My younger sister finally finished her HSC. Wohoo! I rang her yesterday and I think she was still worried about what I would feed her when she comes to stay in Brisbane with me. I think when I told her that I made French toast for breakfast she was pretty impressed. I made French toast for her many years ago. My recipe? What recipe? It involved an egg (maybe 2), a dash of milk and some cinammon. Then I doused it in maple syrup and in her innocent young mind she seems to remember it as the best thing ever (my words, not hers). Since I had half a sandwich loaf sitting in my fridge I decided to make French toast - since I eat my toast at work and don't need to make sandwiches, buying bread is sort of a waste, so I had to buy half a loaf (which makes it more expensive).

I know I haven't made a recipe from The New Best Recipe book for a while now, but I have not forgotten all about it. I still flip through it every now and then. I thought this recipe was perfect! But I think it depends on how you like your French toast. I've always known it to taste pretty much like fried egg on bread. But this recipe was more like custard, and the egg was very subtle. I also enjoyed sprinkling some cinnamon onto it dousing it in maple syrup. Breakfast of champions!

This was one of the cookbooks that I was initially going to buy, but it has no pictures. I think half of the fun is looking at all those pictures. Nevertheless I decided to borrow it and see if it was really worth the hype.

I love a good big breakfast. When I was small I would not have eaten baked beans. I thought all beans were gross and the fact that it came from a can was double gross. But ever since I discovered big breakfast I have loved baked beans. If I had a picture of what egg in a hole look like I'm sure I'd be able to tell you if the recipe was a success or not. I imagined that it would look prettier and you would actually be able to tell that it was an egg. I might as well have made french toast (which is the plan for tomorrow). My first attempt I made the hole a little too big and the second time a little too small. I don't have a circle cutter that is in between those two sizes. I think I preferred the hole too small, otherwise you don't get enough bread.

This morning I rushed out to get my free cup of coffee from Gloria Jeans and got some change for the dryer since I did two loads of washing. Now I will be spending the rest of the afternoon ironing. Fun! God I hate domesticity. Maybe I need to find a guy who would be willing to have the babies and stay at home to cook and iron.

Today was such a hot day and I felt especially sluggish all day even though I had a nap in the afternoon. Even though the news says that the temperature is only 26 degrees, it feels a lot warmer even though it is night time and should be a lot cooler. I did not feel like cooking, but I'd finally run out of leftovers. Since I had some leftover rice I decided to make this recipe.

I have always wanted to try kimchee with fried rice. It's one of those things I have seen people eat in Korean dramas and thought "wow that looks yummy, I wonder if tastes as good as it looks". I have decided it was okay, but nothing for me to rave about. I always forget that I really don't like kimchee THAT much. I think the kimchee I bought was not spicy enough and there was not enough of the sauce since I imagined that it wouldn't be so dry. Since it was so easy to make and easy to eat I will probably make it again. Otherwise the rest of the kimchee will be sitting in my fridge for a very long time.

When it comes to curries I have always preferred Japanese curry but lately Indian curry has sort of grown on me (and I know I just saw Liz cringe). Even stanger is that it is vegetarian curry that I have become obsessed with and I really wanted garlic naan bread. So I just had to make this recipe. It was very easy to make once you've made the sauce. Just cook the vegies (I used potato, mushroom, zucchini and eggplant) and then add the sauce and simmer. But the sauce did not taste as good as the one I had from the Indian takeaway. And I don't think there was enough of it for the amount of vegies I had. Also the garlic naan was definitely not the best I've ever had.

My other complaint with this recipe is that it requires like a hundred ingredients to make the base sauce (so I omitted a few). Next time I'm just going to buy the stuff in the jar.

Just another one of the things that will be sitting in my fridge for the next few days. Maybe I'll look for some better naan bread though, since this one did not have enough garlic at all!

I actually made this on Monday but I never got around to writing all about it. Last week when we went out for lunch some people ordered seafood chowder. I've never had chowder before so I was interested in trying this recipe to see what the difference between sweetcorn soup and chowder actually was. Apparently, not much except chowder is probably thicker. I really have to learn to half the garlic quantities because there was way too much garlic and salt in this so I had to use a lot of bread to help me get through this. And it's weird but bread didn't actually help. In the end I just got so sick of it I ended up getting rid of the last bowl.

Last week I ate a lot of leftovers. I had leftover Chinese from work which I finally finished on Thursday and I made an eggplant stirfry, half of which is still sitting in my fridge. And I probably should have stopped there but I like variety with my rice so I then bought a Thai stirfry because I'd been craving something spicy. And then I had to make something extra today for dinner as well. I can already imagine the things my mum would say about cooking food when there is already food sitting there in the fridge.

With our economy in crisis I'm sure everyone has thought about how it will affect them and what poverty even means.

It is Blog Action Day today. A chance to spread the message about poverty. I know I'm not the best person to be discussing this since today for lunch I had duck breast with sweet potato frittata and brioche bread and butter pudding with coconut gelato for lunch. Did you know that extreme poverty is defined by living on less than $1 a day? I can't imagine $1 buying enough food to feed one person for a day let alone all the things I seem to require in order to live. And moderate poverty is defined by living on $2 a day. It is hard to imagine that the difference between the two is only $1.

During times of famine it is basic foods such as corn, potato and rice that are essential for survival. My dad used to say he thought eating rice with tea or soy sauce was a luxury. I don't think I ever really believed him.


I calculated the cost of this meal I just had excluding the cost of the bowl, cooking utensils, water or gas that was required for cooking. Pack of soba noodles ($3.20/6 = $0.53), soy sauce (14/700*$2.70 = $0.05), sugar ($0.01), chicken broth ($2.50/6 = $0.42). In total that's $1.01 for two tiny bowls of soba with no meat or vegetables, just the bare minimum. To think that one dollar could bring someone out of extreme poverty is very heartbreaking. Especially when I couldn't feed myself on $1 for dinner (unless I ate a pack of instant noodles).

The United Nations estimates that 854 million people are hungry every day. There are currently more than 6.6 billion people in the world. That means for every 8 to 9 people, 1 person goes hungry. Maybe the problem is too big for one person. Instead why not find 6 friends to help you go out there and make a difference to one person's life. The cost of sponsoring a child so that they can recieve a tertiary education is $2000 a year. Which is $0.80/day if you happen to have 6 friends. That is most likely to be the amount sitting in the bottom of a handbag you never use or the amount hiding between the couch cushions. I am not preaching because I have no moral high ground to stand on. I just feel it's a problem too small for one person and to say you're going to donate $20 is not a long term solution.

