Cherry Tomatoes with Asian Greens and Garlic

I was having the kind of work day which I wished would end. I love my job is so many ways--I'm a teacher and I love my students and my subject. But I really don't like marking student notebooks. It's an essential part of my job and so I do it a lot. But I was having the kind of day in which success at marking had to be be achieved by comfort eating chocolate at the same time. Ugh.

By the time a class set of books were marked, I think I had eaten four mini bars of mint chocolate and three mini packs of M&Ms. My stomach felt awful but I was so relieved to be finished. I packed up and left from a twelve hour day. Dinner could be simple, since my husband was not going to be present. In the end, all I wanted to eat was a bowl of vegetables. Do you have days like this?

Weekend Links #31

Weekend Links is a way of sharing all the engrossing things I see around the internet. I publish Weekend Links approximately every two weeks. As usual, I welcome your ideas and feedback.

food reading links:
--How poetry can help you become a better food writer. Fascinating (from Monica Bhide).

recipe links:
--Burger buns made from spiralized sweet potatoes and eggs, formed in ramekins (a guest post on Paleo OMG from Inspiralized).
--How to use up a half cup or so of pumpkin puree (from Kitchen Stewardship). What a great problem to have!
--These espresso martinis sound killer - in a good way, of course (from A Beautiful Mess).
--Easy preserving if you have too many radishes (from Adventures in Local Food). Huh, has this ever happened to you?
--How to make a simple steamed bok choy salad (from A Veggie Venture). A simple entry to Asian greens if you are new to them.
--Simple and delicious pumpkin roasted with rosemary and onions (from BakingNCooking). This is just the kind of simple dish that makes cooking worthwhile.

A Three-Star Lunch at Caprice

My husband and I went for the set lunch at Caprice this weekend. It's a three Michelin-starred restaurant in the Four Seasons hotel in Hong Kong. The view looks out over Hong Kong harbour.

We had three courses with a glass of wine. Allow me to describe each in a bit of detail.

Starter: chilled tomato consomme with mozzarella and tomato cocktail

light chicken laksa

Sometimes it really is better to be late than never. For example, the first time I was going to meet my new boss I got stuck in a rain storm (it was Amber Rain, in my defense) and I arrived 45 minutes late. Mortified, and dripping from head to toe, I went in to meet him--and was greeted with a massive smile and a firm handshake. I'm glad I persevered through the downpour.

bacon-fried greens

I have two main dinner strategies when time is tight and inspiration is waning:

1. The "all in one" strategy: Make a hearty salad-ish dish, warm or cold, with lots of veggies and maybe a bit of meat (for example, the peach and pumpkin salad or aubergine with black eyed beans).

2. The "side as main" strategy: Make a big amount of my current favourite side dish and make it into a meal by adding a piece of meat or fish on the side (for example, veggie pancakes or a warm black cabbage salad).

eggs with potatoes and greens (oeufs vert-pre)

I like to learn new things--hence this blog, and also copious link lists of things to read, printouts of journal articles in my work bag, CDs with new languages on it, and stacks of books next to the couch. I guess it's good practice to learn something new each week. What will it be this week? Poaching eggs. The proper way.

curried potatoes

Sometimes it's time for comfort food. For Anthony, my husband, potatoes are the best comfort food. He grew up in a "meat and two veg" household where potatoes were a daily enjoyment. I saw this recipe on Simply Recipes and knew that it would be a happy night when I made it for dinner for him.

pumpkin and peach salad with lemon grass dressing

This is salad that definitely got me out of a rut! The Paperchef challenge this month made me put together ingredients I would not have thought of combining before. But the results were brilliant. The challenge required that I use pumpkin, peach, capers, and lemon grass. Capers, mostly from France or Italy, and lemon grass, from Asia, do not seem like obvious friends. But they taste great together, and made a delicious main dish salad.