liuzhou

I can now identify the secret, exotic destination I mentioned elsewhere that I was travelling to (and reveal why it had to be a secret). After a 42 hour journey by bus (2), train (4) plane (2) with various stopovers waiting for connections, I reached my first destination. A mysterious country called Scotland, full of wild people and strange food. Despite having been born there, I know very little about the place and haven't been there in decades. But I am now. The reason for the exhausting trip, which I have been planning for 10 years, is that Sunday (30th June 2019) was my mother's 90th birthday. She was expecting a simple lunch with my youngest brother and his wife, but when she arrived at the restaurant she found nearly all her 5 kids (including me), all her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Only one of the 30 knew I was coming - my daughter. Big surprise. I arrived on the Thursday and went to the highly recommended hotel I had booked in a village a mile from my mother's home to recover from the jet lag and hide. Things began to go wrong. The hotel was closed and locked! A woman from the gift shop opposite saw me being confused and came over to tell me that the place had closed months earlier, dishonoring dozens of paid for bookings including wedding receptions and other functions. The crooks had taken my booking and payment on the 4th of June, despite them having closed in February. As far as I can see their website is still open and accepting bookings. I have reported this to the police, and I paid by credit card so should be able to get my money back. Not however, what you need after such a long, exhausting journey. Fortunately, the woman also directed me to another (better and slightly cheaper) hotel nearby where I was able to get a room for my required number of nights. I had a pint or two of that Scottish classic: and collapsed into bed. Only to wake up at 3 am craving my dinner! No chance. I had to wait for breakfast. Next day, I headed to a nearby seaside village where I lived as a kid. After exploring my childhood, I became a little peckish, so visited a nearby award winning restaurant/cafe that I'd heard of. I ordered the Washed down with a bottle of Despite the pie being out-of-focus, it was delicious. The roast ham was equally good and there was lots of it. Good home-baked bread and fine cheddar. But the star was that chutney. I had to ask what it was and ended up buying a jar to take home to China. The cider was very refreshing on an unusually warm Scottish day. After a happy nostalgic day, I went back to the hotel, downed a pint or two of and slept some more. On the Saturday, I visited Edinburgh, where there were some things I wanted to buy. But also for more nostalgia. By chance, I passed the cafe where the first Harry Potter book was written. I've never read any of them. Then lunch. I knew what I wanted. Haggis (centre), Neeps (left) and Tatties (right). Wonderful! Also later visited the Oxford Bar, famous from Scottish crime writer, Iain Rankin's Rebus series of detective novels where I had a pint of Next morning was the big day. I had breakfast in the hotel. Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon and spinach. Very Scottish! Then headed to the surprise party venue. Coming soon!

It's sashimi , not sachimi. Sashimi is raw fish or meat.

Of the many pies we make in Britain, I can only think of one which includes kidney but, for the benefit of the awful offal-haters, we cunningly disguise the fact by calling it "steak and kidney" pie. And yes, @Anna N, they are the best.

You're meant to look through those glasses not drink from them. Easy mistake to make.

I would never judge an entire cuisine by one book.

I'm old enought to remember watching this.

Pre-flight dinner in Hong Kong airport. O'Leary's Food and Drinks. Fish and chips. Good chips, but over-salted; bland tartare sauce. The fish arrived with a crisp batter which immediately de-crisped itself. The fish was mushy. Airport food! A pint of Asahi beer was spot on! The second was even better.

Georgian brandy/ cognac can be excellent.

In Chinese thinking, long noodles (including spaghetti etc) are symbolic of longevity. Breaking or cutting them is a big taboo! It will cut your life short! Stopping slurping down your noodles for a cigarette break half way through is OK, though.

For reasons I cannot disclose just yet, I cannot reveal the destination(s) now but posts of dishes shall appear in due course.

Not that old candard again!. Yes, English food was bad. Long time ago. A whole generation never reallly learned to cook because of the two world wars, especially the second when food was strictly rationed. (And was still rationed food several years after. Including when Orwell was writing that article.) People couldn't let their kids practise or experiment with ingredients as, if the food got messed up or burned or whateve, there was nothing else to eat. Everything began to change in the 1960s when cheap travel arrived and people started visiting France, Spain Italy etc. and began to want the foods they found there. That was half a century ago. Today, as @Anna Npoints out, at it best, the standard is very high in terms of ingredients, restaurants and cooking.

Early tomorrow morning, I'm off travelling for about three weeks in erotic exotic lands where I'll no doubt be eating strange delicacies and worse! Tonight's rather uninspiring dinner was a final fridge and larder clearance effort. Pork tenderloin medalions, baked spud with blood sausage, Shanghai bok choy.

Looks good to me!

I think it is, or was until I introduced it to China some 20 years ago! So far I have converted at least 5 people! Only 1.4 billion to go!

Actually, lá lốt isn't betel leaf, but a similar looking but only distantly related plant, Piper sarmentosum. They do not taste the same - in fact, I wouldn't use betel leaves; the taste is too strong. I've never seen lá lốt outside of SE Asia, but the leaves may be available in Vietnamese markets in places with a largish Vietnamese settler community, I suppose. Vine leaves are sometimes suggested as a substitute, and I can see that your lettuce worked, but you are not getting the fragrance of the real deal. I'm sure yours were great, but if you ever manage to track down the leaves, you''ll appreciate the difference.

Porkburger.

30 minutes to cook rice?

To clarify, this is the menu from the restaurant, "Dinner by Heston"; although he doesn't cook there, but had a hand in designing the menu along with the actual chef in the London branch, Ashley Palmer-Watts. There is another branch in Melbourne, Australia. Which did you visit?

Tried these. Not pleasant. First of all, they look strange. These are the "naturally flavored" variety on the left of the pic above. They have this peculiar surface, unlike anything resembling a fried slice of potato! I check out the ingredients list: Potatoes, Sunflower Oil, Yeast Extract Powder, Buttermilk Powder, Sugar, "Natural Flavors", Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder, Rice Flour, Salt, Barley Malt Extract Powder, Cream Powder. Presumably, all that muck is to give them the Guinness Flavor they claim to be selling. They taste nothing like Guinness. Or potatoes. They also note that they are not suitable for vegans. They don't mention not being suitable for anyone with the slightest Irish ancestry or taste! And they are 28.57% fat. And cooked by Felix! ______________________________________________________ The chili variety have almost the same ingredients, but drop the buttermilk and cream to be vegan while adding Onion Powder, Paprika Powder, Herbs, Naturally Sourced Color: Paprika Extract, Chili Extract. Jake cooked these ones.

Probably, but does that make it exclusively Canadian? Most of the others mentioned are. I've seen it in Japan and Vietnam, so I reckon it's Chinese!

What is Canadian about dulse? I almost grew up on it in Scotland. Even the name is from Scots/Irish Gaelic.

Found these about an hour ago - deep in southern China! Sad they are calling them 'chips' though. Presumably for the export market, in which case they are wrong!

I was perplexed as to why I was being mentioned on such a disgusting, depraved topic! But, I will hesitatingly accept your apology. I had a good day! Next time you may not be so lucky! 😀

I don't know what this is. I know what's in it; I made it after all. Beef and okra. I marinated the beef for 24 hours in wine, with garlic, chilli, shallots and turmeric. Slow stewed that then added okra, home made yoghurt and balcony mint. Seved with rice. I'd do it again!

I'd love to share, but the recipe passed with her.