TomYam Bihun Soup

*This is written while waiting for the bathroom for a bath hahahaha*

A lot of people might not know what 米粉/Bihun (or BeeHoon, Mee Hoon, Mee Hun, Mihun etc etc) is in English --- Rice Vermicelli. It is one of my favourite food. Here in Ukraine, you can get it with 350g for about 19uah, in Metro or Furshet. Haven't come across in Silpo though.

My friends usually asked me what do I do with radishes. Well, for the Ukrainians, only one word when you ask --- Salad. Me??? --- Soup

So for a simple dinner tonight, this is what I have done. Recipe to share is below. I know many of you know how to prepare this and cook even better than I do. But who knows, some new learner like me, out there might find this useful :P

From left : Radish, JiaoZi (available in Metro, uah28), Rice Vermicelli

Ingredients :
100g Rice Vermicelli
800L Water
1 Tomato --- cut into 8
5-8 Radishes --- Quartered/halved (without the red skin)
200g Chicken fillet --- Sliced
3 Chinese cabbage leaves ---Sliced
Tauhu --- Sliced into cubes
2 tablespoon of TomYam Paste / 1 TomYam cube
6-8 JiaoZi
Salt

Bihun after softening

Method :

1. Boil some water, place the Rice Vermicelli in a bowl, and pour the hot boiling water on it. And let the Bihun soften. Pour away the water when it is soft and leave aside.
2. Place tomato and radishes into the 800ml of boiling water in a pot.
3. When the soup boils again, put the sliced fillet.
4. Add the TomYam paste when the soup boils again.
5. Upon another boil, add cabbage and Tauhu, then let it boil. (You may want to add some water, if the water is lesser)
6. Finally at the last boil of the soup, put in the JiaoZi. Add salt for tasting if required.
7. Pour the TomYam Soup in your bowl of Bihun, and enjoy it :)

P/S : If you have shallot oil, it is even tastier. Sprinkle some cilantro, does well too.

* You may enjoy Bihun Soup with any type of soup of your choice, with any ingredients you want. Add seaweed, mushroom, crab stick ......whatever makes your appetite good*

Palm Sunday Dinner Outing

Spring is in the air. As you can see that even the plum flowers are blossoming. No birds chirping in the night though :D

Wonderful season of the Christian calender is approaching. Today we celebrated the Palm Sunday. Next week will be Easter. And this year, both the Orthodox and the Western Christian have the same date for Easter Sunday.

After the mass for Palm Sunday in English, we (Du Ping and I) went to Malboro Cafe (Near Caezer Restaurant, and near the church) for a dinner. I personally won't recommend it. One thing good about Malboro Cafe is that the food pictures are all displayed in the menu. So that's a very good idea, especially for the customers, and the waitresses don't need to waste their precious saliva explaining hahaha. The food, however, is a little bit pricey. Below are what we ordered today, although they were just so-so (prices below do not include the 10% service charge).

I ordered Ramen (拉面）， the Japanese noodle soup, small one which is about 2 small mouthful of noodle (uah20). And the other is the fried noodle (uah28) tasted slightly better.

The dessert (uah17) is special. I don't know what it is called but it is ice-cream wrapped in a very thin layer of skin (hmm , I'm not sure what the skin is called again) with 4 drops of jam. Green tea in pot charged uah8.

For those of you who don't know where the Catholic Church is (yes, there is one here in Simferopol), you can take the bus no.81 (to Titova Paediatric Hospital). Call for stop opposite the "MEBEL" building on your left, after the second roundabout (after you passed Kubisheva Rinak). The Church of Our Lady of Assumption is just on the right (corner lot), opposite the grocery shop. By taxi, ask for "Ulitsa Danskaya 5".

Currently there is a weekly Sunday mass in English at 5pm.

The Malboro Cafe is just 20 meters away from the 2nd roundabout after Kubisheva Rinak.

Du Ping and the dog of other diners.

~ Tiramisu Charlotte Cake Style ~

For Khiu Fu Lung's birthday party, we (group 628) decided to do cuisines of different nationalities. And we drew lots to decide the "chef" behind the cuisines. So this is the list :

Italian/USA/UK --- Mac and Cheese

Brandon/Kok Hon/Sook Sim


Mexican --- Barbecue Stick & Roll (?)
Brandon/Kok Hon/Sook Sim


Georgian --- Salad
Ann Feng


Cuban --- Mojito (Without Alcohol)
Yan Lee


Irish --- Irish Lamb Shank
Izman


Thai --- TomYam Seafood
Oo & Cyok Noy


German --- Pork Knuckles
Wei Min & Syih Ying


Chinese --- Herbal Duck Soup
Justin & See Yee


Italian --- Tiramisu
Jacklyn

As promised in the previous post, here is the better modified version. As the instructions are already written in the previous post, this would only include some additional instructions/details. Texture for this time is much better, I think. As it is not so soft and "watery" as the last one. At least you can see the "fence" still manage to stand "still" :P

