A local secret: the Sichuan Kitchen at Poplar

I think my husband and I might have discovered a real gem of a restaurant not far from where we live, called Sichuan Kitchen. Having googled it online, it looks like it isn't very well documented online and so I guess it could be considered as a local secret. Well, I don't think it should stay a secret and I'm doing my little bit to spread the word!

Sichuanese cuisine is characterised by the abundant use of chili, Sichuanese peppercorns and garlic. The dishes are fantastically flavoursome and the fragrance so pungent, I find that it has almost addictive qualities. My first taste of Sichuanese food was at Bar Shu, a wonderful restaurant which is situated in Soho and is quite well known and highly praised: Guardian review. I would honestly say that the Sichuan Kitchen is just as good in terms of the quality of the food but much less expensive. I was really impressed with all the dishes that we ordered and the staff were very friendly, keen to engage in a conversation with us.

My husband and I shared four different dishes: Gong bao chicken with peanuts, fish fragrant aubergine, fried chili beef ribs and a pork chili dish that came in a delicious red chili broth. I would recommend all of them but I particularly loved the Gong bao chicken, the meat is so succulent and blends wonderfully with the crunch peanuts and the warming sweet-sour-spicy sauce. Absolutely delightful.

The Sichuan Kitchen is located at:
213  East India Dock Road
Poplar
London E14 0ED


I also recommend this book for any aspiring Sichuanese cooks!:

Dunlop, Fuchsia, 2003. Sichuan Cookery. London: Penguin Books
ISBN-13: 978-0-140-29541-2

Feist at the Royal Albert Hall

Last night I went to a Feist concert with a friend. Until recently, I didn't really know much about Leslie Feist apart from her catchy 1-2-3-4:

and I'm so glad that I was introduced to her music, because I'm a big fan now. The concert took place at the Royal Albert Hall and featured music mostly from her new album, Metals. This album is another world from the playful and lighthearted 1-2-3-4. It is much deeper and in times quite wistful. But it's never depressing, due to its uplifting beauty. Wholesome might be a good word to describe it too. The creative and extensive use of percussion instruments adds to the melancholic mood but it is her vocals, so delicate and yet paradoxically powerful, that really shines through for me.

With such a stunning album, my expectations were quite high for this concert. I wasn't disappointed, it was such a beautiful concert. Not only was the music fantastic, the concert was visually stunning. There was a big screen behind the band which had abstract images projected onto it which blended so well with the light effects and the music. I also loved how there often were close ups of the band projected onto this screen blended in with the abstract images, particularly interesting when unusual percussion instruments were used, like windchimes and a punch-hole music box.

It was such a fantastic sensual experience, musically and visually. The atmosphere was also something else, especially when Leslie invited members of the audience to slow dance on the stage. 

La vie dorée

What's new is that I've opened a shop on Folksy called La Vie Dorée. It features items that I've been busy creating this weekend. Some of my favourites are:

Click here to visit my shop! It's still understocked but I'm currently busy making new things.

A little visitor

We recently noticed that there is a butterfly in our flat. Quite a surprise as we haven't opened our windows recently and we live in a pretty urban area (I haven't seen a butterfly since I left Cambridge!). 

Wherever it came from, it's a beautiful creature that puts a smile on my face. I wonder if I should let it out into the (urban) wilderness?

Here it is, feeding on some sugar solution I made for it.

Apple pie

The other day, to celebrate our 6 month wedding anniversary, I made an apple pie for my husband, which was the first dessert I ever made for him. In turn, he made a smoked salmon and garlic cheese spaghetti dish which was also the first thing that he ever cooked for me.

The pie was made using Delia Smith's recipe (see here) and is based on the French tarte Tatin method of making a pie - cooking it upside down. This has the great advantage of keeping the crust really crisp until its eaten. As Delia suggests, it's amazing with a dollop of crème fraîche. It's so simple to make and tastes delicious :)

P.S. Delia has a slightly more authentic recipe for tarte Tatin: Lucy's Tarte Tatin but I've never tried this one before. I think I'll give it a go one of these days.

