dumpling party

I guess the wisdom of having already turned 30 is that you don't have to get drunk at your own party and you can organise something more sedate, like making dumplings. Getting a good party going is like getting a fire started, you need to give it enough fuel at the start, fan it so that it gets just enough oxygen, so I was too busy getting soup ready and serving snacks (and drinking beer) to take any more photos. Take my word for it, it was a good party, maybe a bit too much work to do it all again (and a big thank you to all the friends who came early to help out, contributed extra stools and chairs, and without which the party would have been impossible).

salty bread and salty tears

You know the feeling when you go back to a favourite food place but it is no longer there? Or perhaps it is there but the cook has changed and it tastes different...
a much more eloquent account of that here.

There must be an elegant way to say this in French, like how esprit de l'escalier (French for spirit of the escalator) refers to a witty comeback that only occurs to you when its too late.

September is a time for birthdays and this weekend is particularly busy - have a picnic in the afternoon and then late night drinks for another friend, plus a third friend is celebrating his at a guy club late late late into the night (don't think I will be going for that one).

So in the same order, happy birthday to Lachlan, Catherine and Jeff. May the coming year be better than before (and definitely better than my shitty run of luck last week). And a happy belated to Shravan, who I dobbed that it was his birthday yesterday and he had to do 25 rolls during training, the poor chap. Ah well, it was funny.

Mum is visiting, so I haven't been cooking but I whipped out this trusty tofu dish when I volunteered to cook for one night last week.

Ma po tofu
(It means pocked marked tofu dish, not sure why. This is a vegetarian adaptation of the one in Fuchsia Dunlop's book)

Chopped garlic 2-3 cloves
sliced cloud ear fungus (soaked)
chopped carrot
chopped caulifower
chopped spring onion
about half a block of tofu, cubes
2 tablespoons of sesame oil

Fry in wok. Add a couple of spoons of stock or water till the veggies are cooked.

For the sauce
1 teaspoon of salted black beans, crushed
3 tablespoons of chili bean sauce (you can get this in a bottle at most asian shops)
1 tablespoon of black chinese vinegar (this is the equivalent of chinese balsamic vinegar, it is more mellow than rice vinegar)
soy sauce to taste if it is not salty enough

Add sauce to stir fry, toss for a minute or so and it should be done.