Dumplings

Fresh dumplings

My next holiday destination is China. Yes, it is indeed true and sad, I am a Chinese who has never stepped foot in China. I was invited to lunch by two of my colleagues who had passed their medical exam after only 8 weeks of preparation which if I may say is trully an exceptional achievement. The table was filled with happy dialogues and exchanges in Chinese in which I found my self lost after 15 minutes or so, unable to catch up with the conversations and jokes that were thrown around. Nevertheless, I was happy to have a place on the table amongst the esteemed senior scientists. A thought often tickles my mind, how about China after PhD or even after PostDoc? I do miss Asia, especially the food.

Uglicious

Pizza A la Midnight Bakery

Red bean

Wholemeal bread with red bean paste filling

This recipe can be found in Midnight Bakery Easter Bun in 10 Easy to Follow Steps

Nasi Tumpeng Mini

I thought I'd make a weekend of cooking Indonesian dishes, all to go around a mountain of nasi kuning (yellow rice), known as nasi tumpeng. Nasi tumpeng is the national celebratory dish of Indonesia that marks most birthdays, christenings, graduations, anniversaries, independence day celebrations, etc (you get the gist). It is essentially a conical shaped rice and can be made with plain rice, coconut flavoured rice or yellow rice (flavoured with tumeric and its other spices friends). The dish is often elaborately decorated and accompanied by a host of side dishes.

Ayam bakar bumbu Ayam Goreng Kokita

Grilled chicken

You can get these packets of Indonesian chicken marinade in the supermarket or in the Asian grocer. You see, with 6 religions in the country, everyone is averse to consuming some sort of meat products. The Muslims don't eat pork products, the Hindus avoid beef products, and then you have minorities Buddhists who are vegans like my great aunts. Chicken, like the national anthem, unifies the country from Sabang to Merauke and I believe that it is for this reason that Indonesians develop such diverse ways of cooking chickens. I almost feel obligated to spell chicken with a capital C.

My idea of a minestrone

My idea of a minestrone with anchovy fillet and basil pesto

The university campus where I did my undergraduate had a great little pizza cafe at the edge of its campus, near the student union area. It's called the Pizza Cafe and as the name suggests, they make and sell pizza, fantastic wood fire oven pizzas with generous toppings from A-Z inspired by movie titles. What was perhaps not so well advertised was their amazing minestrone, which in my own personal experience was totally and completely out of this world.

Egg with kecap manis

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

This all is really just an excuse to play with my camera :P

Shio Saba

Hi everyone, I am back from my PhD-induced blogger coma. All is well again for the time being, the sun is shining, although this scenery is far from the current reality of Sydney's winter rain. Yup, t'is the season of thick coat, funky winter boots, gorgeous scarfs and wintery food. I'm itching to make my own minestrone soup with some serious tomatoes and legumes, and depending on how chirpy I feel, maybe even celery (uggghhh).