Food is there for you to enjoy.

People are increasingly health conscious and we are always surrounded by the "low fat", "reduced fat", "low calories" food in the supermartket. So how do we choose?

Often foods marketed at slimmers are not necssarily nutritious. One so-called 'slimming' chicken and sweetcorn flavour packet soup mix contained no sweetcorn and only one per cent chicken, water and glucose syrup being the first two ingredients. Okay, so it's less than 60 calories a serving but where's the goodness in it?

The healthiest food you can buy - fresh fruit and vegetables - doesn't come with a label. Fresh ingredients won't list their nutrients, additives (or absence of) or boast that they're good for you (they don't need to).

Today try to make for yourself and family a tenpanyaki beef with green salad. Teppanyaki beef is widely available in supermarket now.

Teppanyaki Beef and Green Salad


Heat up a tablesppon of olive oil on a griddle pan. The pan must be very hot. Add slices of beef one by one. NO NEED to season. When both sides change colour you can take it out. When all are done, sprinkle with a pich of salt is enough. Put them on top of greens (spinach leaves, lettuce, rocket, etc) and serve with vinaigrette (extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, mustard, salt and pepper).

Enjoy fresh food!

Cheers,
Winnie Wong
at Hong Kong

This week I would like to share a song with you. It's a song by Simon and Garfunkel
who are my English teacher's favourite. I wonder many of us ran through the lyrics
during English lesson. It was from this song I began to know about herbs.

There's a video posted on Youtube.(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt4HZ7AKp1s)
It's a perfomance of Simon & Garfunkel and Andy Williams. It's interesting to
look at their young faces.

Scarborough Fair

Are you going to Scarborough Fair:
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
Remember me to one who lives there.
She once was a true love of mine.

On the side of a hill in the deep forest green.
Tracing of sparrow on snow-crested brown.
Blankets and bedclothes the child of the mountain
Sleeps unaware of the clarion call.

Tell her to make me a cambric shirt:
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
Without no seams nor needle work,
Then she'll be a true love of mine.

On the side of a hill a sprinkling of leaves.
Washes the grave with silvery tears.
A soldier cleans and polishes a gun.
Sleeps unaware of the clarion call.

Tell her to find me an acre of land:
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
Between the salt water and the sea strand,
Then she'll be a true love of mine.

War bellows blazing in scarlet battalions.
General order their soldiers to kill.
And to fight for a cause they've long ago forgotten.

Tell her to reap it with a sickle of leather:
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme;
And gather it all in a bunch of heather,
Then she'll be a true love of mine.

This week I introduce a dish using all parsley,
sage, rosemary and thyme.



Roast lamb chop with dried parsley, sage, rosemary
and thyme in a porportion of 0.5 : 1: 2: 1

Marinate the lamp chops with a mixture of parsley, sage,
rosemary, thyme, honey and mustard, (no salt) and olive
oil. Put the meat in refrigerator for two hours. Heat up a little
oil and put the chops on hot pan and fry each side about 30 seconds
to seal the juice. Then roast it in oven 180C for 20 minutes. Done.

So, bon appetite!

Cheers,
Winnie Wong
at Hong Kong

I am sure you have read about the news saying that coffee and tea are obtained from unfair trade. We can also be emailed about the pictures of how KFC raised chicken that shocked everyone. So should we start anti-globalization? Should we deny the convenience brought to us by trade? In and out our home, in and out our office, we are enjoying both the fruits and toxic brought by so called "globalization". So what we can do to continue our urban life?

You may wonder what Winnie is going to drive at, not anti-globalization nor supporting? Actually I am too ignorant to come to any conclusion but I do believe I do not want anything "not good" happen to me, my family, friends and other people on earth. So starting from our daily intake of food, we should always ask what we want.

You may say, Winnie, of course, I want delicious food, Wagu beef the best! And it's better to be cheaper.

