中秋节 - Mid-Autumn Festival

Since it's the mid-Autumn festival today, I thought I'd leave you with a traditional poem upon which to ponder.

静夜思

床前明月光，疑是地上霜

举头望明月，低头思故乡

- 李白

Thoughts on a tranquil night

The moon shines brightly before my bed,

I suspect frost covers the ground.

I watch the bright moon, as I crane my head.

Inclining, my thoughts turn homeward-bound.

- Li Bai

Macondo

Macondo
8 & 9 Hoxton Square
London N1

Could Macondo be the best café in the whole of London? I think so. Exposed brick walls, cozy leather sofas, this is a great place to while away the Sunday morning hours. If you while away enough hours, you might as well stay for lunch. Despite my initial apprehensions, the place does actually serve authentic tortilla de patatas and paella, as well as a variety of other appealing foods, which yesterday included mushroom stroganoff, some aubergine bake-type thing, lasagna, and the infamous broccoli with cheese, which was a bit random. But forget all that, this place has the BEST cakes ever. They have REAL cheesecake. None of this Philadelphia fridge cake nonsense, I mean proper baked cheesecake made with fromage blanc, drizzled with honey and served with whipped cream. Their coffee's pretty darn good, too, and they serve an interesting array of drinks, including mint and lime iced tea (highly recommended).

Service can be a bit flaky, though. You have to order at the till and it's all slightly chaotic when it gets busy. I ordered and paid, and then they forgot our order, and then they forgot I'd paid. It seems a bit strange given that the food is actually on display in trays sitting atop shelves. I mean, you could just give me a spoon and I'd have no problem serving myself, since it all looks so yummy! But anyway, our server was having kind of a stressed out day.

Watching the Hoxton crowd is part of the experience. They can certainly be, well, let's say "expressive" in their fashion sense, and they range from continental chain smokers to doctorate students conducting interviews about cross-cultural ethnicity for their humanities dissertation.

And that Nutella cake.... it's just waiting to be tried...... maybe next time.......

Proper, baked cheesecake (bottom) and carrot and orange cake (affectionately described to us as "squidgy" cake (it's drenched in honey, so mind your kidneys.....)

The window-cleaning racket

On the third week of every month, I get a note through my mailbox from my dutiful neighbour, telling me that the window cleaner is due on that Wednesday. In exchange for this note, I then put a fixed amount in an envelope (I won't disclose how much it costs to get one's windows cleaned) and put it through her mailbox, which she then pays to the window cleaner while I'm at work. I don't feel like I get a particularly good deal; because of the building's layout, the window cleaner can't actually clean the windows to my bedroom, and I don't get a discount for this. I'm also not convinced that my windows are any cleaner, so I'm trying to see whether I notice any difference, as I've actually forgotten to pass my money through my neighbour's mailbox these past two months. So far, I can't confirm that my windows are any dirtier than my neighbours'.

I've also noticed that every month, these notes are written on stationery swiped from a different hotel. This month it was quite a snazzy Swiss hotel. I'm beginning to suspect whether my window cleaning funds are being misappropriated for other purposes. Of course, my monthly contributions don't pay for a holiday in the Swiss Alps. But this is clearly not small-time embezzlement. I suspect a window cleaning racket. A national, underground network of "dutiful neighbours" who collect our window cleaning money and pool it so that each month, one of them can spend a week in a snazzy hotel and swipe some more stationery. I'm considering a major undercover investigation...

Becoming Madame Mao

Becoming Madame Mao, by Anchee Min

"Well, I won't surrender. When I was a child my mother used to tell me that I should think of myself as grass - born to be stepped on. But I think of myself as a peacock among hens. I am not being judged fairly. Side by side Mao Tse-Tung and I stood, yet he is considered a god while I am a demon. Mao Tse-Tung and I were married for thirty-eight years. The number is thirty-eight."

