Bengfort.com

I didn’t know if I should include this recipe in the China section, the England section, or the World section but since I found this particular recipe on the back of a corn flour box in England, I am going to place it in World, labeled as Oxford! The sweet and sour sauce can be used for any meats, or without meat for a sweet and sour fried rice. For the meat, we use chicken and shrimp, but I am sure this method applies to any meats you might want to use (but be warned, tastes may vary!) Generally the sherry can be cooking sherry or Harvey’s Bristol Cream (if you want to spend for that) and we haven’t had any problems using whatever was in our decanter. Enjoy!

Recipe Summary

Difficulty: Medium
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 4-6

Ingredients:

Sweet and Sour Chicken

For the meat:

• ¾ tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sherry
• 1 egg- beaten
• 4 tbsp corn flour
• ~ 1 lbs meat (chicken or shrimp is best)
• oil for deep frying

For the sweet and sour sauce:

• 3 tbsp demrarra sugar (pure cane)
• 8 oz. can of pineapple cubes, drained (save juice)
• 3 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tomato, skinned and chopped
• ½ green pepper, deseeded and chopped
• ½ red pepper, deseeded and chopped
• 2 tbsp corn flour
• 2 tbsp water

Directions:
Mix soy sauce, sherry, egg, and flour together in a bowl. Add meat and marinade for at least 30 minutes.

Put sugar and vinegar in a pan and heat until the sugar dissolves. Add in the peeled and chopped tomatoes (less the seeds if you can manage it) and boil it into the sauce- the tomatoes are what makes the sauce red! But before the tomatoes are full sauced add the pineapple pieces, and peppers and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Make pineapple juice to 150 ml (5 oz) by adding water. Then add juice to the pan. Blend the corn flour with 2 tbsp of water, and then add the mixture to the pan. Bring the sauce to a boil, and simmer until the sauce thickens and clears. Set the sauce aside to rest.

Heat oil in a wok and then deep-fry the meat, a couple pieces at a time, until golden brown. Make sure the meat stays warm while it is all cooking. Then reheat the sauce over low heat.

Serve meat pieces over rice with the sauce poured on top. Use extra sauce to serve on the side.

At the Bengfort House in England (2006-2008), Jaci and Ben received a “vegbox” every Tuesday afternoon from Riverside Farm, a local organic farm north of Oxford. It supplied us with a good bit of food that usually lasted us the entire week. The box always included potatoes, onions, carrots, etc- so called “useful food” by Jaci and Ben; but also came with a surprise vegetable from Black Kale to Crown Squash to Swiss Chard. One week we received a strange looking cabbage, and not knowing what else to do with it, we used this recipe from the Farm to make curried cabbage, and it was actually quite good!

Recipe Summary

Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20-25 Minutes
Servings: ~4

Ingredients:

• 1 medium cabbage
• ½ cups water
• 2 tbsp butter
• 3 large onions, coarsely chopped
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp hot madras curry powder
• ½ cups milk

Directions:
Cut cabbage into 1-inch slices, and separate the leaves into pieces. Place the cabbage in a heavy skillet with the water and cook, covered over medium heat for 20 minutes or until cabbage is fork-tender.

While the cabbage is cooking, melt the butter in a second skillet and sauté onions until they are translucent. Add the flour and the curry powder, stirring to make sure they are well-mixed. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add the milk and continue to cook until the sauce is smooth.

When the cabbage is cooked, drain it and place it in a serving dish. Pour the curry sauce over it and serve hot.

Wondering what to do with our yellow split peas that we just discovered did NOT make good dal. I came across this recipe and tweaked it to make it more Ben and Jaci friendly. (ie. removing the pork for Jaci, adding the pork for Ben, and tossing in a few more spices to make it a little more appealing to our American palates). It actually turned out very good. The only thing is the pastry dough- which you can get in the freezer section.

Recipe Summary

Difficulty: Medium
Prep Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Cook Time: 18-20 minutes
Servings: ~6

Ingredients:

• 41 g can apricots in juice
• 12 oz cooked pork in strips (optional)
• 75 g split peas, cooked as directed
• 3-4 spring onions, chopped
• black pepper and salt, to taste
• 1 tsp cumin
• 12 sheets filo pastry
• 25 g melted butter (¼ tbsp)

Directions:
If yellow split peas are dry, soak them in water overnight. (If you cannot, then soak them for an hour, and boil longer).

Place peas with water into a pot and add water until covered. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer until soft- about 30 minutes. Most of the water should be boiled off, but drain the excess water.

Pre-heat oven to 190° C or 375°F

Drain apricots but reserve the juice. Chop the apricots and add to a bowl with the pork, cooked split peas, cumin, onions, and about 45 ml of the apricot juice (about 3 tbsp). Add salt and pepper to taste, and mix to combine.

Cut the filo sheets into squares, and brush edges with butter , and paste on another square, at an angle. Spoon on filling, and bring corners together to seal the parcel using more butter if necessary.

Place parcel on a greased baking sheet, brush outside with a little butter and bake 18-20 minutes

Radcliffe Camera

Matriculated Scholars Everywhere

Saturday was the Matriculation for all graduate students (and some undergrads). Jaci got up and went to Wolfson early in the morning wearing her SubFUSC and had coffee with her college and a photograph of all the Freshers. After she came back, we both went down to the Sheldonian theater for her matriculation. As we were walking down there, we had to go in and out of a sea of students wearing their college gowns and hats- it was a very surreal experience- it was like every day normal life, except everyone was wearing black and white, bow ties, and academic regalia. People were carrying shopping bags and riding bikes with helmets, pushing babies in strollers, etc. Very bizarre.

