Back at the Burj

In the time my husband and I have been together, we have moved to eight countries in four continents and now, after almost four years in Singapore, we are moving once again.  This time, it's back to a place we lived for two years and a half in the early 2000s when our son was a few months old.

Dubai was already a bustling desert city then with the Burj Al Arab as its' iconic super structure.  Today, numerous skyscrapers dot the skyline with the world's tallest building (the Burj Khalifa at 828 m), the world's tallest hotel (the JW Marriott Marquis at 355m) and the world's tallest residential building (the Princess Tower at 413m) all located in Dubai.  After several despedidas (farewell parties) and tearful goodbyes, we left Singapore yesterday and are now in our new home in Dubai.

What better way to spend our first day back than to go back to the year-old Burj Al Arab Terrace - a 10,000 square meter structure painstakingly built in Finland and shipped to Dubai in its' entirety to create a stunning restaurant, pool, beach and cabaña space abutting the hotel with uninterrupted views of the Arabian Gulf.

We began with lunch at Scape with it's seafood-centric California fusion menu - a perfect on this sunny 39C day.  From the Crudo bar, we ordered two raw dishes: the Hamachi crudo with Ponzu, pistachio, olives and capers and the Corvina carpaccio with scallion, nori, ginger and truffle yuzu which we had with some salads; arugula, quinoa, pumpkin seed, Feta salad and the endive, grape, Gorgonzola, pecan as our starters.  We then shared the wild mushroom pizza with goat's cheese and the Baja style tacos.  After our light and mostly cold lunch, we headed out to some sun loungers on the beach and enjoyed the cool saltwater infinity pool where I finally took the chance to take it easy and just relax after the hectic months of packing and moving.  It was warm but not unbearable and armed with 50 SPF Sun Bum,  my new Armani sunnies (which I got online from Smart Buy Glasses), and a stack of magazines, I happily spent the afternoon sitting in the shade catching up on my reading and just taking in the view. And what a view it was!  Happy to be home at last.

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The Terrace at the Burj Al Arab

Scape at the Burj Al Arab

Hello, hello

After months of not signing in, I finally sat down today at my new desk in our new home, still in Dorado Beach, to explain why.  First, the kids are on their summer break which means that they're at home 24/7 so there's not much time to sit quietly and write.  Second, we went away for two weeks - first to Orlando (to the dreaded DisneyWorld) and then to Washington DC to go sightseeing and museum-hopping.  Finally, when we got back, we had one week to pack up our house and move to a ground floor apartment (we still have a large terrace and a garden - yay!).  This was much more difficult than when we just pack everything up and move to another country because there was lots more planning involved.  We ended up placing some furniture in storage along with lots of other things that we had to box up and put away as this place is smaller than the house we were in.  After a week of back-breaking work and unpacking, we are done and our new house can now be home once again.  So, I'll be back with more posts on Orlando and Washington DC and a few more from Dorado Beach.  Happy Summer!

Food, Wine and Art in Dorado Beach

On two occasions, A and I were invited to lunch at C and F's lovely home.  The well-designed space is bright and modern with direct views to the ocean and many wonderful art pieces prominently displayed in the gallery-like entrance hall and all over the house.  The table was set with striking cowhide place mats and colorful napkins in an enamel ring.  Several glasses were at each place setting signaling a tasting meal with matching wines.  Before sitting down to lunch, C gave us a short tour and explanation of the different art pieces and their provenance.

A Puerto-Rican themed lunch was organized by C and prepared by chef Jose from Zafra.  We began with ice-cold champagne rose and soon after for the first course of seared foie gras and banana - an interesting combination with the richness of the foie gras and the sweet banana coming together partnered with a glass of Chateau d'Yquem.  With the subsequent white wine, we had seared halibut atop a lighter version of mofongo made with yucca instead of the usual mashed plantains followed by a risotto con gandules (pigeon peas or tropical green peas), another typical Caribbean ingredient.  Then came the magnum of 1981 Vega Sicilia Unico - a velvety blend of tempranillo, cabernet sauvignon and a little bit of merlot  from the famed region of Ribera del duero which was served with the main course of seared tenderloin wrapped in a thin slice of crispy plantain still keeping with the Puerto-Rican influenced cuisine.  Last but not least was a light cheesecake served with guava sorbet and jelly which came with a shot of mango-flavored pitorro (Puerto Rican moonshine rum), a fitting end and digestif to the exquisite meal. 

