? Strive for Excellence. Voilà, simple as that.

We are trying to convince ourselves that the "sacrifice" will just be for about 3 years - the amount of time necessary for him to prove himself (once again) and continue the climb. Anyway, the real hard work will be on my part - having to deal with the 3 monsters all on my own (chauffeur, home tutor, cook, cleaner, mother etc all rolled into one), with no one to complain to at the end of the day, no regular sex (shucks, to think that I married him for his libido), and no guinea pig to try my new dishes on.

On the other hand, I'll also have nobody to stop me from snacking, eating my pungent stuff, blogging all night long...and I can sleep with my babies. I do love them so very much. I tell them that they are the most beautiful babies on earth and I really believe it. :-)

The other downside though is that my vague plans to return to the workforce will have to be shelved - yet again. But I will continue learning Spanish and German, pick up Italian, and maybe do another Masters. I am thinking about Development Management. I can keep my ONG dream alive this way.

When I first met Hubby, he kept repeating to me that he expected his wife to work. Not for the money, but to remain interesting. Now of course his worst dreams have come true - I am a housewife, have put on a good 12 Kgs in the past 4 years, and I know the current price of Zucchini better than anybody or anything else.

BUT, what is wrong with living around zucchini? There are women who buy (or not at all) zucchini without knowing the price nor what to do with it. The good thing about formal education is that it gives me THE interest, ability, confidence, approach etc to deal with just about anything, zucchini included. If I want to, I can write an agricultural, cultural, economic, political, religious, sexual and whatever thesis on Zucchini, use it as a dildo, cook it (in at least 10 ways) and eat it too. Voilà. pourquoi. je suis. UNE ÉTOILE*.

*Read it with a fake British accent

My Tarot Card

You are The Star

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised.

The Star is a card that looks to the future. It does not predict any immediate or powerful change, but it does predict hope and healing. This card suggests clarity of vision, spiritual insight. And, most importantly, that unexpected help will be coming, with water to quench your thirst, with a guiding light to the future. They might say you're a dreamer, but you're not the only one.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Got this from a fellow Singaporean's blog this evening. And quite funny since my mom told me once that my Christian name signified "Hope" (according to the relative that gave me the name) :-). Though I'm quite lost at the last 3 sentences, so am I supposed to be the unexpected help or should I expect unexpected help? Caught no ball...

Quick Fixes

Between Christmas and the New Year, we've had family over so alot of time had been spent cooking and eating. And in between more elaborate meals, we had to admit that it was quite humanly impossible to binge on 3 to 4-course meals twice a day every day, that we would have to go for simpler fare at times, better, some fasting here and there wherever possible.

I had therefore concocted the occasional one-dish meal :

Spaghetti al arrabbiata (basically olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, red peppers, chilli...) with an egg for some protein

Cod Fish and Prawn Curry Ceylon-style (highlight = curry leaves, star anis, lime juice, coconut milk...) with toasts for dipping (would have binged out on prata but didn't feel like sharing my frozen stock)

Vietnamese Meat and Vegetable Nems with a sweet chilli dip (from McDonalds, ha ha)

Bacon, Potato and Cheese Soup with Rotewurst (grilled sausage)

And the usual Sweet and Sour Chicken, Stingray in Lemon-Butter Sauce, Leek and Potato Soup, Tomato Soup etc.

Actually, if you ask me, I'm just quite happy with lots of rice or bread and a bit of curry or sambal chilli sauce. No need to eat fish or meat. But so fat must cut down on carbo...sob sob.

Visit to Munich and the Dachau NAZI Concentration Camp

The NAZI period must be a heavy cross to bear for the Germans. Yet I think that they are doing really fine since unlike the Turks (vis-à-vis the Armenian Genocide) and the Japs (WWII in Asia), for example, they have chosen to face their past and as such earn the permission to move on.

