whine & dine

It’s no secret that Japan – more specifically, Tokyo – is one of my favourite places in the world to holiday in. Oodles of noodles, conveyor-belt sushi that puts many mid-range and even high-end restaurants in other parts of the world to shame, the lightest, crispest tempura batter, and pastries and confections that of course only the Japanese would have the attention to detail to bring to such unparalleled heights. (Okay, I’m probably speaking in hyperbole, but bear with me.) Keep reading →

I MISS MY STOVE. AND I MISS MY BALCONY. MY HOUSE IS FALLING APART AND IT’S DRIVING ME CRAZY. YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD FIX THE CRAZY? PANCAKES. BLUEBERRY PANCAKES. BUT I DON’T HAVE A STOVE SO I CAN’T MAKE PANCAKES, AND THESE PANCAKES ARE SO YUMMY THAT I DON’T WANT TO SETTLE FOR CRAPPY PANCAKES ELSEWHERE. (I ALSO DIDN’T WANT TO GET OUT OF MY PJS FOR BREAKFAST TODAY. THAT I COULDN’T ENJOY ON MY BALCONY BECAUSE MY BALCONY DOOR IS ALSO BROKEN. Keep reading →

Fun fact: as a kid, one of my (many) nicknames was ‘Chich’, which was short for chicharon – a Filipino snack of deep fried pork rinds. (Variations are also popular in Spain, parts of Latin America, and – more recently – areas of the US and Europe.) I continue to be baffled by this, since I hated the stuff when I was growing up, which was probably due to how the only types I’d tried, up until maybe 5 years ago, were supermarket no-frills brands that were bland, greasy, not crispy or crunchy, and horribly unappetising. Keep reading →

There is a 2.5kg slab of Spanish Duroc belly that has been rubbed down with a dry cure of maple syrup, brown sugar, salt, sage, thyme and a crapload of black peppercorns, and vacuum packed, sitting in my fridge. After the last…4 (?) years of talking about it, I’ve finally gotten down to it. Fingers crossed that making bacon is as easy as they say and that it all turns out. In 6 days, I’ll be taking it out and slowly roasting it before I finally get to try my first slice, and I AM SO SO STOKED.:D

In the meantime, lemme go see if I can chicharrone the shit out of that skin I took off the belly, BRB.

One of my favourite vegetables in the world is broccoli. I love it best steamed or quickly stir-fried, the way my mum used to do, with thin slivers of ginger and lightly bathed in sesame oil and oyster sauce, or Cantonese-style with a slightly thickened sauce of minced garlic and a little stock. Baked with chunks of chicken in a creamy sauce, or studding my mac & cheese, I’ll really take it any way as long as it’s been cooked. (I’ll never really understand raw broccoli crudités.) Keep reading →