This week I have been Reading
The 2011 Tour de France race guide.
Watching
An Idiot Abroad
Listening to
The xx
Discovering
(Or rediscovering) Hamlet - Nicki Greenberg's beautiful new version, thanks to the fabulous Snarkattack, who invited me along to see Nicki talk about the creative process behind the book.
Eating
- An enormous serve of bangers'n'mash and a nourishing pint of Kilkenny at the Town Hall one dismal Tuesday evening.
- A "Chachi" - chianina meatball sandwich - another brioche donut and some amazing chocolate tart at Beatrix, which Essjay has reviewed.
- A lazy Sunday lunch at The Crimean. The Polish hunter's stew (bigos) was just the thing to revive me after a chilly bike ride.
- Generous piles of fried food with oodles of chillies and sichuan peppercorns at Sichuan House
- Succulent suckling pig at Liberteene.
- An array of bright, zesty flavours at Chin Chin, where the only problem was having to choose only some of the items from what looks to be a menu that is all hits, no filler.
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By Injera, on July 3rd, 2010% Poh moves out of her kitchen and heads off overseas – to Malaysia, the country where she was born. She is on a three-week trip starting in Kuala Lumpur to find out more about her heritage and traditional Malaysian dishes.
Poh wasn’t one of my favourite contestants in the first season of Masterchef. Her inclusion in the competition came after the judges rejected her first dish and told her to go home and cook something “from the heart” (or similarly cliché location). Her second dish got her through and the show did its darndest to eliminate that early mis-step from viewers’ minds by constructing a “Poh cooks from her heritage” narrative. When she was brought back as a “second chancer”, grudge-holding viewers (which could well be a set of, say, one) seethed at “third chancers”. Of course, when the final came down to Julie versus Poh, I would have preferred to see Poh through, as at least she’d consistently shown competence and creativity in the kitchen.
Coming second did not damage Poh’s food-related ambitions; the ABC recognised her potential and signed her up for a series to fill the old Cook and the Chef spot. I tuned into the first couple of episodes and, whilst she seemed very natural on TV, the giggling and fawning over guest chefs grated. Was that Poh? Perhaps it was just me, because after a few weeks I tuned back in and have become a regular viewer.
Continue reading Food TV – Poh’s Kitchen
By Injera, on November 21st, 2009% Why haven’t I been to Laksa Me before now? It’s taken Streetsmart to finally make the effort to go, and it was worth it. We were looking for somewhere to grab a quick and inexpensive dinner in the city, so checked the list and this certainly seemed to fit the bill.
You certainly don’t go there for the decor. That’s not to say that it’s uncomfortable, just that the furnishings and styling are utilitarian. You don’t go for the wine list, either, however you can bring your own wine for a $10 corkage (they have a small selection and we did get a cold, wet bottle of white from that but I’d suggest you make use of the BYO option). The location is great – public transport friendly with a number of post-dinner drinks options. Liverpool Street’s a little on the daggy side, but that’s not a criticism; comfortable is good.
I’d checked out the online menu before booking and had already mapped out the meal. Unfortunately three of the starters I’d chosen virtually weren’t available on the real menu (Thai sausage, beef in betel leaf and duck rolls). We ended up with the pandan chicken (sublime), mini rolls (perfectly crisp parcels with no oiliness, but nothing spectacular) and fish cakes (tasty).
Despite the fact that the menu listed a number of appealing dishes, there was no way I wasn’t going to get a laksa. I just had to decide between the “My Mum’s Laksa” and the Laksa Lemak (no WAY I was going for the “skinny” version). As I adore hor fun and cha siu I went with the Ipoh style. It was fine – the pork was very tender, the prawns were plump and fresh, the “soup” was spicy and not too sweet or too creamy. Negatives were that the elements of the paste were a little too obvious in the dish, rendering the texture quite grainy, and the chunks of chicken added nothing to the dish.
My partner chose the San-bei-ji, described as “Chunk of chicken braised with 3 cups of seasoning, garlic, ginger and chilli, served with steamed Jasmine rice”. It was simple, with the definite “breath of the wok” flavour – which, for some reason, I insist on calling “dragon’s breath” (possibly because it always elicits the same pained eye-roll). I’m glad he tried it; I’d be making my way through the Malaysian classics before I got to that.
I’m glad I finally got there but I’m still searching for the perfect laksa. Will have to return to try the laksa lemak, just in case… Perhaps before Christmas, when the warm glow of being satisfied by food is extended by the warm glow of supporting Streetsmart.
By injera, on January 20th, 2009% Food is important to me. I don’t believe in an “eat to live” (ETL) or “live to eat” (LTE) polarisation, because I do neither exclusively. The way I see it, ETL people tend to see food as merely fuel and, therefore, place little or no importance on what form the fuel comes in (although, having said that, the ETL people I know – and they are, mercifully, few – seem to choose the least appetizing fuels on offer). For LTE people, food is a form of recreation; what’s on the plate is the end in itself. If I recast this as a spectrum, with ETL on the left-hand side and LTE on the right, I’d put myself at about 80 percent “right”.
Food plays an important part in my social life. Seeing friends always includes eating of some sort, whether it’s a full meal, something delicious with coffee or some tasty snacks with drinks. Part of the enjoyment of having friends for dinner is constructing the menu – selecting dishes we’ve made successfully and making sure they’ll work together, as well as suit the tastes of the guests. Grabbing lunch, for the 80% LTE-er, is never about whatever’s most convenient, or closest (I submit last term’s lunchtime dash from Collingwood to Doncaster for a noodle-and-dumpling fix as evidence). Food also plays a role in choosing holiday destinations, which is why Tahiti has often been considered and discarded, and Spain is near the top of the wishlist. Food is also part of why we revisit Asia so often and why Malaysia, in particular, remains a firm favourite.
Continue reading Mmmalaysian food
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