July 2016

Scott got his flatmate a cookbook by Ferran Adria for Christmas the year before to encourage him to cook more often. Lucky for us, his flatmate kept it out in the living room so we were able to use it too. Scott and I took turns picking a random number between 1 and 31 (there are 31 meals within the book). Then we'd flip to the corresponding meal in the book and try to make it happen.

I found the book to be super helpful because each recipe is generously accompanied with step-by-step photographs, which gives kitchen rookies like myself a better idea of how everything is supposed to look as its all coming together.

Meal #17: baked potatoes with romesco sauce, whiting in salsa verde, and rice pudding. OK, so maybe we only followed the 'baked potatoes' and 'fish' part of the recipe and made everything else up. This was when I first took notice of Scott's compulsion to puree things through a sieve, which I wrote off as dedication initially but then later realized was an obsession. During this time, I also realized that Scotty likes to put chopped spring onions on errrrthang. He's so funny. Everything started making more sense, like how he always, always leaves the supermarket with a bag of spring onions.

Meal #3: vichyssoise, lamb with mustard and mint, and chocolate truffles. There was no chance we were making the cold leek and potato soup, so we made lamb stew with mashed potatoes instead. Scott's insistence on pushing boiled potatoes through a sieve amused me to no end. This was when his particularity about taste, texture, and presentation came to light. But 45 minutes, an aching arm, and lots of sweat later, we had the creamiest mash! A few weeks after this incident we went to Mustafa and bought a hand blender.

We ate the leftovers for breakfast the next morning (we do this a lot). Mixed some chopped vegetables into the mash and fried them like patties in the pan. Scott was still drinking a glass of milk in the mornings at this point... The pretty fuchsia mess is beetroot with a yogurt dressing to go with. My mum always nags at me to "eat the rainbow" to get me to include a variety of fruit and vegetables in my diet so that I get the different minerals and vitamins. Blue is a tough one for us. We eat blueberries and drink blue pea flower tea occasionally. Unfortunately, our blue pea plant (pictured right) isn't doing very well. Any ideas for eating blue?

We stopped using the cookbook soon after because a lot of the meals required like, 5 litres of romesco sauce, which we couldn't be bothered with.

Anyway, one thing I like about Scott is how whenever we go to Shirokiya, he always orders a dish of pickled Japanese cucumber with plum and bonito flakes without fail. [FYI: they moved from Cuppage to CHIJMES :'( ] You know how when you go out to dinner with friends and each person gets to pick a dish from the menu to share with everyone else? I'm the twit who'd order pickled cucumbers and get eye rolls from the rest of the table because not a lot of people can understand the logic of going to a restaurant and ordering a plate of cucumbers.

Anyway, we figured out how to recreate this dish at home. Basically, Japanese cucumbers, sour plum, bonito flakes, sesame seeds. Again, Scott insisted on putting the sour plum through a sieve to get the 'right texture.' But honestly, if you're not fussy and don't have the patience, mushing it with a fork will do the trick. We had it with roast pork - SO YUMMY. I don't really eat pork but I couldn't resist this one. I don't know how Scott did it. I guess on the pan? A bowl of edamame and soba with mushrooms topped with lots of spring onions.

We had banana pancakes one weekend!!!! I LOVE BANANA PANCAKES! Or rather, crepes with bananas on top. Staying true to the 'no measurements' policy we have in the kitchen, I did not know how much flour to put into the batter and ended up putting too much. Not sure if Scott is just not a fan of sweet stuff in the mornings or just not a fan of tough rubbery crepes in general.... We had this one time and then went back to having eggs and vegetables for breakfast.

Salmon omelette!! This was really yummy. Scott did all the chopping and cooking for this one while I pitted the cherries.

Scott made pasta from scratch one evening!!

Sweet potato fries, some vegetables, and fish, which we did two ways. One panfried on the stove with dressing (garlic, herbs, anchovies) on the side, the other we baked in the oven with the dressing. We both preferred the baked one because the raw dressing on the side was a bit overwhelming.

