Stomachs on legs are proud to present

It has been two months since I landed in the frozenland.

After having lived on compromised choices of food for several days, such as:

Absolutely horrible mapo tofu at an American Chinese place, and


a tacos plate that does not taste as good as it looks...


I have started cooking in the limited kitchenette shared with several others:


No full stove.
Just two induction cooktops that use magnetic heat.
There was only one right after I arrived, and I insisted to the landlord that we need one or two more.

One of the first things I cooked was chana masala:


I get the MDH spice mix at an Indian/Latin American grocery store.

Pretty soon I started attacking the bulk section of the Whole Foods Market and a European style bakery that has French and German style bread.

Tomato-based chick pea soup with German rye bread:


Tabbouleh with green lentils:



Chana masala again, with carrots/green lentils/raisins salad:


No picture, but I have also been cooking green split pea soup, 16-bean soup, red lentil dhal, and tofu dishes.

I am having a lot of fun with beans and peas, yes.

We just arrived back in Canberra after the most wonderful holiday in New Zealand

Canberra is a 38 degree dust bowl, with no people, and nothing to do. It's all just bogans and bad food round here.

Although Australians tend to think themselves more sophisticated and cosmopolitan than New Zealand, when its a comparison between Auckland and Canberra, I'll take Auckland thanks.

Here are some photos that substantiate my overall sentiments right now.

cheap new zealand mussels and pipis around NZD 4 a kilogram



Plentiful fresh snapper which we caught ourselves in the snapper spawning grounds that are Auckland harbours


such as here


and here


Just check out those beautiful pink gills


Home-smoked kahawai


and kahawhai sashimi



and landing on deserted beaches


and cooking on our own beach

My friend Y's brother is one of Germany's top michelin-starred chefs, and Y took these pics of their dinner together last week. I can't mention either of them by name, because the man has a PR department who might come and murder me in my sleep – so you'll just have to take my word for it, natch.

On the menu: wagyu steaks with poached egg, truffle, spinach puree, capsicum-bratkartoffeln and champagne. Plus salmon with caviar and creme fraiche from France, doled out on a nice gingham tablecloth.
The dining table (not pictured) featured sparkly foil scattered around & bottles of vintage champagne (more booze than food, Y said).

And really its not by choice. I love eating out. But Canberra is a different story. Bar a handful of places there is really no point eating out here. Almost all restaurants here are over priced and poor quality.

So our new hobby is recreating restaurant experiences at home. Something not hard when your husband is a chef.

The other night....Maytel's and Hock's Izakaya



including...umeboshi and chervil grilled chicken breast...this was super easy to make, just thinly slice chicken breast...dip in shoyu and grill. When just cooked dab mushed umeboshi on and sprinkle with chervil



mustard pickle rice...also very easy...fry minced pickled mustard in a little oil. Add rice, fry a little longer and season with some scant drops of soy.

fried eggplant in dashi sauce..soak kombu and dashi in soy sauce. Fry eggplant and when soft dip in dashi and serve

Potatos and shitake in foil....put parboiled potato in some foil with some shitake and a few drops of soy...bake and then season with pepper and chili flakes


Next up...Casa del Hock et Maytel's paella

For this I basically followed SBS's Food Safari advice and wah -la







Brasserie Hock et Maytel

Saffron Risotto with spinach and pan-seared snapper with capers


H&M Trattoria

Fish with a herby crust, oysters and salad




So far its been a good learning experience. I can now also cook excellent Indian takeaways. But really in any decent city, one shouldn't have to.

Put small amount of oil in a pot...fry one or two cloves of finely chopped garlic

Add yellow lentils, water and prawn heads and boil until cooked

Add salt to taste

Serve with more cripsy garlic if desired. Eat on its own or with other appropriate things

I've been debating what to call this blog post over in my head for a while now, I was thinking about calling it Mae Hong Son, The Other Provence, or Cooking with the Stars.

Let me explain. A couple of weekends ago I headed to Mae Hong Son for the weekend, where my long suffering beloved was taking a week long bromance with Thai food aficionados Austin Bush and Andy of Pok Pok fame. I got to stay for a single weekend, during which it mostly rained. So we decided to stay in and cook. We went to the markets and bought a huge array of not-so-exotic mushrooms other required ingredients for making gaeng hed.



I insisted on buying stink beans.



We also got the ingredients for Burmese pickled tea leaf salad and picked up some larb kuat, larb dip and grilled chicken on the way home.



Cooking got under way.




Some people would and do spend a fair sum of money to cook food with AB and Andy, instead I got bossy and insisted that someone invent a new yummy dish involving stink beans. Andy delivered big time with a dish of stink beans with kapi and mushrooms



Our other favourite Thai food expert was unable to attend the gathering as he was busy in Bangkok promoting his new fish sauce brand Mega Chef and couldn't make it to MHS, he was however present in fishy spirit.



We sat down to an astoundingly good meal





In an outdoor dining room located next to this picturesque rice field



Mae Hong Son is truly beautiful and I wish that I had gotten to spend more time there. Initially my plan was to finish writing my PhD up in MHS but this plan was scrapped after hard words from my supervisor and the realisation that job hunting from the sticks probably wasn't the smartest idea I've ever had. Nonetheless I plan to go back. It's not quite Provence however, as it was apparently described to my friend in New York by a hi so Thai acquaintance, but if fish sauce is your balsamic, stink beans your broad beans and larb dip your beef tartar, it could well be even better.

"Kedgeree" with brown rice and split mung beans, boiled egg, lime pickles and raita and crossword


"Kanom Jeen" creative reconstruction attempt



"Kanom Jeen" and macbook



Wakame and silken tofu soup with crossword


Parsi style scrambled eggs and silken tofu with avocado on rye


Udon Salad


Lentil, spinach, celeriac, onion and carrot soup with chorizo


My latest excellent Sunday morning fry up creation - paratha bread, with chickpea vege pattie, fried egg, tomato kousondi and raita