My Latte Art Chronicle

I love my coffee and can't quite do without having a caffeine jab in a day.  Any overdose of almost anything as a rule of thumb, is going to have an adverse effect and the same hold true for coffee drinking.

Consuming 5-6 cups in an afternoon for an entire week, shall just about reach that point of diminishing returns for me.  

What has been happening lately when I have not been blogging is that, I have been practising some latte art - the often enticing, eye-pleasing work of art that sits on top of your lovely Caffe Latte.   I have to admit one can't quite get there without wasting a considerable amount of milk.  And the pouring has taken me - a long time to get past the internal organs stage of latte art.  


Embarrassing as it is, I have decided to share with you a chronicle of my progressing learning curve.   Please note the use of your imagination is a prerequisite in appreciating (some of) the art involved.


Day 1 - 2 : Nothing happened but repeats of this disappointing lump of foam.

Day 3: An attempt to wiggle "something" - I refuse to admit it looks like an insect, so - a bat it is.

Day 4: You messed up, but learned to cover up with some chocolate sauce, just about passed the eyes of the beholders.

Day 5:  This has to be a rose.  Come on, it has to be.  Ok. A wilted rose.

Day 6:  A Rosetta or a fern - Withstood under a strong gust of wind so half of it got blown away. 

Day 7:  A side view of rose petals.  No?  

Day 8:  Christmas came early - can you see Santa Clause smiling at you?

Day 9:  Just when you thought you got a slight hang of things...a bear and an octopus came to haunt you!













Oh well, I can also do a rendition of my small intestine...and yes I can pour a mean pancreas too and my spleen ain't bad either! 


Practice makes perfect they say.  At least I am pulling pretty good shots and steaming useful microfoam on day 10.  Till the next time you meet a horizontally grown Alampy - wish her luck!

How Much Does A Soul Weigh?

Some believes the body becomes 21 grams lighter at the moment of death, seems to believe that is the weight of the human soul.  Rationally speaking, I don't buy that, but as a marketer, I do buy Din Tai Fung's great use of this idea in their marketing campaign (or the lack of it really).  

Din Tai Fung, for those who don't know, is a famous Taiwanese dumpling chain which has international presence.  The phenomenon of the chain continues to be startling since it was ranked one of the world's top 10 restaurants by The New York Times and more recently awarded one Michelin star in a branch in Hong Kong.

Their food is tasty, no question about that.  What fascinates me, is the art in making those dumplings to precise standards. The dough is rolled to a 6.5cm disc, 16 grams of meat to go in, so that each is to weigh 21 grams and to be wrapped exactly with 18 folds!  No more, no less.  Precisely - that's the soul of the dumpling, the soul of Din Tai Fung, that is there to capture your soul.  

How good is that?

We all have our own ways of eating these delicate dumplings with some ending in disastrous outcomes I am sure - spilled soup or worse, scalded tongues.  

Much to the embarrassment of your dining partner, next time when you are there, take your mini scale out (just kidding)...you might want to pick one up with your chopsticks and examine the broth sloshing inside and go count the number of folds on them before you gobble the parcel (I mean the soul). 

 
 

What Makes Good Coffee Better?

"Ah, that is perfume in which I delight, when they roast coffee near my house, I hasten to open the door to take in all the aroma." 

Jean Jacques Rousseau





Coffee is probably the most complex food known to man.  It has over a thousand of flavour components and the nearest comparison would be red wine with 450 chemical compounds in the flavour make-up.  And then we go roast it - resulting in different chemicals being burnt away, others changing, adding to the complexity.

Low-quality beans give bad coffee - that's a no-brainer.
High-quality beans yield bad coffee - that's called disastrous.
High-quality beans end up in a perfect up - that's great but it is just half the story. 


In my recent visits to Taiwan and South Korea, I have stumbled upon some fantastically impressive cafes.  And to my surprise, not only do the baristas there really know their coffee, many of the cafes look chic, modern and inviting - that was satisfaction to the taste buds AND pleasure to the sight. 

I was thinking to myself, what makes good coffee exceptional? 

Companion is certainly one and ambiance has to be the other.  


