Cake plates for your kitchen

Christmas is just around the corner, time to scrummage for those cake plates in the back of your garage. If you can't find them, do consider these ones. Cake plates with a slice of ceramic cake on them.
Portuguese designer Rosa Lemos has produced a range of cake dishes for Italian ceramics manufacturer Bosa Ceramiche.

The dishes feature a decorated ceramic wedge, which takes the place of the ‘last slice’ of cake.

The following is from Rosa Lemos:

To whom the last slice?

Usually the cakes are eaten slice after slice and reaching the last one, this one stays there, lost among smiles of courtesy, crumbling himself. With Akitoka, the last slice doesn’t go to anybody - it remains in the dish.

Akitoka is a dish for cakes that it plays with the fatality of the last slice. It’s a Rosa Lemos project for Bosa Ceramiche and it has shown up with success at Paris to Maison and Object 08 and to the FuoriSalone 08.

The dishes are available in the formats round and rectangular, with or without decoration. The decorated dishes are accompanied of stencil with the same sketch to decorate the cake with the sugar to veil.

HONG KONG: Hairy Crab Pictures

Enjoy! Pictures from our Crab night...

SHANGHAI: Chinese Mitten Crab/Big Binding Crab/ Hairy Crab 大閘蟹

Just in season for these infamous Shanghai Hairy crabs in Asia. Locals and tourists alike wait for these babies to be ready for steaming in the Autumn.

Crab-eating traditions began thousands of years ago.

People found a strange and terrible kind of "pests with crusts" in the fields eating grains. They had sharp chelae and legs that could injure the farmers.

Some were bitten by the pests and people closed their doors before sunset for fear of attack.

However, a bold farmer could not bear them any longer and sprayed a basin of boiling water on the pests.

Suddenly, the pests stopped being pests and the green crust turned to gold.

Some brave farmers took them back home and stewed them. A strong aroma came out of the pests, which enticed one man to try one after peeling the crust away.

He found it was the most delicious food he had ever eaten in his entire life.

The news spread quickly, and people loved the taste of the pests and caught them with a view to eating them. Since then, the harmful pests have become a delicacy.

Last year around this time in Shanghai, I had my Hairy crabs for the first time. It was at a Xiao Long Bao restaurant(yes.. strange) Ding Tai Feng. I'm sure many of you food lovers must have heard of this taiwanese-owned chain.

The servers de-shell the crabs in front of you while serving. The yellowy yolk is not to be missed, not much crabmeat in the legs but the yolk .. oh ..the yolk.. MUST TRY.

Along with their other yummy dishes, viola!







*Note* Some pictures are stolen from my cousin as I didn't take that many pictures last time I went


And for the people who are not coming to my place tonight... that's what we're having.. so you can just sit here, read my blog and be jealous! :p

Lux Tip: Eggs

Want to eat like a king? Your cook's on vacation? Make some eggs.

No matter where you live, eggs are inexpensive and a terrific source of protein. Learn to do a few good things with eggs and you will always be well fed.

For a royal breakfast, try scrambled eggs with your favorite spices, as well as shallots or any finely chopped vegetable for texture. You can really throw the kitchen sink into a good scramble, but elegance is in simplicity. Add water or milk to your scramble to make it fluffier.

For a non-breakfast meal, add another inexpensive option, rice, to your eggs in a frying pan. Throw in some soy sauce and a little oil, and you have delicious egg-fried rice. You can throw the kitchen sink in here too, but it's best to focus on a key vegetable or meat--whatever you have handy.

It's just another easy way to make life more lux for cheap or free.
Source: Luxist

HONG KONG: Brunch at Amber

Brunch at Amber at the Landmark Mandarin Oriental has never disappointed me. With their free flow of Veuve Clicquot, and their unlimited dessert buffet with their very own chocolate sommelier(Max) fixing up your dose of sweets for the day. Something surely not to be missed. The managers and servers there are very knowledgeable, providing excellent service, maintaining a smile and professionalism at all times.
Brunch Hours: Sat and Sun 11:00-3:00pm.

Parma Ham Taster

Although I'm not a huge fan, they had a pretty good selection and boy, does the presentation impress?

Tomato Confit

This on the other hand was a tasty and appetizing gazpacho. Refreshing and sweet. The serving wasn't too generous though, it was gone in two small sips.

Pan-fried foie gras with poached rhubarb and hibiscus and black pepper coulis

There are some dishes that I would probably prefer in a smaller scale restaurant, such as their foie gras, not one of the best but of course, still above average. The seasoning was near perfect, it was rather the texture where I had my doubts. The outside was not crispy enough, while the inside was amazing, melting in your mouth as you would expect.

Tasmanian Salmon

Tasmanian salmon - confit smoked and served warm. The generous hunk of salmon had a thin crispy skin, while the texture of uncooked smoked salmon, but it was warm, soft and tender.

