Fugu course at Iketeru

Since nothing looks good on the menu this month, Chef Ricky was so nice to cobbled together an exclusive Fugu Kaiseki menu for me (and one other, but no one picked up the offer) this January. Based on previous experience, I have quite high expectations that he needs to match given his previous track record (Refer to January 2007 and Februart 2007). For some fun, here are some photos of Chef Ricky preparing the fugu sashimi live at the sushi bar.




















Starters: Pufferfish skin & Herring Roe
Bitey-chewy fugu skin swimming in ponzu sauce with grated radish and spring onion, so sourish with a hint of pepperiness. Maybe Chef Ricky overdid it on the ponzu sauce.
The herring row was quite a good hit, the gelatin-like coating (which according to Chef Ricky, forms it egg sac) prevents the individual eggs from disintegrating and locks in flavour. With some bonito flakes for garnishing, this was as good as the cod milt, once bite and the individual eggs seems to split into a hundred atoms in your mouth, rolling into every nook and cranny. Although not as rich as salmon roe, it was definitely easier to sample this dish. Feels like I am eating a jelly with roe packed inside it.

Sashimi: Fugu sashimi
In addition to the usual garnishing, I got the chance to experiment fugu with another type of peppery herb that looks like sprouts. They have a more pronounced pepper aftertaste that eliminates traces of the ponzu sauce so that each new mouthful is not layered by previous souriness, a very refreshing condiment (is this the correct word?). Using sudachi lime also varied the souriness that one can taste. Overall, this was a much better experience building on the last two outings.


















Sashimi (again): Fresh Scallop & Maguro.
The sweetest scallops I have ever had in a long time. Some lean mean Maguro wouldn't hurt (after all that fugu-goodies).

























Steamed dishes: Pumpkin Dumpling
Made from one full sized pumpkin, cooked until most of its water was evaporated, leaving behind a sweet pumpkin paste that formed the crust of this dumpling. With minced chicken fillings and mushrooms, gingko nuts garnishing, this was one of my favorite dish of the evening.
With every mouthful, you get sweet pasty pumpkin and well sauteed mince chicken and aftertaste of the garnishing.

















Grilled Dish: Kansai Nodoguro Fish
OOOOOOHHHHHHhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think I just went to heaven. (Remember Anthony Bourdain's lunch with Ferran Adria at a local fishshop when they seafood was just grilled with salt? I think I just realized the beauty of seafood prepared this way)
Normally, most of the fish served grilled have been glazed or marinated in miso/teriyaki/soy sauce, etc. Not this one, just good old salt and done just right so that you don't taste salt, just good old fish. Drop of lemon, some daikon gratings to dispel over-lemoniness or excess saltiness and boy, you can go to heaven after this dish.

















Fried dish: Deep Fried Pufferfish
Better than the February 2007 serving, so much more meat, so less bones. Juicy, juicy deep fried fugu. Now this is really giving me bang for my buck. Texture-wise, I get more bite out of the meat and it is easier for me to consume the servings with my mouth. Even some of the bone were crunchy enough to be edible!





















Main course: Pufferfish chabu-chabu & porridge.
Pufferfish meat, Check!
Seasonal Mountain vegetables, Check!
Tofu, Check!
Transparent Glass noodles, Check!
Transparent Glass noodles? this wasn't in the last package......WHEE!!!!! (for your reference, check out the following two photos)

This time around, I likened the eating experience to eating a hearty bowl of stew that fortifies your mind, body and senses throughout the meal. Adding the touch of the glass noodles was perfect to translate the consistency from veggies to tofu to tender pufferfish meat. Way much better than last year's serving.































Dessert: Assorted fruits and Dumplings in Red Bean Sweet water
Wow! Even more fruits in the selection than before. Thank you, Chef Ricky!
(sly look) "can I get some more dumplings in my red bean?"

With him lavishing all the personal attention while at the sushi bar (again), maybe I should stake out my place there if no one comes with me next time.

Feel free to say anything about me in the comment section (Yes, Hubert. I will promise you something non-Japanese, maybe from the singaporean side soon)

Collateral Damage from gym session

Since I did not ice down.....

Thoracolumbar Fascia, Internal Abdominal Oblique Muscle in Lum, Rectus Abdominis Muscle, External Abdominal Oblique Muscle, Sartorius Muscle, Rectus Femoris Muscle, Vastus Medialis Muscle, Adductor Longus Muscle, Adductor Magnus Muscle, Gracilis Muscle, Bicep Femoris Muscle, Semitendinosus Muscle, Gluteus Maximus Muscle.

GGGGAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Another 1st day at (another) gym

Let's see:

Fitness: lousy
Strength: okay
Speed: unsustainable
Endurance: Forget it
Lung capacity: 1/1000 of previous baseline
Willpower: Absolutely none whatsoever

I am ready for the purgatory of punishment.
And I have a new coach!!!

Anyone want to join me for Fugu?

This coming Tuesday, 22nd January, 7.30pm at Iketeru, Hilton Sentral.

On to the afterlife, Cheerio!

Back to back funerals within 2 weeks made the end of the 2007 look pretty gloomy (not to mention that these were not kin but religious service members of my mother's group and she being an awful driver at night roped me in to ferry her to the departed). The first one being the usual wail-y chinese stuff that you expect in a house with the whole stage setup and the coffin in the doorway of the house, etc.

Which was why the second one at the Nirvana Memorial Centre (located in some inaccessible part of the Seremban Highway was chic and downright $$$ and so..............modern? (By some coincidence, one of our neighbours also passed away and the NMC were called to organize another 'house party' for 5 nights straights, thus depriving the whole lot of us of sleep during the new year welcoming)

Let's see:

• a 5 storey building with multiple private rooms (there were at least 6 rooms on the floor we were at), cushioned seats for visitors, flowers for offerings (instead of the nominal pungent incense that I would love to waves around. Flowers would make me look like some Bollywood pervert)

• Wowee, free internet service and a serviceable bar if you paid enough money.

• Online memorials to boot if you top up some more.

• Smiling young undertakers (read: sales reps) in ads greeting you in the lifts. More of the manning the visitor logs and being sales reps and refilling the refreshments (which is usually peanuts and water, must ask mum why do they only serve those)

• Some plots of land resembling Cameron Highlands hillside somewhere out there.

• Do they offer the service of Mark Callaway to tombstone piledriver those pesky ones that refused to pass over to the other side?

• Why is it that the services are still conducted by wail-y old men?
  

With the world population booming towards 10 billion and everyone getting more or less richer, I guess business can only get better (Time to invest in some stocks): "Auntie, I am definitely here to sell you something that you will need, it is not insurance wan. Just some nice plot of land for you and hubbie side by side, and we will throw in some farewell party, eco-friendly one, nice smelling one.....yadda, yadda, yadda,"

Btw, did I mention modern in describing the Nirvana Memorial Centre? Scratch that, I mean scary.