Bayswater / Gold Mine

We went to another warehouse sale. This time, its at Portobello and again we are reminded of how small M is. She found a few items that she liked but as she is simply not as big as her caucasian counterparts, none of them fitted her. Thankfully, I have no such problems but I didn't buy anything in a show of solidarity. (M: Liar!) Ok, its because I didn't feel like spending money on clothes when I don't need them till next year September.

As Bayswater is close by, we decided to go there for lunch. M had a craving for Peking duck and so we went to Gold Mine, a Chinese restaurant recommended by her sister. I honestly can't stand Four Seasons even though their duck is pretty good for Chinese duck in this country but their service is just atrocious. These days, I have little patience and tolerance for bad service. Thankfully, the service at Gold Mine was pretty alright. We can't really expect Chinese waiters to be friendly/cheerful/amicable but at least we got unobstrusive service. And the food was quite good as well



We ordered salt and pepper squid and we are pleased to announce that we have found a successor to the Nottingham version. It was just good. A light batter, not overly floury. Not too fried, not too oily and definitely savoury. The only problem I see with it is that its a bit too salty. But M has no problems in that aspect. She says that such squid is supposed to be salty. Thats why its called salt and pepper squid. Duh.



The Peking duck was delicious too, again for the standard of Chinese food in this country. I have definitely had better in Singapore but still it was good. M really likes it. The meat was tender but could have been more succulent. More importantly, the skin was thin and crispy and that is enough to satisfy M's tastebuds.

Just one note: the photos are smaller because I am using my mobile phone to take the pictures of the food. I still feel very self conscious using a camera in a restaurant.

Seafood pasta

Another one of Waitrose's recipes. I had the urge to cook it after eating the marinari at Picasso last saturday. I wanted to compare a tomato based seafood pasta with a garlic butter based one. Fry garlic with butter, add in diced spring onions and chilli. Add in your seafood selection. I used a mixture of haddock, prawns, crab sticks and mussels. Cook for a few minutes till the seafood is piping hot. Place cooked spaghetti on top and mix well. Serve with parsley and black pepper.

Conclusion: I think I prefer the tomato based seafood pasta as the taste is richer with the tomatoes and white wine. This is fine as well, its just that the taste is not as complex. Furthermore, do not use wholewheat spaghetti with this dish as the taste of the pasta itself will overwhelm the garlic butter sauce. [M's view and I concur]

Egg noodles with creamy egg sauce

D is here again. Well, he was here for the last few weeks, its just that the things I cooked weren't good enough to post on the blog or I have already done so previously. For example, two weeks ago, I made fish curry. Unfortunately, it was not from scratch, it was from a packet mix. Anyway, today, I made egg noodles with creamy egg sauce, the kind you see listed on takeaway menus. Its really simple, just stir fry an assortment of meats, mushrooms, vegetables and seafood, pour in some chicken soup and crack a few eggs into the mixture. Pour over cooked egg noodles. The trick to making the creamy egg sauce is that while the egg is stirred into the soup, it should only be half cooked when you pour it over the noodles. Oh and you need quite a huge number of eggs. Very cholestrol laden meal. Serve with crispy onions on top of the noodles.

Salt and pepper chicken

I am officially running out of chicken recipes to cook, from my cookbooks that is. I think I need a new cookbook. *explicit hint.* After an afternoon wracking my brain, poring over these books, I finally settled on this dish, salt and pepper chicken with M's favourite porridge. When M and I were at Nottingham, one of our favourite chinese dishes was the Szechuan salt and pepper chicken wings/prawns/squid/ribs at HK Hse, the best Chinese takeaway in Nottingham. Sadly, they have since changed their management and the standard of their food is nowhere near its once giddy heights. We are still searching for a takeaway/restaurant to replace it but sadly to no avail. So I guess its up to me to make an attempt to replicate it. Unforunately, i am missing one key ingredient the szechuan peppercorns but I thought I'd try making it without it just to see whether its alright.

To cook it, mix flour, salt, white pepper and 5 spice powder. If I had the szechuan peppercorns, I would add it here. Coat the chicken pieces in the flavoured flour and deep fry them till golden, crisp and cooked. It turned out pretty well, the taste obviously wasn't right but still, it is crispy chicken after all and its hard to not like it.

Mediterranean chicken

I love the natural flavours of this dish, the tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, celery, onions and red peppers combining into a rich vegetable sauce, healthy yet delicious. M was literally salivating to this dish, Mediterranean Chicken. She kept gushing about how the chicken skin tasted just like the chicken skin she loves at KFC, crispy and savoury. I think the secret is paprika as I sprinkled quite a bit of it on top of the chicken before I baked it in the oven. So to cook it, first saute onions and garlic in a pan for 4 minutes. Add in the red pepper and celery. You can include courgettes in the list of vegetables. Its in the recipes in my Chicken cookbook. Its not in my cooking as I hate it. Cook for 5 minutes and add in the tomatoes, sundried tomatoes and some balsamic vinegar. Place the vegetables in a oven proof dish. For the chicken, stuff some cream cheese into the space between the skin and the flesh. Put the chicken on top of the vegetables, drizzle some olive oil, sprinkle the key ingredient, paprika and bake in the oven for 45 minutes at 180 degrees.



Serve with pasta and you get a happy beaming M.

Potato and mushroom soup

When I first saw this recipe, I thought it was some strange fusion soup as it required soya sauce and after our fiasco with our carrot cake, we were both expecting and wary of another culinary disaster. M was practically shaking in fear that our dinner would turn out to be a mess. But I persevered, refusing to take the easy way out by making a soup that I am familiar with. Furthermore, I haven't cooked any new soup recipes for some time and so I was determined to discover the next brillant soup. Thankfully, it worked out well. M ranks this soup third behind tomato soup and fish soup. The soup looks exactly like cream of mushroom soup but once you try it, it tastes of potatoes, shallots and mushrooms, a more complex tasting soup perhaps.

Welsh rarebit

So its Sunday Brunch again. We made Welsh rarebit, a recipe from the BBC website. At first, I thought that it was a recipe for rabbit stew, rarebit and rabbit, the two words just sound and look alike. But on closer scrutiny, I discovered that its actually an egg and cheese recipe. According to the dictionary, rarebit: a dish of melted and seasoned cheese on toast. Its simple to make and excellent for lazy Sunday lunches. Just click on the title of the entry for the recipe