Creamy Sweet Corn & Bacon Pasta Recipe

Sweetness of corn & saltiness of bacon. I always love such a combo. Initially I made this for my toddler (OMG, feeding my son bacon - that makes me a bad mom, right? Oh well... just once in a while... and mommy wants some too!). So here goes.

Recipe
(serves 2)
- pasta for 2 (measure using those pasta measuring rings), I used spaghetti
- 2 fresh sweet corn kernels
- 2 strips of bacon per person (I used lean back bacon and removed the fat)
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- butter, cream, salt, pepper

Cook pasta according to the instruction on the packet - do not overcook. If pasta's done before sauce is done, drain and set it aside. Meanwhile, melt about a tbsp butter, add garlic, saute until fragrant, add bacon, add corn, cook until there's a bit of brownage going. Add cream to your liking (I added about 120 ml), season with salt and pepper. Toss the pasta with the sauce and serve hot.

Add some fresh herbs if you like. I didn't since I'd have to pick them out one by one as my big boss (the toddler) demanded. Oh man, I'm such a loser mom.

Anyway, enjoy the pasta!

How To Make Ridiculously Easy Cheat No Bake Chocolate "Cake"

I love anything cheat and anything lazy. Short cuts, I adore thee!
What else is new? :)
When I first saw the idea on TV (TLC, Buddy's cooking show), I fell in love with it immediately and decided that I HAVE TO make (an adaptation of) it! And here goes...

This beautiful gorgeous gorgeous "cake" isn't a cake. It's made of bread, soaked in chocolatey goodness. Uh huh! Oh yeah! So, pick a bread with desired texture, you can pick fluffy ones, or chewy ones... but make sure you pick one that can withstand liquid and won't turn into mush. I picked a chewy one made of mixed grains with lots of nuts in it. I love that it has a bit of saltiness in it. So, here's how I made this.

Recipe (Adapted from Kitchen Boss)
- Chunks of bread that you like, cut the crusts, I made two thick chunks
(if you wanna make more, adjust the liquid recipe)
- 100gr dark chocolate (or you can use milk chocolate or white chocolate - the world is your chocolate box)
- 1 cup coffee
- 2 tbsp sugar (you can adjust the sweetness)
- 2 tsp rum essence
- 1 shot vodka (you can use rum and omit the rum essence, I did this because I only had vodka)
- Strawberries (or fresh fruits of your choice to go with chocolate)

Cut chocolate into chunks (or you can use baking chocolate chunks), melt over double boiler. Add coffee, sugar, rum essence and vodka, mix well, take it off the heat. Cut crust off bread and cut into chunks. Soak bread in the chocolatey liquid, make sure the liquid gets all absorbed the inner parts of the bread. Baste them, flip them upside down. Once all the chocolate liquid gets absorbed by the bread, you can serve it.

On the TV show, it's served with whipped cream. Since I am not a fan of whipped cream, I planned to serve it with ice cream. But in an effort to be healthier, in the end I served it with fresh fruits instead.

Beyond yum and so damn easy. Perfect for me.

And here's a behind-the-scene shot of baby M "helping out" during the photoshoot.

He flipped the mirror around, took the mirror away, and threatened to touch the chocolate a few times :D

Have fun, hope you like the crazy lazy recipe.

James' Kitchen - Private Kitchen, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Good deal decent dinner! We had the privilege to order the VIP members only set dinner because my colleague is the chef's secondary classmate! Yay! We love good deals!

James' Special Platter.

Salad with Serrano ham. Nothing earth shattering...


Poached egg salad with black truffle paste. The egg's poached beautifully, but I am maxed out on black truffle paste. I wish there's more dressing with more acid and seasoning.


Yummy yummy oysters. Many of my colleagues don't eat oysters, which means - more for me!


Love the foie T_T really really love it. Pear's poached perfectly. Yum max!


Duck soup. Very well seasoned, very tasty. I finished every single drop of it. And I'm not even a soup person :)


Spinach & cheese homemade ravioli with king prawn. Perfectly cooked prawns, decent ravioli. The creamy sauce is a tad to sweet for me though. I wanted more salt and acid.


Perfectly cooked and well seasoned Australian grain-fed rib eye steak. It's served with black pepper sauce, which is yum. But I am not a big fan of the lotus root chunks, sweet potato mash, and taro crisp part. I was happy to just demolish the steak.

Now... some serious desserts. They are mostly yummy and the servings are generous. Value for money!

Epic baked Alaska. There are black sesame mochi ice cream balls hidden underneath. We LOVE!


Creme brulee. Yummy.


75% dark chocolate cake. It's yummy too.... until I had the next one...


