Revisit Georgraphy Class

Last November when I came back to Bangkok from Singapore, a Irish man came to my class. I didn't pay much attention to him more than I would to any first-timer to my class. At the end of the practice this man came and introduced himself as Grant. We chatted a little bit, and he invited me to teach at where he lived. "Muscat". Sure, I'll go. He had a look at my face and offered "it's in Oman." Great. Whatever. I'll go anywhere in the world. HAHA!

So that's how the story unfold. I had absolutely no clue where Oman, or Muscat was. Neither did many people I talked to. So, here it is, once and for all - it's neighboring Saudi Arabia and UAE. The next question is: what the heck am I going to do there? Well, my cooking skill is not yet Gordon Ramsey or Jamie Olivier famous, but I have Yoga. "To who?" Good question. According to Grant, he felt he had benefited much from Yoga. He's an old man (his own words), who wished to contribute something to the Yoga community in Muscat, however small. And that's what he does, aside from his full time job with the highway company, - to bring good Yoga teachers (*ahem*) to Muscat. "I've been to all the big and small yoga studios in Bangkok and you are the only person I approached." *AHEM*

We have been in talk through emails for a few months since. Adrian did not hesitate to make it clear that he's coming with me, and so he is. This is indeed a great opportunity - we probably would never think of visiting Oman if it's not for this offer. A well-traveled friend of ours, Bill, showed us beautiful pictures he took in Oman, and from what little we gathered, it's a jewel tucked in the middle east. How exciting! Think about this: 2 days of teaching, 5 days of sightseeing! WOOHOO!!

We'll be back to Bangkok for Songkran, on the 13th and 14th May, after which we fly to Kuala Lumpur to fulfill the promise I gave to my parents - I skipped Chinese New Year Reunion, and negotiated with my mother to go back in April during Thai New Year when Yoga Elements Studio will be closed. Apart from the two-day rest stop in between Muscat and KL, I'm going to be away from home for three weeks. That means time to clean out the fridge.

I had two eggs, some greens, a few connoisseur-grade French cheeses, some homemade condiments, and a piece of puff pastry sheet. Here's what I put together:

1. Pinto beans + Cheddar cheese + spring onions = Refried beans
2. Rocket leaves + cherry tomatoes + Feta cheese + lettuce + olive oil + balsamic vinegar = salad
3. Put together 1 + 2 + sunny-side up + Portobello mushroom = Vegetarian Big Breakfast

I thought the Portobello mushroom looks rather like a piece of steak

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For some reason unbeknown to me, the pastry didn't hold up the filling very well. A big chunk of the cheeses was lost during baking. Still good though.

Breakfast is not complete without something sweet in this house. I divided the puff pastry sheet into two for Sweet Baked Turnovers:

1. Homemade mulberry jam + "strong cheese" + almond
2. Dried figs + blue cheese

Bon Appetite!

Goat Cheese, Roasted Tomatoes and Chives Stuffed Portobello Mushroom

I bought a packet of large portobello mushrooms the other day. Nothing specific in mind. Just that the big ones don't come often, and they are good for stuffing. It wasn't a very clever purchase since I am about to leave Bangkok for three weeks, and there isn't much dinners to make in the coming days. I didn't want to buy another bunch of greens and Camembert to make another pesto for stuffed mushroom although we did like them very much. Anyway I bumped into this recipe that uses goat cheese, which happened to be one of the four cheeses that Pi Soo gave me and that I'm yet to use. In the recipe it uses Pancetta (a kind of cured pork belly), not very vegetarian-friendly. I thought sun-dried tomatoes would go well with goat cheese but the last bits went to this morning's breakfast. Therefore I roasted some cherry tomatoes, which also needed to be rid of before Tuesday.

This is a very strong savory dish. Personally I liked it. Although I can imagine how some people may get turned off by the pungent goat cheese. If you are making this, I suggest to use big button mushroom instead of Portobello - you'll get a big enough well to hold up the stuffing when the stem is removed. Portobello mushroom is kind of flat. The stuffing sort of melt over the place while baking. Nothing major really.

Ingredients:

• 4 large Portobello mushrooms, stem removed, washed and dry
  
• 2 oz cream cheese (soften at room temperature)
  
• 1.5 oz goat cheese (soften at room temperature)
  
• 4 cherry tomatoes, halved
  
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
  
• 1 small bunch fresh chives, minced
  
• Breadcrumbs
• Sea salt and ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven at 180C.
   
2. Toss and coat tomatoes with enough olive oil and sea salt. Bake in oven at 180C for about 45 minutes - tomatoes will shrink in size.
   
3. Place mushrooms bottom side up on baking pan. Sprinkle with sea salt.
4. Blend together cream cheese and goat cheese. Set aside.
   
5. Saute onions and garlic till fragrant. Stir into the cheese mixture. Add roasted tomatoes, chives, salt and pepper.
6. Divide filling into 4 and spoon over mushrooms. Top with breadcrumbs and drizzle with olive oil.
7. Bake in oven for 15 - 20 minutes, until the top is nicely browned. Top with chopped chives if desired.