Our second lunch at their home started with an amuse bouche of foie gras, prawn tempura and smoked salmon gravlax followed by a beautiful rendition of the classic caprese salad - one hollowed plum tomato filled with greens alongside several chunks of fresh mozzarella followed by mahi-mahi with mashed chickpeas.  Along with F's favorite wine, the Vega Sicilia unico, came two dishes: a slab of veal accompanied by mushroom sauce and apple chunks then seared skirt steak topped with baby vegetables including purple yam and a caramelized turnip.  To go along with the rest of the red wine was a molten milk chocolate dessert with guava sorbet.  This time lunch finished with a shot of Venezuelan reserve rum - Diplomatico.  Another one-of-a-kind meal from exceptional hosts who know how to live the good life with food, wine and art.

C and her cockatoo plus a few art pieces from their art collection.

They say that packing up is hard to do

There's a very good reason why my blog has been abandoned lately.  First, lightning hit the phone lines on my street (honestly, it's one of those weird island things) and we haven't had a working phone line or Internet for the last two weeks and still don't until now.  Second, we are leaving Bali after our two-year posting and are off to Puerto Rico.  As I write this, our house is a an obstacle course of boxes and packers busy at work.  Today is the fourth day of packing and we're not done yet but we have moved back to the hotel so at least, I have WiFi and can work on the computer again.  It might be awhile before my next blog post but when I get to it, it'll probably be from Dorado Beach.  Keep checking in and wish me luck on this new adventure.

Asado Argentino

Our last evening in Buenos Aires was spent with family at home and a typical Argentine Asado (barbecue meal) where it's all about the lighting up the grill early then waiting patiently for the wood to burn then when the embers fly and the wood is white-hot, the grill is cranked up and the super hot wood chunks are pushed underneath before the grill is lowered again and the meat is cooked.  We always start with some sausages - always chorizo, sometimes morcilla (blood sausage) followed by several cuts of meat.  This time there were costillas de cerdo  (pork ribs), asado de tira (beef short ribs) and  bife de lomo (tenderloin)  plus baked potatoes.  Along with the meats, there are always several salads: cherry tomatoes, hearts of palm and corn, mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, a mixed green salad, and shredded carrots with shredded beets.  Several plates of meat and bottles of Malbec later and the desserts were served: a strawberry mousse, a chocolate tart and brownies.  It was a beautiful spring evening with family and a great way to end our two-week holiday.

* The photo above is an Asado Argentino that we did at our home in Bali last year.  Again, it's all about the grill and the wood used.  We had a makeshift grill propped up on the ground but we still used wood and did it the classic way.

Travel 2011

2011 has been my year of travel.  I have never been on a plane this much ever.  There were trips to new places - Bangkok and Beijing, a trip to my favorite city - Paris, trips to visit family - Buenos Aires and Las Vegas, several trips to see the doctor - Singapore, trips to do renew our passports - Jakarta and quick trips on a stopover - Sydney.

November, though, is going to be the busiest travel month for me, with a week in Manila from today (to finish unpacking boxes that have been in storage for several years) then a week in Osaka and Tokyo (my first trip to Japan) and finally, two weeks during Thanksgiving in Laguna Beach, Las Vegas and San Francisco, before I head back home to Bali just in time for the children's holidays and Christmas.  And there are still so many places I haven't been to and hope to visit in 2012.  So bear with me and my erratic posting.  I promise there will be lots to read very soon with my Buenos Aires posts coming out, slowly but surely, and with more gourmet travel write-ups soon.