Matriculation Jaci

Unfortunately this town hates me, because when I tried to get into the Sheldonian for the ceremony I was denied access. I spent the ceremony instead (fully dressed up) in the King’s Arms Pub having a pint of Stella and playing solitaire on my Motorola Razor phone. Jaci told me that the event was boring- they all filed in, sat down. Then a guy with a mace (the Vice-Chancellor) came in and started speaking Latin for ten minutes, then tipped his hat at them, and they walked out. So it was overall a HUGE let down.

The good news is, we took plenty of pictures.

New Oxford Family

Celebrating of Matriculation

As is tradition, it was left to Jaci and I to find our fellow scholars and break open a bottle of fizzy to celebrate matriculation- or in most cases – to commiserate with fellow matriculated folk. Jaci and I decided that the parties that were being held (Octobeerfest at Wolfson, and Sexy SubFUSC at Linacre) will a little too wild for our tastes. So instead we invited Paul Angelo (friend from USNA) and his girlfriend who just flew in from Notre Dame on her fall break out to a fancy dinner at Gee’s. When we got to Gee’s, however, we were disappointed to find out that we could not get a table (even though there were only 2 or 3 tables with patrons in them) because we did not have a booking, and they were snobbish enough to throw us out.

Celebrating Oxford

Fatefully- we decided to go to Brown’s: the same restaurant that dad and I had our nice dinner before he left.

Before I get to far, let me just tell you the menu for our dinner, because shortly, you won’t care about it:

• Gin & Tonics for the Men, Champagne Cocktails for the Ladies at the Bar waiting for our Table
• Bottle of Veuve Clicquot
• Baked Camembert with sweet red onion chutney
• Bottle of Rivaux 1860 (a red Spanish wine)
• Lamb, Steak, Mahi Mahi, and Walnut Pasta
• Brandy (Martin VSOP)
• Caramelized Orange Panacotta and Toffee Pudding

Needless to say it was a very nice meal and a wonderful evening with friends (it was about a 3.5 hour dinner). But this was not the most exciting part of the night, and in fact, I think everyone forgot about dinner. But first, a little autobiography:

Useful Information for the Rest of the Story:

Emma Watson is the elder of two children born to Chris and Jacqueline Watson, lawyers who are now divorced; she has a younger brother named Alex. She spent her formative years living in Paris, France, and Oxford, England. During her primary school years, Watson attended The Dragon School, a private preparatory school, until June 2003. (The Dragon School is on the way to Wolfson from our house)

Emma Watson

Prior to her role in the Harry Potter films, Watson’s acting experience was limited, consisting only of minor roles in school plays, including Arthur: The Young Years and The Happy Prince. Other school activities included the Daisy Pratt Poetry Competition, in which, at aged seven, she won first place for her year. Best known for her role as Hermione in Harry Potter

Magically Star Struck at Brown’s

I hope you can see where this is going by now: Jaci walks past the Dragon School every day that she goes to Wolfson. Harry Potter was filmed at Christ Church and the Bodleian…

I was standing at the bar when I hear a sharp gasp behind me. Christina has just recognized Hermione standing about 2 feet away from us. But in a brief moment of doubt she whispers to Jaci: “Isn’t that the girl from Harry Potter?”. Another gasp. I on the other hand, have just dealt with the Bartender and don’t recognize anything out of the usual, of course I recognized Emma, but I just thought it was because she was a classmate of ours or something. It took me five minutes before I realized what they were trying to whisper to me (Emma of course is two feet away and could probably hear the loud Americans).

Struggling with being polite or outright star struck, Emma was finally saved by her grandfather, who escorted her to her table in the back of the restaurant. He was a cute old man, and the girls were both enamored by how polite he was. As soon as Emma walked out of the bar, the place exploded into talking about the sighting. It was quite brilliant.

When I went outside to call a friend, I heard someone talking about how they had been asked to leave the restaurant because of something they said to Hermione! It was quite ridiculous.

But it doesn’t end there:

We were eating dinner in a window seat. I looked up, and Hermione (Emma) is standing outside on her mobile. She looks at me and we made eye contact, I smiled, and she turned away disgusted. I mentioned to the group that she was right there, and of course everyone turns and looks at her again. Suddenly this boy comes out of nowhere and gives her a huge kiss and takes her hand. This was the final straw for us- I guess we know how paparazzi feel. Throwing all sensibility to the wind, we pulled out cameras and cell phones to take pictures. Unfortunately she had escaped across the street, and we were photographing through a window, so we have one very fuzzy shot of her, and not much else to say for ourselves. The British weren’t amused with us I don’t think.

Oh, and since this is the world wide web, Emma- if you are reading this, please forgive our behavior, there really is no excuse. Keep in mind that you are the first famous person we have encountered, and it was completely unexpected.

Conclusion

As this was our first star sighting, we were all understandably excited. All of us felt a little strange that this girl was so young, and yet we were all excited to see here (She is 16 I think) and it just seemed strange to see her all by herself in Oxford. We all got over it though, and had a lovely night.

New Oxford Scholar