Lisbon

And now, Lisbon.

Lisbon grabbed me by surprise. I have been here before and knew I liked it but Lisbon is a city that I could now see myself spending a lot more time in. In fact, I am fantasising about moving here for a bit to write my next book.

People are so helpful and friendly (in the main), it is affordable, the food and wine is delicious (once you steer clear of the tourist track), and it is on the sea. The architecture is beautiful with pretty buildings coated in colourful tiles dotted throughout. It is also possible to stay in really lovely places without blowing the budget.

I have lots of recommendations for you, the first being put Lisbon at the top of your list. Then come here for a prego (Portuguese steak sandwich), wonderful seafood, those swoonsome pasteis de nata (especially the original secret recipes ones from Beleim) and the wine, for lots of the delicious and very affordable wine.

A full detailed and printable list of recommendations will be appearing here soon, for now some photos, as is the tradition.

Suckling pig sandwich and piri piri oil at Pombalina, Lisbon

Wrapped tinned sardines at Conserveira de Lisboa

Manuel at Pombalina with one of the three suckling pigs that they sell in sandwiches every day

Love this! The bottom one means accountant (uh huh!)

Clams with garlic at Cervejaria Ramiro, Lisbon

Prego (Portuguese steak sandwich) at Cervejaria Ramiro, Lisbon

Pasteis de Nata and a coffee at Confeteria Nacionale

The Jewish Ghetto in Rome

Greetings from Lisbon, and a delayed greeting from Rome. I haven’t written from either (yet) as I have been ill. Coughing and whooping, I felt like something within was scratching to get out. I am much better now, and sitting in a gorgeous Lisbon apartment bathed in sunshine. I can now write.

Lots to catch up on, lets start with Rome. I spent 4 nights there, working on a HouseTrip city commission, gathering local recipes and checking out the best local places to eat. It was my fourth trip to Rome, but my first in seven years. It was interesting to see how much it had changed. Less Fiat 500s and more Smart cars for  a start.

I stayed near the Vatican, on a hill, in a sleepy quiet part of Rome. Rome is so walkable it was a great location from which to explore. The four days were saturated with nostalgia. I couldn’t help but recall previous trips. The first when I was 19 and so very naive and enthusiastic. I had been in Nice for the summer and had saved some money so I hopped on the train to Italy.

I started in Florence which was nice but too quiet for me, but I loved Rome. I loved it all but I especially loved the potato pizza and the gelato and I went from being a seriously (too) skinny girl to normal size, which was 2 stone heavier. It broadened my culinary horizons and that was when I discovered the joy of culinary travel.

I visited the Vatican and I remember how thrilled my Irish grandmother was when I brought her back some rosary beads. Pope John Paul II was hugely popular in what was a very Catholic Ireland then (not so much now, things have changed in my generation). I walked past it every day on this trip and each day reflected on then and now and what has changed.

Then I recalled my last trip there 7 years ago, when I stayed near the Vatican again. I remember the pizza, the pasta, the croquettes, courgette flowers, the Fiat 500s (sadly less numerous now), men beating the trees with sticks in the evenings (to get birds out?), the crazy lady whose house we stayed in, who enthusiastically showed us the advertised PANORAMA from her apartment then ushered us back to our room which overlooked the bins. Rome doesn’t quite do B&B even though it thinks it does.

More on Rome soon… and Lisbon. For now, enjoy the photos.

Linguine with a simple tomato sauce, wild garlic flowers and pine nuts

I wasn’t planning on blogging this recipe. I arrived back from Ireland extremely tired and with no voice, replete with booming scratchy cough. I was in reasonable spirits though as I had just spent a great weekend at the new Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food & Wine. It was a terrific event and weekend, drawing the worlds best food & drink writing talent to East Cork. But, that deserves a whole post on its own and I will come back to that.

On my return I was tired, hungry and in need of nourishment. Something delicious but not too challenging. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and London was alive. We had our first peep of summer. So, I brought summer to my kitchen too.

I eat this dish a lot. I adore pasta and I love quick pasta dishes like this one, carbonara, gricia and many more. The secret to this dish is to use the best ingredients. There are so few that if you don’t, you will know.

I had fabulous Italian tomatoes in a jar, a great dried linguine (from Pastificcio dei Campi available online at Food in the City and from Melograno Deli in London – they will also sell the best tomatoes too), some fresh basil intended for another dish that I didn’t get around to making, and some lovely lively garlic. A little bit of espelette pepper gave everything a ping, you can use a little chilli too (but not too much).

I made my dish and posted it online and had several requests for the recipe. Pasta with tomatoes in one version or another is such a feature in my kitchen, I realised that I should.

Enjoy, this tastes of sunshine and summer and is delicious. I made enough for two even though it was just for me, and then roasted the leftovers in the oven later with an egg cracked in the middle. I recommend you do it to.

Note on the recipe: you can serve with pecorino or parmesan too but I fancied something light so used pine nuts.

RECIPE: Linguine with a simple tomato sauce, wild garlic flowers and pine nuts

Serves 2

Ingredients

200g best linguine
1 400g jar or tin of best tomatoes
a handful of fresh basil leaves
2 cloves good garlic, peeled and finely chopped
espelette pepper if you have it, if not one mild fresh chilli
sea salt
olive oil for frying
25g pine nuts
wild garlic flowers to garnish, if you can get them (they are lovely and fresh, remniscent of spring onion!)
optional: a little (very good) extra virgin olive oil to drizzle on at the end

Method

Sauté the garlic in the olive oil over a medium heat for a minute or so. If using fresh red chilli add about half of it, chopped and deseeded, now.

Add the tomatoes and after a few minutes reduce the heat and let them cook for about 15 minutes. If you can’t source great tomatoes, enhance the flavour with a little sherry or balsamic vinegar and also a little honey to taste. Add the espelette pepper if using that, to taste.

Toast the pine nuts until light brown in a dry frying pan and leave to the side.

While the pasta sauce is cooking, cook the linguine until al dente (literally – with bite). Drain, reserving some of the water, and add the linguine to the sauce. Mix thoroughly, adding pasta water if too dry. Tear the basil leaves by hand and stir through.

Serve immediately in bowls / plates that have been warmed through in the oven (this will help keep the pasta hot). Sprinkle with the toasted pine nuts, drizzle the extra virgin olive oil on top and sprinkle with the wild garlic flowers.

I did.

6 years later, and my life has changed. I am very grateful for that. I was at a point where I was getting no satisfaction from my job and I needed a creative outlet. I knew something had to change but I wasn’t quite sure what. I had an urge which became a fierce drive with each unhappy meeting and day in the office.

