Food For My Belly

When it's summer time, the one thing I love to eat and always overdose on is figs. That's because we have a fig tree in our garden and when its a good season, the figs are plentiful. We do not want to waste any of the fruit as it's ridiculously expensive in the groceries stores hence the overdosing on them. By the end of summer, I am already sick of figs but now, I am really looking forward to summer coz I am craving them (hopefully, it will be a good season for it). I love eating fresh figs but thought I could do something more with them. Whilst having a conversation with a colleague from Sydney, she suggested that I try stuffing the figs with goat's cheese, wrap them up in prosciutto and drizzle over them with honey and then, grill it in the oven till the prosciutto starts to sizzle. It is an amazing combination and I got addicted to making them. If you can get your hand on some fresh figs during summer, try making them :) Here is the recipe for it...

The last time I was in Hoi A n, I did a cookin g class with Red Bridge Cooking School. It was my very first time doing a cooking class anywhere in the world be sides in my own kitchen with my mum when I first started learning the tricks of the trade. To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect from a cooking class but I did not enjoy the the one at Red Bridge. The person who thought us how to cook was kind of rude and h e wasn't very helpful either, he got sl igh tly frustrated when we did not do it correctly the first time . Also, I fel t like the who le cooking experience was very rushed and at the end of it all, he didn't even give us the recipes! This time around, I did a bit more research and thoug ht that I would like to try another cooking class but with Ms. Vy :) Sh e's like the backbone of Hoi An's food with so many rest aurants to her name like her famous Mo rning Glory Restaurant, The Market, Cargo Club, Mermaid and many more. Unfortunately, her coo...

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page" - St. Augustine If you asked me if I would go back to Hoi An even though I have been there twice, my answer would be yes. There are other parts of Vietnam that I have yet to explore like Sapa, Hue or the Mekong Delta but Hoi An is a place that I love revisiting over and over again. Why? The people are friendly (minus the ones who hassles you about where you're from and if you want to see their shop), the town is lively but very peaceful, you can get clothes tailored at a fraction of the price of what you would pay back home AND most of all, THE FOOD. I love eating, I think that's pretty clear. The food in Hoi An is amazing, majority of their restaurants serve amazing local cuisine and you can never leave without trying the staples; Cao Lau, Mi Quang, and White Rose. Before I embarked on my second trip to Hoi An, I did plenty of research online on which were the "must visit" restaurants ...

It's been so long since I last blogged, I really shouldn't procrastinate any longer. It's time to back track to my most recent holiday to Asia and the food adventures I got up to. First stop was Bangkok in December 2012. I have always been a lover of Thai food and I definitely ate my fair share of local food on this trip. I decided to do a food tour this time around after reading about it on their website, I was not sure what to expect because I have never been on a walking food tour before. The only thing that I have ever done food related is either eat to my heart's content or do a cooking class. Verdict? Loved it! If it wasn't for the food tour, we wouldn't have stumbled across the hidden gems that served such amazing food. By the end of tour, our bellies was filled with so much food that I didn't think we could eat any thing else. I definitely recommend anyone going to Bangkok to do one of their food tours but the Historic Bangrak Food Tasting ...

Pete and I were invited to a friend's place for dinner. They were cooking the main and I had the choice of picking between entrée and dessert. I chose entrée. As most of you already know by now, I am not a keen baker and my baked good are never quite right so dessert was not really an option for me. I wanted to make something easy which did not require much cooking so I browsed through the coles magazines that I had in my room and found this recipe. INGREDIENTS 200g rice vermicelli noodles 2 small carrots 1 lebanese cucumber 1 red capsicum 500g cooked peeled prawns 1/3 cup basil leaves 1/3 cup mint leaves 1/2 cup coriander leaves 1 cup bean shoots, tails trimmed 1/3 unsalted roasted cashews DRESSING 1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar 1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce 1/4 cup lime juice 1 small red chilli, finely chopped 1 small garlic clove, crushed Place noodles in a large heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water. Stand for 5 mins, then drain into a colander...

Century egg is something that I rarely eat not because I don't like it, it's just that I don't really cook with it. The only time that I have it is in porridge or when I am back in Malaysia eating steamboat by the side of the streets. I was looking through one of my cookbooks and came across this dish and thought I would give it a try since I had century eggs in the fridge. This dish is extremely simple and I must say, it has become one of my favourites. The dish calls for lean pork but I used pork belly instead because it was what I had in the fridge. For those of you who would like to try this recipe at home, here is the recipe...

I got a bit carried away over the weekend with cooking so I thought I will try something different, baking. Baking is not my forte, somehow baking and I are not good friends and I don't think we will ever be. Someone once said to me that baking is like science because you need to be precise with measurements while cooking is like art because you can be creative. I definitely prefer cooking coz I can never stick to colouring within the lines. Anyways, I had  too much time on my hands yesterday so I decide to raid the pantry for this...