It is no longer just the way we take our caffeine that is determined by our tastes, but the question of WHERE is just as important.  Cafes with creative designs that offer customers an additional aesthetic value - have the ability to differentiate themselves in a huge degree from some of the big chains.

I am thinking communal benches, tasteful books and magazines for the sheer joy of flipping, clean and simple decor, are just some of the essential elements that provide an inviting glimpse of the interior to passer-by.  And then having a panoramic window not only affords a pleasing view to guests inside, it is there to create a very juxtaposing contrast to the world outside. 

After all, cafes are places for communication - a fact which certainly has its causes in caffeine's invigorating effects.  I really think any cafe in existence has to create a communicative and inspirational effect too - there to simultaneously answer to all practical requirements of a functional catering business.

Have a think of the last perfect cup you had.  And ask yourself what was the associating superlative thing that you remember from that very enjoyable indulgence.

Acquired Taste

I vaguely remember I used to absolutely hate coffee, veered away from spicy food, and never really enjoy binge drinking beer.  I am looking at my diet this week and observed where I stand right now.  All I can say is, I love them all.  Also, it used to all taste the same to me, but now I can tell the difference. 

Yup.  That definitely comes with age (along with the accumulating fat). 


As far as fat (I mean taste) is concerned, it definitely can be acquired.  I know personally for example, my first exposure to beer was in college and it was the typical crappy beer. I hated it of course but then you tend to act cool along with your peers so I would often be seen gobbling lager fairly quickly showing off!  Stupid move no doubt, because that was when they quickly handed you with a second pint!

Further down the road, I discovered just how many different varieties of beer there are in this wonderful world we are living in and found a few that I genuinely like and have stuck with them since.  Right now, needless to say is, quality vs. quantity (again, comes with age).

Same with coffee.  I remember working on the acquisition for the first few years I started work, the dreadful deal just didn’t go through.  Man it tasted bad, how can people take it in like water, I had no idea!   To me it was the strong association with wakefulness, alertness and productivity that got me gradually started.  Thanks to the over time and the burning midnight oils, these associations have caused myself to first be tolerant of caffeine and now actively can't quite live a day without.

Nowadays, it is also the association of coffee with a certain lifestyle, and realistically - I would say it is the "escape" moments in life which you so look forward to every now and then which created the need for it. It is also perhaps the pleasant company that you often have when having a cuppa which perfected the splendid acquisition.


I was curious what sort of "tastes" others have acquired and went around asking a few of my friends.  I have a few more to add to the list actually - Vegemite is definitively one and...along the line of non-food category, golfing pops up, crying babies can qualify and, interestingly, living alone per say, can be another! 

Can you think of anything else?

A Chat With Martini

One evening while imbibing cocktails, Martini questioned my monotonic admiration for Gin, and asked why I never lay eyes on Campari or Negroni.

"Little can go very wrong with Gin and T", I said, as it doesn't need the best ingredients to turn out a good tipple, nor does it want to be shaken or stirred. It requires no garnish either.

Boring as it might sound but to me - it is simplicity at its best.

Martini, on the contrary, is very delicate and needs to be handled with precision and care.  Real difficult for me to even think of calling Martini when in a place that one can only describe as - dubious.

Talking of which, Vermouth is another I wouldn't normally go near as it is fortified and live a rather short and miserable life. We have no way of telling how long that poor Vermouth has been sitting on that shelf crying.

A chat with Martini has made me realise: 

1. I have basically come too far in my career to accept any substandard concoction
2. I am in such an old age, I no longer feel shy in asking for a glass of water with each alcoholic beverage I order.

Thanks Martini and cheers to life's little finery! 

Thats The Spirit (3): Champagne

As simple a name as a French Province, Champagne to me is a magic word that needs no translation.  The French have done such a good job in promoting their product that the name Champagne is almost synonymous with elegance, style and refinement.

I am not a huge fan of the bubbly family because I always think Champagne goes straight to my head as I tend to get drunk faster, stay drunk longer whenever I had it. 

But recently, someone told me Queen Victoria was known to use a stirring rod to chase bubbles out of her Champagne, quietly avoiding any embarrassment from those pesky fizzy gasses. 