I had long loved food & travel, hoarding cookbooks and putting every spare penny towards travel wherever I could. I was touring London’s food shops, buying random ingredients, cooking furiously at home. Learning all the time, hungry for information and recipes, trying to perfect everything at home.

2 years previously I had started loading my pics from my very average camera to flickr, actually usually my very rubbish camera phone, and had gained more confidence with each post. It made sense to start a blog, and I really wanted to.

But, I didn’t have the confidence. I know that will surprise you now. My background was in science and technology and even though I had dearly loved writing, my approach was scattered and very personal. No one had ever read anything that I had wrote and I was worried about how people would respond. I had every excuse. I need a name, I need a proper design. And then one terrible day, I thought to hell with it, and started that evening at home.

I quickly discovered that it brought me much joy. More than I imagined. It didn’t matter how bad work was, I had lots to look forward to at home. I was one of the early ones out of the blocks in the UK, but more started, and I got to know them. A community started and many are now firm friends.

As a child I read everything I could get my paws on (an education in itself I think). I was such a keener, I even asked my 6th year teacher for extra essays for practice and he said no, which was the correct response. I wanted feedback in the safest way possible. Guidance from someone paid to educate me. I wasn’t yet ready to show anyone else.

I remember my first late night when I discovered that that was when I loved to write. I can’t even have been 17, but for some reason I stayed up till 4 am and found myself furiously writing, I don’t even know about what. I didn’t know it then but that was a landmark. I often thought of that night and how much I enjoyed it. I wasn’t even sure why. I applied for a degree in journalism, and I got a place. But I grew nervous and chose the safe science option instead. I was very academic and I knew that that would be fine.

So, years later, I started. One furious frustrated push. One blog post and then another. Twenty in the first month. There was nothing outstanding in there and I was doing it anonymously but people started to respond. I grew confident and came out. Shyly at first, yes, I write a blog, about food & travel. I am a little obsessed.

And here we are now. 6 years in. For the first 3 years, I wrote while holding down pretty intense full time work. My personal life was full of ups and downs but that seemed to provide fuel for the blogging fire. In year 4, I cut my work down to 3 days a week and started to do more freelance work.

I was speaking to publishers about doing a book but had never committed to one. I was worried that it wouldn’t be done right, I wouldn’t be ready, and what if this was my only chance? Then my Dad became seriously ill and I decided that this was it. I quit my job, moved back to Ireland for a bit, signed with Quadrille and wrote Comfort & Spice. I haven’t looked back since (except occasionally, fondly, at memories of a frequent solid pay cheque).

Writing a book was not what I expected. It is the most isolating, head wrecking and infuriating thing I have ever done. It was also one of the most rewarding. The period between handing it in and seeing it on the shelf – otherwise known as the time of THE FEAR – I headed off to Argentina for a month. Unexpectedly, this was one of my best travel experiences to date. I needed space and I got it. I returned refreshed.

My book came out, I got a column in the Evening Standard and I started to dabble in TV. 5 episodes of Market Kitchen, The BBC Food & Drink show, some interviews for TV abroad (including randomly in Georgia and in Denmark) and a few other small bits and bobs.

I started to travel more, as much as I could manage. I started writing travel pieces in a freelance capacity which funded my passion. I became more of a recipe vampire, trying to gather as many recipes as I could on every trip abroad. I loved it, I still do. I find travel inspiring, that if I stay still too long my brain aches and becomes dull. This was it, everything I wanted and was working towards, I was doing it.

Which brings me to now. Reflecting here, after 6 years writing, looking at where I was, where I am and where I want to go. How to work out advertising and monetisation? I have yet to work that out but it is something that I need to seriously consider if this is to continue as it is.

What I can share now are some lessons gleaned from 6 years blogging. I am often asked for advice and here it is. I hope it is useful.

Try not to think too much about what anyone else thinks. Write for yourself or for people very close to you. Everyone else will come.

Write about what you are passionate about and only that.

Not everyone will like what you do and some will be quite vocal about it. Learn to accept constructive criticism and tune the nasties out.

Try not to copy anyone elses style. Be yourself and do your own thing. If you replicate, what is attractive about that? Everyone will choose – quite rightly – to continue reading the original.

If you are starting now, try to use technology or blogging formats in a way that no one else is using now. This will help you to stand out.

You will lose faith but don’t give up, stick at it. There were periods of time where I hardly blogged at all, but I always came back.

Start small but evolve. Get the best camera you can (although now actually phone cameras are often great), work on your design so that it makes sense to your readers. Make changes where you can. Ask for advice and feedback but…

… don’t email and pester other bloggers for links or spam people on twitter with your posts. This will only wind people up and work against you. Find your peers and grow with them, this is healthier and much more productive in the long run.

Always be polite. Don’t use your flash in restaurants. Don’t disturb other diners as you review.

Build your blog naturally. Don’t start because you want stuff. This is pointless and actually, you don’t get offered anything until you have been blogging for a few years and are established.

Find the social networks that work for you. Don’t try and do everything. I love twitter and instagram, and they work for me. They work because I enjoy them, perhaps a little too much.

Use the same identity on all social networks that you use so that your readers can easily find you. I am @eatlikeagirl or Eat Like a Girl everywhere.

Overall, enjoy it, get on with it and don’t take it too seriously. It is just a blog after all :)

Addendum: I was just asked this on twitter: So you didn’t think your blog would lead you to where you are now? No, I didn’t. There was no precedent for it here. I wanted to write and I wanted to be better at it. I wanted to do something that made me happy.

Black Sticky Rice with Banana, Coconut & Flaxseed

My life is peppered with food memories, I suspect most of our lives are. From crisp potatoes, boiled, peeled and then deep fried before being eaten with a sprinkle of salt, that I used to love when I was a child.

Marietta biscuits with butter, two biscuits pressed together so that the butter would squirt out of the holes like hair. Homemade fudge, buttery rich. I always tried to make it but could never work it out (I didn’t know about thermometers then). Stewed rhubarb and stewed apples, big bowls full, supplied by fruit from the orchard nearby.

Everything good or significant that I have eaten, I can remember. For my confirmation lunch, I remember the vegetable soup, and my shock as I watched my grandfather add white pepper to it. My first slice of pizza in Rome when I was 19, with potatoes and taleggio, I remember how bright it was outside the big window as I sat down and ate it. I remember how delicious it was, every last bite. I remember my first proper ice cream, and my childhood ice cream treat sliced and served with wafers.

