Snake Bean Noodles

Home cooking at its best - one of my favourite noodles at home, I

can only translate it to "dry-simmered snake bean noodles" because it is not steamed, fried, boiled or braised. This is how its made (so lets make it a naming competition - come up with a good name and I'll personally cook a big pot for you...) - First the shallot, snake bean and thinly sliced pork are mixed in a hot wok with oil and soy sauce until the snake beans are slightly softened, then fresh noodles are added and the soy sauce flavour mixed in. Then, a little water was added and the wok covered to allow the heat and the small amount of steam to cook the noodle through. Simple, yet it's just so delicious. I can't get enough of it despite my bursting stomach.......

家裡做了江豆燜麵 媽說是以前一家山東朋友教的 我也只在家裡吃過 做法是把油 醬油 蔥 江豆和肉絲爆香 江豆軟了以後 把QQ的新鮮麵條進去加點水燜一下 拌一拌 蓋子蓋住把麵燜熟就好 好吃喔～～～ 我吃到肚子撐的ㄛ

Light meal for a summer's day

Summer time calls for light meals that are easy to eat, light and not overpowering, but still appetising for the warmth that we can easily doze off with. More well known light meals may be salads (with appetising tangy dressing), mezze plates (dips, spreads), and antipasto.

What would constitute a light CHINESE style meal then? My family would often cook up a pot of mung bean congee (mung beans and rice cooked into a broth) in the afternoon, so by dinner time it would be just cool enough. Unlike the popular pork and preserved egg congee in yum cha restaurants, mung bean congee is not flavoured and not cooked in stock. Bland and tasteless? Maybe. But the light fragrance of the mung beans makes this congee are refreshing and somewhat wholesome summer staple.

Shallot pancakes are a favourite to accompany mung bean congee. It's not exactly light, but it is very appetising. A plain flour dough is first rolled out as a flat sheet, spread with oil, freshly chopped shallot, and a sprinkle of salt, then rolled up to give the pancake layers. It is then dry-fried until golden, and will have a very light, soft fluffy texture. A plate of stir-fried ONG- CHOI (green chinese vegetable) with garlic provides a wholesome and delicious accompaniment to the meal.

We don't normally have desserts after our dinner, but today we had some left over black glutinous rice cakes layered with taro paste. This is lightly sweetened, slightly chewy thanks to the glutinous rice, and perfect with a bit of Chinese Oolong tea or jasmin green tea. Satisfying yet doesn't add too much to the calories count....

Ding Tai Fung at World Square

It was such great news for me when Ding Tai Fung finally opened in Sydney!! My all time favourite restaurant, THE best dumplings you will ever taste, I guarantee it.

For everyone who visits Taipei, no matter what your food preferences are (carnivorous, herbivorous, omnivorous or anything else beyond description!) this is the one place I highly recommend and my personal "must-go" restaurant. This restaurant was made famous by their great dim sims, the proof being the 3 mile queues back in the old days before I left Taiwan. They now have better management and a second store in the heart of Taipei (and LA, Hong Kong, Shanghai and now Sydney). No

booking allowed so you must queue up - but it is highly worth the wait.

They specialise in dim-sims, steamed, boiled, fried etc, as well as serving a variety of very well made noodle soups and fried rice. BUT, everyone comes here for their dim sims. In particular, a steamed pork dumpling. The levened dough pastry is only millimeters thin, with a great soft-chewy texture.

The pork mince is tender and juicy (not for those fearful of high cholesterol but if you're here, you ought to let that out of your mind for a bit), so everyone picks up their little bundles of ecstasy very carefully, because you don't want the tender pastry to rip and lose all the delicious juices!! And we also had an absolutely divine pork and chinese chives steamed dumplings. These were light so I believe I can finish the whole tray on my own. Yet it doesn't feel dry like some 'healthy' versions of the vege dumplings. These are made with the same pastry as the pork dumplings but as the filling was not juicy it was much easier to handle.

We also each had a vegetarian steamed bun - this time with a thicker

levened dough so its soft and fluffy. YUM. I honestly believe this

was as good as (if not better) than what my mum makes - sorry mum but these were fabulous!

I love my noodles. I ordered a chicken noodle soup - which was cooked in individual ceramic pots so all the flavours are retained as the lids are only opened after the pots are presented to the customer (thumbs up). Also ordered a beef soup noodle which was really great, the soup base was rich and full of that beef stock flavour. A tad salty so I could use a little plain noodle to go with that! But still it was great.

For dessert we ordered a steamed dumpling with red bean paste - this was delicious. A bit sweet so it was perfect with tea. And, for those people who think Chinese restaurants only serve crap tea - well this place serves really fragrant jasmine or Oolong tea and it complemented our food SO well..... Their friendly efficient and enthusiastic staff made sure everybody's tea cups are always filled, and food arrived only when you've finished the previous batch, and sweets served only after you've finished all the savoury dishes.

Must go. The only restaurant I WON'T live without. Nothing compares to Ding Tai Fung!!

Cibo e Vino

We were greeted with a glass of Italian white bubblie with thin slices of nectarines soaking up the flavour. It was very easy to drink (and get drunk on) and was a refreshing start on that scorcher of a day.

The first course was truffled-honey figs with gorgonzola, which was very sweet, but somehow balanced well with the creamy and salty gorgonzola.

The salted cod fritters are delicious - normally salted cod dishesare very salty but this one wasn't. I guess it meant the fritters lacked that distinct salted-cod flavour because of that.

Scallops were plump and juicy (almost feel like they're uncooked?!). Orecchiette with pecorino was absolutely delicious - freshly made pasta just taste that much better, and the pecorino cheese- mmm.

The marron with spicy butter was a surprise - never had marron before (it'slike a yabbiebut bigger, or a crayfish but smaller), very sweet meat thatwouldtaste great even if it was plain BBQ'ed. The pizza with pancetta and caramelised onion and baby rocket was old fashioned but its the kind i enjoy. Except the basewas a bit too thick.

We wrapped up with a cabernet sauvignon granita with red currents.

Three thumbs up for this - spicy, sweet, aromatic, finished my meal perfectly (and was great timing for the hot afternoon).

My favourite was the dessert - cab sav simmered with cherries and spices then made into a granita. I loved the pasta too - fresh made pasta just taste that much better than dry pasta.

The marron was a surprise for all of us and (whispers - I want some more!!) it was so good it would even have tasted great if it were just BBQ'ed with absolutely nothing on top. The figs - I'm not normally a 'sweet non-dessert dish' type gal but the salt of the gorgonzola and the sweet of the figs and honey actually worked for me. Salted cod also deserve a mention as I enjoyed the crispy outside and soft and savoury inside (cod herbs and potato i think). The

scallops come last (for me) in this amazing meal, I guess because I have something similar at Chinese restaurants. Coffee - way strong - the way I liked. And I enjoyed the Italian white bubblie at the start of the meal too...

Wines - Torbreck Woodcutters Shiraz 2005, lightly chilled. I bought this a few months ago and this was a perfect opportunity so I brought it along. Chilled shiraz for summer actually worked, and I think everyone who had it said it was good to drink. I also brought a 2002 Miranda Golden Botrytis (which was a good year for this wine!) and this one never fails.

I'm starting to think that degustation type meals are worthwhile - this meal

was $60 and we were all stuffed as! And we got to taste a variety of unusual and carefully prepared dishes. One would easily pay $30 for a main, $15 a dessert, $15 wine and drinks and $3 for a coffee at a reasonably good restaurant ..... Degustation rocks.

Cibo e Vino Cafe and Restaurant - Shop 2 299-301 Old Northern Road Castle Hill 2154