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The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G.K. Chesterton

Thursday 28 August 2008

4 happy years!

Four years ago today, Rob and I got married in our home city of Perth, Australia. And it occured to me recently that for all four anniversaries, we were in different cities/towns/countries other than Perth. Our first was spent in Kalbarri (north of Perth) for a short getaway, the second was in Kanazawa shortly after we'd moved to Ishikawa prefecture in Japan, and last year we celebrated our third anniversary in New York where we'd stayed for two months. Every year, incidentally around August, had been exciting periods for us with new ventures ahead, and this year is no exception - we're living in the big capital of Tokyo and expecting our first baby due in seven short weeks time!!

Like all relationships and marriages, there are ups and downs - but thankfully there are more ups for us than downs, and it is our nature to hold on to the memories of good times. By the way, my memories with Rob dates back more than 11 years ago when we first met on the school bus (different high schools), but he became more of a constant presence in my life about 7 years ago. Has it truly been that long ago?

Wednesday 27 August 2008

South Indian food @ Ajanta, Tokyo

We'd actually planned to try out another south Indian restaurant recommended by one of Rob's collegues, but Ajanta happened to be conveniently located in the area we'd planned to be last Sunday. Apparently it was established in Tokyo more than 50 years ago, one of the first Indian restaurants to be set up in Tokyo. As a result, it is quite a well-known Indian restuarant which has received many good reviews for its dishes and long operating hours. I have noticed that there are many Indian restaurants specialising in northern Indian cuisine in and around Tokyo (our favourite neighbourhood Indian restaurant serves northern Indian cuisine), but South Indian restaurants are not as prolific (or perhaps I'm not as observant as I like to think I am!). Perhaps the most distinguishing difference between the cuisines of north and south India is that bread like naan, chapati and paratha dominates the table in North India, whereas rice is the staple in South India - although not in an exclusive sense since both bread and rice are common in both counterparts.

When we arrived at Ajanta for lunch, we were instructed to go upstairs for the dining area. The kitchen, bar and a small casual dining area is located downstairs while the slightly more formal dining room is upstairs. I suppose it makes sense to situate the kitchen downstairs to make it easy for takeaway orders, although I am a bit curious as to how the food was being transported between the two levels as the stairs were clearly not used for that purpose. It was a good sign that all of the kitchen and waitstaff were Indian, which lent a certain feel of authenticity. The menu was quite extensive with plenty of varieties of curry, tandoori, Indian bread and rice dishes to choose from. There was also an accompanying lunch set menu from which you can choose two types of dishes to have with either naan or rice for 1500yen. The mango lassi was the most expensive lassi we've ever had (700yen) but it was also one of the nicest and most flavourful lassi we've ever had.



One of the menu items I was particularly interested in was the dosa, a crêpe-like dish made from lentils and rice. There were two types of dosa on the menu, the Masala Dosa and the Ajanta Special Dosa. When I asked what the difference between the two was, I was told that the Masala one was the traditional type, whereas the other one was a house specialty. I ordered the Masala Dosa (~1600yen) since I'd never eaten dosa before and wanted to get an idea of what the usual one is like. It was huge, and came with an eggplant sambar (mild vegetable stew) and a coconut chutney. I really liked it! The crêpe was crispy, with a lovely curried filling of potatoes and onion, reminiscent of the much-loved Malaysian curry puff. The sambar and chutney were good and tasty, but the dosa was perfectly fine on its own without them.

Rob ordered the Lunch Set with Dhal, Mutton Saag and Naan. He was disappointed with the dhal, which he thought lacked flavour and spice, was too watery and hence made a poor accompaniment to the naan bread. I was a bit more lenient on the dhal, and since my dosa was more flavourful than the naan, we swapped one of my dishes for his dhal. The mutton saag was nice and spicy, but not as chilli spicy as Rob would have liked it. The mutton was beautifully tender, but I found the dish rather rich so I couldn't have too much of it.

Masala Dosa and the Lunch Set with Dhal and Mutton Saag:


I was quite satisfied with lunch, although I'm not too sure if Rob was as happy.