Wagyu Beef

All I've got to say is that this was one of the best I've ever tried. Ordered it twice (Hence the two different platings)

Black Cod

Black Cod melted in your mouth, although it's not too flavorful, the texture made up for it. The garlic foam made a nice addition to the fish.

Dessert Selection included chocolate cake, creme brulee & macarons, opera, lemon tart, blue berry cheese cake, chocolate fondue(dark, milk, white), bread pudding and specialty chocolate milk, made by the chocolate sommelier.

Max

His station

Desserts:

VANCOUVER: Jang Mo Jib Kamjatang Recipe

Jang Mo Jib, Robson Street.

Everyone living in the Lower Mainland all know about the Bubbling Pork Bone Korean soup(Kam ja tang) at Jang Mo Jib. The one in Downtown, Vancouver is the original one, the store that most prefer (1719 Robson, Vancouver. Tel: 604-642-0712), however, if you wanna get bubble tea after dinner then you can go to the one in Richmond (8320 Alexandra Road, Richmond. Tel: 6042330712).
If you're more adventurous then you can try making your own. Recipe from My Korean Kitchen

Ingredients

(It is enough to serve 3-4 people)

• Pork spine or neck bone - 1.4 kg (You need to pick the right one. The bone I bought had hardly any meat. Then why is it so expensive? Is this really free in Australia and USA?)
• 5 medium potatoes
• Crown daisy leaves (ssukgat) - 1 fistful
• Mung bean sprouts (sukju) - 1 fistful
• 12 perilla leaves (so called sesame leaf, ggannip)
• 6 Chinese cabbage leaves (Baechunip)
• 2 green chilies
• 22 cups of water total

Vegetables and spice to get rid of pork smell

• 1/2 stalk of green onion (just use the white part for this recipe)
• 1 medium onion (peeled)
• 5 cloves of garlic (peeled)
• 1 thumb size piece of ginger (peeled)
• 10 whole black pepper seeds (un-ground)

Sauce (mix these well in a bowl)

• Chili powder (Gochutgaru) - 3 tbsp
• Minced garlic - 1 ½ tbsp
• Ginger powder - 1 tsp
• Refined rice wine- 2 tbsp
• Anchovy sauce- 1 tbsp
• Water - 1tbsp

Other condiments

• Salt -1/8 tsp
• Soybean paste (Doenjang) - 2 tbsp
• Ground sesame - 4 tsp
• Pepper -3 sprinkles

StepsⅠ

1. Soak the bones in cold water for 2 hours (to get rid of blood) . Drain away the water.
2. Put the bones into a big pot and add 7 cups of fresh water, then boil it for 5 minutes.

3. Drain the water (throw it away) and add 7 cups of fresh water - again. Add the all ingredients from the “vegetables and spice to get rid of pork smell” section. Simmer it on medium to low heat for 2 hours. When the water seems to get reduced you need to refill the water to maintain 5 cups of expected broth (I ended up adding an extra 8 cups of water - 1 every 15 minutes.)

4. While you are waiting;

① Rinse the crown daisy leaves, cut off the thick stems.

② Rinse the mung bean sprouts.

③ Rinse the perilla leaves and thin slice them.

④ Rinse the green chilies, take out the seeds, and thin slice them diagonally.

⑤ Clean the potatoes. Boil them in a pot until 90% of them are cooked. Drain the water and cool them down. Peel the skin off.

⑥ Rinse the cabbage leaves. Boil some water for 1 minute and add the salt. Parboil the cabbage. Drain the water. If the leaves are big, you can tear them up length ways.

Steps Ⅱ (after the two hours of simmering)

1. Sieve the broth into a separate pot. Then put the bones back into this broth but throw away the boiled vegetables.
2. Add the peeled potatoes, soybean paste, and the sauce (that you previously made) into the the pot.
3. Boil it until the potatoes cook completely.
4. Add the crown daisy leaves, mung bean sprouts, perilla leaves, green chilies, and cabbage leaves on top.
5. Add the ground sesame and pepper sprinkles.
6. You can start eating when the vegetables are cooked.
7. Enjoy your meal. (You can adjust the taste with some salt if it is necessary, but I didn’t add any.)

You need to start preparing about 4-5 hours before you are going to start eating. I know! It is a huge time consuming process. But trust me, it is worth the time!

Enjoy with kimchi!

Note: Recipe from My Koren Kitchen

Save Time De-corking Your Wine with the Slide Technique

Noisy wine expert Gary Vaynerchuck offers a quick but smart tip for removing the foil sleeve from a bottle of wine without the tedious cover trimmers. His simple secret: Just pull it off. This may not be mind-blowing if you already knew this seemingly obvious trick, but if you didn't, it's a real time-saver.