Back in Bali

Just got back a few days ago from our two-week holiday in sunny and chilly Las Vegas to windy and rainy Bali.  I just need a few more days to catch up on all the things that need to be done and upload photos so I can blog about the new places I tried - Jaleo at the brand-new Cosmopolitan hotel on the Strip, Lucille's BBQ in Henderson and my most-recent find Sambalatte in Summerlin.


There were also meals at our favorites - Lotus of Siam and Osaka and a failed attempt to have dinner at Raku because the staff were so rude that we decided to cancel our much-coveted reservation.  Check back by the end of the week when the posts should be up.

Balinese Thanksgiving

It's already the 2nd of December (23 days to Christmas!!!) so where have the last few weeks gone?  My last post was a restaurant we went to on a brief visit to Singapore and since then, I have been running around like a headless chicken getting everything ready for my family's Thanksgiving visit to Bali.  We were expecting nine guests in total (eight adults and my three- year old niece) coming from Manila and Las Vegas and I was booking hotels and cars and arranging the guest room and grocery shopping for a battalion which obviously used up most of my time.

They all arrived on the Saturday morning before Thanksgiving.  My mom and two sisters stayed at home with us and the rest were at the nearby Bali Hyatt.  We had a very full schedule of sightseeing (Ubud, Uluwatu, Tanah Lot, Jimbaran, Nusa Dua), shopping (Seminyak, the markets), swimming (at home, Sanur beach) and lots of eating which led up to Thanksgiving dinner two days before they left.

After a long discussion on whether we should eat out or in for Thanksgiving, we decided on having a big family meal at home but make a twist on the traditional meal and have a Balinese- inspired dinner with Babi Guling (roast pig) instead of turkey.  As most everyone in the family loves pig (except for C who had nasi goreng to keep within the theme), we splurged and ordered a whole roast pig from Ubud's famous Ibu Oka.  All we needed to prepare at home were two vegetables (spicy string beans and stir-fried bok choy), steamed jasmine rice, drinks and dessert.

Thanksgiving Thursday was spent running around doing last-minute errands and making the desserts while some went up to Ubud for more souvenir shopping and to pick up the pig.  We were expecting a pig slightly larger than a cochinillo (milk-fed baby pig) and were shocked to receive a pig so large that three people needed to carry it out of the car.  There went the plan to just slide the baby pig into my larger-than-standard oven to reheat.  We spent a few hours carving the pig, peeling off the crispy skin and chopping the meat into large chunks so we could then place them on large oven trays to reheat.  Along with the roast pig were many rolls of blood sausages which we heated in a separate roasting pan.  We scooped out the stuffing - a chili, lemongrass, lime leaf, ginger, candle nut and assorted spices mix - and heated that separately on the stove too.  While the food was in the oven, we opened two bottles of wine that my mom had hand-carried from her Burgundy collection - a 1999 Chateau de Rully chardonnay and a 1996 Romanee-Saint-Vivant from Joseph Drouhin.

Dinner was finally ready around 7:30 when we all sat down and had several platefuls of babi guling washed down with the excellent wines.  A preferred the oakey, smoky chardonnay while I enjoyed the rich velvety pinot noir.  It is said that to truly enjoy a grand cru pinot noir, from seven to 15 years is needed and this wine was just right on it's fourteenth year.

We cleared our plate and figured out how to pack up the leftover roast pork, which we gave as big foil-wrapped portions to the gardener, his wife and the neighbors, then froze the rest in individual containers for later (pulled pork sandwiches and roast pork fried rice).

Then we sat around talking on the terrace, enjoying the slight evening breeze and having the desserts - homemade tiramisu and chocolate chip cookies - with espressos.  Thanksgiving is about family and giving thank so here it goes.  Thanks to my family for coming over to Bali.  Thanks for the wonderful babi guling and the unforgettable wines.  Thanks for the lovely holiday memories and photos.  That's what Thanksgiving, wherever or however it's celebrated is all about.