Friday 22 August 2008

Gelato @ naturalBeat Gelateria Bar, Tokyo

Our galette lunch brought us for the first time to the upscale shopping area of Omotesando. Too bad we're not lovers of clothes shopping. However, Kim said that there was really good gelato to be had in Omotesando Hills, and being the gluttons that we are, we couldn't resist a visit to this gelateria. The naturalBeat Gelateria Bar is quite small with seating capacity of maybe 15 people in a bar-like setting. There was quite a variety of flavours to choose from, but for some reason none of the flavours appealed to us. Chocolate would have been our choice, but all three chocolate gelati available either contained an ingredient that we didn't like or had alcohol.

I've been curious for awhile now about the "salt caramel" flavour combination, which for some reason is quite a buzz in the foodie world for the past couple of years. (I haven't yet tried this salty-sweet combination because I'm not a big fan of caramels which are often too sweet, and I wasn't sure about eating a sweet that was actually salty.) One of the menu items was Sea Salt Caramel (780yen) with caramelised nuts, so we took this opportunity to see what the fuss was with this salty-sweet combination. The verdict? Well, I can't say I enjoyed it, and perhaps it was mainly because of the nuts, which were not caramelised but instead were burnt and disappointingly bitter. I can see why people would appreciate the contrast of salty and sweet, but let's just say I don't like tasting salt in my desserts (funnily, I'm fine with sweet in my savoury dishes). Somehow I have a feeling that I wouldn't enjoy chocolate-covered bacon. Another negative about the gelato was the texture, which was more like normal ice cream, and not the dense, smooth and fine texture that we associate with good gelato. Kim and Fumi shared Passionfruit & Mango (860yen) with juniper berry jelly, and it came with a separate tiny serving of sake (Japanese rice wine) in a sake glass for you to pour as much (or as little) as you like on the dessert. This was more like a sorbet than a gelato, but it was refreshing and was flavourful.

Sea Salt Caramel and Passionfruit Mango:

Thursday 21 August 2008

Galettes @ Le Bretagne, Tokyo

Galettes are savoury French crêpes made with buckwheat flour and contains various fillings, the most popular type being galette complète which comprises of egg, ham and cheese. I must admit I'd never heard of galettes prior to coming to Tokyo, but it's no surprise that I'd be introduced to everything French in Japan since the Japanese are quite French-ophilic. I've been curious to try out these savoury crêpes for awhile now, and galettes came up in my internet search on where to bring Kim (visiting from the Noto) for lunch last weekend. Galettes seem like it would make good brunch, and we found ourselves in Omotesando seated inside a crêperie called Le Bretagne. At my request, Kim's former host sister, Fumi, came along to lunch - we'd first met Kim's gorgeous friend earlier this year when she came with us to Tokyo Disneyland. She lived in France for four years before returning to Japan in December. It's pretty cool hearing a Japanese speaking English with a French accent :)

You can choose from the menu an impressive variety of more than 20 types of galettes with prices ranging from 1000yen to 1700yen depending on the type of filling. Also available are seasonal specials. There are also many types of sweet crêpes to choose for dessert or for an indulgent sweet brunch. Apparently, apple cider (of the alcohol variety) is a good accompaniment to galettes, which was good enough reason for Kim and friend to order a sweet cider. Rob and I, being non-alcoholic drinkers, each had a tiny sip from Kim's cup, and I thought it tasted just like non-alcoholic apple cider but with a touch of alcohol, if that makes any sense.

We started out with a plate of Assorted Fromage (1600yen) which included chèvre (goat's cheese), a relatively mild blue cheese, a soft cheese that was either camembert or brie (hey, I don't claim to be a cheese connoiseur!), and a mild yellow hard cheese. Accompanying the cheese were dried figs, walnuts, slices of fruit bread and plain baguette. I like mild cheese, so my favourite was the un-named yellow hard cheese which was tasty and creamy but not too strong. The brie/camembert was nice, but Rob wondered why I avoided eating the mould rind which he thinks is the best part of the cheese. The blue cheese was surprisingly mild and palatable whilst the goat's cheese was a bit too strong for my liking. Even though there were four of us, we had trouble finishing the cheese plate.

