Fruit To Try and Fruit Recipes from around the world

 

Fruit bought from Fairprice supermarket in Singapore.  Water melon, pineapple, and figs. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Your favourite fruit in summer was the subject of my table topics (impromptu speeches) on Friday June 17th at Singapore International Dynamic toastmasters club on zoom, and we had a wonderful entertaining session with surprise suggestions from around the world.

Mango with sticky rice, in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Mangoes can be made into a milkshake for a quick snack meal, we learned from our recently joined member Shobhana.

Fruit in Belize, Central America

President Edward told us that in Belize in central America, coconuts are sold by the roadside all year, and you can buy coconut milk in pints, quarts and gallons! He described how you can add coconut milk to rice when cooking (straining out the bits of coconut, then adding the coconut later). He also told us how to make coconut into cupcakes, and coco crust, like a patty.

Edward said he ate fruit tarts and kidded himself that he was not putting on weight because he was eating fruit. He used a great rhetorical question, 'Who doesn't like fruit tarts, that person hasn't been born yet!'

Grapes

Edward told us how grapes were the fruit of love, in romantic novels, and grapes and apples are popular in Belize at Christmas. Contrast that with the UK, where we eat dried fruit in mince tarts and Xmas pudding.

Grapefruit

Edward described how his first experience of grapefruit was of what looked like an orange but turned out to be sour. A decade or two passed before he visited the doctor, suffering from a cold or flu, and a couple of old ladies advised him that graefruit (full of vitamin C) might help. He tried grapefruit again, decided that it benefitted his health, and after eating it for two or three days had grown to like grapefruit.

Fruit In The Middle East - Dates

Khalid, on Zoom from the middle east described how the palm tree was the source of life in the old days when every part of the tree was used, logs for building houses, fibres for the roof, and carpets, as well as dates eaten fresh in summer, dried for winter, also used for sweet date syrup. 'Trees provide oxygen,' he said, 'so be kind to your trees'.

On our second round of table topics,

Bananas

Sridhar told us how green bananas can be sliced and spiced with spice and cinnamon and salt and fried in oil to make crunchy banana chips.

Mangoes

Sridhar said mango or any fruit can be mixed with milk to make Indian style ice cream and mango lassi (drink).

UK Fruit - dates

Dates. Picture from Wikipedia.

I, Angela, spoke about how dates are an amusing party food, with the stone removed and replaced by almond, and the stufffed dates placed on toothpicks stuck in a wooden holder if you have one, if not into a large round fruit to look like a hedgehog.

Oh too many great ideas to tell you all. Come to our next meeting, every Friday at 9.30 pm, Singapore time to join in the table topics session which starts the meeting.

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Three melons and Katsu chicken + tips and tricks from The Civil Service Club & Restaurant during Covid-19

The Civil Service Club. Photo from Wikipedia.

The Civil Service club is now taking bookings for Christmas and you might have the chance to be invited to a group dinner. I have been to several Christmas dinners organized by a long-standing friend, who is a civil Servant by Profession, who I know from Harrow Writers Circle, and he took me to Toastmasters International's local club. He organized meetings for both these organizations and others. Yet again, I went to the Civil Service Club weekly meetings with a wine and dine group which meets here often, so I know it well.

We just had the pre-Xmas menu, but you may be getting some of the same this winter or next summer so here are my suggestions.

Our meal started well with hot bread and butter. That was good to keep us going - I needed the energy to climb the steep staircase up to the ladies toilet. I also did not want to get too drunk on our wine and dine club's two starter white wines. If I had drunk on an empty stomach, I would have been unsteady and nervous on the steep stairs. I vowed to go down in the lift instead to the ground floor toilets at the end of the meal which included several wines and ended with a sweet Gewurtztraminer, a spicy wine, my favourite, followed by port.

After a toast to demised Paul, who was the focus of  our memorial dinner, we were on to the meal\s starters. One diner at our table liked the prawns, thought they were flavoursome and succulent. And easy to eat. My husband prefers prawns in the shell. However, he had no complaints.

How to Eat Hard Melon

Our starters for a group meal included prawns or the trio of melons. 

Trio of melon. Photo by Angela Lansbury

 I am allergic to shellfish so I opted for the melon. A lovely trio of colours, red, yellow and green, like traffic lights. 