I gather these memories all the time. They are scattered all over the world now and I fantasise about jetting back to Beijing for peking duck and egg yolk dim sum, to Hong Kong for delicate, gorgeous xiao long bao, to Bangkok for crisp divine chicken wings and to Seville for some jamon iberico.

Lots are restaurant based and one recent one that resurfaced was a black rice breakfast dish from Nopi (Yotam Ottolenghi’s restaurant). I craved it, and even more so as I worked on my Thai coconut sticky rice and mango dish. I couldn’t get it out of my head. So, off I went to Chinatown, and purchased a bag of black sticky rice for £2. I was set.

This is another terrific breakfast dish, like porridge but with more texture, reams of flavour, creamy and flaxseed provides a lovely texture contrast, as well as being absurdly good for you.

I can’t stop eating it. It felt only right to share.

Enjoy!

Recipe: Black Sticky Rice with Banana, Coconut &  Flaxseed

per person

Ingredients

50g black sticky rice
1 banana, peeled and sliced
150ml water
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
160ml tin coconut cream
1 tsp honey / to taste

Method

Soak the rice overnight and rinse thoroughly under the cold tap the next day. If you forget to soak it, still rinse it and go ahead.
Cover the rice with the water and cook gently over a medium heat in a lidded pot for 15 minutes, adding more water if you need to.
When the rice has absorbed the water and is cooked but still has bite, add two tbsp coconut cream and honey (to taste). Put the lid on the rice and leave to the side.
Reduce the remaining coconut cream over a medium heat until half the volume.
Serve the rice warm (and don’t let it sit too long or it will get soggy) with the banana, flaxseed and reduced coconut cream on top.
Enjoy!

Thai Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango

This dessert was one of the best things that I ate in Thailand. Not the most complex by any means, or in any way challenging. For comfort, straight forward deliciousness and a dish that makes you feel brighter about life as you leave an empty plate behind, look no further.

I ate it many times in Thailand. I couldn’t resist it. However, I usually had to order it holding my nose with a lemon sucking face while trying not not barf, for it was almost always served from stalls that sold its vicious smelly neighbour durian.

DURIAN. Does anything smell more foul? Yes, rotten meat, cadavers and sewers but durian smells of all three. It is like a demon that has digested them and is burping it for your displeasure.

Walking down the streets of Bangkok admiring beautiful colours, delicious smelling street food, watching passing monks gilded in orange robes, I would suddenly feel squeamish and sure enough shortly after I would see a durian stand. Spiky green fruit, bloated and proud. If they were a cartoon character they would have an ill fitting suit with buttons popping from their shirts.

Now, I know you will say – BUT THE TASTE! And yes, I hear the taste is amazing, but I have a fierce sense of smell and even the mango sitting nearby has a lingering taste of durian. So I could not do it. Next time, I will force myself. With a clothes peg on my nose and a doggy bag.

I have gone off track. Back to sublime mango. Cheerful, bright and sweet. Coconut sticky rice is sold as a dessert in Thailand but for me, it makes a sublime breakfast. This really is best if you can soak the sticky rice overnight but don’t worry if not, it is still worth making it. Get a rich ripe mango dripping with syrupy sticky sweetness. Alphonso mangoes are in season, and are in the shops in Tooting now, that is what I am using.

Enjoy!

Note on the recipe: all ingredients are available in Thai shops, Chinatown in London (specifically New Loon Moon which also sells fresh young coconuts and every Thai ingredient I have ever needed for Thai cooking incl recent recipes). I also spied Thai sticky rice and palm sugar in my local Waitrose. It is best to make this when you are going to eat it as the rice is best just after it is cooked. It can soak up the coconut milk and get soggy over time too.

RECIPE: Thai Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango

Serves 2

Ingredients

100g Thai sticky rice
1 tbsp palm sugar
1 large mango, sliced with skin removed (or chopped – whatever is easiest)
160ml tin coconut cream (or a tin of coconut milk, using the thickest bit that settles)
1 tsp black sesame seeds

Method

Soak the sticky rice in water overnight in the fridge. Rinse before cooking thoroughly under the tap. (Rinse if you forgot to soak the rice also).
Cook the rice for 15 minutes in 150ml of water, adding more if you need to if it boils off. When the rice is cooked (it should still have bite), put a lid on the rice allowing it to soak up the remaining water.
Dissolve the palm sugar in 75 ml of the coconut cream, stirring it in cold. Add to the still warm sticky rice and leave to the side.
Reduce the remaining coconut cream by half over a medium heat.
Serve the coconut sticky rice with mango on the side, reduced coconut cream poured over the rice, and black sesame seeds sprinkled on top.
Enjoy!

Homemade Rhubarb Cordial

There is a lot to be said for the sunshine and a big bright sky. It brings cheer after a long harsh winter – and I know I haven’t experienced most of it – but London has become a dour place, and it seems as though as a city, it has been suffering from a severe Seasonal Affective Disorder.

So, what joy the sun brought with its big sky and warm sunshine. Everyone was cheerful and the parks were full. I was inspired to cook something bright and joyful. I wanted fruit and I wanted a refreshing non alcoholic drink. My mind turned to rhubarb cordial.

I love homemade cordials, I have one in my book and make many at home all the time. I finish them off with sparkling water and ice and sip as I work. After work, they sometimes end up in a cocktail.

The cordial I made is a fresh version to be consumed within the week. If you want to preserve it so that it lasts a few months, use citrate (also called citric acid) in place of the lemon (1 teaspoon for the recipe quantity below). Citrate is available in pharmacies generally although no longer in the UK, you can however order it online.

I used bright English rhubarb, not forced rhubarb but normal stuff. It was a lovely bright pink, if broader and tougher than its slender cousin. After a brief period of cooking, the cordial mixture is allowed to strain gently through a fine mesh sieve (or some muslin), releasing the bright pink cordial and leaving the darker fruit fibre behind. This incidentally, is great mixed in with yogurt for breakfast.

This recipe also works really well when you combine it with blood orange or rose extract when you are cooking the rhubarb. I make both, and adore them.

Enjoy! This is so easy and is really so delicious. The vibrant flavour and colour are something that you don’t get in the shop bought stuff, unless you are buying an artisanal one (which is also homemade, just not in your home :)

RECIPE: Rhubarb Cordial

Makes 400 – 450 ml
keeps for a week in the fridge

Ingredients

400g rhubarb, chopped into 1 inch segments
250g light brown sugar
500ml water
juice of half a lemon

Method

Bring the water, sugar, rhubarb and lemon juice to the boil. Simmer for about 5 – 10 minutes, until the rhubarb has turned to mush. Turn off the heat and allow to cool.

