種蒜心、買牛柏葉、靚靚擺盤 Garlic Growing, Omasum, Serving Board
今期分享的意念包括：一個令普通食物看來很高級的擺盤方法、一種好用的牆壁放潮貼、日式五行湯鍋、比較三種菜心種子的生長結果、種植蒜心、在肉店買牛柏葉，和用雞殼做湯。
In this post I share ideas about serving ordinary food elegantly, a Japanese hotpot employing the concept of five elements, a good material for protecting the wall from mold, the result of an experiment of growing Choi Sum, growing hardneck garlics for their scapes, buying omasum at the butcher’s shop, and making soup with Chicken Carcass.
1. 種植蒜心 Growing Hardneck Garlics for their Scapes
冬天即將來臨，蒜頭是少數可以在冬天種植的東西，而且天氣越冷長得越好。本來我不打算種植，因為「街外容易買的就不種」，但當我閱資料時，發現原來hardneck garlic 可以種出蒜心！於是為了吃蒜心，買了些蒜頭來種。
With winter approaching, garlic is one of the few vegetables that can still be planted, and they grow better as the weather gets colder. I didn’t plan to grow garlic originally, since they are easy to buy. However, when I realised that I can get scapes from hardneck garlics, I decided to plant them for the scapes which are difficult to buy.
2. 菜心種植實驗 An Experiment of Growing Choi Sum
做了個實驗，比較三種菜心種子在同樣環境下的生長情況，結果很明顯。這是今年最後一造菜心了。
An experiment comparing the growth of three types of Choi Sum seeds under the same conditions. The result was obvious. This is the last batch of Choi Sum for this year.
3. 令普通食物變high的擺盤 Serving Ordinary Food Elegantly
用這木砧板來放食物，就算是普通食物看來也立即high了很多。砧板購自英國老品牌Denby。
Serving food with this wooden board makes ordinary food look more elegant. The board was bought from Denby, an iconic brand in the UK.
4. 日式五行湯鍋 Japanese Hotpot with Five Elements
這個日式湯鍋沿用了日本人五行的觀念，以紅、黃、綠、白、黑五種顏色的蔬菜加上豚肉片煮成，湯底是用鏗魚粉開的。
Made a hot pot following the concept of the five elements in Japanese philosophy – with red, yellow, green, white and black vegetables along with slices of pork belly. The broth is made with katsuobushi.
5. 防潮貼 Protecting a Wall from Mold
掛地拖的地方，要防止牆壁潮濕而發霉，需要貼一塊防水物料。我想起書房有一卷用靜電貼在牆上用的「流動白板」，正好適合這個用途。
To prevent the mop from dampening the wall and developing mold, I needed some waterproof material to protect the wall. Then I recalled that I had bought a roll of static adhesive flipchart foil that suits the purpose perfectly!
6. 肉店買牛柏葉 Buying Omasum at a Butcher’s Shop
老公很愛吃牛柏葉，但亞洲超市那些急凍牛柏葉，又靱又鞋。最近在bucher shop買肉時看見有stripe賣，好吃很多！
My husband loves omasum but those we bought from the Asian supermarkets were tough and rubbery. One day, we found some better ones at the butcher’s shop, called ‘stripes’ according to the product label. They’re much more delicious!
7. 用雞殼做湯 Making Soup with Chicken Carcass
每次買了全雞，都會留下雞殼來煲湯。這次儲存了三四個雞殼，連同一些其他煮食留下來的豬骨，熬了湯，一半用來花旗參元肉雞湯，另一個做西式雜菜雞湯。
I buy whole chickens often, and would save the carcass for making soup. This time, after saving three to four carcass, I made some broth, also using some pork bones left over from other dishes I made. The broth was used to make two soups of different styles, one Chinese and one Western – Ginseng chicken soup and Mixed Vegetable and Chicken Soup.