The red watermelon was great. The orange and green and white melon slices were so hard that you could not cut them with a knife or spoon. However, I discovered that if you pick them up in your hands, real teeth (I can't speak for dentures), are strong enough to eat a hard water melon. The orange melon was quite tasty. 

Main courses

I had chosen the chicken katsu. It's Japanese style. I like to try something new. 

It was fried breaded chicken in a curry sauce on rice. Why put a hard dry coating on chicken? Chicken should be succulent. 

The alternative was fish. Or steak and chips. The steak was rather tough. The portion of chips was generous and did for two of us. 

So far, ups and downs. Fortunately the meal ended on a high note. Dessert. 

Dessert

I chose cheesecake, which had two fresh strawberry halves on top.  It wasn't a really cheesy, baked solid cheesecake like the ones called New York style which you get in coffee shops such as Starbucks on a good day (when they have not run out already). But not a piece of blancmange nor toothpaste masquerading as a dessert and contending for disappointing dessert of the year. 

I was happy enough with my choice. However, I looked with keen, suspicious interest at the other lady's apple crumble. I asked, "Did you like your dessert?"

She didn't respond to my questions. She stared at me as if finding it difficult to commit. I feared the worst.  After I repeated the question, she admitted, "I'm hard of hearing." 

She eventually understood my vital question. I rephrased it, "Was the crumble too hard  - or too soft?" 

She said,"No - in the middle." She conceded, "It was the best part of the meal."

My husband opted for the cheese platter, which had generous pieces of solid cheese, and crackers.

Seating - in Covid Times

We were two couples on a table for four. That seemed a good arrangement during Covid-10. We sat each facing our own partners. The top table diners, like at a wedding, were all facing forward.

And now for some practicalities:

Downstairs Bar Seating and Eating

The ground floor bar area is an informal restaurant. It offers both indoor and outdoor seating. The interior is very pleasant, with pictures made up of postage stamps, at a distance you can see they form traditional London sights such as a telephone box, and the symbol of the underground railway system.

Toilet Tips

The Civil Service Club has two sets of toilets. The larger one is on the ground floor with several cubicles. The other is above the restaurant with two cubicles.

From the ground floor to the restaurant, you can take the tiny lift which takes two or three people crammed together, so a maximum of  two others. But rather close, but you could ride it alone.

To avoid other people, you might prefer the two cubicle ladies toilet upstairs. It is up the steep double flight of stairs from the main restaurant. (The upstairs toilets are on the same level as some of the private dining rooms).

To avoid climbing the steep stairs up to the ladies toilet, you can use the ground floor ladies, through a doorway behind the bar.

The tables are secluded, if that's what you want. But when they are arranged around the room in a U shape or three sides of a square, with the top table backs to the window. The large round pillars may prevent some of the diners from seeing or hearing speakers at the top table.

With Covid-10 still a concern for some, the organizer of the event reduced mingling by printing out place cards. He met us at the door and directed us to the correct tables. He said, "I had meant to print out a seating plan, but my printer ran out of ink at the vital moment."

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_katsu

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Service_Club

https://www.civilserviceclub.org.uk/Membership/Ordinary_Member_Form/accomodation_2021_screen.aspx

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2021/10/covi19-and-restaurants-and-quarantine.html

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2021/09/food-choices-stains-and-toilets-at.html

About the Author

Please share links to your favourite posts

 

Ice Carving And Harmony In Harbin, Northeastern China at Chinese New Year

Ice sculpture, Flute, by Dayou_X in Wikimedia Commons.

Harbin, nicknamed the ice city, in northeastern China is the place to be in the cold season of January to March especially at Chinese New Year. I was reminded of this by Chinese girl who I met in Singapore. She said, "Any travel agent in Singapore will be able to organize a trip for you, because Harbin's Ice Festival is very popular".

Ice And Snow World sculpture park, Harbin, China.
Photo by Lin Yang in Wikimedia.

The major attractions are the giant sculptures in the two parks, one on Sun Island, by the river where workers carve out the ice blocks. The ice sculptures are not those little table top ones you see at some upmarket winter weddings, but full size, like the ice hotels. You get ice bridges you can walk across. One of the venues has ice sculptures floodlit at night with glowing colours. These are paid for attractions in large fields. Hundreds of workers have toiled with heavy machinery, and great skill, for days, working days. 

Entrance. Photo by Dayou_X in Wikimedia.

