Automne 2011 #34

Food during autumn & winter.

M got me this bento box and chopsticks in its box set when she went back to Taiwan last year.

I'm still bringing my bento most of the time and I'm alternating between 2 bento boxes.

One of the most common bento lunches I bring is a vegetable side dish (in this pic: Spinach ala Korean style as mentioned here) and sushi with avocado and salmon fillings.

I forgot that I got to take a pic before putting on the cling film food wrap (cos' I hate staining the covers of my food storage containers) and am too lazy to take the film off after that - Green beans (French named it "Haricots verts") and steamed codfish with julienne ginger, Shaoxing wine and soya sauce for seafood.

Carbonara - W's specialty. The one & only dish he knows how to cook, and made perfect after multiple attempts.

One of my fav food during cold weather conditions cos' comfort food comes in high carbos & high fats content.

In Singapore, one could see mobile stalls selling fry-on-the-spot-with-stones???-chestnuts in a giant wok. Here in Paris, you see people selling them too, but they are 99% foreigners who heat up these chestnuts using charcoal in a metal cylinder with tiny holes poked at the top of the container.

I always see them right outside the exits of metro stations. I will buy a pack or two once in a while when the cold shouts for a warm packet of roasted chestnuts in your hands. They packed them in rolled up magazine pages. Honestly, I don't think they bought the chestnuts themselves, but I would like to think that they pick them in some forests in the suburbs, trying to make ends meet by selling them at 2 Euros per packet.

Meal planning on Sunday for lunch today with colleagues as they have been telling me they want to try some home-cooked Asian food since last year. =)


The onigiris were pretty fast after deciding on the shape, design & fillings. Pic with flash.


Without flash.


They stole the limelight at their instant appearance among the French today!! LoL!


Korean pancakes that I've succeeded making last night!! Yay!
Chives. Zucchinis. Carrot. Calamari.


I brought nonya curry veggies and prawn dumplings soup along too, but I've already wrapped them up nicely with clingwrap when I remember the camera. Anyway, normal dishes, glad everyone like them today & finished everything within the lunch hour though! =D

This is the pic of the sky I took in the park next to my office today.
Did I mention that the weather forecast here is very accurate?

We will be having very sunny days for today & tomorrow, after this, it will be grey skies & plummenting temperatures again.

We had a picnic session during lunch time today!

The people here don't place much importance on lunch, usually they will just settle it with some kind of sandwich, while I brought my bento, I was lazy this time, I just dumped whatever I can find the previous night.


Hordes of office crowds were all like us trying to get fully immersed in this fine weather after a long winter.
Like what ADu said, "I can even smell the grass from here!" as we walked towards the park.



One of my fav people in Paris.



在天愿作比翼鸟，在地愿为连理枝。




She is one of the most beautiful person I met.
Can you imagine she's 6 years older than me but already a mother of 3 kids?
Her life experiences held me in awe, not a stereo-typical blonde - I always drop blonde jokes on her, something like an everyday basis in fact. =p


When you get to experience 4 distinct seasons, you get to realise how fragile & strong every living thing is.
野火烧不尽, 春风吹又生。

ハローキティ ・ 蒟蒻

In the mood to play a bit with my kitchen toys again.

Decided to try making konnyaku with fresh fruits.
I was going with my inspiration, looking at what I've got in the fridge, I ended up with 3 versions.

Clear version with fresh diced fruits embedded within.
I'm still in CNY mood, hence the colour. =p


White: original milk version; Pink: Freshly squashed strawberry juice (artifical colouring is bad bad bad!!) all contained freshly diced fruits.

It's my first time trying to get the "correct" pink colour. Really trial & error. I think it turned out not too bad.
Ready to bribe tomorrow. LoL!

Luckily this is a fast affair. I got bored and a bit impatient towards the end.
Back to my 上户 彩 drama. =)

Parc Monceau Part I

Jas & I spent a quiet morning having a picnic together at Parc Monceau yesterday. Though, I only managed a 3-hours sleep before that, I didn't feel tired (I must be sleeping too much.. lol). The weather was great with an abundance of sunshine and an almost cloudless sky.

