Sambal Ikan Bilis

Found some Indonesian belacan in China Town the other day. And since I have some ikan bilis at home, had a go at making sambal ikan bilis. It was pretty good, except that I forgot to add in garlic. Recipe's from Nico's own creation after doing some brief research on some recipes online:

If only I know how to expect less or even none,
I wouldn't be as blue as I am now...
To master the art of expecting the least,
Anyone willing to spare some inspiration...
To this "eager to learn" lost soul?

Readers...don't worry, I am fine...just a random daily dose of rant...I blame it on the weather...

3rd w/e of Oct

Had an early morning in Borough Market on Saturday. A part of the market was moved to a new part and they named it the Jubilee market. The new section were quite spacious, less crowded but that also shows they have less stalls there. Greatest discovery would be the Flax Farm stall that sells Linseed Museli and Porridge. Bought the Linseed and Quinoa Porridge but not yet try it out - supposedly to be very healthy hmm... Monmouth Coffee is forever packed with coffee enthusiasts and the queue had already reach the side road at 10am! Also discovered Konditor and Cooks bakery - the Chocolate Swirl cookie is really nice - made from organic ingredients and no other preservatives or E numbers too!!! With definitely go back there to try out their Black Velvet muffin! Didn't try it out that day because was simply too full after a breakfast.

Hopped on the Jubilee Line and headed for O2 Arena to watch the World Gymnastics Championship. It was the Apparatus finals that day. The arena was not that packed but still there are quite a number of fan groups for China, England, Japan etc...The events started at 1pm with the Men's Floor Exercise first followed by the Women's Vault, the medal ceremony and then moved on to the Men's pummel horse and Women's asymmetric bars. I quite enjoy the vault and bars compared to others. The last event was the Men's rings, which I think was quite boring to watch - but maybe it was towards the end and we had already been sitting there for more than 3 hours already.



Met up with LZ and her friend again in Liverpool Street for dinner at Kazan City. The starters were so - so. The girls had the lentil soup while I had the goat's cheese boreks which I think was quite big portion for a starter - there were 4 on a plate. I had the Fistik Kebab (lamb with 2 nans, rice and salad) for main course - it really good - I would go back for that surely! We had the 50% promotion for 2 course by booking from toptable. It was a pretty good deal.

Guilty of my w/e dining out etc, woke up early on Sunday and did a 6km run to make myself feel a little better ^^. And also to get myself ready for afternoon tea at Yauatcha! Made the 3pm booking and ordered one set of the Yauatcha Afternoon Tea set and some other savoury dim sum (jade dumpling and siew long bau - really yummy!) to share between two of us. The cakes was so lovely!!!!! It came with a high tea set, two scones with a raspberry and apricot jam, honey and clotted cream and a great selection of teas to choose from...

• Bottom tier - a siu mai, a venison puff and a char siu bau
• Middle tier - a good selection of fruits (dragon fruit, mango, lai chee, rambutan etc), one lychee with jelly cake and one chocolate layer sponge cake
• Top tier - random selection of delectable mini cakes, macaroon and chocolates

Now, a relaxing Sunday even more perfect with Heath Ledger in Imaginarium! Quite a confusing movie...but so what...who cares...Heath Ledger's in it :P...Ok time to wikipedia the story line...

Complimentary pic: week one bento box - shreded chicken with chick peas, green beans and shreded carrots + cubed papaya

Yalla Yalla

Finally managed to make a booking to Yalla Yalla for 9pm yesterday (so late I know). It is a very small Lebanese restaurant that can barely fit more than 10 tables! We got there around 9 and had to wait for almost an hour before we get our table even though we had a booking! It was a bit too ridiculous a wait, but I guess they can't really help it either with the high demand and such a cramped place. And because of that the drinks were on the house. But then again they should at least restrict the turnaround time of the tables.

Once seated, we ordered immediately - having investigated the menu so thoroughly during the one hour wait. Food came quite fast. I quite like the lamb casserole - really tender and soft lamb meat served with fragrant spiced rice. The makale samak (Deep fried tiger prawns,calamar and white bait and aubergine) is quite nice as well . We also ordered some other mezzes which are decent - hommos and the fatayer spicach pastry.

All in all the food is good and reasonably priced. Will be much more convenient if people can just pop in and eat a decent meal without having to make advanced booking and such a long wait too! Although it seems it is recommended to order take aways rather than dining in - which I think is a pretty wise thing to do until they have a larger restaurant!

