Myanmar Inle Lake soya bean

Brought back some soya bean locally grown in Myanmar from my visit early this year, very small compare with what I use to grow, suspect to be original variety.

Indeed the variety I ordered from UK, Soya Envy, takes around 80 days to grow to harvest fresh beans. This soya bean variety has taken 120 days and only these tiny pods have started to form. I am not sure if I could have any harvest as cold rainy weather is coming soon.

Sweet potato with basil and olive oil

Sweet potato is mostly used in dessert or in soup, but also good as a side dish, can appreciate the pure mild sweetness and the fragrance of basil and olive oil very well.

1. Peel and cut sweet potato into cubes, cover with water and simmer until soft, around 15 minutes.

2. Drain liquid, and drizzle extra virgin olive oil, then mix with basil leaves.

Great shellfish at Casa Gallego, Empuriabrava, Spain

I plan to eat at Ristorant Rafa's at Roses, Costa Brava, Spain, famous for being a good simple seafood restaurant where Chefs come to eat, Chef like El Buli's Ferran Adria. Unfortunately it was fully booked, when I asked the lady owner where to go to eat good shellfish, which I like more than fish. She frankly said that her restaurant is mainly fish and recommended Casa Gallego in nearby Empuriabrava.

It is indeed a wonderful eating experience, very fresh shellfish from Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts, simply cooked. 

marinated fresh anchovy

octopus in olive oil

clam

cockle

razor clam

giant prawns of Roses

The giant prawns from the sea near Roses is expensive but absolutely delicious, very tender meat, flavorful tomally in the head.

Flaked oat

Found this flaked oat in an organic market, each grain is being flattened when raw. This is very different from rolled oat that is available in the market, where the oat grains are cooked until very soft, then flatten by a large roller, then dried. This amount of heavy duty processing means that a lot of nutrients are lost.

The flaked oat is fast to cook, like rolled oat, but regain the whole grain shape, has good texture and fuller flavor.

Red date 紅棗

Saw this red date tree in a vineyard in Umbria, tasted sweet exactly like the dry red date I used in making Chinese soup. This is the first time I see this tree, apparently grown wild in the Mediterranean area.

Lake Chiusi, Italy

Went to the lake twice, first time misty and the next day sunny, because there is a good restaurant next to the lake - Pesce d'oro.

Crayfish from the lake is sweet like little lobsters.

The first time I tried perch, cooked on reed until skin is charred, the meat has nice texture and flavor, and quite a few bones.

Tench, pike and eel, grilled with a light dusting of oil and breadcrumb. Very good cooking skill, the fish are juicy and tasty.

Hill villages in Tuscany & Umbria, Italy

Spent a few days visiting small hill villages in Tuscany and Umbria, fascinating location and beautiful construction.  

Citta dela Pieve

Panicale

Sorana

Sorana

Restaurant Vrh, Istria, Croatia

A wonderful family restaurant in a small hill top village in Istria, Croatia, where every produce they use are either grown and made by themselves, or sourced from within 3km. They have such a diverse range of raw materials to use, eating there is an experience to learn how we could be self sufficient.

1. Home made bread with wheat grown in the slope, eggs from grandmother's hens, milk from their herd of cows. Warm soft bread great to taste their home made olive oil. Tasty and not too salty home cured ham and fresh goat cheese.

2. White truffle, from the forest, on scramble eggs.

3.  Ox baked in the oven with fermented cabbage.

Honey, olive oil & herbs jelly

Created by an organic honey and olive oil farmer in Rovinj, Coratia,. It is a mixture of 70% honey, 30% olive oil, and mix herbs like thyme, rosemary and chili.

 

honey, olive oil & herb jelly on ricotta

The texture is jelly like, tasted mildly sweet with the aroma of olive oil and flavor of herbs. Great to serve on ricotta or toast.

Bonito with sesame & red onion

I like to eat bonito raw when I know that they are freshly caught.

1. Remove skin and stomach lining, and all exposed surfaces from the piece of fish.

2. Cut bonito and red onion into strips or cubes, season with salt & soy sauce, roasted sesame, some chili and a few drops of lemon juice, stir and serve.

Baked sea bream

An easy way to cook fish, and great for dinner gathering to serve many people at the same time.

1. Cut red onion, red bell pepper, ginger and spring onion into slivers.

2. Sweat onion in butter with a big pinch of salt until soften.

3. On a sheet of baking paper, place some ginger in the middle, place fish fillet on top, season with salt, add slivers of butter, then red pepper, spring onion and cooled down onion on top.

4. Fold both ends of the paper in the middle then tighten the 2 ends.

5. Bake at 220˚C until just cooked, depending on thickness, around 10 minutes.

Spanish pepper

This is a specialty from the Basque area of Span, they are harvested when small and have relatively thick flesh and thin membrane.

Restaurants there serve them deep fried for a short time. I found that uses too much oil (and repeated cooking of the same oil is not a great idea), so I just mix them with some olive oil, bake at 220˚C until just soften, around 10 minutes. It is a great appetizer to go with beer or white wine.