2026年7月1日養兒育女不容易

香港朋友，三年前已經開始和兒子討論升學問題，想做什麼工作讀那一科，兒子未有明確想法，真心只想踢足球。

父親從商，覺得兒子可以讀商科，母親覺得兒子分析理解能力好，可能適合做律師，都有和兒子討論。亦有能力支持到任何國家讀書，暑假先後帶他到美國和英國心儀的大學，參觀環境，真是個幸運的小朋友。

終於前年，兒子選擇了讀酒店管理，寫下想法，令父母明白他的決定。主要是他喜歡和人有接觸，希望工作可以即時解決問題見到成效，不想整天困在寫字枱前，能說數國語言容易在不同國家工作，和應該不會完全被AI取締。那年才十五歲，思路清晰。

父母拉關係，暑假時讓兒子有機會在五星酒店實習六個星期，令他感受工作性質，不要憑空想像。

因為兒子的語言能力，安排在大堂幫忙接待員處理人客。母親曾多次到酒店大堂，躲在角落偷看兒子工作表現，見到兒子真的用心工作，表現愉快，安落了。

同年暑假，到瑞士參觀最有名的酒店學校，原來校園大，包括數間餐廳和酒店，建築典雅華麗，設施一流，莫說兒子開心，連那父親也說，若退休後能到來上堂，是一個享受。

九月送兒子到瑞士讀書，終於了一心事。上回傳送Barn owl 黑夜捕捉十七隻田鼠回巢，朋友即時回應，養兒育女不容易，感同身受。

Garlic harvest and uses

Finally garlic is ready to be pulled up, 2 weeks later than previous years, even though I planted them in mid October, 2 weeks earlier than usual, can only blame the cool weather. However because of continuous wet weather, I don’t need to water at all, so this is very easy veg growing. 

I sorted them out into orderly big bulbs for planting on end of this year, good size bulbs for turning into black garlic, already opened up/irregular looking bulb for immediate use, the rest left to dry in a shady place. 

I prefer to transform them as I am very reactive to fructan in garlic, big gas problem. So the rest of the garlic will probably turn into confit garlic to keep in freezer and honey fermented garlic, which can be kept in the honey for a long time. 

 

I made a batch of low temperature fried dried garlic. Just roughly minced in machine, mix with some olive oil and bake at 120% until crispy, then sprinkle sesame and bake for another 10 minutes. Very tasty and crispy result, to be sprinkled on top of dishes or soup for the crunch…. enjoy if you don’t have garlic gas problem. 

 

A second batch is lactic ferment garlic, cover garlic with water, add 2% salt of the weight of garlic and water used, add black peppercorns and bay leaves to season. Leave at room temperature to bubble away for a month. 

Rose liqueur

In rainy days, wild rose petals are wet and take a long time to dry out. So I thought of another way to preserve them, macerating in vodka. 

Instead of using 37% vodka, I diluted with water to bring alcohol level down to around 20%. Still well enough for preservation, but with more water, the colour of petals come off easily. I am going to have a rosy red liqueur in 3 months time. 

I will flavour with some honey and may be with ginger juice too, will see when it is ready. 

Basil multi ingredients sauce

Planted 4 types of basil this year : Sabertooth, Purple, Siam Queen, Thai, they are growing well in the green house even if this is not a warm summer. I have to keep picking leaves to make sure they grow bushy. 

The harvest is enough to make a tasty sauce, this one has all 4 types of basils, ginger, turmeric, lemon zest, juice, black pepper, Shio Koji, honey and olive oil. With 20% Shio Koji, the sauce can keep for a while in the fridge. 

Very useful and nutritious to accompany many dishes, from natty to smoked mackerel to plan cooked veg. 

2026年6月28日 起絲納豆

早前在IG看到一位住在愛爾蘭的日本太太，好高興地展示自己做的納豆，說終於可以日日有得吃了。

看她的幾行文字，才知道原來納豆這麼容易做，只是把煮軟的黃豆，加入納豆菌，放在四十度的地方廿小時就完成，和做yogurt 的溫度要求一様，她就是放在yogurt 機內發酵納豆，多方便。

看完Dr Tim Spector 關於發酵食物和腸臟身心健康的關係，決定今年多吃各種不同發酵食物。看完這納豆做法，即刻興起要試做，不光是另一樣發酵食物，納豆有種強效酵素nattokinase，有助溶解血凝塊和控制血壓。

在網上找到一間在奧地利的公司，可以買到納豆菌，有機黃豆，和其他日式發酵食物、米麴等。

依法泡製，一切順利，一天後就做成納豆，易過借火！那黏性的細絲真的厲害，不一定人人能接受，配點香草、調味料，每日吃小份，可以接受。

Wasabi mustard

I like ordering interesting sounding seeds, found this wasabi mustard from a Uk seed company, very easy to germinate. The small wrinkly leaves indeed have a strong wasabi taste. I can imagine if grinded up finely into a green paste, it may be as good to use as wasabi on sashimi. 