2nd Week of Oct

Have been dining out a lot lately...also maybe because it's London Restaurant Week. Had dinner at Atheneum after watching Julie and Julie on Saturday. We had the 3 course meal + champagne deal from Toptable for only 24 quid. It was pretty good. The restaurant wasn't that big but the atmosphere is pretty relaxing. Food wise was pretty decent - particularly the cappucinno LOL.

Went for Oktoberfest beer and sunday roast at Bavarian Beer House near Old Street. I ordered the Sunday special which is Pork Roast with red cabbage and a big blob of potato (looks and taste like a very big gnocchi) and it comes with a 2 pint beer - was sooooo big that I couldn't even finish everything! Otherwise, the hot apple strudel and black forrest were really good.

Also dropped by Covent Garden and apparently there's the Covent Garden Real Food Market on. There ain't many stalls but did saw some pretty cool stuff like artisan food and Ella's cupcakes. Highlight must be Jeff Koon's massive bunny!

Another highlight of the week must be Annie's leaving dinner. Went to Bibendum in Michelin House on Monday. The food was pretty good - I had the curried parsnip soup and fish and chips with lovely tartar sauce. But all in all I think the chocolate with prune cake was the loveliest (in fact check this review out!)! And because it was London's Restaurant's Week, they were doing a "roll the dice" event. The way it works - after the dinner, they offer us a roll of the dice and if we can get a 4, we don't have to pay for meal. And guess what, from Annie's lucky hands, we did get a 4!!! It was so unbelievable. A free meal worth 30 quid indeed!!!

...You must be wondering...why am I always posting stuff I did on weekends...so what happens during the rest of the days? Well, there ain't much to blog about work anyway. Anyhow, I thought maybe I should mention it briefly.

Mornings - I've been eating breakfast "religiously" these days - thought that might help boost my metabolism and also so that I don't go hungry during mid morning and start snacking. So, I tend to wake up a lil earlier and prepare and yummy breakfast - normally it's a cup of coffee, a piece of fruit and/or Kellog's Nature's pleasure Wholegrain cereal with soy milk or yogurt (this is a wonder to releasing energy at a steady rate and thus my body's sugar level had just made friends with it! :P). I've also discovered Yeo Valley's new Smooth and Creamy yogurt - another healthy and yummy wonder!

Besides breakfast, I have also been "studiously" bringing pack lunch to work. Think I got bored with sandwiches now - used to just make turkey ham and hummus sandwich with some cherry tomatoes - I've decided to make more complicated stuff - i.e. putting more variation to my lunch for e.g. salads or something that I can put into my new bento box bought from Japan Center. Which also means I'll need to wake up earlier! At work - seems a lot of work to do and so little time...it had been weeks of "distraction" ... production issues, running around meetings and demos etc. Other than that, nothing much changed. After work's typically back home, make dinner, watch TVB or BBC iPlayer and/or surf foodie blogs while having Restaurant City and Country Story running at the background. Else, I'd be out in London for dinner and/or movies and/or drinks

...that's Nico's life as of Autumn 2009...

Kicking Off the Lose Weight Plan

Approximately 2 months / 9 weeks to my trip back home in Dec. It's about time I kick off the Lose Weight plan so that my mum won't say I put on weight every time I go home -_-. Objective: I've got about 3-5 Kgs to lose :). Not that ambitious right...but just seems so hard -_-.

And so I'm on my healthy diet plan and gym visits again. I've been trying to compile a list of all the healthy food I should be eating. Will be putting it up on one of the columns here.

On the other hand, I've also got a list of London restaurants I want to visit. LOL. Women are simply contradicting themselves too much :))). Column up soon ;).

Oh oh also...I have two recipes to try out - mango cupcakes and fried sweet potato balls! ... Hmm more gym sessions!

Nico's just made Healthy Food and the Threadmill her best friend.

Nico's Million Spiced Lamb

My first ever attempt in cooking lamb - never a big fan of lamb and therefore won't normally buy and cook it, unless it's eating out.

Marinated with a lot of spices - literally everything I can find in my cupboard. Ok, maybe I exaggerated.

In the marinade: 5 Chinese Spice, Fennel Seeds, Ground Coriander, Ground Ginger, Peppercorns, Salt, Lemon Juice.

Dinner tonight - Roasted Lamb with Fennel base and Ginger drizzled with Olive Oil... Ta Da...