Great! I am a meat eater too. I think the Japanese cattle farming experts bring magic to life that now every famous cattle farming country such as Australia, US, Canada and even Argentina have introduced Wagu species. First, Wagu beef will not be cheap. Imagine tonnes of water and crops to rasie a cow. (This is a reson why the enviromentalist is vegetarian.) Imagine the labour serving the cow. Second, I will never say it's unhealthy. It is rich in protein.

So what do we do wrong? You are rich and you love Wagu beef that you keep on eating it by pound per meal whenever you feel like. You may end up having heart disease because of such eating habit. The beef traders eyeing your money are claiming they keep on improving. (Who knows? ) I do know that now some chicken and lamb may contain cow DNA and pig DNA. So the story is all about yourself.

You are what you eat!

I am not telling you to give up meat. I am just telling you to try varieties of food. Imagine if one economy only relies heavily on beef it will be fragile.

Weeks ago I read an article interviewing a Michelin Star restaurant chef in Hong Kong and he said that he always loved the cooking of his mother. No doubt the point is about his mother no matter his mother is a good cook or not. However, it reminds me the importance of preserving traditional culinary skills. We definelely do not want varieties of species to disappear from this planet.

In order to preserve it we'd better make good use of it. Hope later we do not have to learn from museum that how shrimp dumplings are made.

Living in a city, we can get access to everything from the world. You may always go to the Chinese dim sum restaurant in your city. I can buy San Daneille prosciutto in big supermarket. As a matter of fact we live in a world of mixed culture that we are not that conscious of.

Okay, today I introduce two dishes. I tried to use dried rosemary (product of Spain) in scrambled eggs. Wait a minute, we use rosemary with lamb chops but eggs? Yes, it's because my Phillippino helper forgot to buy spring onions. Fortunately my experience was pleasant to match eggs with rosemary and I introduced it to you. The Second dish is fried Malaysian tiger prawns with shallots. Both dishes are using ingredients that far away from my home.



Scrambled eggs with scallops

1) Cut 15 pieces of fresh scallops in halves (horizontally). Season with salt and add some flour with sieve. Heat up some vegetable oil in a Chinese wok and fry the scallops for maximum 30 seconds. Drain the oil.
2) Heat up a little oil in a pan, pour into the whisked eggs (5 pieces), season, vigorously stir fry and add the scallops.
3) When the eggs are becoming solid, quickly sprinkle a pinch of dried rosemary. Serve.

(Not recommend to add other stronger dried herbs except chives because the taste won't match. But it's always fun for you to experiment.)



Fried Malaysian tiger prawns with scallps

1) Cut the legs of the prawns and take away the intestine. Season and add corn starch with a sieve. Put the prawns into hot oil for a while until the colour changes. Drain away the oil and set it aside.

2) Heat up the oil in a pan and add shallots. Make it sweat. Then add the prawns, pour some wine, a little bit soya sauce only. When the sauce dries up, serve.

Enjoy this week.

Cheers,
Winnie Wong
at Hong Kong

People keep on saying this to you.

"You should eat different colours of fruits and vegetables."

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away."

"Banana is good for you because it is rich in vitamin C, B6, magnesium and potassium."

Definitely you have heard that it's important to take 5 portions of fruits and vegetables a day, but how? How can we intake so many fruits and vegetables without enjoying it.

I remember my mother kept on feeding me with fish. She said it's good for health. (Who doesn't know?) but her cooking of fish was awful ( Sorry, mom, may you rest in peace!) and it tasted fishy.

So, before we enjoy eating fruits and vegetables, maybe take a trip to the farms or markets to see where they come from.

It dated back when I was around 6 or 7 years old. During Chinese New Year, my family would prepare many fruit baskets as gifts for relatives and my fathers' business partners. One brother ( 8 years older) took me and another brother (4 years older) to a wholesale fruit market near my primary school to buy fruits. It was early in the morning. I saw all the trucks loading and unloading. The places were full of boxes of oranges, mandarins, bananas, apples, pomelos, presimmons and many many fruits that I didn't know their names. Before my eyes there were yellow, orange, red and green. They were rainbows. I was so excited. My brother paid the fruit stalls some money and then boxes of oranges and mandarins were placed in our wooden cart (trolley) and we walked home with me sitting on the cart. Happy and satisfied. Now I guess I have fallen in love with fruits since that day.

