Veg seed germination

First thing to do when I got back to Ireland is to select veg seeds to sow in my little in-house propagators. they are kept in the warmest room, at around 20˚C. 
I have chose from the brassica family, those that the seedlings will be able to withstand cool weather when eventually planted out in early April. 
Once the germinated seeds are an inch high, around 7 days after germinated, I will plant them in small pots of fine compost, place in propagators in the greenhouse, take a month in this cool weather to grow into seedlings to be planted out. 
-Kailan
-Choisum
-Turnip
-Mizuna
-Kalette
-mini Romaine lettuce
-mustard veg

Air-fried mackerel

Bought a winter fat mackerel, filleted, seasoned, brush oil on skin and air fried for 18 minutes without turning over. Very happy with the result, the skin is not crispy, but the flesh is grilled, tender and moist (saved from slaving over a hot stove : )

Green & black dessert

Still playing with the black sesame paste from Hong Kong. This time blend 50:50 with melted dark chocolate, to make a fragrant ganache, a good balance of both flavours. Set in rings. 
It is topped with matcha cream, simple mix a teaspoon of matcha powder into 100ml whipping cream with a teaspoon of icing sugar to very slightly sweeten. 

Excellent combination of very light refreshing cream and rich black ganache. 

2026年2月18日 大白象工程

星期六參加社區討論聚會，有心人發起，收集資料，反對政府的提議，興建長達一百七十多公里大水管，由這區的大湖下游，抽水運送到首都，解決近年夏季水源不足問題。

真的大開眼界，這個建水管大工程，花費是天文數字，亦影響旱季時下游河道的水位，嚴重破壞生態，和沿河城鎮的景觀。

原來是從數個解決夏季水荒建議中挑選出來：
1. 首都目前的供水管道，因為老舊欠維修，漏水嚴重，計算流失近四成供水，建議全速加快維修工程。

2. 數十年前首都附近建有大水塘，原意是儲水作供水用，因為一直雨水足夠，發電局徵用作水力發電。現在加有太陽能發電，可把水塘改回原本用途，足夠解決夏季水荒。

3. 愛爾蘭地下水充足，首都地區亦有地底水層，可在適當地點鑽深井，在夏季抽水使用，水質清澈遠勝湖水。

三個方法都理想可行，工整不大，不影響環境，且花費不巨，起碼較建百多公里水管便宜方便得多。

然而，這個政府，沒有解釋下，挑選了最昻貴、最破壞環境的大白象工程，能不令人側目。

Wild Bilberry chia compote

Last August we had collected a lot of wild bilberry from the mountain behind the house, all frozen in paper cup portions. Now it is time to enjoy them, when there is few home grown fruit and veg to enjoy. Hydrated chia seed is good for intestinal movement. 

Put a tablespoon of chia seeds in a cup, add 6 to10 times the volume of water for the seeds to swell up, in an hour at least. Bring to boil bilberries and sweeten slightly with honey. Pour into hydrated chia seed, enjoy as such or with yogurt on top. 

Air-fried lamb saddle

Lamb saddle is roughly double the thickness of lamb chop, I checked if it could be cooked well and fast in Airfryer. Indeed it worked, only 17 minutes for grilled outside and  pink inside result.

I seasoned lamb saddle with mixture of salt, black pepper, cumin powder and black mustard seed powder(or simply use 5 spices pdr.) and Omegasio (a fragrant blend of grilled flax seed, pumpkin seed, hemp seed and walnut) for a couple hours. 

Fragrant salted eggs

Went to Saturday Milk market at Limerick and bought duck eggs, not easily available in Ireland. I like to add star anise, cloves and black pepper into the salt brine, the resulting egg yolk will have a nice fragrant. Now I need patience, around 5 weeks in this cool weather. 

Blue Fin Tuna belly

Come back to Ireland just in time for the first by-catch of blue fin tuna in Irish water, can only land as by-catch as Ireland has no quota for this fish that is swimming in Irish water. 

To prepare sashimi, I cut away a thin outside layer all round the block, to be seared to eat, the center I use for raw eating, both delicious. 