Assorted Fromage:


We all ordered something different, and everyone had a taste of everyone else's plate. Unfortunately I don't have the exact titles of our order because the French waiter did not let me to even take note of the names and description of our orders (he didn't want to risk any other restaurants copying their menu, but he allowed me to take photos of the food *rolls eyes* - I mean these are simple crêpes which would be easy to replicate just from look and taste!). Kim ordered a Sunny-side-up Egg, Cheese, Ham and Spinach Galette (~1200yen) - nice idea, but the flavour didn't do much for me and the spinach would be better off on its own. Fumi chose the Ham, Cheese and Champignon Galette, (~1200yen) - a simple but very nice combination. Is there anything that mushrooms do not go well with?

Spinach Galette and Mushroom Galette:


Rob's order was the Nordique Galette (~1700yen) which was smoked salmon with sour cream and chives. Simple but tasty, and adding anything else would distract the palate from enjoying the smoky taste of the salmon. I got the Provençale Galette (~1700yen) and the fillings were a sunny side up egg, tomatoes, ham, cheese, anchovies and onion confit. It's a lot of ingredients in one galette, but they all worked well together. The ingredient that made the dish stand out was the onion confit, which was sweet like caramelised onion. Rob and I agreed that this was our favourite out of all four we tasted.

Nordique Galette and Provençale Galette:


Each serving was pretty large, and most of us were pretty full by the time we finished everything. Kim wanted to bring us to a nearby gelateria which she thought was good, but Rob wanted to try at least one of the sweet crêpes. No one else was confident that we could fit in a dessert crêpe as well as gelato, so it fell to Rob to choose a sweet crêpe for everyone to try. Not surprisingly, Rob chose Chocolate Crêpe (~1300yen) which held a scoop of rich chocolatey ice cream, two scoops of whipped cream and a generous drizzle of dark chocolate syrup. I won't deny the fact that it was really good!

Chocolate Crêpe:


Overall, it was a good experience. It would've been nice to have been able to take notes for the sake of my blogging, but at least I could take photos. Le Bretagne is quite popular for lunch on the weekend, so either come early to snag a table, or make reservations (we went early).

Tuesday 19 August 2008

Fukagawa Matsuri, Tokyo

It's nice to see cultural traditions taking place in such a big city like Tokyo. Our area held a matsuri (festival) last weekend, and while it wasn't as crazy as the ones we experienced in the countryside of Noto (eg Wajima Taisai and the unforgettable Ushitsu Abare Matsuri aka Fire & Violence Festival), there were a lot of people participating with plenty of energy and vigor.

This particular matsuri is called Fukagawa Hachiman Matsuri, held only once every 3 years and is one of the Big Three in Tokyo. Unfortunately we didn't know about this matsuri and had already made plans for the weekend so we couldn't participate actively in it like we did in the Noto matsuris. But, we did get to watch a small part of the omikoshi (portable shrine) procession on the street from our 10th-floor apartment. I was surprised by the numbers representing each mikoshi, and there were more than 50 mikoshi in total! Apparently this matsuri has more than 30,000 participants and draws over half a million spectators. There were lots of water thrown onto the people carrying the mikoshi eventhough it was an unusually (but blissfully) cool summer day.

The people stuck in traffic due to road blocks weren't very happy people. Thankfully, it was Sunday so there were less traffic on the roads than during the week.

There were so many mikoshi, and lots of people - but here are a few shots of some:


Friday 15 August 2008

Revisit of Hainan Chifan, Tokyo

We wanted to introduce our friends Shan and Leigh to Malaysian food, and we had a choice of bringing them to either Mahathir Restaurant, or to Hainan Chifan. Whilst I'd enjoyed the food at Mahathir's, which tasted authentic and close to the real stuff back home, I wondered if the food would be too robust and spicy for S and L. Hainan Chifan serves dishes that seem more suited to the gentler tastebuds of the non South-East Asian population, so we thought Hainan Chifan was the safer choice of the two. Besides, I wanted another opportunity to revisit and try the house specialty, Hainanese chicken rice. Since I've already done a review of Hainan Chifan, this entry will be a sort of supplementary material to the original review. Note that the names of some of the dishes in Japanese on the menu are different to the names I'm using (for example, asking for horfun would draw blank looks from the waitstaff - I had to describe in broken Japanese that I meant Charkueyteow in ankake (Japanese starchy sauce)).

