Japanese food, pt II

P: After my poor attempt at Japanese food, Sandy showed me how it's done with dishes of buta shogayaki (pork with ginger, soy sauce and mirin), spinach with soy sauce and katsuo boshi (bonito flakes), and miso soup with egg. Delicious!

Thalia's 2nd b'day at PS Cafe

Three days old

P: Our new nephew at less than a week old ... he looks just like Nel! A miniture version of his father! Mini-Nel.

Gay wizard

P: LOL. You must watch this. Sir Ian McKellen, the actor who played Gandalf the wizard (and much more!), is in Singapore at the moment acting in a production of King Lear. He was interviewed on Channel News Asia's Prime Time Morning (one of Monsoon's authors was interviewed on the same slot last week, see the post below) and he took the opportunity to poke fun at homophobic Singapore. Good for him!

Holly gave birth today!!!

P: Congratulations Holly and Nel on the birth of (as yet unnamed) twinkle (with a winkle)! Twinkle weighed in at 8lb 10oz. We suspect sumo may be the way to go. Sandy and I are so proud! Now we are really an Auntie and Uncle! Can't wait to fly back to UK to visit next month.

Itadakimas

P: Never really having cooked any Japanese food before, perhaps three dishes was a bit adventurous. Sandy pretty much took over; I couldn't even find the ingredients in the fridge 'cos I didn't know what they looked like and the names were all in Japanese. Er, naturally. Anyway, I tried to cook seared beef with soba, agedashi tofu with enoki, and red miso simmered eggplant.



The agedashi tofu -- silken tofu coated in rice flour, deepfried and served with a dashi, miso, mirin and soy broth with enoki -- was delicious; the soba noodles and marinaded beef less so; and the eggplant -- deepfried then cooked in a red miso, mirin, soy sauce -- was superb but too salty. Note to self: use less soy sauce next time.

Thalia busy in the kitchen

P: Thalia, our Australian neighbour, aged 2 (almost), sent up a surprise breakfast for Sandy and I this morning! Delicious savoury muffins with feta, sausage and olives. Thank you Thalia!

Braised duck

P: Sandy's cooking tonight so all wildlife take cover ...

Hanging bed

S: A tree frog has moved into, or onto, one of our hanging orchids and spends the day sleeping there.

Death in the Kingdom

hangover cure

P: Perennially in search of the best hangover cure, this morning I tried frying French garlic sausages in chilli prawn sambal with shallots and eating them on wholemeal bread straight out of the oven. Not too bad ... I might still pop a few panadol but I feel a whole lot better. Try it!

Spotted Wood-owl

P: Wow! Finally, after years of hearing them and seeing the occasional one in flight, I've finally been able to have a good look at a Spotted Wood-owl! Thaaaank you Katrina from downstairs who spotted the owl. It was perched on a mid-level branch of a rain tree not 10 metres from our livingroom window in Jalan Hang Jebat, Singapore. I think there's a resident pair living in the forest to the back of the flat. We couldn't photograph this one as it was too dark so I've found a photo of one that showed up in Chinatown two years ago:


Photo lifted from Bird Ecology Study Group of Singapore

frog's legs

S: hmm, delicious. this baby's just asking to be deepfried.

dead fridge

P: the fridge died. RIP. new one arrived. half the size. need to fit the food in. did my bit and drank all the cans of beer. now there's plenty of space.

Super Sport Sunday

P: What a Sunday! The British Grand Prix and Wimbledon Men's (sorry, Gentlemen's) Singles Final. Go Lewis, go Federer! We're channel hopping while feasting on lamb and couscous. Delicious.

Fear Factor

P: I would love to send Sandy onto the reality show Fear Factor. Whereas most contestants baulk at the thought of eating intestines, bugs and other creepy crawlies, Sandy would probably ask for seconds.

Celebrity Look-alikes

P: Ha, check out Sri's blog for a cool application that "recognizes" facial features on your mugshots and determines your celebrity look-alikes. Sri looks like Sylvestor Stallone, Sandy looks like a Chinese pop singer, Jonathan's look-alikes include everybody sporting a moustache and I look like a dead bald guy. You can find the link to the original software on Sri's site.

sunday roast

(clockwise from top left) Phil and Sandy having a quick drink at Hacienda in Dempsey Village; making beef dripping and red wine gravy with caramelised onion and garlic; roast beef with coriander crust; garlic roast potatoes and mini Yorkshire pudding.