Have been taking my long absence from blogging for a while... just been too busy, tired, lazy lately to have any inspiration for writing anything. But December is the final month of this year and wow, it's been like so incredibly fast the way this year has shot by.
Everywhere, signs of Christmas mood popping up in houses, neighbourhoods, malls.. this year a little bit more upkey than last, at least in shopping malls. Santas with their elves in every mall and crying babies plonked on their laps for cute pixes by eager parents for that memorable shot to go down their albums for years to come...Maybe they just need to drum up the sales, so need to pound into the heads of customers, it's Christmas coming your way soon.. BUY, BUY, SPEND now, or else it will be too late??!!
This year has also been a year of creative adventures in the kitchen for me, I think at no other time have I been trying out so many different things like this year. Maybe the initial plans to perhaps someday run a restaurant got me into this mood to experiment with different stuff... but let's see... I have tried (this is by no means a brag list, just a reflection and wonder at how brave I have become...), but much of it was to salvage food that might otherwise go bad, so you might say, I cooked to avoid wastage..
PESTO- one day, I found myself with so much basil leaves, so I blended them up with some peanuts, olive oil, salt, onions, garlic and pepper and then used it later for cooking with pasta, ham and mushrooms, pesto pasta is a yummy and nutritious must try...
APPLE MUFFINS- Found myself with lots of apples, and threw them into the muffins with some cinnamon powder and raisins and sometimes chopped walnuts. Sometimes, I even popped in leftover Weetbix cereal crumbs which I saved from Jordie's box for extra crunch.
APPLE JAM- Also, because again, I had too many apples rotting away in the fridge, I took them out, cut out the bad parts
and stewed them up into a jam.
The 1st time I did it, didn't add brown sugar and 2nd round which is this pix, I did so the it turned out a little brownish, but better tasting and smoother. You also have to add some lemon juice which sorta preserves it longer and sugar. Cinnamon sticks give it a nice flavour and I think I prefer it than cinnamon powder.
Need about 1 hour of constant stirring and simmering.. and it just disintegrates into pulpy jam slowly but surely. ..
.. Jordie loves it with bread and butter.
NASI LEMAK - Have never attempted this Malaysian favourite until we invited some Aussie friends over and decided to treat them to some traditional Malaysian fare. We did the mild version which they liked.Later this year, I decided to slip the spice level a notch up, so sambal was used instead of just sweet chilli. Jordie loved it, esp the fried chicken drumsticks... of course anything fried and crispy for him is a sure winner.. No banana leaves to be found here, so a 'banana leaf' melamine platter was the ambience setter. What to do?
SWEET CHILLI FISH - Deep fried dory or basa fillets, chopped up topped with sweet chilli sauce. Great with capsicum stirred in.. I used some 5 spice powder for fish batter just to zing it up a little. And added in a dollop of (you won't believe this, thousand island dressing) to the sweet chilli sauce topping to give it a more emulsifying texture...
FISH CAKE- 1st attempt was successful, but a teed bit too salty. I mashed up some basa fillet, chopped green beans, onions, garlic, fish sauce and flour, then fried it up with sweet chilli for dip.
BEEF WANTONS- never really attempted this, coz pork was the normal type. Beef is normally cheaper here, so I thought we'd try it out on wantons and what do you know, it tasted pretty good! With garlic, chopped carrots, onions, some spring onions and even celery, most of the beefy smell is dealt with..
ROASTED ALMONDS -decided to try the type coated with egg white and sugar and cinnamon and it really tasted great and not as sticky as the honey roasted type. The ones in the supermarkets cost quite a bomb at bout $10.00 per for packet of less than 500g, I think. Makes nice christmas gifts and holiday snacks.
AVOCADO MILKSHAKE
- inspired by my hubby who used to taste them at Jakarta with some chocolate topping. Really nice with some milk, ice cream and mix of yogurt and ice and texture comes out like some green thick custard but deliciously cold and creamy.
Well, that's just some of the stuff that came out of the year of cooking dangerously, and I thank my hubby, son and willing guests for daring to eat dangerously alongside with me....they're still walking and kicking, I did at least pass the toxic test...
