So that blog series about London didn’t happen, just like that blog series about Japan and Korea didn’t happen. Oh well, no one is more eager to disappoint me than myself 🙂
In any case, I’ve moved to Hong Kong, and became…how to say this briefly…a Vietnamese who became American, but is now confused because people don’t think she’s Vietnamese, or American.
(spoiler alert: I didn’t find neither Ben or Idris or even Tom, but I did find London, the one I didn’t expect to see)
Yes, I am, like everyone and their mom (esp.their mom!), a fan of eloquent, attractive, and British thespians Benedict Cumberbatch, Idris Elba, and Tom Hiddleston. I might have tried desperately to look for an opportunity to see them perform live in London, but trust that it is not the main reason why I wanted to visit London. It actually has never been high on my list of places to go, and if not for the fact that some really good friends are living there, I wouldn’t have bothered. It’s…too mainstream of a city, too White – that was the image I had in mind for London, which turned out to be naive and just plain wrong. I was pleasantly surprised by what London has to offer, and from being indifferent now am willing to live there! I’m writing this series of posts with the hope that first-timers to London like I was can gain some helpful tips about how to travel and experience London not completely like a tourist, and without feeling overwhelmed.
I know there could have been a better title, but I feel like “The Fat Duck” in itself is attention-grabbing enough. It could be “WE WENT TO THE FAT DUCK!!!” or “We went to The Fat Duck.” depending on how much you know and care about, well, The Fat Duck.
Warning: a lot of the pleasure of eating at The Fat Duck is the surprise, which actually does not come when the food comes to your table, but when it comes to the table of those mofos who got an earlier reservation than you. It was still fun, for us, when the food came to our table, because while visual surprise was ruined, the tasting surprise was still there. If you read this post, you will surely be spoiled about both the look and the taste of all the dishes, so if you plan to go to The Fat Duck in the future, stop reading right now! Or, read and wait 10 years, I think they should change the menu then 🙂 That said, I will *only* post about the food. If a dish involves other (gimmicky!) devices or apparatus, I will not provide the pictures here, so as to save some surprise, if you decide to read the post and then go to the restaurant anyway. All photos were taken by me, please take out with credit!
Before you freak out, no, it’s really not poop that’s on the plate. It’s just really dark lamb stew, courtesy of a dark stout beer and a healthy dose of sofrito, which also turns dark when cooked. As you can tell, the beautiful flat bread on the side is to visually distract you from the black hot (and delicious) mess, and no, I didn’t make the flat bread.
Happy New Year! Fuck the new year…I just turned another year old! (this is an Asian thing, particularly Korea and Vietnam. Doesn’t matter when your birthday is, when the new year comes, you’re a year older.) My facebook feed increasingly shows pregnancy and baby pictures, and I can’t even muster up the enthusiasm to say congratulations. I just cop out and click “like”. If there was a button for “I’m happy for you but it’s complicated” button, I’d click it. But that’s another story, for another day. Today, we talk about food.
We haven’t cooked any less that we did before, but time constraint usually means I have to come up with quick, simple, and not quite blog-worthy recipes on most days . Once in a while though, by happenstance, some thrown-together recipes come out so good that I actually make the effort to take pictures, meaning to document the recipe (mostly for myself), but by the time I got around to it, I already forget what I did, and all that’s left is the pictures.
That ends today! New Year resolution: blog about good, accidental recipes that no one will read, not even me, just so I can delude myself that I will remember to make it again/become famous!
Someday I won't count my burns 