Easy party trick: Scotch eggs

I interviewed the owner of this charming little food stall on Broadway Market for an article (now put on hold) about embracing traditional British dishes.

 

California eatings, 2012

I’ve been very naughty about updating my blog but I was too busy eating. (Obviously.)

November, when I went back to SGV for Thanksgiving, now feels like ages ago. My brother and his GF were in town for a week. They ate about five meals a day and one night I joined them, where we ate at four places in 2 hours: Don the Beachcomber for cocktails and pu pu platters, banh cuon in Westminster, chicken fried steak at Twoheys and one last place that I’ve now purged from memory.

It wasn’t until Christmas when I was able to have a decent appetite again. To be honest, it put me off food for a while. My stomach seemed to have been suffering a permanent fullness from Thanksgiving up unit about mid-December.

And dim sum. What is Chinese people’s obsession with dim sum? Being away for some time, the first thing relatives and my parents’ friends would want to do with me was take me for ‘yum cha.’ Then the first thing they would say when we’d sit down to dim sum was, “You can’t find this in London” or “You’ve lost weight because the food isn’t any good in London” or some kind of variation of that. Then I’d have to respond politely, yes there is dim sum in London but no it isn’t nearly as good as it is in LA (I think it would upset them to say that dim sum in SGV isn’t the best).

But it wasn’t dim sum that I missed the most about being away. I missed road trips, so I took one in January.

 

Comfort foods, part I

Having survived three winters in Europe made me realize that the cold weather is only good for one thing: guilt-free eating of things such as tartiflette.

 

Cal visit

I went home for a short visit a few weeks ago and had a little side trip to the Bay Area, revisiting my old haunts.

 

Whitstable

The town of Whitstable, off the Kent coast, has been an oyster haven since the Romans discovered it thousands of years ago. In July, the town hosts its annual Oyster Festival but we missed it by just a week!

 

Whole lotta shakshuka going on

Now that it’s been about six months since I’ve moved to London, I’ve noticed certain eating and dining themes:

The pop-up restaurant and bar. Like Meateasy at Goldsmiths Tavern that came and went. And now Frank’s Campari Bar that’s only open until the end of summer.

Haloumi. People in this town can’t seem to get enough of this cheese, grilled. I’ve seen it at every barbeque, traditional sandwich stands, swank gastropubs and corner shop.

Tea towels. They are everywhere, in every kind of store, appropriate to whatever they sell in the shop, be it screen printed imagery of London, kitschy designer art or the royal family. You would think that they were a nation of people obsessed with hand drying dishes.

Ginger beer. I can’t get enough of this non-alcoholic drink — it’s like ginger ale on caffeine (more on that in a future post). Could ginger beer be the secret ingredient to a Dark and Stormy?

I may be going out on a limb, but I’m putting shakshuka on this list. Nevermind my first taste of shakshuka was served to me as a heaping mess in a reheated Tupperware a few months ago. It was something I had never eaten before, something that was between a ratatouille and moussaka with baked egg. I was more impressed with saying the word shakshuka than actually eating it, but that’s probably why the word stuck. It’s just a fun word to say, shakshuka.

 

A spam day afternoon

A few weeks ago I was in East Sussex for a barnyard wedding (and square dancing). The bride and groom, food and wine enthusiasts, served their guests copious amounts of champagne and Bordeaux. And since it was an English summer wedding, there was also a table lined with Pimms-filled glasses. It was a lovely wedding indeed.

Unfortunately, I got a little carried away with the alcohol, but at least I left before they brought out the brandy!

 

What’s been happening

A few weeks ago I helped serve at a dinner in conjunction with the Gwangju Design Biennale. For the starter, diners were presented with syringes filled with olive oil, vinegar and mascarpone

 

Paris shopping list

- Speculoos spread
- herbs de provence
- figue violette jam
- rillette de canard
- salted butter caramels
- lentils de Puy

Am I forgetting anything?

 

I miss Paris…

It’s salad season and I seem to be missing out. While I think California wins when it comes to making delicious, healthy and satisfying salads, my favorite thing in Paris was going to my weekly neighborhood farmers market. I looked forward to walking down to the market on Sundays and strolling up and down the different stalls.