Jamie's America (just) watched in Australia

i've got to admit, when i first heard of "jamie's america", my first reaction was - jamie has sold out! he is onto the american market, pre x'mas!
i did not have high hopes for the show, as i was i thinking along the lines of "ramsay's kitchen nightmares (USA)" vs "ramsay's kitchen nightmares (UK)"
i thought jamie would also be americanised...
i was sooooo wrong! and i am v glad that i was! cos now i have a new show to watch (after the demise of "the cook and the chef")
curiously the australian episode 1 began with "new york" - as i searched online after the aussie show, apparently "LA" and "wyoming" was supposed to preceed the "NY" one... well that was the official episode line up on jamieoliver.com
may be downunder, we do things the otherway around or something... but all i know is that louisiana will be next...
true to jamie's grassroots form, he went off the beaten track to look for the essence of NYC food - not in the 3 michelin star restaurants serving microgastronomy, but in the kitchens (mostly illegal ones) of ordinary new yorkers, mostly of immigrants, who served rustic, down to earth good food reflecting the culture they have brought with them to america in pursuit of their american dream...
there were weepy moments when jamie met mr george and mum feeding the homeless illegal immigrants off the streets everynight... homesick peruvians getting abit of comfort food from a home restaurant in the middle of a residental suburb...
they way they shot the series was real and had a homevideo feel to it...
no scripts... done in a way i (the audience) didn't think it did anyway...
10/10! can't wait for the next episodes
now i am fired up to try my hand at making the peruvian ceviche & xiao bing...

How I use my Primada Electric Pressure Cooker

This is only my own experience with my Primada electric pressure cooker at home... hope it helps...
to be honest, i normally just use the various "preset buttons" for cooking... i've cooked meat, whole chicken, tendon, cake, congee, rice, herbal soup, you name it and it all worked out and never has failed me with anything raw or too cooked...
i did try to cook tendon (i was afraid that it would not be soft enough after the first go) on the "tendon button" but doing it TWICE (another cycle after the first one was finished) and it turned out to be way too soft at the end...
the most important thing is to make sure the vent is not blocked and can move freely (and washed properly after each use) and the pressure dial on the lid is set to "closed" (middle of the dial of 3, the other two on the side mean "release air")
the timer function is shown on the top left "green light" below... just press that button again and again until it reaches your desired hours (b4 the cooking starts)... just say if you want the rice to start cooking in 3 hrs time... just press the button three times for 3 hours to show on the display (as below)

then press the "rice/ cake button"...
the rice should start cooking in 3 hrs time... i rarely use the "free menu" and the "pressure holding timer" button, but this (below) gives a good guide how logn you should "hold the pressure for" for diff types of food...

so for selecting a specific "pressure holding time", just press the "pressure holding timer button"... the time is shown on the display in minutes... eg 10 minutes is set below

then just press the "free menu button"... when the pressure is reached, the display will show "P10"... the pressure will hold for 10 minutes and the display will count down every minute - "P09", "P08" etc... when it is done it will "beeeeeep" and show "000"

and keep warm sign will light up... done!

then it is just a matter of waiting for the steam to cool or carefully releasing the steam through the pressure dial on the lid - a wet towel to cover the vent and releasing as slow as possible is the way to go...

My favourite PEPC snack

i do have the Primada recipe book sitting on the bench. I haven't tried many recipes from it though...

(i did do the cake with great success, blogged previously), cos making stuff with it (without any recipe) is so easy!
just put the stuff in, make sure there is moisture, close the lid, lock and press the button... done

i always make this "goji berries and snow fungus dessert/snack/soup" - it is nice to eat when kept in the fridge in summer and warming to have in the dead of winter...
goji berries are good for the eyes, and snow fungus is full of protein & good for the skin...
i like my dessert soup thick and gooey, a small pack of snow fungus (yellow, non bleached type) will do, plus a handful of goji berries...
goji berries need to be washed in cold water, they are usually dried in the open (may be on the road side some where in China, you never know, and thus full of dust)... remember don't buy these in health food shops, instead get them at the asian groceries - heaps more affordable!
snow fungus needs to be washed in cold water too and soaked - they expand 1-2 times at least
once they have expanded, they can be torn into smaller, more managable pieces...
plonk them in the pressure cooker pot...
fill with water, leaving 1-2 inches of space from the brim of the inner cooker...
close the lid, twist in position and make sure the top blowing hole is tuned to the "closed" position (the middle one on the dial of 3)
then just press the "soup button"...
the display will still show "000", until...

the inner pot heats up and the steam inside builds up until the pressure of the steam closes the airvent on the lid, then the "P00" comes on
"P" means the pressure cooker has reached its desired pressure and it is holding the pressure to cook the stuff... it doesn't show how many minutes it is going to hold the pressure though... i guess it uses fuzzy logic to sense whether the food inside is cooked or not...
when the stuff is cooked and ready, a "beeeeeep" sound is heard, adn the yellow light will shift from "soup" to "keep warm"...
all the hot steam and pressure is still trapped inside the pressure cooker... if you are in a hurry to eat right away, you'll have to release the x-s steam out from the pressure dial at the top - but becareful! this can be v dangerous! i usually just wait for the cooker to cool by itself (1/2 hr, an hour or overnight)...
or cover the top pressure dial with a wet cloth and v v v slowly turn the dial to release air/steam... the release of steam can take ages - mintues and minutes b4 the lid can be twisted and opened...
but with my goji berries and snow fungus dessert, i usaully leave the pot overnight b4 eating - the snow fungus will go more gooey... i do try and add sugar when the lid could be opened that night while the "soup" is hot (1-2 cups depending on taste, for the entire pot)...
then i enjoy it the next day and put it in the fridge (the whole inner pot with glass lid) to enjoy the rest fo the week...
yum!

Life in 2 weeks

it has been a dramatic 2 weeks...
almost the entire spectrum of life squeezed into a tiny time frame...
we became mr & mrs
in extreme weather conditions...

from intense rusty red to sparkly golden...
my nicely waxed car after its $75 car wash (done the previous day) was buried deep in dust...

miraculously the sky cleared up just in time and for just long enough for our ceremony...




3 wedding cakes (& rain, hail, gusty winds, sandstorm, sunshine, thick humidity etc etc )later, we received the news of grandma leaving us for heaven...

as we continue our journey

for better or for worse
for richer or for poorer
in sickness and in health

like in marriage, life goes on...