We ordered the Laksa and Horfun again, but the horfun tasted different to the one we had last time. It was still quite nice, although the white pepper and MSG was a lot more pronounced this time. For the Hainanese Chicken, there were three options: the single-order plate of chicken rice (~1000yen or AU$10), a half chicken (~1700yen) or a whole chicken (~3000yen) We ordered the whole chook with a couple of large bowls of plain chicken rice (250yen each). It's been a long time since I'd had Hainanese chicken rice, and I really liked how it was prepared here. Three sauces accompanied the chicken: ginger, garlic chilli sauce, and thick dark soy sauce. The rice was really good too - full of chicken-y flavour and goodness.



I spotted one of my favourite dishes on the menu - Chai Tau Kueh (790yen), a dish of stirfried 'carrot cake' - or more correctly, 'white radish cake' - made with giant white radish also known as chai tau in Hokkien and daikon in Japanese. You can choose 'white' or 'black' chai tau kueh, with the 'white' one being about 100yen (~AU$1) cheaper, but naturally I ordered the 'black' version since that's the one I like. It was tasty, but not quite as good as the one I grew up eating in Malaysia, nor my dad's, nor the one I used to eat back in Perth. But it'll do because as they say, "beggars can't be choosers". We also ordered Char Kuey Teow (950yen), which got Rob's approval, and he especially appreciated the presence of lap cheong in the dish. Me, I would have liked having the salty see ham (cockles) in there, but I must admit that it does require a bit of an acquired taste to appreciate the taste of see ham.

Chai Tau Kueh and Char Kuey Teow (yes, they sound similar):


For dessert, S wanted to try the Durian Ice cream (380yen), and L liked the idea of Pisang Goreng which is battered and deep-fried banana, sorta like banana fritter (480yen). When we saw our old favourite Bubur Pulut Hitam aka black glutinous rice pudding/porridge (380yen) on the menu, there was no doubt what we were ordering for dessert. The durian ice cream was nice, but not as good as the one made-on-premise-with-fresh-durian-flesh at Mahathir's. S was afraid of having durian breath for the rest of the day so she ate only half. I didn't try any of the pisang goreng, but L said it was "very good". The pulut hitam was delicious with the sweet coconut milk. I should ask my parents to bring some black glutinous rice grains to Japan when she visits so that we can have this anytime we want at home.

Pisang Goreng and Durian Ice cream; Bubur Pulut Hitam:


It was great catching up with friends, and it's always fun introducing people to the cuisine of my home country.

Wednesday 13 August 2008

Tapeo Bar de Espana, Tokyo

The latest Batman movie, The Dark Knight is finally showing at the cinemas in Japan, so we made plans last weekend to watch this movie. To tell you the truth, I'm not a fan of the Batman comic, cartoon series nor the older movies because the theme is always so dark and depressing, but I quite enjoyed watching Batman Begins when it came out three years ago. The Dark Knight received such high ratings on IMDb that it was on the #1 spot for a few weeks on the website's Top 250 Movies. With that in mind, I'd expected this latest installment of Batman to be at least as good as the first one, but to my surprise, I found myself thinking that it certainly didn't deserve the high ratings on IMDb (which we believe to be the work of fanboys). It was a good movie, entertaining and well made, but it was a bit too long and at times hard to follow. I also wonder if the high ratings has to do with the fact that this is Heath Ledger's final acting role before his untimely death earlier this year. Don't get me wrong - Heath played his role well, but so did Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Anyway, since we were in Roppongi Hills to watch the movie with some friends, we decided to also grab some lunch at a Spanish bar/pub called Tapeo Bar de Espana. I think this was the first time I wasn't terribly impressed with the food at the Hills. So far I'd regarded Roppongi Hills as a reliable (albeit pricey) place to go to when I want to eat authentic foreign food (we've had pretty good dimsum, xiaolongbao (soup dumplings), French and even Hawaiian 'fusion' in this area). I guess since this is more of a pub/bar/izakaya than a restaurant, food is not the primary draw to the place but the alcohol and 'tapas'. I wouldn't say that this is 'authentic' Spanish food, but at least the decor was European-style. The food was quite affordable, especially with an all-you-can-eat salad bar, dessert and coffee and tea that comes with your lunch order.

