Thursday, September 14, 2006

Culinary Creations

Practice certainly does make perfect.

It has been a while since I really cooked anything substantial - apart from making the occasional inedible pancake and burnt toast for breakfast.

Was ambitious enough to try frying some fish bites for lunch yesterday but found it almost impossible to begin, wracked with hesitant nerves. After a certain lapse of time away, the kitchen becomes a place almost terrifyingly alien to the relative beginner. Spoons and ladles start to resemble unforgivable IT thingamajigs that are nigh impossible to understand even with a multi-language manual and kitchen ovens mutate into hideously fanged monsters that drive fear into the faint of heart.

The Joys of CookingInstant microwave meals and easy-bake cakes aside, never was all that handy in the kitchen in the past since I never had much cause to cook - especially since my lovably eccentric mother derives near-orgasmic enjoyment from perfecting a dish. Practically a cause celeb for her to organize a dinner party.

It was only when I returned alone to my hometown after my housemanship that I found myself facing the stove for the first time on my own. Since I'd always grown up imagining that milk was produced by carton shaped cows and eggs grew on trees, even cooking oil seemed like a foreign substance to me. Thankfully my mother left the larder fully stocked with the latest electrical appliances all ready for my scientific experiments.

Although I have budding ambitions to be that perfect househusband and my kitchen would serve as a designer's template, I'm certainly no Martha Stewart protege and my culinary disasters are legion - running the gamut from barely toasted fish ( more like raw sushi actually ) to chicken wings burnt sadly to a crisp in the oven. There was also the cake fiasco of 2003 when the chocolate cake just refused to rise ( lack of Viagra perhaps? ).

One of my first experiments in cooking was frying Japanese tofu. For the uninitiated, it isn't actually all that easy to manage despite its deceptive simplicity. Since my first attempt was disastrous to say the least ( with the outside burnt beyond description and the insides still frozen ), generally getting the tofu crispy golden with the insides warm is certainly a feat worthy of some applause!

Still unlike my unfortunate previous attempts, my fish bites yesterday turned out perfect :) Not ready to test out my recipes on Charning Calvin yet though since I wouldn't want to risk poisoning him this early in the relationship.

17 comments:

William said...

Use the Chef Wan approach. Never measure anything. Just throw it into the pot. Feel the force...

Jay said...

Tai-tais don't have to cook, hun. That's what servants are for.

MasculinEndings said...

Cooking is for the unoriginal. What you should be doing is to perfect your skill around culinary literature. I swear, whipping up meals comes easily after that.

Anonymous said...

You know what amkes cooking better? cooking naked with just an apron on. :-)

ash said...

cook raw food! like salad and sushi and... the whole point of cooking raw food is not cooking. =)

jay: real tai-tais cook. only when they feel like it or when there are guests. they have their own specialty. servants would usually have a standard menu. boring.

Harvey said...

Yee... I've started trying my hands on baking since last week too. It's easier than I thought.... only it's like a game - Easy to learn, difficult to master

famezgay said...

well just test n trials eh... U will learn sth each time u cook eh.. Then ur culinary skills will improves by time ! And remember to treat me oh ur creations eh! :)

NeiLDC said...

Chef Paul, oops Doctor!
I never had a chance to bake a cake but i know how to decorate and make an icing for it! Yummy!
anyway i could cook some recipes.meals and others... what is your specialty then?
hmm. havent you tried cooking or having something anew while placing honey, syrups, icings, on someones body? isnt that tempting?

Anonymous said...

Don't worry about serving your meals to Charming Calvin. If they turn out bad (which I'm sure they won't), you can just go straight to dessert and have a can of whipped cream for each. :-)

Las montaƱas said...

The first test...

can you cook an egg?

I cant. next.

Diamond Stud said...

Thanks for stopping by at my page, Savante.

And thanks for the encouragement!

ikanbilis said...

i miss baking cakes. i've done marble and chocolate.. well they're instant ones.. *giggles*
but i can cook nasi tomato and ayam masak merah better than annything else. frankly, i can't even cook a proper maggie mee. and my mum uses Chef Wan's method as well. campak saja semua!

hrugaar said...

Fish bites? Sounds like a Harry Potter wizard snack, where the fish tries to bite you as you try to eat it, heh. ;o)

ENVY said...

I am sure theres a hotter guy in a hotter kitchen near a hotter oven Photo somewhere on the net to go along with your post!!!

nv

Colin said...

Chef Wan? OMG.. hope you're not that pichar-lobang?
Besides cooking is sooo overrated, being fed by a hunk in bed is much nicer.. :)

William said...

Shigeki's comment reminds of a scene where the guy does just that. Frying bacon. Then when he turns around, the oil splatters on his buns.

nyonyapenang said...

jamie oliver style oso can. chop, chop, chop, slice, slice, slice, rub, rub, rub, lick, lick, lick.....