How do you like your bagel?

I used to love eating bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese, sprinkled with black pepper and lemon juice, until one day my daughters Emily and Maria told me how they eat their bagels....

You need to have an onion bagel, cream cheese and salt & vinegar crisps, but to take a notch higher, you should have Walkers' Extra Crunchy salt & malt vinegar crisps, an red onion & chive bagel and original full fat soft Philadelphia (definitely not one of those 'light' half fat nonsense!!!).

Toast a bagel brown, spread the cream cheese ....

...and don't be stingy with the cheese ...

And place crunchy salt & malt vinegar crisps on top!

Definitely not healthy but it's really yummy and soooo addictive!  You get the extra crunchiness of crisps, combinations of flavours from salt & vinegar, onions, chives and full fat cream cheese, married all into one. Textures of softness of cream cheese, toasted bagel, crunchy crisps and the smells of salt & vinegar, toasted bits of red onions and chives, married all into one.  A bit weird? Maybe but you should try this and you know how addictive this can be.... 

So, how do you like your bagel?

That's all forks.

You gotta eat seafood in Lisbon

If you are fish or seafood lover, you must go to Lisbon, where you can eat fresh fish or seafood, often available at affordable price and from so many selections or varieties to choose from. What I love about Lisbon is that you can find so many restaurants that serve fish or seafood cooked simply but perfectly to retain the freshness and tastes of the sea.

Anyway, one night we were looking for somewhere different to try but not too far from our hotel. We saw this eaterie with menus in different languages on windows, clearly catering for tourists but somehow appealing to us because of blue and white azulejo tiles on the walls depicting some Portuguese agricultural scenes from the past. The restaurant was nothing fancy and foods on the menu seemed cheaper compared to other restaurants near-by. We thought, 'Surely they would not serve anything bad, after all this is Lisbon and this place is in area full of restaurants where lots of tourists come and go.'

We went in, sat down at a table and ordered beer. My husband ordered a bacalhau (dried salt cod) stew type of dish while I ordered calamari with rice. When the foods arrived, my face fell. They looked like school dinner. My husband bacalhau was full of fish bones although he said that it tasted fine while my calamari was tough and dry. "How can Lisbon go wrong with these!" I thought any restaurants in Lisbon serve fresh seafood and I just could not understand the logic of my calamari. I even started feeling sorry for this restaurant that served this quality of food, the chef who cooked it and the waiter who served this to us. My husband asked if I wanted coffee after the meal.  I just wanted to leave this place as soon as we could. ... Ok, it was cheap after all so maybe I should not have expected too much but how could any restaurant go wrong with calamari! Well, in the end we were the one to blame as we wanted to try this restaurant. The problem I have is that if I had something that I did not enjoy, that would ruin my whole day.

So, the next day, we decided to splash out and upgraded a restaurant. The restaurant was Ribadouro on Avda da Liberdade 155, Lisbon. This place is often listed in many guidebooks and seems very popular with tourists ordering lots of fancy looking seafood as well as locals standing by the bar ordering beer with quick bite to eat. Surely it can't go wrong this time.

Well, we ordered grilled tiger prawns between us. It was really extravagant but so as the bill! Still, it was our last night in Lisbon after all, and we had cheap but bad, bad meal the previous night, so that would justify it. And justified indeed. Our tiger prawns were really good. They were like mini-lobster, rather rich but very tasty.

Our grilled tiger prawns came with garlic butter sauce.

Close up - Mmmmmm, it was a seafood lover heaven!

Before cooking. Look at the sizes of tiger prawns!

They bring you fresh seafood to show you before they cook. Well, our tiger prawns were really big. We did not expect the platter to be so big so we also ordered clams cooked with olive oil, coriander and garlic for starter.  They were really good, perhaps a bit salty and lots of chopped garlic that could ward off vampires, however it was tasty and we mopped up the clam juice with lovely bread.

We also ordered a bottle of local vinho verde ('green wine') wine. I did not know what was the difference between normal white wine and green white wine at first, only to discover, after we came back from Lisbon, that it is a slightly sparkling wine, lowish in alcohol (from 8.5%), made from immature grapes, hence being called 'green'. I should have read the guidebook properly before we went to Lisbon.

