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A Pilgrimage in Madrid

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on April 13, 2010| 55 Comments »

Casa Labra, Madrid

Every year, thousands of  pilgrims head to the town of Santiago de Compostela where it is believed that the body of St. James is buried.  Some people will undertake the pilgrimage as a way of penance, and a way to get closer to God.  The pilgrimage can take as little as five days (I was told) or as long as several months.  A pilgrim can also purchase what is known as the credencial or a pilgrim’s passport which is stamped with the official St. James stamp in each town where the pilgrim has stayed.  At the end of the journey, pilgrims receive a certificate of completion, called the compostela, which means they have walked the last 100 kilometers to get to the destination.

They say, this is a spiritual journey of a lifetime that I one day hope to experience.  But in the meantime, I find myself in Madrid instead, and am about to embark on another type of pilgrimage.  This culinary pilgrimage starts at our hotel and I stop at various restaurants and tapas bars along the way to reach, around  five hours later, my destination.  The final stop is a street called Cava Baja.  At first glance, it looks like an almost impossible feat to eat in this many places in one night, but like any pilgrimage, there are mini and longer breaks.  My mini breaks are the tapas bars where we enjoy one or two little dishes and move on.  The longer breaks find us in restaurants like Casa Botin or Casa Lucio for a proper meal.  At the end of our journey, the certificate of completion I get is not a compostela, but instead, a few extra kilos on my frame!

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Black and White Warm Chocolate Cake

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on March 9, 2010| 67 Comments »

Black and White Warm Chocolate Cake

It runs in my family to be compulsive chocolate hoarders.  This disease is particularly evident around Christmas and Easter time – or more specifically, the days following Christmas and Easter when holiday chocolates start to see a decline in prices.  Our first instinct is to buy as much chocolate as we can.  In fact, one day, many many months after Easter, my sister took me aside and showed me that she had hid boxes and boxes of Lindt’s Lindor Balls under her bed.  Apparently she had purchased them in an after Easter sale and had been slowly savouring them – eating one Lindt ball a day!

Lindor is part of Lindt’s chocolate collection where delicious chocolate enrobes a smooth filling.  Once you bite into the outer shell, the filling starts to melt.

When Sarah from Lindt Australia sent through a lovely box of Lindor Chocolate squares, I knew immediately what I wanted to make of them.  Inspired by the Lindor range, I wanted to make a dessert that had an outer shell and a rich and gooey center, similar to the taste sensation of eating a Lindor chocolate of course!

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Bill Granger’s Ricotta Hotcakes with Honeycomb Butter – Danish Style

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on March 6, 2010| 54 Comments »

Bill Granger's Ricotta Hotcakes - Danish Style

I remember when I was scheduled to have my First Communion – a few weeks before we had to prepare by going to our first confession.  For those who don’t know what this means, basically, you enter a little booth,  divided by a wall – one side sits a priest and one the other end is you.  You tell the priest your sins and transgressions and ask for forgiveness.  Some classmates planted this notion that the more sins we could confess, the better.  Not only that, the longer I could drag out my confessions – the more chances I would go to heaven.   So my first confession (and the subsequent ones for several years!) contained lots of trivial and irrelevant confessions from “I was angry with this friend”, “I did not finish my vegetables for dinner” or “I told my Mum I took a bath when in fact I just ‘wet’ the soap so she would think I did”

I can imagine the poor priest on the other end of the confessional wishing that this little girl would just shut up!

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Family Gems

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on February 25, 2010| 50 Comments »

Pate de Fruit

My first ever piece of jewelry was given by my grandmother in the first grade.   It was tradition in our family that a golden medallion with a religious carving was given to each grandchild celebrating their first Holy Communion.  As like many good young Catholic girls, this occasion was one of the most eagerly anticipated events in our school.  I was so excited to be wearing a beautiful white dress (I thought I looked like an angel – YIKES!), to finally feel “grown up” and receive Holy Communion and of course I also knew I would be receiving that gold medal like all my siblings and cousins before me.

For most of my childhood I thought that it was probably the most important family heirloom that my Mama (how we all called her) could ever give me.  I remember being at school one day realizing I had lost it.  I was in tears and was frantic searching my classrooms, the bathrooms and the school cafeteria for it.  A few hours later I remembered I had removed it and placed it in my gym bag (yes, even then I was already misplacing things!).  What a relief!

