May 23, 2010
Bourke Street Bakery
opened in Marrickville the perfect distance from my house a few months before I left. It was within walking distance, but not too close that I could just duck out for a brulee tart or chocolate croissant whenever I felt the urge, which was altogether too often. Last spring made itself known to me one Sunday morning sitting outside BSB on milk crates, and one particularly horrible day was lightened by a snap decision to stop by around closing time.
It was cold and I was walking aimlessly and so was after something portable and sweet. The chocolate and sour cherry biscuits caught my eye, and the lovely lady who served me must have known that I needed cheering up, and gave me an extra plate sized biscuit for free. Yet another reason to love this place.
The lovely Bourke Street Bakery cookbook was released not long before I left Australia. Every time I saw it I had to list the reasons why I couldn’t buy it: no money, leaving the country in a matter of days, uncertainty about the possibility of international baking, baggage already overweight. Reason won out in the end, and enough time has now passed that these biscuits no longer taste of terrifying resentment and hurt from that miserable day last winter. Actually the whole flavour profile has changed as I was unable to find sour cherries here. I replaced them with some delicious dry prunes soaked in rum that, when baked, are soft and yielding in the middle and wonderfully chewy at the edges. The prunes make these wonderful biscuits even richer, an easy substitution for a rare ingredient.
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May 17, 2010
I encountered this strange dish recently while wandering around town on a particularly hot day. Served by a vendor from a shoulder-pole this bright red oddity drew my attention from across the street. A man waiting for his snack invited us to join in and he valiantly tried to describe what the food was. He got as far as ‘lives at the beach’ when his English failed. I wasn’t about to eat any seafood that looked raw from a lady in the street in 35 degree heat, not even under the guise of research.
The photographic evidence helped confirm my guess that this red slimy thing is jellyfish, called sua muoi. Having just watched seven pounds I am very content with my choice not to taste this delicacy. It is pickled with chilli, lime and spices and eaten with the pungent fermented Vietnamese purple shrimp sauce mắm tôm. Optional extras include batons of coconut, tofu and an assortment of herbs. Would you have tasted it?
May 13, 2010
It appears that alongside oppressive heat comes a wider range of fruit at the onset of an Hanoi summer. Ladies selling pineapples, mangoes and oranges from baskets attached to bicycles park along busy streets or cycle slowly around until someone stops them to buy. The fruit is piled up, and can be quickly peeled and sliced for you should you so desire. Recently more exotic fruits have been making appearances, small spiky durians, misshapen soursops and pretty piles of rambutans are available from these travelling saleswomen.
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May 10, 2010
I had been hearing chatter around the office of unmoveable birds and Vinh city on and off for a few days, invariably followed by giggles and smiles. Were there ostriches on the loose a little further south? Was there a penguin infestation and why where they talking about Gouda all the time?
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May 7, 2010
Remember my recent post about eating in Vientiane? Well here is it’s sister, a snapshot of some great food eaten in Luang Prabang.
Bamboo shoots at the market in Luang Prabang.
This post is a little sparse not because Luang Prabang lacks interesting eating options, but more because I wasn’t too interested in being there when I was there. For various reasons my little jaunt to Laos wasn’t an entirely pleasant experience, though it was lightened by surprising nem kao and early mornings started with thick chocolatey coffee.
Coffee
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