Leave to strain gently through a sieve or muslin lined funnel. Leave it at least 6 hours or overnight for best results. It is best to leave this in the fridge if you can. Don’t force it, just let the juice come out naturally.

And that is it. The leftover fruit is very sweet but is good mixed in with yogurt for breakfast. I love this cordial with sparkling water but it is great for cocktails also. Recipes for those soon!

Fergus Henderson of St John & Paul Flynn of The Tannery – stars of Waterford Festival of Food

I never thought that I would be having a drink with Fergus Henderson in the pub where I used to try to under age drink when I was 16, but there you go. You never know what life will throw at you.

With Sally McKenna of the Bridgestone Guides and Fergus Henderson of St John, photo courtesy of David Clynch Photography

Waterford Festival of Food has just whizzed by. One of the rare festivals that I never miss, it is always superb, combining the best of community activities, local producers and chefs with some of the best food talent around. Last year Angela Hartnett cooked at The Tannery, and this year, it was the turn of FergusStock with Fergus Henderson.

FergusStock Menu at The Tannery

120 were in attendance and 120 were on the waiting list for a superb feast. We started with the now famous bone marrow with sourdough toast and parsley salad, followed by a terrific ox heart and beetroot salad, with the ox heart sliced thin and slightly crisped. It was so tender and full flavoured.

Whole roast brill was next, tender and buttery before the show stopper, a half pot roast pigs head (a marvellous selection of tastes and textures all shielded by the best crispy skin). St John’s famous rarebit was next (I love to pop into the bar for one with a glass of wine), finishing with a super rich chocolate ice cream that had so much chocolate in it, it didn’t dare to melt when left untouched while I digested the preceding courses.

Bone Marrow with Parsley Salad, waiting for service at the pass

Pot Roast Half Pigs Head

Not much could top this, but then the next day there was Lunch with the Chefs at Lismore Castle where some of Ireland’s best chefs told their stories in conversation with John McKenna & Catherine Cleary. The food was served by Eunice Power (who I cooked with at our pop up at the festival last year), and was a terrific display of local produce (quinoa excluded!) and great cooking. I grew up near that castle – well 20 miles away – and it was such a treat to eat in there.

Chandelier and Stained Glass Window at the Banqueting Hall in Lismore Castle

In Conversation with the Chefs at Lismore Castle

Pea & Ham Soup

Knockalara Cheese and Quinoa Salad (Knockalara is a terrific sheeps cheese from Waterford and is available at Neal’s Yard in London – try it)

Beef main course

There was so much more on, local foraging walks, a seaweed seminar, an enormous farmers and producers market on the Sunday morning, food trails (I did a food trail on Friday night which descended speedily into a singing contest but was all good fun and the best insight into Irish culture for any tourist that wants to see the real Ireland).

The only downside is that it is too easy to get completely carried away as I always do, and by Monday I had had little sleep, too much wine, and lots of fun. I needed a few days to recover.

I am excited to see how they will build on it next year, and am very proud that this all happens on my home turf. One for your diaries: the Waterford Festival of Food.

Great pork taco with quinoa, black bean, lime and corn salsa from BBQ Joes at the Market on Sunday

You can see more photos of the festival on the Official Photographers website: David Clynch Photography.

Pichit and the Prawn Tom Yum Kung that he taught me to make

I have returned to London for a short stretch, and minutes off the plane it seems, I have contracted the brutal head and chest cold that has been taking London down. I was doing so well, I have not had one cold this winter.

For relief and to fight it, I need something simple, firey and potent to blast the germs out. I also need something cheerful and bright. My life is full of lemon, honey & gingers. I now also need to introduce Prawn Tom Yum Kung soup.

Ingredients for Prawn Tom Yum Kung

This recipe is another from Thailand from my class at the cooking school at the Khlong Lat Mayom floating market. This is an authentic recipe and is full of flavour. I think it is also the perfect thing for a cold. There are two ways of making it, one is clear and one is milk with some more firey heat. In Thailand they use tinned milk which is quite sweet and lighter than coconut milk.

Thai blue river prawns

I am going to work on a coconut milk version, and for now share the recipe for the clear soup, which is adapted from the recipe taught to me by Pichit (in the photographs). I had to change the recipe a little to adapt to the size of our prawns and the availability of ingredients, but the taste is very similar to what I had in Bangkok and still very good.

Note on the recipe: we used giant blue Thai river prawns. I would suggest the best raw prawns that you can find. Cooked prawns will just cook further in the broth and become leathery.

You might also like to check out my recipe for Thai Seafood Green Curry from the same class.

A slightly blurry photo of the finished soup in Bangkok – it was insanely hot and steamy there and I was just about holding it together towards the end :)

Recipe: Prawn Tom Yum Kung Soup 

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

1kg large raw prawns
1 galangal root, sliced finely at an angle
3 large kaffir lime leaves, soft leaf removed from the central stem
3 stalks of lemongrass, topped and tailed and sliced finely at an angle
50g chee farang (translates as foreign coriander – very pungent coriander shaped in a long leaf – substitute with extra coriander if you can’t source)
350g mushrooms
50g tamarind pulp
1 kaffir lime, juice only (substitute normal lime if you can’t get one)
3 birds eye chillies
5 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
handful of fresh coriander leaves to finish
1 litre water

Method

Prepare the tamarind by soaking in enough water to cover it for 20 minutes and squeezing it. Discard the pulp, we will use the tamarind water.
Grind the chillies in a pestle and mortar or food processor.
Boil the water and add the galangal, lemongrass & kaffir lime leaves.
A few minutes later add the fish sauce, sugar, the juice of the lime, 1 tbsp of the tamarind water, mushrooms and chilli.
Cook for about 10 minutes, then add the prawns. As soon as the prawns are pink, the soup is ready.
Adjust the flavour by adding more fish sauce and/or lime if required.
Finish with the fresh coriander leaf and serve immediately.
Enjoy!

Seafood Thai Green Curry ingredients

Green curry is misunderstood in many places outside of Thailand. Often perceived as a mild curry that you would give most chilli phobics (certainly in the UK and Ireland), it is often bland and dull, full of green peppers and mushrooms and to my mind, unless you are somewhere very good, not very interesting.

In Thailand, green curry is hot. Very hot and aromatic. Packed with flavour (which is the signature for most Thai food in my experience), you can choose the heat level you want if you make it yourself, so when we made this at the cooking school at the Khlong Lat Mayom floating market, we went for a compromise medium heat which was just perfect and not medium for our palates at all. Hot, so fresh and really delicious.