Though this morning I was talking to a German mom and she told me that she didn't want to visit Dachau as the past is best kept where it is. I said, "Everybody coming here wants to visit Dachau..." and she retorted, "Not if you're German!"

It would be unthinkable not to visit Munich when we live just 2 hours away by car. And it would be unthinkable not to visit Dachau when we were in Munich. But well, we're not German :-).

Last December was a good time to visit Dachau. It was cold and bleak enough for us to visit the camp memorial and try to imagine how horrible winter must be for its former inmates; and the unnaturally warm winter we are having now made it easier for us to bear walking around in the cold.

Entry is free. Though you'll have to rent an audiophone (3 Euros for adults). Guided visits are available, but only on Saturdays and Sundays (if I'm not wrong). We started with the camp grounds (but it seemed a little antiseptic as almost all of it had been torn down), the cremation buildings, the sleeping quarters (picture above - newly reconstructed) and finally the museum.

The cremation buildings were a very bleak, impressive and necessary sight to behold, but I didn't feel brave enough to have pictures taken of the ovens or the gas chamber...The film being shown in the museum (in English at 15h30, for example) was well-done and really gave one a feel of the horrible atrocities being committed by the Nazis during WWII. One must make sure that one has enough time to visit the museum, there is much to read through and the camp closes at 17h.

Man's senseless cruelty is hard to bear. And millions of Jews, German and other soldiers, homosexuals, opposition politicians etc etc had died because of a power-mad regime gone crazy. But I personally still do not believe that the creation of the State of Israel was a really good idea. Or at least not in such a rush. We should learn from History, but not tamper with it. But that's just my opinion.

Come to think about it, millions of people from different parts of the world have been killed and continue to be killed for the most senseless of reasons. Why is it that nobody seems to be doing anything for the bulk of them?

As we left the camp, it was dark and the air felt heavy and much more oppressive. We all wondered aloud though how so many Germans could bear to live so near the camp memorial, there are houses everywhere - probably built above the thousands still buried underneath!

On a happier note, Munich, the City of BMW, is a really lovely city. Stately homes, wide avenues, many shops, restaurants etc. The people dress up really nicely too in general - quite a contrast to Stuttgart. There's a river near the Modern Art Museum and the English Gardens where people could actually surf the waves. Quite a sight in the heart of town.

We always stay at the Mercure Hotel in the Rudolf-Vogel-Bogen street, in the south of the city. It is children-friendly and is quite comfortable (4*). We've also established some sort of food routine when we were there : a meal at a fine Vietnamese restaurant Thang Long (www.thanglong-muenchen.de) in town (good Pho and Roast Duck with Kangkong), and some cake (excellent carrot cake) and sandwiches at a bakery near the castle. And we always try to bring some stale bread along as the kids like to feed the ducks, geese, swans and other birds in the lake in front of the castle.

My little Armand had been very brave (sigh), you see him going after the goose even when he had just moments ago had his finger caught in its beak because he stupidly held the bread in his hand for too long a time.

I must say that I wouldn't mind living in Munich.

On our way to Munich we stopped by in Ulm (famous for its cathedral) for lunch. Had typical German food in a warm and friendly taverna - meaning heavy, hearty and rustic, sometimes good and to be eaten only once in a while - Zwiebelroastbraten, Sauerkraut mit Bratwurst, Hirschgulasch...

Sugee Cookies

I haven't made this in years. Maybe more than a decade come to think of it. It was one of my childhood favourites (during Hari Raya, my Malay Mak used to make them, oh how I love the way they melted in the mouth!). And as a teenager doing Home Economics, I would also make them when I was in one of my frenzied "practising" moods.

I had a big can of Ghee (clarified butter). Bought it on a whim on a visit to an Indian grocery store here in Stuttgart.

In December 2006, I found myself in this situation whereby the classes of my 3 kids were all organising a class party where parents were invited and where we had to bring along some cookies, cakes and/or drinks. To kill the different birds with one stone, I had the bright idea of baking a huge batch of Sugee Cookies (and using my Ghee which was about to expire) and turning up in all 3 parties with the rich stuff.