Such a good breakfast this was. Ok, backstory: Scott is quite frugal when it comes to grocery shopping. His shopping outlook is complementary to my mother's "a penny saved is a penny earned" philosophy that I was brought up under, so we are mostly agreeable on when we want to splurge and save. For example, Scott refuses to buy leeks in Singapore where they cost $20/kilo because he knows he can get them for $3/kilo back home. Fortunately, I do not like leeks that much so this hasn't been a source of friction between us. Anyway, I don't know how it happened, but we ended up paying $9 for a broccoli one day. Scott made damn sure we ate every bit of that broccoli =) We ate the head with our leftovers (kebabs from Sufi's at Arab Street) and cheddar cheese. And then the stem and whatever other little bits tossed in salt and olive oil.

August 2016

We bought ourselves a small bag of 'Sri Lankan Spices' as a souvenir from our trip. I don't know what it consists of but by the look and smell of it, turmeric powder and umm... maybe grounded cumin?? (A little bit of turmeric every day keeps arthritis away! From bae!)

N-E way, we made Empire Chicken a couple of weeks after our trip. So yummy! And simple.

Scott worked in a kitchen when he was a teenager. I forget, did I tell you that already? He works very quickly and efficiently, chops stuff at lightning speed like they do in the cooking shows on TV, doesn't hesitate when handling raw meat, can crack an egg in one hand with ease, can juggle potatoes in the oven and vegetables on the stove and have pastry rolled out on the counter for dessert and make lemonade at the same time.

I am the complete opposite. My cooking style is more 'admire the veins on the vegetables for 10 minutes/try not to let the chicken thigh slip out of my hands/try not to cut my finger off.' I found cooking with him very stressful in the beginning because I couldn't keep up. It made me feel embarrassed and inadequate, particularly because I come from a long line of kitchen goddesses. #PeranakanPride. But it is what it is, so I take charge of washing up after dinner to make up for it.

Ok, Empire Chicken: I think we mixed some of the powdered spice with yogurt and tomato paste and then rubbed it all over the chicken. And then put it in the oven for three quarters of an hour on a grill over some potatoes. Then blanched some long beans and carrots to go alongside.

I'm not trying to be an asshat by giving vague instructions. We don't really pay attention to measurements and we make a lot of it up along the way, which I think is what makes it fun.

And then we ate the leftovers the next morning with some egg and avocado.

And then later that month, we had chicken and potatoes again. With a bitter gourd omelette. We used the small variety, which is a bit more bitter than the bigger ones. Scott let me prepare the bitter gourd and was expecting me to soak it in salt water to reduce its bitterness. But I did not because my mother does not, her reason being that it is important to eat all the 6 tastes - sour, salty, astringent, pungent, bitter, sweet - regularly, according to Ayurveda.

Scott was a bit like, 'ehhhh?? Errrrr....' at first but then ate it with a smile anyway. I used to roll my eyes whenever my mum would tell me that we need to experience bitterness to appreciate the sweetness. But it's the truth! Blah blah blah aside, bitter gourds have properties that remove toxin from the blood and help cleanse the liver. (If you have a hangover or gout, drink bitter gourd juice!)

Resolutions

I don't usually bother too much about making resolutions at the New Year because committing to do something for an entire year is the easiest way to set myself up for disappointment. I know this because I'm someone with a very short attention span, little perseverance, and gets bored of things rather quickly.

Fortunately, I've since mastered the art of drawing energy from my failures so even though I will very likely break my resolutions within the first few weeks of setting them, I am going to set a few anyway. And then break them. And then feel bad and listen to Chumbawamba's I Get Knocked Down for a couple of days. And then get back to them.

I felt a little out of place on New Years Eve, surrounded by so many people who were just so done with 2016. The year had been a really good one for me so saying bye bye felt bittersweet. In between all the beer pong and confetti was an irrational fear that everything good that‘d happened in 2016 would vanish into thin air when the clock struck midnight. That didn't/hasn't happen. So far so good.