In this time of economic crisis many of us are going to start adopting a much more frugal way of life. We will probably not rush out to buy a Chanel handbag or a huge plasma TV screen. But how many of us are worried about what will happen when we have no money for food? I can imagine not owning material objects, but I have never considered the possibility of not having any food. The hunger problem is not just about not having enough money for food. With the erratic global climate the possibility that we will run out of food is also likely. But that's another problem for another day.

Just some of the sites you can visit to make a difference:
Smith Family,Oxfam,World Vision

I know I've had a lot of steak this week. It just happpened that I found one steak recipe after the other so I decided to try them all. This is another Portuguese recipe from the Piri Piri Starfish cookbook. A lot of Tessa Kiros recipes include just cracking an egg on top. Such as egg on risotto or the egg with pan-fried potatos I made a few months. The egg is an amazing ingredient.

After I finished cooking I realised my camera battery was dying so I only had enough time to take this photo. It will have to do. I need to buy another pan. It was very difficult to co-ordinate the cooking of the egg, steak and chips with just one wok.

From photos, it looks like Bitoque is usually also served with salad. But I've always thought salads were a little overrated. I chose this recipe because it is served with piri piri sauce which is the same thing as Nando's peri peri sauce, piri piri chilli and spices in oil. It tastes as good as it sounds, especially when you're dipping your chips in it. This is a very simple recipe, but it is all in the sauce! I loved it, and my egg turned out just the way I like it (slightly runny).

Woohoo! Air-con is finally fixed and the temperature has dropped a bit. Just my luck. Overall I haven't had much luck today. I realised that today was my early start and I was supposed to be at work by 7:30, get to work and my computer malfunctions, still none of the tea bags I like, and I had to go through 2 cans of coke because there was no tea. Maybe all of those things aren't luck related.

This pasta wasn't that great. I think I have lost my taste for pasta recently. I feel like every pasta I've ever eaten has always been just okay. Acceptable. But I can't pinpoint a pasta dish I've absolutely loved except for the lasagna from the pasta factory. And I haven't eaten it in so long, I'm afraid even that probably doesn't taste nice anymore. This pasta dish doesn't taste any different from pasta I've had in the past. Be it at a restaurant, food court or sauce in a jar. Not terrible just not very exciting. It's just pasta. Diced tomatoes, oregano and prosciutto make up the sauce. It even sounds exciting! Nevertheless a healthy and fulfilling meal.

It sounds a little bizarre but wait till you taste it! This was one of the best steaks I've ever had and I don't mean it sound like some exaggeration of my cooking skills because it wasn't me. Thanks to Liz for the link, you'll have to try it next time you're in Brisbane ;) *hint*hint*

The recipe is not exactly the most precise because as you can see he sort of just throws random handfuls of spices together and he doesn't taste it to see whether it suits his taste. So you sort of just assume he's made it so many times he doesn't need a recipe.

For one 200g fillet steak I used:
3 tbsp of instant coffee (which I just ground a bit to make it finer)
2 tbsp unsweetened cacao powder (because I didn't know where to buy the beans)
1 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp chilli powder
(I left out the chipolte and Mexican powder since I couldn't find that either)

You mix the spices together and after seasoning the steak with pepper and salt you rub the spices all over the steak. Then leave aside for at least 3 hours before grilling. I just pan-grilled mine even though he has grilled his over hot coals.



I loved the taste, although since I had to wait three hours, hunger might have played a part. After I marinated the steak it looked exactly like dried beef jerky. I was sort of weirded out that raw meet could smell that good. Cacao doesn't really taste like chocolate, it's not sweet at all. The cacao and coffee make the steak quite bitter but it's also very spicy. It is quite unique the taste, and I would definitely recommend you try it (just don't attempt it with real chocolate).

Boy do those chips look fat or what! I borrowed Piri piri startfish by Tessa Kiros a few months ago and this was one of the few recipes that appealed to me. All the recipes in this book are from Portugal, and when you read the recipes they all sound very exotic. I finally decided to try this recipe because Liz sent me a youtube link for coffee steak, which I will attempt to make tomorrow. The difference between the recipes is this one uses espresso as a sauce while the other recipe uses ground coffee as a dry spice.

Today it reached 33 degrees in Brissie. This would have been a nice meal to eat outdoors with family and friends. Although they'd better like coffee. The recipe said to add 1 tbsp cream and about 2 1/2 tbsp of strong espresso coffee. I'm no coffee expert/snob - if it has caffeine then hit me with it. So I put 2 1/2 tbsp into about 1/4 cup of boiling water and used that to make the sauce and since I had no idea what type of cream to use I left that out. The coffee might have been a bit strong, but that's how I like my coffee. Apparently this is a very common dish in Lisbon. So I will have to go there some day so I can figure out if the sauce was supposed to be strong and bitter or if the cream was supposed to add some sweetness to it. Although I made this very much to my taste, I think the amount of coffee will depend on the individual. I have included the recipe, just in case anyone is interested in making figuring out how they like their coffee with their steak.

1. Heat 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp of olive oil in frying pan. When it starts to fizzle add 1 fillet steak (150g) and cook until golden. Turn over and sprinkle with some salt. Cook until steak is done to your liking. Turn steak over again sprinkle with salt. Add 2 bay leaves and 2 cloves of garlic to flavour the sauce. Lift steak out onto a plate.

2. Add the 1 tbsp cream and 2 1/2 tbsp espresso to the pan and let it bubble up and thicken for a few seconds. Turn off the heat and return the steak to the pan, then leave for a minute to let the juices mingle. Grind some black pepper over the top once it's on the plate. Serve with chips.

And for dessert? Passionfruit banana pineapple and cream Weis bar. Yummo!

One of the cheapest meals you can buy at any Japanese fast food store is curry and rice. One of my favourite meals because it is so easy to easy to eat. Just stir it and spoon it. However, this is probably not the best curry I've tried. I prefer it less watery and thicker. Also the recipe said to put apples in which was interesting since the apples were a little sour so they added a little tang. I should have probably just left them out of the recipe. Every time I've bought the curry cubes, the instructions were always quite clear just add meat and vegies to the melted curry cube mixture. This recipe however required a lot more ingredients. But I did not find it to my liking.

