Ok, so I’m actually back in Stuttgart, but we had an amazing time in Paris with great weather and we managed to do basically everything on my extremely long list.
Sorry for being absent for a bit here, but between work and sleep, there hasn’t been much time for anything else!
Alright, so, Paris. You may have read my post about everything I wanted to accomplish while we were there. Well, we did almost everything!
It’s time to try some new things in the kitchen. I’ve been cooking the last few nights (we usually cook together) and made a winter couscous with bacon, mushroom linguine and Gong Bao chicken with rice.
Pork fillet is delicious and if you put it in the oven for the right amount of time, it remains juicy and tender.
Ingredients
For two people, we got about 400g pork fillet
1 small garlic clove
1 tablespoon honey
1.5 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon vinegar
a spritz of tabasco
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 bundle parsley
salt
pepper
oil
potatoes (optional – you can also eat this with rice or noodles)
Pork fillet: before
Method
1. Preheat over to about 180-200 degrees.
2. Heat oil in a pan and sear the pork fillet from all sides, sealing in the juice of the meat.
3. Mix the herbs, honey, mustard, pressed garlic, vinegar, tabasco, some oil (depending on how much meat you have) into a paste.
4. Rub the paste on the entire piece of meat and then place the meat in a baking form. (If you are eating potatoes, you can halve them and place them in the baking form as well.)
Pork fillet: after
I realise that although I reviewed British Airways, I didn’t actually report back on our trip to Sydney.
It was a short, jam-packed 10-day trip plus a couple of days flying and even though many said it was almost not worth it, it totally was because it had been about 2.5 years since I’d been back.
We planned our trip based on what food we would eat and on the people we would meet up with.
Day 1: We arrived in the morning and after visiting Shaun at work we headed home and had lunch: Korean noodle soup with pork. Dinner was of course dumplings and man is it good to have home-made dumplings! I am drooling just thinking about them. We didn’t even really have jetlag which was amazing and then eventually it was off to bed after a stress-free day.
Day 2: After some successful shopping at DFO with my parents, we visited my friend who was to be married and had a nice afternoon at her place with her then fiancé and their British Shorthair (cat). In the evening, it was Mamak. Asian food just isn’t the same in Germany, and there is a distinct lack of Singaporean/Malaysian food in Stuttgart.
Breakfast of champions
Day 3: The day of the wedding. Shaun and Justin prepared a gigantic breakfast of chorizo, bacon, eggs, caramelised onions, hash browns and bread. Let’s just say that by the time the wedding dinner rolled around, we still could not eat. Still, it was a good time and I got to meet up with the bride, her husband and a mutual friend of ours who no longer lives in Sydney. She’s Austrian and I spoke to her in German for the first time which totally spun her out!
The bride and groom
Day 4: We had a party with a few friends, family and our neighbours at home. A feast including chicken curry, noodles, and some other staples in our family. It was a great night organised by our parents and it was nice to meet and hang out over mum’s amazing cooking.
Day 5: Some of this may now be mixed because we had pork belly once at a restaurant and once at home, but I think this is the day that Justin made some home-made pork belly that was delicious but extremely filling.
I think that’s enough to fill your bellies by overloading your eyes for today, so until next time, if you’re going to try these foods…at least give yourself a chance, do this ‘diet’ over a few weeks!
Here’s Sydney welcoming us home:
Oh hai, Sydney!
Ok so I am only getting around to posting now because we’ve just been enjoying spending time in Australia with the family and meeting up with friends. The weather was amazing for the first 3 days but now it’s raining and hopefully it’ll get better again soon.
Brekky at home
It’s been a bit of a food adventure because mum’s cooking is the best thing ever. Our first night here we had homemade dumplings, we’ve also had meals with friends, a wedding, a big brunch with chorizo, hash browns, eggs, onions and of course, bacon.
But tonight, we are feasting on homemade pork belly. The meat was bought this afternoon, then scored with a sharp knife and seasoned with pepper, salt, olive oil and vinegar. Then it was up in the oven at 210 degrees for 40 minutes with the skin side down, and then another 40 minutes the other way around.
Pork ready to get in my belly
Slicing the pork belly
We’ve only got a few more days here (til Saturday) but we have a lot more planned and I will make sure I post about our BA long-haul experience when I return to Germany. Til then, hope you’re keeping dry!
KOKSTARS 