Sugee cookies are not for the faint-hearted. They are so rich I'm sure they go direct to the heart so woe to those with clogged arteries. And you know that those I baked were good because my French MIL (very tough cookie critic) liquidated those remaining at home (a good 2 boxes) when she was here. She called them "sablés" and couldn't stop popping them into her mouth. That plus all the expensive chocolates that I had bought for the fêtes...

450g Ghee
340g Icing Sugar
750g plain Flour

Chopped almonds, chocolate rice, ground cinnamon etc (optional)

Very very simple to make (which was why I made them). Shame to those who made chemical-filled cookies out of ready-mixes when they had to make any.

Cream ghee and sugar for 5 minutes. Add flour and knead into a soft dough. Leave covered for 4 hours.

Pre-heat oven at 120ºC.

Traditionally, the dough will be rolled into rolls where you'll be able to cut them into small pieces to make marble-sized cookies. I wanted to test out some of my newly-acquisitioned cookie cutters (heart-shaped ones), so I made big and small heart-shaped sugee cookies. I also added ground cinnamon, chopped almonds and chocolate rice in some of them for a change.

In any case, bake them for about 20-25 minutes. They should remain creamy in colour : melt-in-the mouth creamy.

St Sylvestre Dinner 2006/2007 : French Fusion

We invited an interesting German-Mexican couple and their 2 children to join us (MIL and SIL included) for our New Year Eve's dinner. Our children go to the same French-German school in Stuttgart and as the small French expatriate community would have it, we have a few friends in common and to top it all, hubby used to work in the same company as the male half of the couple so they could really relate to one another.

The Sommerhalters arrived at 6pm for a dip in our indoor pool before dinner. They brought champagne from Moët et Chandon and a really huge variety of cheeses from France : Comté, Roquefort, Camembert, St Marcellin etc etc.

On our side we have started to prepare dinner from 2pm on, as the dinner will have at least 7 courses with a good wine/liquor from our personal wine collection for each course. This is a typical French meal in a good restaurant though of course I have added my Asian touch here and there to make it a little different.

Here it goes (Food in Red and Drink in Blue) :

Amuse bouche en variation de quiches
Champagne Moët et Chandon

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Foie gras mi-cuit marbré cacao et son mesclun aux noix
Riesling vendange tardive 2004, Wolfberger

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Marmite de fruits de mer et son consommé à la citronnelle
Chablis 1er cru 2002, Mont de Milieu, Thierry Lafay

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Trou normand Heumaden
Granité aux deux citrons et Vodka russe

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Magret de canard au miel et vinaigre balsamique
pommes de terre Sarladaise et haricots verts du Kenya
Pauillac 2000, Prélude à Grand Puy Ducasse

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Plateau de fromage
Ladoix 1er cru 1999, les Joyeuses, Domaine Prin

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Croustillant de framboises et sa crème fouettée
Champagne Moët et Chandon

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Café Vergnano, Arabica
Et son pousse café : Armagnac 1966, Tequila Don Julio (reposado), et plus si affinité…

I prepared the ingredients for the mini quiches, but only assembled them before serving. We made 2 types of quiches : Tomato-Egg-Cheese-Onion-Bacon and Tomato-Egg-Cheese-Onion-Anchovies. The recipe can be found in one of my earlier postings, though this time around I added some beaten egg with crème fraîche.

Hubby made the foie gras himself a few days ago. I'll post the recipe another day, but basically one has to de-nerve a beautiful 600g lobe of raw duck liver, season it with salt, pepper, a sweet wine (we used a Monbazillac), in our case coffee etc and cook it in a bain-marie in the oven. Then put a weight on top of the terrine and leave it to settle in the fridge for a few days. The foie gras was beautifully half-cooked and tasted really good. Félicitations au Chef!