Another experience. I think many people have visited the Pak Khlong Talat by the Chao Phrayo River of Bangkok. Isn't it nice to see all the small boats loading with a huge variety of fruits sailing along the river just after sunrise? So in front of the rainbow river, if your boyfriend or girlfriend says hating fruits, what can I say?

Being a Chinese I didn't eat much salad with uncooked vegetables. Some vegetables like cabbage and celery I didn't even touch unless they were fried well done. Not until many years ago I visited Borough Market in London. There was a day called Farmer's Market every week. I saw amazingly fresh and huge cabbage with dark green leaves. And the celery too they really smelled nice, (Guess it can be made into perfume.) The beans and peas were all displayed in a seductive manner. The store owner gave me some ideas on how to make salad.

Apple, celery and walnut salad

Chop everything in chunks. Add a few drops of lemon juice to prevent turning rusty. If you feel uncomfortable taking uncooked celery you can poach in the water for a while, say two minutes. Then you can put a buttermilk dressing.

(Buttermilk dressing: buttermilk + cider vinegar + salt and pepper, honey - optional)

Pineapple and board bean salad

I strongly recommend to place pineapple slices onto griddle pan and brown it. It gives a smokey taste. To fulfill the job faster you can brush a little bit maple syrup on the pineapples. Then cut the pineapple slices into smaller pieces. Mix them well with unshelled board beans. Add some vinaigrette to serve. It goes well with pan-fried chicken breast or white flesh fish.

(Vinaigrette: balsamic vinegar + extra virgin olive oil + mustard + salt and pepper, honey - optional)



Hope you enjoy reading. Next time you have any discovery in the markets please don't forget to let me know.

Cheers,
Winnie Wong
at Hong Kong

Many girls have the same experience as mine. I feel freezing during winter especially with my hands and feet. It's not a problem until around 10 years ago in London it's springtime I felt chilled at 13'C. I am not joking. I was weak.

When I returned to Hong Kong, I visited a famous Chinese herbal medicine doctor at Wanchai. (He has passsed away several years ago aged at least 80.) He 'instructed' me to have red dates preferrably everyday.

Since then I take sweet tea made of deseeded red dates with honey every morning before anything else. Many old friends say age doesn't leave a footprint on me. I guess one reason is I really care of myself. Red dates help increasing circulation of blood so I look not only healthier but actually being healthier. Only with inner healthiness our body and soul will come together to give positive energy. This energy is vital to your family, working circle and friends. Then everyday we are happy.

I mentioned to some friends that I'd be talking on food on my blog. Here I introduce two dishes using red dates as ingredients. I started cooking as a hobby since I was 10 and it's not my habit to write a proper receipe with x tsp of salt and x gm of sugar. I do it all by my judgement during the cooking because no single cooking experience is ever the same. I hope you can try it out by feeling your cooking and make your own judgement. Of course, if you really do not understand me or have any questions and comments, please feel free to send me a message.

Chicken soup with red dates

Get a slim chicken from wet market. Ideally it weighs under one catty (about 1+ 1/2 lb). Have all the cavity cleared and take off the skin and the fat underneath. They will make the soup messy. I usually don't use the head. Simmer it in boiling water until the particles come out. Take the chicken out and put it in a soup boiler ( I use an electric one with 5 litre in volumn.) Add ginger and deseeded red dates, 20 pieces with hot water. Cook it for 4 hours. You can add some full cream milk ( no skim milk please) after it has cooked for 3 hours and 45 minutes. When you serve, use a gauze to filter off the particles first. The chicken meat and red dates are good going with soya sauce.

Dessert - sweet tea with chestnut, white fungus, red dates and rock sugar/palm sugar.

It is the easiest dessert I have ever made. You only need to skin the chestnut, soak the fungus and deseeded red dates. After a while, put them all in a saucepan. Add hot water and sugar. Cook for an hour and it's done.

Wanna try?

Take care, I'll see you next week.