Inspiration ...

After watching Master Chef (The UK equivalent of Top Chef) I had an inkling to try something new. Since I've also found some decent priced dishes, I thought it would be worth while to try a new new recipe.  This is actually my first time handling a whole fish, usually it comes to me cut and cleaned.

This is a fresh sea bream bought at the local market. Did not want to make a mess of the kitchen so I got it descaled from the fish monger.

Technically I did not need to gut the fish, but it was good practise. Apparently the key is not to break any of the organs which will affect the taste of the fish if it did.

It took more time than it should, but it worked out well in the end. All that was left was head & bones. I threw the bones away but what I really wanted to do is deep fry the thing and eat it!

Not bad if I say so myself, the cut could be cleaner though. Simply add salt & pepper right before pan frying.

This is the finished product, surprisingly it took no time to cook the fish. I even had time to warm the plate in the oven.

Pan Seared Sea Bream in Truffle Oil

Accompanied by Butternut Squash & Broccoli Frites

On top of Roasted Potatoes & Mushroom Madeira Sauce

With a sprinkling of toasted Pine Nuts

My New Flat! ...

I've moved in for a month now, but nothing has really changed since then. I haven't bought any new furniture except a single dinner tray table. Well, I guess it is dirtier now. It's still a studio, but brand new and up on a higher level. It was night out when I took this pic so there's no view to show you. There's also a long balcony that runs along the length of the windows, can't wait until summer to use it. Gotta love the pot lights tho.

This is the bedroom area, I negotiated having the landlord buy a bed. The most negotiation I did in my life! Also asked the landlord to put in a wardrobe. As for heat, they still use the radiator system here in the UK.

The washroom reminds me of a hotel room, but it has hot water! Something that was missing in my last flat. Although the flat is bit farther from work, it is well worth it.

I think is the best part is the kitchen, there's even enough storage room for everything which is rare for London standards. Can you spot the fridge? It is basically the kitchen cabinet located left of the oven. It is rather small, but suffice for one person.

Well that's the tour of my flat, come join me if you like the place. Let me know first since I will need to go out and buy an inflatable bed. You can occupy the whole living room if you want!

Few days in Paris ...

It has been a while since I had time to upload any pix onto the blog, but time flies before you know it. Enjoy!

These are Paris pix taken in early September when the weather was actually still warm! This is view in front of my hotel room. The architecture is widely different than North America, it feels like your in a different world in itself.

It was the weekend when I got to Paris and unbeknown to me all the stores close on Sundays. Luckily the Louvre was open and of course, one of the spots I wanted to visit. It wasn't the sunniest of days, but at least we didn’t have to wait in line for long.

Once inside, it took forever to look at all the exhibits. Therefore, we opted to leave 4 hours after and viewing only 2/3rds of the place. This picture was taken in the central courtyard of the Louvre. The gentleman beside the pyramids allows you to gauge the proportions. 


The next day, I went for stroll down the Seine River. It was lovely and definitely different than looking at Lake Ontario.

After a nice dinner at Laduree on Champs-Elysees, I made my way to Arc de Triomphe. Unfortunately it was closed by then but was still able to take a pic across the street.

On the way home, I had to stop off at the Tour Eiffel since time was of the essence and didn't have time to visit again. People told me it looks better at night and I actually am inclined to agree.

There are many small  nooks & crannies in Paris, it gives you the feeling of a bicycle riding small town feeling.

In the most unlikely places...

This pic was taken in a small street near the Big Ben. At first I thought it was a strip of apartments, but if you look closely you will see they are restaurants.

Church Cathedral...

There are a lot of churches over here, and most of them look the same. This one is near London Bridge.

Pathway ...

Basically one of the many walkways you can walk to the other side of the river.

South Bank Street ...

This is one of the random streets near the river, basically you can see the typical architecture in London in which each building has its own style.

Walking along the river Thames ...

Not that I didn't have time to post new items, just that it took some time to edit pictures, condense the files and find enough bandwidth to upload them. Enjoy, as there is more to come...

This is a panoramic view of a small section of the river Thames, known as the South Bank. It wasn't the sunniest day for pictures but was for a long walk.

I Feel Like Chicken Tonight ...

Wanting to try something new with the leftover chicken thighs (from bulk again),  I decided to separate the skin from the meat and prepare them separately. The skin was oven crisped with salt & pepper, while the meat was pan fried. There was something missing, so I added some colour by incorporating cheesy vegetable mash & balsamic red wine reduction to enhance the flavour.   

Grilled Chicken layered with crispy skin & vegetable mash

The food actually looks bigger than it really is, it is meant as an appetizer portion. After taking the pic, I basically dumped a bowl of rice on top and dug in.

A Day At The Park ...

It was a beautiful day last weekend so I decided to scroll into the Greenwich Park and become a tourist. Besides touring the astronomy building and walking on the Zero time line (more pics to come later), I was also able to get some sunbathing in. Unfortunately the sunlight did not have much affect on my rather pale skin.

This is one of my favourite pics I've taken so far and it's not photoshopped either, lol. Basically it is one of the many walkways in the Park, and vaguely reminds me of Central Park for some reason. It was cloudy at that moment and improved the quality of the shot.

Leftovers Galore ...

Somehow during the course of buying groceries in the last 2 weeks, it seems I have collected a variety of ingredients which are highly perishable. Not sure if it is due to the humidity, but the produce stays fresher in the fridge here than in Canada. My family usually helps me get rid of all the food, but this time guess it's all up to me!




In Britain they love their bacon, it is also different than the bacon in North America. They use slabs of back bacon here, which is a bit thicker and a fuller cut. I chose the double smoked apple wood bacon, it tastes great in a burger by the way. The local cheese here is also a bit different, it is more pungent and flavourful. In the pic, you will see two different kind of cheeses; the lighter one is called White Cheshire and the creamier one is called Vintage Country Farmhouse Cheddar.





