beyond the edge

You know you're getting on in age when the purchase of an expensive pot makes you happy.

The fact that I'm posting about this is in tribute to every student's favourite pastime...procrastination.

Myer was having a 50% off if you purchase 2 items sale last weekend (which is also on this weekend), and since I've been wanting a smaller pot than my 24cm Le Creuset casserole for ages, I made the snap purchase ($150 instead of the RRP$300). The second item was an unexciting Maxwell & Williams ceramic pot which will probably barely get used.

But! I now have a 18cm Staub cocotte! It's so cute! Even if it's a rather monochromatic shade of grey. It's just the right size for 1.5 person's worth of soup noodles, or 2 person's worth of soup! And probably just a bit on the small side when I tried making the Vietnamese tomato beef stew (Bo Kho).

And now I'm eyeing a 20cm pot +/- a 22cm pot..................................

Who would have thought that pots could be a sinkhole of doom?

Random gems of research
- Le Creuset has the widest range of colours and Staub a particularly limited range in Australia. Both brands have some specialty pots (tomato and pumpkin). Le Creuset in particular has some nice Asia-only colours and styles.
- Both Le Creuset and Staub import smaller pots only to Asian countries. For example, you'll find east Asian outlets all selling 14, 16, 18 and 20cm pots. I am yet to find an Australian outlet that sells a Staub 20cm, or a Le Creuset in anything smaller than 20cm (i.e. 14-18). In the same vein, maybe because Asian wives go for the whole cutesy thing, you get the brighter colours and the girly flower-shaped or heart-shaped pots...only in Asia. Sigh.
- What exactly qualifies as Australian cuisine anyway? How come we only get the boring round/oval casseroles? Le Creuset has some nice pot shapes overseas, including the popular-in-east-Asia Marmite/Chef's pan style, which has a sloped bottom to make stirfrying a bit more amenable while also being a versatile soup saucepan; and the American website also has a "Balti dish" for Indian cuisine.
- Staub is heavier than Le Creuset, though with my 24cm pot you probably won't care about the difference (your wrists get sore pretty quickly!) The 18cm is just the right sort of heft, a bit heavier than my Scanpan saucepan which has a pretty heavy base and long heavy handles. The only visible benefit is that - what they say is true - Staub is less likely to spill over on simmering. I need to recheck this with Le Creuset as I have had experiences of it spilling over and also of it not spilling when I expect it to. However, I was very impressed while making the Bo Kho that I had the Staub pot filled to the brim and it didn't spill despite it being on a higher setting than what my stainless steel saucepan can tolerate without spilling.
- Does it retain flavour better? Possibly. Previously I've always needed to add sugar to balance the sourness in the tomatos, but this time it was fine just with the sweetness it apparently extracted from the carrots and turnip. I don't know if that's the pot or the turnip, though XD
- The black enamel of Staub needs a bit of seasoning to start with, but the white enamel of Le Creuset has a problem with staining, so they both need to be looked after.
- As with all enamelled cast iron pots, the caring instructions is extensive - slow and patient seems to be the buzz here, from the cooking to the cleaning.
- Sizes: everyone is different, but a 14cm is probably just enough for a child's meal. 16cm would be okay for a one person portion of noodles (but will be a bit cramped trying to cook). 18cm would be for 1-3 people. The 24cm I rarely use because of how heavy it is and how rare that I need to stew something that big. Might be about right for a whole chicken, or about 4-5 person's worth of congee.

So what am I looking forward to now? Well, either a 20cm (more practical) or a 22cm (more accessible). There's also a Japanese brand called Vermicular that has apparently been doing the rounds in Asia and is very well-reviewed. It has some nice pearly pastels that appeal to the Asian palate, and some nice design quirks courtesy of Japanese attention to detail. Price-wise it is actually more expensive than the French traditional factories, and as a new brand it remains to be seen whether the quality will hold up (although these days artisan stuff "Made in Japan" is a pretty solid brand in itself).

I need to recheck to see if the difference between spillage is true for Le Creuset vs Staub...I've been wanting a 20cm Le Creuset (the colours!) but will definitely get a Staub if the spillage is a real problem since oven-cooking is pretty low on my priorities and it's mainly stovetop simmering that I need to do.

I've also been lemming some cute Le Creuset ramekins...might stimulate my itch to make cakes again...

Nothing beats a hearty tomato soup to stave off the winter chill...or what's left of it as the cold wind propels us along to summer. Most cuisines have some variation of it, whether it's the minestrone or solianka or the Vietnamese Bo Kho.

I make this often enough that I thought I should write the recipe down instead of looking it up every time.