Home sweet home

After that week-long Singapore break, it was time to finally hang photos and frames around the house and place all the books on the shelves.  This took several days of getting everything together and deciding what went where.  One of the things we've learned from all the moving is that nothing has a permanent place and with each new house, we've had to find ways to use our furniture and fit it into each and every place. From an apartment in Santiago, to a townhouse in Dubai.  From an apartment in Montreal to a duplex in Marbella.  Here in Bali, we're in a house that took ages to find and we've been here for over a month and it's only now that we've put our knickknacks in place, our photos on the display table, our books on the shelves and our frames up can we finally say that this house (our sixth in ten years) is now home.  My cookbooks are in the kitchen and I'm ready to cook once again.

Christmas Eve Dinner

We hadn't prepared anything for Christmas in Marbella this year - no tree, presents bought and sent straight to my sisters' house in Las Vegas, no food for Christmas dinner.  After our unpleasant travel experience last week, we returned home and started to get things ready for Christmas.  We managed to get the tree up and headed to Morrisons in Gibraltar to do some food shopping.  Our seven-year old kept checking to see if any presents would appear so after a few days so we also got a few presents to replace the ones that were already waiting for us in Las Vegas.   Somehow, we've managed to make it slightly festive although I have to admit that the holidays are about spending time with family and close friends so next year, we really have to make an effort to be with them.

Christmas Eve dinner was spent at home where we had a quiet celebration and a simple menu (recreating what we had planned to prepare in Las Vegas) - poireaux vinaigrette with sauce Gribiche, Cote de Boeuf on the grill, roast potatoes with shallots and garlic, a mixed green salad and some ripe cheese - Brie de Meaux, Petit Camembert au lait cru and a stinky Munster with a 2004 Chateau Malartic-Lagraviere. Merry Christmas!

Feed Me Now

I just received my Amazon order yesterday evening. Along with two Booker prize nominations (AS Byatt and Sarah Waters) plus the winner, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, I also bought two foodie books - David Leibovitz's The Sweet Life and Bill Granger's newest cookbook Feed Me Now.  It's been a long time since I've actually sat down and read through a whole cookbook from cover to cover.  This is going to be a classic and will now be on my "favorite cookbook shelf" for its' simple recipes and realistic preparation and easy-to-find ingredients.  I can't wait to get back from Madrid and try the recipes out.

Ideas from a Jardin Potager

Now that the summer is over, I've replanted my mini jardin potager (kitchen garden) which I often use to add some freshness to our food.  Right now, I have eight small pots of herbs:  chives for omelettes fines herbes or added onto boiled new potatoes with melted butter; cilantro for Asian dishes like steamed fish; parsley for sauteed potatoes or in a bolognese sauce; basil for tomato sauce or just on a salad of sliced tomatoes; rosemary for lemon roast chicken; thyme for grilled lamb chops and mint for Vietnamese nems or to add in a pot of green tea.  I also have a red chili plant (bird's eye chili) in a larger pot on the terrace to add to Thai curries and spicy stir-fries.  There are so many ways to jazz up a dish just with fresh herbs and having a few pots on a shady window sill or in a small corner of your garden is an easyway to add some interesting flavors to your home cooking.

Thai Corn Cakes

What to do on a mid-week night with the fridge full of leftovers?  Yesterday, I started looking through my cookbooks for ideas of recipes using the ingredients I had:  cooked corn on the cob + a bunch of cilantro + ground pork for tonight's stuffed aubergines = Thai corn cakes.  It's a Thai appetizer that's easy to do and makes a nice impromptu dish to be served with drinks when guests come over or just for one of those nights when you're just too lazy to cook something complicated.  All you'll need is some store-bought Thai sweet chili sauce and it's ready.
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Thai Deep-fried corn cakes

1 Tbsp.. crushed garlic
1 Tbsp. chopped coriander/cilantro, roots and stalks
1/4 tsp. pepper

Grind the ingredients above in a mortar and pestle until it forms a paste.
The garlic mixture can be stored, covered, in the fridge for 1-2 days.

