Right now i cook on an average of 3 times a week.
Any more and i feel like it’s a chore,
so i only do it WHEN and BECAUSE i want to!

Tried cooking this Swedish dish called pytt i panna,
followed it off Jamie Oliver’s book but found it online if you wanna try it *here*
I didn’t love it, so don’t think i’ll bother with it again.
Too dry for my taste. I want GRAVY.

+ + +

Swedish meatballs are easy to mix but a bore to roll into balls :p

breadcrumbs / allspice / herbs / egg / milk
I love mixing! It’s the fun part about cooking,
kinda like conjuring up a secret magic potion.

Fun to schmush everything with my hands

Rolling is kinda tedious though.
When i was rolling meatball after meatball,
i was thinking, “Luckily i’m only making for Clem and myself… imagine making for a family of kids. Sweat here like a slave man.”

Meatballs were great, have cooked it another time since i took this (bad) pic.

+ + +

Another recipe i go to quite regularly is Nigella’s vodka-marinated beef.
It just sounds so canggih how you have to soak the big piece of beef in vodka, oil, garlic and herbs for 48 hours.

After separating the meat, i squeeze all the vodka (don’t waste alco!) and herb juices out into a pan to make the sauce.

Searing the meat for just a few mins per side so it’s nice and pink in the middle.

It’s easy and yummehhhh
I cooked it for a dinner party of 8 and it was a hit.

+ + +

I LOVE steak tartare… have recently discovered the utter joy and simplicity of making my own at home.
No more paying for overpriced steak tartare!
(but i’d still buy it in France, it’s amazing there)
Just gotta make sure i get superb fresh pieces of sirloin.
I get mine from the gourmet section on BSC’s ground floor.

Cutting the beef up into delicate little slices is ever-so-slightly painstaking,
but the anticipation of eating it after spurs me on wonderfully.

Simply chop up gherkins, capers, onions and parsley,
drizzle olive oil, season with sea salt and pepper,
pour over an egg yolk, and i’m ready to be in my 15 minutes of heaven.

+ + +

Something i cook on a regular basis for myself (usually for Sat lunch)
is mushroom pasta. Really easy and yummy.
Mushrooms + cheese + herbs + butter

 + + +

I don’t cook rice often, not to mention our new rice cooker i used ONE time has spoilt.
Fail la. Just haven’t had time to take it to fix (malas)
and the store didn’t chop my warranty card so i can’t even claim it -_-

Tried sake steak and rice.
Had to marinate the steak in sake
and i’m starting to love this habit of marinating everything in diff types of alcohol!
I love alcohol.
I love food.
So food IN alcohol = WIN

+ + +

Clem doesn’t *love* seafood so i don’t cook it often.
Feel so wasted cos it’s not cheap especially if he doesn’t HEART it!
I bought langoustines and clams to do a seafood pasta one night,
and I love it so much i cooked it again for Kubhaer’s lunch cos he’s flying off for long adventures.

It’s so easy… just fry garlic and onion in oil for a minutes,
splash in lots of white wine
and throw in the tomatoes and seafood to cook till they’re done!

I was a bit enthusiastic with the wine (as always)
but discovered that the more wine i put, the more gravy there’ll be for gravy-loving people like me!

So there’s my cooking adventures for now.
Still trying and experimenting.
I’d say cooking has altered my appreciation for outside food.
Sometimes i look at prices and think, “Man. I could cook this at home for half the price.”
But of course there are still heaps of things i don’t know how to do yet.

I haven’t really tried Asian food cos
1. i can buy it so easily anywhere here for cheap
2. it’s depressing how it can’t live up to my mom’s cooking

Can’t wait to buy an oven,
i’ve been surviving my cooking experiments on just the stove.

Imagine all the SWEETS i’ll be baking then!
Clem’s gonna get so fat -_-

     COMMENTS (8)