Sunday 23 November 2008

Bargain opera tickets

My hubby and I will be heading to Munich for a long weekend sightseeing and experiencing the Christmas activities in Germany. I am current really chuffed with myself for able to get tickets to see a Mozart opera in the National Theatre in Munch.

I was reading tripadvisor and a lot of people had recommended going to visit the National Theatre. So found the website and checked out photos showing the building and thought it was probably worth going to visit for like half an hour.

After browsing around this German website, I found the schedule list for the dates, then saw the Magic Flute is going to be on the Sunday evening we are in Munch. Checked out the if there were tickets available and was shocked that there was but the cheapest range of 11 euro each! They were seated on the 3rd level up in the theatre though but it didn't put me off because the inside of the theatre looks amazing. We probably won't see much from the height but thought the experience will be memorable and more precious. So I took the decision to book the tickets!

I've never see an Opera before but in a few weeks time, we will be sitting in the National Theatre in Munich, watching a German language opera of The Magic Flute!!! Looking forward to this!

What age do I act?




You Act Like You Are 27 Years Old



You are a twenty-something at heart. You feel like an adult, and you're optimistic about life.

You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences.



You're still figuring out your place in the world and how you want your life to shape up.

The world is full of possibilities, and you can't wait to explore many of them.

Thursday 13 November 2008

Yummy Hoi An food

So far, all I have written about is the Vietnamese food. I have to continue writing more on the diverse foods in Vietnam.

Hoi An is a place where the Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese have many spectular buildings and archifacts around the town. We visited the ancient part of Hoi An, our guide told us that many Chinese resides here and have adapted the Vietnamese way of living. Hoi An has many delicancies and we only tried 3 dishes whilst walking around in the ancient town.

First local delight was Cao Lao. This is noodles with a little gravy and thin slices of cooked pork, topped with mint, vegetables, spring onions and pork scratchings. It was delicious. I took a pic of my Cao Lao.


Second dish is called White Rose. I am sure this name was given by westerners. This white rose dish is pieces of either fried or steamed rice pastry which looks like a flower. They are like the Italian pasta pouches, I can't remember what they are called. (they have spinach in them!) These white rose have shrimp and seafood in them as filling. See photo. They taste fantastic!



Finally, one of my favourite, the Hoi An pancakes, see the above photo. I know how these are made and will try it out sometime in the next few weeks. I have posted the recipe up already.

Vietnamese sauces recipes

Another thing I admire about Vietnamese food is their different dipping and cooking sauces. I ate loads of different sauces when I visited Vietnam, but I only have the recipes for 3 of the sauces.

Sweet & Sour Sauce
1 Tablespoon of water
1/2 teaspoon of sour chilli saurce
1/2 of tomato puree
1/2 of finely chopped white onion
1/2 tablespoon of finely chopped pineapple
1/2 tablespoon of finely chopped tomato
1/2 teaspoon of crushed ginger
1/2 teaspoon of vegetable oil

Heat wok with vegetable oil and add all the ingredients (except water and sour chilli / tomato sauces) - starting wtih onion. Fry for a few seconds, then add remaining ingredients. Bring to simmer and serve as a dipping sauce or cook with other meats/seafood.

Peanut Sauce
1 teaspoon of crushed garlic
2 tablespoon of crunchy peanut butter
2 tablesppons of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of brown sugar or honey
1 pinch of chilli powder
1/4 cup of water or cocunut milk

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and mix over a moderate heat for 10 seconds (add lime juice if necessary)

Fish Sauce
2 tablespoons of fish sauce - clear or light fish sauce only
1 tablespoon of crushed garlic
1 teaspoon of finely chopped chilli
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 lime or lemon - juice only
1 teaspoon of grated ginger (optional)

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly until sugar is dissolved. Serve as dippying sauce for spring rolls.

Tuesday 11 November 2008

Hoi An Pancakes Recipe

Rice Batter
1 cup of dried rice flour
1.5 cups of fresh water
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon or turmeric powder
Mix all together, leave in room temperature for one hour.
An alternative is to use the batter mix from the fresh rice paper rolls.

Ingredients
300 grams or finely cut shrimps, shelled and deveined(or any other seafood)
Vegetable oil for frying
2 thinly sliced spring onions
250 grams of beansprouts
topping mix - mint, coriander, Vietnamese basil, carrots and banana flower
packet of rice paper

Add the shrimps to the rice batter and heat a little oil in a small non-stick frying pan. Stir the batter and pour just enough into the pan to create a thin layer - top with a few beansprouts and spring onion. Fry over medium to high heat until the bottom of the pancake is crisp. Fold the pancake in half and turn out onto a plate. Repeat this process with the remaining ingredients, adding a little oil to the frying pan for each pancake.
To serve, each person tables a pieces of pancake, addes a little topping mix and wraps it in a rice paper. Dip it into peanut sauce (recipe later) or soy sauce before eating.