With more and more brunches offering all you can drink - eat 12 courses of foie gras and drink 2 bottles of champagne before 2pm on a Sunday, may be it is a tactic worth investigating?  

Thats The Spirit (2): Whisky

I knew this bar has to be visited because nowhere in the world will you find another quite like it.

The Macallan Whisky Bar and Lounge - the first and only one of its kind in the world and once I was there totally sunk on the Chesterfield sofa with a glass of 18-year-old Sherry Oak in my hand, I didn't want to leave.

The full list of tastings for the night consisted of the: Fine Oak 12, 18, 25 and Sherry Oak 12, 18 years respectively.

18 year Sherry Oak stood out in the group with a large bouquet of spices present, with notes of vanilla as the most dominant.
How can something so beautiful be so accessible?  I can only considered myself the most fortunate.


Time was sadly too short for Macallan to take me through time.  A revisit with a good companion is indisputable.

Thats The Spirit (1): Sake

Exploring wonderful new beverages regularly is extremely rewarding and one of life’s greatest pleasures.

I must admit I am a novice in the field of sake but am real lucky to have tasted some superb-quality ones that knocked my socks off.   


I would like to say once and for all that Japan indeed is a unique society, as about any of my Japanese friends would claim, or anyone who has been there would echo. 

For heaven's sake, I relish my current relationship with sake as each and every bottle provides me with a new, unexpected adventure. As such, a whole new world is being opened up to me. 


I am starting to realise life is probably too short to be drinking the same thing over and over.  Don't you tend to agree?

Coke Light Or Coke Zero?

A long time debate which I am sure would have cropped up in times of friendly chatters.

They have exactly the same nutrition information, no calories, no fats, no carbohydrates and no proteins.  However, compare a non-sugar "diet" drink with its sugar laden sibling, I think I will take sugar any day of the week.

It's sugar and excess calories, fair enough.  But sugar I can deal with and burn off if I choose to.  There is no telling what that chemical aspartame does to our body.


Anyway, is it me or do you also think Coke Light taste better than its brother Zero?

A Novice's Advice On Wine Pairing

A circle of friends has organised a 20-course gourmet dinner party and we were tasked to bring a bottle of wine each.  Amongst these friends were regular wine-pairing experts who really know their stuff.  


I went and picked my wine after some research but all along before the dinner, I was thinking...I know fairly well what I like, but what about the others?  What if I got it wrong? 

Food and wine pairing is getting more and more popular and I have recently even come across water pairing (believe it or not).  Everyone around me seem to have a better educated palate these days and they are all throwing out big words like the nose, the tannins and what not. 

This day I ask myself, does the snobbery pairing exercise really matter?


At the end of the night, even though I got a bit carried away, I have mastered the most important lesson in wine and food pairing.   The essence was the fact that I was really wasting my time worrying about getting it wrong in the first place.    

There are no rules as such.   While you might want a sharp contrast on the pairing, I might on the other hand, prefer one that compliments each other.  

Basically, if I really have to give it a rule of thumb, it will have to be the food and the wine itself has to taste great on its own.   I mean, if the food and wine are more at the divorce end of the relationship spectrum, at least we will still be able to enjoy each on their own, isn't it?  

And most important of all, it is the company that matters.  As long as everyone enjoyed themselves, then it was a success on its own regardless of what the experts would have us believe.  

Nice meal and a good wine,
definition of a good time!

Unusual Finds

Paid a visit earlier to the supermarket with the aim of trying to find an interesting beverage to bring to a friend's party.  Look what I've found.

1) Pineapple Beer

2) Wine in a carton

Anyone ever tried the pineapple beer?  However cute and sweet it might sound, I have absolutely no faith how that concoction of the fruit juice + some shandy (I guess) can bring to a party so I checked out with the latter item. 

It was my first foray into the exciting world of - carton-ed wine - and for the very mundane me, this was actually quite a daring move.  The aim was to find something interesting right?  There we go.

The Pinot Grigio turned out rather fine to our surprise.  It smelled like wine, tasted like one and to be honest, the nose matched exactly with the description on the carton which says “has rich aromas of tropical fruit and citrus which perfectly complement its light, crisp flavours of pears and peaches."

