My wanderings around my world this third week of 2017 started with…
Remembering my dad on the one-year anniversary of his passing.
We got new bowls. They’re perfect for bibimbaps!
Buy a bunch of sashimi (and inari, obvs), and take it home to eat. Better (and cheaper!) than going to a sushi restaurant.
What’s cookin’?
… you’ll see this week!
Wingin’ it.
Every year, for as long as we’ve lived together, we stay up late on January nights and watch the Australian Open.
Yes, that is a drawer overstuffed with fluffy socks.
Son: *glances at my computer screen* “Oh, that looks familiar!”
Me: “From when you did your master’s?”
Son: “No, more recent. I think it was in one of the robotics courses I took online.”
Me, excited: “Oh! …they use softmax?”
Son: “No… I think it’s that big ‘E’ and everything…”
Me: “So… math. You’re saying it looks familiar because it’s math.” *laugh-crying*
Fish and fries were meh. Lobster roll was, sadly, meh. But that clam chowder… was so good we bought two more bowls of it to go.
But the best part of lunch was getting to see all the people with signs and pink hats getting off the Metro Rail all the way down in Long Beach, after the LA Women’s March.
Somebody had their eye on my food.
Fly away!
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Where are you wandering this week?
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Our last morning in London began with a very friendly, talkative man who drove us back to Heathrow Airport. He was from Holland. It’s too bad we didn’t meet him earlier in the trip, because he was an excellent tour guide!
Once we checked in and found our gate, it was time to find something for lunch.
After wandering a bit, we decided to try Wagamama.
Son got their duck ramen, and I picked at their teriyaki chicken bento. (I wasn’t feeling too hot, so I didn’t want to try anything too wild.)
I know a lot of people seem to really like Wagamama, and I know I usually try to post about places I think you should go try out… but to be honest, we were kind of meh about it.
Maybe it’s because we’re Asian, or because we can get excellent Asian food anytime we want, living in Southern California. But whatever the reason, we found it to be bland and disappointing.
Regardless, it wasn’t long before we were off to Paris – the land of excellent food!
What is your one food that, if you see it on a menu, you’re definitely gonna order it? For me, it’s anything with bacon, potatoes… or bánh bèo. For Son – bún bò Huế, squid ink pasta, and… egg tarts!
We’ve gotten them at plenty of bakeries here, as well as on our trip to Hong Kong last year (which is coming soon to the blog!), but our favorites were the ones we got at Borough Market in London.
Unsurprisingly, after that trip Son decided that it would be awesome if I could make egg tarts at home. So the next year, for his family’s Lunar New Year celebration, I tried out this ridiculously easy recipe.
I like ridiculously easy recipes. I like them even better when they’re also ridiculously delicious. And this recipe is definitely both. Son LOVED them, and I got rave reviews from everyone who got to try them.
But silly me, I forgot to write down the exact measurements and method I used back when I first made them in 2015… so before posting this recipe, I knew I had to make them again. Just to be sure.
Oh darn what a sacrifice.
😀
Recipe from Guai Shu Shu.
Ingredients
- 1 package (around 450g) frozen store-bought puff pastry, thawed
- 1/3 cup (75g) fresh milk
- 1/4 cup (45g) caster (superfine) sugar
- 2/3 cup (150g) heavy cream
- 1/2 tbsp (15g) sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tbsp (8g) cornstarch
- 3 egg yolks
Cooking Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Grease tart pans or muffin tins with vegetable oil or butter.
- Unroll the thawed puff pastry, and cut out rounds the size of your tins. Gently press the puff pastry into your tins, lightly stretching to fit if needed so it lines the entire tin. If you’d like, you can use this method to roll up the scraps and use them to make a few additional egg tarts.
- Mix the milk and sugar in a small bowl, and microwave until boiling (1-2 minutes on HIGH). Alternately, you can heat in a small pan on the stovetop, just until boiling.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk, cornstarch, and egg yolks. Slowly pour the hot milk into the mixture, a little at a time, and whisk until incorporated.
- Pour the custard into the puff pastry shells. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is set and slightly browned around the edges. Let cool, top with powdered sugar if desired, and enjoy!
On our last evening in London, we stayed a little closer to home base. Instead of hopping on a train again, we took a walk to see the sights nearer to our hotel.
North of The Ampersand is the National History Museum (we would have loved to go, but it was closed at the time), and then a number of consulates.
From there, we made our way through the gorgeous Imperial College London.
At the college, they were setting up for filming of “Pan”, which was fascinating to see.
(It almost made me wonder if we’re really in London, or if we’re at Universal Studios.)
Across the street from the college are the Kensington Gardens.
That is one heck of a statue.
In the Kensington Gardens, they were also setting things up to film.
I’m pretty sure that poofy thing means somebody’s going to fly.
After leaving the film sets behind (and getting lost a couple of times), we sat a while in the Italian Gardens.
After that, it was a quick jaunt on the Central Line, from Lancaster Gate station (which has so many stairs!) to Marble Arch station, and a short walk to our dinner destination.
Roti Chai!
This is the kind of restaurant with a lot of little dishes, so we went a little crazy and tried as much as we could.
We’re not really alcohol people, but luckily for us they have an awesome non-alcoholic drink list. We got the Kovalam Beach – a non-alcoholic blend of lychee, coconut, guava, and ginger ale. It was fantastic. I really wish I could figure out how to replicate it.
For food, first we tried several dishes from the “STREET” portion of the menu.
The Papri Chaat consisted of crunchy wheat crisps, potato, chickpeas, yogurt, and hot & sweet chutney. It was very delicious.
Next we tried the Parsi Chicken Farsha, which had a light masala marinade and came with with curried ketchup. It was tasty, but has the kind of heat that creeps up on you from behind.
The Imli Wings were addictive but messy, with their sticky tamarind glaze.
I’m a sucker for anything bread, so of course I loved their Roti.
After that we had their Maher Jhol from the “ROAD & RAIL” portion of their menu – traditional Bengali fish curry with kasundi mustard, served with rice. I only had one bite of this one, because it was OHMYGOD SO SPICY, but Son enjoyed it.
Lastly for the savory portion of our meal, was the Bun Kebab – a mini Indian-inspired lamb burger. Flavorful and delicious.
It was such an amazing meal of fantastic Indian food. We were both very happily stuffed.
But wait… can’t forget dessert! We tried the Almond and Saffron Phirni – “a delicately flavored ground rice and milk dessert”. It sounds like maybe not the most amazing thing ever, but it really was the perfect ending to a fantastic dinner.
Thank you, Roti Chai, for the best meal we had in London!
Next… we’re off to Paris!
My wanderings around my world this second week of 2017 started with…
A slightly overstuffed slow cooker.
Rock sugar looks like jewels.
My house smells SO good.
Gumbo! It turned out AMAZINGLY.
Gone.
RAIN!!!
Take a bao.
My favorite kind of edible flowers. 😀
Sunlight in paradise.
Mr. Broom is slacking off…
XING
Boat-watching.
Stay out.
Standing guard.
Cheese!
Yes, my waxed paper does have snowflakes on it.
Desk dinner.
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I NEED ONE OF THESE IN MY LIFE. Obviously.
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Where are you wandering this week?
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