With our specially reserved barstool 

Forcing my friends to play cards with me

Just some white guy

Anyway, my resolution for this year is to get off my bum. I've been feeling very sluggish and lethargic, and this is gonna sound counter-intuitive, but one way to overcome this is to get my Qi (life force) flowing by moving my body. Scott and I are going to yoga class this Saturday. And Amelia and I are going to go for tap dancing classes after the Lunar New Year. There, I've said it. Now we've got to do it!!!! I also kinda wanna say that I'm gonna read for 30 minutes before bed every night... but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Since we are on the topic of forming good habits, we made muesli for Scott to take into work. We did this on and off last year - more off than on, really. Anyway, I'm a hardcore breakfast person, in the sense that I cannot start the day without eating breakfast. And I mean a real breakfast. If I am at home (ie: I don't have to wake up early to prepare my own breakfast), I usually have a bowl of hot oatmeal and an egg. Sometimes I have steamed sweet potatoes and a fried egg. Sometimes I have rice and fish. It depends on what my mum feels like cooking that morning. My friends have always found this really weird and would say, "that sounds like a full meal! How can you eat that in the morning?" Errrr... the last thing I ate was 12 hours ago! Of course I could eat a full meal in the morning. I think we are supposed to.

Anyway, Scott doesn't seem to need breakfast. Or rather, claims he eats some fruit/toast when he gets to the office. I half believe. Hot breakfast at home is something we aspire to do but haven't been able to make the adjustments/resist the snooze button just yet. Until then, we prepare the muesli on the weekend and he soaks it in milk the night before. I suggested water/coconut water/juice, but he was just like, "nahhh..."

It's super simple to make your own muesli. And so much healthier and more affordable than buying muesli off the shelf. 1. you can tweak the ingredients to your preference. 2. you have a better idea of what's going into you muesli. (Again with the trust issues...)

Scott likes to toast his rolled oats over the stove for a bit, but I usually skip this step because I think they taste ok raw. We add nuts, which you can get for between $12 and $15 (500g) from a small provision shop along Upper Dickson Road in Little India. (Sorry, I don't know what the shop is called but it's a couple of doors down from the food place, Madras New Woodlands, which serves really good appam and thosai by the way. Also note, the provision shop has weird operating hours, which I'm not sure how to advise on. So, I guess good luck! Hope you find it!)

Then we add some dried fruit for sweetness. The kiwis are a one-time thing. A fruit and nut vendor came to my office one day and I hadn't had dried kiwi before so decided to try. It's just very, very sweet. Cranberries are good. And sultanas too.

Basically you can add anything you like, in whatever quantities you want. We also add roasted black sesame seeds because Scott is convinced that his hair is falling out. (PSA: black sesame seeds are the secret to thick luscious locks) Anyway, good luck with your resolutions. And if anyone has any quick and fuss-free breakfast ideas, please share!

Christmas

I am super big on DIY presents for Christmas, a penchant born out of necessity rather than preference. Because there are a lot of people in my family and I am usually too broke to buy them actual presents. Over the years I have made necklaces out of felt and coloured paper, felt animal pen holders, tea bags, etc etc.

My most favourite of them all is the portraits I painted of my family. Unfortunately, everyone turned out looking really scary and nobody wanted to hang these on their walls so now my mum keeps them in a basket under a bunch of stuff to reduce the frequency that they are seen. I myself found them to be awful but the thing with DIY is that once you commit your time, energy, and pocket money to paint and canvas, there is no turning back.

LOL.

The holidays have long been a source of stress for me. My tendency to grossly underestimate the time taken to make these presents also adds to the chaos. I didn't have time to paint my sister's family portrait and when they saw the other portraits, politely told me "it's okay!"

Anyway, since I've been working and saving a little, I thought this year I'd actually go to the shops and buy proper presents like a normal person does. Until one day in late October, when Scott and I were in a Uniqlo standing in front of a bargain bin filled with white jeans, he came up with the most brilliant plan.

Being the sucker that I am for DIY stuff, I was immediately like, "YASSSS!" (We both had no idea what we'd just sign up for.) In the weeks leading up to Christmas, we converted Scott's dining and living area into Santa's workshop - tinsel, bells, paint, PANTS all over the place.

I highly recommend everyone in 'serious courtship' to undertake a long and tedious project together to discover the ways in which you complement and/or get in each others way when life gets long and tedious.

