tooooofuuuu

An attempt at my grandmother's sweet black pork, minestrone soup last sunday and today's lunch - cold tofu, stewed pumpkin and lightly sauteed veggies. The weather has turned hot (33C) again, so cold tofu is wonderful. The last week in the kitchen has been productive - made a brilliant fig and ginger cake because i keep reading these fig tart recipies but I am too lazy to make pastry from scratch.

cold tofu
a block of tofu, pre cooked and chilled or there are some that you can eat right out of the packet.

sauce
ginger
shallots (I didn't have any)
spring onion

In a teeny saucepan, stir fry the above with toasted sesame oil. Add soya sauce or shoyu, mirin or sake. Garnish with coriander leaves, sesame seeds. This is the Japanese version, for a sort of Shanghai version add a good glug of black vinegar.

The green stuff - kale on toast with mushies

The peach stuff - peaches from the neighbour's garden. Not exactly the same as a stolen serville orange from a monastery, these were hanging over the fence. Sweeter than they look, and organic to boot (I had to make a worm homeless).

The wine stuff: Decided to try and make spag with mussels and white wine. Was amazed how much it tasted like something you ordered at a restaurant despite how easy it was to make. Only trouble was it was too salty - and I didn't put any salt in! It might have been the bacon, or just the saltiness of the mussels.

Fresh mussels - they are tiny, so allocate 10-15 mussels per person.
Wash them, scrub the shells, cut the beards. Chuck them in a pot with a bit of oil, garlic and white wine to cover. Don't be stingy with the wine, cos you get to use it as a stock. Steam for 5 min, or until they open. I shelled all of mine as it is easier to eat but you can leave them on for effect. Strain the stock and add it to the pasta later. It can be quite salty so you may have to dilute it. Or serve it as a mussel soup.

Cook the pasta.

In a seperate pan, heat garlic, bacon, freshly cut parsley or celery leaves. Stir in the cooked pasta, cooked mussels and a bit of the stock. You can grate parmesan over to serve.

kale is kool

I went to the shops near by to get some salad, but I walked out with a lot more, as you can see. I love kale, so when I saw this I had to pick it up... and guess the price. Just $1.99... for the whole thing! How not to buy?

I've never seen anything so huge. So it's not organic, but until Australia goes nuclear, I think everything is safe.

Of course, part of the unwritten price is the stares I got from everyone on the walk home. It even came in handy as an umbrella as the sun was pretty hot.

But what is more disappointing is that no one seems to know what it is or what to do with it.
The only other person who might appreciate kale as much as I do is up in Darwin on holiday, so it looks I might have to embark on a kale show-n-tell.

It's got a nice green taste like kailan or chye sim, and the texture is similar to cabbage or broccoli leaves.

Anyhow, here are a couple of good ideas:
kale with chickpeas and lemon juice
done like spinach on toast

You can also make a mean minestrone with the stalks for stock and the leaves in place of cabbage.

back in action

Yes, I am back in Melbourne and back at the stove too. Dinner was lightly-fried marinated tofu (kecap manis and mirin), corn and celery soup and a cabbage, yellow zucchini, carrot garlic stir-fry. Make sure you have some liquid like water or rice wine and a tight lid, cos the cabbage needs to cook but without becoming soggy.

In the 72 hours I've been back, my fridge is full again. I've made hommus, a salty miso pickle from daikon leaves (they broke off), and a pumpkin and chicken stew (the chicken was frozen from before I left - don't worry, am sure it is safe to eat).

Now off to a different diet - vegging out with the oscars. George Clooney is as hot as ever. I am always concerned that one day, he will do a Cary Grant and my dreams will be shattered.

valentine's day

Had a cold ice lemon tea at the new-old colbar. It was going to be torn down but enough people protested so they still tore it down but rebuilt it plank by plank 200m away. In fact, the new location is even better because you look out onto greenery instead of the highway. (btw the old site is now a new highway - very hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy)

After lunch and fresh beers at a microbrewery, a movie, we ended up eating durians in geyland. I'm not sure if there is a glut now, but that little wonder cost us $2, and it was both creamy and bitter.

Island Creamery

This has got to be the best local ice-cream place in Singapore (that I know of). Half the price of haagen daz and twice as nice. I'm a sucker for new places and besides haagen daz is really expensive - the last I checked, it was almost $20 for a sundae with 2 scoops of ice cream and more whipped cream than actual ingredients.

Island creamery has local flavours like teh tarik (frothy milk tea), pulot hitam (glutinous red rice dessert with coconut), chendol (another coconut dessert drink), horlicks etc. Each scoop is $2.50, compared with $4 or more you pay at other chains.

It is on the way home from work, and I've resisted its charms for the last two months, but faced with impending return, I've decided to heck it and savour.

I tried black sesame ice cream today - the ice cream is crumbly and soft, very unlike gelato which feels stickier. I've also tried pineapple tart last year, and that was nice too. I really want to go back and sample the flavour pear sake..... it has two of my favourite things in it! And they claim no preservatives or eggs are used in all their flavours.

You can read a review by another blogger here and a comparism between scoop shops here.

Dinner options - there seems to be an interesting Japanese western place just next door, and a more posh french restaurant up the road. Or there is always Adam Road hawker centre a 3 min walk away.

loyalty

I've been eating at the same chicken rice stall in my market for at least 15 years. The rice portions have gotten bigger but prices are still the same ($2) and they still use the same yellow-green plates. The lady at the stall has seen me grow up, and I've seen her change as well, from a young girl to someone with less spring in her step, someone who looks tired.

I remember the neighbouring stall too, it was run by an old couple that served zi char (mixed dishes, freshly made) and his sweet and sour fish rocked. Sometimes, the flames from his wok rose above his stall, like serious flambe. I never figured out what dish he was making at the time. The couple sold off their stall when the market was being renovated.

Business isn't so good these days, partly because there are a lot of new chicken rice stalls. There are long queues just two doors away, a new hainanese boneless chicken rice stall, I guess boneless is a big draw, but they only serve the white steamed chicken.

To be fair, the stall I go to doesn't serve the best chicken rice, it is a bit dry, but I can't really try the other stall and not feel guilty, especially since the lady will definitely see me in the queue. Yes, I could get someone to ta pao (order takeaway) the boneless version for me, but what if I really really like it? Then I'm doubly screwed.

Joe has a favourite coffeeshop in the East, and there is also a very good chicken rice chain next door. We can only eat there in the day, when the coffeeshop is not open, for the same reason - he doesn't want to disappoint the coffeeshop auntie by walking there but eating at the other side.

My regular stall is Own Kee Chicken Rice, at Ghim Moh Market, and you can't miss the other chicken rice stall.

and if you're in Singapore, Team Williams just told me about this local food delivery service. Sorry, they don't deliver overseas.