Wednesday, 10 September 2014

MAGNUM'S PLEASURE POP-UP STORE @ SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA



There it comes again... The Magnum Pleasure Pop-Up store, celebrating its 25 years birthday this year. It was a customize ice cream instead of eating a plain magnum. 



My mate who went to try it out last year told me that the line were unbelievable long but since there was nothing much for me to do on my holiday, we went over to Westfield on the Chinese Mooncake Festival at Monday to try it out.



Surprisingly, it wasn't that bad which it took us less than 10 minutes in line, and also we have our own sweet time to watch how the pleasure been done. 





There are 18 types of toppings to choose from, which mainly from chocolate, nuts and dried fruits.







I picked a dark magnum chocolate with roasted pistachio, rose petals and mocha chips with white chocolate drizzle to finish where else my mate had a very simple milk magnum chocolate with roasted pistachio and rose petals finishing with dark chocolate to drizzle on top. 



It was a fun experience designing our own ice cream and watching it made in front of us :)






Wednesday, 3 September 2014

STIR FRY GARLIC SHOOT WITH PORK BELLY




My mate in Oz introduced me with this new bright green veggie - Garlic Shoot, which are also called stems, spears and scapes. The garlic which we known has separate cloves and white papery skin and obviously garlic is amazing for lots of food but this is a new plant which can be edible on whole in general. It doesn't really taste like garlic overall but much to a bright, fresh, verdant version  as they have a milder flavor. It is when cooked, the scapes become much more sweeter with subtle garlic undertone and the texture is quite similar to asparagus to be honest. Thus, in Korea this garlic shoot are commonly used as a veggies for side dishes.

Garlic shoot is so much cheaper during the coming of Spring. Stalls in the market in Oz are selling as cheap as 3 bunch for 5 dollars, a bunch for 1.50 and even 2 bunch for 2.80, etc as the supplies are so much during the season. There are hundred of ways to cook it and the most simple way i can think of for a simple lunch / dinner to goes with a bowl of boiled rice is to stir fry; basis and mother of all Chinese. It is a very simple, fresh ingredient which is fast and tasty. It is so super easy to cook and especially delicious with its crunchiness and sweet.  

Ingredients:-

A bunch of garlic shoot (cut into 4 segments)
2 x clove of garlic, crushed and chopped
Slice of ginger, chopped
2 x carrots (cut into long thin strips)
100 gram of pork 
2 tbsp veggie oil
2 tbsp Shao Hsing Chinese cooking rice wine 
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil






(It can be with any vegetables, meat, or even tofu and employ the same technique. The philosophy behind Chinese stir fry is to present with 3 basic steps - color, smell and taste).

Method:-

Heat up wok / frying pan with high heat and once it is piping hot, add in the veggie oil and reduce to medium heat. Put in crushed garlic and chopped ginger and stir fry until smell the fragrant. 


Add in pork belly slice and stir fry until half cooked.


Add in carrot strips and cooked it until soft, place the garlic shoot at last and bring up the heat. Splash in the cooking wine on the sides of the wok / frying pan. Mix well and allow the heat to evaporate all the alcohol. Keep on tossing the ingredient well and finally add in the soy sauce and sesame oil. Mix well.

Arrange onto serving plate and serve yourself with an inexpensive and simple meal which goes so great with just a bowl of steamed boiled rice.



I left a few for dinner to add in my plain congee and surprisingly it goes so tasty with it as well. Lovely ~