Unsure of what to do with all this food and not wanting to over think, I decided what better way than to wrap it all up!

It was a bit difficult to render a picture with all its content nicely tucked inside, so I used a glass to prop it up. Think it did the trick!

My First UK Job ...

As we all know, London can be quite expensive to live in. Therefore to supplement my lifestyle, I was able to get a temp job at Harrods.

For those who have not been to London before, it is basically a big department store similar to Holt Renfrew but a bit larger. Since there is only one in the world, it is a big tourist destination.

Apparently Harrods has 2 big sales every year, one in the summer and one in winter. I applied for a temp sales rep job, but I am currently doing some admin clerical work. The sale does not start until June, so do not now what is to come...

It is an interesting place to work, definately different. I have to walk through an underground tunnel every morning to get into the building. Employees are not allowed to use the main doors. Also, even with my employee discount, I still can't afford anything. lol!

Since most of my time was spent at Harrods, I wasn't able to update this blog as much. Will post up more pix in the next couple of days!

Another Lamb Dish ...

Since I bought two packages of lamb mince on special, needed to find some other way of utilizing this ingredient besides making burgers.

This is my take on the Chinese version of mince beef with egg on rice. I purposely slanted the rice for different appeal but not sure if I really like the outcome. Nonetheless, it turned out the same once everything was mixed together and in my stomach.

The Joy of Parking ...

Now and then I hear these random chain rattling noises outside my flat. This time I actually got up from my comfy couch and checked it out.

Turns out a parking permit is a pretty valuable commodity in the complex. If you do not have one, you get your tires chained to a triangular plate.

After a couple hours, the chain rattling started again.  I knew it must be the owner of the 1 Series (118i) coming to get his car back.

Apparently it costs around $200 CAD to get the triangular plate off. And I thought parking tickets at 797 Don Mills were bad.

Just in case, chose to use this blurred pic for privacy issues, lol.

First Home Made Dinner

Now that I have settled down a bit and have extra time. I had the chance to make home made lamb burgers. With the limited stock of ingredients I had, it came out pretty tasty!

Lamb Burger (Marinated with sauteed red wine onions with Herbs Du Provence)
over toasted Naan topped with Creamed Horseradish & Courgettes. 

Traveling Abroad...On a Budget

As I am currently on a budget, the best thing to do was to buy ingredients in bulk. But that doesn't mean I wanted to eat the same meal all the time. Therefore, using the same ingredients I made two relatively different dishes.

Green Curry Lamb Chop Stir Fry with Courgettes

Pan Fried Lamb Chops with Mint Jelly & Sauteed Courgettes 

The Competition...

While walking in central London, there was Laduree in the tiniest spot all covered in gold. Apparently these fresh Macarons are shipped in from Paris each morning.

 

As you can tell they make a lot of different varieties, not sure which ones to copy yet. (Salted Caramel, Strawberry, Vanilla, & Rose)

Pistachio, Lemon, Chocolate, & Bitter chocolate

We bought a couple to try, lemon was my favourite. Guess there is a lot of work ahead to perfect this recipe.

French Macarons!

This is what I have done today, made Macarons. With the help of my friend Christine, we tried out this Hazelnut & Dark Chocolate recipe. For the most part, it turned out great! Just needs some minor tweaking.

I also had a chance to play with my camera which is also a plus. Still need to learn all the functions on it though. We were thinking of making different Macarons and selling it at the local Greenwich Market. Currently someone is selling cupcakes for 2 pounds each! Hoping we can cash in on the tourists too.

If you want to know more about the market:
http://www.greenwichmarket.net/

Better yet, you can always come to London and help.

First Home Dinner

This was the first home cooked dinner I had in my new flat. Although it is not from scratch, it is pretty good! It is Meat Cappelletti (Proscuitto & Grana Padano) topped with Tomato & Marscarpone sauce. Also had fresh baked butter baguette. Can't forget the red wine, but unfortunately do not have any wine glasses yet. Therefore, had to drink it out of a mug  

Finally moved in!

Below is a virtual tour of my flat. It is well kept but still has its problems. The day before I moved in there was a big leak from the ceiling in the washroom. There wasn't any electricity and the washing machine wasn't working. All has been fixed now!

Will upload some pics from outings when I have a chance. Cheers. 

Kitchen

This is the kitchen, smaller than I am used to but pretty satisfied. Besides the backsplash, I would have chosen stainless steel and a glass table as well. It also has a garburator! 

Facilities

LEFT: There is a complex pool for lap swimming. Haven't tried it though.

 RIGHT: Beside the pool is the gym. It has the same equipment as GoodLife, so all is good. Went for the first time today. 

My Bed & Bathroom

RIGHT: The bed is spacious enough, but not used to the independent radiator. Did not go big on the bed spread, went to the local wal-mart equivalent. Maybe someone can share their 1000 thread count egyptian set?

LEFT: This is the 3 piece bathroom, it's pretty modern but the shower door is finicky.

Window

This is the only window in the whole flat, but it's pretty nice to have the double doors. The weather has been pretty nice the couple days so the breeze is a nice adjustment from all the rain.

Balcony

RIGHT: At the far back you can see the Tube system which is literally 2 minutes walk away. My neighbour isn't really that close to me, it's just the zoom on the camera.









LEFT: The south side of my building taken from my "balcony". There aren't many cars right now, but usually packed along the sides.

My Flat!

This is the main entrance to my building. It is basically a complex made up of 10+ buildings. The funny thing is they all have American names (Alaska, California, etc). If you look closely, you can spot my flat.