Foot and Fire

AS SEVENTH POST FOR THE #foodflixflex which my friends and I will be doing this September to celebrate food and cinema, I present you my Duck in Rose Petal Sauce (turned out to be more like Duck with Macadamia Sauce) which is inspired by Laura Esquivel's magical realism novel and the 1992 movie version of it which was very faithful to the book both entitled, Like water for chocolate. I always have a slip of the tongue when saying the title. I say, Like hot water for chocolate. Maybe because this book is about deep longing, true love, hindered desires. So I imagine that Tita melts like chocolate because Pedro is the hot water.     On the March entry, Tita received a bouquet of roses from Pedro to congratulate her on her first year as ranch cook. The roses which were pink became red when Tita clasped it and her blood mixed in the petals. A chemical reaction began without her knowing. Tita felt she has to do something special abou...

Spiced Duck steamed in Puerh Tea by Gerlie Whole duck, halved Salt & Chinese five spice Puerh tea, steeped in water to unfold leaves Ginger Spring onions Star anise Orange/lemon/lime zest Cracked peppercorns Soy sauce Sesame oil Rice wine/white wine Canola oil DAY 1: Wash and pat dry two halved duck. In a bowl, mix salt, chinese five spice and puerh tea leaves. Reserve tea water for next day. Rub duck with mixture and wrap in plastic and put in the fridge overnight. DAY 2: Next day, remove duck and discard the sediments. Pat the duck dry. In a bowl, mix minced spices in the ingredients from ginger up to rice wine. Pour over and coat the duck well.  Place water in the steamer. Add the reserved puerh water. Line steamer with banana leaves. Arrange duck and cover with banana leaves before putting the lid.  Steam for 1 hour or until meat is tender. Remove duck and let cool. 

Dress the Duck,  rub with salt and generous cracked peppercorn and rub tablespoons of pesto. In a pan, put enough canola oil just to fry to crispiness the skin of the duck. Remove from pan and transfer to baking tin, add more pesto and bake 350F for 30 minutes or meat is until tender

Not much to our delight, this 15-day fertilized water duck (bebe) egg has small fetus.  A real balut is 18-day egg and as the name suggests, a balut is a "balot sa puti" or "wrapped in white" which means that the bigger fetus is wrapped in the white portion of the egg. It has a yellow portion still but not much as the space gives way to a more developed chick. This entry is on how to boil a balut. Bring the water to boil. while boiling add the eggs and let cook for 20 minutes, counting from time of putting the egg on the boiling water. Add salt to seep through the egg and give taste to "soup"  or water inside the egg when opened.   *** *** I Love balut!!!! *** Loving it! ***

Tam Coc, about a two-hour drive from Hanoi, is another place which showcases the karsts or limestone formations in multitude. If Ha Long karsts are by the bay, Tam Coc karsts are by the river. One more fascinating thing about Tam Coc aside from the karsts is that one can see closely that the river is  actually  planted with rice. One can also row by the swimming ducks and pass by many temples, even in the center of the river. See our favorite spot in Tam Coc in the above photo, courtesy of our talented rower Mr. Son. (He rows with his feet while taking our photos.) A community of rowers with hundreds of boats... Rowers, ready to row. Fellow travellers went in while were going out.  Tam Coc sampling Mr. Son Karsts with rich green trees... Ducks, peacefully enjoying their swim by the growing rice plant. Quack, quack, quack... Ducks in serene mode. Buddy Bads with her Vietnamese seatmate.. Mr. Ten, you are thumbs up...

Snaps of the wildlife in Baluarte brought an immense joy to this computer-all-day and always-in-four-wall creature! Here are the happy moments with the wildlife, especially the moments with real Ostriches, not-smelly-luckily reindeers which are with and without horns, and "dwarf" horses that sure look like donkeys but surely look like no donkeys at all. Hahaha, a zoo-ignoramus I am indeed. Parrot moments... Parrot-lings trio! Here's the snap of what i meant with:  "dwarf" horses that sure look like donkeys but surely look like no donkeys at all.   Tamed and photograph ready tiger??? I'm not sure. And they call it Pony Horse... My family posing in front of Baluarte Signage. The Dinosaurs are not real, of course. My first sighting of Ostrich!!! Rusa Deer... the hornless type... Guess what, these are geese... snake... Ostriches, great o great! colorful birds and there are a lot of them in there... ...