Bravo.


With the 100%-recyclable carton, unbleached and printed with soy-based inks, we all felt a bit environmentally friendly after the party as well.  Bravo some more!

Next time you need to carry a decent drink with you that is portable and shatterproof - this could be it.

Say When

I am against the invasion of the almost obligatory pepper-mill in meals.  It bothers me when the wait staff asks me if I want fresh pepper BEFORE I have even tasted the food.  Am I suppose to know if it needs pepper at that point?  

I mean if the food is properly seasoned to begin with, we wouldn't need it, right?  Must everything except dessert be covered with an extra bit of fresh pepper offered in a reverential ceremony with a 19-inch-long baseball bat/pepper grinder?   Salads are generally the exception.

Calm down.  Manners, please.

Alright then.  If it's manners you are after.  I give you manners. 



Wait staff should always approach you on your left, he should wear a smile and politely ask if you would like some pepper on your food.  


If you respond with a "Yes please", he/she should reply you with "Say when" while gracefully offering you the freshly grounded pepper.   When you feel you have had a satisfactory amount sprinkled on your food, you don't say "Okay", you don't say "Stop".  


You should say "When".

Oyster Shucking

I am never a big aficionado of oysters and when a bunch of friends all went terribly excited about joining a class to shuck and slurp a dozen of oysters, I sort of went...OK, why not.  Let's do it.

With a little bit of textbook theories to start with, like how to pick the freshest and present them in the freshest, we were thrown right into some shucking actions!  The ordeal was a lot more difficult than I thought and in fact, I found it both rather awkward and dangerous and I just couldn't jab a blade into an oyster’s crevice. 

I was hoping the class experience would change my luke-warm interest in these delicacies, but nope - that didn't happen.  What did happen was the curious me went digging for an alternate way to shuck open these mollusks.

Nitro-Oyster Shucking?  What is that?  Sounds so cool.

Ideas In Food says it is the process of opening the oysters by dipping them in liquid nitrogen then allowing them to thaw.  The quick freeze causes the shells to pop open easily just by shucking with a finger they say.

The only problem is...wouldn't these lovelies be too cold to be served afterward?

What's For Dinner Tonight?

Our lives might be busier than ever but that doesn't mean we have to give up the things that are important to us.

I always believe if meal preparation time is kept to a minimum, more time is available for friends and family and some fun.

For lazy bums like me where dining out is a daily routine, dinner preparation at its best would ideally involve no chopping, but how good can that go?  Obviously won't be anywhere near enough to impress any significant half for sure.   


So what to do if we are totally caught off guard, having some friends with discerning taste over for dinner?   Instant noodles is a sure kill (if that's what your objective is).  Probably get a pass with ordering take-away, but only if you can grasp hold of timing perfectly. 

For anyone who are faced with this ultimate dinner dilemma, I have just come across what could well be the perfect solution -  "Dinner for N".

They don't come cheap from Three-Sixty (nothing is, of course), but at least that piece of Australian Pork Chop looks quite happy there accompanied by a little bottle of EVO, plus some really fresh looking and colourful veggies next to it. 

Coupled with a 7-step, 20 minutes guarantee from start to finish, now who wants to try my cooking?

Wagamama

For those familiar with the word Wagamama at first glance, you knew it is a name of a noodle bar. 

If you are about the same age as me, you would probably remember back in 1992 when the first ever Wagamama was opened in London's Gower Street, how it fast became "the hippest place" to be.  Back then, if we got a bit home-sick and all we craved for was some pan-fried noodles, we'd forget about heading to China Town.  Wagamama became the logical place to land ourselves in during our half-term breaks.

We loved the buzz of the long tables, the nice decor and the refreshing fruit juices.  Did I mention it is a noodle bar?  Yes I did and yes, their noodles weren't the best at the time, but I considered the most impressive wow factor from them had to be the speed of service and their innovative use of wireless PDAs in taking orders. The fact that our order references were jotted down on the paper menus was also in a way - quite unique.   

All that was in 1992 by the way and they have carried on with that lively tradition ever since.   

