I got this recipe from a fellow gourmet at work (Thanks B.Kazazes!) – hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Pinch of ground ginger
• 60ml (1/4 cup) soy sauce
• 60ml (1/4 cup) ketchup
• 1 chopped garlic clove
• Black pepper
• 500g pork ribs

Method

Marinate the spare ribs for at least 30 minutes, then drain and grill briskly on one side. Baste with a little marinade and grill the other side. Baste once more and grill the ribs until they are stickily glazed on both sides. The ribs may also be baked in a preheated oven of around 180 degrees, and require basting occasionally.

They ended up tasting a little like char siu (Chinese bbq pork), but most definitely a winner in my eyes!

My brother and I made Jamie Oliver’s risotto, in the mushroom variety and here are the results, garnished with shaved pecorino parmesan, chilli flakes (Italians would say this is blasphemy), and a squeeze of lemon juice – as recommended by Mr O. Does it look as good as it tastes? I think it may have tasted better than it looked, we couldn’t stop eating it.

A few months back, I did a post on Hu Tong Dumpling Bar and titled it ‘KTang’s restaurant of the month.’ That was in February which means I’m missing restaurants for March – July. But don’t worry, I’ll eventually catch up once I get out of my current eater’s block, but here are the belated restaurants of the month for March & April that are Sydney inspired…

Makoto Sushi Bar
119 Liverpool Street (Cnr, Pitt & Liverpool St.)
Sydney
Phone: +61 2 9283 6767
Web: http://www.masuya.com.au/en/makoto/

Ding Tai Fung: Xiao long bao. Yep this is another xiao long bao place, but it’s bloody good, so go get yourself 20 steamers.

Makoto: Various sushi from the sushi train.

What I liked:

Ding Tai Fung: The pastry is the so delicate yet it doesn’t break and you don’t have to be too gentle. Kinda like what a good boyfriend should be. Too bad boyfriends don’t have succulent pork fat soup on the inside.

Makoto: All the sushi is made on the spot like it should be! This means that the rice is still warm and the fish is cold. The staff are really friendly and the grilled salmon sushi…let’s just say if I saw an starving old crippled lady with a plate, I would steal it from her without hesitation.

What I didn’t like:

Ding Tai Fung: You will have to wait quite a while to get a seat because they’re that popular and they don’t take bookings.

They also have whacked operating hours:
Mon-Sun: 11.30 till 2.30 and then 5.30-10pm
Public holidays and weekends, they are open for an extra 30 mins later.

Makoto: …I can’t think of anything…

The waiting area outside Ding Tai Fung in HK. I feel bad for the restaurant next door.

Top tip:

Ding Tai Fung: Wear comfortable shoes because you’ll be standing in line for quite a while. Also, don’t bother with Ding Tai Fung in HK or ShenZhen (China), Sydney is of a much higher standard.

Makoto: Get there early before they open. They have a sheet at the front of the door where you can write down the number of people you have, where you want to sit and you then take a number that they call out when they open.

Rating:

Ding Tai Fung: 9/10. I would be happy to come back as a pig in my next life to be in one of those xiao long baos.

Makoto: 10/10. Oiiishiiiiiii.

Over the past 12 weeks, RayZha and I embarked on a diet challenge to see how much weight I could lose and how much weight he could gain. Given my unbelievably bad will power and love for all things containing at least 50% saturated fats, this was possibly one of two of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do (the other was watching Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift). 

I am also cheap and I like quantity. Those frozen weight watcher meals from the supermarket are rip offs and nothing even comes out when bulimics try barfing it back up.

Enter Campbell’s Country Ladle canned soups.

Not only were they cheap at less than $2 for a 300g can (and even on sale many times during my 12 weeks), but I found their 300g can to be a great size for lunch. Here’s what my lunch generally consisted of on most days.

12.30pm lunch time @ work:

• 300g can of soup (my favourite was the Creamy Chicken. The Chicken & Sweet Corn and Minestrone are probably better for weight loss though)
• 2 slices of toast with ‘healthy’ butter (Flora Pro Activ Light) and Vegemite
• Orange

Pretty healthy right? Damn straight. Which is why I allowed myself to have 1 off day per week. 1 off day = 3 off meals. These were the days when I could make use of the McDonald’s coupons on the back of the shopping dockets to get 2 cheeseburgers and large fries for only $4.95. Brilliant! 

Sticking to this diet and 12 weeks later………..

The outcome: -4 kilos. Booyah baby! Now I can go back to eating crap and gaining it back on.

——–

Author’s Notes

I’d be lying if I said I lost all that weight on soup alone. Here were some other things that were quite essential to my weight loss:

• Support crew: these are the people that you end up hating because they make your life miserable by only giving you half an m&m when you have a chocolate craving. WiFi you bastard.
• Exercise: watching anime ensured I was on the treadmill for at least 20 mins so that I could finish the episode. 
• Dehydration: a great way to make you feel better when you’re weighing yourself. 
• Shaving and getting a hair cut: I must be a hairy mofo because after shaving, I swear the scales said I was 200g lighter…at least people have now stopped posting my photos here.