Anyway, the same guidebook also informs me that if a bottled vinho verde (apparently many are not bottled!) says Alvarinho anywhere on the label, it will be a good one to try. Well, having checked my holiday photo now, it does say 'Alvarinho' so we chose the good one after all. I don't remember it was hugely expensive neither.

Vinho Verde that we had to go with food!

Well, after all these foods, our stomachs were really satisfied and we also had uma bica coffee, a small cup of strong coffee like an espresso. I was never a fan of espresso much but during our trip to Lisbon I became very fond of this Portuguese strong coffee and I also developed my fondness of adding sugar in it. Strong coffee and sugar were never my thing before. Now I am drinking espresso with sugar, alas, it's just not the same - I do miss uma bica in Lisbon....

Damn fine cup of coffee... (without a cherry pie)

I can forget about and forgive calamari disaster in Lisbon as I got so many delightful memories of food we had in Lisboa!

That's all forks.

Emily's Kitchen

My husband and I were invited to daughter Emily and her fiancé, Craig's new house for dinner last Friday. Actually I invited ourselves, hahaha. They were off work whole week past week decorating their house and I just said half-jokingly to Emily, "Oh, you could invite us for dinner." Emily had no choice but say no....

Emily had a challenge as she needed to think what she could make to cater everyone as Craig does not eat fish or seafood while my husband and I don't eat meat. Anyway, Emily did a great job, prepared and served us wonderful dinner and both my husband and I came home with happy stomach.

For starter, she made butternut squash and potato soup with hint of chilli, with sour cream and drizzle of olive oil. It was really delicious.

Emily's home made butternut squash and potato soup

For main course, Emily made home-made beef burger for Craig and herself whilst home made tuna burger for my husband and myself. She put tuna steaks in the blender to mince, added soy sauce, chopped spring onion, onions, minced garlic, ginger, chilli, salt and pepper. The burger came with either smoky tomato and paprika sauce or mayonnaise with garlic and spring onions.

Emily's tuna burger with chips and salad.

For dessert, Emily did some experiments in making chocolate casings, having seen some recipe on Pinterest.  Basically she melt chocolate to coat the bottom of balloons and once chocolates were cooled and hardened, carefully deflate the balloons so that she could then remove the balloons off the chocolate casings.  If the temperature of chocolate is too hot, it would burst the balloons so she had to be careful with this operations, albeit looking easy and fun ....

Another use for balloons..... 

She then put vanilla ice-cream, decorated with strawberries. Knowing how she made the chocolate casing, it was even more tastier, not to mention 'interesting'!

During the dinner, we talked about our recent trip to Lisbon. Poor Emily and Craig as they had to endure having to look at more than 1,000 holiday photos we had taken.

We all really enjoyed the dinner. We even came home with take-away tuna burgers, that became our next day's dinner at our house!

I was about to blog about another food we had in Lisbon today but I had to blog about Emily's food as they were really delicious and she put so much thoughts and efforts to it, so well done to Emily.

That's all forks.

You gotta eat fish in Lisbon

We went to Lisbon 4 years ago for the first time and really enjoyed then so we have recently returned there for holiday. It was the last week in August but the weather was gorgeous, 30 - 34 degrees every day but very dry and you get lovely sea-breeze everywhere. Up in the sky it is so blue and beautiful, contrasting wonderfully against Lisbon's light red coloured roofs tiles and white walls of buildings below whilst old-fashined trams running through the labyrinth of streets of Lisbon. It's just wonderful.

Anyway we went back to one of our favourite restaurant, Solar dos Presuntos (http://www.solardospresuntos.com). The restaurant first opened in October 1974. Inside of the restaurant the walls are covered with photographs and drawings of celebrities and foreign dignitaries who ate there, adding an unique atmosphere.

Anyway,  we ordered our favourite item from the menu - salt baked sea bass, yes literally the whole 1kg of fish is covered by rock salt mound and baked to perfection whilst retaining softness, moisture and "ocean" flavours!  It takes for a while to get the fish cooked but it's worth waiting for.

Our salt-baked sea bass - it was around 1.1 kg in weight before cooking

This was our sea bass - before being covered in salt mound for baking.
Sorry, Fish... but if any consolation, you were really delicious and well appreciated!

