cookbook addict

Ages ago, W. travelled to Manila to work on a project. A Chinese guy he worked with took him to dinner at a Chinese restaurant and ordered an Asian feast in his honour. During dinner, the man told him his all-time favourite dish was chicken and rice. Pressed for more information, he said the chicken was just boiled in water. I found that really strange when he related this, but why not, after all chicken is comfort food all over the world, and rice is Asia's number one staple. But simple boiled chicken as a favourite dish? Now I understand the concept, this man had probably never cooked it for himself so how could he know that water wasn't just water but had the added components of herbs and condiments to improve it? And that you need other seasonings and relishes to really make the humble poached chicken shine? Hainanese chicken rice I was inspired by food-loving friends to try this recipe, which had caught my eye ever since I got Bill's Every Day Asian book. It...

Chose promise, chose due, une recette "chinoise" pour fêter en retard le Nouvel An. On a tout de même mangé ces rouleaux de printemps lundi 23 au soir, et j'en ai refait avec les restes le lendemain à midi. Mais de l'assiette au blog, il y a parfois délai. En fait, les rouleaux de printemps sont davantage une spécialité vietnamienne . Ils sont d'une simplicité déconcertante à réaliser, ils sont très nourrissants et toutes  ces saveurs qui explosent en bouche donnent l'impression d'être un(e) pro de la cuisine asiatique, sans trop d'efforts. Le blog des 3 soeurs illustre parfaitement le processus de fabrication -et j'aime beaucoup leur blog et leur livre. Pour ma part, j'avais choisi des pousses de soja fraîches que j'ai ébouillantées, du poivron jaune en lamelles, des vermicelles de riz (finalement appréciés de personne, mais ils permettent de gonfler le contenu si vous êtes nombreux), des carottes râpées, des oignons verts cise...

Salut lecteur, et tout de bon pour l'année qui commence! Comme tout un chacun, je me vois, en ce début d'année, obligée de m'astreindre à une certaine discipline alimentaire. Appelle-ça un régime, si tu veux, mais avec les docteurs Zermati et Apfeldorfer, je ne crois plus pas aux régimes, qui, et cela est désormais prouvé scientifiquement, font davantage grossir que l'inverse sur le long cours. J'appelle donc ça une détox, et si cela t'intéresse, je vais t'en dire plus. J'élimine la caféine (bye bye mon thé adoré), l'alcool, et bien sûr, les sucreries. J'a trouvé une tisane de Twining's nommée Cleanse à base de menthe et d'ortie, cette dernière étant connue pour ses propriétés dépuratives. J'en bois trois par jour. J'essaie de manger des féculents complets au lieu de raffinés/blancs. Je mange le plus possible de légumes et de fruits. Je tente de ne pas manger plus qu'à satiété, donc quand je n'ai plus faim, j'a...

Today, I woke up super early and made myself proper chai -real spices, milk, teabags, brown sugar. Then I enjoyed the quiet to do a little yoga while the sun was rising. Bliss.  The recipe makes 6 regular muffins and 8 silicon moulded ones. I then went on to make some apple and cinnamon muffins from Nigella's new book, Kitchen. I don't know what happened but they took me ages to prepare, then I let them get too brown. I blame Nigella who told me to set the oven on 200°C. Obviously she doesn't know my oven, so it's not technically her fault. W likes over-baked stuff (his mum raised him well) so he actually said thank you Nigella. Ha ha. (We, of course, do not communicate directly with her, we're not that type of insane ;) The muffins are delicious, but a bit too sweet -there's a half cup of honey plus 125g brown sugar in there. The honey gives a great taste, and they were easy to gobble up. More for an afternoon snack too. I don't know about you,...

I have a friend who swears by Bill Granger's recipes when trying to lose weight. Not all of them are waistline-friendly, particularly not his cakes, but only my naivety would have me believe that anyway. I recently caught Bill on my food channel, and I had a good browse in the three books by him that I own, and boy, do I wish I could live like he does : in the sun, near the beach, in his not-too-beige, not-too-bright décor without the crazy lady upstairs (and by that I really mean my neighbour). The kids never seem to make a fuss and there's time for friends... what friends anyway? Ahhh, but then I'd have to live in Sydney... I'd so miss the rain and the never-ending autumn that begins in August and ends in June......................................................................not! Ha ha! But back to the topic, yes he has a light hand when it comes to butter and oil, and he is into fresh flavours - lime, coriander, mint, chilli... his portions seem human-sized (as o...