Hangover Food

Hello hello!

Hangovers are terrible. We all know they are but we all pretend to come off from them better than we actually have. I have written about Comfort Food before I know, but I thought that Hangover food deserves its own post. They sometimes come together in glorious harmony, but sometimes there are vast differences that set them distinctively apart. Certain variables come into Hangover food that are non-negotiable and standard across the board; ease of cooking, readily available and not loud or stressful to make. Other things are determinant on the type of hangover and the severity like whether it is a hot or cold dish, whether it is solid or liquid form, whether it is homemade or bought.

So let’s delve into the complicated but oh so serious topic of Hangover food! I want to explain to you that hangover food can be the same each and every time for one person but vary enormously from time to time for others. Some people have set beliefs on what works (eg. Fix the hangover) and others have bursts of hunger all day and they will eat anything in their path.

Hangovers are mysterious beasts when it comes to food because people can be so sporadic, unreasonable and non-negotiable with their choices and desires. I have been known to make Pork Roasts and extravagant things for Hangover cravings, I sometimes crave Hungry jacks, KFC or Pizza, and McDonalds of course is always a sure cure. But I have such a vast repertoire of Hangover cure remedies, that sometimes I find it hard to choose!

Partly my hangover stems from my comfort food, depending on how bad I feel and what is available to cook or buy. I tend to go for the noodles, or Asian if I can. I love getting tucked into some Goyza or dumplings if I can or if I can be bothered driving to get them. I have recently rediscovered the prepacked Roti in the supermarket and oh gosh its good and it takes me back to my childhood growing up in Singapore. When we were kids, Dad would take us down to the food courts at the bottom of the hill that we lived on in Singapore on a Sunday and we sat and ate beautiful, flaky oily Roti with a brilliantly vibrant Indian/Malaysian curry sauce. So this is where I took myself the Sunday just gone. I also have fond memories of the Satay man coming around to our block and serving up his cart stall food of satay sticks with a homemade peanut sauce.

So trying to combine these two memories of food together I whipped up a peanut curry sauce to have with my pre-packed Roti. I only had some Massaman Curry paste in the fridge so that had to do. It was a brilliant substitute for the memories I had and it definitely hit the Hangover food craving that I was having.

So here is the recipe to my Curry Peanut Dipping Sauce:
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter
1 teaspoon of curry paste of choice 1 splash of fish sauce
1 splash of sesame oil
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
(Little bit of water to thin it out)
Method: Mix all together in a small saucepan and mix until combined and slightly toasted.
-Add a little water as you go to thin it out to the desired consistency.
-Mix and Mix and Mix.
Note: Some lime juice would have been a great addition thinking back now. But I’m sure that I will make this again and I will add something to the sort to add a bit of acidity and extra flavour. It was a bit gluggy and the lime juice would have helped with this, but I probably could have added more water.

Anyway, the point is that I succeeded in getting my Hangover food and it was delightful! The end…until next weekend….. xoxo NJC

Lovely Local Yum Cha - The Golden Orient

Well Well,

What a great Saturday I had yesterday.The thought for our Saturday advtneure was a spare of the moment decision between a friend and I to have a day out. We had heard that there was Yum Cha in Narree Warren a few weeks ago from another friend, and admitiandly, i havent stopped thinking about it since. So i mentioned that we should go to Savers and Yum Cha in Naree Warren as they were next to ch other in Narree Warren. So from Tuesday when we made the plans, through to Saturday, i was thrilled with excitement that we were going to Yum Cha locally! (well more local than Springvale where we had gone previously).

So Saturday came along and another Yum Cha loving friend joined is which was fantastic, and off we trotted to Narree Warren. We had arrived at about 10.45am and this was a little early for lunch so we went to Savers first (after dicovering there is a Bingo Centre next door and we made plans to make sure we come back to that one day!) We did drive past The Golden Orient just to make sure it was open and there were some people floating around. There were so we squealed with excitement about our pending lunch.
We shopped and shopepd in Savers and decided that it was too risky to play a game of Bingo at the Bingo Centre before lunch in case we missed out on Yum Cha. So off we went accross the way to The Golden Orient. The car park was full of cars and there were many tables filled inside. I had done a little bit of research before the Saturday online about The Golden Orient and there were some mixed reviews, Some said that the place was often empty but most of the people said that food was fantastic. And that it was! I was glad that it was busing with traditional Asian Yum Cha excitement and enthusiasum, so we joined the brilliant casual atmosphere with very high expectiations. When i say high expectations, they are Yum Cha expectiations. We didnt have any expectations of a 5 star resuarant, we wanted good authentic food and good authentic people. They are the main criteria. Oh and Steamed Prawn Dumplings!

All of us were brilliantly satisfied with our dishes and Green Tea. We chose Pork Dumplings that were like Pot Stickers, Steamed Seafod Dim Sum, Pork Spare Ribs, Steamed Prawn and Ginger dumplings, Prawn Dumplings Pot Stickers and Calamari att various stages of them bringing them out. Our favourites of the lunch were the Pork Pot Stickers and the Steamed Prawn Dumplings. We have of course vowed to go there more often now that we can be confiedent that it meets our Yum Cha expectiations! It is so great to know that something so great is so close! We all would highly recommend The Golden Orient! For those that have never expereienced Yum Cha, you sit and get a plate and spoon and a complementary bottle of Soy on the table. They then come and various intervals with a trolley around the room to every table and ask if you would like anything off the trolley. The little bamboo steamers that the trolley is carrying houses various things from Beef or Chicken Dim Sum to the more exotic Chickens feet at some more authentic places. All dishes are serviced as you request them and they fill out the sheet that is left at your table that you take to to pay when you are all done. You can send trolleys away politely if there is nothing that takes your fancy , or get as much as you like of the dishes that you like! The pricing is aranged in a way that depends on the sevirity of the dish. They are categorised from Standars through to Super special and the prices are determined accordingly. The brilliant thing about it is there is no menu, no price list and very little english to decifer the sheet that is on your table. But the dishes are generally very cheap. The whole lunch with 8 dishes and Green Tea was only $58 or so dollars for all three of us. This was more than enough to fill us for lunch!

So as we were sitting there at the end of our meal, Louise found out that Kate had never been to Robert Gordon Pottery in Pakenham. Oh gosh. So off we went. It was a brilliant idea, because they were having a sale (as they always do, but this time is was more extensive I think). So I managed to pick up a whole dinner set of 6 dinner plates, 6 mugs and 6 side plates for $18 because all the pieces were $1 each!!! That will hold the title of the best bargain find for a while in my mind! Along with some great Kris Kringle pressies for X'Mas, we had a great time there. We pushed out little trolleys out of there with great pride at the day that we had achieved! Finished off with a treat and a pot of tea at a cafe, it put the most perfect end to another great day out for us girls!

All in all, we had some great bargains at Savers and Robert Gordon, broken up by a fantastic relaxed Yum Cha lunch. Oh Gosh, thats the top of the chain for me, Yum Cha, Op-Shopping and Pottery. Im not sure that a day can have that much good in it?! .... Give some of these local places a go if you are into that sort of thing. You will be most plesantly surprised.

XOXO

NJC