Lunch 2021

Presunto · March 7, 2021, 7:46pm

I always save the shells for an intense stock

We had a mini hot pot using the shrimp stock. In background is spinach, lime wedges, chilli sauce, mung bean noodles. First time eating prawns in so long. We farm all kinds of seafood here and recently also prawns. Now I can eat prawns again and they come from only a few hours away.

A country house with a long driveway and a nice old iron gate.

The same gate. Here you see the effect of a large aperture. f0.95 is an incredible aperture if you can nail the focus. The quality of the blurred background (“bokeh”/pronounced “beau-queh”, a Japanese term) is one of the things this kind of lens is measured by.

A country path

Bokeh again

We kept seeing this lone stork in this spot on the way back from the woods. It seems sad. It’s not supposed to be here.

Golden hour stork flapping wings

Mr_Happy · March 9, 2021, 2:21am

Spanish rice, pinto beans with queso fresco, fried egg, tortillas.

Mr_Happy · March 10, 2021, 1:16am

I made a batch of pork for khao kha muu on Sunday with a couple pork hocks I had in the freezer. Followed a recipe from Pok Pok by Andy Ricker which has the interesting addition of Milo, a malted chocolate beverage powder.

PXL_20210308_090231462

Heated some up today for lunch.

Lambchop · March 10, 2021, 1:24am

Looks great! I’ll have to mark that recipe in my book. Love going to PokPok in Portland, and took a cooking class (gifted) with DD2 in Seattle, cooking out of the book. Fun time, and good memory.

2 questions: did you or would you (next time) make any changes to the recipe? Also, I’m assuming Milo powder can be easily found in Asian markets? TIA

Lambchop · March 10, 2021, 1:26am

@Presunto - your photos of the countryside/village where you live look like fairy tales to me. Hauntingly beautiful!

Mr_Happy · March 10, 2021, 2:02am

Thanks! What did you make in the class? Anything particularly good? I’ve been to Pok Pok in Portland only once and enjoyed it but didn’t have this dish there, I’m not sure if it was even on the menu. Unfortunately Pok Pok has closed and chef Ricker himself has relocated to Thailand.

I made some changes - the recipe calls for cilantro root which I can’t find nearby so I just used stems. Also it called for pork shanks and I use pork hocks which are bonier. Otherwise mostly followed the recipe and thought it came out pretty well.

I couldn’t find it within walking distance so I just got a can off Amazon for probably an inflated price. I think you may be able to find it in some Asian or Latin markets.

Lambchop · March 10, 2021, 2:32am

Thanks @Mr_Happy. Just checked my notes from the class. We made Central Thai-Style Papaya Salad, Spicy, Sweet and Tart Noodles with Pork, Peanuts and Herbs, Purim Naam Som, Phrik Phon Khua, Krathiem Jiaw and Naam Man Krathiem, Hom Daeng Jiaw and Naam Man Hom Daeng, Fish Sauce Wings, and Sticky Rice with Mango and Salty-Sweet Coconut Cream.

In the interest of time, most of the sauces were made by the staff, but we did all else, with (mostly) prepped ingredients.

Everything was absolutely outstanding, with the mango sticky rice being the best version I’ve had. EXCEPT for the fish sauce wings, a favorite, but these were inedible, and all wound up in the trash. The chef/instructor refused to admit he’d made a mistake when doing the conversion from the cookbook. I compared the class recipes with the cookbook when I got home, and there was X2 the salt in there that should have been. I can totally understand this happening, and had had them in the restaurant, so knew they weren’t right. Disappointing on the wings, but a lot of fun anyway.

In the resto, I had the beef boat noodles once, which were amazing, as well as the street corn with coconut crema. In fact, all I had there over the years was pretty fabulous, including cocktails.

I had no idea they’d closed down ops, and I’m pretty bummed now. But happy I got to eat there the few times I did, and that he wrote cookbooks!

In addition to the PokPok cookbook, there is another - The Drinking Foods of Thailand. I like it but haven’t cooked from it yet.

