Duvel

Huiray: a proper roast goose (from a local source) will run around 450-600 HKD. You may experience higher prices if you go to places in Central. Franci: yes, exactly like in your experience the shops catering for the affluent expat community do stock basically everything and unfortunately also charge accordingly. And people buy it. I am currently living in a golf club-type of expat enclave on one of the islands of Homg Kong and our supermarket (from a crappy chain, mind you) does carry everything from imported quails from France to Matsutake from Japan. My wife always says that they carry more Catalan items than "her" supermarket in Barcelona ...

Here in Discovery Bay, Hong Kong, that would be considered a bargain ...

The spoils of the chef ... still envious.

Oishii! I am always very envious of your uni. What did you do with the rest of that package in the first picture ?

Depending on how much she is willing to spend I would go with a high quality can of Berberechos (Galician cockles) and a small bottle of Salsa d'Espinaler to go with it.

Do you still take dinner appointments ? It's just a 10h flight, I guess ...

Had the "salty roasted garlic" ones today. Definitely some mellowed garlic flavor there. Unfortunately it did not fit at all to the bottle of Sauvignon Blanc I opened tonight. Had to augment with some dried squid and sushi ... So, no: I won't have these ones either again.

My wife found two unknown varieties at the local supermarket. It seems they are manufactured in Taiwan We started with the "drumstick"-flavoured one. It reminds me of the artificial chicken taste of powdered chicken broth. There is some onion/garlic aftertaste and a hint of herbs ( can't pin them down though...). Not to be bought again ...

Nice one, thanks !

Great, thanks. That'll be my weekend breakfast treat !

Wow. Despite having lived in Japan for quite some time I haven't come across this - it sounds wonderful! Can you give some more details, please ?

Yes, I know - it's the "Lay's" thread. However, I found this variety of Pringles today at my local supermarket. For those of you that neither read Katakana nor can recognize the picture: it's Eggs Benedict. It's hard to describe but it somewhat tastes like powdered egg yolk with vegetable undertones. Won't buy it again and will try to get rid of the other two rolls (was a three-for-two offer, that I have never been able to refuse )...

Well, I have to admit that I regularly use my licked finger tip to get all those tiny broken pieces out of the package. So this time was no different (but elsewise I would have also followed the clear instructions on the package) ...

After the usual CNY dumplings and an extra helping of sushi I decided to try the "finger licking braised pork" stacked Lay's. I liked it. It's sprinkled with something that tastes like spray-dried Lu Shui. There isn't much pork flavour to talk about but the Lu Shui comes through nicely ...

I just returned from Nanjing tonight. My little cabin luggage was filled with most of the bags that Liuzhou found as well. Started off with the Cumin Lamb variety. I found it actually very tasty. Cumin, chili, lamb - all there. Already regretting that I bought Cucumber and the Yoghurt one instead of more of the Cumin Lamb stuff ...

I remember having those in an upmarket restaurant in Dublin once. Served with a heavily smoked salmon tartar and candied lemon jam. Was weird but not bad at all ...

Latest "flavor of the month" in HK. I had the one on the right; basically a riff of the Teriyaki burger with some more spices ("red cooked"). Not too bad ...

Actually, Japan had severe import taxes imposed on foreign grown rice (and beef and other items as well). Not that many Japanese would eat anything else than domestic rice, preferably from their home prefecture ...

Sad but true. Unfortunately, most nutritionist are still trapped in a "cause and effect" type of thinking and are quick to attribute one property of a food item to a certain behavior on the entire organism rather that assuming it being part of interdependent regulation cycles, which are far more difficult to comprehend (cf. the sad story of 50 years of gout treatment). When you see recent medical literature a lot of the previous accepted truths are being questioned, reevaluated and these paradigm shifts - as witnessed by this article - find their way into the public eye. It's a good development.

Went out for a late (16.00h) lunch at Tres Turrons, Arenys de Munt. Its a local gem, packed with people all day. We had: Artichokes, both grilled and deep fried. I prefer the latter. Calçots (some sort of spring onion): It gets grilled over an open fire until thoroughly charred, then you peel off the blackened outer later and enjoy the soft and sweet inner part with Romesco sauce. That made my day! Xai (lamb): Fatty and chargrilled - 'nuff said. Mongetas (beans): A local speciality, tender and flavorful. Cornil amb samfaina (Rabbit braised in a red pepper/eggplant/tomato sauce): I do not care much for the rabbit - that's my wife's choice - but the sauce is to die for. I finished most of it with bread. Last dish was Cargols (snails): Braised in soffregit and finished in the oven. Those were big guys, plump and juicy. The sauce was slighly sweet and laced with garlic. Nice! The ladies and the little one had desserts: Coca de Llavaneres (puff pastry filled with crema, topped with pine nuts and baked) and ice cream-filled neulas with chocolate sauce. I had a cigalo (Coffee with Brandy) instead: The best way to judge its potency is by the temperature - mine came cold, so the coffee content was homoeopathic ... Very satisfying meal !

Catalan family breakfast: Embotits (cured meat & cold cuts): clockwise Bull negra (blood sausage), Xoriço, Pernil dolç (sweet ham), Pernil salat (Iberico ham), Salsichon. In the middle Fuet (cured mini salami) and Ahle Worscht (a clay room-cured raw sausage from my hometown in Germany). My two year-old demolished the carefully arranged plate in seconds - he loves his Fuet. Fromatge (Cheese): two goat cheeses from the Pyrenees. Dolçes (sweet stuff): Ensaimada (snail-type dough/park fat concoction dusted with caster sugar), Canya (puff pastry filled with custard cream and sprinkled with pine nuts) and a Croissant. Coca: sweet yeast dough rubbed with oil and sugar. All eaten on Pa amb Tomaquet (bread rubbed with ripe tomato, olive oil and sea salt). Freshly squeezed orange juice. Good start !

Staying with my Catalan in-laws in a small town north of Barcelona (like every New Years). Today Catalan home cooking by my MIL: Arroz de Girona. Made with soffregit and mussel broth, featuring gambas, mussels, squid, sausage and pork ribs. Simple and satisfying ...

Do they appear usually after the first cocktail ?

I usually rub the entire rabbit with salt and oil and put it in a casserole in a very hot oven (circulation). Once browned - about 10-15 min - I throw in a slightly diluted sauce (coconut milk-based curry, anything soffregit-based, whole grain mustard/white wine/onion, ...), close the casserole and put down the oven on very low. After 1 -1.5h tender perfection with nicely intense sauce.

Had the cucumber one the other day. Didn't really taste like dukes but was strangely enough tasty. Ok, the beer helped here ...