The weekend the colleagues came over aagain

It took me a long time write this post because the weekend left me exhausted. The last couple of weeks have been pretty hectic at work and my system threatened to shut down when I needed it the most (when the helper is out!).

But anyway the colleagues came by again for another dinner party and this time, we yanked out the grill for a hearty feast.

I have come to realize I am always trying to cook something that I dislike - as if I were trying to discover a version that I like.

Recipe for anchovies and breadcrumb pasta HERE

Take pasta for instance, I find most variations in restaurants overly fussy, overcooked and over-sauced. I like mine al dente, ballsy and lightly dressed, which resulted in this version with slow-roasted tomatoes, panko breadcrumbs and anchovies.

Recipe for slow-roasted tomatoes HERE

My love for panko breadcrumbs and anchovies isn't newsworthy, but tomatoes? That's a whole different ballgame altogether.

I dislike tomatoes. Seedy, slimy and sourish, I only take tomatoes when I'm too lazy to pick them out of sandwiches. However, these slow-roasted tomatoes are moreish and they bear a subtly charred and sweet flavour. We can safely say, slow-roasted cherry tomatoes are here to stay for good.

Recipe for crispy potatoes HERE and lemon aioli HERE

When it comes to starch, potatoes rank way behind rice and bread. Apart from Jagabee or fries from McD's, I often consider potatoes an insipid waste of space.

Yet this recipe plus the amazing dressing is a recipe after my potato-hating heart. I personally love this recipe. The potatoes keep their crisp and the garlicky-lemony aioli (fancy words for mayo) literally grabs you by the wherever-you-like to-be-grabbed.

Oh yeah, skin-on might be a problem with some of you but I do love the extra texture (sort of rhymes) that it brings to the table.

Recipe for esquites HERE

Yes, I love corn but I love them even more charred from the stovetop, instead of yanking out the grill. When I tasted the esquites, the dish felt like it was missing the X factor, and a steady dash cayenne pepper did the trick. But here I am, typing this out and I realised I forgot to include the cheese.

For our meaty main, KW made his now-famous lo' and slo' ribs. This time round, he used a St Louis cut, instead of the usual babyback. With a more equal distribution of fat and lean meat, I loved how much tender the ribs were after a four-hour workout in the Weber.