St John Bread and Wine

When I visited London a couple of months ago, I insisted that my friend Siu Mai (not her real name) take me to St John Bread and Wine after reading her food escapade there on her blog. I was not disappointed. I was just susprised I put away as much as I did.

St John Bread and Wine is near the old Spitalfields market and they pretty much experiment and create dishes from all the interesting parts of the common animals that we consume. The menu was exciting and it didn't take us too long to decide what we wanted to eat. We made sure we were hungry too!

Here's a look at the menu.


Cold Angus, Horseradish and Wood Sorrel
This looks very raw but it was surprisingly light on the palate and tasty.

This was the special of the day, Smoked Goose with 'something' cheese but it's actually a jam. It was quite salty so the jam was a nice complement as it tempered the gamey taste of the duck too.

Puffball & Bacon.
The Puffball is made with mushroom and cheese. Rather unusual albeit a little tame in flavour but I guess that's whether the smoked bacon comes into play.

Ox Heart, Salted Crest and Pickled Walnut.
The Ox Heart tasted like chicken heart in that it was crunchy but I would say the combination of the texture and flavours, this was my least favourite dish.

Gingerloaf and Butterscoth Sauce.
Very yummy, SM made the mistake of thinking that little ball of on the side was ice cream. She found out very quickly it was clotted cream!
Blackcherry Sundae.
I am a big fan of Black Cherries so I ordered this. The first mouthful was really sour so my expression gave SM a fit of giggles. But after that it was sweetness all the way! The ice cream and cream tempered the sourness of the cherries and made it soooo good! The caramel biscuit was sweet and crunchy. There was nothing left towards the end.

Fluffy Corn Pacakes Anyone?

I've been on a bit of a binge recently, trying out new recipes from main meals to desserts. I recently came across a really good recipe for Corn Pancakes or Corn Cakes. This is a breeze to make although you will need a blender and so delishes!

I found the recipe at Gourmet.com. Although the recipe asks you to use fresh corn kernels, they aren't in season in Korea at the moment, so I rely on trusty Jolly Green Giant. They have the crunchiest kernels, even better than Del Monte. If you live in Seoul, you can find them at the Foreign Supermarket (Itaewon), Haddon Supermarket (Hannam), Hannam Supermarket (Hannam), Costco and Core Mart (Itaewon).

The recipe says it makes 12 but I only manage to get about 10 out of it on average the last 2 times I made it even though the size looks about the same as the ones in their picture. Be sure to add the baking soda as that is the secret ingredient to make it fluffy! I have it with a thin layer of butter and lots of maple syrup. If you like throw in a side of bacon. Adds that bit of savoury kick. Let me know if you try it!

5/5 for taste!

Got the flu?

If you have the sniffles, maybe a touch of fever and a hint of a cough, be prepared to be screened for Swine Influenza (SI) or H1N1 if you are going to a hospital in Seoul. If you go to... oh let's say Severance Hospital for example, be prepared to be taken to the 'Screening Room', no that is not a weekly programme dedicated to the latest movies but where they keep all flu patients for testing for SI.

General population include those who are very ill with the flu so be prepared to bring a mask with you. It will be as exciting as watching bread rise and will likely taken twice the time! Meanwhile, even if you didn't have a flu before you entered, you will likely take it home as a souvenir.

Cuppacakes by +Wondermilk - Another Food Art Find

Some years ago, my sister made us drive to this house in Damansara Uptown (Area), Petaling Jaya (City), Selangor (State), Malaysia to order cupcakes for her birthday. This unassuming corner house was the headquarters of a blossoming small home business that was about to open their first store. They are called Cuppacakes by +Wondermilk. The cupcakes turned out beautifully and their designs simply beautiful. So pretty that you don't even want to take one out to ruin the whole look!

I recently visited their website again after being sent the link from my sister. Their new designs are amazing! Their concept of selling a box of cupcakes and creating a theme from that rather than based on individual cupcakes is unique and progressive. That was the only word I could think of to explain 'constantly evolving'.

They have themes of special occassions, holidays, celebrations and even one for Twilight! But my favourite from their mainpage has to be 'Ulat Bulu In Love'. I have cheekily copied their pic of that theme of cupcakes onto here. : ) Tell me they aren't Food Art!


P/S: They taste yummy too!

*MUNCH*

Coffee Art in Unexpected Places

I was recently in the Qantas Business Class lounge in Sydney. They have a pretty nice setup there although I was most impressed with the British Airways lounge in New York. They had a fountain and lounges!

Anyway, there is a long bar in the Qantas lounge equipped with a coffee making machine that is manned by a barista. I ordered a latte and a decaf cappucino. Expecting a simple cup of coffee with no frills, I was pleasantly surprised to see it with a bit of milk foam art. I had to take a picture even though I am sure people were staring.

Cappucino

Latte

K-drama addiciton anyone?

Living in Korea has its advantages if you like Korean Dramas. However, as much as you can watch the latest dramas from SBS, KBS or MBC... you won't particularly enjoy unless you have a strong grasp of Korean. No subtitles!

HOWEVER, there are fans out there who finds ways to get the latest episodes to you on the internet with subtitles! And they do a bloody good job of it too. None of that nonsense English translations that don't make sense. These guys do it as fans for fans.

Here is one of my favourite sites:
Mysoju.com

Some of the best translation works I have seen is by With S2 (stands for the Written in the Heavens Subbing Squad - quite an innovative name). Here is their site on d-addicts.com - S2.

Javabeans does a good synopsis of each episode of the dramas that catches his/her attenion. Warning: Spoiler alerts. If you haven't watched the episode and don't want to ruin it for yourself, best to wait till after you've seen it to read the write ups.

Dingbats... you find them everywhere.

Last night I was in Coles Supermarket which is a big chain of supermarkets that opens till 12am in Australia. I was in the noodles, imported/asian food aisle and overheard this conversation by two teenage girls behind me:

Teen 1: "Are yer sure yer got the right one?"
Dingbat: "I don't know, it's written in ASIAN!"

Me: What a couple of dingbats! Geez!

Someone ought to educate them that Asian is native or inhabitant of Asia or a term referring to a characteristic of Asia. Asian itself is not language!!!

Wonder Girls NOBODY US Debut Single

Here's the Wonder Girls, US debut single. I thought it was pretty corny how they just dubbed over the video. They have been doing quite a few shows. Wish them all the success.

'Nobody' Dance Moves - Robot Style

The Wonder Girls who are making their US debut now have previously took over Korea with their catchy song 'Nobody' and their simple and cute dance moves. It was even used in Boys Over Flowers 꽃보다 남자 in the episode when Woo Bin and Yi Jung try to distract Jae Kyung from Gu Jun Pyo by taking her on a night out. They went to a karaoke and the song that JK was singing was 'Nobody' by the Wondergirls.

ANYWAY, a friend forwarded me a really cool video of some robots doing the dance moves. Too cute!


If you haven't seen the music video for 'Nobody', here it is: