From my Kitchen

Couple of weeks ago my friends and I went out for dinner.  There was this interesting and crunchy dish that I knew I had to replicate. 

A two step process actually.  First by boiling the lotus roots with peanuts in anchovy broth till it's softened and the broth is reduced.  Then stir fry as per usual with carrots and french beans.  Ignore the onions, that's for the omelet.

Homemade mayonnaise!  I've been wanting to try this for ages.   I even brought out my Ball mason jar that Margaret gave me for this 'special occasion'. 

I bought a stick blender for this purpose.  It's so easy and tastes great.  You know for sure what goes into it.  I did not have any basil only garlic.  I halved the portion, so that I can finish it within a week or so.  You can find the recipe / method here.

Pork Baby Back Ribs

 

Before last Christmas, I saw some pork baby back ribs being sold at the supermarket.  So I decided I'll have ribs for New Year's Eve dinner. I recalled a video I saw on YouTube where Jenny demonstrated how to roast ribs.  She made it look real easy and indeed it was.   

I did not have the complete ingredients for the rub and basting sauce.  What I didn't have I either omitted or improvised.  After 2 1/2 hours of roasting it was as promised falling-off-the-bone.  Literally finger-licking good!

For the rub

For the basting sauce

Egg Nog

I must admit I've never had egg nog before ... where have I been?  Maybe because I've always thought that it contained some booze and hence avoided it.  But I've discovered that you can make one without but that would be for crazy people according to Chef John.

My favourite YouTube chef recently posted a video on how to go about it.  It looked simple enough and I so happen have some about to expire heavy cream in the fridge.  So I thought I'd give it a try.  I added only a few drops of rum, I swear :p  Remnants from my unsuccessful fruit cake baking in 2014 ... sigh ...

I could have grated some fresh nutmeg (thanks June) instead of using the bottled variety.  But I was afraid that it may turn out not to my liking and I would have wasted my precious fresh nutmegs.  And quite a bit was called for in this egg nog.

It turned out really nice.  It's like you're drinking marshmallows :)  Light airy texture.  It was slightly too sweet for me, so I think I'll add a little more milk now and cut down on the sugar the next time I make this.

The weather was gloom and doom yesterday, the egg nog has kept the Monday blues at bay :)