2026年6月23日 漫天蜂飛

露營車海岸閒遊回來，心情慵懶，三時多車到家園大閘前，侶伴開車門準備下車開閘，我漫不經心指出天空滿是飛蟲，心下以為天氣熱，飛蟲也煩燥，到處飛，伴侶眼利，澎一聲關上車門，縮回車內，說那全是蜜蜂啊！

一定是所謂的Swarming，蜂后覺得巢內太擠，拉隊開支散葉，找新居所。第一次親眼見到，即時想到可能是自家的蜜蜂，開手機查看蜂箱出口和內部的攝錄，蜜蜂仍然頗多，安心些，若然真是拉隊走了，仍然有不少留下，足夠重整陣容。

蜜蜂慢慢飛到附近一株樹上聚集，在樹葉中隱現一個黑球，若果我們遲幾分鐘回家，一定不會看到樹上的蜂群，當沒事發生。

既然遇上，就思考如何處理，可以由得她們找新居所自動離去，亦可以用這天賜機會，學習收起這群swarm。

即刻火速行動，伴侶負責安置新蜂箱，準備長梯，大剪刀和鋸，我找紙箱，紗布，尚未處理仍然在巢上的蜜糖，放在新蜂箱內，估計好食好住的話，一定喜歡這個新居。

然後穿上保護蜂衣，依書本解釋方法，鋸下有蜂群的樹枝，移到箱內，大力擢下蜜蜂，道理是只要蜂后跌進箱內，其他的會自動跟隨，亦真的如此，不一會兒大部份蜜蜂都收在箱內，用紗布包好。

移到準備好已有蜂蜜的蜂箱，把蜜蜂倒進其中，同樣，只要峰后在內，其他就會尾隨，見到蜜蜂在蜂箱出入口出現，但沒有去意，當真意外的順利。

五時多清理現場後回家，新經驗美好，只是在愛爾蘭熱浪中，要穿著全套保護衣服兩個多小時，一身大汗，是最辛苦的部份。

Shio koji as tenderizer

Since having dried Koji, I keep a jar of Shio Koji ready for seasoning, pickling and tenderising meat. 

To make Shio Koji, I use the ratio of 100gm dried Koji, 200gm water to hydrate and 30 gm salt, making it a 10% salt Shio Koji. This way it is easy to use, when I make lactic fermentation and need a 2% brine, i can use 20% of Shio Koji instead. It adds a unique umami flavour to dishes. 

For meat, marinate with Shio Koji helps to tenderise it. I tried it on this beef rib meat, marinated for a day. After grilling, the meat part is definitely more tender than normal. 

Mackerel

Fisherman finally come back with a few mackerel, fishing from the cliff edge. The season has started but the fish is not oily yet. 

Kilkee Cliff and coast

 

西歐酷熱近四十度天氣，愛爾蘭也發熱浪警告…. 廿三至三十度！我們是難得太陽肯露臉，即刻收拾東西駕露營車到海岸遊玩。

昨天行了Kilkee Cliffs Walk, 沒有Cliff of Moher 那麼出名，勝在遊人少，沿路沒有欄杆，山崖細些，地理變化多，行那一個小時已經大飽眼福，滿足。

就那麼一個大晴天，今早行Bridges of Ross又霧又雲，清涼舒服。

2026年6月20日 貓頭鷹住客

在農舍屋頂安裝貓頭鷹箱，三年，終於聽到有barn owl 入住，成家育兒，即刻在陽台邊安裝攝錄機，見到父母晚上不停運送食物。

當年聽一個barn owl （倉鴞）講座，主持人帶著跟他多年的倉鴞見聽眾，鼓勵多建barn owl box ，除農田鼠患，減少下藥防鼠。我們照圖做箱，安裝在農舍頂牆內，等足三年才見成效。

由十一時天色昏暗開始捕獵，一晚捉了十七隻田鼠，到早上四時三十分終於要休息了，養兒育女不容易。

期待，小倉鴞幾時夠大，可以站出來，在陽台等父母餵食。然後，學飛，慢慢一隻一隻地飛走，不再回來，自立。

Koji marinated beef

Bought some rib eyes from an organic farm and was disappointed that the steak is very tough, guess not aged enough. One of the way to tenderise is to marinate with Koji salt, also used black pepper and soy sauce, for a day. Indeed after bbq, the meat is less tough than last time, will test this method again.