Bonjour to all my GK friends and family,
It's been two months since I got back from my trip to the US and I was horrified to realise today that:
It's been two months since I got back from my trip to the US and I was horrified to realise today that:
(a) I haven't uploaded any photos onto Facebook and
(b) I haven't done a blog post for over a month.
Tut tut. In the time since my last post, summer has ended and it did so with a big bang at a Brown Brothers Prosecco party! Non-stop bubbly for a couple of hours. It was magical!
I think I have mentioned before Summer is my favourite season and now that I see the Magnolia tree outside my bedroom window barren of all leaves and flowers, feel the coldness of a double brick building (only useful during the first three days of a heatwave in summer) and realise that I've changed my drink preference from Champagne to Red Wine, I feel a sense of sadness that winter is once again upon us.
Now I know that sounds a bit melancholy, but given I suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD) I think I'm allowed to wallow in what I know will be about 6 months of sub 18 degree weather.....and no sunshine (I blame almost three winters in London for my SAD).
The only light that shines is the light that leads to warm winter comfort foods. I revel in the fact that this is the time for a good roast, slow cooked stews, homemade soup and other hearty delights! All accompanied by a good red wine with friends and family.
Now many of these are meals are too much for a person like me to cook as I've never made them before. I had hoped that I could just wait for people to invite me to their house for these types of meals, but sadly my inbox remains sans invites! Oh wait, I take that back. I went to a friend's house last week for a slow roasted lamb shoulder. Absolutely delectable after 7 glorious hours in the oven! Thanks R&T!
Anyway, I figured rather than wait for people to invite me over (this is not to say that I don't invite people over to my place - I do, but they generally eat lasagna or stir fry), I'd attempt to make at least some of the meals I've never made before!
I'm sure many of you are reeling in horror that I've never made a roast but there is something quite frightening about cooking a big chunk of meat for an unknown period of time and it may or may not turn out right. It's not like a stew where you know that the longer you cook it, the better it tastes! I have recently perfected an italian osso bucco and I know that the longer you cook that, the better it tastes!
So my goal at the end of this winter is to make a number of meals that I haven't made before (I'll list them out below - no judging plse) and also to have my parents come over to my house and eat the food that I have made.
Now I know that sounds odd, but I've been living in my house now for almost 5 years and since then, I think my parents have come over maybe three times for a meal. Each time, I'm pretty sure they've BYOd their food. It's not like I'm a terrible cook, but I think there is an inherent angst at the thought of eating my food! I think the only time they've eaten anything I've prepared myself has been when I've taken muffins/cake to their house and one time where I made a curry beef rendang and it was too hot for me to eat so I made my dad eat it!
My repertoire isn't very extensive and I think I have a bad reputation, stemming mainly from my lovely cousins Ben and Da, who came over for a lunch I prepared when I first moved in. It was meant to be a chicken carbonara with the sauce made from scratch, per Jamie Oliver's recipe. The fact that I tweaked the recipe to include chicken, and then, I took Jamie's advice of leaving a bit of the pasta water a little too far meant that the result was a big sloppy mess. Despite it actually tasting alright (coz I reckon that's the benchmark of if a meal passes or fails), I copped a lot of flack from everyone I had invited that day. I had slaved over that meal for a good period of time before anyone arrived and I was so disappointed that they all decided to do what family does best - tell you how awful it really is! So much for giving face!
In the end the dish was renamed as my Chicken surprise and the story of my bad cooking has perpetuated throughout the years....even over the Easter weekend, I made a home cooked lasagna for my cousins and this was the comment I got from dear Ben...."wow you're lasagna tastes nice...much better than the chicken surprise". I have promised to make the chicken surprise again but this time I'll make it so it's perfect!
I'd really like to be one of those bloggers that posts all the meals they've made, but I'm not sure I'm one of those people that is going to post my photos on this blog. I have two friends whose blogs are awesome. They write about their cooking achievements and they are awesome cooking achievements like macaroons, red velvet cupcakes and other stuff that just looks very professional. My stuff looks like they'd serve it at a prison! So perhaps i'll just keep you updated with my random rants.
Just so you all know, my recipe list is made up of a few different dishes that are essentially all the same. They vary based on perhaps a sauce I use, an ingredient in the main dish, or the fact that its accompanied by rice instead of noodles.
I mean, I make a mean bolognaise sauce from scratch using tin tomatoes, herbs, vegies, meat and cook it slowly for a couple of hours. Now I could use the sauce to make a pasta or use lasagna sheets to make a lasgana. Presto! Two dishes. I even discovered last night that if I made mash potato and put it on top and baked it, it's an Italian sheppards pie. I do the same with Asian stir fries. There is a solid range of awesome sauces made by my friend Mr Lee Kum Kee (also now stocked at Coles which surprised me) and all I do is interchange the sauces from oyster to black bean to chilli and once again there are three different dishes!
I think theoretically it's cheating and it also does become a little bit boring for myself and also to those I cook for!
In the end the dish was renamed as my Chicken surprise and the story of my bad cooking has perpetuated throughout the years....even over the Easter weekend, I made a home cooked lasagna for my cousins and this was the comment I got from dear Ben...."wow you're lasagna tastes nice...much better than the chicken surprise". I have promised to make the chicken surprise again but this time I'll make it so it's perfect!
I'd really like to be one of those bloggers that posts all the meals they've made, but I'm not sure I'm one of those people that is going to post my photos on this blog. I have two friends whose blogs are awesome. They write about their cooking achievements and they are awesome cooking achievements like macaroons, red velvet cupcakes and other stuff that just looks very professional. My stuff looks like they'd serve it at a prison! So perhaps i'll just keep you updated with my random rants.
Just so you all know, my recipe list is made up of a few different dishes that are essentially all the same. They vary based on perhaps a sauce I use, an ingredient in the main dish, or the fact that its accompanied by rice instead of noodles.
I mean, I make a mean bolognaise sauce from scratch using tin tomatoes, herbs, vegies, meat and cook it slowly for a couple of hours. Now I could use the sauce to make a pasta or use lasagna sheets to make a lasgana. Presto! Two dishes. I even discovered last night that if I made mash potato and put it on top and baked it, it's an Italian sheppards pie. I do the same with Asian stir fries. There is a solid range of awesome sauces made by my friend Mr Lee Kum Kee (also now stocked at Coles which surprised me) and all I do is interchange the sauces from oyster to black bean to chilli and once again there are three different dishes!
I think theoretically it's cheating and it also does become a little bit boring for myself and also to those I cook for!
So in setting myself a goal to get out of my meal rut and become more innovative with my meal choices, I've started a list below of all the things I'm going to cook this Winter.
On the list at the moment are:
On the list at the moment are:
- A roast. Preferably roast pork so I can have crackling. Mmmmm crackling.
- My chicken surprise aka carbonara with chicken.
- Dumplings. If Nita can make them, so can I.
- Scalloped potatoes - just coz they're tasty.
- A savoury pie of some sort
- A beef ragu (If any of you saw Two Greedy Italians last week - I'm going to try to make that!)
- Lamb Shank stew
If there are any suggestions on what else I should try, please comment and let me know!
Over the next week (now that I've written that, I actually have to follow through), I'll do my special report about the US where I spent a good 3 weeks doing all the things I love: eating, shopping and sitting on the beach!
Until then, happy eating to one and all!
Meow
The Greedy Kat
Over the next week (now that I've written that, I actually have to follow through), I'll do my special report about the US where I spent a good 3 weeks doing all the things I love: eating, shopping and sitting on the beach!
Until then, happy eating to one and all!
Meow
The Greedy Kat
