It was a sunny day...

The summer has kinda arrived!

It was a sunny day yesterday. The lavender along the footpath to my apartment block is blooming. Even the bumblebees are out (I wonder where the bees live. I want get some lavender honey for the honey duck dish!)

Sadly, it didn't last. It is cloudy again today.

English weather...

Back in London

I'm back in London. It has been a big rush over the past few weeks. SP and I are both glad that we are home. There are so much to tidy up/ sort out!

We won't be travelling until April, so I have plenty of time to catch up on my blog :-)

What to do with a can of abalone?

While tidying up our food cabinets, we found a can of abalone! So we decided to use up some of our (large) supply of Chinese mushrooms and dried scallops to make a classic Chinese dish - abalone with mushrooms!


It tasted pretty good. Too bad the abalone is small (hint to those who wants to buy me abalone!!) :P

Anyway, thanks to mum for supplying all of the Chinese ingredients!

The tale of two homemade burgers

SP and I went to a house party the weekend before last. During the party, we mentioned the burgers at BurgerFuel in NZ. That reminded me that I have a precious jar of aioli from Provence! What's better than making a gourmet burger with it!

SP and I went to Waitrose next day, trying to source our buns and burgers. The buns come in a packet of four. So, SP and I agreed that we will take turn to make dinner for the next two days.

No.. this is not another competition. We decided to make different burgers: I was to replicate the 'Ford Freakout' burger from BurgerFuel and SP was to make his special prawn burger.

So here are the results:

My creation: Angus beef burger, crispy bacon, avocado, generous amount of aioli and leaves. It was very very very yummy. The beef was tender and it is also tasty. The crispy bacon added some crunchiness to the burger and it is balanced by the creaminess of the avocado and the aioli! Absolutely wonderful! I LOVE aioli!

SP's creation: fried Madagascan prawns with aioli and leaves. SP added bacon on his. The Madagascan prawns have a very fine texture to it. It also has a very sweet taste to it. This certainly beats the normal king prawns (tasteless) and the normal tiger prawns in Australia! The only other comparable prawns are Panamanian prawns.

Dinner is served! Luckily, our white wine supply hasn't run out yet! We also made a streaky bacon salad (with balsamic vinegar sauce) to go with our meal. Aren't we healthy? :)

Risotto ai Funghi Porcini

SP and I bought some dried porcini from the Italian market. It is very good quality so it is best that we consume it ASAP (that's my reasoning, anyway)

As we were cooking, I simply couldn't resist the temptation to do tastings every couple of minutes. The fragrance of porcini filled up the entire apartment! Luckily, there are still a good amount left when the dish is ready to be served.

We have made our risotto extra rich and it went really well with a glass of wine.

I can't wait until we make this dish again.

If only I bought more of this stuff from Italy, I would be making it everyday! :)

Ratatouille and our own adventure with French cuisine

SP and I watched Ratatouille yesterday night. We both enjoyed the movie and it has inspired us to cook a French meal.

As we studied our French cookbooks, Ratatouille (the dish) was ruled out because of its ingredients, namely the zucchini! We flipped through the pages and found a dish which appeals to both of us: honey duck!

We have tasted this dish in one of the small towns in Provence. It was very delicious. It was not sweet, but savory.

The recipe suggested not just any honey, but lavender honey!

Luckily, we've stocked up some great lavender honey on our last trip and the recipe was immediately approved and signed off.

Next, we went to the supermarket and shop for the other ingredients. We went to the poultry section first, the choice was a little limiting: skinless duck breast or duck legs. Both are free range and they both look great. But I picked the duck legs based on the fact that we (I) NEED (love) the skin.

The first thing we have to do is to make the stock, which eventually get reduced to the sauce. We didn't make the stock from scratch because we had steamed chicken the other night and we have saved up the 'chicken essence'. However, SP added too much salt to the steamed chicken and the chicken essence was way too salty. So, we ended up with 'authentic' salty French sauce!

We also have to brush a layer of honey on the duck and then grilled the duck until it is golden and the honey is caramelised. It smells so yummy! The duck is then placed in the oven to roast for 5 minutes. I can't wait!

And for those wondering whether I was working, of course I helped out in the kitchen!

Photographic evidence of me in the kitchen. I'm making the sauce here.

SP was the saucier's helper.

Pouring the sauce on the duck

The finished dish

Ready for dinner.

And the sommelier (SP) has made a great choice. It is a French wine with English label. But who cares! It was a great match for the duck.

The dish tasted very good! I stripped all the meat off the bone and am ready for some more. What's great about the French dish is that it wasn't that difficult to make.

It proves what Gusteau said: 'everyone can cook'!

Where is my French housemate?

I haven't seen him since France lost at the World Cup finals.

I'm worried.

Update (11/07/06 11:19pm): He is back. But I have yet to speak to him :(

Rotherhithe

The name "Rotherhithe" derives from the Old English hryther hyth, meaning "Landing-place for cattle".

Rotherhithe is in the extreme north east of the London Borough of Southwark.

In the early 12th century, King Henry I gave approximately half of Rotherhithe to the Bermondsey Abbey. The abbey later went on and acquired must of the rest. However, everything was lost to King Henry VIII when he took over the churches. Kind Edward III also had some input into this area, where he built a manor house in the mid-14th century.

Due to its proximity to the wider section of the Thames, shipbuilding has become a traditional industry in the area. At one point during King James I's reign, the shipwrights of Rotherhithe has a royal charter that allows them to control the industry within the region. After over 70 years of disputes, the charter was cancelled.

Rotherhithe was then turned into a number of docks, which eventually was consolidated by the Surrey Commercial Dock Company. There are an attempt in building a canal all the way to Portsmouth. But in the end, they only went as far as Peckham.

The entire area was destroyed in the London Blitz (1940) and was literally flattened by the end of World World II. Trade resumed after the war. However, it was short lived as the growing size of ships, London traffic congestion as well as the move to pallets and containerisation lead to the decline. The docks were eventually shut down in 1970.

As part of the Greater London Development Plan of 1976, the land were transferred to the London Dockland Development Corporation in 1981. Originally, a number of local-authority buildings were erected around the Canada Waters and Rotherhithe area. Later on, the project was deemed to be a failure and slowly, private development began to take place.

Properties in Rotherhithe, especially waterfront ones, have turned into modern (and sometimes luxury) accomodations. Although the Southwark Council has taken back the control of the area in 1996-1998, private property developments continue to be the driving force behind the population growth in Rotherhithe.

Rotherhithe is now serviced by a number of bus service. It has access to the East London line on the Rotherhithe tube station. With a 10 minute walk, you can also get to Canada Water station for the quick and new Jubilee line underground service.