I've also posted the recipe for the seafood soup a few months back, though this time around I have added a stalk of lemon grass to give it an exotic touch. The consommé was as such nicely perfumed with the seafood (Mussles, Clams, Tiger Prawns, Scallops, Cod Fish...), vegetables and lemon grass.

The trou Heumaden was named as such as we made the lemon-lime sorbet ourselves and served it with vodka between 2 main courses so as to facilitate digestion. I'll put up the recipe another day too if I have the time.

The duck magret main course was cooked by Hubby this time around. It consisted of grilling the breasts on their skin (make light parallel cuts on the skin beforehand) till much of the fat has been melted and the skin nicely roasted. And then to finish the cuisson on the flesh part - but only till it's pink/rosé on the inside, of course. The sauce was made with balsamic vinegar, honey, fond de veau and the juice (containing some blood) from cooking the duck. We served the meat sliced reasonably thick with the sauce, garlicked sauteed potatoes and very fine green beans gently sauteed in salted butter and garlic.

We finished the 2nd main course just in time to run out of the house to watch the fireworks. Alot of them seemed to be sponsored by our neighbours (those living in the flats). I have toyed briefly with the idea of setting off some myself (saw them in PLUS etc), but images of exploded fingers and a burnt house stopped me and we just had to be happy with what we could find in the sky above us.

So we started on the cheeses after midnight. At 1am, I put in the finishing touches to my dessert and served it. It consisted of layers of Greek Filo pastry (that I baked beforehand earlier in the day with salted butter and sugar between the layers), thick cream (that I beat up in the morning, adding in mascapone, almonds, fleur d'oranger, rum, fruit sugar...), fresh Raspberries (that I was lucky enough to find in Strasbourg a few days earlier)...AND dark chocolate discs that I made myself a few hours earlier. For decoration, I sprinkled ground pistachio nuts and icing sugar over the whole thing before serving. It was light, delicious and quite refreshing.

We ended the meal with coffee and liquor for those with a strong stomach (not me). An old Armagnac (hubby's year of birth - haha), excellent Don Julio (Reposado) Tequila he bought in Mexico on one of his frequent trips there and of course some quality Swiss and French chocolates.

It was 4am. MIL was falling asleep at the dinner table, our baby girl was sleeping on one of the sofas, their baby boy on the other sofa, our baby boy at the dinner table, though both our eldest children were busy playing Monopoly on the floor and trying to get richer than the other.

Talking about children, we fed them a different meal as they had to be fed earlier. Hainanese Chicken Rice and free-range Roast Chicken à la française (white wine, herbes de Provence, salt, pepper, paprika...). The amazing thing was that those kids (5 of them) finished the chicken in no time (nothing left) and kept asking for second, third etc servings of the rice. What appetite!

The Sommerhalters decided to call a taxi and come back for their car the next day. I was told that Mister was so happy with his St Sylvestre that he gave the driver a 10 Euro tip!

Happy New Year and Lots of Good Tidings in 2007, Everyone!

Yakitori and Sauteed Mushrooms

When we were living in Paris, we used to bring the kids to a nearby Japanese restaurant (unfortunately run by some Chinese) for a few makis and yakitoris. Easy and fast to eat and the kids just like them.

In Stuttgart, they seem to have only one Japanese restaurant, and I was told by my Japanese neighbour that it was expensive and so-so. The Chinese here seem mostly into all-you-can-eat lousy Chinese buffets than pseudo Japanese restaurants, so it means that I'll have to make my own yakitoris if I want to eat them.

The good thing is that the possibilities are quite endless when it comes to what we can put on a skewer. I usually do it with chicken filet, wings, minced meat rolled into balls, beef filet and cheese, pork, seafood, vegetables etc.

I always make some Japanese rice to go with the yakitoris (the kids like to eat the sticky rice with the sweet yakitori sauce) and occasionally some mushrooms (brown and white button, shitake, golden pin, abalone etc) to accompany them.

