Thursday, August 6, 2009

Lets Go MaMak 2!!!


On July 3rd, both me and Soya when on a bike trip to KL-Pac in Sentul. Wow that is a nice place for any event, (wedding , shows, group gathering & etc)

Well, back to the story, that night we were going to enjoy a live performance from our very own local musical artist. The nights event is called "Lets Go Mamak 2" well since this is their 2nd show after a awesome one last year.

Its called "lets go Mamak" because at the mamak stall where we Malaysian love to have supper at, is a place where you don't only enjoy a good meal, but enjoy the company of a wide array of different culture. something i believe to be our way of 1-Malaysia.
This concept has be made into a musical note, and combining Jazz + (Indian + Chinese + Malay) traditional instrument to create a harmony tune that was just Awesome.
One of the many stars of the night, was Daniel. awesome bass player.



The Mr & Mrs.
The weather was great, the music was great, the company was great, all this made for a ..... GREAT night. Thank you SOYA to opening my eyes and ears to the wonders around us. =)

Liz & Julia



Julia Child lives! Well, sort of, anyway, thanks to Meryl Streep's brilliant portrayal of her in the movie "Julie & Julia" which opens in theaters tomorrow. If you haven't yet read the book by Julie Powell upon which this film is based, run, don't walk to get yourself a copy. It's hysterical. You will laugh your toukas off!

So Julia is everywhere these days. PBS is even running old episodes of her TV series "The French Chef." Wow, maybe this really is the second coming or something!

And so amid all of this hoopla, here's the thing: I met Julia Child. Hell, it's better than that. I COOKED FOR JULIA CHILD! And no, I'm not making this up. Here's how it happened.....

It was March 13, 1990. The IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) was holding its annual meeting in Atlanta. A series of dinners to be held in private homes throughout the city was planned. Conference particpants could choose which dinner they wanted to attend. I had volunteered to plan, create and execute one of those dinners with my friend Kay Goldstein (who owned the catering firm Proof of the Pudding at the time). The event was to take place at a magnificent home in Buckhead, perched high upon a steep hill (keep this in mind for later). We decided it would be an informal, seated dinner featuring contemporary regional foods.

I arrived early that morning, my crappy minivan (the kids were young in those days, need I say more about the condition of the thing?) loaded with food, supplies and catering equipment. I parked next to the house at the top of the hill. All the better for unloading. Once inside, we started prepping, setting up and cooking.

4:00 pm. The phone rings. Kay answers and chats briefly with the caller. She then hangs the phone up and screams "JULIA IS COMING TO DINNER!!!!!!!" Holy shit!

6:00 pm. A shuttle bus arrives with our 30 dinner guests. It stops at the base of the hill. The guests have to schlep all the way up the hill - and that includes Julia who was in her 80's at the time. She gamely headed up with the other guests, barely breaking a sweat. (We, of course, were horrified, kicking ourselves for not providing her with an alternative). I'll tell you though, if she was bothered at all by it, she never let it show.

7:00pm. The guests are seated and the first course is served. By now, I am out on the adjacent terrace, grilling duck breasts for the next course and sweating profusely. I'm a little concerned about grilling them to the proper doneness and getting it all done in a timely fashion. Please, oh please, let them linger over their first course so I can manage to pull this off!

I'm bent over the grill, turning the damn things when suddenly I'm aware of a looming presence next to me. It's holding a cocktail, too. And then that trill......"Soooooooooo, what are we cooking?"

OMG. It was Julia. She had calmly left her seat at the table and wandered over to see what I was doing. OMG. SHE WAS WATCHING ME COOK! OMG. And then she asked me where I had gone to culinary school. OMG. Because of course, I hadn't and I couldn't think of a good response so I just came out with it. "Oh," she said. "Well, I have never thought one has to go to culinary school to be a good cook." Thank you, Julia.

After a few more pleasantries, she returned to the table and dinner commenced. The evening progressed nicely, we were quite pleased with our food and all went well. Before we knew it, it was time for our guests to depart.

We accompanied everyone to the front door. By some amazing stroke of luck, I ended up walking out next to Julia. She complimented me on the dinner and I walked out the front door with her to see the shuttle bus waiting down the hill at the base of the driveway. I saw her hesitate ever so slightly.

I looked at her. I looked at my crappy minivan that was parked right next to us since I had forgotten to move it down the driveway. I looked at her again. "Julia," I said, "can I give you a lift down the hill?"

Folks, she didn't hesitate. She was in that van like a flash! And so, I drove her slowly down the hill, never wanting that moment to end........

But of course, it did. I didn't ever want to sell than van, though. And we found out later that the reason she selected our dinner was because it was the only one that was seated. Oh well. I think she had a good time anyway. We sure did!





Happy Birthday Deviantart!


Another year had passed by and yet I still haven't been to the art eyeball. US trip was postponed. It's going to be on 2010 instead. For now, I am again writing a short blog greeting my favorite online art locker room. And by the way it's August 7. Starting today, this is going to be a significant one :-)

hugs,
joanie xxx

Slow Cooked Lamb (Video post)

It’s only so much time that can be spent in a state of blissful relaxation before the mind turns to food.

On holiday breakfast tends to be a mere distraction – a hastily gobbled croissant, piece of fruit or biscotti washed down with a short, sharp coffee. Lunch provides a brief respite from the heat of the day, usually some bread and cheese with a couple of tomatoes on the side.