250 grams corn removed from cobs
250 grams minced pork
1 Tbsp. garlic mixture (above)
1 beaten egg
1/2 Tbsp. plain flour
1/2 Tbsp. corn flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. light soy sauce
1/4 crumbled vegetable stock cube
1 Tbsp. coriander/ cilantro leaves to garnish

In a bowl, mix the corn, pork, and garlic mixture.  Stir the beaten egg.
Add the plain flour, corn flour, soy sauce and crumbled stock cube.
Form the mixture into round flat cakes.
Heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer then deep-fry until golden brown.
When cool, arrange on a serving plate, garnish with coriander/cilantro and serve with Thai sweet-chili sauce.

Sunday Roast

I've been meaning to blog all week but one thing led to another and now, it's Monday and I'm wondering where the last few days went. With two children, a husband and a household to run, the days just whizz by. This is the first quiet moment I've had in the office (television off and not blaring the Disney channel or some sporting event) and not surprisingly, it's almost midnight before I can post about dinner yesterday evening.

Sunday is our lazy family day when the nanny is off and we're on our own so we always have a very easy breakfast then sit around and try to read the papers then usually have lunch somewhere nearby. I make a simple roast dinner (or something on the grill if it's summertime) and we all go to bed early. Yesterday was no exception.

We had a lemon-rosemary roast chicken with roasted parsnips, carrots, garlic and onions. I also prepared some roasted sweet potatoes my way with a bit of chili to spice it up. There were some leftover roasted red peppers that we made over the weekend and were marinating in olive oil in the fridge so I put those on the table as well. Comfort food for a Sunday evening and just right for the start of autumn.

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Roasted spicy sweet potatoes

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• dried red chili pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• fresh thyme

• Preheat the oven to 2o0C.
• Peel and chop sweet potatoes into large chunks. Drizzle some olive oil in a large roasting tin. Place sweet potatoes into the pan.
• Grind some red chili pepper flakes onto the sweet potatoes.
• Add a few sprigs of fresh thyme.
• Place the roasting tin in the oven and roast for at least 20 minutes.
• Remove from the oven. Add the maple syrup then mix the sweet potatoes, making sure to scrape off those that have stuck to the bottom of the roasting tin.
• Put back in the oven for a further 10 minutes.
• Crush some sea salt onto the sweet potatoes and serve hot.
• (Serves three as a side dish or two very hungry adults)

Goodies from back home

When people come to visit, they usually bring presents from back home. Lots of times it's food that's sorely missed or can't be bought here. From Manila, I always receive ensaimadas (sugar and cheese buns) or bibingka (rice cakes). Sometimes, I get a small bottle of taba ng talangka (crab fat/roe) that I have sauteed with a bit of garlic and tossed with spaghettini for a quick lunch.

Our most recent guests were my brother in-law and his family who had arrived from Buenos Aires and brought some goodies from Argentine: a large box of assorted Havanna alfajores (cookies sandwiched with dulce de leche). There were two kinds: some covered in chocolate and others covered in powdered sugar. They also brought several packets of Chocolinas (chocolate biscuits) sent by my mother in-law when she heard from me that my husband was remembering a taste of his childhood. (He's now gone through most of the packets of biscuits which he eats slathered with dulce de leche.)

The largest (and heaviest) goodie was the doorstopper of a book A Day at El Bulli by Ferran Adria. It's been sitting on my bedside table all week waiting for the right opportunity for me to go through it and read all about what it's really like to spend a whole day in one of the world's most famous restaurants. I might even attempt one of the easier recipes in the book if I ever get off my chaise longue this summer.

Birthday Dinner

Monday was my birthday and as since it always happens in the middle of the summer holidays, we usually have friends visiting. In 2007, we had three groups of friends here and we all went to Calima , a one-star Michelin restaurant for dinner. In 2008, we had a quiet family dinner at Thai Gallery, our favorite Thai restaurant in Marbella.