Ingredients
Essentials
Curry powder: I use a Chinese mix, but almost every curry mix is different so find one you like
Onion
Tomatos or tomato paste
Beef: brisket, or chuck steak works very well too

Nice to have
Fish sauce: the presence of fish sauce defines this as Vietnamese, but it's not essential
Pepper
Lemongrass
Bay leaf
Chinese five spice powder: there are a number of spices that are not usually present in curry, in particular star anise and a higher proportion of cinnamon
Garlic
Vegetables: carrot, radish, potatos, parsnip, celery are some ideas

1. Cut everything into 1-2cm size cubes
2. Marinate the beef in curry powder, fish sauce, five-spice powder and pepper. This is the most important step, especially if you're Asian and don't like the taste of gamy beef.
3. Brown onions and garlic, then brown the beef on all sides
4. Add water and throw in all the vegetables. Add the tomato paste, lemongrass and bay leaf
5. Simmer for 1.5-2 hours (the beef will start getting coarse after this). Skim the oil and fat off.
6. Add salt and more pepper to taste

Had half a kilo of mince left over from the weekend because mum never got around to using it, so I finally made what I've wanted to make for a long time, the Japanese "hamburg".

It's actually much simpler than I thought. ~300g of mince, 1/4 cup bread crumbs, 1 egg, a few teaspoons of water and milk, about a teaspoon of salt and copious amounts of pepper (just because XD). Also added some diced onions and grated carrots for the sake of it.

It was really nice~~ and super peppery XDDD

It's soft enough that people who can't chew hard food can still eat it without any trouble~

And threw the leftover carrot and some cabbage in the pot and skimmed some of the fried meat bits and made really yummy miso soup~ A full meal in one ♥

Totally ignored the recipe's complex instructions about making red wine sauce too LOL

Shall try tantanmen tomorrow with the leftover mince =3= Wonder if it'll be okay without chilli oil LOL

So let me tell you the story about a scary hotel that I once lived in (LOL)

Last weekend because of some lapse in communication between my dorm, the uni and me, they were apparently pre-booked for a conference over the weekend and proceeded to kick everyone out. Because it was such last minute notice and it was December and most of the inner city hotels were booked out over weekends, I ended up being booked into a dingy little place opposite 師大 called 泰安.

Frankly if I had done the booking I would never look for a hotel that charges by the hour...especially this close to Japan LOL.

( Snip for length )
Was an absolute relief when I got back to my dorm after three nights =0=;;;;



Spent most of Christmas having 2min noodles in dorm because overblew my budget buying REALLY CHEAP TEXTBOOKS *_____*

Don't worry guys, my 2min noodles are always 豪華版（群毆） XDDDDDDDDD Noodlesx4 ($41) + lettuce 4 servings ($41) + tofux4 ($39) + eggsx4 ($24)...less than $40 a bowl, which is less than $1.50AUD XDDDD

Clickie to follow me~

This picture almost didn't make it on time XDD

Christmas is actually a really boring time of the year because nothing...NOTHING is showing in any part of the world |||Orz North American series take a break, Japanese dramas have just ended their season and the new season doesn't start til mid-Jan...SIGH. I wonder if anyone will sub the Gokusen movie after its Christmas Eve screening? *___*

It will be Gokusen against Hana Yori Dango, so unfortunately I think Gokusen is going to lose out. I want to see how Shun looks like in Gokusen though ♥

Tokyo Dogs ending was pretty sweet. I think given the badly organised and badly written plot, the actors did a pretty good job of getting a nice onscreen chemistry going. I still don't like Yoshitaka Yuriko's face but she can act, which is more than I can say for other girls her age and more famous than her... (Apparently she's going out with Tamaki? O_o; Watch out for Ueno-san, love)

Went around taking photos of Christmas decorations tonight. It's becoming a pre-Christmas tradition XD Ate at Ajisen Ramen because Ramen Kan was closed (I really wanted to eat the tsukemen there, damn it!!!)...the soup base wasn't as bad as I've heard, but the chashu wasn't as nice as they used to make it at Menya. Unfortunately Menya's getting a bit stingy with toppings these days ==;;;

There were a lot of people waiting at Darling Harbour for the fireworks to start, and there were a lot of families still around at 10pm looking at the Christmas tree in Martin Place. David Jones actually change their window decorations every year! It featured a lot of animals this year and dryads(?) whom we thought were Peter Pan. There were lions dining on a pie of birds...is it a biblical reference? O_o;;

My Boxing Day movie watching tradition/streak will be broken this year...so sad T_T

So after drooling about Hayashi rice for a year now ever since Ryusei no Kizuna made a big deal about it, I finally made a version of Hayashi rice I like!

I've tried it twice before, once with Hayashi rice roux blocks and another time from scratch, but it just tasted a bit boring. Then again, maybe it's only tasting nicer today because I'm starving?

I used the recipe from here: Otoko no Ryouri XDDD

I love stuff that attaches "otoko no ryouri" to the front. It means it's 10x simpler and will probably taste pretty good, although most likely not authentic.

