Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Playlist Tuesday 20th November 2007



  • Twist Barbie - Shonen Knife (pictured)
  • Shaking Time - Candy and the Kisses
  • Burning Farm - Shonen Knife
  • Dating Courtesy - Mary from The Shangri-Las
  • Flying Jelly Attack - Shonen Knife
  • I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramones
  • Past, Present, Future - The Shangri-Las
  • How Long - The Kittens
  • Walking in the Rain - The Ronettes
  • Insect Collector - Shonen Knife
  • Koi O Kesunda - The Napoleon (GS I Love You CD)
  • Let's Go on the Beach - The Outcast (GS I Love You CD)
  • Mashed Potato Time - The Crytals
  • Vent - Moe Moe Yee (Burmese Harp)
  • Blue Oyster Cult - Shonen Knife
  • Gift Receiving Etiquette - Mary from the Shangri-Las
  • Foolish Little Girl - The Cookies

Friday, November 16, 2007

Taiwanese Snacks


Anchovies with Peanuts
Fishy salty and delicious, serve on its own or add it to congee.

80g dried anchovies (medium size about 5cm)
100g peanuts (shelled and plain NOT salted)
2 cups oil
2 large chillies, sliced
3 cloves garlic roughly chopped
3 spring onions chopped
1 tablespoon rice wine (Shaohsing)
pinch of pepper

Deep Fry fish in wok and drain. Remove most of the oil. Re heat and add chillies, spring onions, garlic and rice wine stir fry for 2 mins, add fish and peanuts and fry for a further 5 mins. If you like it spicy add chilli sauce or if you like it sweet add sugar. Or if you like it really fishy add fish sauce, yum.

Oyster omelette is apparently the most popular snack served in Taiwanese night markets (according to the China Post). I found a recipe here:
http://hipfood.wordpress.com

Playlist Tuesday 13th November 2007


  • Suspicious Heart - Miss Yao Lee
  • Playing Mahjong - Long Ge
  • Grandma Plays the Numbers - Wynonie Harris
  • Through the Bamboo Forest - Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon soundtrack
  • Steal the Red String Box - Josephine Siao Fong Fong
  • Scenery of Taiwan - Jin-Long Fang
  • Brand New Second Hand - Peter Tosh
  • Tsan Jo - Chung Woong Traditional Korean Music
  • Lee Cross - Aretha Franklin
  • Yombul T'yaryong - Chung Woong Traditional Korean Music
  • Down by the River - Morgan Heritage
  • Cantonese Opera
  • Drinking Again - Dinah Washington

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Okido Children's magazine



Lovely magazine for 2-7 year olds. See: www.okido.co.uk

Shaolin Girl


Just found out about this Japanese movie produced by Stephen Chow, to be released in 2008. It is in the same vain as Shaolin Soccer with a young lacrosse player (Kou Shibasaki) improving her game by learning Shaolin kung fu.

Thai ghosts advert


Cheers for this Simon.

Mackerel Tatsuta Fry Recipe

2 mackerel (filleted)
5 tablespoons sake/rice wine
5 tablespoons soya sauce
2" piece of ginger (peeled and grated)
cornflour
vegetable oil for deep frying
lettuce leaves
lime wedges
2spring onions (finely chopped)

Cut the mackerel into strips about 1.5cm thick. Mix the soya and sake in a bowl and add the grated ginger, put the fish in and make sure all pieces are well coated. Leave to marinate for 1 hour minimum. When ready to eat (perhaps your rice is gently cooking?) heat the veg oil in a wok (need lots for deep frying). Drain the fish pieces and coat them in cornflour (sprinkle some cornflour on a plate near the wok). Put them into the oil when it is ready and fry for 2-3 mins until golden. Remove from oil and drain on kitchen paper. You will probably need to to fry in 2-3 batches as to avoid overcrowding in the wok.
Arrange the mackerel on a plate of lettuce leaves, sprinkle with spring onion and serve with lime wedges. Delicious on its own as a starter/snack or with rice for a meal.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Playlist Tuesday 6th November 2007



  • Band of Gold - Marcia Griffiths
  • Let Me Hold You - Marcia Griffiths
  • Here I am Baby - Marcia Griffiths
  • Mazinga Z theme - from the cult manga series about a giant robot
  • Half Idiot - Marcia Griffiths and Cutty Ranks
  • Japanese Song - from Rock a Shacka volume 3
  • Que Pasa Chica - Rock a Shacka volume 3
  • My Boy Lollipop - The Dreamlets (Japanese female rocksteady group)
  • I'm So Lonely - The Dreamlets
  • Gone Away - The Dreamlets
  • Bim Bam Boom - The El Dorados
  • Little Girl of Mine - The Cleftones
  • My Love - The Dovers
  • Speedo - The Cadillacs
  • Down In Cuba - The Real Holidays
  • Churchbells - The Kingtones (Japanese doo wop group pictured above)
  • Doraemon theme - classic anime about a blue robot cat from the future

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Pumpkin Curry

small pumpkin or butternut squash

for the paste:
1 or 2 cloves garlic, chopped up
2" piece ginger, sliced
2 tablespoon tumeric
1 teaspoon coriander seeds ground up or ready ground coriander
1 teaspoon shrimp paste or yellow curry paste (optional)

1 tin coconut milk
a little water
dashes of fish sauce
1 tablespoon honey
juice of half a lime
a little oil (groundnut or veg)

Cut the pumpkin into chunks (take off skin and de-seed). Chunks should be about 2". Make the curry paste by pounding together all paste ingredients in a pestle and mortar. Don't worry about making the paste totally smooth.
Put the oil into a medium hot wok, add the paste and the pumpkin chunks and coat. Pour the coconut milk in and top up with water add a few dashes of fish sauce. Heat up and simmer for 20 mins. Then add th honey and lime - taste to check the balance is right. Serve with rice and tung choi.
If you like you can add a couple of halved crabs to the curry 10mins before it is ready. If doing this definitely add the shrimp paste to the curry paste. Sprinkle with chopped fresh coriander before serving.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Playlist Tuesday 30th October 2007




  • Black Magic Woman - Dennis Brown
  • Hot Rod Hades - Charlie Ryan and the Timberline Riders
  • Loch Ness Monster - King Horror
  • Evil Cult intro - from the Jet Li film dir. by Wong Jing
  • Vampire - Upsetters
  • Evil Cult girlfight
  • Vampire - Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra
  • Werewolf - Gary Warren
  • Ghost Dance - Prince Buster
  • Zombie Jamboree - Lord Jellicoe
  • Pumpkin Belly - Tenor Saw
  • Bells of Death - Augustus Pablo
  • Chinese Ghost Story - Leslie Cheung (theme from the movie of same name)
  • Dracula - King Horror
  • Uzumaki - trailer for the Japanese horror film
  • Yaraba Shango - The Tiger