But dinner is where the magic happens. This is the real centrepiece of the day where effort truly pays off and the gentle preparation can be done whilst gradually slipping into a state of happy inebriation.

As such, the majority of my days were spent thinking about what to cook that evening.

Being in possession of a pizza oven, we, naturally, cooked pizza. But the giant domed edifice was still warm come the following morning: the perfect conditions to slow cook some local lamb.



After adding some more fuel we went in search of the meat and returned with two whole shoulders – almost a quarter of the beast – ready to be browned off, sat atop some freshly picked rosemary and crushed garlic and shoved into the waiting furnace, cooking slowly in a winey bath until it emerged lovingly tender and achingly delicious.

It also seemed a good time to indulge in my first ever video post so please be kind. I’m still learning.

And, yes, I really did come that close to setting my head on fire. Look carefully and you will see the innocent, yet telltale, wisp of smoke rising from my reddening forehead.

Slow cooked Lamb

Leg of lamb is fine, and if that’s your sort of thing then I’m happy for you. But shoulder is the business end, where the real flavour is. It does a bit more work, and as such should be cooked longer and slower, but the effort is worthwhile.

It’s also slightly fattier which will baste the meat from the inside keeping it juicy, rich, tasty and tender.



Serves 8-10

Two lamb shoulders, complete with neck
Two bulbs of garlic, squashed lightly under the flat of a knife
Half a lemon
Two handfuls (think bricklayer’s size rather than manicurist) of rosemary
Salt and pepper
Half a bottle of red wine

Season the lamb with salt and pepper all over and brown in a large frying pan. Layer half the rosemary and garlic in a casserole dish big enough to hold everything comfortably. Nestle the lamb on top and then deglaze the frying pan with red wine.

Put the rest of the rosemary and garlic on top of the lamb, squeeze over the lemon then pour over the wine.

Cook in a 200 year old wood burning oven for about four hours, turning and basting halfway through. Temperature? Pretty hot.

NB – Make sure you don’t get too close to the oven and singe your fringe.

If you are only in possession of a regular oven go for about 120 degrees. Serve with potatoes and maybe a token salad. Maybe.

For more slow cooked and half baked musings, follow me on Twitter

Go garlic, go fresh!

You've probably heard garlic is great for your health. Yep! But does it matter if you consume garlic in the form of paste? Powder? Pill? Yes, it does.

A study by researchers at the University of Conneticut School of Medicine suggest that fresh-crushed garlic is best for cardiac benefits. Scientists prepared garlic slurries containing approximately 2 ounces of garlic (10-20 cloves) in about 12 ounces of water (1 1/2 cups). The first slurry contained fresh-crushed garlic while the other contained fresh-crushed which had been left out to dry for 2 days, allowing hydrogen sulfide and other volatile chemicals to dissipate [1].

The slurries were then fed to lab rats for 30 days. The rats were then sacrificed and their hearts were studied. The research (published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry) found that while both slurries did provide cardioprotective benefits, the hearts of the rats comsuming the fresh-crushed garlic has less damage and better recovery of blood flow.

So, with garlic...go fresh. And crush. Yummm!

[1]. Fountain, Henry. Garlic for a Healthy Heart? Go Fresh, Study Says. The New York Times. August 3, 2009.

Aperitivo

‘A bicyclette, that’s what we’ll drink,’ I said with unreserved confidence.
‘A what?’ asked my brother.
‘A bicyclette,’ I repeated with similar bravado.

Memory can be a strange thing. I’d called to mind a simple cocktail from Fergus Henderson’s ‘Nose to Tail Eating’. It had Fernet Branca, an Italian bitter of some alcoholic fortitude, as its main constituent.

Sitting in the courtyard of an Umbrian farmhouse and gazing out over the patchwork hills, it seemed the perfect opportunity to try this potent little number.

‘Are you sure that’s the right recipe?’ said my brother as he watched me splash equal parts of medicinally coloured Fernet Branca and lurid Campari over ice.
‘Yup, positive,’ I replied.

Although I didn’t have the book with me, I was sure this was how to make a bicyclette.

The drink is so-called because after two or three you are unable to ride home in a straight line on your bicycle. When the mixer weighs in at a hefty 20% alcohol you know you are dicing with forces more powerful than your average aperitivo. This was no regular stomach-readier.

The first sip offered surprise: a distinct alcoholic bitterness. But a cooling sweetness swiftly followed by the Campari. It was dangerously drinkable and over the following week it led to a number of dinners being eaten considerably later than planned.

When we returned home I consulted the book to check I’d got the recipe right.

I hadn’t. What I had done was combine the only two drink recipes in Henderson’s two books: Campari and white wine (the famed bicyclette) and Fernet Branca and Crème de Menthe (a Dr Henderson)

What could have emerged was a terrifying hybrid monster. Thankfully it didn’t and the slightly skewed memory served only to create something new, something tasty, something to ready yourself for a night of gastronomic indulgence.

I shall name it a Centaur – it approaches like a gentleman but has the kick of a stallion.

Centaur – an aperitif for the brave

One part Fernet Branca
One Part Campari
Sugar syrup, to taste
Lemon juice, to taste

Pour the booze over ice, stir. Have a little sip. If the taste make you pull a face like a baby eating marmite, it’s probably a little bitter. Add sugar syrup and lemon juice until you reach a pleasant combination.

Two of these will give you the appetite of a king but render you unable to cook at your best. Take precautions.