Anchee Min's follow up to the popular Empress Orchid is a fictional account of the life of Jiang Ching, wife of Chairman Mao and leader of the infamous Gang of Four. Although a work of fiction, the novel is based around historical events, and Anchee Min displays great imagination and empathy in portraying a little-known but highly influential historical figure. She presents a character whose constant defiance of Chinese society's oppression of women results in a resentful, angry and proud character who, even unto Mao's death, struggled for recognition and what was invariably unrequited attention. Although not as colourful as Empress Orchid, Min's writing style in this second novel is much bolder. Quick, short sentences reflect the protagonist's temperament, and she continuously shifts the narrative perspective between the first and third person, often contrasting Jiang Ching's own perspective on events with historical fact. The second half of the book is not as effective as the first, partly because the narrative style is difficult to maintain, and because the earlier years are arguably more interesting, despite the fact that the historical repercussions of the later years are far more significant. Nevertheless, this is a highly accomplished and original work.

Recipe competition: Chocolate pud

For those of you sending recipes for my recipe competition, you can follow progress here. I'll be reproducing all the recipes and posting them so you can see the final product. I should stress that what I write on here is not an indication of the recipe's chances of winning, since the final judgment will be made by an independent panel of jurors. Also, I'm not posting the actual recipes here, since I'll be compiling these in a recipe book for y'all.

So, let's begin! To start things off, here's a recipe from SN. A yummy chocolate pudding that takes minutes to make. Crisp on the outside, deliciously gooey on the inside, but not excessively heavy. A great ending to any dinner party. With thanks to GK for help with the faithful reproduction of the original recipe.

funkynewwords

So I was described by AR yesterday as a "superachievingnerdybutloveablemonkey". I don't have an official definition for this new term, but it's sort of self-explanatory. I like this great potential to develop new words by stringing lots of adjectives together. It's almost germanic. AR also coined this new term: "ninjafoodtennismusicetc". I can give you an official definition for this: "A class of recreational activity that comprises watching a movie followed by a meal of a complementary cuisine. Tennis and/or music, with particular reference to 20th Century Soviet composers, may be directly or indirectly involved. The term is particularly associated with Japanese films and cuisine."

Quote of the Day, Sept 13, 2007

"I like my boots, and that's something that capitalism gave me."

- Naomi Klein, speaking at the Queen Elizabeth Hall about her new book, "The Shock Doctrine", comments on positive aspects of capitalism

忍者办事 - Death by Ninja

Peter, 这个加拿大商人，不了解在中国做商业应该怎么办。他被一些黑社会的忍者教训了！有没有人会复仇他啊？

Canadian businessman Peter doesn't understand how business is conducted in China. He's gonna be taught a lesson by ninjas of the criminal underworld. Will there be anyone to avenge him?

Things I learnt in Rotterdam

1. Dutch people don't jaywalk because they don't have to. Cars actually stop for them. You're more likely to be run down by a reckless cyclist than a bus.
2. Dutch adults drink milk in public.
3. Dutch people smoke a lot! This was rather unexpected, given #1 and #2. I suppose cycling/pedestrianism, milk drinking and smoking aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, and there's nothing to say that those who do #1 and #2 are the same people as those who do #3, but still.
4. There are worse places than Holland to get a craving for Japanese food. That said, the 'best' (reputedly, from my extensive internet search) Japanese restaurant in Rotterdam, Sakura, is actually run by Chinese people. I'm not sure if this has been made clear to the local populace, although they must know that you're highly unlikely to get steak served with egg fried rice and stir-fried vegetables in a Japanese restaurant (but man, the steak was good!). Also, their wakame salad 'with special sauce' is, in fact, just a salad with thousand island dressing and some wakame strips on top.
5. There's good food to be had in Rotterdam, although not particularly cheap. Loos, despite the somewhat unappealing name, is a great, casual, if rather smoky, bar/café/restaurant. They serve a simpler menu in the bar section, which I would have tried had I been in the mood for smoked food. The raised restaurant bit at the back has a pricier, but excellent a la carte selection. I had the set menu, which came with a foamy, light mussel soup, leg of lamb with spinach and mustard sauce on mashed potato, and a coconut sponge cake with poached pear for 29 Euros.
6. I didn't get a chance to try any lattes, but their espressos aren't bad at all!

My first latte

I don't think I ever published my first latte, so here it is, oh great pride of my espresso machine...


Back from my oh-so-brief sojourn in the French Alps. The weather was too good for me to be bothered to blog about it, so you'll have to be patient while I gather my willpower to post you more pictures of alpine culinaria. And nastyskankbyotch is off to a conference in Rotterdam tomorrow. I wonder if they have nice lattes in Rotterdam. Watch this space.....