Return to Irish home

 

回來愛爾蘭，下機時昏天地暗密雲細雨，晚上更下了一整夜雨。早上起來，翻大北風，吹走雲霧見到晴空，冷，但美麗，有動力穿上厚衣服到草地走走。

茶花最早盛放，重瓣花球在冷風中瑟縮，洋水仙花蕾垂首待放，野玫瑰亦現艷紅花苞，草地翠綠油潤，在陽光下冬末色彩亦繽紛。

大風吹得湖水蕩漾，狂野似大西洋拍岸波濤，一整天雪白雲朶在蔚藍天際不停地變動，有陽光時愛爾蘭美不勝收。

 

 

Wah san wai 和三味

My selected fare well to HK meal is at this Japanese restaurant, having the luxurious sashimi set lunch. It is one of the restaurant (raw fish and Teppanyaki) in HK that I have visited in the last few years where the quality of ingredients and cooking has been consistently high. 

Black sesame sweet soup 黑芝麻糊

Finally made this typical Cantonese dessert using the black sesame paste. It is good to know that you need to use only 1 heap tablespoon of paste to make a bowl of sesame soup, not using up the jar fast. 

First dissolve some rice flour in water (same as thickening a soup). Add a bowl of water in the pan with a tablespoon of sesame paste, mix/whisk well to disperse the paste in water. 
When boiling, pour in gently rice flour water while stirring all the time. Stop when thick enough, sweeten to your taste. 

Kai Lan & Bean sprouts

Last chance to feast on local greens before heading back to Ireland …. until my veg garden starts to produce in end April. 

Percussion performance

Joined the Fringe Festival for a percussion performance by a young lady, playing on many drums and percussion equipment, one of the music used 13 pieces. 

Her skill is amazing, and requires strong physical effort to perform. Not really impressed by the selected musics as the rhythms are not easily caught on.

Seared squid

Saw this way of preparing squid, not the usual criss-cross pattern, but 2or 3 cuts through the piece. When deep fried with batter; it cooked through fast and has more crispy surfaces without using a thick batter. 
I used the same preparation but seared the squids, presentable and cook through fast too. 

The Atrium 中庭, Convention and Exhibition Centre Hong Kong

Enjoyed a well made Chinese dinner with friends at the Atrium, used to serve Shanghainese food before. 
In the menu there is a good selection of Cantonese dishes. The set meal selected that night has a lot of very high quality traditional ingredients, like giant yellow fungus, fish maw, coconut soup with black silk chicken etc. Excellent cooking skills and very delicate complex flavours. 

2026年2月9日 及時行樂

今日天氣陰沉微雨，好開心昨日去了淺水灣走走，日落時段，那米色長沙灘、翠綠山峰、型格建築物、瑩亮蔚藍水天光彩，令人目眩神馳。

去淺水灣，藉口是看張愛玲去世三十年展覽，細小場地，重點展出她和那已被拆除的淺水灣酒店的關係，和介紹酒店歷史。

看資料她出世那年，酒店剛好完工開幕；她來到港大讀書時，父母已經離婚，母親從上海來港，在淺水灣酒店長住。張愛玲常去探望，寫下以酒店作為背景的「傾城之戀」。

展覽重點之一是介紹這部電影，播出部份和酒店有關的片段，其實拍攝時酒店已經拆卸，要在清水灣影城重建酒店外貌，其中一幕，是女主角繆騫人走到窗前，看那迷人海景….. 那其實是從清水灣看到的西貢山海風光，而非淺水灣也。

「傾城之戀」電影未有看過，但故事印象深刻，和香港有關外，記憶中似是張愛玲小說中，少數有美好結局的愛情故事。

張的長篇短篇小說，全部看齊，文字美好，當年文青必看外，她筆下的時代背景：戰爭逃難、新與舊思想、東西方文化衝擊下的人生，深深吸引我的好奇心。

Fried glutinous rice flour pancake

I thought of another way to enjoy the black sesame paste. Using glutinous dumpling dough, but make a thin flat pancake, the size of your frying pan. Sear at medium heat with a little  oil, until cook through (thicken) and golden crispy on both sides. Spread black sesame paste on top and serve. 

Tai Wai Dinning Room 大圍小館

Went there with friends living in that area, a convenient location with 2 MTR lines intersecting making it easy to get to all 4 corners of HK. 

A well decorated medium size restaurant serving Cantonese dishes, some traditional some with twists. Many interesting sounding dishes and excellent cooking skills, need to go back again to try more dishes. Deep fried 九肚魚 is a must have dish, the batter is so thin, crispy but not oily, with tender soft flesh inside.