Several things make this recipe flavourful: fresh homemade coconut milk and cream, fresh pounded curry paste (you must – so much better than shop bought), the wonderful herbs and aromatics, the fish pounded to a paste with fish sauce (which Thais use instead of salt on the table) and lots of chilli.

It won’t be possible to replicate this entirely outside of Thailand but I will suggest where you can make substitutions as you go. As long as you make the paste from scratch – this is key – you will have a great dish. Everything else is a bonus.

Enjoy – it is a fantastic curry. I have adapted this recipe, but it comes from Siri, so thank you, Siri!

Note: if I don’t suggest an alternative, the ingredient is relatively easy to source via Asian supermarkets – some are online too.

Recipe: Siri’s Thai Seafood Green Curry 

Serves 4 – 6

Ingredients

500g white fish (we used black spot fish), creamed to a paste with a few tbsp fish sauce OR 500g fish chopped into bite size pieces – hake would do well here
1 tbsp palm sugar (or brown sugar)
4 tbsp good fish sauce
250g small green aubergines, quartered (or one aubergine, diced)
4 kaffir lime leaves, leaf removed from the central stem
2 handfuls of Thai sweet basil when leaves are removed from the stems (difficult to substitute, but a combination of spinach, Italian basil and a little ground star anise would approximate it crudely)
50g Chinese galangal strips – ginger would be our closest approximation
50g pea aubergines

Green curry paste:

half a galangal root – about an inch
2 stems lemongrass, outer layers removed and topped and tailed
5 small shallots, peeled and topped and tailed
zest of half a kaffir lime (or normal lime if you can’t get one)
5 birds eye chillies
3 green finger chillies (he actually used 5 but I think 3 is good!)
5 cloves garlic

Coconut milk:

1kg fresh coconut meat from the inside of a young coconut, 1 liter of water
OR 1 x 400g tin of coconut milk and 1 x 160ml tin of coconut cream

Method

Make your fresh coconut milk by soaking the fresh coconut meat in 500ml of the water and squeezing it thoroughly to get the cream out. Sieve and set the cream aside. Add the remaining 500ml water and do the same, sifting out a thinner coconut milk. Set aside.

Sifting coconut cream & milk

Make your curry paste by pounding all of your paste ingredients in a pestle and mortar until creamy, or in a food processor

Cook off the curry paste in one third of the coconut milk for a few minutes over a medium / high heat.

… stirring as you go :)

If making a fish paste, cream your fish with a few tbsp of fish sauce.

Then add in bite size amounts to the curry paste and milk using a spoon.

Add the kaffir lime, Chinese ginger, aubergine and pea aubergine and the remaining coconut milk (but not cream) and cook until softening but not soft, the veg retain their bite in this dish.

Separate the basil leaves from the stems

Add fish sauce & lime juice to taste – the fish sauce is your salt and the lime juice your sour. Thai food is all about combining sour, sweet, salty and savoury.

Nearly there, now just add your basil for about 30 seconds just to wilt.

Finish with your reserved coconut cream. And that is it, your Seafood Thai Green Curry is ready to serve.

Chung, who met us at the farm to harvest our ingredients for our cooking class

On our first morning in Bangkok we hopped on a bus and drove to the outskirts of Bangkok. It didn’t take long, maybe 45 minutes, before we arrived at a farm that grows herbs, fruit and some vegetables. We were to collect some ingredients that we would be using in our Thai cooking class not long after.

Everything grew on extended narrow beds, lined with little irrigation canals. The heat was scorching. 40 degrees centigrade plus and as we all know, the melting temperature of an Irish person is 14 deg C. I persevered with my fan, driving some air towards my face and soaking up all of the smells, tastes and colours.

Watering the crops with a little boat

It is very hot and the crops are watered using a hose deployed from a little boat which was a joy to see. I grew up in a farming area in Ireland and watering the crops was not something our local farmers had to worry about, at any time of year.

Harvesting lemongrass

We tried lots as we went, first some papaya, which was as fresh, rich and unctuous as you would expect. Then some lemongrass which grows in tufts, like spiked fragrant doll hair. The part we use is at the bottom, but the grass itself is beautifully aromatic too. Some okra was cut and I was offered some raw, I couldn’t believe how good it was. Also a green crumpled pod that is called pea here, but is unlike and pea I have ever known.

Chung, he rarely stopped smiling

Banana trees

Once the herbs were gathered we hopped on a boat to head to the cooking school. The cooking school is open air with a thatched roof to protect from the intense sun, on the Khlong Lat Mayom floating market. To one side is the canal and the other a farm, it is a beautiful setting. The market itself is only open at weekends, but still boats chug along occasionally mostly selling food. The postman passed in his boat at one point.

Khlong Lat Mayom – a floating market at weekend and a cooking school, three times a month

The cooking school is divided into three cooking stations, and a different cook teaches one of three dishes. We started with a green seafood curry. Siri taught us, a cook for 30 years, this was his personal green curry recipe. In the UK people mistakenly think that green curry is mild but in Thailand it is served hot. We had medium heat, which for us is pretty firey and perfect for my palate.

Siri, who cooked green curry with us

Ingredients for green curry

Finishing the green curry with fresh coconut cream (which we made in the class)

Once the green curry was made we progressed to the next station to make Tom Yum with prawns, taught by Pichit, Siri’s grandson. We made two versions, I was keen to try the milky one with an extra chilli kick too. The results were great and the recipe very accessible.

Tom Yum

The last recipe was Bua Loy, bean sized sticky rice flour dumplings in coconut cream with taro, sweetcorn and other bits and bobs. I had already tried these and loved them. Nee makes and sells these at the floating market at weekends.

Bua Loy, before cooking

All that was left to do was eat, the food we made was served with rice and some other dishes including a cripsy crab omelette, rice, and some beans and sugar snaps served with prawns with a mild kick.

Crab Omelette

Prawns with beans

When we were finished we hopped back on our boat and headed back in to central Bangkok, stopping off at the Artist’s House on the way. I loved this experience and will work on some of the recipes soon, making them a bit more accessible to those living in the UK.

A canal scene from the journey back to Bangkok

Canal side house in Bangkok

If you want to do this, and I recommend you do, you will need a guide / translator as the class is in Thai. I highly recommend Ann, who guided us through it and who could organise a whole day for you, as she did for us.

At dawn, all over Thailand, the local buddhist monks travel from their temples to the markets and past shops and houses, where local people offer food / alms in exchange for blessings.

Each monk carries a large silver lidded bowl, wrapped in orange and with a shoulder strap. When the bowl is full, they return to the temple, where the food is shared. Some monks have temple boys that travel behind them with yellow shoulder bags, so that they can carry more for them. Many of the monks are very elderly, and they can walk a considerable distance, depending on the location of the temple. The monks eat twice a day, strictly.

