Hello.
It has been ages since my last post…so
what have I been up to?
Last year I completed the RTRFM radio training course and now I’m one of the volunteer radio DJ’s at the
station (1 of 200!) doing a few overnight shows a month. You may have heard me
on Snooze Button at 4-6am in the mornings or probably not because who is up at that
early in the morning? I’m still a newbie and doing the hard yards, but there is
a lot of comfort and freedom when you’re doing the graveyard shifts, I get to play whatever I want!
I love music and I love food, and it’s
awesome when I can combine the two in some way. At the beginning of this year I
was asked by Chris, the RTRFM Office Manager/Producer of Drivetime, to be a
part of creating a new weekly food segment on Tuesday Drivetime at 6pm called The Food Alternative. They have been
wanting to get a food show off the ground for a while and have tried various
formats that haven’t really worked out, and knowing that I was into food and a
blogger, they asked if I was interested in being involved. When I received the
email from Chris, I couldn’t believe it, as this was something that I had hoped
to do on radio one day! So I am now the producer of The Food Alternative with my partner in food crimes Laura Moseley,
together we curate different guests and topics for each show. The Food Alternative aims to uncover and
share things that don’t get much coverage in mainstream media, and provide an
alternative take on things. We focus on a different topic each week which can
be anything from places to eat and drink, cooking, special interests and
stories about people, to events happening around WA. You can restream to all
the shows online from the RTRFM website (http://rtrfm.com.au/blog/category/food-alternative/). The Tuesday Drivetime presenters are Simon and Anthony who conduct
the interviews, but in June they will be over in Brazil for the World Cup so I
will be taking over for the last two Tuesdays of June \m/
Supporting community radio! Photo from last year's RTRFM Radiothon which will be coming up again soon in August!
Another music and food thing that
happened this year was been asked to put together a playlist for the Riesling Rocks February dinner, which had Pasi Petanen of Café Paci from Sydney
teaming up with Co-Op Dining's Kiren Mainwaring to cook a special 11-course
dinner using seasonal produce and matched with a diverse range of WA rieslings.
I thought a lot about what would be appropriate for the fine dining table but
also reflect what I like listening to. The soundtrack that I came up with to
accompany the symphony of a degustation was an entirely instrumental mix of
tunes from 50 artists ranging from jazz, electronica and indie to post-rock, providing
some sweet soundscapes to an amazing meal.
This dessert of carrot, yoghurt and liquorice by Pasi was really
something else at Riesling Rocks.
Check out the photos Chris took of
Riesling Rocks, the food was exceptional and well worth the $180 per
person with matched wines, especially with an interstate chef collaboration
which I hope there will be more of and I look forward to the next one. I paid
for my meal and was not paid for my DJ duties except with gratitude and trust.
Trust in that I didn’t just put together a playlist of post-metal tunes ;) Although
I did two mixes – one for the duration of the dinner and a pre-service mix of
heavier tunes for the kitchen to get through prep!
But what has kept me really busy for
the first part of this year was organising a whole event on my own – Perth’s
first food truck festival, Food Truck Rumble,
over 10 weeks on a very small budget. I had never done anything like this
before so it was a huge learning curve, I basically gave myself a crash course
in event management by doing one! Lots of people came down and it was great to
see so much support for the food truck scene in Perth but the crowds were much
bigger than anticipated which led to huge queues and some food
trucks selling out of food. For a first event, a lot was achieved but not
without some issues, and I’m looking forward to using all the feedback I’ve
received to make Rumble v2.0 bigger and better.
The wonderful Food Truck Rumble volunteer bump in crew!
Here’s an interview with We Love
Perth where I talk about how Food Truck Rumble came about and what makes food
truck so appealing http://weloveperth.net.au/the-foodies-meet-ai-ling-truong-curator-of-food-truck-rumble/
An amazing video that my friend Riche put together of Food Truck Rumble, Sunday 13 April 2014.
Being interviewed by Egg TV at Food
Truck Rumble where I try to talk sense about what is happening…
After Food Truck Rumble, I was
finally able to start planning my trip to Japan that I had booked last December! In
a few days I will be heading to Japan. There is so much to eat and do, and I
don’t know how I will fit everything in but I’m gonna try. It will be the first
time that I’ll be travelling alone too, well I will be visiting some Japanese
friends in Tokyo and Osaka, and then heading down south on my own to Kinosaki,
Hiroshima, Fukuoka and Nagasaki. If you have any tips for Japan, let me know in
the comments :) I’m interested in the food of course but I also want to immerse
myself in the local music scene, and visit records stores and live houses.
This recipe that I want to share combines
the two things that occupy me right now - Japan and Fermentation. I am a part
of a Pickle Club with some wonderful ladies and pickles are fast becoming an
addiction.
I have homemade kimchi in my fridge
(thanks Jess!). I don’t know if this is a legit dish but I don’t care because
it’s delicious. Kimchi
Pork Yaki-Udon. I first tried this dish at Is Donburi and it has
become a regular order. It’s a fusion of Japanese and Korean, but don’t be
afraid of it as it has all the best elements of both cultures –
Kimchi – check
Gochujang and red chilli powder – holy heat yes!
Kewpie mayonnaise – check
Udon noodles – check
Pork belly – double check!
Bonito flakes and seaweed – take me to umami heaven!
Here’s my attempt to recreate the
dish at home. Enjoy :)
Kimchi Yaki Udon
(An original recipe by the Blue Apocalypse)
Ingredients
- Vegetable oil
- 400g udon noodles (2 packets, fresh from refrigerated section of Asian supermarket)
- 150g-200g pork belly, thinly sliced
- 150g kimchi, roughly chopped
- 3 tablespoons kimchi juice
- 1-2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced
- 1-2 teaspoons gochujang (Korean hot bean paste)
- ½ teaspoon Korean red chilli powder
- 1-2 teaspoon light soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- salt and pepper
- 1 sprig spring onion, thinly sliced
- Top with kewpie mayonnaise, bontio flakes and shredded seaweed
Heat wok or frying pan with 2 tablespoons of
vegetable oil, add slices of pork belly and fry until they slightly brown. Add
garlic, shallots, kimchi and kimchi juice and fry for 3-4 minutes. Then add the
seasonings – gochujang, red chilli powder, light soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil,
salt and pepper to taste.
NB: With the
seasonings I always add in 1 teaspoon at a time and taste before adding ½
teaspoon or more until I get my desired taste, so please adjust to your liking.
Especially since you are using kimchi, as it ages its flavour profile will
change through fermentation as it ripens and becomes more sour, so every time
you cook this dish it might taste a little different depending on your kimchi
and seasonings.
While the pork and kimchi is cooking – prepare the
udon noodles. Remove from the noodles from the packet, unravel onto a plate and
microwave for 1 minute to warm through or blanch quickly in hot water and drain
thoroughly.
Add in 2-3 tablespoons of water, the udon noodles,
and fry everything together for a few minutes to combine and heat the noodles
through. Add in the spring onion and toss through the noodles.
Serve the stir fried pork and kimchi yaki udon
noodles topped with kewpie mayonnaise, bonito flakes and shredded seaweed.
See you in a few weeks. If you want to follow my Japan adventures, check my Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, that’s if I can figure out how to be connected when I’ve over there… or maybe I’ll just get lost.
Sayōnara
Ai-Ling
