Venison saddle

Nice piece of wild venison saddle, with thick lean meat, best cooked  to pink and with a sauce. 1.Season venison with salt, black pepper, 5 spices powder and olive oil.
2.Place on baking tray with cooking apple, bell pepper around.
3.With a thermometer stuck into the middle of the saddle, bake at 230˚C until middle reached 50˚C, around 30 minutes. Rest with oven door open until middle reached 60˚C, around 10 minutes, perfect pink.

Garlic germinated

This year planted garlic bulbs a month earlier than normal, in end September, in order to have a head start for earlier harvest next year. 

Since November, green shoots started to pop up, now around 50 % germinated. Finger crossed for a success as hoped.

Green apple coconut milk Clafoutis

Have a good harvest of cooking Bramley apples and have been trying to use them up, on top of giving away to friends without apple tree.

Other than pies and cakes, this is a no carbohydrate way to enjoy an apple dessert.

1.Remove skin and cut apple into big cubes. Mix with a little brown sugar and cinnamon powder, place in baking dish. Bake at 200˚C for 10 minutes to soften.
2.Mix 500ml coconut milk with 2 eggs, season with a little sugar and a pinch of salt, pour on top of apple.
3.Bake at 160˚C until set, around 30 minutes.

Preserved veg 梅菜 steamed beef

This preserved veg is traditionally used to pair with fried and long steamed belly pork. Since I have a piece of rump to use up, I just use it to make a dish, delicious in its own way.

1.Soak preserved veg and loosen, cut into small pieces.
2.Stir fry with some oil until fragrant.
3. Season beef lightly with salt, black pepper, rice wine and cornstarch. Place at bottom of steaming dish and cover with preserved veg.
4.Steam until cooked, around 30 minutes.

Tomatillo salsa

A friend grows tomatillo this year, very good yield but too sour to eat as fruit. She turns them into a sour spicy green salsa and gave me a jar of it. It is sour, and fine to use as a sauce for oily food, but can’t use much. 

The last portion I used in a stir fry with beef, Brussel sprout, pine nut, pepper and tomato, added a freshness to the dish.

Dublin Dim Sum and HK Bakery

 

到首都Dublin 辦事，來回六小時車程，唯一安慰，是在「冇啖好食」的愛爾蘭（到星星餐廳吃大餐例外），起碼在首都可以吃到有水準的點心。

加上近年開的香港餅店，酥皮蛋撻、菠蘿包和老婆餅都值得支持。

而Dublin，在陽光下，在某些地段，也可以走一走。

 

 

Lake view

 

昨晨迷霧散去，見仍然有十幾度又沒有風，以十一月天氣，十分難得（或異常），上後山行一轉，看湖光看綠田園。

中午略現藍天，到湖畔慢吃燒烤午餐，享受好風光，入秋後四時多就開始昏暗，已經不能到來欣賞黃昏兼吃晚餐。

Pea, carrot and beetroot

The last to harvest from the greenhouse are pea and carrot, and beetroot from outdoor bed. The third sowing in mid August of pea worked and have been harvesting some every few days.

So was the sowing of carrot, red and purple, and beetroot gold and red in mid July, very successful germination and extended the harvest time for another month compared with previous years.

For root veg, sometimes I like to just cut them into slices, coat with olive oil and bake, 180˚C until slightly shrunk and golden, around 30 minutes. I eat them without any seasoning, just appreciate the pure taste of the veg, that is enough.

Pollock

Fisherman brought back 2 good size pollock, in the Cod family, beautiful silvery fish with white flesh.  

I cooked some in big pieces, seared slowly and mix with stir-fried veg, good looking dish but meat dry. Next time I will  cook it with a cream sauce. 

Some thinly sliced and used in oat porridge for breakfast, actually very good, fast to cook through and tender. 

Turned the rest into fish paste to keep, added 20% of water and 10 % flour to form a nice texture. Used to make soup and with stir-fried veg.

Preparing veg garden for winter rest

 

 

 

 

When temperature drops down to 10˚C, very little can grow, or grow very slowly, in such weather. It is time to work the soil, feed with fertiliser and compost, cover with mulch and let it rest over winter. Hopefully the soil is refreshed and enriched, ready for next season.