While I still treasure my little medallion, I know now that there are greater things my Mama (how we always called her), left me.

Strawberry, Orange and Grape Flavoured Jellies

Take for instance the importance of family.  Nothing can be more telling than how she managed to get all her children, grandchildren and occasionally other close family and friends, to gather at her house every Sunday lunch.  If you asked me what was on for the weekend – the first thing I would always say was, “we have Sunday lunch at Mama’s house”.   I think she got the formula right when she made sure each meal was so delicious that it made these gatherings worth dropping everything for.

Did I tell you that my Mama’s house was also a summer camp and concert ground?  Yup, that’s right.  Every summer all the cousins would be dropped of at her house and we’d spend the entire day eating, swimming, and concocting silly games to keep ourselves occupied.  I remember one summer when all the girls discovered Duran Duran.  Oh my… We’d start the day watching one of their videos (in those days we would watch it on the “betamax”!) and then proceed to have our own concert.  The older cousins got to pick first who they wanted to “be”.  I thought it extremely unfair that my older sister got to be Simon Le Bon when I thought I looked more like him (yes, I don’t know where I got the idea that I looked like him when he looks nothing like a little Asian girl).  However, I was lucky enough not to be the youngest who was always stuck being Andy Taylor!  🙂

Whether it be Sunday lunch, summer camp or one of the holiday gatherings – Mama always kept us together.   In my own home, this tradition continues on until today.  It might not exactly be on Sunday, but at least once a week, we will gather together for a family meal.

Then of course there’s my love for cooking which I am 100% sure I got from her.  When people tell me “you would make your Mama proud”  or “you’re just like your Mama”.  Well, it just makes me want to sing and I can’t stop smiling!

Family and food – these are the jewels my Mama left me.

Pate de Fruit

These little Pate de Fruit remind me very much of little gems and well, truth be told they taste amazing.  The recipe is adapted from Cannelle et Vanille.  I used her ratios to make strawberry, grape and orange pate de fruit.  The recipe it seems can be doubled and tripled with the same successful results.

Recipe

  • 120 grams fruit puree, strained
  • 3 grams yellow pectin – I used citrus pectin
  • 15 grams sugar
  • 150 grams sugar
  • 30 grams glucose
  • 4 grams lemon juice

For the strawberry, I pureed 200 grams in a food processor and strained this to yield the 120 grams.

For the grape, I pureed  385 grams to yield 240 grams (strained) – this recipe I doubled.

For the orange, I first boiled two oranges (seedless) for ten minutes, cut the tops and bottoms and pureed the flesh and juice in a food processor – I did not strain the mixture but used the pulp and juice for the mix.  I measured out 360 grams and tripled the rest of the recipe above.

For the instructions below, this assumes you are going to only make one quantity.

  1. Spray a pan with some flavourless oil (I used grapeseed) and line with plastic wrap, making sure to remove the air from the edges.
  2. Mix the pectin with the 15 grams of sugar.
  3. Place the fruit puree in a saucepan and bring to a light boil.
  4. Add the pectin and sugar mixture and mix with a wooden spoon.
  5. When it comes to a boil, add the rest of the sugar.
  6. After 3 minutes add the glucose.
  7. Continue to mix  and cook to 106C.  This took me around 10 to 15 minutes depending on whether I was making a single or double or triple quantity.
  8. Stir often so that the sugar doesn’t burn on the bottom.
  9. Once it reaches the desired temperature, remove from heat and quickly pour into the container.
  10. Allow to harden for a few hours and then cut into desired shapes.
  11. Coat with granulated sugar.

Orange Pate de Fruit

Strawberry Pate de Fruit

Grape Pate de Fruit

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Alone

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on February 7, 2010| 54 Comments »

Smoked Salmon "Tartare" ... for one

Smoked Salmon Tartare adapted from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Cookbook

December and January were extremely busy months.  Between trying to spend as much time with my parents who were here on holiday, trying to finish work commitments and catching up with friends for the holidays, I still don’t know how I managed to get out a number of posts as well!  Then I spent last week away for work in Hong Kong and it was the perfect opportunity as well to meet up with the Blog Monster and my sisters and my Aunt for some long over due bonding.   I can’t remember the last time all the “girls” in the family went away together.   On the weekend we arrived for instance, we started at 10 am when the stores were just opening, spent most of the day in the malls around Central and Kowloon.  We’d break two or three times during the day for meals and gorged on roast goose at Yung Kee and dim sum at the Metropol restaurant.  At the end of our trip we were such familiar faces at Yung Kee that when I went there on my last day to meet the Blog Monster, I  thought they had not yet arrived so I asked for a table for four and the lady at the reception area told me “ah, your family is already seated upstairs!”