I arose at 5am to offer food to local monks that might be passing my hotel. We had arranged that the hotel would provide us with some food packages containing items that might be useful (a temple I visited today had food packages that contained detergent and paracetamol). At home or at food stalls, the monks would get cooked food, ours contained several things including candles, noodles and pandan cake. I was warned not to give a full package to one monk as once his bowl is full, he must return to temple, and can’t come back again.

I waited in the dark, for 15 minutes, no monk was spied. But then, in the distance, we saw the familiar orange robe and the gentle walk. The monks walk barefoot and with great grace. We offered him some of our food, it is important to be clear, and also not to touch the monk or his bowl. I had learned the Thai words, which I recommend you do too should you want to do it. He smiled, gave us a blessing, and then he was gone.

It was quiet where we were so we followed, turning the corner and walking towards the floating market. Here there were many more monks, and we quickly offered all of our food, eventually buying more, freshly cooked light fried doughnuts and bananas primarily.

As I wandered around soaking it all in, watching all of the monks walk solely and serenely down narrow streets and by the river, I spotted one coming down the river in a boat. I had been told that occasionally, when a temple is on a river, they will use a boat. It was magical, watching him row towards us, and stopping for alms as he did. We have him the last of our offering, again in exchange for a blessing, this time he gave us an amulet too. It was truly wonderful, I was struck by the generosity and kindness of this gentle tradition. It was so lovely to be part of it, if only briefly.

It was only 6am, and I wasn’t that hungry but the smells and sights of the street food had awakened a curiosity. I stopped at a stall and had a beautiful pumpkin congee with minced pork to start with (and it cost about 65p). I followed it with thoes delicious doughnuts and pandan custard (40p). It was already very hot, so I finished with an iced coffee, before progressing dreamily back to my hotel.

What a special morning. When in Thailand, I highly recommend you participate. I plan to again, before I leave.

I am sitting on my balcony at very early o’clock in Amphawa, Thailand. Very sleepy and watching the sun rise over banana and coconut trees and the most beautiful tiny shipyard, where they are building four gorgeous houseboats. It is already very hot. Jet lag is deep in my bones, but I will ignore it. I am here for the Thailand Academy food trip where I am exploring in and around Bangkok for a few days with some other food writers & bloggers.

Last night, steeped in sleepiness, we went to the Floating Market. Amphawa is a small town about an hour from Bangkok and it is famous for this market. Boats and stalls line a narrow canal. The boats function as mini restuarants, issuing divine smells and displaying seafood of such bright colours. Cooked to order over coals, I wasn’t long waking up in the beautiful hustle and bustle. People are singing, everyone is eating. What surprises me most is that most of the visitors are from Thailand.

Everyone is tucking in. So, I do too.

Now, I need your help, people. For 4 days I am with the academy but then I have no plans. What do you suggest I do? It is my first trip to Thailand and I am open to suggestion. Would love your suggestions in the comments. Thanks!

Golden chocolate eggs filled with candied bacon salted caramel

What exactly is that? A slightly odd looking chocolate egg in the foreground with just a touch of bling (to cover its issues), some really odd looking hens eggs covered in chocolate behind, and a jar of goo?

That, dear readers, is one day of my life, the next morning very early, and a ridiculous eggy photoshoot before I journeyed to Heathrow to get my morning flight yesterday am. My annoyance is conveyed perfectly through the crap photo, I think.

I know. I need to get a grip sometimes.

Worth it though, these are like a pimped and slightly filthy version of Paul A Youngs amazing salted caramel filled chocolate egg, which I had for Easter last year. I have been playing around with bacon A LOT. You know this. This was one of the recipes that I had fun with, then hated, then abandoned, and then gave in. Being a perfectionist leads to a path littered with imperfection as you strive to reach your final goal. It is painful and tortuous, but when you hit it, it is worth it every time.

This wasn’t that.

Let me tell you what I did though. I painfully pierced both ends of eight hens eggs. Then made the hole larger in the broader end before piercing the yolk with a skewer and blowing the content out into a bowl. Then I cleaned and sterilised the eggs by boiling in water and vinegar before drying them for ten further minutes in the oven.

So far so good.

Next I tempered some chocolate the cheats way by melting 800g of dark chocolate, then adding another 250g of unmelted chocolate, and letting it mingle in until the temperature got down to 31 / 32 deg C. Then I filled the eggs with it. After 10 minutes I teased some of the chocolate out and left them cool. What I was left with was a couple of perfect chocolate egg shaped shells, and six mucky deformed ones. I also rammed some egg shell right under my fingernail. Yikes, even I cringe when I remember. It still stings.

But the candied bacon salted caramel that I filled them with? The first time I didn’t quite bring it to temperature. I was lazily using a light brown sugar and misjudged the point where it became caramel, so that the results where a chalky grainy sauce when it cooled down. My second attempt was much more successful, I used white sugar and my thermapen and when the caramel hit over 160 deg C I knew I was home safe. Butter and cream rounded it out, and I used this to fill my perfect egg.

So, have a lovely Easter, and here is my candied bacon salted caramel recipe for you, should you fancy porking it up a bit.

Enjoy!

Golden chocolate eggs filled with candied bacon salted caramel

Recipe: Candied Bacon Salted Caramel

Ingredients

8 slices of streaky bacon
8 heaped tbsp light brown sugar
500g white sugar
200ml water
225ml cream
175g butter
1 heaped tsp sea salt

a thermometer for perfect results

Method

Start by candying your bacon. Preheat your oven to 200 deg C and put one heaped tbsp of sugar on each bacon slice rubbing it in on each side with your fingers. Lay out flat and cook for 10 minutes, turn and lay flat and cook for 10 more minutes. Take each slice out and lay on a buttered plate or greaseproof paper and allow to cool. Chop finely when cold. It is important that you remove it from the oven tray, or it will stick there.

Get cracking on your caramel. Add the white sugar and the water to a pan. Bring to the boil and watch for when the sugar begins to turn golden. You want it when it becomes amber, just before it goes too far. The easiest most painless way is to watch the temperature with a precise thermometer like a thermapen. Once it gets over 160 deg C, you are done.

Whisk in the butter quickly and when assimilated add the cream, the chopped bacon and one heaped teaspoon of sea salt. The bacon will be salty already but depending on how salty it is, you may want to add more (or less).

Store in a sterilised jar in the fridge. I love it on toast or in my Easter egg.

Enjoy!

