I’m not much of a cook so it’s lucky that I live with two very good ones.  Case in point, lunch today:

My gf made a filipino-style super sour fish soup, from scratch, slab of some kind of fish steak from the market, loaded with veggies – a little bit sour for my taste but really fresh and of course all natural.

Meanwhile, my maid has worked out a recipe for thai-style pork neck that’s the best I ever had in Hong Kong.  A slab of pork neck is really cheap in the wet market.   It’s a very lean cut of meat and I believe that means if you don’t cook it properly, it ends up rubbery and tough.  (Or maybe just all of the places in HK that serve it cook it so far in advance that it sits around all day and gets the consistency of a tire when they reheat it.)  My maid’s secret is that she marinates it over night, sears it in a frying pan and then roasts it in the oven.  The aroma as she’s cooking this wafts through the house and, like one of Pavlov’s dogs, I start drooling about 15 minutes before it’s actually ready.  She also makes her own dipping sauce, with soy, vinegar, chili peppers, coriander.

I promise next time they cook dishes like these to get further details on the recipes and photograph in progress for the blog.

Seriously thinking about a massage in Shenzhen tonight because my back is still killing me and two visits to Cherdchai in one week would be budget-busting.  Jacuzzi, steam room, 90 minute oil massage for about US$10 or $15 would be well worth the hassle of getting there and back.

Share