An off-topic post today: KONY2012

These last few days, I've been overwhelmed by the spread of the charity International Children's (IC) campaign, KONY 2012.

It has spread extremely rapidly on social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Amazingly, the views of this video has increased from about 1 million when I saw it yesterday to 15 million this morning.

While I'm very happy to see that awareness of the abuses in Uganda is being spread to many people, especially by using social networking in the best possible manner, I am unfortunately rather sceptical about this organisation and its campaign. A lot has been said on the web already but the article that I saw this morning in the Guardian sums it up well:
http://m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gnm/op/spT7nhr-OiPgPSkOd_cicLg/view.m?id=15&gid=world/us-news-blog/2012/mar/07/kony-2012-video-viral-invisible-children&cat=most-read

I have some qualms with the thought that by supporting the KONY2012 campaign, one is effectively supporting the Ugandan military, as what IC proposes to do is to put pressure on the US government to aid in the capture or killing of Kony. As we has seen in numerous examples in recent history, just getting rid of one leader does not solve problems. Of course I agree that Kony should be arrested to be tried for crimes against humanity, I am not sure the best way is by supporting a corrupt military which may end up committing equally or worse crimes once it has acquired extra knowledge and military know-how from the US. What I mean is that although arresting Kony is a good idea, it should not be done in the pretence that that in itself will stop the abuse in Uganda and in a way that supports corrupt groups like the Ugandan military. Other leaders and his child-army will remain. The Ugandan military may seize even more power. Overall, the strategy seems poorly thought out.

However, I don't claim to know best and perhaps this indeed is the best strategy out of the possible ways to end the crimes in Uganda. At least the KONY 2012 campaign has raised awareness and that is not a bad thing.

My mosituriser holy grails

Being a scientist, I've always been very sceptical of any claims made by the beauty industry regarding their products and also by any overly enthusiastic praises from users of said products. I guess we all know about the placebo effect!

But, having said all that, there are a few moisturisers that I really swear by. Firstly, I think the key to keeping healthy skin is to be very careful in the sun. I know people sometimes make fun of me for wearing products with SPF everyday, even on the greyest of London days. However, I'm a firm believer that the biggest damage done to our skin is by UV rays (unless you're an excessive drinker or smoker of course) and those are not completely blocked by clouds! (in fact, some suggest that there is an effect called cloud enhancement of UV rays: http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/sunshine-on-a-cloudy-day )

So daily, I tend to use any facial moisturiser with SPF15. I'm currently using Olay's Complete Care Daily Sensitive UV Fluid SPF15.

Image from: here

In the summer months, I use products with much higher SPF. My favourite is a Japanese product made by Bioré called UV Perfect Face Milk SPF 50+ PA+++.

Image from: http://beautyknot.wordpress.com/2008/10/31/biore-pefect-face-milk-spf50-pa

However, as I can only get hold of this in Japan, I also use Anthelios Extreme Face Fluid SPF 50 by La Roche-Posay but it really pales in comparison to Bioré's product. What I love about is that although the Perfect Face Milk is liquid, it dries onto the skin in a very fresh, powdery finish which doesn't shine. The La Roche-Posay product is unfortunately a little bit sticky and leaves more of a shine which can make the skin look a bit oily.

Image from: here

At night, I use Steamcream which I only started using about a year ago. I feel like this product has really changed my skin. I rarely have breakouts now and people keep on mentioning how much smoother my skin is. Perhaps I'm just eating better and having a healthier life-style and it's got nothing to do with the cream... But because I love the light texture of the moisturiser and it's soothing scent, I continue to use it. It also comes in the most beautiful tins with many different designs. Here are a couple which I currently have:

Image from: http://www.steamcream.co.uk/shop.html

Rainy Dreamy Sunday

Today was one of those lazy days in which the hours just blend into another. One of those days where just lying around listening to music is utter bliss.