I like to marinate my meat before cooking them. And I bake them quickly before putting them on their skewers to be grilled so as to make sure that they are cooked through.

Meat (cut into skeweable portions)
Onions
Bell Peppers

Leeks
Mushrooms
Sherry/sake
Light Soy Sauce

Sesame oil
Sugar
Mirin
Ginger (minced)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cucumber (juliened)
Wooden or metal skewers (the former are best put into water to be softened in order to prevent burning during cooking)

Sweet Yakitori Sauce :

100ml Mirin

3 Tbsp Sake

100ml Soy sauce

50g Sugar

Marinate the meat in the sake, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, mirin and ginger for at least an hour. Remove from the marinade and drip dry, reserving the marinade (if any) for later. Skewer the meat with vegetables like bell peppers, onions, mushrooms etc if desired. Bake the skewers in a hot oven for 10 minutes.

Prepare the yakitori sauce by combining the mirin, sake , soy sauce and sugar in a casserole and simmering it till the sugar is dissolved. Pour the leftover marinade from the meat to the sauce.

Return the skewers to the new marinade, making sure to coat both sides generously with the sauce. Grill the skewers (e.g. on a BBQ) for 2 minutes on each side. Return them to the marinade to be re-coated with the sauce and then grill them again. Brush the meat with the marinade while it's on the grill.

Sprinkle some salt on the cucumber and serve it with a few yakitoris and a bowl of rice.

As for the mushrooms, just stir fry them with a little oil, garlic, oyster sauce, soya sauce, sherry, sesame oil, salt and pepper. Add some chopped parsley or coriander leaves just before serving if you wish.

Christmas 2006 (Cold Seafood, Pan-seared Scallops and Foie Gras...)

We have MIL and SIL over for Christmas this year. Not that it changes much of anything, no matter where we are, we always eat well for the occasion. And too much.

This year, to keep up with the tradition of serving mainly seafood, we drove 1h35mins to Cora Hagenau in France - grocery paradise with excellent wines, meats, seafood etc and etc. I am still wheeling from the sight of so many goodies on offer, so many culinary possibilities...

We started out with 4 dozens of 3-4 types of raw oysters, all from Brittany this year. Served with a shallot and red wine vinegar dip, bread and butter. Followed by a few hundred grams of crevettes roses (pink prawns cooked at sea), crevettes grises (tiny grey shrimps), raw shells, 2 home-cooked Tourteaux (giant crabs).

For those interested, I first made a stock with water, white wine, lemon slices, bay leaf, thyme, parsley, aniseed, carrots, onions, celery and a fish stock cube. Then we plunged the crabs (kept overnight in the fridge to numb them as nobody knew how to spare them torture by killing them outright) in the boiling stock and cooked them over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes (depending on the size). Took them out of the stock, cleaned them and then cut them up. Refrigerate for a few hours before serving.

For the main course, hubby came out of semi-retirement and prepared Pan-seared Scallops and Foie Gras (duck liver) déglacés with some honey, balsamic vinegar and fond de veau (concentrated veal stock) and decorated with slices of black truffles. The scallops were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, the lightly seared raw lobes of Alsatian duck liver simply melted in the mouth. Simply heavenly. Accompanied by fresh green beans lightly cooked in butter and garlic.

We had excellent wines to go with the meal, a dry Chablis for the seafood and a heavenly, very fragrant Gewurzstraminer to go with the scallops and foie gras.

For dessert, we just had lychees from Île Maurice, passion fruit, clementines, pineapple, blood oranges... Very good coffee from our new Nespresso machine and chocolates from Marquise de Sévigny to end the meal.

Merry Christmas, everybody!

Baby Girl Turned 4

It's amazing how little kids love Birthday parties. It was little girl's 4th Birthday in early December and it was her little brother who spent the day singing the Happy Birthday song...

