Lindt Excellence Peru

I was surprised the other day, that I had not tried the Peru origin bar in Lindt's Excellence line of Single Origin cacao; I had tried the 55% Cuba, the 65% Madagascar and the 75% Ecuador Single Origin cacao before. This one has 80% cacoa content, the cacao grown in the Amazonian Tropical Forests at the foot of the Peruvian Andes (as per the packaging). The ingredient listing is quite good, cocoa mass, cocoa powder, cocoa butter, sugar, soya lecithin and natural flavour (likely vanilla).

How does it taste. As good or even better than the Ecuador one, which I liked the best of the three. Very chocolatey, smooth, melts well in the mouth. Now I am glad I tried this one, and I will buy it again.

Kao Klook Kapi

This is a Thai dish of assembled pieces, the presentation is just as important as the taste. The Kapi of the recipe name is shrimp paste, which is salted dried very small shrimp; roast in the oven on 350F for 10 minutes or so, until it's fragrant. Golden Mountain season sauce is soy sauce, substitute your favourite if you can't find the Golden Mountain (which you can in most Chinese supermarkets). The Kao is rice; Klook in Thai means to mix well, you mix, for example, in some dishes, the shrimp paste and rice together. However, it tastes pretty good, another recipe to make again.

Kao Klook Kapi
2-1/2 cups steamed rice
1 Tbsp roasted kapi (shrimp paste)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1-2 Tbsp oil for stir-fry
2 eggs
5 long green beans, sliced into small pieces
1/2 green apple, julienned
4 shallots, sliced
1 small red or green chili, sliced
1/2 small cucumber, sliced
fried dried shrimp
coriander
sweet soya protein
1/4 cup mushroom stock
1 tsp palm sugar
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp Golden Mountain seasoning sauce

To prepare sweet soya protein, soak in hot water until soft. Then cook in a heavy pot on medium-high heat, adding mushroom stock. Season with palm sugar, fish sauce and seasoning sauce.

Separate the cooked rice well. Put some oil in a heavy pot on medium heat. When hot, add garlic and stir-fry until fragant. Lower the heat, add the kapi and stir fry. Add sliced long green bean and cook until done. Add steamed rice and stir-fry to mix well. Set aside.

Mix eggs well with a fork, then cook on medium heat in a heavy pot to make a thin omelette. Cut into thin slices.

Put rice with long beans on a plate; arrange well with sweet soya protein, fried dried shrimp, green apple, cucumber, sliced shallots, sliced chili. Garnish with coriander.

Osmanthus Fragrance Dancong Tea

Osmanthus is a flower from a small bush that can be combined with green tea to create a new flavour or fragrance, much like Jasmine flowers. You can have tea made with Osmanthus flowers, or combined with other green or black teas, but this is not that, it is a green tea that has Osmanthus Fragrance, and it smells, more subtly than not, kind of like peach, though I have read it is supposed to be apricot. We were told at the place we bought it, Zen Gardens, that it was a favourite of one of the former Chinese Emperors, and likely would have only been enjoyed by the Royal Court. Dancong teas, or single-bush teas, can imitate the flavours or fragrances of various flowers or fruits, like orange blossom or almond; as I say, this one tastes and smells, to me, more like peach, and I don't know whether it has the fragrance of apricot, and thus smells like osmanthus, or the other way around. Anyways, it makes a pleasant but not strong flavoured green tea.

Garlic Stems with Scallops

When I wrote about garlic stems almost two years ago, I alluded to a recipe for Suan Tai and Scallops. Here is my beautiful Bride's version of that recipe that my brother-in-law made. The garlic stems are the green tops that grow up out of the bulb where the garlic cloves mature. You can find these in almost any Chinese Supermarket, and some regular supermarkets now. We've made these as well with shrimp (6-7 per person), and a combination of the two (below, made with fresh Ontario garlic stems we bought in a Farmer's Market); both delicious.

Garlic Stems and Scallops
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp cane sugar
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp Golden Mountain seasoning sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 Tbsp chicken stock
1/2 tsp salt
6 large scallops, cut into four to five pieces
garlic stems, cut into small pieces to make 2-3 cups
ground white pepper, to taste

Fry garlic in 2 teaspoons oil until fragrant. Add sugar, fish sauce, Golden Mountain seasoning sauce, oyster sauce, chicken stock, salt and scallops, and stir-fry for 4 minutes, until scallops are nearly cooked. Add garlic stems and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle with ground white pepper. Serve hot with rice.