The Corinthian Pillars, Parc Monceau

The park was established by Phillippe d'Orléans, Duke of Chartres, a cousin of the king. He started buying land on which to establish the garden in 1769, and employed Louis Carrogis Carmontelle to design the gardens. He was a close friend of the Prince of Wales, later George IV, and a lover of all things English. As a result, his aim was to create an informal English-style garden in the middle of Paris. By 1778, through successive purchases, the garden had grown to 12 hectares. It became known as the Folie de Chartres.

The park is unusual in France due to its "English" style: its informal layout, curved walkways and randomly-placed statues distinguish it from the more traditional, French-style garden. It also includes a collection of scaled-down architectural features — including an Egyptian pyramid, a Chinese fort, a Dutch windmill, and Corinthian pillars. A number of these are masonic references, reflecting the fact that Philippe d'Orléans was a leading freemason. The park includes statues of famous French figures including Guy de Maupassant, Frédéric Chopin, Charles Gounod, Ambroise Thomas and Edouard Pailleron.

During the French revolution of 1793 the Duke was executed by guillotine, and the garden was taken into public ownership. The Farmer's General Enclosure of Paris surrounded the park. At this time, the rotunda was built by Claude Nicolas Ledoux.

In 1797, it was the site of the first silk parachute jump, when André-Jacques Garnerin jumped from a Montgolfier hot air balloon, landing in the park where a large crowd was gathered.

It was the site of a massacre in 1871 following the formation of the Commune. The Versailles troops directed by Napoleon III eventually took back the city and slaughtered all remnants of the Communards during La Semaine sanglante ("The Bloody Week"). Parc Monceau, like several other public spaces, was the site of the killing of many of these proponents of the commune.

Source: Wikipedia

Having our picnic under the shade of this tree.

It seemed to be a short few hours spent in the middle of some Roman empire ruins, especially with the Corinthian Pillars right in front of us. More pics coming up in the next post.

Bento Sets for Picnic

I was preparing these 2 bentos while watching 《幸运星》 by Fann Wong & Jeanette Aw.

It's the official start of my summer holidays!! I've have had enough sleep, starting to find some "me" time to prepare and think of how to go ahead to do some of the things I enjoy. One of them is playing with my bento toys again.

I was feeling very lazy over the weekend and didn't go to the supermarket. So, my bentos below are kind of boring when it comes to ingredients. I just have to make do with what I can find in the fridge till I go to the supermarché and replenish my stocks.

Smiling Peas.

Contents (Clockwise): Asparagus, Rice balls ("peas") with fillings, Egg sheet ("Pea Pod"), Ham, Smoked Salmon & cucumbers, fresh lemon slices & Mayonaise kept in case.


Contents (L-R): Onigiri lookalike smoked salmon sandwich, raspberries, ham & cheese sandwiches, ham & cucumbers sandwiches, curry korokke.


Tell me they look nice & you like them!
=)

Singapore Hainanese Chicken Rice in Paris

Singapore has the best Hainanese Chicken rice. Even better than those selling at Hainan. I'm lucky the Chinatown here is not too bad at all. They do import a few brands from Singapore and I found Yeo's Chicken Rice chilli sauce.

My homemade chicken rice boiling in the rice cooker.

I love its fragrance filling up the kitchen while it was being cooked!!
How I missed this aroma......

Bento for tmr - 22nd May
Authentic Singapore Hainanese Chicken Rice with Asparagus!!


I've de-boned the chicken before packing them into my bento. Makes it easier when I'm eating them. Those in the pic is from the drumstick.

《黄金路》砂锅炖冬粉

I came up with this lame name cos I'm feeling lame at the moment. Hahahaha!! Just pretend this is some kind of CNY dish where they come up with all kinds of cheesy names for the occasion.

This thing is real good stuff though cos I simmer it in chicken broth before transferring it to my bento box for tmr with belachan added by the side!!! - Monday. Thank goodness this is a 4-day week again! Yipeeyippeyoooo!!

4- partitions Bento Box!!

Well, this is the bento box I was raving about. Got this on Saturday while we were on our way back home after dinner and I told W, I would just like to pop into the Korean supermarket for a look.

You always find the thing/s you want when you least expected it. =)

So, here's the "magic"!! It has 4 partitions in one of the tiers!! Which means, it can contain food with 4 different types of gravies without mixing up with each other at the same time! It's a totally different idea from using "baran" where it is much more suitable for dry food but you just don't want them to stick to each other in the bento.

You can configure the partitions yourself depending on what you intend to bring for the day.