On investigation, I realise that the temperature of minus thirty is not a place where I would like to spend January. Minus fifteen in a South Korean ski resort did not suit me. I spent the first day, Saturday, of my weekend away at Korea's nine dragons (nine mountains) ski resort, shopping for a warmer hat to insulate my neck and cover for my nose, as well as a second layer of gloves. My time and money was spent on shopping for clothes I might never need again.

Where would you stay? Harbin has large international five-star hotels. Indoors you might warm up on winter food. What kind of food is unique to Harbin? A red sausage. Sweet and sour pork, deep fried.

Where to Go - After the ice?

South of an adjoining sister city is an ancient 11th century walled city. An excursion for those more into culture than sport.

Summer Celebrations In Sunny Weather

The good news is that Harbin has summer alternative cultural attractions. Reading about the previous years with the world record for the number of pianos playing - more than 600 simultaneously, I knew the festival would be fun. The music mentioned included the Radestsky March, one of my all-time favourites, jolly upbeat music, rather than dismal dirges, made my eyes open and my mouth widen in a smile.

The music festival is held in alternate years, the even years, 2, 4, 6. 8, 10, so the next one is 2020. That gives me and you  plenty of time to learn to write and read and speak Mandarin Chinese. Rather than relying on the tedious method of using Google translate with taxi drivers, I can practise my conversations using Earworms, and FutureLearn.

Two new underground railway lines will be finished, we hope, by 2012. The underground will have bilingual signs. Elsewhere, much is in Chinese. Now would be a good time to start cultivating some Chinese friends, penfriends and Facebook friends. They could be mentors in learning Chinese, translators, and enthusiastic travelling companions. Remember the winegrowers' saying, the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is now.

Harbin Railway station, photo by Prince Roy from Flickr used in Wikimedia. 

As you can see, major signs are in Chinese. If I had not been told this was a railway station, I would have thought it was a department store. Would the clock have been a hint that it was a railway station? Yes. But other buildings also have clocks.

Tasty Summertime Food

In Singapore my new Chinese friend's father grew up in Harbin and she has family there. In summer, she recalled, "In Harbin you eat watermelon, sweet melon, honeydew melon, corn, apricots, fresh peaches - much tastier than the ones we get in Singapore." Watermelon sounds refreshing for hot weather.

Harbin's summertime cultural attraction is the music festival held every two years in the 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 years, so the next event is the year after next in 2020.

Worldwide - Ice Is Nice!

This place, Harbin, has been on my winter wish list for years, along with the ice hotels of the USA and Canada and Scandinavia.

If you don't have the time and money to travel to China this winter-spring and would like a winter ice resort nearer your base elsewhere, alternatives are winter celebrations in Quebec City, Canada. Alternatively, over in Europe, go north to Norway.

Meanwhile, back in Harbin:

Confucius Temple, Harbin, China. Photo from Wikimedia, article on Harbin.

See and Do Top Ten Checklist
1 Ice Festival - 2 locations
2 Chinese New Year
3 Summer Music Festival
4 Russian St Sophia Cathedral (and synagogue and Jewish area)
5 Confucian Chinese Temple
6 Siberian Tiger Park
7 Organic Winery
8 War Museum (Chinese victims of Japanese)
9 Harbin sausage
10 Side trip to 11th century walled city

Another excellent photo by Lin Yang. St Sophia Cathedral. From wikimedia. The picture of the Baroque Eastern cathedral with its green domes, gold spires, and ornate windows has been 

photobombed by the birds. I believe they are pigeons.

Siberian Tigers Watching and Waiting in the Siberian Tiger Park. Photo by Carla.Antonini in Wikimedia.

Accommodation
Major hotels such as Shangri La. Budget places include a hostel in a former synagogue. That's a novelty. See Tripadvisor for photos of the hostel and reviews.

Useful Websites
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Harbin

https://www.bh.org.il/jews-harbin/

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Open Air and Early Bird Dining at Italian Casa Mia

Problem
It's hot in London, in July 2018, 24 c / 77 f; it seems almost as hot as Italy, where the temperature is 82 f /28 c. How about a nice Italian restaurant? Casa Mia will do nicely. I was standing outside taking a photo when the manager rushed out to greet me. He reminded me that he knew me from way back when he worked in Fellini Italian restaurant, run by Andrea, when it first opened. Fellini (named after the Italian film director) moved around, across the road, then to the corner, until Andrea retired from running restaurants and Fellini became Porto Grande. Andrea was the Godfather of Hatch End's Italian restaurants, with his younger former staff gradually taking over as he moved on.