Asian Eggplant In Clay Pot Recipe

This recipe is type copied from our cookery lesson.

1 Medium size clay pot (or thick metal pot) - keeps the food hot for 20-30 mins.
2 Asian (long & thin) eggplants (aubergine) into strips of 1cm pieces
Root of 1 lemongrass crushed
1 teaspoon of salr
2 cups of water

Cooking Dressing (Mixture)
1.5 tablespoons of tomato puree
teaspoon of sugar (or honey or pineapple juice)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 cups of water

Modern Method
Add 2 cups of water to the clay pot, add the crushed lemongrass and 1 teaspoon of salt (this removes the bitterness from the clay pot), and bring to a boil. Add eggplant and continue boiling for 3 more minutes. Drain all the water from the pot, then add the cooking mixture and simmer for approximately 10 minutes, or until tender.

* The traditional method uses a lot of oil, so if you have low cholestrol, give it a try as well.

Traditional Method
In a wok, deep fry the eggplant in vegetable oil for 3 mintues. Drain well and then add to the cooking dressing, and bring to a boil. Continue boiling for 3 more minutes, removing the oil on top as you go.

Tip
Serve hot with steamed rice.

Our Vietnamese cookery course

One of the highlights of our Vietnam trip was the cookery session. We decided to join the Red Bridge Cookery School based in Hoi An for a half day cookery lesson.

The day started of with us relaxing with a fresh fruit drink in the Red Bridge Cafe. Here, we got briefed on the day's schedule. We were put into a group of 6, my hubby, husband and I with 2 other ladies and an American guy. Our guide for the day is called Nhat (pronounced 'hat'), she is a small Vietnamese girl with a big voice and probably younger than us.

Our first stop was at the local market in the ancient part of Hoi An. Nhat introduced various fruit and vegetables we don't usually see out of Vietnam. These include green Vietnamese oranges, banana flower, bitter melon, beetle nut and Vietnamese basil. After walking through a busy market where local women buy their food for the day, we stopped at a kitchen utensils stall. Here, Nhat talked to us about various cutting tools Vietnamese use. We were so impressed with the simplicity look of the tools and what it can do, that we bought a set and also got more freebies with it, without the other group members knowing! :-)

Our next stop was a boat ride to the Red Bridge cookery school. We cruised along the river in a motor boat passing fishing boats and local people going about their daily affairs. Many locals were in the fishing industry and we saw many moving their stock around and selling them on boats and in the markets. The weather was hot but breezy and refreshing as our boat moved along.

After half an hour, we arrived at the cookery school. It was situated in a small village like area but the cookery school was very nice. The whole place was all bamboo and palm trees. I guess it has to look good and a bit commercial to attract tourists. There was also a herb garden where a lot of the herbs like lemon grass, banana flower and some chilli plants grew. What I can remember, there was a herb plant and its leaves smelt of fish, very interesting indeed!

We were shown into a large room and waited for our chef to come so we can start out lesson. The chef did not give a name but was a smug guy. He was funny and entertained everyone. We were a class of around 20 people, all non Asians apart from my hubby and I. Everyone was very excited and holding on to our clipboards containing our lesson papers.

The first dish we had to make was the Asian Eggplant in Clay Pot. Recipe in later post.

Then we tried making fresh rice paper spring rolls. This dish was an experience as we have never made fresh rice pastry before. The chef demonstrated beforehand how to use the steamer and cotton cloth over the top where the rice flour mixture was spread. My hubby and I successfully made our rice paper first time, which I am really impressed about.

Throughout the cookery lesson, I took loads of pictures, see my flickr site for pics!

We also tried carving vegetables into a fan and tomato into a rose. Let's just say, mine was was more presentable than my hubby's. :P

Another dish we made was the Hoi An Pancake, again lots of fun there! Recipe in later post!

After our lesson, we were sat down to have lunch. The food was the same dishes as we tried to make, but how it should be! I especially like the Asian eggplant dish. So I have decided to try and make this dish at home!!! My hubby will be in for a nice/scary surprise!!! :P

Back from Vietnam!

Just got back from a 15 days touring around Vietnam. At the moment, I am recovering from jetlag.

Whilst flying back to London, I was thinking about the good points and bad points of the trip. There are so many things to write. So I am going to be splurting out random posts about my holiday.

One of the most memorable things about Vietnam is their food. We attended a cookery class in Hoi An and learnt quite a few dishes. Going to be typing up the recipes later.