Picnic time!

It's beautiful weather time in Hong Kong right now and we are celebrating the glorious clear skies (a BIG thing in HK!) with weekend family picnics, of course it helps that we are on Lantau Island -- as unspoiled a paradise as you will ever get anywhere in the world.

The best part of our picnics -- other than watching my 2-year-old collect mud-covered stones -- is the food. I like packing light tasty and filling picnic-y things for us to eat. Like last week we had a small Gladware box full of soft white fluffy mini idlis, a quickly made coconut chutney to go with that and fried rice. For tomorrow's picnic I am planning on making pizzas and a small amount of udon. With homemade jam tarts for desert.

The good thing about homemade pizzas is that you can have fun with the toppings. I am planning on making one seafood and one 'veggie-yummy.' Look out for the pizza recipes next week!

I like making my udon with a thick peanut butter sauce. Here is the recipe:

Udon with peanut butter sauce (try using the organic peanut butter for a healthier less sodium filled taste)

Let udon rest in boiling water for about 5 minutes.

Cut up veggies you want to use in the noodles (tomatoes, mushroom, carrot, snow peas, green pepper, cabbage, spring onion etc in any combination)

In a little olive oil, lightly brown a garlic clove; add a beaten egg and stir quickly; add veggies and stir fry. After a few minutes add 1 teaspoon (or a little more than that according to taste) peanut butter and stir quickly, add soy sauce and a pinch of salt and then finally add the noodles and mix well. Remove from heat.