Porridge for New Year's Eve!

I cooked up something special for my dinner today:

It's really very simple. Pre-cooked rice, a couple of fish slices (cut to shreds), a couple of eggs, half a stick of celery, and a few coriander stalks. And of course, for added flavour, some oyster sauce, margarine, salt, MSG and lots of pepper. I think I might be getting a bit better at this cooking thingy. These days I find I don't have to consistently taste my food while I'm cooking, I just add in whatever it is I want (including the oh-so-important salt and pepper) and only taste it after it's out of the pot and in a bowl. Previously, if I didn't keep tasting while I was cooking, everything would be overly salty or too bland. These days everything tastes just nice. I think I'll call this dish Eggy Fish Porridge with Celery and Coriander.

Happy New Year's Eve, everyone.

15 bucks well-spent!

So I finally got to visit the place that my buddies have been telling me about, this shop selling western food. Pete's Western (or previously known as Scotland Western or something like that) is somewhere near 4th mile (I think), just opposite Boulevard and beside Everrise. I was looking forward to it, mainly because my buddies have visited it so often and always told me I should try it out. So my buddies and I went there for dinner today.

My first impression of the shop was that it looked pretty much like any other shop selling western food, as in they had the usual countertop with the kitchen behind, the typical faux wood tables and chairs, and the worn-out menus and staff. At least this place was air-conditioned. The food was relatively cheap though: I ordered the baked fettucine carbonara with cheese (RM8.50), tomato soup (RM4.50) and a can of Coke (RM2). I waited, not expecting much. When the food arrived I was pleasantly surprised. Very pleasantly surprised. The tomato soup came with two pieces of garlic bread, but these ones were very thick and not overly toasted/burnt, so it didn't feel like you were just munching on sawdust (like some of the other more popular shops selling similar food). The Coke, well, it's just your usual can of Coke. But the pasta, now that's what I call quality! It was, for lack of a better word, simply fantastic! The portions were generous, the sauce was tasty and creamy, and the texture of the pasta was perfect, still al dente (some cooks here boil pasta until it becomes a soggy mess because they think al dente pasta equals uncooked pasta). Best of all, the cheese tasted like real cheese. I was very, very pleased with my meal. And like trishie says, 15 bucks for 3 dishes (counting the Coke) is really worth your money.

So here are some shots of the night. This one here is of trish waiting patiently for her food to arrive... She always has the best facial expressions:

And the pictures below are obviously of my can of Coke, tomato soup with garlic bread, and fantastic fettucine carbonara:

I am definitely planning on going back to that place, at least once more before I have to leave for my further studies. Which only leaves one thing left for me to say: So, dear buddies of mine, when are we going again? Cheers people!

Handmade pasta!

Eureka! I finally did it! I made my own pasta from scratch! Muahahahaha! I've always wanted to try my hand at making my own fresh pasta, but I never succeeded (or rather the so-called product was so rubbery and gross I had to throw it away). After the last pasta-making experiment I told myself it wasn't worth the trouble (and the mess!) and that I'd just stick to buying pasta out of a packet.

Tonight (it's actually almost 2 in the morning so that would more accurately make it last night) I was feeling really hungry and in need of a good munch, but there was nothing edible lying around. So I decided to do the next best thing and attempt another pasta experiment. I wasn't sure if I could use just normal old flour (most pasta are made from semolina), so I checked some recipe books and confirmed that yes, it was possible to make pasta from 'normal' flour. So I cracked an egg, added a pinch of salt, and mixed in flour until I had the required consistency (don't ask me the exact amount of flour I used, I didn't measure!). I kneaded the dough, rolled it out as thin as it would go with a rolling pin, and used a knife to slice it up into thin ribbons (also not measured, so I had uncooked pasta dough of irregular widths). Proceeded to pop them ribbons into boiled water (liberally salted) for approximately a minute. Sieved them out, popped them into some room temperature water, then started on my sauce. This is where I ran into some complications. I originally was hoping to make a creamy mushroom sauce but there were no mushrooms lying around (or growing under the stools) so had to forget my yummy mushroom gravy. Thought about a carbonara sauce but didn't have enough eggs. Didn't even have butter to make a decent sauce. So I thought, oh well, let's just make do with what we have. So I made a roux from margarine and flour and some water. Then I spotted the garlic. The lightbulb in my little brain went off. I grabbed one measly garlic clove and grated that into the mixture bubbling away in the pot. Threw in some salt and MSG, and a very generous amount of pepper. Then tossed in all the pasta I'd made and added in the last slice of cheese left in the fridge. Gave everything a vigorous stir and poured it into my trusty bowl. Mind you, I thought it'd all end up a disaster of a dish right from the very start of this experiment, so imagine my surprise when I had my first mouthful of tasty, creamy pasta! I was so chuffed!

So now I've got another recipe to add to my culinary repertoire, albeit from the simplest and most basic of ingredients. Bear in mind though, this one takes a long time to prepare. I must have spent an hour or so in the kitchen, but it was all worth it. And now, at least for a while, I've satisfied my craving for pasta... Cheers!

2 Dinners And 1 Supper

It's been two nights of feasting, and I know for a fact that my blue jeans don't fit anymore. It's funny how food can influence a person's emotions. Like, when there's good food (or when I'm anticipating good food), I'm really one of the happiest people to be around. When the food isn't that good (or if it sinks beneath my expectations), I can't help but feel rather disappointed. The last two nights have been great though.

On Saturday some of my relatives came over, so that night we had a great home-cooked dinner. We had fried chicken, roasted beef (with gravy, yummy!), stir-fried vegetables, bubur cha cha, and soy bean milk to wash it all down.