Once baked, they will then crack the salt-mound open, scraped the salt off the fish, de-boned, filleted and serve on plates.  Yummy.... My husband took a video on this but unfortunately I could not upload on this blog, pity that you could not see this. You just have to see what was on my plate!

Perfectly baked fish served with spinach and garlic flavoured potatoes. 

Oh, while we were waiting for our fish to be ready, we had some starter - this one was marinated octopus. It was really delicious, octopus being really lovely and tender.

Marinated octopus.

There was so much fish to eat, I did not have any room left for dessert but my husband managed to have egg custard and really enjoyed it too.

The restaurant has this following quote displayed up on the wall from Jean Moliere (1622 - 1673), French playwright and actor.

"With my stomach satisfied, my soul may rest at ease."

Need no say more.

That's all forks!

Grilled Sardines in Lisbon

We are in Lisbon right now, leaving younger daughter Maria cat & house-sitting. The first thing we notice is that there are none of our pet cat, Yuki's hair that we have to brush off our cloths, keyboards on my laptop or between pages in a book or magazine we are reading. Back home we feel like using lint rollers to catch Yuki's hair day and night, dusk to dawn, all day every day. Here, staying in a hotel, there is none of that, it's even odd that we don't have to do that.  In fact, we don't even see any cats at all since we have arrived in Lisbon. Not even a stray. Very strange, considering there are so much fish in Lisbon.

Ever since we arrived on Sunday morning, we have been eating fish, every day for lunch and dinner. We fear we may turn into a fish, may start growing scales and fins! However, fish and shellfish are really good here - it's seafood lover's heaven. You get really fresh seafood, cooked simply to respect natural tastes of ingredients.

A lots of restaurants seems to be closed on Sunday but we managed to find a fish restaurant named, Restaurant Pessoa at Rua Dos Duradores 190, Lisbon 1100. This is not necessarily a cheap restaurant, considering you could find many restaurants that offer reasonably priced food in Lisbon however not exceptionally expensive neither.

Since we are in Lisbon, we got to eat famous grilled sardines. It was not on the menu but we asked for it anyway. "12 Euro per person, it is ok?" the waiter asked. We had no idea how much a plate of grilled sardines would cost but we just ordered it anyway.

Those who know me well must be able to picture me clapping my hands with excitement when the large dish full of grilled sardines arrived at our table. Each sardine was already fair size and there must have been 14 or so on the plate, along with boiled potatoes and some salad. We were hungry so of course we ate all up without any problem. It was really delicious with lots of rock salt.

Before ....

and After .....

We also ordered a half bottle of dry white local wine. We were about to order house white but the waiter to us "not that with the dish" and brought this wine. It was only about 6 euro and not bad at all.

Inside of the restaurant is decorated with white wall and typical azulejo tiles. My guidebook informs me that azulwjos takes their name from either julej, the Persian word for 'blue' or az-zuleyha, Arabic for 'polished stone'. There is no paper table cloths and napkin nonsense - they use real line serviette here.

We thought we were the only customers but by the time we finished eating, people started arriving. Most of them seemed to be local people coming for family Sunday lunches. I wonder what they would be ordering...

The place does not look that appealing, in fact it's rather shabby and run-down looking however most of restaurants are in Lisbon; looks can be deceiving, in fact.

This is the beginning of our 'peixe' in the city, here in Lisbon.  I am afraid you will see more seafood blog from me for a while.

That's all forks!

Papa's Tapas

Last Saturday, my older daughter Emily and her friend Jennifer were invited to their friend Kat's parents' house for dinner. This was not however an ordinary dinner. Kat's father, Pete, is an accomplished cook, enjoys cooking and his invitation for Spanish Tapas was also extended to me! Bravo!

Kat kindly came to pick us all up from our houses by her car. Kat's mum, Liz, welcomed us with lovely smile to their beautiful home, making sure we were all comfortable and happy and everyone's glasses were full. They also have a lovely dog named Dexter who entertained us all with his charm.

Pete had been very busy all day since the morning, getting fresh ingredients from shops in the morning, preparing and cooking all day for this special Tapas evening. As I don't eat meat, and Kat and her mum do not eat seafood, he had to think of menu that would cater for everyone.

The resulting creation by Pete was an excellent culinary delight for everyone.

Kat's Papa's Tapas!!!

