laocook

20 small Lobsters arrived earlier during the week, all destined to be eaten and enjoyed…yummy.. We like to par-steam our Lobsters, and have to tie them together, that way when they are cooked, the remain straight. Normally we would tie a spoon to the underside of the Lobster before rapidly steaming it, but when you have more than one, its easier to tie them together. You should shell the Lobsters when they are lukewarm, that way the meat is easily removed from the shell and retains its lovely red colour. We enjoy fresh Lobsters medium rare.

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Sushi is one of our best dishes, above Saki adds the finishing touches to a large Restaurant booking. The pinkness of the Tuna is from the cut that has originated near the stomach, it just melts in your mouth… We have also used Salmon and Seabass.

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Our Pastry section has come up with a mouthwatering Chocolate Dream. Here we present it with “Creme Anglais” and Chocolate Sauce. The base of the cake is a crunchy Coffee Biscuit. The rich Chocolate, especially sent over from Belgium is a Chocoholics fantasy.

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We are based about a 30 minutes drive from the sea. The beaches we choose to chill out at are unspoilt and at this moment, not over crowded. We are lucky that we have a space that is far from the madding crowd, and when we can, we like to take full advantage of it.

Laurene and Patty arrive at our secret location. The Atlantic waters are clean and cool, the sand is soft and warm.

Laurene makes a splash….

:)

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Now that the days are longer, BBQ´s are great. I love the aroma of Char-grilled meats, especially with Ice Cold Beer. Above Peng and I enjoy and early evening drink.

Toys for Boys.

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Outside the restaurant window a couple of birds have decided to set up home. I envy the freedom that they have, being able to soar the skies, carefree and happy. We have decided not to remove the nest, and when the eggs hatch, I am sure that we will name each one of the chicks. No, we are not going to eat them….

;)

We are very happy for all the visitors that browse The Lao Cook Website, the whole inspiration for site was for you. Alas, it is dedicated to you.We want to share with you some other interesting blogs from our friends that feature the Lao Kitchen.

Laocuisine is a site set up by our dearest friend Darly. The site is about sharing the Lao Kitchen and features recipes from well known Authors and Cooks.

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Blogtest de Dara is an interesting site from our French based Lao-Viet friend. She is wonderfully interested in all types of foods and her step-by-step recipes are an inspiration to the Lao Cook Team. The site is in French, but if you email Dara, I am sure that she will send you the recipe in English. (A big hug to Pammy from Laoplanet for introducing Dara´s site to us).

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Canada based Manivan Larprom´s site is another great Laotian Food site. She carefully explains her recipes and also uses Narrative Video Clips to show you the techniques used to create her wonderful Lao dishes, which she learnt from her Father.

Darly, Dara and Manivan have put in a great deal of time to broadcast their love and respect for Lao Foods, and The Lao Cook Team hope that we can do the same.

No, I didn’t fly off to Holland for lunch, I was browsing through my HD and found some pics that I took of my lunch with Darly.

Darly and a younger looking me (with hair!), comments about the Pink Jumper will not be replied to.

Its quite fitting actually, because I was thinking about her the other day when I was sipping Oysters with some of the Lao Cook Team. Its not really Oyster season (you can remember the season for Oysters, it during the months that end with BER, September, October etc…) However, in Spain, they send oysters from the north to the south because more people take their holidays in the south and there is a big market for seafood near the coasts. Most restaurants don’t make much money on Oysters, but the fact they have them on the menu helps bring drinks revenue, especially when the Lao Cook Team arrive, its not uncommon for us to take 3 or 4 bottles of Chilled White Wine with our Oysters. ;)

I used to eat Oysters with a nice Vinegar and Shallot based sauce, or sometimes I would add a dash of Yellow Tabasco, later a great friend of mine introduced me to Oysters with Olive Oil, Lemon Juice and Black Pepper and now I only eat them that way. I introduced Darly to the taste and now the Lao Cook Team, though they still moan for Jéow Som…

Darly and I anticipate the glorious Oysters at the New York Hotel, Rotterdam.

Not content with the Oysters, we continue with the Seafood Platter.

You cant see the bottles of wine under the Plateau, but you can see it in Darly´s face…

During my travels around Europe, I always look forward to having a Plateau de Fruits de Mer. Whether I am in Bordeaux, Lyon, Paris, Brussels or Rotterdam, if the menu has it, so do I.

Though I love seafood in its natural state (alive), I also enjoy it cooked. One memorable lunch I had was back when I was younger and had the chance to dine at The Waterside Inn, Bray, UK. It was truly exceptional lunch, great service, great wine and great food. There I had the magnificent Poached Oysters with Spinach, Scrambled Egg and Caviar. Sounded strange, tasted out-of-this-world!. The Oysters were lightly poached in their own juices, whilst the shells were placed under a grill, blanched Spinach with Butter was added then the Oysters where laid on top, and covered with the most creamiest scrambled Egg that I have ever had, and a nice dollop of Caviar provided the saltiness.

Many times I have thought about recreating that dish, in Lao Cook fashion, but I cannot do the dish justice by changing its perfection. Sometimes you just have to remember a certain dish for what is was.

No, that’s not an Alien, its Darly showing us she can swallow a whole Lobster…. remember the TV Series “V” ?

;)