At night we’d have dinner, usually at a Chinese restaurant and then hit the night markets and come home close to midnight.    Both The Geisha and The Blog Monster had to put band aids to protect their feet from all the blisters that were forming from all the walking.  My arms were so sore from carrying so many bags that someone thought I had broken out in hives (I said it wasn’t hives, it was just the marks the shopping bags had made on my arms!).

As usual, the Blog Monster was hilarious as she tried to haggle with the shop keepers at the night markets.

“How much for the chinese tea pot?” she asked.

“120” the shop keeper replied.

I thought, “A bargain!” and was ready to pull out my wallet.

“120? Ahhh tooo expensive!  I’ll pay you 50 for it!” The Blog Monster said.

And back and forth went the Blog Monster and the Shop Keeper for at least 10 minutes.

“She’ll never get away with it!” I thought to myself.

But somehow, she managed to get me the tea pot for 50 HKD plus a ceramic brush for free!

So you can imagine, coming home on Saturday was pretty strange.  After more than two months of a constant stream of guests, parties and get togethers, I found myself… alone.

Smoked Salmon "Tartare" adapted from Thomas Keller's Bouchon Cookbook

While I do love the companionship of my husband, family and friends, I sometimes relish the thought of having my own quiet time.  Where there is no need to align my schedule to anyone else’s.   There is no need to worry that what I make for dinner will not be to everyone’s liking.   No need to share the box of my favourite mint chocolates with anyone else.

My husband had gone on a business trip to the US the same time I left and is due back mid this week.  So for now, it’s just me and of course the dogs, Baci and Bizou.    Times like this reminds me of the period in my life when my husband was studying his MBA in New York.  I was in the Philippines living with my parents but they would be away for months at a time visiting my family in Australia.   So very often I would find myself preparing dinner for one – myself.  One of the dinners I used to often have was a smoked salmon sandwich.  On a toasted baguette, with cream cheese, capers, red onions and some rocket – a simple and satisfying meal.

Salmon "Tartare"

Of course dinner for one doesn’t have to be boring.  In fact, one of the things I enjoy most is taking the time prepare a beautiful meal.  For once there is no one in the background saying “hurry up and stop trying to style our dinner, we’re hungry!” In fact, when I have the time, the ritual of preparing the meal is as enjoyable as eating it!

This Smoked Salmon “Tartare” was adapted from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Cookbook.  As you can see, it’s not really a tartare (as I did not chop the salmon finely as a tartare should be done) but it has all the makings otherwise.  The recipe below is for one serving (of course!) but since this makes a very pretty starter, feel free to increase quantities if you are making it for guests.

Recipe

  • 50 grams smoked salmon
  • 1 hard boiled egg, white and yolk separated and finely chopped
  • 1 small shallot, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon fresh chives, finely chopped
  • a few capers, rinsed, chopped
  • 2 teaspoons sour cream (or creme fraiche which is what is used in the Bouchon cookbook)
  • salt and pepper to taste

Smoked Salmon "Tartare"

  1. Lay the salmon on a large plate.  Use a sharp knife to cut the salmon into a circular shape, leaving at least 3 cm between the salmon and the rim of the plate.
  2. In a little bowl, mix the shallots and the chives together, add some olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.
  3. Now lay the chopped egg yolks around the smoked salmon.
  4. Next lay half of the shallot and chive mix after the yolks.
  5. Add the egg whites around the shallot and chive mix and then finally another layer of the shallot and chive mix after the egg whites.
  6. Finally, lay a quenelle of sour cream over the smoked salmon.

Dinner for one...

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Chicken Adobo – “Momofuku Style”

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on January 24, 2010| 46 Comments »

Momofuku Style Chicken Adobo

This month, the Kulinarya Cooking Club decided to feature Adobo!  To many, this is considered our national dish.  Ask any Filipino and they will tell you that they have the “best” adobo recipe.  It’s no wonder that there are so many variations of this dish.  But I tell you – I think I have discovered THE BEST EVER recipe for chicken adobo.  (I can already see many Filipinos raising their hands in protest!).  But I stand by my statement!