Ingredients :
3 egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream

Coffee syrup (refer previous post)

500g Mascarpone Cheese
3 tablespoon coffee (strong and thick is preferable)

500ml Whipping cream

Lady Finger's biscuits
Cocoa Powder

25g Gelatin
50g hot water

Additional Details :
~ Steps are the same as previous.
~ But after you have fold in the Macarpone mixture and the whipping cream, assemble the lady finger's biscuits (without coffee) at the side of your tray.
~ Then take more lady finger's biscuits and dip them into the coffee mixture to make the first layer for the base of Tiramisu.
~ After this, only start to dissolve the gelatin in 50ml of hot water by double-boiling method.
~ Pour the dissolved Gelatin into your tiramisu cream portion by portion. Don't forget to stir/mix them evenly so that you won't get clumps of Gelatin in your cake later.
~ Then pour the mixture on the first base and proceed with the rest of the steps.
~ Chill the tiramisu for at least 4 hours.

Ingredients used

Left : Yolks + Sugar ~ Pale and frothy
Right : Gelatin + 50ml hot water ~ Double boiling method


Left upper corner: Assembling the cake, coffee-dipped biscuit at the base

--- HaPpY BirThDaY, Fu Lung! ---

Venice Restaurant In Simferopol

Today we have our individual graduation photography session for the graduation book of the university. We went way too early for the photo shoot. It was supposed to be at 1300. However, we reached at 1200. So we waited and waited and waited. Finally the moment came ...

After taking several shoots of it, we went to a second room to choose our photos. But, frankly speaking, I wasn't too excited upon seeing it. I have heard people of previous sessions saying how skillful, how professional the photographer was, how he requested students to tilt and turn for different angles. So maybe because of this, I (actually quite a number of us) was expecting a little bit more.

By the moment we saw the pictures (to select one from 4-5 pictures), we were like ... in total silence :( Bad, hmmm, ok that sounds a little too cruel. I mean, not too good; not to say worst but just not very good. But still, we each chose our one "best" :( Hopefully after some editing by the professionals, it might turn out better, if not perfect hahaha

Then we went to the city centre --- Etalon Photo Shop for our "second shooting" --- picture for our graduating certificate. Paid UAH20 for 6 passport size photos. And at least this time I am satisfied. Trust me, when I say I am satisfied with my photos, it means not bad :D

So after that we (actually just me and another girl, AnnFeng, :P) "travelled" our way through to Venice ~~~ Venice Restaurant for a dinner ... well, for Sunny's Birthday dinner. Well, 2nd Birthday dinner to be precise. Or should we not count the mistaken 1st? The environment is good, food is nice, at least they were freshly made and served. We were satisfied :) Guess, I am easily satisfied ??? LOL

Below are the pictures of the food ordered (price quoted as of 19th March 2010, service tax 10% not included).

Soup

Creamy Mushroom Soup ~ UAH 15

French Onion Soup ~ UAH 15 (Recommended)

Creamy Pumpkin Soup with Almond ~ UAH 12

* If you like to have bread with soup, do order the bread, it's freshly toasted, UAH 1 for a triangular piece. Nice!* (Recommended)

Main Course

Mutton Mediterranean Style ~ UAH 38

Pelenggas Fish with potato pillows in cream sauce ~ UAH 30 (Recommended)

Chicken Fillet in Cheese ~ UAH 20

Tagliatelle with chicken and mushroom ~ UAH 33

Drinks

Super sweet milkshake ~ UAH 5 per glass

(Where can you get a price cheaper than €0.50 of Milkshake in Europe???)

Desserts

Crème brûlée with Ice-cream ~ UAH 20 (Recommended)

Traditional Soufflé (has dry wine in it)~ UAH 10
(Where else can you get a Soufflé like this with less than €1?)

I think it is Choco Star Cake ~ UAH 12
(supposed to come with Ice-cream but maybe was mistakenly put onto my Crème brûlée ?!)

Due to the super sweet desserts and milkshake, we ordered for a pot of green tea, UAH 20.

Venice Restaurant

Waiting Hall

Stairways

For those interested, you may call them at (0652)600838 [I doubt they speak English] or visit them at

Trattoria "Venice"
Ushkinsky St. 2/46,
95000 Simferopol,
Crimea, Ukraine.

OK, why am I advertising them for free???