Merdeka Day Feast

During the Mardeka Day Hols, I had some friends over for some makan time...here are some:

 Tiger Prawns baked with herbes de Provence and garlic oil to start...

My version of a brandade: Ocean trout and Lemon sole brandade served with a salade of basil and lettuce dressed in lemon vinaigrette

To make the brandade (6 souffle ramekins):

1 piece of ocean trout about 250 g

1 piece lemon sole, skinned about 150 g

1 large potato, precooked

3 cloves of garlic, mashed

3 eggs, separated

1 sprig of italian parsley, finely chopped

salt and white pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika powder

Preheat the oven, butter the ramekins and set aside.

Steam the fish for about 8 minutes, remove, cool and mash the meat finely with a fork to get a fluffy fish paste. Mash the potato and set aside. Beat the egg whites separately. Mix all the ingredients, the beaten egg whites last. Set the ramekins on a baking tray and fold in the mixture. Bake for about 30 minutes or until ready to eat. It will behave much like a souffle and as such, will deflate when eaten later. The potato will give the brandade some body to hold its shape. Serve with a salade of spicy or aromatic vegetables like a mix of roquette, basil, parsley and romaine with a light lemon vinaigrette.

 Saucise de Morteau with mash potatoes cream, Dijon mustard aioli and onion sprout.

Simple salade to end with some cheese...

Layered crêpe cake with chocolate ganache and apricot jam. 

"Big Nose" of Nature - the Lantern Fly

The Lantern Flies are widespread in the tropics but not very easily found, especially the larger and showier ones. They look like a cicada with a long nose and are generally more colourful. I have seen a few species where I usually go for my weekend excursions into the jungle and this is one occassion I was able to photograph one at a distance with my 90 mm macro lense...

Pyrops spp.

Colours of Nature

I went for my regular weekend photo shoot in the forest and here are some that caught my attention...

Grey on grey - this tiny butterfly is the Malayan Six-ring (sometimes known as Horsfield's Six-ring). It was resting on a pile of dead leaves in the sun and its cryptic undersides blended perfectly with its environment.

Earlier on in the morning in a totally different area...

Frequent rain induced some flowering of grasses which suddenly shoot up in abundance after a period of dry season from May till August.

The glistening hair is not from a hairy arm but the young bamboo shoot fallen from last night's rain and wind...

Spectacular beauty from the velvety insides of a Pointed Ciliate Blue, a tiny butterfly that inhabits the jungle paths...

Nature has its own agenda with the making of beauty - a Long Banded Silverline puddling by a sand bank.

And a caterpillar with unusual appendages...

Our New Resident Flycatcher

Lately, a Pied Fantail took fancy to our back garden: I have been observing it catching insects around our lily pots (good) and taking baths in the lily pots. What was amazing is the fact that it is completely friendly and seem to go about its business completely oblivious to the going ons in the kitchen...

Annecy on Bastille Day

I visited Annecy on the French Bastille Day (14 July 2013) and not surprising, the old town centre was off limit to our tour bus (surprised that the driver might not have known about it). As it was a half-day visit, boat trip inclusive, we didn't have much time after the lake tour, just enough for a quick lunch and some souvenir shopping...

the dock (freshwater) with a clear water river flowing directly into Lac Annecy...

Vistas of the lake from the ferry...the mountains on the background are parts of the Alps...

the old city of Annecy...

Had a meal (duck breast) justly in a restaurant called "Le Bastille"...

a street act...

a coot having a swell time picking on water plants (think it is looking for crustaceans)...