Sticky rice with mango

Free from the conference and a couple of days at leisure in Bangkok, time for eating & shopping. At the Mah Boon Krong food hall made sure that I left space for a serving of that simple but delicious dessert, mango with sticky rice. It’s the contrast between the sticky, tangy rice with just a hint of salt in the accompanying coconut milk, and the juicy, yellow, non-fibrous Thai mango that works so well.

Sounds eating III

It’s been a wonderful time here in the Sounds, again. Cold, of course, but that’s to be expected at this time of the year, and a great excuse for open fires. Lots to do outdoors, not least of which the many hydrangeas to prune, but it’s very satisfying, knowing that you’re getting the garden ready for the next summer’s display, and the weather’s been brilliant … so calm, clear skies … today, admittedly, there was light rain until after lunch, but such a Swallows & Amazons feel to the day … I just had to jump in a dinghy and go for a row.

In the garden it’s a pretty dormant time … all the summer flowerers have long finished, and apart from the very earliest of the azaleas, too early for the spring show-offs … camellias, rhododendrons, most azaleas. Even the virtually perpetual rose, the old-fashioned Souvenir de Malmaison, has taken a break. Usually it can be relied on to provide beautifully scented blooms for the dining table. But right now the lucullia is in flower, so those lovely pink heads are a fine substitute … they remind me of my grandmother, said Lawrence. They’re that sort of flower, reminiscent of a different time. Which is, appropriately, part of the appeal of this place.

And then, of course, there is the food. The standards … sausages on the first night, corn fritters, Pestell’s bacon … but a lunch-time favourite stands out … sliced Portobello mushrooms, pan-fried in butter with garlic, freshly gathered roughly chopped parsley added towards the end, served on warm plates with triangles of buttered Vogel’s bread toast (I relented!) … just the most perfect of combinations.

 

Logan Brown

Chocolate. I don’t say enough about chocolate, so … A delicious chocolate dessert at lunch yesterday at Logan Brown, the restaurant in the neo-classical banking chamber of a former bank on Cuba Street, the lunch a treat after several days of packing up the house in preparation for the laying of new carpet, and, indeed, a celebration of the carpet being laid. (Lunch was to have been preceded by taking in the Monet exhibition at Te Papa, but the queues, the queues … suppose it is still holidays for many people … I’ll take my chances and try another time.) But anyway, the lunch … we ate from the limited choice bistro menu, all good, and while I loved the crisp pork belly main, that was up-staged by the chocolate mousse topped with a broken piece of honeycomb … basically hokey pokey, as it’s more commonly called in these parts … with three thin slices of pomegranate poached pear & a spoonful of cream on the side. Washed down with a surprising red wine, Clearview ‘Sea Red’ 2007. Splendid.

Watermelons for ecstasy

At this time of the year, for a brief period, watermelons are abundant and cheap, and their watery sweetness just has to be enjoyed. Well, that’s my adult perception. As a child I thought they were horrible … they were too PINK and forever spitting out the big black seeds put me off … today, though, they seem to have had the seeds virtually bred out of them, and I’m less pink-averse. So, apart from just cutting out a slice and munching, my favourite way with watermelon is to cut the flesh into cubes, put in a bowl and mix with blueberries – the watermelon chunks need to be small enough to allow both fruits on a spoon when eating – then garnish with sprigs of mint & ice cubes. The perfect end to Saturday’s brunch al fresco.

 

Oh, and I have to say, I can never think of watermelons with thinking of a desert-dwelling people’s saying I once heard: women for duty, boys for pleasure, watermelons for ecstasy!    

The secret of sweet corn?

It’s simple combinations that often make the best meals. Like sweet corn and butter. Leaving Napier the other day, I stopped at the fresh produce seller beside Anderson Park and bought some freshly harvested sweet corn. Home a few hours later, that became lunch. The secret, it seems to me, is dropping the cobs into a pot of unsalted boiling water & leaving to cook for only about a minute. The kernels remain tender & sweet & juicy. Cooking for longer leads to a tougher, more watery result. Most undesirable.

Pasta perfection

There are certain food combinations that seem to have been made in heaven. Rocket, pine nuts & parmesan being one of them. All you need for a great simple salad. And then, for lunch at the Italian café on Cuba Street on Lawrence’s birthday … the dinner menu didn’t require all day in the kitchen, happily … pasta with rocket pesto, toasted pine nuts, and parmesan. Just perfect. I’ll be back.