pheasant + dimsum

A few nights ago I prepared pheasant for the first time in my life. Michiel was on his way to Rijswijk to buy one and I came with him for a mini adventure, deciding at the last moment to also buy two for experimentation (on Meike, Katrin, Dries, and Jorn). The way was 45 min each way and we even took a little ferry for one leg of the journey for 2 eurocent each. It was a good thing we decided to bike!

To prepare the pheasant, I wrapped it in bacon and stuffed a lot of garlic and bay leaves up its butt before I realized there was an opening near the neck. We also made some mashed potatoes (aardappel puree) and stir fried veggies on the side. hmmm...though I had high hopes, it didn't turn out as deliciously as I had wished. However, the gravy we produced was pretty awesome. The meat was very gamey, which I don't mind, but the meat was dry and kinda tasteless. I think next time the bird should only be put in the oven for 30-45min.

The next day I made soup with Jorn from the leftovers and it turned out really well. We dumped in "asian spices" from the C1000, some chinese kool?, onions, garlic, salt, and pepper to taste. The whole thing was totally consumed by nightfall.

Additionally, because Lanna and Erika were in town this weekend, I took them to dim sum in Rotterdam Saturday morning. We went to Dong Hai, a place recommended by Yu Fang. It took us awhile to find the place, though it was only across the street from Tai Wu, another joint I'd been to previously. I just asked random Asian people on the street, and eventually found it. It was slightly embarrassing when I found myself asking a Chinese man where Dong Hai was, to have him point to a sign right in front of us with the name written in Chinese (then you know it's really authentic?).

A good sign walking in was there were no white people to be seen in the whole place and that the menu wasn't in picture format. The downside was I didn't know what/how to order. We tried to explain what we wanted in a mixture of broken Chinese and generalisms. Anyways, the food was pretty good; much better than Tai Wu. I miss having dim sum carted out on trolleys where I can point to what I want. The benefit of Tai Wu was the color plate images for each dish.

I have to say I am still looking for that perfect place for dim sum for brak Saturday and Sundays.

dim sum reviews (so far)
1. Dong Hai, Rotterdam - 7.0
2. Tai Wu, Rotterdam - 5.0

to try
1. Qi(2) Ling(2) Ge(2), Den Haag
2. Huang(2) Shang(4) Huang(2), Rotterdam
Growing list of some more dim sum/Chinese food recommendations from Yu Fang and other Chinese people.


Note: Have to remind Lanna to buy me dim sum flashcards. Next time I will know how to read everything on the menu.