My photo didn't do this molten chocolate cake justice. It's absolutely delicious! Love it!
My colleagues signed up for VIP membership as soon as they finished dinner :)
And because of my colleague, we got a platter of free dessert too - yay! Thanks, Chef!

VIP Members only set dinner: HK$488 for two (not including dessert) + HK$90 for foie 

James' Kitchen
9/F, H8, 8 Hau Fook Street, Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2368 3833
尖沙咀厚福街8號H8 9

Cutest Farmer Ever at Produce Green Foundation Hong Kong

We had an awesome experience visiting Produce Green Foundation last weekend. The place is beautiful, full of wild flowers, fresh produce, gorgeous butterflies everywhere, and did you notice that goat in the background?


First, we learnt how to plant lettuce. Missy taught us this awesome "Miss Hong Kong" pose, the most optimum pose to work the field. It was hilarious...

And here's the cutest farmer ever...

Clearly, following instructions isn't his thang :D

Voted most vain farmer ever...

...of course it's SC.

After that, we learnt how to make recycled paper.

Our paper has holes here and there, but SC did it. It's pretty easy and cool. I'll make something out of the paper he made.

We brought our own lunch. We all brought different things and shared the food.

Most popular item, fastest to finish... those yellow fish siu mais.
Nothing tasted yummier after farming.

Some of our colleagues are really hard core.

They brought camping gas stove and made instant noodles, fried eggs... amazing!

After lunch, we learnt how to make organic whole wheat bread.

Baby M did a good job stirring the empty bowl. Heheeheh


SC posing with someone else' bread ^_^'
The most vain pretend bread maker ever...

While waiting for our bread to be baked, we had a tour around the place.

Beautiful swiss chard...

Gorgeous tomatoes.


We had no idea broccoli looks like this...


And those slimey green veggie that we hate has such lovely purple flowers...


Or how beautiful radicchio is...


And I wouldn't mind being given a bouquet of fennel on Valentine's day... how pretty!


We also learnt about natural fertilizers and methods to drive away nasty pests.


And finally, our bread's ready to be devoured. Yum yum. Unexpectedly decent!


We had lots of fun!

Some tips:
- They don't sell food/drink, so bring your own - bring lots of drinks
- You can't spray mosquito repellent there. Spray prior to entering the place, or use stickers
- Wear light colored long sleeve tees and long pants and comfy shoes
- Wear hat and sunglasses on sunny days
- Other than that, enjoy!

For more info and how to go there, visit Produce Green Foundation's website.

Weekend Fun - Strawberry Picking, Kam Tin Country Park Hong Kong

Need something fun to do this weekend? Try strawberry picking! We went a couple of weeks ago and it's awesome! 

Tip #1: Go early, or all the huge red ones would have been picked up by the early birds.

French strawberries cost HK$60 per lb, Korean ones HK$90/lb. Most people picked Korean ones, including us. I don't know why... for me, well because I am a K-pop fan. Heheheh. I know, I know, irrelevant.

Tip #2: Whatever you do, DO NOT do this!!!

For each strawberry you ate on the field, you'll be fined HK$100. I repeat, HK$100 per piece of strawberry eaten. Marcus just could not hold himself... he grabbed one big red juicy one and put it straight into his mouth... without washing T_T

Tip #3: Strawberry picking is only available until late March. Better check with them before going.

Pretty strawberries in colors I've never seen on a strawberries before....

Very pretty!

And cute strawberry flowers...

Here's our loot...

Exactly 1 pound of juicy & fragrant strawberries.

You can also buy fresh local organic produce there.

You can go for a BBQ or have lunch there. We noticed that many people brought their own lunch, which is clever. Marcus scored a few skewers of pineapple and sausages from fellow strawberry-pickers at our table.

And of course, he ate his sausages in style.

There are lots of activites for kids there, like cookie baking (HK$80).

We just did cookie decorating (HK$30)

Sweet KODAK moment... what did they make?

MASTERPIECE!

There are also some balloon type of playground which Marcus loves very very much (HK$20/10 minutes).


He loved it so much, he refused to leave and cried like heck when we dragged him out of it.

 Oppps.

We took this fun ride for HK$40 per round. Oh yeah, everything costs money.

And after a bunch of activities, fishballs, fish siumai & Vita chrysanthemum tea never tasted so good...

There are many more activities which we didn't get to try. 

Check out their website for more info (it is in Chinese, but you can use google translate & see the pictures).

How to get there?

Take MTR West Rail to Kam Sheung Rd Station, and take a short taxi ride to Kam Tin Country Park 錦田鄉村俱樂部

Opening hours: 10am - 6pm
Tel: +852 2442 0909

ENJOY~!