I have so much food in the fridge right now. Not only do I have leftover curry which will last at least 3 more nights but I also took some Thai leftovers home yesterday which will probably last three days as well. So if all this food does not go off, I will end up throwing it out because I'm sick of it or not cooking for the next week. I think I will end up sick of eating the same thing all week first.

Last night I thought since my download limit expires at the end of the month I should just download as much as I could. Except I forgot that my limit actually expires on the 4th of the next month. Unfortuantely that means I am capped at dialup speed while trying to stream Heroes. Not that much fun.

I spent the entire week searching for scallops. I don't know of any seafood markets around the city so I settle for Coles or Woolworths for my seafood, but they don't always have the largest variety. Several times I walked in to check if they sold scallops to walk back out without buying anything and for some reason I'd always beep going out of stores (v.embarassing). Finally today I found the scallops. It seems I put so much effort into finding scallops that the end result has made all that effort seem wasted.

I think this dish just lacked taste (or good taste). The sauce was made from thickened cream, capsicum and scallops. It tasted like cream. So I added a little salt and pepper but that just made it taste creamy and salty. I tried cheese as well but I don't think cheese goes well with scallops. I'm not sure what flavour would have been right. Maybe I don't like that fishy taste.

A tremendous slump has occurred in my cooking journey. Partly because I have been too busy watching my TV shows. But mostly because I have been lacking inspiration. I just want to get down to the eating part.

When it comes to pasta, I have always preferred the tomato sauce to the cream sauce. Every time I have seen pasta alla carbonara the pasta always looks a bit like it is swimming in the sauce. I always find all that cream and cheese just too overwhelming. This would be the first time that I've probably eaten pasta with carbonara sauce and enjoyed it. Although I'm pretty sure I used the wrong type of ham. I should have used bacon instead. I am very happy with how this recipe turned out. Although I will probably still favour tomato sauce to the cheese sauce, it is good to know that carbonara does not need to tasted like cream soup and the cheese does not need to overwhelm you. I probably rated this higher than I would usually just because I was so surprised it did not taste awful. And carbonara sauce is surprisngly easy to make: cream, eggs and cheese. I would have never guessed that there was any egg in there.

I can't wait to go to Rome some day and try real Italian pasta. I don't know what it's really supposed to taste like. I have no idea if the Italian restuarants in Australia do pasta any justice. And the pizza! It will probably be very different and then all my fantasies of Italian cusine will go up in smoke.

One of the things I miss about Japan is the bento boxes. Every morning we'd wake up at 8am (sometimes earlier) to the crisp winter air. In order to motivate ourselves to get out of bed we'd think about bento boxes or bacon and egg rolls and coffee at Starbucks. I can have Starbucks in Brisbane though. But I can't have the bento boxes they sold at the convenience stores. The ones in Kyoto had a lot more variety than in Tokyo. Every box filled with little dumplings, sushi, rolled egg, some rice and some fried chicken bits in such a simplistic and artistic manner with the fake grass piece, the sesame seeds and the colourful cupcake liners. However it was the boxes with the tiny serving of potato salad that I always went for. So I was really looking forward to making this Japanese potato salad. The mayo is just way nicer than the creamy substance that is often used to make potato salad. I used capsicum and potato to make my salad. It was so yummy. The potatos could have probably been mushier.

There are two pieces of teriyaki chicken in that photo. Why? Because when the recipe said I'd need teriyaki sauce my first thought was "finally I can use the rest of the half used bottle of teriyaki sauce I bought a while ago and have not used since". After looking more closely at the book I realised there was also a recipe for teriyaki sauce. That is why I have two pieces of chicken. It is so I can compare the recipe for teriyaki sauce (on the right) with the kikkoman teriyaki sauce (on the left). I didn't burn the chicken, but I did burn the teriyaki glaze which stuck to the pan and sort of transferred itself onto the chicken. Actually this was probably the only time I didn't over cook the chicken to the point of toughness. My verdict is kikkoman sucks! It was way too salty I had to wolf down 2 spoons of rice for ever tiny piece of chicken I took. While the teriyaki sauce recipe was perfect. You could actually taste the subtle sweetness without tasting like a dessert. The soy sauce was not so overwhelming like the kikkoman sauce. So there is a benefit to making your own sauces after all.

Yesterday was really stressful. I got this really annoying google redirecting links virus that was not detected by any antivirus program I owned and I managed to download and install like 6 of them. One moment I was busy making dinner (tonkatsu, again) and the next my computer was taken over by some hostile alien life form.

The above photo is my first attempt on Monday. I did a terrible job because I didn't coat the tofu properly so I did not fry the tofu properly. Also I burnt the miso sauce a bit. So although it was not visually appealing it did not taste that bad. Or rather it just tasted like tofu in miso sauce without the coating. Then last night the result turned out as below. Then because I was so distressed by the sickness that took over my laptop I could not eat. I couldn't sleep I'd nursed my laptop back to it's full health. I managed a few bites of it before I had to stop eating. But my second attempt was a lot better. It actually tasted like agedashi tofu, not just normal tofu.

I am way too attached to my laptop. I almost had a heartattack when I saw that blue screen. Then I wanted to cry when no antivirus program was working. Then at some stage there was a sense of hoplessness, denial and anger. I think I pretty much went through the whole grieving cycle.

P.S. This was very messy to make. But then so was the Tonkatsu. So together, lots of mess. Anything that requires coating is usually very messy.

It's always nice to come back from the gym and eat something fried! Although at least I did cut back on my caffeine (only had 3 cups of tea) and had 1.5L of water.

I made a big mess tonight with all the flour and breadcrumbs ending up all over the counter. But in the end I got some crunchy pork out of it. But the crust does not look like the picture in the recipe book. I haven't figured that out. I think my deep frying technique needs some work. Although I prefer beef and chicken, I quite liked the tonkatsu sauce.

Next week I will probably attempt to cook something other than Japanese. I think I'm finally getting tired of Japanese food. Maybe I'll go Italian next. See how many different pasta dishes I can cook.