2024年11月9 日 社區意識

上回提到的英國友人，退休後參與社區活動，是行山以外的細藝之一。以前工作時的上佳管理和辦事能力，不用實在浪費，相信亦不適應日日游手好閑，於是把心思放在生活細節上。

仔細閱讀新聞，知道國際和本土事情，和人閒話時任何話題都可以發揮。

亦留意銀行資訊，擁有三間銀行戶口，當有推廣，若有定量資金存進做定期，便有現金回贈，約二百鎊，會把一筆流動資金轉到那銀行戶口，反正到期提錢並沒有罰則。每年如此把那嚿錢在三間銀行內轉位，只需要在網上按幾個鍵便完成，方便容易，有人付款為何不賺？

此外，他們的電力供應商，有多種電源，煤、太陽能、風力等，除了晚上電費平些少，亦久不久因應天氣（大風、少風、太陽多少）會有突發通知，要求客戶某時段若能減少用電，至平日水平以下，有現金奬賞；亦可以是某時段產電大增，要求多用電力，費用特平作鼓勵。

朋友會樂於參與，減少用電時可以出去行山、在外用餐免煮食、若在晚上就燭光看電腦煲劇。

要多用電的話，會為電力車和太陽能板的電池充電、開洗衣機洗碗碟機等。

朋友有優厚退休金和安穩投資，不是大花筒，生活費用足夠有餘，仍然盡量配合行動，覺得省錢是其次，那同心合力互助互惠的社區意識，才是他們的重點。

朋友眉精眼企，能做到的不做，工夫不多能袋錢落袋而不袋，都對不起自身的智力和能力。

Juicy beef patties

Watched Chef Ricky’s video of his family’s traditional way to make pork patties, very inspired by the little twist in preparation. Have to try it out even if I don’t have shoulder pork with a fatty rim, used rib eye instead.

The trick is to cut lean meat and fat into small cubes, the lean part slight bigger like 1/2 cm. Take 1/3 out from both and mince well. Mix the minced meat with the cubed ones, should be enough to bind into patties.

Season with salt, pepper, rice wine, cornstarch and water to make sloppy patties. Add some crunchy ingredients for texture, I used gold beetroot from the garden. Rest for an hour for flavour to go in. Either steam for 12 minutes or sear at with lid on until cooked through and golden outside, around 8 minutes.

Without much fat in rib eye, I worry that the patties will be dry, but it turned out well, tasty, juicy meat with texture from the cubed meat. What a great idea.

Cauliflower with pesto sauce

Have to start buying vegetable to supplement the closing down veg garden. At least I could mix the baked cauliflower with homemade pesto sauce, when basil leaves were abundant during summer.

Cider

Cider made from purely apple this year stopped vigorous bubbling after 2 weeks. Decided to start drinking it, very acidic taste with 7% alcohol and little sweetness left. 

I find it better to use it to make Kir, using homemade honey fermented wild bilberry as syrup.

Fermented daikon leaves

Now that there are less veg to harvest from the garden, it is time to take the excess stored in freezer during the summer.

This is the first time I made salted fermented leaves of Daikon, I used a small amount in a stir-fried dish. It is indeed umami tasty, added a good touch to the dish.

2024年11月2日 利己惠人

和英國友人相約在威爾斯見面聚舊，夫妻倆退休三年多，想知道他們如何面對新生活。

二人的興趣一向是行山，久不久傳來行山照片，在本土的亦有參加外國的行山團，但沒有新增其他文靜嗜好。

退休後搬到鄉村居住，發覺互聯網絡緩慢，在城市習慣了火速工作，不能接受慢三拍節奏。解決方法是舖設光纖，得有區內一定數目居民參與，才能申請成功。

二人是機械工程公司管理層，有足夠處理人事和解決問題能力，現在加上有閒暇，就捲起衫袖工作，全村逐戶拍門家訪，解釋計畫。在有足夠人數後，就研究光纖路線，要穿越私人土地包括農場，就得花時間討論，取得最短的合理路線。

計畫完成後，上網快捷外，認識了些合嘴型的村民，新的社交圈子。

這個經歷，令他們發覺，村內舊社區中心已經荒廢，開大會時得借用教堂，不是最合用的空間，亦不容易安排。

於是展開第二個區內活動，是和幾位有心人，註冊成立聯誼會，申請政府資助復辦社區中心。顧人維修清理置傢俬電器，是第一輪工作，已經完成，沒有太大難度。

現在開始使用，定期有晚間村民聯誼活動，日間有小朋友興趣班，反而細碎工作頗多，適時開關場地、安排飲品食物、事後清潔、定期檢查火警鐘走火通道等等，要有足夠義工服務，才容易處理。

看他們沒有什麼怨言，相信運作順利，是樂於花時間的細藝，亦找到朋友圈子，利己惠人。

North Wales trip

 

深秋，約英國友人在Wales 北部見面，大家駕車三個多小時，分別是我們要加上乘輪船的時間，時間長但不辛苦。

 

 

 

那區的主要景點是十三世紀的Caernarfon 古堡，和明媚山水。

 

古堡外牆和高塔大致完好，可以走窄小圓轆的樓梯上落，沿着牆內牆游走各個塔和主建築，心中想到好容易迷路，卻是玩捉迷藏好地方。

 

 

 

雨水多，河水翻滾而流，秋色和聲浪都精彩。