The man behind Wagamama is Alan Yau, who subsequently created the Michelin-starred Chinese restaurants Hakkasan and Yauatcha in London.   

In 2011, I am wowed once again by reading about his remarkable success, not only have they got a total of 71 of Wagamama all over London and growing, Alan's first baby in Hong Kong - Bettys Kitschen is officially up and running.  I can't wait to go check it out.

A Night With My Whisky

If you are going to have ice in your Macallan, shouldn’t it be eye-catching at least?

 Absolutely.  No question about that.

Pretty inviting to me.  What do you think?

The Okinawans

Did you know the Okinawans are known for their longevity?


To be precise, there are five times as many Okinawans live to be 100 years old than the rest of Japan.  And the Japanese are the longest lived nationality in the world.


An evening juxtaposing between the sweetness from Okinawa's sweet potatoes and the bitterness from their bitter melons, I was hoping there was a hint or two to be discovered from the islanders' very interesting low-fat and highly nutritious diet.




There is definitely something worth trying - at least so you can say you have, and at most because you might even like it!  


It is the Umi-budo, or green caviar.  It tastes extremely briney but you are almost guaranteed to have freshness gushes into your mouth when you pop a few of those crunchy little pearls. 


A big novelty featured in the restaurant but this is stuff that the indigenous Okinawans can get to quite handily.  Lucky them.  


Considered the fact that I didn't even have to travel all the way to Okinawa to savour the caviar - Lucky me too!

Thank Krug It's Friday

I just love the fish and chips at Dunhill's gastropub, Alfie's By Kee - a quintessentially British venue and one that you can expect gastro-pub cuisine grilled to perfection, if you know what I mean.

They recently launched a "Thank Krug It's Friday" promotion which sounds extremely enticing.  

What it means is, starting from 7pm to 10pm every Friday, Alfie's will be offering a sizable portion of their signature fish and chips along with a half bottle of Krug Grande Cuvée for HK$888.

Never too early to start planning for a hearty yet indulgent way to kick off the weekend, isn't it?

The Generation-Old Queen's Cafe

Sis and I were so glad we stumbled upon a trip down memory lane tonight - where we accidentally found a restaurant in Beijing that our family frequently visited during our childhood days in Hong Kong. 

It is our beloved Queen's Cafe - a veteran of Russian cuisine catered to the bourgeoisie of the 1980s.  

The very first Queen’s was opened in 1952 by a man who had apprenticed under White Russian chefs in Shanghai, which explained the existence of Ovaltine and Horlicks in the drinks menu alongside Russian coffee.

We knew their food menu inside out and there could only be two items that we must order: Russian cold cuts platter with potato salad and stuffed crab shells.


The salad tasted exactly the same as we had it 20 years ago and the latter was tender, juicy and cooked to perfection just like we imagined it to be.  

If it wasn't a late dinner, I would have gone for their Borsch Soup too.  Their recipe is one of the best - both flavourful and thickly filled with plenty of cabbage, celery, onion, carrot and herbs.   Now that we know where that restaurant is, there will bound to be a next visit fairly soon for a few other of their hearty dishes plus their cakes from Queen’s Konditorei which are absolutely divine.   

If you also want to savour the elegance of authentic Russian cuisine, you will have to make your way to Beijing because the one in here scores higher than the one in Hong Kong or Shanghai in all aspects.  I just can't wait to go back.  

Got Any Fair Trade Coffee?

While coffee drinking is becoming popular and with the price per cup steadily going up, you would be surprised to hear many coffee farmers are actually becoming more impoverished, running into debt and are at the verge of losing their land due to extremely low world coffee prices. 

That is mainly because coffee giants alike have not lowered consumer prices but are pocketing the difference, even taking into account the quality premiums in the specialty industry.

I got reminded by a friend about supporting Fair Trade Coffee.  I mean, within the context of making a daily purchase, I don't feel an internal resistance when paying a little extra to support a cause I agree with.  As opposed to the frame of mind I have when I am asked to make a charitable donation to a national or local non-profit.

Food for thought when you are enjoying your next brew.  How about looking at the option for a pot of fair trade coffee?