Enoki Mushrooms

Enoki mushrooms, Enokitake in Japanese, also called golden needle mushrooms, are very flavourful and can be used in a number of dishes. They keep fresh for about a week in the fridge, you can also buy them canned; fresh is definitely better. I've had them with hotpot, in stir-fries; they are mostly used in soups, and also in salads. I recently had them, because of an idea I saw in a Chinese Supermarket, in a omelette.

Enoki Mushroom Omelette
2-3 eggs
package Enoki mushrooms, stalks and tops
1 green onion, sliced thinly
1 tsp fish sauce
salt and pepper, to taste

Mix all ingredients together, then cook on medium heat for 3-4 minutes on one side, until golden brown, flipping over for 1-2 minutes. Serve warm, with rice.

Small Lindor Hazelnut Eggs

I got these from the Lindor Outlet, cute little, and tasty, Lindor hazelnut in the form of eggs.

Nativa Herb and Garlic Potato Chips

The Nativa Organics brand from Shopper's DrugMart has a number of offerings, this one looked intriguing, in that the herbs contains turmeric (along with basil and black pepper); this gives it an intriguing flavour, and a yellow colour, though the chips themselves taste a little too oily. Add to this parmesan cheese and garlic, overall all these chips are fairly, though probably not worth the extra money that you pay for the smaller bag of chips (even on sale as we bought them).

Durian Flavored Candy

Most of the Durian flavoured candies available, usually have artificial Durian flavour to make it taste like the King of Fruit; this one from Thailand I thought to try, because it has Durian juice as its third ingredient, which I like, and it does make it taste like Durian.

Yen Ta Fo

This is one of those assemble-your-own dishes, you can add as much or as little of the ingredients as you like. Prepare all the ingredients and place in separate dishes; guests can then assemble theirs the way they like it, adding more, or less, of each ingredient. The Yen Ta Fo sauce makes this dish (which you unfortunately can't quite see in the picture), the combination of the preserved bean curd and the preserved garlic give an intriguing salty vinegary taste; too, it is quite red, even redder when made in Thailand. If you like, and don't have a chicken carcass on hand, you can substitute either some chicken legs or thighs or breasts, or use chicken stock (just add the other ingredients and bring to a boil; cook for a few minutes for the flavours of the other ingredients to infuse the stock).

Yen Ta Fo
1/4 pkg Rice Flat noodle per person
1/2 lb morning glory
7 Shrimp per person
3-4 Fish ball per person
6 half pieces Puffy Fried Tofu per person
6 Fried wonton wrap per person
1 Tbsp Fried garlic per person
Sliced Coriander and Spring onion, as garnish
ground white pepper, to taste
1/4 lime per person
1/2 tsp sugar per person
1 bird's eye chili per person, sliced then crushed in a mortar and pestle
Yen Ta Fo Sauce (see below for recipe)
Chicken Soup (see below for recipe)

Blanch noodle and morning glory. Place in individual large soup bowls, the morning glory on the noodles.

Blanch shrimp 3-4 minutes, till red and cooked. Blanch fish balls and fried puffy tofu for 2-3 minutes, until warmed through. Arrange all on noodles. Add Yen Ta Fo Sauce on top of noodles, about 2-3 tablespoons.

Add, as desired, soup, fried garlic, sugar, sliced coriander, spring onion, white ground pepper, ground chili, lime juice and fried wonton wrap (to fry, fold wonton wrappers in half and fry in oil until golden brown).

Mix all together before eating.

Yen Ta Fo Sauce
3 pieces preserved bean curd
1/3 cup tomato sauce (not ketchup)
3 Tbsp preserved garlic water and crushed preserved garlic
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Grind preserved bean curd and mix together with the rest of the ingredients. It should taste salty; if not, add more salt.

Chicken Soup
Chicken carcass
big chunk of daikon
4-5 crushed garlic cloves
1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
1/2 Tbsp Golden Mountain seasoning sauce

Add water in the pot; heat on high. Wait until the water is boiling, then put in chicken carcass. Once the water is boiling again, add daikon, crushed garlic cloves and season with fish sauce and Golden Mountain seasoning sauce. Let it boil on medium heat (high heat will make the soup cloudy) for 45 minutes to one hour.

Mrs. Fields Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've enjoyed some of Debbi Field's baked goods over the years, it used to be I could only find them in the States, on my odd trip to Boston (there was one rest stop with a Mrs. Fields that I hit several times), but now there's one in the mall across the road from me. And lately, I've seen them for sale in various supermarkets. Their appeal is in their moistness and excellent taste, and these don't disappoint. They're good, a little too sweet for my tastes and compared to the ones I make, the ingredient listing is too long, but a good indulgence now and again.