Traditionally, in our home we simmer a combination of pork and chicken in a marinade of soy sauce, vinegar, bay leaves, black peppers and garlic.  Once done, the meat is removed from the sauce and pan fried separately while the sauce is simmered further to obtain a rich and thicker sauce.  Before serving, the meat is once again reunited with the thickened sauce.  Many filipinos will insist that adobo be served with a bowl of rice (either garlic fried or steamed) but other than that, “the day after adobo” is excellent as a sandwich filling (in our house we usually lather it with tons of mayonnaise).

I wanted to try something different with the adobo this month so I experimented with David Chang’s Fried Chicken with Octo-vin recipe.  I’ve had a lot of success with the Momofuku cookbook – the Chicken and Egg recipe can be found here and the Fried Chicken with the Octo-Vin has been previously featured in Almost Bourdain’s site here.

Reading through the recipe for the Fried Chicken, I thought it would be an interesting twist to use David Chang’s technique for his fried chicken.  First he brines the chicken for several hours, then steams it, lets in dry in the refrigerator and finally pan fries the chicken.  It is then served with a sauce he refers to as Octo-Vin.

Chicken Adobo - Momofuku Style

So for my version, I pretty much stuck to the Momofuku tecnique but  my brine solution was the adobo marinade.  I also changed the octo-vin by cooking it in a saucepan and adapted the ingredients so that the adobo flavours came out.  To be completely honest I was a bit hesitant to use Philippine white vinegar instead of the rice wine vinegar in the original recipe but I was amazed at the resulting sauce – very intense and the flavours blended beautifully.   I like to call it the Pinoy Octo-Vin.  Yes there is a lot of work to this recipe but I promise you – the results are worth it.

Recipe for the Fried Chicken (serves 4)

  • 6 chicken thigh cutlets (I deboned mine)
  • 4 cups lukewarm water
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup light soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons white vinegar (Philippine brand preferably)
  • 4 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 2 bay leaves
  • a few peppercorns, left whole
  • Canola or grapeseed oil for frying
  1. Combine the water, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic,  bay leaves and peppercorns in a container and stir to dissolve the sugar.  Add the chicken and cover.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour and no more than 6 hours.
  2. Set up a steamer on the stove.  Drain the chicken and place the brine on the bottom of the steamer (this is your steaming liquid).  Put the chicken in the steamer basket and cover.  Steam the chicken for 40 minutes on medium high heat.  When done, remove it from the steamer and put in on a cooling rack to cool.  Chill it in the refrigerator on the rack at least 2 hours (or overnight).
  3. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator 3o minutes before you cook it.
  4. In a deep skillet, heat enough oil for the chicken (I only pan fried the chicken).  Fry the chicken in batches until the skin is deep brown and crisp.  Around 6 to 8 minutes.
  5. Remove to a paper towel lined plate to drain.

Pinoy Octo-Vin (Filipino Style Octo Vinaigrette)

For the Octo-Vinaigrette

  • 2 garlic cloves, (I used confit garlic cloves but plain garlic will suffice)
  • 2 tablespoons coconut milk
  • 1/4 cup light soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons white vinegar (Philippine brand is preferable)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 4 to 6 peppercorns
  • 1 teaspoon white sugar
  • 2 tablespoons grapeseed or other neutral oil

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan and heat over low for 10 minutes.  Serve on top of the Fried Chicken.

Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture and its colourful cuisine.

Each month we will showcase a new dish along with their family recipes. By sharing these recipes, we hope you find the same passion and love

for Filipino Food as we do.

If you’re interested in joining our Kulinarya Cooking Club, please feel free to drop by our foodblogs and leave a comment – we would love to

hear from you!

Trissa, Kath and Trish

http://sugarlace.com

http://www.acupcakeortwo.com/

Welcome new Kulinarya Members (if I have missed anyone out PLEASE email me!)

Olive http://www.latestrecipes.net/

Caroline http://whenadobometfeijoada.blogspot.com/

Peachy http://www.thepeachkitchen.com/

Althea http://www.busogsarap.com/

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The Blog Monster’s Sombrero Pie

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on January 7, 2010| 47 Comments »

"Sombrero" Pie

I think I may have created a blog monster.  Ever since I posted my Mum’s Canelones recipe and taught her to comment, she’s been very enthusiastic to say the least, about this little hobby of mine.  Take for instance the comment she left on this blog:

Triss,

It was great doing the step by step canalones with you…. More to come folks. I m here for another 18 days just hold on…. Mom

Then this afternoon, at work,  I get a cryptic voicemail from her saying “come home soon”.  Straight after work I found her hovering over the stove with three pots of ground meat.  Apparently, the meat was on special (you know how crazy Mum’s can get when something goes on sale!) and she said she would teach me three different dishes using the ground meat.  Chili con Carne, Ragu Sauce and Sombrero Pie.