The plates containing some of the food from the salad bar:


The lunch menu was quite limited, with only about 6 choices to choose from, and prices range from 1200yen to 1700yen (~AU$12 to AU$17). I ordered the Seafood Paella and Rob got the Tapas Plate, both of which were the most pricey items on the menu. The food from the salad bar was surprisingly good, which included salad, Japanese-style vegetables, pasta salad and a dish called Steamed Chicken Cobb Salad which was our favourite. We probably ate more from the salad bar than what was on our orders. The paella was nice, with fresh seafood and saffron rice (although the rice could do with a little more saffron) cooked and served in a small paella pan. The tapas were only mediocre, and included a couple of thin slices of jamon (ham), Spanish omelette, fried chicken, croquette, olives, marinated sardines, sundried tomatoes and potato salad. It's not even worth mentioning dessert (perhaps because I'd forgotten to take a photo of it) which included a type of youkan-style jelly, chocolate cake and lychees. The lychees were perhaps the best part of dessert!

Seafood Paella and Tapas Plate:


Ah anyway, even though the food was quite forgettable, our friends' company more than made up for that :)

Saturday 9 August 2008

A motley dish: Spicy Chicken, Olive and Capsicum Salsa

The other day for dinner, I made a dish that is not quite Spanish, Mexican nor Greek. Fortunately the combination of ingredients worked well, and it was pretty quick and easy to make - all the better for me because nowadays I want to avoid cooking laborious dishes over a hot stove. I also love the colours in this dish.

Chicken, Olive and Capsicum Salsa

Ingredients
500g chicken breast fillet, cut into bitesized cubes
1 teaspoon curry powder (I used Indian mix but it doesn't really matter what type - the idea is to get a variety of spices)
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
salt and pepper
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
2cm length of ginger, chopped (or 2 teaspoon minced ginger)
3 cloves garlic, chopped (or 2 teaspoon minced garlic)
2 capsicum (I used the red and yellow variety), sliced
1x300g jar of spicy salsa
1-2 tablespoon of tomato sauce/ketchup
14 black pitted olives, halved

Method
1) Coat the chicken with the curry powder, spices and salt and pepper (if you have time, leave it to marinade for a few hours).
2) Heat oil in a pan on medium heat and saute the onion until softened (a couple of minutes).
3) Add the chopped ginger and garlic and stirfry for a minute until fragrant.
4) Turn up the heat to high and add the cubed chicken pieces and brown briefly (a minute or so) while stirring constantly to avoid burning the bottom of the pan.
5) Turn down the heat to medium, throw in the sliced capsicum, salsa, tomato sauce and the halved olives into the pan and stir (scraping up the browned roasted spices that may be stuck at the bottom of the pan).
6) Bring to a simmer, and simmer for about 5minutes or until chicken is cooked.
7) Season to taste with salt and pepper if needed (the spicy salsa, tomato sauce and olives should add plenty of salt and flavour to the dish already).

Serve with rice (or couscous) and vegetables (or salad) for a quick, easy and healthy meal.

Thursday 7 August 2008

Summer Sweet Treats in Japan

My name is Jean, and I have a sweet tooth. Yes, that is a confession to an unhealthy addiction. Unfortunately for me, patiserries and supermarkets all around Tokyo have not taken much notice that such an addiction is indeed unhealthy, blatantly displaying a beautiful variety of cakes, pastries and Japanese-style sweets on the shelves. While I dislike the humidity and warmth that summer brings in Tokyo, I do love the Japanese sweets that come out to play during this season.

Warabimochi is technically not a true mochi as it is made from bracken starch and not glutinous rice. Warabimochi is a translucent sweet with a soft jelly-like texture that is quite refreshing to eat after it has been cooled in the fridge. The only type of warabimochi I've seen are cut pieces covered with kinako (toasted soy powder). Apparently warabi starch is quite expensive so there are cheap versions sold in supermarkets that are made using cheaper materials such as potato starch and tapioca starch. The other day, I bought 'An Kuromitsu-iri Warabimochi' (as it says on the label). This means that it wasn't the usual warabimochi, but flavoured with kuromitsu, which is a type of syrup made from kurozato, the supposedly "healthy" dark brown sugar from Okinawa (sorry for the sarcasm - it just seems counter-intuitive to label any sugary things as "healthy"). The ingredient list on the pack of warabimochi I bought contained warabi starch as well as other starches, and of course the featured flavour of kuromitsu. And indeed, the warabimochi had a subtle taste akin to molasses.

