Alice and the Salmon..

Cheshire Cat: Oh, by the way, if you'd really like to know, he went that way.
Alice: Who did?
Cheshire Cat: The White Rabbit.
Alice: He did?
Cheshire Cat: He did what?
Alice: Went that way.
Cheshire Cat: Who did?
Alice: The White Rabbit.
Cheshire Cat: What rabbit?
Alice: But didn't you just say - I mean - Oh, dear.
Cheshire Cat: Can you stand on your head?
Alice: Oh!

Cheshire Cat: If I were looking for a white rabbit, I'd ask the Mad Hatter.
Alice: The Mad Hatter? Oh, no no no...
Cheshire Cat: Or, you could ask the March Hare, in that direction.
Alice: Oh, thank you. I think I'll see him...
Cheshire Cat: Of course, he's mad, too.
Alice: But I don't want to go among mad people.
Cheshire Cat: Oh, you can't help that. Most everyone's mad here.

[laughs maniacally; starts to disappear]

Cheshire Cat: You may have noticed that I'm not all there myself.

(*taken from one of my all time favourite fairytales, Alice in Wonderland - specially dedicated to my 'Mad Hatter friends'.. they are a looney lovable bunch!
**the pink fish courtesy of The Toy Couple, but they were m.i.a. due to a weak gut.. as a result, you could say that they felt gutted for being late for a very important date!
*** people pictures courtesy of LL.)

Baking in salt is a traditional technique employed everywhere in the world, including in our own backyard! In Italy(Europe) and here, Asia we also have a similar tradition of roasting a whole chicken in wet clay, then breaking it and discarding the shards before eating. The covering keeps all the juices close to the meat, so it comes out moist, succulent and tender. In pretty much the same way, you see Nigel breaking off the salt shards here, and Voilà! what is revealed in the pink juicy salmon in its entire succulent splendor. My cousin has the baking perfected, down to the second - with a pink near raw center and a nicely cooked outer. Gorgeous.

As if the fish is not enough to make you go WOW.. Nigel and Co. cooked up a feast of Charsiew (BBQ roast pork), Fried Chicken Wings, Veges galore.. etc.. etc... The works. The refreshing tipple, Sangria which was not courtesy of FBB but Nigel, was downed by us dehydrated bunch of Cheshire Cats before you could say "Queen of Hearts!".

Finally a quick demonstration on how to make Pizza Dough. Easy-peasy. No sweat at all.. A great lunch filled with laughs and good company.



"Nigel! Can we have Pizza next week puh-leese... ?!"