This year, we have my brother in-law, his wife and three children visiting so after some cold Lanson champagne at home on the terrace, we went to Casanis Bistro in Marbella's Casco Antiguo for an al fresco dinner with the kids. As usual, the place was packed and we were seated right outside their deli/wine store where we saw many people, both tourists and locals, taking an evening stroll through the old town.

We shared some appetizers: tuna tartar and a green bean salad with shallot vinaigrette while the children had their nuggets and fries. A few of us, including myself, had the special main course of cochinillo (roasted suckling pig) with chimichurri but they only had two portions left so my brother in-law had the gigot d'agneau (roasted leg of lamb) instead while my husband and sister in-law both had fish - grilled tuna for him and the sole meuniere (pan-fried sole) for her.

We shared some desserts - mostly lemon sorbet or ice cream to beat the heat and were about to pay the bill when the servers brought out a mini-chocolate souffle cake with a scoop of ice cream on the side and a very big sparkler. My nephew had snuck in to the restaurant to let them know it was my birthday and so I was serenaded by the waiters (it was payback since we did the same to him a few days ago when he celebrated his 17th birthday at Laguna Village's La Pappardella). My brother in-law insisted on treating us for my birthday which was really nice of them. After my second dessert, we finished the meal off with some espressos then walked over to the Plaza de Los Naranjos (Orange tree square) then headed home past midnight with the smaller children asleep during the car ride home. Another year gone and another fun birthday dinner spent with family.

Peach Tarte Tatin

Another hot summer's day with the temperature at 32C and no wind at all. The best thing to do would be to sit in the shade with a large glass of iced tea or iced lemonade and take a nap or read a book but since we have family arriving today from Argentina, I'm making our dessert for tonight's dinner instead. (*I made this last Wednesday but haven't had the time to post it until today.)

This is a classic recipe that I've adapted to take advantage of the abundance of summer fruit available. Peaches are used in place of the traditional apples and it's a twist that works as the sweetness and juiciness of the peaches is perfect with the shortcrust pastry. All it needs later on is a dollop of extra-cold creme fraiche to complete it or if you want to be extra indulgent then some vanilla bean ice cream wouldn't be too bad either.

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Peach Tarte Tatin

For the short crust pastry :

• 2 Tbsp. ground almonds
• 1 1/2 C all-purpose flour, sifted
• 6 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, chopped into chunks
• 2-3 Tbsp. ice water

• 8 ripe peeled peaches, preferably white but yellow ones will do
• juice of 1 lemon
• 6 Tbsp. vanilla-flavored sugar (*I always leave a spilt vanilla bean in my baking sugar)
• 4 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter

• Make the short crust pastry by adding the flour and butter and process briefly. Add the ice water by tablespoon until the mixture comes together. Wrap in wax paper and chill for at least 30 minutes. This may also be done a day ahead and left in the fridge overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 190C (375F).
• To peel the peaches, place them in a bowl and cover them with boiling water. Leave for 30 seconds then pour out the hot water and peel gently. Sprinkle them with lemon juice to prevent them from getting black. Cut the peaches into wedges but make sure to leave one half peach for the middle of the tarte tatin.
• Warm the sugar in an enameled cast-iron skillet (about 10-inch diameter) or any pan that can be put in the oven. The sugar must turn deep, dark brown and liquid so do this over medium high heat. Do not stir but keep moving the pan round to prevent the sugar from burning. Remove from the heat and add half the butter.
• Place the half peach in the middle of the pan, cut side up. Line the rest of the pan with the quartered peaches, remembering to place them cut-side up.
• Add the remaining butter on top of the peaches and then place the pan over the heat for a further 2-3 minutes to gently start the cooking.
• In the meantime, roll out the pastry. It must be large enough to cover the pan with some pastry hanging over the edge.
• Cover the pan with the pastry and then tuck the rest into the pan edge.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes before inverting into a plate.
• Serve with vanilla bean ice cream or cold creme fraiche.