The packet of Kuromitsu Warabimochi, and how it looks like underneath the kinako (note that warabimochi is not usually so dark as this type which is due to the kuromitsu):


I also bought a packet of 'Mizu Youkan & Kuzu Sakura' sweets, and although the name refers to cherry blossoms ("sakura"), and except for the plastic sakura leaves covering the sweets, they didn't taste nor look anything like the sweets I associate with the name sakura (e.g. sakuramochi which is made with preserved leaves from the sakura tree). Mizu youkan is a jelly-like sweet made from an (red (adzuki) bean paste) and kanten (aka agar agar). (I also made an attempt at making it a couple of years ago.) The other sweet in the box was kuzumochi, which is a ball of translucent gel with a filling of anko (smooth adzuki bean paste). Like warabimochi, kuzumochi is not made from mochi flour but from kuzu starch which many would consider as synonymous with arrowroot starch. Both the mizu youkan and the kuzumochi were delicious.

(By the way, I don't really understand why so many non-Asian people dislike sweet beans. I wonder if it's actually the taste that they are opposed to, or the idea of beans being sweet. Unlike most beans, adzuki beans is naturally quite sweet, and I have never had them in savoury form.)

The box of Mizu Youkan (on the right) and Kuzumochi (left):


I know Strawberry Shortcake is not strictly a Japanese-style sweet, but it is uniquely Japanese because the term shortcake in other countries mean something quite different. According to this source, in England, shortcake is similar to the Scottish shortbread, which is a buttery biscuit (or cookie for Americans because biscuit to Americans refers to something similar to scones). In America, shortcake is made using sweet biscuit (in the American definition of 'biscuit', i.e. scones). The Japanese shortcake refers to a dessert made using sponge cake, whipped cream and strawberries, and is a very popular cake to have during Christmas in Japan. I'm sure all the variations of shortcake in different cultures are all delicious in their own way, but I probably would prefer the Japanese version because it is lighter and less creamy than the western versions. I certainly would prefer this cake for Christmas rather than the traditional fruit cake!

Shortcake, the Japanese version:

Saturday 2 August 2008

Seafood and Vegetable Chowder

This was actually something I cooked awhile back for Rob's birthday dinner (which fell on a weekday in the middle of the week in June) but haven't had time to blog about it until now. I've tasted plenty of chowders, but they've always been a bit too rich and creamy for my taste. However, Rob loves them (there are not many creamy-based food he would reject, if any!) so I thought I'd give a try making something similar at home as a treat on his birthday. Like with most new dishes I try, I looked at many chowder recipes to get an idea, then formed my own recipe based on what is available to me and my preferences. Since I'd have to eat this for my dinner as well, I omitted the cream to make it a bit more suitable for my palate (although I'm sure there are plenty of chowder recipes out there that doesn't use cream). It's also probably not so traditional to use so much vegetables in chowders (hence the recipe title), but it made for a healthy one-bowl meal. And hey, I'm the one cooking it so I get to dictate what goes in the dish, right? Anyway, Rob told me he enjoyed the soup a lot, so I guess it turned out alright!

Seafood and Vegetable Chowder

Serves two, and goes extremely well with crusty bread.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
50g (1 or 2 slices) bacon, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 celery stalks, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 tablespoon flour
1.5 cups (375mL) fish stock or water
1.5 cups (375mL) milk
1 bay leaf
300g (~3 medium-sized) potatoes, diced
half a can (100-150g drained weight) sweet corn kernels
300g frozen mixed seafood (prawns, scallops, squid rings, clams)
Salt and pepper to taste
Dill and parsley to taste

Method

1) Heat oil in a pot and brown the bacon until crisp.
2) Add the onion and saute for a few minutes on medium heat until soft and translucent.
3) Add the garlic, carrot and celery and saute for a few minutes before adding the flour.
4) Cook the flour for another minute while constantly stirring, and gradually add the stock or water to the pot while constantly stirring.
5) Add the milk, bay leaf and potatoes and bring the mixture to a simmer.
6) Cover and simmer for about 5 minutes or until potatoes are almost cooked (i.e. still crunchy but you can poke a fork through a piece).
7) Stir in the corn kernels and mixed seafood and simmer for a further few minutes until the seafood is cooked.
8) Turn off the heat and season with salt and pepper to taste and
9) Finish with as much dill and parsley as you like. Remember to remove the bay leaf before serving.