Pete made 4 Tapas dishes - Tapas style fish and chips in tempura batter, summer pea risotto, patatas bravas and Spanish omelette.  Pete's home-made tempura batter perfectly enveloped chunky fish, accompanied with fries. Summer pea risotto was really refreshing in taste, with flavoursome runner beans that were harvested from Pete's & Liz's back garden. My favourite Pete's dish was patatas bravas, which was really savoury and delicious.

Pete also made Spanish omelette with roasted red peppers and potatoes. The omelette was a perfect shape - tasty eggs holding all vegetables together in a harmonious manner. It was a Zen of  Tortilla Espanola!

Pete's signature dish...?

Everything was so delicious.... and what made Pete's tapas so special was that there were a lots of thoughts in making these dishes, resulting in such a special deliciousness that you just can't get anywhere else. My real favourite must be his patatas bravas - so flavoursome with sweet and sour of tomato sauce with lovely potatoes.

Pete's Patatas Bravas, Tapas Bravos!

Cheers to the chef!

We all enjoyed the evening, and we all went home with happy stomach. I would also like to say special thanks to Pete, Liz and Kat for inviting me to such a wonderful evening.

That's all forks!

Butterflies in Stomach

My daughter Emily has recently suggested that I should blog about the food I make than the food I have eaten every now and again. Not that I am a Master Chef, quite opposite in fact. I am a lazy cook -  I don't have patience to follow recipe, I can't be bothered about using scales or measuring spoon, etc. I just use my hand and eyes to judge how much ingredients I need when I cook.

I was watching a repeat of a TV programme called Simply Italian by Michele Chiappa on Channel 4 the other day (http://scrapbook.channel4.com/programmes/simply-italian/bookmarks/series-1/episode-1). What I like about her programme is that she shows us the easiest way to cook lovely Italian dishes.
Even making home-made pasta looks so simple when she does it and it really makes you want to try it. You don't need any super gadget or lots of ingredients, as long as you have '00' pasta flour, egg(s), a cup and a rolling pin.

I saw her recipe of Farfalle (bow-tie shape pasta) with Mozzarella and Tomato Sauce again and thought I shall try it tonight for dinner.

Unfortunately I didn't have all ingredients listed in her recipe so I just had to improvise.

Michela showed us how easy to make farfalle pasta at home but as I didn't have '00' pasta flour, I used dry farfalle pastas in the packet. I did not even have enough pasta in the packet left so I had to mix them with tricolour pasta to make up the volume.

The following recipe serves 2 - 3 people.


Boil hot water in the kettle and pour into a cooking pot to boil pasta. Put salt and a drop of olive oil if you wish.  Cook the pasta until al dante.

Michele's recipe says you need: red onion, garlic, tinned chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, cayenne pepper, chicken or vegetable stock, black olives, mozzarella cheese and baby spinach. This is all I had in the kitchen this evening.  I ran out of vegetable stock and did not have cayenne pepper, so I used few strips of anchovies instead. I used a packet of baby spinach and watercress mix.

First, heat extra virgin olive oil and fry chopped red onions until being soft.
Squash a clove of garlic with a knife, moving back and forth with a little salt, and add to the pan.

Add anchovies to let them melt and then tomatoes. Chop tomatoes as you mix in the pan and simmer for 5 - 10 minutes.

Chop watercress. Add both watercress and baby spinach into the pan along with black olives.

 

By then pasta is ready. Quickly finish the sauce by tearing in the mozzarella, add grated parmesan cheese.

Drain the pasta, reserving a little of the cooking water to add to the pan. Mix the cooked pasta into the pan.

Sprinkle with bit of baby spinach over the past, tear a bit of leftover mozzarella cheese, grate more parmesan cheese and pour over good quality extra virgin olive oil. Grind black pepper if you wish.  There you have it. My improvised version of Farfalle with mozzarella and tomato sauce. Farfalle means butterfly (farfalla) in Italian, so butterflies in stomach, ha ha ha.

This was quick and very yummy. You could add rock salt to the tomatoes in the pan whilst cooking if you like more salt in the sauce. I didn't as I thought anchovies and parmesan would be enough.

My family all enjoyed it and we were full of butterflies in stomach!
I would definitely cook again, perhaps I may even try making farfalle from scratch as Michele showed us on TV.

That's all forks!