Mr_Happy · March 11, 2021, 4:10am

Thanks for the list, that’s a lot of dishes to make. Too bad about the wings - I had those at the restaurant and liked them a lot. I tried the recipe in the book for the wings and they came out pretty well although I fried them in an air fryer. Next time I will try deep frying them. I bought Pok Pok The Drinking Food of Thailand as well but haven’t made anything out of that yet either. I also have the noodle book that came out fairly recently - Pok Pok Noodles. I tried making the pad Thai recipe from that one, it came out pretty good. Not as sweet as many restaurant pad Thai renditions.

Lambchop · March 11, 2021, 5:06pm

Ooh, I had no idea there was a PokPok noodle book - it wasn’t on my radar at all. But it is now.

The chef who taught the cooking class said it was his most challenging - he and an assistant spent the entire day prepping and making the 4 or 5 sauces/spice pastes used in the dishes.

I’ll be remaking the wings from the book, and based on your experience will skip the air fryer. Fun chatting about the books - I had an extra copy of PokPok, and it was a stretch finding someone to gift it to even. That was before I started posting here.

Hope Andy gets nice and relaxed in Thailand, bored even, and comes back to reopen his restaurants. Or at the least, his flagship one @Mr_Happy.

Mr_Happy · March 11, 2021, 10:11pm

Patty melt with American cheese, pickle , cucumber & tomato salad, new-fangled Doritos.

brisket44 · March 11, 2021, 11:12pm

Roast chicken over rice with cilantro lime jalapeño sauce and pickled onions

DavidPF · March 12, 2021, 2:00am

…and obviously no avocado whatsoever.
That looks good!

brisket44 · March 12, 2021, 3:34am

That would explain why I keep getting fired from menu writing jobs.

Barca · March 12, 2021, 11:49am

CENTOLLO (CRAB APPETISER; VEGETARIAN CANNOLLONI; FRESH CATCH - WHITE TUNA AND RED TUNA SALAD)

paryzer · March 12, 2021, 2:05pm

Wow! Magnificent lunch and presentations/preparations! Beautiful pictures. Thank you for sharing. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Barca · March 12, 2021, 3:11pm

Thank you very much.

It was a lovely Traditional Spanish Lunch.

We shared all 4 plates. Though I had ordered the red tuna and the crab.
My dear had the white tuna and the cannellone.

Presunto · March 13, 2021, 4:39pm

Semolina pancakes. Made a syrup with blood oranges, the peel and lots of honey.

Some photos from past travels. The theme is Window Seat Landing (or take-off).

First trip to China in March 2006, via Finland.

Air quality in Peking… such a stark contrast.

Most countries have 1 standard customs form, China has 2. You have to declare you don’t have respiratory problems.

Quarter to 8pm in Krakow

The plane was parked right next to where I was standing here and it’s just a short walk to the building’s entrance.

Namibia now. Flight from the capital to Lüderitz. This was actually the second flight in 24 hours. The day before we couldn’t land due to a big sand storm so we had to turn around back to the capital. Next day first thing in the morning they sent an empty plane to take 5 of us to Lüderitz again.

I remember hearing the captain say “stewardess, please take your seat”. That means you are moments from landing. But for some reasons we kept going up and down for a long time and I was starting to have a case of nausea. Then the captain on the PA again saying we had to turn back. Everything was dusty on the other side of the window. Lüderitz is well known for having sand storms in the afternoon and it’s common planes have to turn around. We lost a day in Lüderitz and lost a pre-booked excursion. Namibia is expensive, but rather the loss of an excursion than our lives.

Marvellous views of the incredible Namib desert for the third time:

Stewardess asked what drink I wanted. Beer of course. When the first beer was finished she asked if I wanted another one. Don’t mind if I do! I also got biltong and toothpicks. Biltong is a common meat snack in Namibia and South Africa.

I took this photo moments before we took off. One stewardess, myself and 4 other passengers.

The airport

One of the ways to irritate Germans is to ignore the use of diacritical marks and also not adding an “e” to compensate for it. Like on the sign here:

Farking miss travelling!

Presunto · March 14, 2021, 6:24pm

Scrambled eggs, North Sea shrimps and pumpernickel.

bcc · March 14, 2021, 8:31pm

Were those semolina pancakes Moroccan Harscha?

Presunto · March 14, 2021, 8:43pm

Yes, very similar in texture but not quite so thick/high. It’s a nice change from the usual pancakes.