The manager of Casa Mia rememberd that I liked kir royale.

For your free glass of house wine at Casa Mia, choose from one of these bottles.

Answers
In Hatch End, London, England, sit by the window and have a glass of tap water and a cold drink.
Yes, in England, you can ask for a glass of water. Casa Mia Restaurant will give you a glass or jug of tap water.

Water - yes!
Recently, in the Pestana Casino Hotel in Madeira, we were not served drinking water. But that's another story, or post.

In the UK, by law, if they serve alcohol they must serve tap water, no charge. (I did read somewhere they can charge for the glass - that's the cover charge you get in some bring your own bottle restaurants. But I have never heard of anybody doing that because the British would be outraged.)

So, Casa Mia offers fresh air and free water. What else?

Italian Food
Starters
Minestrone (vegetable soup - vegetarian, which you might think is obvious, but it means they didn't sneak in a meat stock cube and forget to tell you). Or fine fresh cold melon.

Loads more choices of starters. Traditional prawn cocktail. It's been a British favourite since the nineteen sixties. It still is a favourite.

Sometimes people sneer at prawn cocktail. Don't listen to those people who want to be rude about what you choose to eat. Let them eat what they like and you eat what you like.

If anybody comments while you are eating, tell them not to be rude and spoil your dinner. I tell them, 'If it upsets you, please keep quiet and let me enjoy my dinner. If you want to make rude comments about my choice of food, please move to another table.' Then they apologise.)

Let's look at the menu again. A chance to remind yourself of half-forgotten Italian. The manager gave me the menu to take away. The Italians, especially ours in Hatch End, are so obliging and helpful. The phrase, can't do enough for you, comes to mind.

You would think every restaurant manager could would and should do this. But they don't. So many times, I have been in other restaurants where the staff ignore you, can't find their own business card, are short of business cards and takeaway menus. Here, it's the opposite.

Many dishes are cooked to order. If they are not busy, and you want a different combination, just ask.

Italian - English
alla - at/on the
alla Champagne  - with Champagne sauce
alla crema - with cream sauce
alla grilla - grilled
Bistecca - beef steak
Bolognaise - from Bologna, or in the style of food from Bologna in Italy
casa - house
filetti - fillet
Fiorentina - from Florence, or in the style of food from Florence, usually with spinach
grilla - grill
mia - my
Milanese - from Milan
insalata - salad
pollo - chicken
risotto - rice dish
salmone - salmon
spinaci - spinach

English-Italian
beef steak - bistecca
chicken - pollo
cream sauce - alla crema
fillet - filetti
grilled - alla grilla
house - casa
my - mia
rice dish - risotto
salad - insalata
salmon - salmone
spinach - spinaci

Decor
Hatch End restaurants have great decor. Casa Mia is decorated as if you are sitting outside in an Italian village, with tiled rooftops.

Early Bird Offers
The early bird offer is available both lunch time and early evening. It consists of two courses, starter and main course, including a glass of house wine, for £13.95 plus ten percent service. That's £28 minus two pence, plus two pounds eight pence service, which comes to

But your bill will come to more if you add desserts, coffee, more drinks. If you are looking after your diet and your teeth, you might feel it sensible to go without a sugary dessert. But if you want them, they suggest home made tiramisu and other favourites as extras, extra time and extra cost. The menu has added a British favourite, bread and butter pudding.

On Saturdays, the whole weekend, when they are busy with booking for the evening if you have the early bird offer you need to order by 7 pm and you need to leave by 8 pm. Other days, no hurry.

Wines
What are the house wines? Italian red, white or rosé. if you are not into wine, you can have a soft drink instead.

Casa Mia
Tel: 020 8428 0079
455 Uxbridge Road, Hatch End,
Pinner, Middlesex HA5 4JS

visitbritain.org
visitengland.com
visitlondon.com

Angela Lansbury with a model of the queen at Heathrow airport. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

temperature in london
Web: casamiarestaurant.org.uk or
casamia-restaurant.co.uk
Email: casamiahatchend@gmail.com

Afterwards go for a walk along the London loop from Hatch End station.

Hatch End high street was the home of Isabella Beeton, 1856-62.

Mrs Beeton was the renowned cookery writer whose book of household management is still published today.  (My family used to grin as they quoted: "First kill your chicken .. take a dozen eggs ...!") No thanks. I think I'll find a restaurant. 

