Some time ago when my friend came over my place to hang out, I tried making some tea for her ... While she was sitting at the bar stool, I was going around, looking for the necessary stuff ...
Problem is, whenever guests come over, it's never been me who makes the drinks ... or cooks the dishes ... or serves the guests ... I'm the quintessential dishwasher ... I only come out of my room when there are dishes to be washed ... other than that, I just stay in my room and watch DVDs ... especially if the guests are relatives, I avoid them like the plague ...
Alright, so I may just pop out from the comfort and safety of my sanctuary into the oblivion of hellish nightmare that is my relatives, just to show them I exist, but after that I disappear again, never to be found unless an annoying voice calls me out and commands that I do the dishes ... which I normally do anyway ...
Anywayz, back to my friend's visit ... Well, I was looking for the container where we keep the teabags, and after opening and closing cabinet doors, my friend asked, "You can't find the tea, can you?" ... I gave her a sheepish look, and a weak laugh ...
After I found the tea, I went looking for sugar ... Then the most idiotic thing happened ... I opened the jar and was about to take a spoon of it when I realized that the sugar looked funny ... I looked at it intently, yes, intently's the word, and showed it to my friend and asked, "This is salt, isn't it?" ...
My friend, apa lagi, kutuk I habis-habis ... "Apa lar kau nie, J- ... gula pun kau tak tau ker?!" ... Yeah, well you may think I've exaggerated my story, but that's basically what happens ... So the other day when the same friend came over, and I made her tea, I reminded her of that incident, and she started making fun of me, but in a good-humoured way and I just laughed and laughed ...
Gosh, it's been a while since I had friends over my place ... When you think about it, it is really funny, isn't it? ... which is why I reminded my friend of it ... We laugh at our own foibles, but how come we can never accept our own mistakes? ... Well, maybe it's just me ...
Anywayz, I am no good at cooking ... Sure, I can boil an egg and cook instant noodles ... I do make a mean cup of hot chocolate ...
I did, when I was in Lower Secondary, take Home Economics classes ... I remember making these Rock Buns, which became like their namesake ... And I remember making Bubur Cha Cha which was really thin ... It's supposed to be nice and thick ...
And I remembered making two sweet desserts instead of one sweet and one savoury for our practical exam, and that's where I lost marks ... You know Florence Tan? Well, she was my Home Ec teacher and she is a damn good teacher ... How she is on her cooking shows is exactly how she was like in her classes ... Well, actually I've never sat down and watched any of her shows, but I bet dollars to doughnuts her bubbly personality comes through ...
Well, eventually I'll learn how to cook, when I have my own family ... But for now, just be forewarned ... Make your own drink when you're at my place ...
Updated post
Alright, that friend mentioned above? Well, she's disappeared out of my life ... That is all you need to know ...
And I have recently taken up cooking ... It's a matter of experimentation ... I call it J's No-Fuss, Freestyle Cooking ... I just throw in all the ingredients I like, like green peppers, for example, and the secret weapon: MSG ... Yup ... That's my solution to all things culinary ...
Of course, my cooking leaves much to the imagination ... And by that, I mean it sucks, but since I'm experimenting, it doesn't matter really ... The only victim is my mother, as she has to eat whatever I cook ...
Anyway, I think I better make use of my free time, and cooking is one activity that does that ... So, if any of you want to come over to my place one day, just be aware that I put MSG in the food, and most probably in the drink as well ...
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| Screw my phone's camera ... This is a meal I fixed for a day when I replaced one of the fasting days that I had to miss ... I started off the meal with a date, and I like this particular date that is huge and juicy ... As you can see, there's a generous portion of green peppers in the noodles, and I put in three bird's eye chilies ... Must have my hot & spicy fix ... |
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| A variation of a dish above ... I replaced green bell peppers with, hmmm, Google Translate says its mustard leaves, but in Malay, it's sayur sawi ... And for protein I used frozen shrimps ... Okay, so I've been watching a lot of cooking shows on the Asian Food Channel, TLC and Diva, and though a number of people find comfort in taking down recipes and following them, I prefer to learn from observing, and I get my own ideas as well ... The sawi leaves are not supposed to look withered ... My mother told me that I stirred the noodles too much, and I also think it was because I left the pan on the hub cooking for a bit too long ... As you can see, I must have my bird's eye chilies, and for some reason, this time I 'burned' my hand while handling them ... This has never happened before, and I don't know why it happened that day ... But my hand felt like it had been toasting in a torch, so I held a mug of cold drink to cool my hand down ... Well, from observing those shows, I find that most chefs add sugar as well as the usual suspects such as salt and pepper when it comes to savoury dishes ... So, I added a bit of sugar (not too much because I like my savoury foods to be salty), and you know what, for some reason, the flavours of the noodles were enhanced ... It tasted better! Whaddaya know ... I still add MSG, but I've cut down on the amount ... |
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