She prepared her list of friends to invite like a month before the big day. It was long and I had to play the wicked parent and cut it down quite drastically. In the end she was allowed to invite 7 kids (3 boys and 4 girls). It wasn't too bad for a first-time Birthday party, I thought.

Even though it was officially winter, the sun was shining and the day was actually quite warm. The kids were therefore able to play in the garden and we even had a father staying around to help us out. They took turns going down the slide and being pushed on the swing, played catching in the garden etc.

Then we ushered them into the playroom and had a few games going on : snakes and ladders, kapla, pretend play (toy kitchen etc)...

It was difficult attracting the kids' attention for more than 15 minutes at any one time, so we brought them to the kitchen to eat the Bob the Builder Chocolate Birthday cake and open the presents and then just put them all in front of the Plasma TV. They watched Pinocchio and were really quite concentrated during the show.

I gave each kid a little doggy bag with a picture of PUCCA, stickers, tattoo, candy, chocolate, a wooden ring for the girls and a wooden spin for the boys to take home with. Baby girl was really very happy with her party and so was her little brother who participated 101% all the way and looked all set to have a party of his own come March.

As for the parents, we were exhausted and relieved that it was over for another year (especially when we just had a party in October for the big brother), though I had to spend an hour or so cleaning up the kitchen thanks to our failed attempts at making coton candy with this lousy machine we bought from Amazon.de. There was sugar EVERYWHERE, I could hear the ants marching here...

Somaly Mam's Le Silence de l'Innocence

I've recently read this book “Le Silence de l’Innocence” written by Somaly Mam. Former teen prostitute (raped at 12, forced into a loveless marriage, later sold to a brothel etc) in Cambodia, she managed to get out of her hell by marrying a French man with whom she was to set up AFESIP, an organisation that aims to rescue young girls from human trafficking and sexual slavery.*

It is very sad to read about the way young girls and women in general are treated in this country. This is just so inhumane and exasperating. Fancy girls as young as 8 or 9 being sold into prostitution by their own mothers or sisters and then raped, abused, drugged every day of their lives. Many would catch AIDS, STDs, Tuberculosis etc and suffer all the way to their early deaths. Why is there no justice for these poor souls?

And just as exasperating is the physical lack of justice in these countries. The corruption among the judiciary, the Police etc is rampant and the work of associations like Afesip is often ineffective because of that. And the culture of having sex with virgins and young children is sick and to think that those culprits often consider themselves Buddhists or Muslims and lived as righteous individuals in their societies. And not to forget all the men from developed countries like Japan, Germany, the UK etc making their way to Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos etc by the planeloads to abuse young girls, may they grill slowly and painfully in Hell for that.

I know that I sound like a broken record, but please let us not accept the belief that prostitution has to be tolerated because it is the world's oldest profession. Please pressurise Governments into punishing all the pimps and owners of brothels and especially their policemen and soldiers for their part in the trade. Please let us give hell to all the Johns who abuse these women and girls often forced into the trade. Please tell anybody whether they want to listen or not that it is inadmissible to close an eye to sexual abuse in any form and on anybody. And please start in our own homes by educating our own sons and husbands to what it means to respect another person, women in this case.

By the sad state of the world economy, many has been forced and will be forced to sell themselves. But if demand can be reduced if not eliminated, surely the attractiveness of using women in such inhumane ways would also see some decline. It will be a very long and tedious battle, but we have succeeded in warming up the globe in a few generations, I don't see why we can't deal with human slavery and trafficking.

*PS : www.afesip.org : "AFESIP exists to combat trafficking in women and children for sex slavery; to care for and rehabilitate those rescued from sex slavery; to provide occupational skills and to reintegrate those rescued into the community in a sustainable and innovative manner. AFESIP also seeks to combat the causes and effects of trafficking and sex slavery through outreach work in AIDS prevention; through advocacy and campaigning; through representation and participation in women’s issues at national, regional and international forums."