Project 365: Day 52 Atari-Ya? Ya Sashimi Ya

Any sashimi lovers out there in london? Are you fed up with expensive but stale sashimi? Are you a person on a budget but can't stop your craving for sashimi or sushi? If you said yes to ANY of the above, I have an answer for you.

Introducing ATARI-YA!!! (That is if you don't already know it)

Atari-ya is a specialist japanese grocer and fishmonger, owned by a man called Mr. Tai. A lot of japanese restaurants get their fish from Mr. Tai so instead of paying the middleman, why not go straight to the supplier? They have several shops around london but the one I prefer is in west acton on central line just next to the tube station. Here they sell the fish by weight so you will get more bang for your money imho.

Check out what I got for £36: o-toro, chu-toro, mackarel, scallops, sweet prawn and a raw fish mix you eat with rice (we had noodles). There is one small catch, the quality of O-toro varies from time to time, but the ones we had this time was excellent by ANY standards. Think I'm joking? Try it out for yourself. Yours dearly and ying ling definitely look like they enjoyed it.




Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Project 365: Day 51 Borough Market

I woke up to a beautiful english saturday morning, sunny and breezey. I liked the weather to be that way, but on a spring/summer day, the wind catches just a little bit too much grass pollen with it. So the downside to it is that it sets my hayfever on full motion. Anyway, we went to borough market for some lunch.

First up, the legendary chorizo, superbly cooked, slightly charred which contributes a smokey flavour to the already tasty meat. It was served with piquant pepper and rockets on a white bun. Mind you, I had to queue up for 20 minutes to get my teeth anywhere near those juicy sausages.

Next up was a german sausage served with saurkraut which was ok. I mean it wasn't something to shout about but it's not too bad either.

We then proceed to our favourite coffee company, the Monmouth coffee company. Two shots of espresso brewed from the carefully selected coffee beans poured over ice cold milk to make the yummiest ice latte you've ever tasted.
I also tasted the weirdest ice cream, hazelnut chilli flavour, and it was awesome. You don't really taste the chilli but after your second lick, you could feel a little heat at the back of throat, which i thought was quite enjoyable.

I then round everything up with one of the nicest oysters I've ever tasted, the colchester native grade 1 oyster. To sum up the taste, the flesh is firm and tasted salty. It's aftertaste is sweet and slightly iron-y and lingers around your mouth for up to an hour after you ate it, absolutely fantastic. I will definitely be back for more oyster some other day......



Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Project 365: Day 50 Funny face shirts

Yours dearly and I went shopping today after satisfying some of her craving for sashimi. As usual, I did my bit of window shopping to spot if there were anything interesting. Yours dearly, on the other hand was a lady on a mission to get some new cute t-shirts.

Here's what we spotted in h&m, cute isn't it? Look at how she's trying to imitate the facial expression on the shirt.


Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Project 365: Day 49 Visitors from Malaysia

We've got a couple of guests from Malaysia today so I spent most of my time cleaning the house up, or tidying if you like to put it that way. Here's a photo of bayswater because that's the only time I got out of the house.



Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah

Project 365: Day 48 Green Tea Ice Cream

So the story goes like this. A few days ago, during easter monday, yours dearly had an urge to bake something using the passion fruit we bought a day earlier. Now easter is a funny time of the year, it's one of the rare weekends where u have good friday and bank holiday on monday here in uk. This is usually the time people take time off to bring their family on vacation. It's also a time when retailers have odd opening hours so going grocery shopping on this day means going to small and more expensive shops. You could imagine how hard it was hunting down the ingredients I don't have stocked up at home.

Now, while she made her passion fruit swirl cheesecake, she got a wacky idea on how to use up the extra cream we had. She decided to make green tea ice cream. For those who don't know how ice cream is made here's a rough idea. Beat egg, cream, sugar and flavouring up. Put in a case and into the fridge. Take it out every 30 minutes or so and mix it around to let little ice crystals form for that smooth, fluffy, soft texture of what we call ice cream.

As we were late for our bbq, we decided to leave the ice cream to settle on its own after we mixed it a few times. That was when yours dearly issued her orders:

"NO TOUCHING MY ICE CREAM BEFORE ME"

So I did as she said and not touch it...... UNTIL TODAY, when she finally was in the house to officiate the spooning of the ice cream. Just look at how happy she is...... Sigh.......



Best regards,
Jing Qi Quah