Project Christmas Pants required us to be innovative and smart about making it happen. Scott tends to be very chill, good at lightening the mood and getting stuff done while I stress about perfecting things. In the beginning, I would spend 1 hour sewing 8 bells around the hem and then 6 hours shading dinosaurs on Quinn's pants. In that same time, Scott would have done a dance, painted 5 pairs of pants, made dinner, and changed the bedsheets. At the end of the day, I usually get frustrated at having done so little and taking such a long time to do everything so Scott would have to give me a hug and pep talk. Then we'd eat cake and fall asleep while watching How To Get Away With Murder.

Anyway, happy holidays to all. May the new year be filled with more love and laughter.

Ps- these are the same white jeans we used for Halloween. We planned our Halloween costume around "white jeans" because we had 15 pairs sitting in Scott's cupboard. Who knew white jeans would come in so handy?

Boracay

A couple of weeks back, Scott and I went to Boracay and were reminded just how therapeutic it is to hang out by the beach and do absolutely nothing. Our days were blissfully unscheduled and relaxing, although getting to the island was very tiring and a little bit of a hassle. 

The whole journey took us a good seven hours and involved a plane, a speedboat, and some travelling by road. Fortunately, our airbnb host recommended an excellent service provider, Southwest, which was very well co-ordinated and took us door-to-door. We booked our transfer online before the trip and I felt a bit cheated initially because as we were walking out of the airport I saw a lot of people holding up cardboards advertising their services for one tenth of what we had paid. But when we finally arrived at our apartment that evening, I was thoroughly impressed and satisfied with how swiftly we were herded from bus to boat to bus with minimal waiting time in between.

We stayed on Bulabog Beach - Scott calls it 'Ball Bag Beach' - which is a 15-minute walk from the main tourist area and less busy but still very lively as it is a popular spot for kitesurfing. We could only access our apartment from the beach so when the tide came right up in the evenings, we had to climb over our neighbour's hedges and were barked at very fiercely by their guard dogs.

Each morning we'd watch the kite surfers while eating breakfast and then head to White Beach for the afternoon. I usually come up with excuses to avoid going into the sea - sea water allergy, period, can't swim - but could not resist in Boracay. It was so shallow and clear, it felt unreal. Around mid-afternoon we'd get a massage and then buy some fruit, bread, and eggs on the way home.

There's not a lot of local culture in Boracay and most of the island seems catered to tourists. (Lots of Koreans!) Food is not great. We could not find decent calamari even though it seemed to be on the menu everywhere. We figured they were all using the same calamari supplier and after I asked "Oh! They have calamari too!!! Do you think it will be nice here?" one too many times, Scott made me promise to stop ordering it as we were only setting ourselves up for disappointment. 

Luckily we found one place that had good food. I can't remember what it's called anymore, so just look out for a spanish place that serves churros. We went there everyday and tried their churros, tacos, and olive pizzetta - all delicious.

We went to d'Talipapa market one night because Scott wanted to get his seafood fix. Quite fun because you can buy your own seafood from the market and then have them cook it for you in one of the small restaurants next door. They tried to rip us off but Scott is a master when it comes to the art of negotiation so in the end I think we got an all right deal. The trick is to not bring out too much cash with you so don't give in. Because you cannot afford to. (Note: their butter tastes weird. I think they use margarine.)

Anyway, the highlight of our trip for me was when we made the impromptu decision to go helmet diving and parasailing one afternoon even though Scott doesn't particularly like being high up and I'm scared of everything. It all happened so fast, we had no chance to talk ourselves out of it. One minute we were lazing on the beach while Scott playfully entertained a couple of guys who approached us with a laminated card showcasing the various water sports they offered and the next minute we were riding in a speedboat out to the diving platform. (It was so organized!!)

Since Sri Lanka, we've gone through a range of experiences that lend themselves to compatibility. Helmet diving and parasailing let us see each other in yet another different context - one where we both a bit nervous and didn't know what to expect. It was a fun way to see how we handle stress - big and small - and respond to the curveballs life sometimes throws.

An Education

Just found this old video of Freja, Molly, and Quinn from 2010. Hahahahahaha good times. Teaching them about the Queen Bey because, duh. Isn't it weird that I hadn't figured out how to rotate videos by the time I was 18 years old? Look at me now - older and better. Yay life!

Japanese Man

Whether it's Halloween or an office dress up party, Scotty always brings his A game!