Seriously, I bought this because of its functions. I'm not a Hello Kitty fan.

My bento for tmr, 11th May!!

Contents: 1st tier - Congee, 2nd tier (clockwise) - steamed codfish, fresh salad with edam cheese & plum dressing in bear bottle, tofu with green & yellow capsicums, chawamushi topped with katsuobushi

Before I turned my porridge into congee, it looked like this:

I like to add wolfberries in my porridge or congee. Depending on what kind of congee I'm cooking for that day, sometimes I'll add in other herbs. The common ones I always use are ginger, Dioscorea opposita and Angelica sinensis. I'll go herbal after my mensus ends. I go easy on my dosage for Angelica sinensis because it will cause "over-heatiness" if you consume too much.

I do a bit of reading on herbs myself, also I'm lucky I've got a friend who is quite well-versed in herbs due to her family background. Other than that, observe the weather, listen to your body, you'll know what you need. Like I'll rotate between those good for the skin, lungs, eyes detoxification, etc. Most of the time, it depends on my mood, lol. Some of them are quite a hassle!

Close-up of my steamed codfish with fermented soya beans and shredded ginger.
Like what my father said, only fresh fish can withstand the test of steaming.

You only need very simple seasonings to bring out its freshness.
Otherwise, you're just ruining it.

One last pic of the day - a stand-alone shot of my beloved 4 partition bento.

いただきます！！~~

Home-made Mos Burger

I was thinking about Mos burger on Friday evening, upon salivating for the whole of Saturday, I decided to give it a try for my bento on Monday!!

Grilled turkey with teriyaki sauce.

Tell me it looks like the real thing!!



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Bento for Monday.

Contents: Home-made Mos Burger, fresh tofu, cherry tomatoes, sauce for tofu in tomato-head bottle, curry korokke

Hearty Sandwiches! with My melody as special guest

Contents: Assorted sandwiches with Nutella, chicken ham and cheese fillings.
Special appearance: My Melody

I don't like fruit jams. Never like it. that's why I used nutella, ham and cheese.

Skinfood: Avocado

Spring! Bento for Monday

Contents: (In leaf-shaped onigiri) prawns, avocado, cucumber, katsuobushi; (Ingredients embedded within triangular onigiri) avocado, salmon, sakura furikake; fish tofu, sukura shaped kiwis, cherry tomatoes, fresh prawns, Spanish ham - chorizo

About 75% of an avocado's calories come from fat, most of which is monounsaturated fat. Avocados also have 60% more potassium than bananas. They are rich in B vitamins, as well as vitamin E and vitamin K. They have the highest fiber content of any fruit - including 75% insoluble and 25% soluble fiber.

I only take avocado once a week because it has very high fats content. Also, I don't really fancy avocados. I like my fruits to be full of juice, not buttery. I'm taking it just because it is good for the skin. Fortunately, it has almost not much taste to it. I'll usually give it a good splash of lemon juice before using it. Fresh lemon juice helps if you get sick of the buttery taste and texture easily.

High avocado intake has been shown to have an effect on blood serum cholesterol levels. Specifically, after a seven day diet rich in avocados, hypercholesterolemia patients showed a 17% decrease in total serum cholesterol levels. These subjects also showed a 22% decrease in both LDL (bad cholesterol) and triglyceride levels and 11% increase in HDL (good cholesterol) levels.

Apart from avocado, I'll try to eat fresh tomatoes or a handful of almonds for some Vitamin E. I take in loads of fresh fruits in my diet. I just buy fruits in the current season cos' they are much more price friendly. It's always good to eat according to the season, it gives you a balanced diet.

I eat this cold, like soba or cha soba. I prefer this and cha soba actually.
Find them much more refreshing than soba, which is made of from buckwheat flour.

The weather now is at an average of 20degs celcius in the day, but I find it too hot to eat steaming hot food for lunch already. I don't know how I would feel if I go back to Singapore where it will be much hotter than Spring weather.




One of my bento set last week - with the cold udon nnodles
introduced above as the main dish.

15april2009 bento

Contents: Plain rice, coke chicken wings, lady fingers

My fav dessert all year round: Green tea ice cream!!
Currently, I'm eating one 250ml cup everyday. LOL!



(All my money goes to food... sheesh.)

I baked banana muffins with pecans and upgraded my congee to scallops congee during the weekend, but all was eaten up bef I remember to take a pic of them.