Today started off pretty well. I slept in until 1 pm, so that means I've caught up on some of my sleep debt. Then I went grocery shopping which was fine as well. Then I locked myself out of my apartment. Not so fun. Luckily my real estate agent is so nice and a godsend. Because she came back on a Saturday to let me in. Otherwise who knows where I'd be sleep tonight.

I thought I might possibly get sick of Japanese food since yesterday for our staff luncheon we went to a teppanyaki restuarant where I caught an egg and get some rice on my cardie. But it was a lot of fun to watch the chef cook and throw food around.

I have only had okonomiyki (roughly translated as "cook what you want") once and it was cooked on a teppan (like in teppanyaki) but unfortunately I don't have one of those. Also the one I had was made mostly out of cabbage. This recipe was a bit different with prawns, capsicum and octopus as the main ingredients. The picutre in the book did not even resemble okonomiyaki. Every time I have eaten it, it looks a bit more like this picture:

So in the end I was content for mine to look like this rather than the ingrdient sitting in a thin pool of batter. I love this dish because it is so filling, a very dense pancake is how I would describe it. This recipe was quite nice, but in future I might throw in some cabbage anyway.

I ate this once at a Japanese fast food place and I I'm pretty sure I got food poisoning from it. So this doesn't really have a good memory attached to it. I can only hope that the same thing does not happen again. Although the beef in this recipe was also quite sweet I did not mind it as much as the sweet egg. It may have been because I also had the salt from the miso soup and yakitori to counterbalance the sweetness.

I can't believe that it's September already. I have been in Brisbane for almost 8 months now. It's been 9 months since I was in Japan. I often miss Japan. I can't pinpoint exactly why. It was exciting and everything seemed more vivid. The crispness of the air in winter, the colour of the leaves, the sounds of bicycle bells and giggling school girls. I miss early morning trips to buy bento boxes, late night karaoke sessions and everything in between.

I did warn everyone that with the start of September would mean less recipes. Not only have some of my favourite shows started (Gossip Girl, Bones and Terminator), but I've even picked up a few other shows I will be watching too like 90210 (I know! It's sad to admit but I actually like it more than the original), Privileged (a comedy about a graduate who decides to tutor these rich socialites to pay off her student loans) and I've just finished watching Samurai girl. I am also waiting for The Fringe and Heroes and so many others. And while I'm waiting for my shows to download themself I have been reading the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. It's about to be made into a movie so I just had to read it. The character is a bit crazy though. She falls in love at first sight with a vampire and she becomes obsessed with becoming a vampire. That's crazy! No one is that stupid. But I have managed to read all 4 books in a week, so if the books are crazy what does that say about me?

Currently listening to "I'm yours" by Jason Mraz.

I was actually planning to cook this on Tuesday after I did all the grocery shopping. And then when I got home it turned out I did not actually have any chicken waiting for me in the freezer. That is just one of my excused for putting off cooking all week.

Yakitori chicken is one of my favourite appetizers. Supposed to tasted really good with beer (not that I would know). But it tastes pretty good with rice too. I like the slightly salty and burnt flavour. Not burnt to a crisp, but it needs that charcoal taste to it. I know, I know. It means I have a chance of getting cancer. But it's a bit like toast, you need to have it slightly burnt for it to actually taste like toast.

I felt a little guilty today for avoiding cooking. I made the green papaya salad that my dad insisted I take back to Brisbane with me last for 2 days. So I may have overcompensated tonight by attempting so many recipes. It feels like it has been a long week, but at the same time I'm confused that it is already Thursday. Maybe it's because tonight was the first night I actually did any cooking.

This miso soup recipe was strange. For starters there was carrots and no seaweed, but I went ahead and added the seaweed anyway. I don't think I cooked the carrots for long enough because I would have liked them more if they were softer. When I was buying the miso paste though, I did not know the difference between red and white miso paste. Turns out the red one I picked is saltier. This time I decided to make more of the dashi (soup stock made from bonito flakes and kombu seaweed) since most of the recipes require the stock.

The only thing missing was I needed a bowl with a lid, just like when you go to Japanese restuarants because the heat evaporated from the soup too quickly.

Just got back from Sydney and already missing home. My mum did most of the work though. I spent the day shopping with Liz, and by the time I got back I had found my mum had already started cooking without me. So really I only supplied the recipe and did the mixing.

I don't really understand the obsession with pork ribs. Give me a good rump steak any day. Eating pork ribs just involves gnawing on bones most of the time. These ribs were salty and sour at the same time. A strange taste I think. It did not taste terrible but it did not wow me either. But it was the first time I "sort of" made something and did not have to eat by myself. I think the consensus was mostly that it was difficult to eat and not terrible but not great. It was edible. Something that you could eat every other day.

Every time I have tried this dish at Japanese restaurants my complaint has always been "it's too sweet!". This time I have the exact same complaint and I followed the ingredients exactly. The sweetness of the egg just reminds me of flan. I only like my candy, cakes and ice cream to be sweet. In other words, anything you would eat as dessert. If I had left out the sugar and mirin it wouldn't have been sweet at all.

My flipping technique needs a little work. I couldn't quite flip it without it all falling apart. But I don't think it was necessary for it to all stay together. This is a very quick meal to make if you like sweet egg. Otherwise just remove the sweet ingredients and I think that should work.

This is my first recipe for September. I love September. Why? Because it means all my TV shows start again! Hahaha. This probably means there will be less cooking this month and more time spent eating in front of my computer while watching TV. Sounds like a good way to start Spring.

Today was spent recovering from yesterday. Not that a lot of drinking went on. But melon vodka cruiser does look a little radioactive. So today was really quiet, I just stayed at home watching episodes of Gilmore Girls and shopping for ingredients for my Japanese cooking . Shopping for ingredients proved to be a bit difficult.I spent an hour looking for hondashi and dried fish stock. I thought they were the same thing. So I pick up this little powdered box that tells me that it is bonito dried fish stock. I though cool now all I need is hondashi. So I rush home to google it to see what it actually was and then I see a picture of the exact box that I had bought. So I was confused. Were they the same thing? Then I flick through the book and find a recipe for dried fish stock which is made from water, kombu seaweed and bonito fish. This wasn't my only shopping confuson either. There were so many different types of soy sauce. How does soy sauce differ from soybean sauce or Japanese soy sauce? In the end I gave up and purchased some this bottle of sauce that said shoyu on it but when I went to open it smelt sort of alcoholic and I didn't want to stomach it. So my day turned out a little more eventful then I thought it did.

