Duvel

The flight day started early … very early. Despite us basically living next to Hong Kong airport (25 min door to door), we had to get up at 5.00h, which was not appreciated by all members of the family. The airport was packed, but we were allowed to pass through the “special” lane with the (actually not so) little one. Hong Kong airport is quite efficient, especially for residents, so about 20 min later we could enjoy the perks of the lounge. The eggs royale were good as usual, enjoyed with an iced lemon tea. The little one enjoyed his “stinky cheese” and cold cuts, before tucking into a bowl of granola. Maybe a bit of history: There was really no contest between the Seoul and the Kansai option – my wife (then girlfriend) and me lived in Kyoto from 2003 until 2006. I did my PostDoc at Kyoto University and my wife joined and did a kind of master course at the graduate school. We have not been back for the last 13 years and this trip is – if anything – a recollection of our time there. Thus a little disclaimer: there will be not necessarily the Japanese food porn you’d expect from @rarerollingobject or the exotic dishes you’d see in @shain travels through Georgia. Just down to earth food memories enjoyed by gaijins on a (virtual) students budget

Prologue: Originally, we intended to spend this Chinese New Year in Hong Kong. We have travelled a lot last year and will need to attend a wedding already next month in Germany, so I was happy to spend some quiet days at home (and keep the spendings a bit under control as well). As a consequence, we had not booked any flights in the busiest travel time of the year in this region … But – despite all good intentions – I found myself two weeks ago calling the hotline of my favourite airline in the region, essentially cashing in on three years of extensive business travel and checking where I could get on short notice over CNY on miles. I was expecting a laughter on the other side of the line but this is the one time my status in their loyalty reward program paid out big time: three seats for either Seoul or Kansai International (earliest morning flights, of course). No need to choose, really – Kyoto, here we come !

I usually don’t eat breakfast, but after our 6 day CNY trip with a slight calorie surplus I felt strangely hungry this morning ... Homemade “sausage & egg McMuffin” (no idea what would be the correct english name for that thing; I only know it from the Golden Arches), served with baked beans. Messy to eat, but sooooo good !

Can you elaborate on the “white chili”, please ?

Lucky you ! I usually have to take a 6h flight to Urumqi to enjoy that kind of lamb noodles 😉

Nice! We are getting a bit dcarch’esk with the plating 😉

Yummy ... now I want one right now for breakfast !

Last weekend I decided to cure some pork ribs. After four days I took most of them out and smoked them to make the German “Kassler Rippchen”, albeit with some Manuka wood dust. Originally the ribs were intended to flavour a huge pot of Kale for a “Grünkohl” feast, but I was unable to source sufficient kale - seems that the local shops sell this overpriced, yet in minuscule quantities aimed to be eaten raw by health conscious yoga moms with challenged gastrointestinal systems (sorry for the rant). I switched to using them in pot of beans, which I prepared yesterday and had today with homemade Döner and garlic yoghurt. Probably one of the tastiest pots of beans I have ever made... very happy! Family decided not to try beans & Döner, so I whipped together an emergency dough pizza with salami, olives and some of the rib meat from the bean pot (hahaha, they will never know ...).

What started as a perfectly fine low-carb dinner featuring various cuts of beef and offal somehow went south after miraculously a bottle of Dassai 50 appeared ... (not pictured: subsequent beer, chocolate cream puffs and the “Absacker” I will have once I reach home - I better book this under “cheat meal” 😆)

McDonalds in HK runs it’s line of “prosperity” burgers again, as a Chinese New Year-themed short term addition to their menu. I had to bite the bullet, or better the prosperity chicken hash brown burger. It’s as bad as it sounds. Really. A sweet black pepper sauce coating a fried chicken “leg”, deboned of course. The beef version had the same sauce, yet no other ingredients. Party & sauce. No veggies, pickles, nothing ... Not to be repeated until CNY 2020 ! (I also had to augment the coke with a generous splash of Maker’s Mark. Worked ...)

Every now and then (ok, usually only when I see a pizza) I am a bit unhappy about doing low-carb. More often than not I am very happy that I do it ... especially when it serves as a “permission” to pig out on freshly made negitoro and tamagoyaki. Life is very good today 🤗

Or the sesame paste / peanut butter & vinegar combinations in Chinese cuisine ...

I find that a small addition of rye flour to lean bread doughs (5%, maybe up to 10% sometimes) adds greatly to the flavour without actually tasting like rye. Baguettes and pizza do benefit from that ...

Actually, you can buy their signature broths in the (mainland China) supermarkets ... I’ve got a couple more, but can’t run the spicy ones for my family 😋

Well... the dessert certainly was 😉

After spending the last couple of weeks in New Zealand I am back in HK. And today is the first day since last winter I actually feel a bit chilly. Ok, might be because in my free time I run around in shorts and T-shirt and today we were at merely 17oC, with high humidity and a light drizzle now and then ... Regardless, I felt really like warming, comforting food. As Grünkohl und Bregenwurst is pretty much out of the question (due to lack of raw material), I opted for the food of my second home: Oden. My wife does not share my love for the simplistic, neither for molded fish cakes with spicy mustard - so we had a chicken/pork based bone broth with jujube and goji berries (courtesy of Haidilao, a big Chinese hotpot chain) in parallel, with all ingredients shared between both broths and dipping sauces or karashi (hot Japanese mustard), respectively. And some seasonal Japanese beer followed by hot sake (from my former hometown Kyoto) to go with it. Needless to say I am a veeeeery happy camper tonight 🤗

Fantastic. Just the thing I was looking for...

Grilled lemongrass chicken thighs with thai-ish Aubergine puree (walnuts filling in for the more appropriate peanuts) ...

The latest treat at our local Pizza Hut ... Salted duck/chicken (?) egg yolk pizza. To quote Sepultura: Refuse/Resist !

Really ? So quickly after Christmas ..?

Yes, please !

Fideua with clams, prawns and sausage for yesterday’s Three King’s Day. Served with allioli ...

Christmas Dinner in a rental cabin in Taupo, NZ: Rosemary-crusted lamb rump with Kūmara purée and gravy* ... Not bad for being made on this equipment, if I may say so myself 😉 — *Gravy being improvised from onions, garlic, tomato, Sauvignon blanc, rosemary, sweet ham, instant coffee, a dash of BBQ sauce, roasted and finely ground toast bread and a bit of blue cheese. Strained it made a rich, balanced and very umami sauce.

I have that one, actually already my second one, after buying it first while living in JP in 2003. It is excellent - foolproof & perfect (and I mean perfect) rice every time. And makes pretty good soups, too ...

Every Sunday night ... about 100 g carbs. Better make it count 😉