Of all these dishes, my favourite would have to be the Sombrero Pie.    In her version, she layers mashed potatoes, ground meat, creamed corn and tops it with grated cheese.  In fact, it was a recipe featured in the cookbook she wrote with my sister.  In the cookbook they go on to say that it was named “sombrero”, because it looks like one of those Mexican hats.

She told me she would love to share it with you all… Enjoy!

Layer with mashed potatoes, ground meat, creamed corn and cheese

Recipe

  • 4 large starchy potatoes
  • 125 grams butter
  • 125 ml milk
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 250 grams ground pork
  • 250 gram ground beef (otherwise, use 500 grams beef and omit the pork)
  • 1/4 cup tomato paste
  • 400 grams creamed corn
  • 1 1/2 cups of tasty cheese
  1. To make the mashed potatoes, peel and quarter the potatoes and then boil until you are able to pierce through the potato with a knife.  Drain the water from the pan and put the pan back on the heat to “dry” the potatoes out – this should take around 30 seconds.
  2. Mash the potatoes with the butter and the milk.  Season with salt and pepper.  Set aside
  3. Saute the onions until transparent and then follow with the garlic until fragrant.  Turn the heat to high and add the ground meat.  There will be liquid that is released from the meat and cook until this liquid is evaporated.
  4. Add the tomato paste and cook for around 3 to 5 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
  5. To assemble, use a round container, measuring around 25 cm in diameter and around 5 cm in height.  First layer the mashed potatoes, then the beef, spread the creamed corn on top of the beef and finally the cheese.
  6. Bake in a fan forced oven for 35 minutes at 180 c fan forced.

Mum's Sombrero Pie

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Tortilla Española

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on December 26, 2009| 18 Comments »

Tortilla Española

Do you find that your taste in food changes over the years? I know a few people that used to detest fruitcake but now enjoy it.  Growing up, one of the only tapas I refused to eat was the Tortilla . For some reason I had this notion that because it was just made from onions, potatoes and eggs, it was so boring and when you were faced with a spread of garlicky prawns, creamy croquetas of chicken, or stuffed mussels, it was easy to overlook the tortilla.

A few years ago I reconsidered the tortilla and am glad I did.  With such simple (and might I add, limited!) ingredients – one of Spain’s most loved dishes is created.  The tortilla is simply a potato omelet.  However, the technique to making this is not that simple – the three tip  to a successful tortilla are:

  1. slice the potatoes thinly, using a mandolin if you can
  2. don’t fry the potatoes, instead, cook them slowly in olive oil, the idea is not to get too much colour on them
  3. don’t be afraid to practice “flipping” the tortilla – this is what gives it its shape.  When you first start, the smaller the skillet, the easier to flip.  You might want to first half this recipe and use a smaller skillet for the first few times.

But with anything, once you know the technique, it is fun to make.  This is the best “make ahead” dish I know.  This is one of the dishes I served at the recent foodbloggers picnic.  It is actually best served at room temperature but it is so versatile you can serve it hot or cold.

Eggs, potatoes, onions and olive oil - that's it!

Recipe – serves 6 as a tapa (adapted from Penelope Casas The Foods and Wines of Spain)