I often miss my time in Japan, I want to go back to Japan. I miss the atmosphere and the buzz I got from it. Mostly I miss the food. So I decided to do some Japanese cooking in order to calm my food cravings. The thing I love about this easy Japanese cooking book (despite its typos) is that the contents page consists of photos of all the dishes. So if one was really lazy they would not have to flick through all the pages to see which one looked the most appetising. First on the list was tofu udon. The last time I made udon noodles I overcooked them until they become bloated. But this time they were perfect. All the effort it took to make my own dried fish stock was worth it. And I added my mum's red peppers to it so it was the perfect mix of spicy and salty. It made the tofu taste fantastic. I can't wait to have it again tomorrow. It was pretty yummy. And the tofu can be replaced with tempura or fish cakes. So I will definitely try that next time.

I did have a nasty surprise though, I had the stock boiling away and then I added the hondashi and I was pouring it out onto the tbsp over the stock and I lost control of the pouring out and the hondashi fell into the pot and the water just boiled straight over the sides bubbling away. Like a catalyst experiment gone wrong. I think now that all the hard work is over, eating leftovers will be so much more fun!

I had not planned on eating anything healthy today, but today was pizza day at work. I think if you go to the gym, you should be able to go home and eat unhealthy food. But the line at the Thai restaurant was too long. So I get home from the gym to find my cupboard empty. Faced with the choice of going back to the supermarket for some food, standing in line or eating canned tuna. At the time, canned tuna seemed to be the right answer. I think canned tuna with mayo and crackers would have tasted so much better. It's not that this tasted terrible. To be specific it was the beans. I bought canned butter beans. It sounds nice but they don't taste like butter and they have a weird texture. Luckily, I will not have to cook tomorrow. The challenge of cooking is starting to wear on me. It's not very spontaneous. I don't come home and go "ohhh I feel like chicken tonight". Instead on Sunday I've usually planned to eat chicken. Just seems like a chore.

My candles are fantastic. One moment my house smelled like chopped garlic and parsley (which does not smell that nice). The next it smells like green tea and cucumber. Works better than those air freshner sprays.

When I saw the word chimichurri I thought it sounded spicy and possibly even with some tomatoes. But it was not what I expected. Instead it tasted like garlic and lemon (even though there was no lemon in it) and parsley. So I googled it, and chimichurri is an Argentinian sauce for grilled meat. A bit of garlic, pepper, onion and parsley. Not the sort of ingredients I would usually think to eat together. Especially since I didn't think people actually ATE parsley. It has a very strong flavour. I have no idea wheather I liked it or not. I'm confused. Which is great because I spent all of today confused. Not a great look for work.

Finally! It has rained in Brisbane. It's been cloudy for 2 days now with the promises of showers. Twice I've carried an umbrella and twice I have been denied. It rained heavily for about 5 minutes and now it has subsided to a drizzle or a drip. One of the things I do not like about Brisbane is the lack of rain which sort of explains the drought. Also the fact that it doesn't storm with the lightning and thunder. Everytime it has rained the rain lasts about 5 minutes. I've never actually timed it, but I think that's a fair guess. I miss rain. I miss falling asleep to the sound of rain tapping on your window.

I'm in a bit of a funk. Hence the confusion of my taste buds (I think I'm coming down with a cold). Right now all I can taste is chimichurri sauce. That stuff is leathal. So here is a tip: never eat chimichurri sauce if you have a romantic evening planned. Hahaha. But I like the fact that it had a flavour and it was nice to try steak with something other than gravy. I think I'm starting to appreciate the taste of garlic more and more. Although I really should learn to halve all portions of garlic in future recipes so that I don't have to go to bed with breath that smells like what I had for dinner. I will most likely have to brush my teeth three times to get rid of the taste.

Looks boring I know. Everything is of the yellow-white variety. I was supposed go and buy some salad but after walking down 35 flights of stairs for a fire drill I was not that keen on walking an extra 10 metres to buy some leafy green stuff to add to the burger. But since I felt like it needed something other than meat I added some corn sautéed in garlic and butter. Plus I had 2 V8 juice things, so I think that counts as my servings of veg and fruit anyway. And then I served the chicken cutlet with some mustard and cheese on the bun.

Although it looks quite boring I think that meat or fish can taste really nice and all that it needs is lemon, butter and garlic. So a tip, for when you're broke and want to eat something other than instant noodles but still require something with taste.

I was sent this link today: man drought. I found the statistic at the end the most scientific. It has to be true! Hahaha. How many 15 year olds do you know currently earning more than $70,000? And if you read the comments, more than half are by men (supposedly very nice men) who think that women are too picky and have Cinderella complexes demanding men who earn $70,000 a year and look like Brad Pitt. Which I thought was really funny. So ladies, better start looking for a single man because apparently they're becoming a dying breed.

P.S. note my mulberry candle.

[edit] I think I was too harsh on this yesterday, so I have re-rated the taste. I think it must taste nicer after it has marinated in the lemon and butter sauce for a little longer. So it tasted amazing today. I mopped up the rest of the sauce with the remainder of the bread.

This weekend has been very uneventful for me. But I am happy with my purchase of these candles. This one is a cucumber and green tea. It smelt amazing, really gets rid of the smell of chicken, and it lingers even after you blow the candle out. I've also got a mulberry candle too, which I can't wait to light up now. Also as a treat I bought myself some cookies from Mrs Fields. I really like the butter toffee cookie.

My previous attempts at frying chicken have always involved those southern-fried chicken shake mix things. This was the first time that I made the mix myself (some flour, salt, paprika and pepper). I had planned on making this yesterday but it wasn't until I had taken all the ingredients out that I read the recipe which said to marinate the chicken in the buttermilk mixture for 12 to 24 hours. So that turned out to be a bit of bummer.

I was a bit worried about how the chicken would turn out because this morning as I was making buttermilk pancakes I licked some buttermilk off my fingers and it doesn't taste anything like it sounds. I thought it would taste like really sweet milk. Instead it tasted like sour milk with a thick consistency. Not that the pancakes tasted sour. So maybe once it's cooked the composition of buttermilk changes, and that is why it doesn't taste sour.