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my other posts on Italian restaurants in London, England; visiting Umbria and Italy, learning the Italian language.

Surprise Decor, Dishes and Desserts, from France and America to Merry England

Everybody likes to be surprised and delighted. I am going to tell you about three meals I had long ago: the French restaurant meal at Richelieu, the Souffle in London, the magic restaurant; then three meals I had recently which you could try - the chocolate bombe melting at Petrus, the misting ice cream at dinner, the hidden egg at the Harrow in Little Bedwyn.

The French Restaurant
The restaurant in Richelieu France was in a small town with a couple of bedrooms above the restaurant, the sort of place where there are no locks on the doors and one of you is saying that this place is a dump while the other bravely and optimistically insists it's lovely and cute.

Downstairs we weren't expecting much. Up comes the melon, a whole melon, with the top sliced off and replaced. We remove the edible lid to reveal the inside melon part cubed and red wine forming a contrasting lake. The main course, table d'hôte, is fish with almonds. We are expecting a small fish with a few almonds. To our astonishment, an entire tray of food arrives, the central platter surrounded by flowers, the fish for two on an oval platter, the fish entirely hidden inside a mound of almonds. We talked about that meal for years.

A French named restaurant, Le Souffle, in a Hilton hotel in London, supplied a memorable anniversary meal. For a starter we had artichoke soufflé. The soufflé was in the middle of the green artichoke. The artichoke was served half encased in a red napkin folded origami style to mimic the shape of the artichoke leaves, a series of stepped, red triangles.

Le Souffle's decor was outclassed by the entrance to the dearly missed Magic restaurant. First, the entrance was hidden. You descend a staircase and cannot see a person, nor a door, just a set of panels and bookshelves. After scanning for a handle, pulling and pushing, attempting to slide the wall, stamping on the mat in the hope of finding a pedal or button, the door swings open. Did you trip the catch, are they watching from inside or what?

Inside, of course, there was more. The waiter brings a hanky and does a trick, then unfolds the cloth to reveal a menu printed on it. I can't even remember the food. (The Magic Hotel in San Francisco was another unforgettable hotel we were lucky enough to try before the owners said goodbye to the business. When you opened the bedroom's wardrobe door, you saw a mural of a cow. A recorded voice told you where to find the menu, grab it and hurry downstairs to dinner. In the dining room the waiter greeted three of us, each by our first name, although we had not met him previously.)

What can you enjoy now in London?

Petrus
Unless price is no object look out for lunchtime specials at this a la restaurant. The chocolate bombe is a combination of hot and cold, ice cream inside, encased in chocolate casing which melts or explodes to reveal the contents.

Dinner
Dinner restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel offers assorted surprised. The orange, which is a kind of mincemeat ball covered in something resembling ketchup, think tomato, Scotch egg for millionaires.

The dessert is equally original. An ice cream cart which is wheeled to your table if you choose their special dessert. The ice cream is made fresh to order. You get a grand display of ice cream mixing, with a white mist like dry ice. I wasn't so thrilled with the results, but my two companions thought the taste was every bit as good as the performance.

The Harrow
The hidden egg was the surprise at a recent meal. I hope this stays a feature of their menu. As well as looking amusing, like a boiled egg, the taste of the sweet white swirl of cream on top, and the orange fruit centre, was delicious. Of the three desserts I have described, I think nutritionally a combination of sugar and fruit wins. Not too much sugar, small portions, just right. But perhaps that's because it's the one  had most recently so I remember it more clearly and fondly.

The Harrow at Little Bedwyn

Cauliflower Snow
What if you are not nearby and / or can't afford the time and money to visit these sumptuous places? What could you do at home? How about Cauliflower Snow, my favourite surprise dish when I had just started entertaining. You cook cauliflower with a layer of whipped egg white on tip, hiding the egg yolks under the 'snow'. One egg yolk per person. Grated cheese on top is melted under a grill which cooked the whites and keeps the yolks cooked enough to be runny, not set.

If you cut the egg white to mark the portions, you can be sure each of your two, four or six diners receives a serving containing a surprise egg yolk. It's a relatively inexpensive dish and suits those who don't eat meat. The ingredients won't suit strict vegans (who avoid eggs, milk and cheese) but will be fine for many vegetarians.

If that's too much like hard work, try Petrus, Dinner or The Harrow.

Angela Lansbury B A Hons is a travel writer and photographer.