After 1 hour of chopping, stir-frying and eating I am glad that I can finally get to the point and brag about it ^^.
cooking
cooking: tiramisu
I don’t really like cakes but I adore tiramisu and Ronan does too, so that’s what he got for his birthday this year. The recipe, very authentically, came from my long-lost Italian friend, Elena.
Presents for the birthday boy
cooking: steaks with pasta and pesto
This simple dinner is an invention of Ronan and is our favourite weekend treat. It takes exactly 20 min to make, or should I say wait, as there really isn’t much for you to do.
Here is how to make it:
1. Barbecue fillet steaks (5 min on each side) with plenty of salt and pepper.
2. Boil pasta for two people and once al dente mix in 100g of pesto. Add salt.
The secret for success is to go for the best ingredients you could find – we buy our steaks from Aldi and the pesto is from Fallon & Byrne.
Like a truly dedicated blogger I dug the package out of the bin to take a photo!
asian food: Dubai
On our trip we didn’t much care for Dubai’s malls or skyscrapers but the Arab cuisine was pure yum. I made Kabsa, which is strictly speaking a Saudi dish although all the Gulf nations make their version of it. Recipe here.
asian food: Japan
Kyoto
Tokyo
Oh Japan, we love thee! On Wednesday my culinary enthusiasm reached its peak.
First, I walked 6 km to Kish Fish and back to buy sashimi grade fish.
Second. For lunch I made tuna and mayo onigiri (rice balls). The Japanese eat these instead of sandwiches and they are oh so good! We had many every day in Japan. Result: yum and very filling. With Japanese pickles.
Third. I decided to finally make this green tea ice-cream which we brought all the way from Tokyo. Challenging task given the Japanese only instructions on the back. But, as I have been tirelessly taught by hubby “if you don’t know something, google it!”, I did and there it was, an English translation of the Japanese ice-cream. Ha!
Four. Dinner. I’ll humbly leave the pictures speak for themselves here…
Starter: seared tuna sashimi with coriander.
Main: tuna, salmon and prawn nigiri sushi.
Dessert: Green Tea Ice-cream.
Second dessert (during Homeland): Mochi sweets (from the Asian market)
Ronan called this the most spectacular home dinner we have ever had. And who cooked it? Me!
asian food: Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s main speciality is dumplings so we did what the Chinese do and had them every day, even for breakfast!
Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong
Very cute! And what’s more, these little babies were surprisingly easy to make and way yummier than the frozen ready-made packs. Here is the recipe I used.
asian food: Thailand
Khao Sok National Park, Thailand
After our Asian trip it only made sense to keep the adventure going and dedicate the first week of the new year to home Asian cooking.
Of all the delicious food we had in Thailand the soups were my absolute favourite. Especially Tom Yum, which we had almost every day in Krabi – very sour, very spicy and super fresh ingredients. My version wasn’t as good as the original but still led to a happy husband!
For dinner instead of Thai I somehow managed to cook Vietnamese. Oh well. Still very tasty.
Exciting first encounter with a wok…
ta da… Xao Xa Ot stir fry.
Monday was my name-day so I made Thai inspired cocktails. These are called Think Pink and are from the Saba cook book. We had 2 each! They were that good.
Flowers from Ronan for the name-day girl.