I don't think I've ever had really bad fried chicken, how can anything fried be wrong? Marinating the chicken in buttermilk though made it really moist and juicy compared to unmarinated chicken. The only problem is that I never seem to be able to coat the chicken in enough flour. Not like KFC coats their chicken anyway. I squeezed a little lemon on the chicken and had the fried chicken with some pasta. But fried chicken also tastes great on its own. At home, my mum makes fried chicken with pasta. So that's my reasoning.

I don't think I've ever eaten lentils before. Since Ruth can't eat gluten she has been eating these gluten-free snacks with lentils in them, and they smelt really good so I thought I would try lentils to see what they tasted like. The recipe says "French green lentils" but I just bought "lentils" and I'm not quite sure what the difference is. They did not smell like the ones in Ruth's snack.

Although I allowed it to simmer for the amount of time, but it still had way too much liquid in compared to the photo in the book. Also the photo looks less tomato-y then mine, so I think I may have added too many tomatoes. This would also explain with it was so sour and salty tasting. So this really did not suit my taste buds at all. So mostly I tried to swallow it down with a lot of bread. And lentils don't have a taste at all. I definitely prefer beans or chickpeas to lentils.

Cooking time: 1 hour (way too long to wait for something that I will unfortunately still be eating tomorrow)

When I was flicking through this book this recipe probably appealed to me the least and I probably would not have cooked it if Nigella did not suggest serving the scallops and chorizo with this recipe. I've never eaten chickpeas before, at least no knowingly, so I was a little dubious about how they would taste (understatement). I've also never had sherry before so again I had no idea what that would taste like.

This salad probably tasted a little more filling them most salads. Chickpeas taste a bit like beans but a little nutty or buttery. I can't really describe it. I thought they would be quite hard, but they were actually very soft and easy to eat. I wasn't sure about the cream sherry and I did not want more ingredients I'll never use again sitting around I bought red wine vinegar instead. All I know about sherry is that it's a sweet wine. But now I will never know what it tastes like. I read a few forums which suggested it would be okay to substitute it with anything from red wine to red wine vinegar. So I don't think it would have tasted too differently with sherry.

I don't know if the two recipes really went together. But then again I'm pretty clueless as to what really goes with what. If it hadn't been for Nigella's suggestion I would have probably tried to eat the scallops and chorizo with pasta. Probably without tomato sauce because that would overpower the taste of the chorizo. (I have learned something from the previous recipe).

But here's to not judging a recipe by it's picture (or it's name). Because chickpeas and rocket taste a lot better than I would have expected just by looking at the picture. And I'm sure vegetarians would like it.

Currently listening to "Simple man" by Graham Nash. Just finished watching "Reign over me" with Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle and this was the song in the opening credits. So I downloaded the album and I really like it. A nice break from watching the Olympics.

I've never eaten scallops outside of a restaurant before, let alone cook them. I should have probably read TNBR first, because they mention that scallops cook really quickly and you want them to have a nice crust while still being tender (translucent) on the inside. Although the recipe said to fry for about 1 minute on each side I think the heat was too high so the scallops were a little tough on the inside (i.e. I once again overcooked).

I really like the taste of chorizo. The garlic, salt and hot paprika make the sausage so tasty. The scallops were cooked in the chorizo-oil, but I wish there had been more oil so that it would be tastier. Sounds gross now that I've said it like that.

As you can see I have stopped bothering to garnish my meals with parsley. Parsley does have a taste and I'm sure it's supposed to do more than decorate but every single recipe says to garnish with parsley. Parsley is sold in a huge bundle and in order to use it all before its use by date I'd have to cover the entire plate in parsley, which seems sort of pointless because then it wouldn't be a garnish anymore.

This will be the last of the tuna recipes for a while I think. My favourite tuna recipe was definitely the sesame-crusted tuna steaks since it had the most flavour. I think I should have served the grilled tuna with something with a more subtle taste than pasta with a strong tomato flavour. The tomato sauce overpowered the tuna so that I could barely taste the herbs (thyme, lemon, garlic and peppers). This just made the tuna seem very bland in comparison. This could be because I am getting tired of eating fish!

Maybe this fish wasn't meant to be served with pasta. I think the problem with a lot of these recipes is that they are probably meant to be eaten alone but I don't like eating food that way unless all the food groups are all mixed together. For me a meal is not complete without bread/pasta/rice. I will rarely eat meat on it's own unless I'm at a BBQ and the only time I'm going to eat vegetables on their own (of my own free will) is if I'm flat broke and that's the only thing left in my fridge.

Even my photo looks so uninspired. It just left me with very little enjoyment or self-satisfaction in a job well done. Maybe I'm being too hard on it. Since it was not exactly inedible and I have eaten my share of things I consider to be inedible. I just did not feel motivated to continue eating. Good thing I took some leftover Chinese food home so I will have something different to eat tomorrow and not have to worry about cooking for a while.

This meal pretty much sums up my day. It was uninspired and did not leave me wanting more. *sighs* Maybe I have hit a wall.

One of the things I remember about food technology in high school was carrying place mats, figurines, napkins, candles and/or vases of fake flowers to school so that we could be marked on our table setting as well as our cooking. So I decided to add a little something to my photo today. The other thing I remember was the time spent washing up (i.e. rinsing in soapy water and then clean water). If I ever washed the dishes like that at home, my dad would rewash the dishes.

Today was a public holiday for the Brisbane metropolitan area so I decided to eat something healthy today since I spent some time this morning at the gym (quite a few people there actually) and then watched our Australian athletes win a few more medals in the pool. It motivated me to be a little kinder to my body.

I don't usually eat salads but this salad was very nice. Tuna and avocado complement each other very well (I heart avocado and tuna sushi), the sesame seeds and lime-soy-tabasco sauce combination add a little zing to the salad to stop it from being boring. I ate this with some bread but it would have also tasted nice on its own but I'm really not used to eating salad on its own. I just was not raised that way. Salad is a side dish not a main course!

This time I seared my tuna steak so it was more medium than well done. However it is still not as rare as the barefoot contessa makes it. But I don't think I would like my tuna any rarer than that. My avocado was very ripe still so I should have waited a few days before eating this I think. What I don't understand is how she managed to cut her tuna up into such nice little cubes. Mine started to flake as I was cutting it up. Maybe my knife was not sharp enough to slice nicely into the fish.

