French Macarons

Ya i made these. Muahah

TTIL #17

A good vegetarian dinner.

Many people cringe at the idea of an all veggie dinner, particularly my male friends. i think its mostly a psychological thing. i think many vegetarian restaurants make absolutely scrumptious meals. a few days ago a friend and i tried out a restaurant that I’ve been eyeing for awhile, but needed the right partner in crime. luckily i found one. so, me and my girl friend picked a date and hit up Life Cafe in soho.

we ordered humus dip, beet salad, and a mushroom pizza to share.

beets with squash and greens, topped with caramelized almond slices

mushroom pizza

what i love about vegetarian food is the play with texture. i think since the focus isn’t on one specific piece of food (like with a rib or chicken dish), there is a need to create a bold interest in flavors and textures. most vegetarian dishes are a heterogeneous mixture of greens. therefore, the challenge is to use ingredients that marry each other, yet have their own individual body.

i think in vegetarian dishes, the true flavors of the ingredients use stand out so much more than with just meat. in many cases, meats are drenched in different sauces or seasoned heavily to create a flavor palette. but with vegetables, each have their own strong taste, texture and color. don’t get me wrong, i like my meat too, but i think arranging vegetarian dishes produces a very different kind of cuisine.

if you are living in hong kong and are adventurous, i highly recommend popping into Life Cafe for a visit.

TTIL #15

What a week.

It’s been kinda crazy with running what isn’t 2, but 3 projects at the same time.

Last night, i had a bit of a freak out situation with both projects just before I called it a night. So after unsuccessfully resolving the issues at there are still many decisions pending, I went out for a drink with some friends.

Nothing a bottle of wine, a mediterranean platter and good company can’t fix.

Met up with a couple of archi collegues and had an interllectual chat about career and passion. It’s interesting where we ended up today. Seems like just yesterday we were slaving away on our laptops only to be crushed during our reviews the next day. O and of course, my collegues stealing my cup noodles put of desperation for food.

Great memories. Wouldn’t have made it without them. Cheers to endless support.

Quick Quinoa

K I have a quinoa obsession. I love how easy it is and how it’s so super healthy for you. I love the freedom of adding anything you like, the open option of mixing together food flavours and textures.

heres a 101 about quinoa:

– its considered to be a cousin of grains, closer to the family of beets and spinach (odd)
– origin: south america
– used to replace rice, which contains high amounts of carbohydrates and gluten
– gluten free
– has amino acides, calcium, phosphorus and iron

info from wiki

the plant

before cooking

So waking up at 8am this morning i was reminded of the quinoa salad i had at Meat & Bread back in 604 (if you’ve never had one of their sandwiches, well you better get on it. their famous porcheta (roast pig) is to die for). i decided to use some of the ingredients that mimicked that salad. i got no recipe so just kinda winged it. i wish i added more oyster mushrooms though. they really shrunk after a quick sauté with the onions. of course you can add/remove any ingredients you like. its really up to you on how you’d like it to taste

ingredients:

quinoa (about a cup)
one corn on a cob (or you can use a can of corn)
canned salmon
onions (about a quater)
handful of oyster mushrooms
cherry tomatoes
glove of garlic (chopped)
a couple strands of cilantro (to your own desire) 

olive oil
red wine vinegar
lemon
salt 

cook the quinoa till its ready and set it aside to cool. boil the corn till its cooked and remove the bits from the cob. chop up the o. mushrooms and onions to bite size, drizzle oil into a pan and add the garlic in. sauté the onions for a bit then add the o.mushrooms in. sprinkle with salt. cook only until the mushrooms are just right, you don’t want to overdo it since it’ll start getting watery. turn off the heat and set it aside to cool.

finely chop the cilantro, set aside. cut the tomatoes to quarters if possible (or bite size)

next, mix in some olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon and salt to taste. i just kinda winged it, but if you want a specific a guildline, heres one.

once the ‘hot’ ingredients are cool enough, mix in the cilantro, tomatoes and dressing. don’t forget to add in the salmon!
when thats all done, sit back and enjoy 😀