All posts tagged: eat with me

korean food

Flavours of Korea and Far East @Revolte Cafe Pub

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Another Korean food event took place last Saturday. This time it was a little different to the previous as I, self-taught and instinctive cook, was joined by a professionally trained chef, Seçkin @5KitchenModa. While working together in the kitchen, I was reminded of ‘The Cook and the Chef‘, the Australian TV show, though I’m not as old as Maggie! I’m hoping to mature like her though. A lot of people showed interest in the event again and the tables got quickly booked out. This time it was for finger foods rather than a full course meal, which is usually more labour intensive. Imagine rolling out 100 dumpling wrappers and rolling 100 spring rolls! What makes it even more difficult is the lack of access to basic ingredients. I could have easily bought the tofu and bean sprouts but I made both from scratch because I don’t like the taste of tofu sold here. And Seckin even smoked the fish for the sushi because we didn’t want to use imported farmed salmon. When I was introduced to him, I sensed that we …

Korean dumplings

Korean Lunar New Year Feast @ Bahane Lounge

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Sorry readers for the long absence. So many thing have happened in the last two weeks and I don’t know which one to write about first. So let me write about the latest event first, The Korean New Year Feast, which I feel like is the best achievement in my years in Istanbul. I haven’t fully recovered from the chaotic weekend of shopping and cooking as I’ve had a full working week right after. As I was writing this, my sister sent me this photo of the whole family celebrating the lunar new year with giant oysters and pork BBQ, with a note that my dad made these wooden stools. They’ve been feasting for three days now and yesterday was marinated beef rib BBQ, Galbi. I can see how the table offered to the ancestors is getting simplified each year. When I was growing up, it was three times the size of this and took the whole family to cook but nowadays people only prepare dishes they actually enjoy instead of following the book of …

Indian Dinner@Eat with Me Istanbul – Spice it up!

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Indian food, why do we love Indian food so much? As soon as I announced ‘Indian Night’, at least 6 people immediately responded and what was meant to be a cozy stay-in evening for two became an evening of kitchen labor, but good labor. But I was concerned a little because I had to work on that day, so I prepared some of the dishes the night before and marinated the tandoori chicken; seriously I was cooking and making samosa from scratch at 11pm. Luckily, curries can benefit from sitting overnight. Samosa… I love it but I hate frying so I used the baking method, which worked brilliantly. I made sure to brush the samosas with ghee occasionally. These flew off the plate faster than the time required to keep the guests occupied while I was finishing off cooking the mains. But they left some of the gorgeous Scampi Avocado Lime Coriander Grapefruit Cocktail for me. It wasn’t so Indian, I know, but still exotic, and that’s why I whipped it up as an extra …

Korean Soirée @Eat with Me Istanbul

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Last Friday I was invited as a chef to cook in a dream kitchen for Korean Soirée. What an honour, a professional chef promoting a home-cook to a ‘Chef’! The idea of a Korean night came as Mr.O and I recently returned from our Korean trip and had some Korean goodies. People would normally keep them to themselves as they’re often very difficult to get hold of if you live abroad, but I wanted to share as I always do. That’s why I did my first Soiree des Gourmandes after returning from my Jura wine tour where I met my life saving foodie friend, Dolores. A Korean dinner had already happened two nights ago but people who saw the menu post on my Facebook page got so excited that they demanded that it be held soon or they will die. I didn’t know there was so much interest in Korean food. Yes, I’m not so Korean inside as outside and I hardly cook Korean at home; I had enough of it growing up! Though I …

Soirée des Gourmands @Eat with Me – Delicious Evening with Comte and Jura Wine

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When I got back to Istanbul, I wanted to eat some lamb because I, who was indulging in duck meat, I’d forgotten to eat lamb while in France. So I made lamb shanks as the taste of beef bourguignon, which I’d pulled off not long ago, was still lingering in my palate. Well, it just happened to be another dish that I had to brag about. Maybe I’m born a slow cook. I mean literally I can’t cook fast, and if I have to rush, I panick and freeze to the spot. That’s why I’m still a home cook, not a chef. But this might change after the dinner I had with a woman, who came to my dinner last Saturday. This lamb shanks I made by incorporating a beef bourguigon recipe into traditional lamb shanks was the best I’d made and tasted. The fall-off-bone tenderness is just a beginning and the rich flavours and aromas were just incredible. I didn’t even need a fork to eat. The main concept of my blog, which seems …

Pizza and Movie Night

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I’ve been catching up on films lately, Cloud Atlas, Looper, Intouchables, and also watched some old favourites like Papillon and Magnolia. The first two films happened to be a sci-fi time travel story, with which I have a comprehension issue, and I blame on my lack of imagination. Cloud Atlas was ok, but it seemed to have reminiscences of past films like Blade Runner, Inception and Crash. Is it just me who felt that way? So I was bothered by the thoughts that kept making comparisons with other films and didn’t get to enjoy the film, a bad sign huh? The film failed to grab me. Then came Looper, which we managed to watch in three days. I just couldn’t believe such film got a high score on Rotten Tomatoes and from now on, I don’t think I can trust those guys any more. Luckily, Intouchables made up for my disappointment with the two previous films and we watched it while eating “recycle pizza”, which made the night unforgettable.