Monday, January 28, 2008

Australia day in Banff.

Alright guys, so the others couldn't be bothered posting about our Australia day shennanigans so you've got me again, but this time I thought I should stick to the usual formula, instead of doing another written account. I apologise for the length but we had a MASSIVE day. Australia day is bigger in Banff than it is anywhere in Oz apparently.

Josh was up drinking VB and eating a parma at the crack of 11am, which began his day of drinking.

Jin thought a brew in the shower was quite a patriotic way to start the day.

Josh and Golds soon hooked into the nearest version of beer pong they could achieve, where balls were replaced with bottle caps and just thrown at the opposition's cups. Golden put up a brave fight, and despite an attempt at cheating by not scolling his beer, he soon felt under the weather.

He was near munting-point by 1pm

Jin and I looked on with great exuberance. Heathy had gone to work by now... we catch up with him later...

Over at the HI hostel, the bar had opened at 11am, and Josh and Golds joined in on some snow-cricket after some Bundy and cola whilst Jin and I went to town to hit Maccas before beginning our epic pub crawl.

A complete list of pubs and bars we made it to appears below in chronological order:
HI bar
Tommy's
Earl's
Ye Olde Irishe Pube
Rose and Crown
Bruno's
The Paddock
Magpie and Stump
Mel's
Hoodoos
We had begun drinking at home, and luckily I think we all took it pretty slowly at first, increasing in frequency as the night went on.


Handsome Heathy we met as he got off work at Earl's, where he had recently demolished 3 pints. We went on to have some souv and chips (in honour of all you greek aussies [kyle]) and to help Heathy digest his 3 pints. Golden and Heathy disappeared for an hour or so to get changed and meet up at some chick's house. Heathy was a bit tipsy as he'd just had 3 pints.

Josh, Jin and Golden had written a list of challenges which they taped onto the back of their shirts. I'm not sure how many were completed, but it also included a list of pubs to visit, and here Josh is shows crossing off the Rose and Crown from Jin's shirt.

We departed Rose and Crown and headed for Bruno's where we played some pool. Golden and Heathy reappeared around this time, with Golds sporting a new Australian Flag tattoo on his arm. Josh noticed it at some point and asked him where he got it, and pointing at his own arm to indicate the position of the tattoo. Golden, puzzled, looked around over his shoulder (in the opposite direction to where Josh was standing and pointing). Josh then repeated his answer several times, with the same result, before we realised Golden is actually retarded (and in later years would be told he has an IQ of 46).

Here we are (spoken in imitation of Golden) on the way to The Paddock, where we were meeting up with Jae, our new Korean friend, whom we hope will soon replace Jin. As we were walking, Golden received a call from the chick who he'd dropped in earlier that night. They wanted to know where we were so they could catch up with us, but they are MASSIVE drainers so we asked Golds to lie to them about where we were. He didn't and this photo was taken as he was cowering and stumbling away from my vicious barrage of roundhouse punches. The back of my hair also looks kouta.

When the draining chicks caught up with us at the Paddock, Jin and I hid and found Josh and Golds also hiding whilst playing some awesome table-top curling game. It actually looks very similar to lawn-bowls, also.

Our next stop was the Magpie and Stump, where they were serving some Aussie stubbies alongside meat pies. The pies were ok, but didn't really shout 'Australia' as they fell apart when cut, thus demanding a knife and fork, as well as being filled with different veggies, which no self-respecting bloke should have to deal with when drinking VB or when at the footy.
The theme was continued with footy highlights on TV, including commentaries by Rexall Huntingtontower (his full name).

One of Josh and Golden's challenges was to beat some whinging Pom in a scolling comp. Josh beat him even though the Pommy bloke was whinging so hard he spilt half his beer down his front, whilst Golden was defeated in straight sets.
I took some strange pleasure in flicking peanuts at Josh (as you can probably tell).
We then somehow stumbled to Mel's for some cheap-ass highballs, which helped us in our decision to dance retardly for five seconds.


Golden's list of challenges began to fall off his back, due to Josh's shoddy tape job. However when Jin and I obliged him in patting it back on, (with our muddy-booted feet) he seemed somewhat unhappy for some reason. (You can see some decent boot-prints if you click to enlarge.)
Then on to our last stop on the pub-crawl; Hoodoos. Hoodoos is more of a dance club for those that are unfamiliar, and so more drinking plus dancing was had by all. We were joined by folk from work, including our boss (who bought us a round of tequila) and Julie from Earl's, who 'happened' to be there too.

Here I am sweatily posed with Josh and 'Gregggggay' or Greg, who worked with us for some time before getting fired under hilarious pretenses. A full anecdote shall be released eventually, as it really is abso-freaking-lutely hilarious.

