Exotic summer cake (no baking )

Another dish inspired by mango, because they are very tasty at the moment.

And again, it is an 'on the spur of the moment' cake. It fits the bill as well: easy, very quick to make, and very tasty, refreshing in the summer...

It is based loosely on tiramisu and Charlotte.

You will need:
- 6-7 small brioches each cut in three pieces in the length (slices)
- 1 pot of mascarpone
- 1 ripe sweet mango cut in slices
- 3 heaped tablespoon sugar
- 2 big splashes of cherry alcohool (or another alcohool if you don't have any)
- 1 passion fruit

Lay on the bottom and sides of a medium sized dish the slices of brioche. sprinkle with a dash of the cherry alcohool.
Mix the mascarpone with the sugar, then pour half of it on the brioche as a flat layer.
Lay the mango slices on top as a layer.
Pour the remaining mascarpone on top as a layer again.
Sprinkle the passion fruit pulp evenly on the cake.
Place in the fridge for two hours.

Eat and Enjoy.

Recipe and photography: me

Sweet and sour cold summer soup & hot sweet grilled gammon on the side

You have never heard of this dish?
Me neither. I just invented it today, and it is definitely worth sharing. I had a very sudden burst of good inspiration. And once again, it is very quick to prepare and is very tasty, and the salad is very healthy.


Per person for the sweet gammon you will need:
- 1 slice of gammon
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- black pepper, coarsely ground.

Prepare the gammon first as it takes 18 minutes to cook.
Lay the slice of gammon on a flat over proof dish or plate, brush it with the maple syrup, sprinkle with the black pepper. Done.
Cook at 200 degrees (last 5 min with the grill on) in the oven for 18-20 min depending on your oven.

Per person for the cold soup you will need:
- 4 little tomatoes cut in quarters or 8/10 cherry tomatoes cut in half
- 1 mango, diced (use the juice too)
-1/4 lime juice
- fish sauce - same amount as the lime juice
- 1 small clove of garlic (optional)
- 1 slice of fresh ginger finely chopped
- a small handful of roasted peanuts
- 1 lemongrass stalk, sliced
- 1 kaffir lime leaf, fresh if possible
- 1/2 a chili pepper (less if you use the Birdeye type)

Mix all the ingredients. Done, how's that for easy!?

Serve the sweet gammon and the soup at the same time, and enjoy. It is very refreshing, very tasty in flavour, rich and satisfying. And there you are, you have your five a day...

The dish looks beautiful and colourful, so if you have guests to impressed and want to spare some efforts, that's the one.

On a funny note, I'd probably describe this dish as Thailando-Canadian!

I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I have!

Recipe and photo: me.

Cheung Chau Island, Hong Kong (Part 1)

Quite a while ago, I started blogging about Hong Kong, but I am not quite over on the subject.
- You will have to excuse the poor picture quality, as I took only a little compact that time, my faithful Optio SV -

I really want to talk to you about the day I spent on my own on the little island of Cheung Chau. I have been totally under its charm at first sight. A very quiet place where life goes slowly, populated by friendly people (who only speak Cantonese by the way so be warned...).
The island is west of Hong Kong island and it takes about an hour by ferry to reach it.

The main business seems to be fishing,

And as soon as one lands, it is obvious looking at the harbour promenade, that tourism and in particular seafood restaurants are the main attraction of the island.

I took a stroll inside the island first, keeping the restaurant string for when I would be hungry later.
A few hundred yards further, after plodding along the narrow street,

I found myself by the beach on the other side of the island, having passed what seemed to be a resort, chinese way. The beach was being worked on, as the month of February is a quiet one.

Coming back into the small town, I came across shrine and church,

And amongst the shopping and workshop streets

A lot of dry fish for sale

And I will always remember the amazing smell of the dried (drying?) noodles...

To be followed.....

A light salad for the summer

When it's hot and sunny, I always crave for fresh ingredients, and a cooling and refreshing dish . Nothing better than a salad, like I've eaten all my youth, when I was living in France. Over there, people decline salad to infinite. today I would like to share a salad with you, my favorite in fact...:

For 2 people:
- 1 can sweetcorn
- 4 medium tomatoes
- Optional: rice, 100g
- 100g hard cheese (emmenthal, gruyere) diced
- 200g cooked (shallow fried or grilled) chicken breast in strips (OR diced surimi sticks OR a vegetarian alternative but you have been warned, chicken works best ...)
- optional: Cervelas (Swiss sausage) diced (Or cooked frankfurters sliced thickly but really not as good as cervelas)

For the vinaigrette sauce:
- 1 tblsp of honey vinegar or Xeres vinegar
- 2 tblsp of rapeseed oil or light tasting olive oil
- 1 tblsp of water
- 1 tblsp honey

Mix all the ingredients together,
Mix the vinaigrette
Pour the vinaigrette on top of the mix, and leave for 10-20 minutes to marinate, then serve.

This salad is rather sweet and sour, and is easy to take to work for lunch. It is balanced, tasty and light, colourful and takes minutes. what else could I say to convince you!?....

Bon Apetit!