WHEN I'M OUT OF LEMONS....................

They say when life gives you lemons make lemonade. Today was one of those days but with no lemons to hand the best I had was mushrooms so I made mushroom soup!
With nothing more than mushrooms, plus a few dried ones which I used to make the stock, I set about making my soup.

It never seems to amaze me how easy this is. I chopped my mushrooms, I only had oyster, boiled the kettle and poured it over the dried mushrooms and after 5 minutes poured this over the mushrooms. I just covered them, added salt and pepper and a pinch of dried thyme.

 After it all came to the boil I turned it down to a low simmer. 15 minutes later I blitzed it, adjusted the seasonings, a touch more pepper, and added a spoonful of creme fraiche.

I then tucked into a delicious bowl of "pure" mushroom soup. No need for an onion, and the stock from the dried mushrooms gave it a delicious flavour.

I may have been given lemons today but making, and then enjoying the soup helped a lot.

Cooking is my therapy. 

NOT MY FINEST MOMENT

I am what probably is known as a magazineaholic. Mostly cooking and home decor. However now living in Shanghai I can only get them on my iPad, and although I love still being able to access them it still isn't the same as flicking through the real thing.
However, I came prepared and had a backlog to bring with me. I decided recently, that when they were 5-6years old I should really start to cull them, but this was not before I had gone through them and pulled out recipes I had intended to make, but never quite got around to.
When my husband complained we never have dessert apart from fruit and yogurt, or when we have people in for dinner, I decided to give one of the ripped out recipes a go.
It sounded delicious, not to heavy and would suit both our tastes. Perhaps mine a little more than his!
The dessert was a Prossecco and Peach Jelly with a Passion Fruit Zabaglione. I knew I had 2 little bottles of process in the fridge, infact the only thing I didn't have were Passion Fruits, but that was soon solved with a visit to the market.
Soon the jelly was chilling in the fridge. Zabaglione was to be prepared just before serving. This is never a good idea in my mind. However I would see it through.
Having waited, with high expectations, I put the dessert on the table after 15mins of whipping eggs to make the topping. I was exhausted and made note to myself, never do this for a dinner party. Way too much last minute preparation. It looked delicious, very enticing.

Would I make it again? NO! It tasted ok, not fantastic as I had hoped. Basically it was posh jelly and custard. I think I'd rather have eaten the fruit and drunk the Prossecco. I certainly didn't make me want to rush and make it again. 

I threw out the ripped out recipe so I wan't be tempted again. It just proves that you have to actually try something before you know if it finds a permanent place in your recipe files.

So I will plough on, making my way through ripped out recipes and backlog of magazines and find the ones I want to keep and discard the ones that look better than they taste. This is a chore I will actually enjoy. 

BEIJING DUCK

When a Chinese friend messaged me to say she had been in Beijing and brought me a duck I was a bit surprised to say the least. I know Beijing is the original home of, what I always knew as Peking Duck, but I hadn't expected one in a gift.

It duly arrived a few days later with the instructions to cook at 180c and it will keep for 3 months. That was it. It did come complete with pancakes and the hoisin sauce. It lay around in the fridge for a few weeks before I decided to cook it. Out of the vacuum pack it didn't look too appetising and the pancakes had gone mouldy. On reflection I should probably have frozen them.

I stuck it on a baking tray and put it in the oven. I thought around 40 minutes should be enough time. I  was not in the mood to make more pancakes so pulled out a pack of tortillas and proceeded to chop some cucumber and spring onions. 40 minutes later when I took it out the oven it had been transformed into a lovely glistening duck which when pulled at with two forks shredded beautifully.

Once piled into warmed tortillas it provided a very delicious supper. I have to say I had been doubtful but obviously coming from the home of the Peking Duck I should have realised how tasty it would be.

I had forgotten just how much I like to eat this and I'm thinking I'll be searching out a duck restaurant here in Shanghai. Or maybe I will try ant attempt it myself. Whatever way I know I want to eat it again very soon.

SCOTTISH TAPAS in SHANGHAI

I love tapas and for some time have thought it might translate well into some tasty Scottish treats. I finally got my act together and put together a menu of, what I hoped, would be a selection of delicious Scottish Tapas. Little tastes of home served tapas style.
Once I began thinking of what to serve I realised that so many our national dishes come with pastry or indeed are deep fried. Would need to think of something bit lighter to serve alongside the other dishes.
This is what I came up with.

MENU 

Mini Steak Pies

Black Pudding Croquettes

Haggis Samosas

Sausage Rolls +Baked Beans

Scotch Eggs

Fish Gougons + Mushy Peas

Scallop Black Pudding and Mushy Peas

Tian of Haggis, Carrot and Tatties (no neeps here)

Smoked Salmon

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Mini Trifles, Mini Berry Pavlova, Millionaires Shortbread and Tablet

I invited some of our Scottish friends and got busy in the kitchen preparing the food. It may only have been small bites but with so many of them it took some time to prepare. The good thing was most could be prepared the day before leaving them to be reheated on the night. Only the scallops and fish needed to be cooked at the last minute.

With the table set and candles lit we sat down and waited for our guests to arrive. I always love this part of the evening where my husband and I sit down and enjoy a pre dinner drink before we go "on duty" for the evening.

Not that we mind we love to entertain and enjoy to have people at our table hopefully enjoying an evening of good food, good wine and lively conversation. What could be better. We knew from past evenings we would put the world to rights tonight.

The food was given a thumbs up, and the chat was indeed lively. The food brought back thoughts of Scotland and for one night at least, with Scottish accents and Scottish food, you could almost believe we were all back home and not some 6,000 miles away in China.  

A successful evening enjoyed by all and especially by us. It's a great relief to know everyone has left happy with nice memories of a Scottish Tapas Night in Shanghai.