Visit to Palach & Zajic Memorial

I performed in a musical play at high school called Czechmate. It concerned the events of the Prague Spring in 1968. This year I visited for the first time and took time to remember Jan Palach and Jan Zajic who burnt themselves alive in protest at the Russian invasion. As we used to sing - "Live on Jan!"

Christmas Cabbage Soup

Made this up today based on what usually works well together. Chop one cabbage, then fry in oil in a large pot for ten minutes while stirring. Add 1.5 litres of vegetable stock, five crushed cloves of garlic, a good dash of chili sauce, eg Tabasco, some chili flakes, a dash of Lea & Perrins or similar, plenty of salt & pepper, some dill, a good dollop of mustard, and a tablespoonful of honey. Simmer with a lid on until the cabbage melts in the mouth. Amazing! :-)

Beef with sesame, orange, rice, carrot & lettuce

Made this tonight from a blend of recipes and memories of a dish I used to enjoy for lunch at an Asian restaurant in Stockholm. I think it's actually a Korean dish.

It's thinly sliced steak strips, with fine chopped onion, marinated in soy sauce, honey, sesame oil & seeds, with a little ginger, chilli & garlic, and orange zest.

Once flash-fried in a hot frying pan I served it on a bed of lettuce with warm sticky rice & topped off with grated carrot and orange slices to squeeze over to taste.

For two people I used 400 grams of meat, 1 small onion, 3 tablespoons of soy, 1 tablespoon of honey, 2 teaspoons of sesame oil, and 1 teaspoon each of lazy ginger, chilli & garlic. Grated the surface off 1 orange, and prepared sushi rice finished off with rice wine vinegar. Sliced the remains of the orange and grated two carrots.  Really yummy and fresh. Top marks from the better half! :-)

Update - made it again without the onion or carrot, more honey, and more sesame oil. Also heated the rice wine vinegar with some vegetable oil, sugar and salt. Tasted even closer to the dish I hoped to recreate...