Basque Country

X has some time off & last minute, we decided to make our way to the Basque country for a few days. That means tapas, sangria & Bayonne ham. Can't wait. We leave soon. Check back for photos (if I'm not too drunk enough to hold the camera still) & stories.

Oeuf a la coque

Oeuf a la coque

This is the most requested menu item by the Girl. She loves eggs, particularly soft boiled eggs. Most French children grew up eating this. It's not generally served at breakfast cos the French don't eat eggs for breakfast.

Put the egg in boiling water for exactly 3 minutes, remove and serve with mouillettes (strips of bread toasted in butter) to dunk in the egg yolk.

Spicy Sichuan Noodles

I love noodles. I can eat them every day of the week. Doesn't matter if they are Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese or Chinese, I love them all.

This spicy sichuan noodles is one of our family favorite. I got this recipe from chubby hubby but can't seem to find the link to it anymore. The sauce is delicious & X even poured it over his stir fried vegetables. I can't find sesame paste here but I do have tahini. Chubby hubby recommends using peanut butter as a last resort although I've not tried that yet. In any case, don't leave out the sesame paste cos it's what makes the sauce. I love sichuan peppercorns & usually put a lot more than 1 Tbsp over my noodles.


Spicy Sichuan Noodles
serves 4-6
taken from Chubby Hubby

250g minced pork marinate in 1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
2 Tbsp ginger, finely chopped
3 Tbsp garlic, finely chopped
5 Tbsp spring onions, finely chopped
3 Tbsp sesame paste / tahini paste / peanut butter (last resort)
2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
2 Tbsp chilli oil
2 tsp salt
225 ml chicken stock
350g noodles
1 Tbsp sichuan peppercorns, roasted & grounded (or more)

1. Fry meat till crispy over high heat. Set aside to drain with kitchen towel

2. Fry garlic, ginger & spring onions till soft

3. Add sesame paste, soy sauce, chilli oil, salt & chicken stock. Boil then simmer for 4 mins

4. Cook the noodles then divide into bowls, ladle the sauce, garnish with meat & roasted peppercorns.

I accompanied the noodles with an easy peasy stir fried vegetables - broccoli, carrots, black fungus, bamboo shoots fried together with garlic, oyster sauce & fish sauce.

Stir fried vegetables

Flowers & Herbs

My little herb garden

I've been waiting for the weather to be warm enough to do this. Every year in spring, we would go to the Garden Centre to get a selection of flowers & herbs & start planting - the saplings not the seeds. I don't exactly have green fingers so I'd be lucky if the plants don't die on me, don't expect me to grow them from seeds.

Unfortunately our garden is not quite ready, in fact the outside of the house is not quite ready yet so I just have to content with planting flowers on the terrace. But X cleared out a part of the garden to grow some herbs & I was delighted - I always like to have these handy - parsley, basil, mint & thyme. Maybe if I sweet talk him enough, he might clear another part of the garden to plant some vegetables. I really miss the little vegetable garden that I had before.

This one is for all my friends in NY

X & I love cocktails. I blame it on NY cos it is afterall the capital of cocktails. As for X, I don't know what is his excuse.

I'm starting a series of our favorite cocktail drinks starting with lychee martini. What better way than to acknowledge New York's love for martinis. You name it & the bar tenders there can make it - shaken, stirred, dirty, saketinis, appletinis, water melon martinis, the list goes on.

Here's how we do a lychee martini. Pour one part lychee juice (found in canned lychees) with one part vodka (of course, if you want it to be less alcoholic you can do 2:1) then add lots of ice into cocktail shaker. Shake thoroughly. Pour it out into martini glasses (without the ice). Serve it well chilled with 2-3 lychees.

This post is dedicated to all my friends in New York who may have, at one time or another, shared more than a few drinks with me (you all know who you are). Cheers !!

Pate & Rice

When I was living in HK, I used to frequent this tiny Vietnamese restaurant in Lan Kwai Fong. It was on the way home & I would often go there to get something for dinner. For a tiny place, it sure has an extensive menu but one item caught my eye - pate with rice & egg. An unusual combination & something that I'd never seen in any other Vietnamese restaurant. Before I knew it, I found myself ordering this dish for take out on a regular basis.

Now living here where pate is plentiful (& very often home made from X's father), I haven't stopped the habit of eating it that way. I don't do it when X's family is around - they would find that very strange. I'm sure any French person is going to find it very strange. Here, pate is only ever eaten as a starter with bread or toast.

After a very active weekend, come Mondays, I'm usually too tired to prepare anything so this is what I would fall back on. Rice with pate & 2 fried eggs, over easy. Yummy.

Update : X just said this looks like cat food....see what I mean, they just don't get it.

Dolmen at St Alban-Auriolles

X's mother is from St Alban-Auriolles - a little village by the Ardeche river further south of us. Last Sunday we all went there cos she has a house there & wanted to check on it and I wanted to see the dolmen.

A dolmen is an ancient tomb shaped like a table - the name orginating from taol maen which means stone table in Breton. Dolmens can be found all over the world - even as far as Korea. There are many scattered in Ardeche but I've not seen any so I was keen to check out the one in St Alban-Auriolles.

As we drive there, you can already see that the area is littered with limestones. It's interesting to see how the houses are built around them. After we checked on her house, which by the way, she's selling if anyone's interested, we made our way to the dolmen. It is located up a hill not far from the village.

It is scenic walk albeit a little rocky because of the limestones. At the top of the hill, overlooking the Chassezac valley, is an old Chapel & a little further, the Dolmen du Calvaire.

The Dolmen du Calvaire is a classic dolmen with one chamber & shaped like, surprise, a table. It was looted a long time ago & cleared of any archaelogical content. As a result, we don't know the exact date of erection nor the number of deceased buried beneath. It was listed as an ancient monument way back in 1889.

Then we took a small stroll to the river, walking past fields of peach trees. It is still too cold to swim but apparently in the summer, it's a very popular spot. It's too pebble-ly for my liking but the water looks beautiful & shallow enough for children to play.