Saturday, November 24, 2012

BANDREK SPICE DRINK

Bandrek hot beverage

frOm sunda with spices

Sunda lies in the western part of Java island, Indonesia. The Sundanese ethnic have long been drinking Bandrek, a hot beverage rich in herbs and spices to warm up the body in cold weathers. It tastes good too. Now, the bandrek is also served chilled.
ingredients- serves 4
  • 1000 ml water
  • 200 grams of palm sugar/ unrefined concentrated cane or date juice/  raspadura/ gula jawa
  • 120 grams of roasted ginger slices
  • 2 cm or1 inch crushed lemon grass
  • 5 cm cinnamon stick
  • Half a pandan leaf(screwpine/pandanus)- shred a little and knot it up
  • 5 grains of cloves
  • 1 star anise
  • 1 / 4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tsp instant coffee if you like
the way to boil and brew
Boil water together with all the above except palm sugar.
Once boiled, add palm sugar and simmer for 10 minutes.

I feel it is best to taste and add what is lacking, you may want a little more sugar, or perhaps you prefer extra ginger- continue to taste, simmer and taste until the versatile bandrek seems perfect for your taste buds.

I have reduced the pandan leaf to half piece only-was two pieces, but that’s me, I don’t want it’s fragrant to be too strong, otherwise I feel like I am drinking a dessert..and that is odd and alien to my senses.
Strain and Serve hot.
Add milk if you wish to further tone down the spicy taste but I won’t. I am lactose intolerant. To me it already has a delicious flavor.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

NOMA, THE BEST RESTAURANT IN THE WORLD

nOma, COpenhagen, denmark 


voted as 
the best restaurant 
in the world
2010,2011,2012

the principles of
wildculture and
landscape

To my opinion and observations, many excellent achievers generally use  “simple ingredients, present them with great sophistication and eventually resulting in unique and cultured masterpieces.. like every  dish has a “midas touch” somewhere. 
Shrimp with algae, rhubarb and herbs
Watching their video clips, I must say the Noma really prepares food with deep attention and ardent love for nature’s wilderness and beauty. Their culinary art is truly original, sophisticated and shows great respect for what is called “food”.
Noma influences me to respect food, even tho I may not want to eat that particular dish. It makes me dream… and deeper still, it touches my soul. I am far from being a good cook with impressive recipes, but it would be a great consolation if my cv blog can look good instead- like a brightly shining star- ha ha, back to Noma, I love their style.
noma-entrance and Foodlab-staff area (right)
Restaurant guides and reviewers often use stars in “restaurant ratings”. The Michelin system remains the best known star system. A single star denotes "a very good restaurant in its category", two stars "excellent cooking, worth a detour", and three stars, "exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey"

René Redzepi, the chef in a class of his own, was named International Chef of the Year 2008.

Noma is a two Michelin star restaurant in Copenhagen, run by co owner, chef René Redzepi. 
The name is a portmanteau of the two Danish words "nordisk" (Nordic) and "mad" (food) and the restaurant is known for its reinvention and interpretation of the Nordic Cuisine. 
above image credit-yahoo.com
The Nordic countries include Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland. Also, associated territories- Greenland, Aland and Faroe islands.
Marrow Plants with salted veggies 

In 2010, 2011 and 2012, Noma was ranked as the Best Restaurant in the World by Restaurant Magazine. 

The cuisine of Noma is Nordic/ Scandinavian with attempts to redefine the Nordic cuisine. 
                                   image credit link here
Famous dishes include René Redzepi’s signature dish 'The Hen and the Egg'… they have video clip on this. Truly, the cuisine of Noma embodies many of the principles of wildculture.
Toast with turbot (flat fish species) and herbs
René Redzepi said their cooking approach is transparent, without pretense, honest and generous- something true and original to each.
“In an effort to shape our way of cooking, we look to our landscape                         
and delve into our ingredients and culture,
hoping to rediscover our history and shape our future.”

Their menu include amongst many, like “Egg yolks and herbs”, “Beets and plums”, “Cream and horseradish”,” Brown crab” etc
White asparagus with egg yolk and a sauce of thyme
Abstract- www.noma.dk  
-Lau Richter on their new website “The weather report”. Link here
“Noma is about achieving gastronomic perfection with a deep respect for the geographical context, that we are situated in. The driver for our menu, our design and now also for our website.
We have strived to create a structure that is simple, relevant and intuitive. This is where we share our everyday journey towards giving you a better experience”.


Spanish chef Elena Arzak 
of new Basque restaurant Arzak,
 has been named the world's 
Best Female Chef 2012, 
by the folks who organize
 the World's 50 Best Restaurants. Link  here

Except for three, all images credit goes to Wikimedia commons.  Link here 

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

                 still on holiday


                       cucumber sandwich

Friday, November 9, 2012

                  On  hOLiday...

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

ICE CREAM AND WAFFLES DESSERT. BELGIAN CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM

ICE CREAM AND WAFFLES DESSERT
BELGIAN CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM

CHOCOLATE WAFFLE

I had a delicious waffle complimented with the best ice cream FROM  Häagen-Dazs 
One scoop of  Häagen-Dazs Belgian Chocolate and one scoop of Chocolate Midnight Cookies, a warm treat of Belgian waffle with Belgian dark chocolate sauce and fresh raspberries. 
Strawberries would be delicious too.
It was such a perfect dessert.



Do check out Elisabeth Wright's  interesting blog post “Udderly All About Milk”  link here