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Currently reading: "Hokkaido Highway Blues" by Will Ferguson

This sounds like such a boring recipe title. Like it lacks description or flair. I've heard of chilli con carne before but I've never tried it because until recently I didn't really eat beans and something about the way it looks does not appeal to me. I decided to eat my chilli with rice as pictured. But it can also be eaten by itself, on hotdogs, baked potato or with some macaroni. All these options sound so nice they make rice sound boring.

Despite it's rather lacklustre appearance and the fact that something about it looks so uncivilised or unrefined it actually tastes really good. A really nice mix of beans, chorizo, mince and spices. It sounds so simple! Not only did it taste good, this meal was very satisfying. Probably not the healthiest dinner I could have eaten after all my hard work at the gym but it was hearty. Definitely something I would consider a winter food and considering it will probably get down to 5 degrees tonight I could use the extra insulation.

This was so simple to make I can't understand why anyone would buy this stuff in a can! I keep remembering the microwaveable chunky chilli ad where you see this girl scratching her butt while she's waiting for the chilli to heat up and she farts. Yeah when I think of chilli I think "that's one classy meal!". I'm not sure if making it fresh makes it a classier meal. It's not its fault that it has such a bad reputation.

Cooking time: 30 mins (requires simmering time of 20 mins so it was a painless 30 mins)

Currently reading: "Musicophilia" by Oliver Sacks

This weekend I was not motivated to do any cooking. I really just wanted to laze around. That is why I put off grocery shopping, did not go to the gym and did not clean up my apartment. Instead I lazed around reading "Chasing Harry Winston" by the author of "The devil wears Prada". In between I did plan this weeks menu. Good thing this recipe did not require too much effort.

I struggle with anything that is "seared" because in my mind this word does not equate to "cooked". I cooked my tuna rather than searing it because I don't like raw meat that much. I will try it less cooked next time and see how it goes. But it's a very difficult habit to break. I'm more likely to overcook than to undercook.

Even overcooked this tasted really nice. The sesame crust made the tuna crunchy and with a hint of sesame but didn't overpower the tuna taste, just like TNBR said it would taste. It was as simple to make as it sounds. Although it sounded simple, it was not tasteless and this wasn't just because of the sauce although for me the ginger-soy sauce was the best part. There was just so much more flavour than in your average soy sauce. This was a very non-flashy dish, something I would eat on a regular day.

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Potato cakes sound so much fancier than potato pancakes for some reason. Although these are probably considered appetisers, after several of them I was quite full. Not quite as a colourful as Nigella's.

I like salmon, but I'm not a huge fan of smoked salmon so I decided to substitute smoked salmon for another fish, orange roughy (deep sea perch). I had a bit of a disaster in the kitchen yesterday which involved me throwing out an entire fillet in frustration and cooking instant noodles. So today I wanted something really simple. Hence more pancakes. I will probably get sick of them soon.

These potato cakes were made using instant mash. I actually quite like instant mash, sure it tastes different from real mash. But when you can't be bothered to make the real thing and then clean up after yourself instant mash is a godsend. I was surprised by how soft and fluffy these turned out to be.

This was another quick and simple recipe, although it probably was not meant to be the main meal.

It's not really a good thing to cook something when you have no idea what it's supposed to taste like. Not because it might taste horrible, but because you have no real idea of how it was supposed to turn out. I've seen pictures of gnocchi but I have never tried it before. The recipe seemed easy enough. My first mistake was I did not have a large enough bowl for mixing so it got pretty messy and because it got really messy I got really lazy with the mixing. So my gnocchi did not stick together as much as I would have liked and bit started to fall off when I boiled it. But I did some research (google-ing) and discovered that gnocchi is not supposed to taste too floury (some of them did, some of them didn't) and light and puffy (that they were). They sort of that the same texture as moistened bread or and a lot fluffier than mashed potatoes.

This recipe was made with ricotta but gnocchi is often also made with potato or spinach. I had some steak in the fridge so I decided to make the pot-roasted steak again. It held together a lot better this time because I've mastered the art of tying up rolled up steak. The gnocchi tasted really nice with sauce used with the pot-roast. However my gnocchi looks a whole lot fluffier than the ones in the photo. I think I will have to try this recipe again with some more mixing to see if I can get this right. I did find some advice online that suggested frying the gnocchi which I will definitely try next time.

Cooking time: 7 mins (Should have mixed it for a long longer, but once the water boils the gnocchi cooks really quickly!)
Ease: 3.5 stars (messy messy)
Taste: 3.5 stars (anything can taste good with that sauce!)

This morning when I woke up, I decided that I would make the sweet pancakes as well as the savoury pancakes. Perhaps I was slightly ambitious. All I can say is, that I will definitely be getting the most out of my gym membership with all the eating I've been doing. Since I managed to successfully finish 10 savoury pancakes with a diameter of 3 cm and 3 sweet pancakes with a diameter of 13 cm.

Nigella's recipe is about making the pancake mix, and saving it for instances for when you want to make pancakes and then adding the rest of the ingredients. Since I didn't want 600 + grams of pancake mix lying around I roughly divided the recipe a bit to get the right amount for one batch of pancakes.

Nigella's recipe:
600g plain flour
3 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp bicarbonate soda
1 tsp salt
40g sugar

My recipe:
142g flour (1 cup)
0.75 tbsp baking powder + 0.5 tsp baking powder (since I didn't have bicarbonate soda)
0.25 tsp salt
10g sugar

So my recipe wasn't exactly correct, but I needed approximately 150g of pancake mix since Nigella's recipe continues with "For each 150g of pancake mix add 1 egg, 250ml milk, 1 tbsp melted butter". I think I managed to get pretty close to 150g with my proportions of the ingredients.

The zucchini pancake mix was not as runny as this mix so it was a lot easier to cook evenly. My first two attempts at making a normal pancake turned out pretty abysmal, half burnt and a little undercooked at the same time. The above picture is a photo of my last 3 pancakes from bottom to top. So I got a lot better at managing to cook them evenly so that they turned golden brown and although the photo just makes them look burnt (they didn't taste burnt, but I will probably lower the heat next time).

