The one person who’s always pushing my chili pan mee buttons is Radiance when she tweets about it.
Smooth noodles made slick with half-cooked egg,
doused in minced meat and salty crunchy anchovies,
sprinkled with dry chili flakes.
Goddamn.
Jess became Chili Pan Mee Ringmaster when she got us all together for a lunch.
Ion and his pretend bike.
Tania is having a lifetime adventure in Europe as you read this.
Aaron and his rollie
Girlie pic!
Tania, me, Jess, Ellie, Aps
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 
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.
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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.
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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 -_-
Aps gave me Nigella Lawson’s FEAST cookbook for my birthday pressie,
and i’ve already tried two recipes since!
I tweeted that thank God i didn’t decide to fold the pages of every recipe that i liked,
else i would have ended up turning the whole book into dog ears.
I’m starting to enjoy cooking more and more…
I love choosing what tickles my fancy and tastebuds
going to the supermarket alone
smelling fresh fruits and vege in the starting section
picking out herbs that i need for the day
and trying not to buy things i don’t need just because the packaging looks nice and i think i might use it SOON.
[Note: I've completely given up on Carrefour cos they never have everything i want. It's Village Grocer all the way for me now.]
I love reading the instructions at my own leisure
measuring cutting mixing blending frying
Then the rewarding part of
smelling tasting chewing eating swallowing
On Monday i tried making cod tempura with:
garlic + pea puree
rocket + avocado salad
Blending peas + garlic + sour cream + cheese to make a gross-looking but strong-tasting mush
At first Clem was saying he won’t eat the puree, he doesn’t like the texture, prefers the peas by itself bla bla bla.
So i cooked most of the puree for myself and left whole peas for him…
and he ended up eating most of the puree.
I’m not pretending i’m not slightly glowing with pride.
Am GLAD he preferred the puree to boring old peas *ptui*
Fun to dunk raw cod in egg white before rolling it about in flour.
I haven’t played with flour since i was a child!
(Voice in head: But i’m still a child! I’m here! You can hear meeeee)
Peas = Zzzzz
I always thought peas are boring. And annoying.
They’re always running around your plate when you’re trying to stab them with a fork,
and tend to do running jumps off your fork when you try to scoop them up gently.
Also boring = cucumbers.
As a friend said previously, “Cucumbers are such a pointless vegetable.”
I had to laugh cos i agree.
Vegetables i DO like: aubergine! spinach! bittergourd! rocket! courgettes!
+ + +
On Tuesday i made:
pork escalopes in lemon thyme + garlic
asparagus + mint + white wine vinegar
mash potatoes + butter + cheese
Pounding the pork wrapped with garlic and lemon thyme was pretty fun…
Oh then i forgot to take pictures cos i was enjoying a glass of shiraz with mature fromage while waiting for Clem to come home from work.
I do remember that i used my hands to mash the potatoes with the butter and cheese…
cos it was quite challenging to use a fork while trying to watch a DVD.
He got really grossed out watching me cos i looked all caveman doing it,
but hey, it tasted better (in my head).
Ash took me for out for lunch on my birthday which was last Thursday.
I was really busy last week… so much so i didn’t blog about my own birthday…
Didn’t feel like making a big deal out of it anyway, till:
- Claudia convinced me to throw a party with her.
Nobody can say no to those big Bambi eyes and Disney princess voice.
- i (unintentionally) went barhopping on my birthday eve
Was just meeting Jesh from Singapore for a drink,
which moved to a mojito at Press Room,
Guinnesses, beer and Jagermeister bombs at George & The Dragon with Aps and Danny,
karaoke (ok wouldn’t have chosen to be near a karaoke room on my birthday…), drinks and cake at The Hill with Cammy, Kenny and Clem.
- Clem was extra extra nice to me
even offering to give me a massage (which i usually have to plead for)
- Mummy + Daddy gave me an angpow and jade pig ‘for luck’
- Everyone i saw last week gave me kisses and hugs (wee!)
Some girl i don’t even know… came up to me at an event, put my face in her hands and said “Happy Birthday!” with a big smile on her face before giving me a hug and kiss on the cheek. I think if it were some weirdo i might have freaked out, but she was small (like me!) and was so enthusiastic, i thought it was so cute.
- The waiter at Vinz gave me a bottle of wine
He said “Happy Birthday” and that it was courtesy of the owner.