A very, very busy week

I have been neglecting my blog recently and there really is a valid excuse - an event-filled week and one of the busiest ones we've had in a long, long time. Once you see how I spent the last six days then you'll understand why I haven't had the time to post anything.

MONDAY - Dinner with friends of very good friends from Moscow, F & S. We went to their rented villa in Las Chapas for some rosé champagne then walked towards the beach to a little restaurant, Club 500 filled with locals having seafood. We all shared several appetizers - pulpo (octopus), calamares a la plancha (grilled squid), sardinas a la plancha (grilled sardines) , boquerones fritos (fried anchovies), pez espada a la plancha (grilled swordfish) and a large mixed salad. For our main course, we all had the dorada a la sal (salt-baked sea bream) with lots of cold, white Viña sol. It's always a pleasure to go on a "blind dinner" with people who you've never met and have a good time.

TUESDAY - Morning churros at the Plaza de Los Naranjos in Marbella's Casco Antiguo with a friend, Jacqui, along with her husband and two daughters. I haven't seen her since we left Dubai in 2004 so it was a reunion of sorts and we spent an hour catching and eating churros while the children ran around the shady orange tree filled square.

WEDNESDAY - Our first summer guests arrived. My brother in-law, his wife and three children arrived from Buenos Aires and took the AVE from Madrid to Malaga where we met them at the train station and drove straight home for a simple dinner of barbecued chicken, potato salad, tomato mozzarella salad and a summer dessert of peach tarte tatin (recipe to follow in another post). We also had an impromptu birthday "cupcake" for their eldest son Marcos who was turning 17 the following day. I ordered delicious red velvet cupcakes from Cake Marbella.

THURSDAY - Cocktails in Puerto Banus for the opening of the brand new Tod's store right on the port. There was a cobbler making Tod's famous driving moccasins by hand on a table in the corner giving guests a chance to see how labor-intensive it is to make their shoes. We also passed by the Ferragamo store to see the new Yohjo Yamamoto collection before we picked up the children and had dinner at La Pappardella sur Mare, an Italian restaurant in Laguna Village to celebrate Marcos' birthday.

FRIDAY - Invited to a White Party where we enjoyed Cocktails and dinner at the terrace of La Veranda at the Hotel Villa Padierna. Lots of Taittinger Brut-Reserve with delicious canapes of peking duck, chicken curry skewers, shrimp and pistachio skewers, goat's cheese in filo bundles, smoked salmon and sea bass ceviche. We sat down to dinner at 10:00 p.m. and were served a delectable five-course dinner: foie gras millefeuille with smoked eel and green apple, roasted scallop on tomato juice, seared sea bass with cauliflower puree, roasted tenderloin with fork-mashed potatoes and caramelized raspberries and pistachio ice cream. Both white and red wine were served with the dinner but I stuck to champagne the entire evening. Petits-fours and espresso rounded out the meal and while some of us headed home, most of the party continued at Olivia Valere.

SATURDAY - Finally, the end of the week and we spent the whole day on the beach in Marbella at Playa Fantastica where we had our usual lunch of calamares fritos (fried squid rings), gambas pil-pil (prawns in chili and garlic), tomato, red onion, avocado and tuna salad. We had ordered their delicious seafood paella but there was some confusion and it never arrived (the first time it has ever happened) and we ended up just having a very light lunch and spent the rest of the day on the beach. For dinner, we had a simple meal at home with my in-laws and the kids and stayed on the terrace chatting till almost midnight.

Summer grill Asian style

Another great idea for a summer grill is this Asian-inspired dish of grilled salmon in red curry. It's quick and easy to prepare and with just the right amount of spice to have for an alfresco lunch. I use salmon because it's oily flesh flavor is played down by the spiciness of the curry but other firm-fleshed fish such as cod or swordfish would work just as well. Just this with a small dish of stir-fried greens, steamed jasmine rice and some fresh lemonade is ideal for a hot summer's day.