Bourbon bacon chocolate truffles

I have been withholding most of my bacon recipes from you, and for a very good reason which will be revealed in a bit. I am sharing one today though, it was published on Stylist recently for Bacon Connoisseurs Week, and I am sharing it here now so that you can do something delicious for Easter. Here you go: Bourbon Bacon Chocolate Truffles.

What madness is this? What deliciousness lies within? Let me tell you people, these little truffles, balls of intense flavourful delight, will win you friends and appease your enemies.

Candied bacon

When thinking of bacon in sweets, remember how you first felt when you heard about salted caramel. Right? This is just as good, I say even better.

Bacon and sugar love each other and so they should. Combined in an oven and candied, bacon becomes arnished with a sugar toffee that will snap, and that is the secret ingredient in these truffles.

Bacon bourbon chocolate truffles

Bourbon has to be invited to the party, mainly because it will be upset if not, its rumbly alcoholic tones complete the trinity.

Have fun, try to share and don’t eat them all at once.

RECIPE: Bourbon Bacon Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients

6 slices of streaky bacon
6 heaped tbsp brown sugar
250 ml cream
250g dark chocolate
25ml bourbon
100g cocoa

Method

Start by candying your bacon. Preheat your oven to 200 deg C and put one heaped tbsp of sugar on each bacon slice rubbing it in on each side with your fingers. Lay out flat and cook for 10 minutes, turn and lay flat and cook for 10 more minutes. Take each slice out and lay on a buttered plate or greaseproof paper and allow to cool. Chop finely when cold. It is important that you remove it from the oven tray, or it will stick there.

Heat the cream until it just shivers, if you boil it it will change the taste and be too hot for the chocolate. Add the chocolate off the heat and stir in to melt until it becomes all glossy, then and add the bourbon and the finely chopped candied bacon. Stir in and leave to chill in the fridge for 2 hours until solid.

Put the cocoa on a plate and scoop out your truffles with a teaspoon, or for a perfect round with a melon baller. I like them to be rough and ready as a bacon truffle would demand. Roll them in the cocoa and then they are ready.

Time to eat them!

Confit Garlic

So, here goes a new mini series, with recipes or tips on how to add some ooomph to your food with flavour bombs. I always have lots on hand, basically umami rich jars of goodness that will give a tired or quick dish a new life. It is the path to eating very well on very little time, and often little money. I will add to it here and there when I can.

I have been thinking about this for a bit but started it accidentally on Sunday night. I had bought 8 extra bulbs of garlic for bacon masterclass and was looking at them wondering what I would do with them.

I wasn’t short of ideas, it was basically a fight between whether I had the energy to trot to the butchers to make Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic (I didn’t but will soon and will blog it) or whether I would confit the lot of them.

On a sleepy snowy Sunday, confit won. Confit is basically cooking in fat as a way of preserving food. It isn’t remotely complicated and has delicious results. Confit duck is probably the most well known, duck legs are cooked and preserved in duck fat, you can buy them like this or make them at home to store. It is what a squirrel would do to get through the winter, if only they could be bothered to cook, or had the manual dexterity.

I could have declared Sunday, confit Sunday. Confit duck formed part of the meal too, I roasted some delicious tinned confit duck legs that I had from my last trip to Paris, and made a butter out of the confit garlic. Tucked into some fresh homemade blaas (recipe from Comfort & Spice) and eaten while watching The Godfather, Sunday evening was complete and delicious.

You might be wondering why I didn’t just roast it? Confit garlic is different to roast garlic. The cloves are seperated and submerged in the oil resulting in a tender mellow nutty bite. Roast garlic, which is also delicious, is a little bolshier as the cloves roast directly in the oven heat, and they aren’t preserved either.

The oil you choose is up to you. I went for something light and flavourless, groundnut oil, this way you get a direct hit of garlic. You can also use an extra virgin olive oil and create a delicious flavoured olive oil as a by product of your confit process. I prefer the direct garlic hit that results from using a relatively unflavoured oil.

Note: use whatever you have to hand to flavour the confit, don’t stress about getting whole mace for example.

Recipe: Confit Garlic

Ingredients

3 bulbs of garlic, papery outer removed, and seperated into cloves (unpeeled)
enough oil to cover, with the roasting dish I used, I needed 200ml and I used groundnut oil
flavour bits: I used 3 bay leaves, a tsp of whole black peppercorns, and some whole mace

Method

Preheat your oven to 150 deg C.

Arrange your garlic cloves on a single layer in a suitable roasting dish (I used the one in the photo), add your flavouring bits and cover with oil until completely submerged.

Roast in the heated oven for 1 hour.

And that is that! Confit garlic. Easy, isn’t it?

Enjoy!

Bicycle & canals in Amsterdam

I have been back in London for a few days now, but have been silent here, as it was Bacon Connoisseurs Week. I was teaching two of my bacon masterclasses, which are great fun to teach but they zap all of my time and energy with prep, organisation and the actual teaching. Worth it, but for this reason, I will be holding them less frequently from now on.

Another busy week lies ahead full of recipe testing, writing, checking out some London restaurants and reviewing. Before it begins, I thought I would steal a few minutes to share some photos from my trips to Berlin & Amsterdam.

Heaven & Earth at Lutter & Wegner, Berlin (black pudding, apples, caramelised onions and potatoes). This was a starter!

Enormous veal schnitzel at Lutter & Wegner, Berlin

Nurembergers with potato salad and mustard at Literaturhaus Café, Berlin – simple and very good, a great lunch washed down with some German riesling

Marzipan pig at Wald Königsberger Marzipan, Berlin – family owned shop, they have been making marzipan for generations and used to supply the Tsar of Russia

Konnopke’s Imbiss – one of the best locations for currywurst (and I loved the bratwurst too) in Berlin – tucked in under the railway station, this mid week morning queue was full of locals and an occasional tourist like me

Tucking into currywurst in Berlin at Konnopke’s Imbiss

One of the remnants of the Berlin Wall

Tyrolean charcuterie in Berlin

Great cheesecake at Café Finovo, a little Berlin café on a cemetery – very eclectic, great lemonade too

Café Finovo – this is what a cemetery café looks like :)

No food trip to Berlin is complete without a trip to KadeWe – I wish I had bought one of these

Currywurst Special at KaDeWe

Poffertjes, tiny puffy pancajes, in Amsterdam

Obligatory (and delicious) brined herring in Amsterdam

Delicious drinks at Wynand Fockink, Amsterdam

Vlaamse Frites with Satesaus

Fantastic Rijsttafel at Indonesian restaurant Blauw (and this is only a third of it or so), Amsterdam

Tagliatelle with Squash, Spinach, Goat’s Cheese & Pul Biber

It is St Patrick’s Day and I know I should be blogging something *Irish* but here you go, there is some green in here at least. I really should be showing you a proper Irish stew, bacon and cabbage or crubeens (Irish for trotters) but when I arrived in Amsterdam, I was shattered, covered in mosquito bites and craving comfort. So, I made this.