I will be attempting the recipe for pancakes from TNBR next week, although I found the ingredients to be very similar to Nigella's recipe except for the addition of some lemon. Both books also suggest serving with blueberry syrup but I don't know how I feel about frozen blueberries so I just served mine with some ice cream and maple syrup.

Sorry to disappoint but I didn't attempt any fancy pancake flipping (not that easy to do with a wok because if I do it wrong my wrist might snap). Hahaha.

I went shopping yesterday and saw this 7 day meal planner. I was going to buy it on a whim before it occurred to me that its only purpose would be to look pretty since I don't cook breakfast/lunch. The only meal I worry about is dinner, so it would be such a waste of paper.

The only time I get to cook brunch is on the weekends, and I usually only do it on Sunday. These savoury pancakes seemed like the perfect thing to make for brunch. After yesterday's disappointment I was really impressed with these pancakes. They were so tasty and the pancakes were a little crisp on the outside and spongy on the inside. Zucchinis are one of my favourite vegetables and these pancakes were perfect.

This would be first time making pancakes. For breakfast I usually make eggs and bacon. I always figured pancakes would be too much of a hassle to make. The mixing part is usually fine but pouring the batter and then flipping the pancakes worried me. But these pancakes were very tiny, so required very little effort to flip. Unfortunately they are not as perfectly round as I would have liked, but neither is the photo.

The recipe was large enough to make 10 little pancakes which turned out to be enough for one person, more if it were to be eaten as an entrée. For once it was a recipe that worked out to be the perfect recipe size leaving no leftovers. This may also have been because it was so delicious that I managed to gobble them down really quickly.

Cooking time: 10 minutes (Eating time: 5 minutes)
Ease: 5 stars (a bit messy though)
Taste: 6 stars (overcompensating for last nights disaster)

This was a very disappointing recipe/result. Tessa Kiros describes this recipe as "nutritious and tasty soup". I do think it's nutritious, but for me there just was not enough taste. It tasted mostly of broth with vegies and meat in it. Although I added the salt and pepper, I felt the blandness is more to do with the simplicity of the flavour than the actual taste. I found it very uninspiring and struggled to finish it. The best part of the meal was the bread, I think this says a lot about a meal.

It took 2 hours to complete and you'd think after waiting so long to eat I'd be less picky, but apparently not. So far this has been my least favourite recipe. I think it needed more spices to give it some variety in the flavour. Nigella's minestrone soup was way better in comparison.

Some of the wonderful things about TNBR are:

1. The amount of work they have obviously gone through to eat, research recipes and then cook these meals.
2. The fact that they describe how it's supposed to taste (Pad Thai is supposed to taste: sweet, salty, sour and spicy...and none of these flavours should dominate.)
   
3. What would make it bad (slick greasy noodles or unbalanced flavours) or good.
   
4. Useful tips and common mistakes.
   

Armed with these tips I attempted to make my own version of one of my favourite takeout dishes. My result definitely tasted different from other Pad Thai's I've tried, and also different from the book. I re-read the passage and finally isolated my problem. "Tasters like the garlic at 1 tablespoon minced". The ingredients list 3 garlic cloves. I have no idea how big their garlic cloves are but my 1 1/2 garlic cloves was at least 3 tablespoons worth. So I tasted a lot of garlic. It's a good thing that garlic is good for the heart. Next time I make this, I will definitely keep this in mind.

The tips for making the noodles just right were perfect since I do have a terrible tendency to overcook my noodles/pasta to the point of glugginess. I was impressed with the way the noodles didn't stick together to form one big ball of rice noodle. I do think I could have made it a bit drier and with more egg (since my eggs seem to be smaller than their "large egg").

Although the garlic did overpower any other taste, I did manage to salvage this by adding a little fish sauce and sugar. So in the end it did not turn out so badly. However I'm so used to seeing Pad Thai with a tinge of red so I was disappointed by how colourless mine looked, but TBNR says "the vinegary tomato flavour is out of place". It might just depend on taste so tomorrow I am going to add a little bit of tomato sauce to the rest of my Pad Thai to see how it turns out.

Cooking time: 40 minutes (The noodles need to soak for 20 minutes)

This was a pretty scary task. The recipe was 2 pages long! Those who know me, will also know my attention span does not go that far. It's funny because I love to read. But ask me to read a joke or question that is 2 pages long and I will skip straight to the end just so I can get the punch line. So in order to accomplish this recipe I had to rewrite it into dot points first. Just like studying!

I think my pictures look just like the book, or close to anyway, But I had no idea what kind of string I was supposed to use in order to tie it all together so mine wasn't a perfect cylinder. But I will eventually figure it out. I really liked the tomato sauce, so much so that I wanted to drink it! It was that good. It was tomatoes, carrots and celery. Not my favourite vegies but somehow it worked. Good thing there is enough left over for tomorrow's meal.

This has been the only recipe I have attempted to take more than 30 minutes. The fact that I managed to pay attention for that long seems like an accomplishment. But in the end it was worth it because the steak was tender and sauce was the perfect blend of salty and sour since I don't really like that much salt.

Cooking time: 50 minutes
Taste: 5 stars (my favourite recipe so far)
Ease: 2 stars (It wasn't that difficult, it was just really messy to try and roll it up tight enough to tie up)

I went to the library after work today to pick up another cookbook I had on hold "Barefoot Contessa at home" by Ina Garten. I haven't actually reached the recipes and already I've learnt something new.

"When I lived in Washington D.C., I used to see cute young guys roaming around the Georgetown Safeway with a grocery cart and a cookbook, trying to shop for dinner. (For that reason, it was always considered the place to find a date for Saturday night.)"

Now there's a tip! Hahaha. Actually that wasn't what I was talking about. She gives some really useful tips on how to write a grocery list.

1. Make headings on the page: Dairy, Shelf goods, Meat & Fish, and Freezer
2. Go through each recipe and put the ingredients under the appropriate heading, if all else fails put it under Miscellaneous.
3. Write down how much you need, so you don't find that you needed the larger can when you thought you could save money by buying the smaller one. (I've never had this problem)
4. Take the list and a pen so you can cross things off (I always tell myself I need a pen when I am at the grocery store!!!)

These tips will definitely come in handy next weekend, especially if I remember a pen.

P.S. The steak isn't pink, that's ham!