Last night was grand too. My church had a dinner at Crown Square, and the whole place was filled with people. The 8-course meal included the cold dish (consisting of spring rolls, sushi and some sweet-and-sour meat thing), soup, sweet-and-sour fish, roasted duck with pineapples, chicken cooked with wine, noodles, mixed fruits, and fruitcake.

Because of the free-flowing drinks, I must have had 8 or 9 (maybe even 10!) glasses of Coke. And after all that, I still thought it'd be nice to try out the double cheese moo - is that what it's called? - from Chicago7. By the time I got to eat (had to wait for a few hours to clear up some space in my stomach) it was kinda cold, but it was still juicy. The beef patties (was it beef? I'm not very good at distinguishing between the various meats!) was well salted, maybe a little too well salted, and the tomato, cucumber and lettuce really added a refreshing crunch to the burger. The best thing - of course! - was the two cheese slices. Unlike some other burger franchises, you could really taste the cheese in this one. Not bad really, this burger for RM5 plus.

So now I've got to think of ways to get rid of some excess baggage. I've got approximately 45 days before I leave for my further studies, and really, I was thinking of bringing my favourite items of clothing (most of which I can't fit into these days)... So cheers you all, and here's looking forward to the last 3 days of 2009!

Curly Spaghetti

So the other day I went out shopping with triSh and we stumbled upon this curious little packet sitting nonchalantly on the shelves amidst a crowd of dried pasta and bottled sauces. If you know me, you know I like anything pasta, so of course I had to grab this precious little parcel of Curly Spaghetti. I mean, spaghetti in 4 minutes is really a very attractive notion, and it was only 1 buck and 80 cents, so I guess I thought I'd give it a try.

It was only tonight (oh wait it's past 2 a.m. now so that would make it last night) that I decided to cook it up. Y'know, it being Christmas and all I thought it'd be nice to have a little something tasty for supper. So I cooked up my packet of instant, "ready in 4 minutes" spaghetti. Even got out some cheese from the fridge to garnish, that was how much I was looking forward to it.

Really, all the signs were there, if only I'd bothered to take heed. Firstly, there's no way you can cook up a decent pasta meal in under 4 minutes. Okay, it's possible, but it's just not gonna taste as good as the real thing. Secondly, when I opened the packet and took out the 'pasta', it looked exactly like instant noodles (read: Maggi). Even smelled like it. Thirdly, I wondered how long the "yummy red sauce" (yes it really does say that on the packet) had been sitting in its little individually-wrapped packet. Convinced myself not to think about it.

Cooked it, drained it, mixed it with the aforementioned red sauce and my precious slice of cheese. Tasted it. Frowned. Hmmm... If you'd just cooked a packet of instant noodles, smashed up some Twisties (barbeque or tomato flavour) and mixed it with the noodles, you'd get something similar to what I tasted. The portion was very very small, and the smell wasn't right, and the taste was definitely nowhere near what I expected (ever so excitedly) but hey, it's quite addictive, really. All I could think of afterwards, with more than a pinch of sarcasm, was:

And I'm officially 24...

This is how I celebrated last night:

Happy birthday to me!

Welcome home, Lappie!

Saturday, 28th November 2009 - what a day to remember. I brought home my new friend on that beautiful day, and when I switched it on, it literally blew me away, I was so impressed. You might have guessed by now - the picture above is surely a great hint - that I'm talking about my new lappie. My old one has been giving me some trouble for quite a while now, and I don't see why not, after all it's nearly 5 years old (ancient by laptop standards), and although it's been a faithful friend, I thought it was time to put it to rest. Coincidentally, the PIKOM PC Fair was going on, so it was very convenient, no waiting around eagerly, albeit impatiently, for the postman to come with his precious cargo.

Everything's so fast, so brilliant, so shiny and new! I haven't even removed the plastic cling wrap that protects some of its surfaces! And best of all, I don't need to download various programs to open up my videos and stuff, in fact I can play my multimedia files using just one program! Shock and awe! And all this while I thought I was being so clever... All my technologically-superior friends must have been snickering and smirking behind my back. Oh the shame! And I got so used to going through long and winding procedures just to connect to the Internet, that I spent almost an entire day trying to figure out the same with my new lappie. I was so embarrassed when I finally realized I just needed to press one little button. Oh the shame, times two! And with my old lappie, it could take anywhere from 5 to 15 or even 20 minutes for Internet Explorer to be running smoothly, and some of the more 'advanced' games (the ones requiring fast action clicking) were practically unplayable, or would jam up the entire system; with my new lappie, it takes only 90 seconds for it to boot up from start to functionality, an additional 30 seconds (even less at times!) to get the Internet up and running smoothly, plays all sorts of games (hurrah!), has about 3 hours battery life when I use it like I normally would, and takes up only approximately 2 hours for the battery to charge up from dead to full (yeah I actually timed it all with a stopwatch, I was that enthusiastic and excited!). It's even got a webcam (so I can Skype now if I want to) and some strange hi-tech thingy called a FastAccess Facial Recognition program.

It's so mind-boggling at times I just sit back and stare at my new friend. I'm scared to press the wrong button in case it all disappears in a poof of smoke! I'm scared of clogging up the hard disk space and memory logs and rendering the lappie slow and obsolete again, so I'm saving most of my programs on my Maxtor external hard disk. Silly I know, seeing how my new lappie claims to have 320 GB of free space (I checked - it's really only about 283 GB). And the biggest - and most humiliating - lesson I've learnt from this whole adventure is that I'm really not that tech-savvy after all. Cheers!