Pasta is one of my favourite quick fixes. Once you buy a good one, or take the time to make some yourself, the rest is easy, and soon after you can find yourself eating something soothing and delicious. This is a mixture of the random ingredients that I have been collecting on my trips: some speck from Berlin, some pul biber from Istanbul (a fantastic firey, rich and deep flaked pepper) and the rest from the local shop in Amsterdam, around the corner from my apartment.

The result was perfect, almost medicinal. The soft goat’s cheese with some pasta cooking water serves as the soothing part of the sauce, the sweet squash was tender and spiked with pul biber, all wrapped in spinach sheets. Pine nuts provide an extra layer of flavour and a nice textural contrast.

Check Turkish shops for pul biber, or look online. It is worth the effort. Omit the speck if you want to do a vegetarian version, the pul biber will provide enough depth.

Enjoy! Let me know how you like it.

Recipe: Tagliatelle with Squash, Spinach, Goat’s Cheese & Pul Biber

Serves 2

Ingredients

200g good tagliatelle
half an onion squash or the equivalent amount of pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and diced
a couple of handfuls of young tender spinach, washed
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
125g soft goat’s cheese
150g speck or pancetta, diced (skin removed if necessary)
25g pine nuts, lightly toasted on a hot dry pan (watch them, they can burn quickly)
1 tbsp pul biber – or to taste – substitute with less dried chilli

Method

Sauté the speck in its own fat for a couple of minutes over a medium heat, then add the squash and cook for about 10 minutes over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until starting to soften.
Put the tagliatelle in boiling lightly salted water to cook, according to packet instructions.
While the pasta is cooking add the garlic to the squash and cook for a minute, add the spinach and cook until wilted. Finish with the goat’s cheese, stirring through until it is melted. Add a little of the pasta cooking water to loosen it out.
When the tagliatelle is al dente – cooked but still with a bite – add to the sauce, and stir through. Season to taste and serve sprinkled with the toasted pine nuts.
Enjoy!

Istanbul Sunset

The keen eyed, the twitter followers and the instagram followers, and those waiting for my posts on Berlin will no doubt go – HEY – what happened to Berlin? Well, here is the deal, I can’t write about Berlin while in Istanbul?

Why? Because I am so absorbed in this right now that it is all that I can think of, and because Berlin was so (and in its own wonderful way) different. It will make more sense to write about Berlin when I am back in northern Europe (Amsterdam), at the weekend. (If you are curious though, you can take a peek at instagram where I post everything as it happens, it is best used as an app on your phone, I love it).

I am working on a 6 city commission for Housetrip, writing recipes and content for their site, and some content for here too. It is wonderful hopping from city to city and exploring vastly different cultures back to back. I have had to split the trip in three to accommodate my bacon masterclasses next week and a few other things, but that extends the pleasure.

The only things I have arranged in each city are some tours to help me dive right in, everything else I am discovering as I go and planning when I arrive. I like to travel like that sometimes, when I have time to be a bit more relaxed. I love fine dining but don’t always feel the need to do it, these trips are more about uncovering the local flavour, the markets and how to cook it yourself in your own kitchen.

Istanbul? Charming, gorgeous and full of flavour. I am still discovering so will save the detail for a bit. But here is my postcard, enjoy it.

Lamb chops at Asmali Cavit

All calm after sunset on the Bosphorus

Istanbul roof tops (from my roof terrace)

Playing football by Galata tower

Borek Café (haven’t eaten here but like the look of it)

Love the street food carts in Istanbul

Ottoman Pit Roast Lamb at Siirt Şeref Büryan Kebap Salonu – part of the highly recommended Istanbul Eats food tour

Galata Tower, Istanbul – my apartment is right next to it

Fishing on the Bosphorus, Istanbul

Istanbul bread seller- delicious bread he was selling too, just by the blue mosque

Turkish coffee, some of the best in the city, still roasted over wood (part of the Istanbul Eats tour)

Time for tea! This guy has been growing his moustache for 4 years. Isn’t it awesome?!

Street shoe shining in Istanbul

Uber food guide, Angelis, hanging out with some locals drinking tea

… lots more soon!

A shrine in Soho, Hong Kong

This is like the postcard that you find in the bottom of your handbag, when you have already been back for a bit and your memories have faded. You want to send it anyway, but never do. Sometimes you may even find some in your storage unit. I found some letters that I wrote on a ferry in Corsica when I was 19 last week.

Well, this is the internet, and so I can send it, and I really want to. The letters, well they were actually lovely to read and will remain mine, never seeing a post box or another pair of eyes. Even if they were written in silver pen.

The view of Hong Kong from Tim Lung Heen at The Ritz Carlton

Hong Kong buzzes. Like one of those joke buzzers that kids use, it catches you by surprise, sometimes you are not sure, but it always makes you smile. Hong Kong has a brilliant energy, people seem very positive and everyone is very busy doing lots of stuff, all the time. It never seems to stop. There is fantastic food too, from super cheap and fabulous to 3* michelin. I love it. When I was booking my flight back from Tokyo, I made sure that I had a Hong Kong stopover too.

Some photos for now, as is my postcard way, with lots of detail soon.

Random splashes of colour and delight on a footbridge over a motorway in Hong Kong

The chef at michelin * dim sum Tim Ho Wan – spotted my camera and insisted on a photograph :)

Dim Sum at Tim Ho Wan

Late Night Eating in Hong Kong

Street food in Hong Kong

A slightly blurry star ferry, taken from another star ferry that I was on

Through a Soho window in Hong Kong

The private rooms and wine storage at Tin Lung Heen, Hong Kong

Yardbird, yakitori bar in Hong Kong, now on Asia’s 50 Best list too

Yardbird, Hong Kong

Chicken meatballs with egg yolk and sauce at Yardbird, Hong Kong

This is a malteser martini from a random bar in Hong Kong. It was wrong, but I had to show you it.

Gorgeous stuffed crab at 2* Tin Lung Heen at The Ritz Carlton

… and terrific desserts at 2* Tin Lung Heen at The Ritz Carlton

Breakfast dim sum at The Ritz Carlton

Giant teddy bar in Hong Kong

I visited Hong Kong under my own steam on the way back from Tokyo, but stayed at The Ritz Carlton as a guest.