Louis: “How did he know it’s your birthday?”
Me: “I have no idea…”
I didn’t get to say thanks, but if you’re reading this, thank you!
- Cammy brought a fairy balloon and cake along to our weekend getaway
which i will blog about… later!
So thanks to all my wonderful friends who made it seem like An Important Occasion for me 
I really wasn’t expecting anything, so everything that happened made it all the more surprising 
Anyway, back to my birthday lunch outing!
Ash took me to Levain Boulangerie & Patisserie seeing i’ve never been there before
The high ceilings, self-service and general atmosphere remind me of cafes overseas somehow
They’ve got heaps of bread and pastries which i heard from Ash are great,
but i’m not a big fan of bread – ate too much of it when i was in school.
Rainbow spread of macarons!
There’s a new durian-flavoured macaron as well
My seafood pasta was bouncy and yummy and only RM9!
Super worth it!
Ash + i
Ok i was rushing so i didn’t have time to put on make up
as Ash was already waiting outside my gate -_-
Some things never change.
I had a 5-year love affair with chocolate.
It seemed nothing out of the ordinary to scoff
an entire chocolate bar
jars of mini chocolates
animals made out of chocolate
and animal props make out of chocolate
in one sitting at a time.
Usually with my face in between pages of a book.
Then out of nowhere, the affair just ended.
I simply didn’t crave for chocolate anymore.
Looking on the positive side that i at least had a relationship that lasted longer than any of my boyfriends,
i shrugged carelessly and went on with life.
Out of nowhere, my taste for chocolate has returned.
In the past year, i’v been on a rampage to drown in the delights of chocolate…
with many more desserts joining the list.
From a person who was completely nonchalant about birthday cake (with the exception of the cream, i’m always collecting cream from friends’ plates to stuff my face with)
I have suddenly become a person obsessed with constantly being within reach of a cupcake or ice cream.
The other day, i was driving back from Bangsar and suddenly remembered i was within the vicinity of Alexis,
also known as home to one of the best tiramisus in KL.
The problem was… i was already on the highway.
You know what i did?
Yes i did.
I did a U-turn.
Just to go back to buy a piece of tiramisu.
(Which i happily ate in bed before sleeping.)
Last week, i was in the 7-Eleven at our apartment,
trying to pick 1 ice cream to take home.
I ended up picking 8.
Paddle Pop, Milo, Crunchie, Magnum Classic, Magnum Almonds, Cornetto…
i picked them all because WHAT IF I SUDDENLY FEEL LIKE A CERTAIN FLAVOUR?!
(yes, i consider Paddle Pop a flavour!)
Now i feel like buying boxes of ice cream at the supermarket.
At the rate i’m going, it’d be economically more viable.
Yesterday, i went to buy a box of cupcakes at Cupcake Chic.
A whole box to keep in the fridge for the week *just in case i don’t feel like ice cream*
I’m so addicted to Cupcake Chic ever since Dhanya introduced it to me.
Othello is my favourite, therefore i always purchase more of that flavour,
despite wondering whether the other cupcakes get jealous.
(yes, i’m to a point where food has feelings, and rejecting good food will kill its soul, hence one must never do it)
The reason of this post is…
I’m greedy and i want more.
So i wanna ask you all,
what is your favourite dessert / where?
Gonna be shifting to a bigger apartment (though anything is bigger than what we’re living in right now)
which will be nearer to Clem’s work.
I love the area that we’re currently living in…
but i think it’s damn ex for the amount of space in return.
The thing i’ll be most sorry to be further from,
is our fave Japanese restaurant.
I admit that i never blogged about it before because i just didn’t want people to know that i go there
But since we’re moving, i won’t be spending so much time there haha.
I love Rakuzen…
I love that the air con is so cold,
beer is cheap,
food is fantastic,
and prices aren’t astronomical.
And no matter how many times i convince myself that i’ll order something else,
i end up being a loyalist and returning to my beloved grilled cod in salt:
It’s the freaking best grilled cod i’ve had in KL!
Soft, smooth, silky flesh… with cripsy salty skin….
Even the rice there makes me happy
I foresee future outings to Rakuzen just because i’ll miss it so!
But i will be positive and hope for another restaurant in our new neighbourhood that will live up to my jap food obsession…
Where’s your favourite Jap restaurant in KL?
(Another one i love is Hanazen in Jaya One.)
