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Friday, December 18, 2009

Food Trip Friday 015: Pizza a la Sreisaat



Pizza a la Sreisaat





'Twas one of those days when I suddenly had the urge to eat pizza. But, Mama mia! I didn't have enough moolah to buy one from my favorite pizzeria. So I raided the fridge, then the cupboard, to assess whether I have the basic ingredients for pizza. The wheels in my head started to turn, and my hands began rockin' and rollin' the dough. An hour or so later... e tanto!!! Pizza delizioso!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Wordless Wednesday 034: M-EGGS-tery



mutant eggs
Can you spot the not?

Visit other Wordless entries here

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Food Trip Friday 014: Arepa de Venezuela



Hello, dear FoodTrippers. My consultancy jobs are over and I am now back and ready for more foodtrips! This week I am featuring something I made borne out of a challenge by my dear Venezuelan friend, Luis Manuel. It's called arepa, a traditional delicacy and considered the national bread of Venezuela. It was my first time to make arepa when I accepted Luis Manuel's challenge and was excited to see if I could pull it off.

Arepa is a corn-based snack, made from corn flour, baked and lightly fried, and served with a multitude of fillings. For examples, combinations of black beans and meat; mashed mayonnaise, chicken and avocado; scrambled eggs with peppers tomatoes and onions, and a lot more. Arepas are surprisingly easy to make. You mix the corn flour with salt and water, cook it on a griddle and stuff it with whatever you have on hand. In my case, at that time, I had left over fried chicken and coleslaw salad. When my arepa "buns" are done, I scooped out a bit of the insides and spread butter on and stuffed them with my chicken-coleslaw filling and sprinkled with a bit of mozzarella cheese. Yum! These delicious self-contained arepas are excellent for breakfast, lunch or dinner. For me, arepas filled my hungry stomach up instantly.

arepa

In the future, I will make experiments to improve my arepa (prevent it from being dry) and cook up more yummy fillings. I hope Luis Manuel was here to sample the results, and I wonder if I would have gotten a passing grade? My husband, although it was his first time to eat arepas, said it wasn't bad at all.



A birthday dinner to remember

After several weeks of being busy with the international conference that I helped organised, I am finally free and ready to continue my food trips. I was relieved that the last of the participants left Phnom Penh on my husband's birthday. After sending them off, I immediately sprung into action and planned a simple dinner.

For our food, I decided to prepare my husband's favorite food. Nothing fancy, just his favorite samlor kari saramann, nom pang (local version of French baguette), beer, and of course, his birthday cake.

Cooking kari samlor saramann is a story in itself. It is easy to make, however, preparing the ingredients for the curry paste is quite tedious. Aside from picking the fresh ingredients from the market, you'll need the strength in pounding these herbs and spices into a curry paste.

Anyhow, when you've put on so much effort in making the food, it also follows that you set them in beautiful stoneware for a delightful dining experience. I tried something different this time. I set out the table in our living room and put out my best linens, usually reserved for special occasions such as this. And for a romantic finish, I lit dozens of tea lights.

It was a great intimate birthday dinner, just the two of us. I'm glad he loved every bit of it.