Monday, February 13, 2012

Moved!

Hello folks, I decided to change my platform to wordpress. Cleaner and, though somewhat more difficult to navigate than blogger, works well for me.

Click here.

Adios.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Do you..

.. take photos of your luggage before you fly off?



Well, I started to develop this habit of mine recently, when I start living in Angola. Just in case they lost my luggage and I need to show proof of what I have inside, in order to get a full/ maximum refund. I purposely show the brands!

After I start living here, I realize the most important thing is not the most expensive items. But my precious beloved items are my DVDs, my chinese cooking wines & dried mushrooms, dried guotiaw, dumpling skins, my 5 kgs cheeses, saucissons and all things that I just can't get it here. Including my sports gear. Tell me, where does one buy a sports bra here?

So if they do lose my luggages, I swear, I will cry till the whole continent can hear me!

Macaroni and (Blue) Cheese

The first thing I do the moment I am back in my kitchen (after touching every single thing in my pantry, of course) is to make macaroni with roquefort. I was inspired by this recipe many months ago and my trip to France has made all things possible. I actually fought tooth and nail with H in order to bring this to Angola. Soft, fresh cheeses don't usually travel well, especially in warm climates.

Anyway, if you're a mac and cheese lover like us, you should try this. Even when the pungent smell of blue cheese chokes you. I'd never look back. Well, at least when I'm in Angola, I shall be contented with the wallet-friendly portuguese version of edam.


It's basically a simple mac and cheese recipe, with caramelized onions and blue cheese. I even added the pine nuts as per recipe, but H doesn't like that. So I'll skip it next time.

* Well, at first, preheat the oven to 175 C.
* Then cook the macaroni. I grabbed my bow pasta, since I have got no macaroni in my pantry.
* Then you brown caramelized the onions, with a bay leaf. Season with salt & pepper.
* Prepare the bechamel sauce: butter, flour, milk, pinch of salt - roux, to the desired thickness.
* In a large bowl, mix the pasta (drained), bechamel sauce, caramelized onions and a large dollop of parmegiano reggiano and diced roquefort.
* Transfer to ramekins or what have you, into single portions, then top with breadcrumbs, and more parmegiano. Add chopped pine nuts if you want.
* Bake for 20 mins or till the top turns into golden crust.

We absolutely love this version of mac & cheese. Though it's a tad too oily than the usual mac & cheese - because of the cheese. But I'll reduce the bechamel sauce & oil when caramelizing the onion next time.

Happy trying!

Ola!

We're back in Luanda, refreshed, relax and happen to be few kilos heavier. Ah but that is hardly a hefty price for all the goodies we enjoyed. I am also contented that none of our 83-kg-of-luggages arrived safely and sound. We bought so many saucisson and cheese that we're having a french lunch tomorrow.

In the meanwhile, have a great weekend!