  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 4 large waxy potatoes, slicely finely
  • 1 onion, sliced finely
  • 4 eggs
  • salt and pepper to taste
  1. Heat some of the olive in a 20 cm skillet.  Add some of the  potato slices so that you cover the skillet with a layer of the potatoes.  Next, add some of the onions and season with salt.  Alternate the potatoes and onions, adding olive oil as you go.  So basically it is potatoes, then onions, the salt, then a drizzle of olive oil before you add on the next layers.  Potatoes, onions, salt, olive oil etc.  Cook this over medium heat, turning the mixture once in a while until the potatoes are tender but not browned.  This took me around 15 minutes but cooking times can vary.
  2. When the potatoes are done, they should be tender enough to be pricked with a fork without any resistance, drain them in a colander, reserving the olive oil to use for cooking the rest of the omelet.  If there is more oil than what you need, don’t throw it away – this can be used for cooking other things as well so save it for future use.
  3. Beat the eggs in a bowl and add the drained potato mixture and let sit for around 15 minutes.
  4. Clean the skillet and heat 2 tablespoons of the olive in the large skillet until very hot and add the potato mixture, rapidly spreading it out in the skillet.  Lower the heat to medium and shake the pan often to prevent sticking. Use a thin spatula to run along the sides of the skillet so that some of the egg can run under and cook more evenly.  This takes around 6 to 8 minutes.
  5. When the mixture begins to brown and just before you flip the tortilla, loosen it by sliding a thin spatula between the egg and the side of the skillet walls. Place a plate slightly larger than the skillet over the skillet.  Remove the skillet from the heat and flip the omelet on to the plate so you can brown the other side.
  6. Add about 2 tablespoons more to the skillet, and then slide the flipped omelet back on to the skillet so that the cooked side is facing the top.  Cook the omelet for another 5 minutes over medium heat.
  7. Flip the omelet 2 or 3 more times (this helps to give a good shape), cooking briefly on each side.
  8. Transfer to a plate, use some kitchen paper to drain the excess oil.
  9. Cut into wedges, place a toothpick on each wedge (and a chorizo adds a nice touch too).

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Merry Christmas!

Posted in Uncategorized on December 25, 2009| 17 Comments »

Happy Holidays from Baci and Bizou!

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Niçoise on Choux & a Story on Miss Tuna

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on December 23, 2009| 17 Comments »

Niçoise on Choux Pastry

I met Wendy during my third job after University.  I was what they called a “dealer” which basically entailed buying and selling stocks on behalf of the firm’s institutional clients.  One day, I found out that she was hired to be my assistant.  She wasn’t reporting to me directly, but she was junior to me and she would help me execute the orders on the busy days.  Being only a few years apart, we became great friends.  She was cheerful (even on a Monday), totally outspoken (even if she was junior to everyone in the office she was not afraid to speak her mind to the most senior of bosses), and her attitude was infectious.

On most days we would have lunch at the office cafeteria.  I eventually dubbed her “Miss Tuna” as she would always order the tuna sandwich.  Everyday she would carefully scrutinize the cafeteria board as if she was planning to order something else.  Sometimes, she would ask the lady behind the counter “whats today’s special?”  but inevitably, she would order the tuna sandwich.

Not only were we close at work, we also hung out after work as well.  She knew I had a crush on one of the dealers from another firm and she would set up after work drinks so we could all hang out together.  I knew that her mother disapproved of her boyfriend so she would tell her mom that we were going out when in fact she was out with her boyfriend.  If you ask me if we were best friends, no we weren’t… but we were good friends, more like partners in crime.

One day my boss gave me a large order to execute for a first time client.  This was the “test” order and the pressure was on the make sure that nothing went wrong.  Things were hectic and the market was moving so I called Wendy (she was stationed in the trading floor while I was in the office) to take care of some of the orders.  When the stockmarket closed I called her up to the office to sort our trades.

“Where’s the fifth trade?” I asked her.

“What fifth trade?  You only gave me four.” She replied.

“No! That’s can’t be – it was five trades.  See?  I have it written down.”  I told her.

Of course she insisted she only heard me say four.  It was really a game of she said, she said.  Maybe I was wrong, and only gave her four trades.  Or maybe she was wrong and she just forgot to execute the last trade… all I remember is that things were strained that afternoon.  I had to explain to my boss what happened and of course my boss lashed out on me.  I, in turn, gave Wendy the silent treatment the whole afternoon.

Niçoise on Choux Pastry

The next day we didn’t have lunch together.  Neither did we have lunch the day after, or the day after that.  We still chatted at work but things were never the same.  No longer did she help me set up the after work drinks and I never found out who she used as an excuse to go out with her boyfriend anymore.

When I left the job a few months later she didn’t even say goodbye.

I suppose, if we both really wanted to, we could have made it work.  I could have said sorry, I could have clarified why I was so angry that day.

Or even, I could have invited her to lunch the day after for a tuna sandwich…

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!


Recipe

Choux Pastry Here

Niçoise Salad – no recipe here  – It was just some lettuce, tuna (dressed with some olive oil, anchovies, and red wine vinegar), hard boiled eggs and tomatoes.  Feel free to add black olives and capers if you have them on hand.

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