This is Christian, one of our Marcellin-boy roommates from YWCA, whom Josh finds invisible. Luckily someone pointed him out making out with this random chick, and Josh was able to get this beautiful shot off.When we finally all arrived home we psyched ourselves into going and trying to sneak into a nearby-resort's outdoor spa.
Handsome is pictured above in his swim gear on the way to the spa. Unfortunately, as soon as I had thrown my towel into the spa enclosure, Heathy called out to signal that a security guard had shown up, so we were forced to make a strategic retreat into the woods before I had a chance to recover the towel.
Homo Neanderthalensis-australis.

Happy Australia Day guys!

Cam

Rhubarb Dressing

Before I was wondering for answers about these questions I have in mind... Is rhubarb a vegetable? Or a fruit? Or a plant? The answers to my questions: It’s a vegetable that is usually eaten like a fruit. It’s perennial in many areas. Rhubarb is a cool season crop that is grown for its fibrous leaf stalks. Its latin name is Rheum rhabarbarum and commonly called as Rhubarb. It can grow in climates with mild winters up to 2-3 feet wide and tall, depending on variety. To attain its full color, full exposure to the sun is needed. Otherwise we won't be able to obtain the red and yellow varieties. It will take you two years to have your first small harvest of rhubarb because in nature perennial crops are like that. Hmmm... interesting, isn't it? Now with those information, I understand my now favorite jam & dressing–rhubarb.

Surprisingly this hard to find vegetable or season crop can be found in the soil of La Trinidad, Benguet. All the while I thought I can only see rhubarb in Jamie Oliver's Garden. (Btw, He's my all-time favorite chef that's why I bought his book entitled "JAMIE at HOME" and it's basically about his garden)

So I prepared a mixture of tropical fruits and veggies like mangoes, grapes, tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce–a perfect salad for the rhubarb dressing!

Rhubarb is also famous with jams like: Strawberry + Rhubarb and Rhubarb + Ginger and all the endless possibilities that any cook or chef could explore. As for me, I did the Strawberry + Rhubarb but not as a jam but as a salad dressing!

So healthy yet so yummy...My comfort food!


Stop the presses! Chef goes on vacation

January 28

I called Bún restaurant in SoHo today to see who their new chef is.
“New chef?” the person on the phone asked.
Yes, I said, because the whole New York food blog world is all in a tizzy that Michael Bao Huynh has left Bún, perhaps to open a noodle shop.
“Where did you read that?”
I told him.
“First I’ve heard of it. He is on vacation in Vietnam, though.”
Now, it’s possible that there has been a kerfuffle in upper management at Bún that hasn’t been communicated to the staff. That happens, but the blogosphere also says that Mr. Huynh is gone from Mai House, the restaurant he runs in partnership with Myriad Restaurant Group. I e-mailed them to ask what was up and got a call from Myriad chief Drew Nieporent. No, he said, he and Michael are still partners in the restaurant, they get along fine, no problems.
Well, I’ve been lied to before, plenty (though not, to my knowledge, by Drew, who can be as tight-lipped as any businessman, but he's no liar). But I still take people at their word until I can’t anymore.
So, as far as I can tell, Michael Bao Huynh is on vacation but still involved in Bún. Running the kitchen at Mai House on a day to day basis, as they have been doing all along, are Spike (not Mike) Mendelsohn and Sean Scotese. (Spike also is a contestant on the next Top Chef, so congratulations to him).
People in the restaurant industry will in no way be surprised that the executive chef isn’t working on the line every day. If someone’s chef at more than one restaurant he (or occasionally she) obviously isn’t cooking at each one every night. That’s why one develops management skills and a good staff.

Tahu Isi


Bahan - Bahan :
  • 10 buah tahu kulit

Isian :

  • wortel diiris2 tipis
  • kol diiris tipis
  • 2 siung bawang putih haluskan
  • 3 siung bawang merah haluskan
  • Udang buang kulitnya dan cincang halus (optional)
  • 1 sdtminyak wijen
  • 3 sdm saos tiram
  • lada secukupnya
  • 1 sdm tepung maizena dilarutkan dlm 3 sdm air putih

Kulit Tepung :

  • 300 gr tepung bumbu
  • 100 gr tepung beras
  • 1 buah kara ukuran kecil
  • air secukupnya

Cooking directions :

  1. Panaskan wajan, beri minyak goreng dan minyak wijen lalu tumis bumbu halus
  2. Masukkan udang beri saos tiram, masak hingga kekuningan
  3. Masukkan sayuran dan tumis hingga matang beri lada
  4. Masukkan larutan tepung maizena, aduk hingga agak mengental
  5. Campurkan semua bahan untuk kulit tepung hingga menjadi adonan yg kental
  6. Ambil tahu kulit, iris tengahnya, masukkan isian lalu celupkan dlm adonan kulit tepung
  7. Lalu goreng hingga kering dan renyah
  8. Sajikan