Recipe Books

I have a lot of cookbooks! I don't think I realised how many I had until I put them out on the table today 69! They are not all mine (some are my moms) but I think I have bought about 50 of them, and I don't think I am going to stop buying them anytime soon. The photos always look so good and I generally think it's better to buy a cookbook instead of a magazine because they last longer. (well that's my excuse anyway). I even have a double of The Australian Woman's Weekly "Tapas Bar" oops... And truthfully I don't really ever use the cookbooks, I like to look at the pictures... sometimes I get inspiration from the recipes but end up changing a lot of the ingredients so they don't really resemble the original recipe. The reason I got all my cookbooks out is, I am planning on starting to teach cooking lessons to kids and want to get some inspiration for healthy but tasty ideas that kids would enjoy cooking. So keep posted and see what I come up with. Naomi

RHKYC yacht race from Hong Kong to Hainan

Sailing on Ambush from Hong Kong to Hainan, China

I just got back to Hong Kong after racing in the 360nm downhill race from Hong Kong to Sanya which is on the south of Hainan Island in China. I did the race on Ambush a Mills 41, with 10 other sailors. We started the race on Thursday at 12:15 and finished at 5:15 am on Saturday morning. 12 boats competed in the race, all finished except one, which retired. The race was a lot of fun we started just outside of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club in Hong Kong harbour and raced out of the harbour and ended in Sanya at the southern end of Hainan Island.

Thai Quinoa Turkey Laab

Laab is a Thai/Lao dish it is traditionally made with ground chicken, beef, or pork. It is flavoured with fish sauce, lime and fresh herbs. The ground meat is eaten by wrapping it with a lettuce leaf. When I was thinking of what to cook for dinner the other night I decided to make a Thai Quinoa salad, but when I was wandering around the grocery store I decided to make a variation of Laab that would be a complete meal, not just meat in lettuce.

Risotto With Mushrooms, Pork And Zucchini

Risotto with grated aged cheddar on top 

The last few months have been a shuffle, I have been staying at a wide variety of friends places in Hong Kong while they have been away on holiday. I am not complaining but I would love to get my own place soon. However with being back at university funds are tight and finding an affordable place in a very expensive city can be difficult, so until I find a place I will be shuffling around a bit. So enough excuses, but that's the reason for the lack of recipes lately (it can be really difficult cooking in other peoples kitchen without your cooking equipment etc). Anyways I was finally able to put a meal together the other day, photograph it and write it down I hope you enjoy.

Vietnam Trip Post 6 - Saigon

The lunch lady! 

The Lunch Lady I have heard so much about her amazing bowls of soup on No reservations and other blogs. So on the first day in Saigon we decided to see what all the fuss was about and try to find her. First of all she is not that easy to find we had a simple map from gastronomyblog which helped a lot, but still wondered around the block a few times before we found her she is down a side street. While searching for her we ran into the couple who write the blog ricebellies and between us eventually found it.