Yeah, it's in Japanese, because I figured if I'm going to make Hayashi-rice tasting Hayashi rice, I should go to a Japanese website instead of an English one ==;

I ran out of dashi so I chucked in a whole spoonful of chicken stock instead, and I also added a bit of Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce simply because I remember the proper recipe had those ingredients, and it can't harm XD

The end result turned out a lot redder/purpler than what it looks in those photographs, maybe because I used tomato sauce instead of tomatos? And probably because of the red wine I have ~~; The taste of the red wine is pretty strong though since it goes right in the roux so I suggest you pick a good wine Orz

( Simple Hayashi rice recipe translation )

Japan begins its first trial by jury, which reminds me I've never managed to finish Majo Saiban ==;; Oh well, not finishing stuff is pretty typical of me XDDD

I went with jkylk to some stew/hotpot (not steamboat) place in Hurstville for lunch yesterday. The flavour's really nice, but they don't give you any vegetables, and I don't like being a carnivore =__=;;;;; I also managed to pick four hairs out of the rice and the waitress explained it was "oh, that's from the beef, don't worry", at which I was tempted to ask, "Then can I run a PCR analysis on them?" but she wouldn't have known what PCR was. I'm craving ramen, as usual =/ I swear...when I first ate ramen I didn't like it, but it grows on you. Too bad Menya chashu looks so mangled and yuck now.


Going Postal now has an incomplete cast list!!! I've never seen anything of Richard Coyle's stuff, but at least his face could pass as immemorable, although I don't think this is usually a compliment ==; I wonder if Vimes appears. Probably not =( I can't believe how high Angua is on the list though. In the book she only appeared as a werewolf Orz


Orthros no Inu is so cool. The story isn't actually getting anywhere, but I swear...this is probably the first time in many years that I'm watching a drama just for the guys.

Takki好帥~~~好幾年沒看他的戲了，都忘了他有多帥。記得LotR剛出來時還覺得Orlando Bloom跟他長得有點像。其實Takki的戲我好像只看過Antique ==;;;; 本來説想看Strawberry on Shortcake最後也沒看成。真的很多年沒看到Takki了~~好懷念好懷念♥ 當時KT還只是一幫沒出道的小鬼在後面給Takki伴舞啊~ Takki的演技怎樣我不太清楚，但是他的氣質真得很厲害♥ 一直覺得Takki雖然歌唱的不好、長的不一定很帥、演技不是最出色、人品不是很好，但他真的很有領導天賦，而且他真的是很耀眼。不像某木頭君=__=++

小亮也很帥~~說實在的我對他的期望本來不大==;;; 他是……演本色的時候最厲害 ==;;;;; 《流星》里他好可愛好自然，但是Last Friends里那個木然的表情可以跟山下木頭君比上下了 ==;;;;; Orthros的角色不算難演，不過性格是跟小亮差很多啦，當初還擔心他能不能演好那麽柔弱的角色呢 XDDD

小光好厲害~ 支持小光出演594（會有麽）。自金八以後小光好像就沒有上過電視劇，要説這是他第一次作爲“大人”出現在屏幕上……真的，自然得讓人吃驚。不像多數J家出來的孩子，演戲還不忘了耍帥，時不時還擺一下Pose……整個很做作的模樣 Orz 小光好像不是想把這個角色“演帥”，而是“演好”。J家孩子畢竟走舞臺走多了，走路的樣子都很……耀 Orz 但小光感覺很自然，很“普通”，是因爲他在舞臺上也不怎麽喜歡炫耀？不太清楚 ==;;; 不過畢業後初次出演竟然演反派……好大膽，公司好大膽（拇指），早就看膩了只演正派的J家人了 ==;;;;

Yumcha is just not the same after you've done anatomy.

I mean I've eaten 牛雜 before (best translated as "Cow Whatevers", although actually referring to innards LOL). See, I have to call them innards, because it wasn't just entrails. I mean I've eaten entrails before...and I used to, once upon a time, quite like cow intestines.

But last Sunday went with parents for Yumcha and gwaah...the 牛雜 that came was like a bowl of specimens from the anatomy lab. It's like...wow, I can see the small intestines...the colon...the stomach (and hey, it even still has its rugae!)...and two giant chunks of cow LUNG. Like what the heck. I mean it might have been liver (it did rather taste like liver) and I'm not quite familiar with cow anatomy to know how big a cow liver is meant to be, but it was bit more lobular than what I'd expect of a liver. And the fact that there seemed to be structures that looked rather like the hilar vessels, just smaller. So they were probably bronchi.

There was even the mesenteric fat. Or maybe it's called peritoneal fat. And is that the peritoneum I'm now eating?

I normally quite like chicken kidneys (giblets) but that's because you can't tell it actually IS a kidney.

Wow...that dish totally turned me off food for the rest of the meal. Do not like the thought of conducting an anatomy lesson while eating. Gwaah.

(Incidentally, I've found myself staring at pork spine and thinking..."hey that looks almost exactly like a human lumbar spine but bigger and thicker and the zygapophyseal joints are at different angles" before I facepalm.)