what happened was that a singaporean friend of hers prepared the mouthwatering dish for a gathering and since then, it has been on her mind. its funny how we stood outside the supermarket for about ten minnutes discussing the difference between curries from taiwan and singapore and the essential ingredients you simply HAVE to add to create an extra oophm.
this wasn't my first foodie encounter for the week as metz, a londoner, was explaining to me that he had once tasted a chicken dish from a chinese restaurant and it sealed its position as his favourite. unfortunately, he just could not recall what it was called and could describe it as being 'sweet'.. as a result, he was unable to re-order it and had been frustrated whenever he was served sweet and sour chicken instead. so i asked him what it contained..
and he replied, "cashew nuts" ..
the first dish that came to my mind was kung-pao chicken but he was unable to verify its name so i asked if it contained dried chilis and he nodded enthusistically.. so there we solved the Mystery of the Elusive Kung-Pao Chicken.. and as he lived in my residence hall, we even made plans to try cooking it.. haha..
isn't food a great bonding subject?
well i think i am going to overdose on bread over the weekend. out of sheer gluttony and my inability to resist a bargain, i bought a 1.45kg loaf of dark rye bread! believe me, even lugging it off and on the dining table requiries a substantial amount of effort.. but its BREADDDDDDD! thus: resistance is futile.
it was time for something fishy for dinner. i made teriyaki salmon pasta. it was a un-tried-and-tested recipe because i couldn't find one on the internet. though the ingredients i used remained on the safe side, believe me (the rice burner), there was always a possibility things would screw up.while the pasta was cooking, i browned the onions and garlic (no oil here) hoping to enhance their aroma. then i added the oil, teriyaki sauce and salmon together, adding a generous spoonful of honey (thanks to elena) and two cheese slices to create a more volumous flavour. after roughly dicing the salmon, the cooked pasta was tossed in and the dish was done after a dash of pepper and salt. like i said, there wasn't a written recipe and every ingredient thrown in was 'basic instinct 101'.. *crosses fingers.
turns out the exploratory attempt received widespread praise (yes, amongst deprived exchange students) but to justify its popularity, it wasn't like just three people in the kitchen.. more like SEVEN or EIGHT! -a moment of silence please, gloat session is in place- i was on cloud nine when johanna said, "you can cook whatever we order in restaurants".. haha, she should perhaps refrain from visitng the asian restaurants she usually patronises..
well, i'll take the compliment in full stride nonetheless. i shall try to convince andi to make fish a weekly affair since it is such a treat.. "ohhh, Fish Friday" - music to my ears. of course, there was dessert, magaret and birget bought frozen choux pastry.. though it wasn't anything like beard papa's, who was i to complain? i'll settle for anything sweet and icecream-like anytime!
the apple-topped dish is actually lucas's dinner and though i managed a little self-control tonight, the last time he made it, i helped myself to a hefty portion as it reminded me so much of bread and butter pudding. featuring apples, bread and loads of cavities-damaging ingredients, it was an adaption of a german dessert that roughly translates to "snow white something something".. haha.. the amazing thing was that the main ingredients he used would have succumbed to expiration soon.. so in a dash of brilliance, lukas made do with what he had and voila, an irresistable treat was born!
oh is it actually getting warmer here?
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