While shopping for ingredients to make teriyaki chicken in Sainsbury’s yesterday I came past some duck breast and decided to try using duck instead. I found a teriyaki chicken recipe online and just substituted chicken for duck. I also made a couple of other minor substitutions to the recipe since I didn’t have all the ingredients. Luckily, it ended up tasting pretty good.

Here’s the recipe:

• 2 duck breasts with skin on (about 300 grams)
• 4 tablespoons of sake (rice wine)
• 4 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 2 tablespoons of pineapple juice

Combine the ingredients and marinate the duck breasts in the refrigerator for about an hour. Heat some oil in a fry pan and fry the duck breasts skin down on medium heat until the skin is brown and crispy. If the duck is browning too quickly turn the heat down a little. Turn the duck over and fry the other side on low heat. After about 10 minutes add the remainder of the marinade to the pan and cook until the sauce thickens. Remove the duck and allow to rest for a few minutes. Slice the duck and serve with steamed rice, brocolli and a slice of pan fried pineapple.

I was at Heathrow Airport a couple of weeks ago waiting for my flight to Melbourne via Singapore. It was early in the morning and as I hadn’t had breakfast I was looking for a place to grab a bite in the food court area of Terminal 3. It was quite busy and I didn’t really want to wait in a queue so I decided to head into the Rhubarb Food Bar.

The Rhubarb Food Bar is a little restaurant/cafe type place with nicely dressed waiters. I sat down a looked through the menu and remembered thinking that the breakfast items seemed a little pricey especially amongst the other fast food outlets in the food court. I ended up settling for the miniature English breakfast which came with a miniature bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese and a sweet pastry. It seemed to offer the best value for money.

I didn’t realise that miniature really meant miniature until I saw it. Everything was so tiny even the fried egg. All quite cute actually. The whole meal was also surprisingly satisfying considering its small size. The total cost was £15.50 including a cup of coffee.

Tonight for dinner we had pork roast and veges. This is definitely one of my favourite dishes. I just love making a pork roast because it’s relatively easy to prepare and tastes so good.

I started with a nice cut of pork leg, seasoned with some salt, pepper, rosemary, mixed Italian spices, a couple of cloves of crushed garlic and a few splashings of olive oil. Then it was into the oven for about 90 minutes.

Once nice and golden brown the pork was sliced, covered in gravy and served with roasted carrots, potatoes and parsnips which are now on my favourite veges.

Tonight for dinner I decided to cook up some pork chops. Pork chops are a favourite of mine since they taste great and are quite easy to prepare. I just grabbed some pork chops and coated them in a little olive oil, some rosemary and generously seasoned with salt and pepper. It then went under the grill under golden brown.

To accompany the pork chops were peas, a potato, pumpkin and carrot mash and some apple sauce. All good and hearty.

We had dinner at Wendy’s place last night and she made us this delicious Malaysian style chicken curry served with rice and a side of stir fried okra (aka lady’s finger) which was also very tasty. The chicken was cooked perfectly and just fell right off the bone. Very good eating indeed.

For dessert we were served an absolutely amazing sticky date pudding which she also made herself. I’m generally not a massive fan of sticky date pudding but this was just so tasty. There couldn’t have been a better way to top off an already great meal.