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Grilled Salmon in red curry

• 4 salmon fillets (about 200 gr. each)
• 1 Tbsp. red curry paste
• 3 cups coconut milk
• 1 stalk lemongrass, chopped
• 2 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1/3 cup basil leaves, shredded
• 1 tsp. fish sauce
• red chili, split lengthwise and seeded (*optional)

• Heat a wok over medium-high heat. Saute the red curry paste till fragrant then add the lemongrass and coconut milk. Lower heat and simmer. Add the fish sauce, lime juice and red chili and continue to simmer over low heat till the sauce starts to thicken a bit. Add the basil leaves.
• Heat a grill (charcoal grill is better, grill pan will do). Place the salmon fillets, skin side down, on the hot grill. Cook for a few minutes then flip over and cook for another 2 minutes making sure to score the fish (make stripy grill marks on the flesh side).
• Place the salmon in a large platter then pour over the curry sauce.
• Serve with steamed rice and stir-fried greens (like bok choi).

Empanadas

As a follow-up post to our Argentine dinner, here's the recipe for the empanadas that we served. We made two kinds - carne (mince) and choclo (corn) but there are so many other fillings that can be done. Here are a few ideas: cebolla con Roquefort (caramelized onions and crumbled Roquefort) and jamon y queso (ham and cheese). Empanadas can be baked or fried (what we prefer) and the dough can be made or you can buy ready-made pre-cut empanada dough. All you have to do is fill it and fry or bake.

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Empanadas de carne

• 250 grams mince/ground beef (*Don't use lean beef, some fat is needed so it isn't dry)
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• a small chunk of lard or 1 Tbsp. vegetable shortening (e.g. Crisco)
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. sweet paprika
• 1 tsp. aji molida (crushed red chili flakes)
• salt and pepper to taste
• a dozen pitted black olives, chopped finely (about 1 olive per empanada)
• optional: 2 chopped hard-boiled eggs and 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 pack of pre-cut, ready-made fried empanada dough, comes in packs of 12 (*I use the Argentine brand Fargo. They also have a ready-made baked empanada dough)

• Heat the oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Sweat the minced onions then add the ground beef and shortening or lard. Add the cumin, sweet paprika and aji molida. Season with salt and pepper. Leave to cook over low heat.
• Chop the olives and set aside. (If using eggs, boil the eggs then chop and set aside. Prepare raisins as well and set aside).
• Mix olives (and eggs and raisins if using) into ground beef. Set aside to cool.

Empanadas de choclo

• 22 grams of butter
• 22 grams of flour
• 300 ml. milk
• 1 small can of sweet corn (150 grams) or 2 ears of fresh sweet corn, shucked

• For the Bechamel sauce, heat the milk in a saucepan. In another saucepan, prepare a roux by cooking the flour then mixing in the butter. Make sure that both are mixed well. Remove from the heat then slowly add the hot milk to the roux and put back on the heat and bring to a boil stirring constantly. Lower the heat and simmer until the sauce reaches the desired thickness. make sure that it it not too liquid - it should be thick.
• Add the corn to the Bechamel.

To assemble the empanadas:

• Prepare a wooden chopping board or a marble top. Sprinkle some flour then place one empanada pastry on the floured surface.
• Place about 2 Tbsp. of filling (ground meat or corn and Bechamel) into the empanada dough.
• Fold over and seal by twisting the dough with your hands or using a fork to seal the dough shut.
• Make sure to use a different seal for each type of empanada. For example, I used a fork for the corn ones and twisted the edges for the meat ones. This is so that when they're cooked, you can tell them apart.
• Heat oil in a deep-fryer. Fry the empanadas till light brown and crispy.
• Serve the meat ones with salsa chimichurri or white sugar for dipping.
• (* For baked empanadas, follow the same procedure but bake in a 200C oven instead)