And I made it today =) And it tasted pretty fantastic, if I dare say. Today we had practice for Malaysia Night from 4pm (which just ended at 11pm), so I packed food for some of us and it was LOH MAI KAI.

Honestly, I feel pretty bad that because my friends did not get to have a single say on what they might like to eat. To think about it, I have NEVER asked them what they would like to eat. I just cook whatever I feel like cooking and ASSUME they would eat it. Tsk tsk..

Anyways, today's pre-packed dinner was loh mai kai and BANANA OATMEAL PINEAPPLE MUFFIN. You see right, extremely healthy (well, healthier than a double chocolate chip muffin at least), without sacrificing taste, texture and flavour. Mmmm... The muffins smelt so much like goreng pisang!

Yum yum yum. Tired. There is still chicken stock left and also one serving of loh mai kai, so tomorrow is either noodle soup or loh mai kai again. Hhhhmm..

From the previous post, I hope to imply that food is not just about food per se.

PHOTO from rasamalaysia.com

Inspired by this.

Coming to UK from a country where cost of living is exponentially lower, where food is cheap and versatile, it is certainly a necessity to cook for oneself. A decent meal here costs at least £6 = RM31.40. A decent meal at home would costs RM6.

I am already hearing voices of people around me saying that we should not measure the costs with this method. In economics, it would be measured dollar to dollar (in this case, pound to ringgit). But how am I to measure it in such a way when the money I am using was earned back in Malaysia, where it is suppose to get a bowl of noodle for RM5, not RM30. So, I cook out of necessity.

It is not the only reason (far from the main reason, in fact). I could easily survive on just a few types of dishes, just seven or less dishes, rotated on a weekly basis. For people who know me well enough (or anyone who have eaten together with me) would know that I am not a picky eater. I easily find food delicious, even more so since coming here. The number of food that I take here that I would never have touched back home is enormous (to name a few: carrots, aubergines, lady fingers, peas..etc...).

I love food. Although I would be satisfied with a fixed diet, why just be satisfied when I can be ecstatic? I love love love love everything about food. Food makes me happy, every aspect of it.

The purchase of ingredients, I can easily spend hours in the aisles of Tesco's (which I do at least once every week, always making a round, sometimes more, at the baking aisle). I get agitated when I do not find the things I need and am willing to go through considerable hassle to get it (including a trip to Coventry just for it, as in the case of pork bones for lotus root soup).

Preparation, usually a detestable chore for some, but not for me. I can stay in the kitchen (unless it is unkept, like how my kitchen usually is) and prepare all the ingredients. I am sure I have spent more than two hours in the kitchen here preparing the ingredients, chopping, washing, blanching, peeling..etc... When there is no time constraint, I do find it therapeutic getting my hands down and dirty with chicken meat, deboning it then marinating it. It is so satisfying when the marination works wonderfully!

Then comes the cooking, which honestly, I find it particularly stressful, because there is many things that could go so wrong. Resulting in a burnt, overcooked dish and a waste of ALL my effort from step one. I also like to multi-task while I cook (usually cooking and cleaning up at the same time), to save time and also use up the energy while it is still there. It is very boring just standing there just staring at the food, although many cooks would espouse it as a critical thing to do.

And of course, the final (and possibly most satisfying) factor would be to enjoy the food! I always find myself gorging on the food I cook (in fact, any food that anyone cooked). I love the flavour in my mouth and the trail it leaves behind. I like it "fresh" too, which means I eat fast so the flavour is constantly full until the very last mouthful. Although some would we appreciate food better when taken slowly, but not for me. I try so very hard to take it slow, but it ALWAYS slip my mind, it takes tremendous conscious effort.

The other reason (which is also equally important) is that I love to cook (and do things, in general) for friends. As cheesy as it sounds, I love cooking for friends. If it were not for my friends (especially the ones here) who are glad (I hope) to eat the food I prepare (and subject themselves as my guinea pigs), I do not think I would have cooked half the things I did. That is why even though I cook for my friends, I do feel like I should be the one saying, "Thank you", because they trust their dinners to me. Silly, but none the less, that is how I feel. Thank you to all those who I have cooked for, really. Hopefully you have not forced down anything disgusting because of my cooking and never will XD

I am going to say one last thing, which may sound ludicrous but to me, it holds true. The most important ingredient to any dish is company. Do you find that food usually taste much better when there is someone else enjoying food together with you? How often would you go all the way alone just for a good meal? Usually, we would be content with something that fills our stomach. I am so thankful, extremely extremely extremely, amazingly thankful that I have Yu Min in the same floor to have dinner with. Dinners (and university) would be so different without her (I shall not blabber about her here, it is saved for a post on its own). I am glad I do not have to eat dinner alone.

OK, one very very very last thing. I noticed something amazingly interesting about myself in regards... to what else? FOOD. I find that I crave for food less when I am cooking or brain-storming on dishes to cook. Ooooh. Should it not be the opposite?

Tomorrow is my free day, so I am preparing some (hopefully) yummy food for some of us dancers to bring to practice so we can eat during intervals, as practice starts really early at 4pm. Malaysian Night is drawing really near. It is going to be good, I am very sure.

Who would have thought bread-making could be so difficult? And SO EXTREMELY smelly.

Yesterday, I attempted to make Momofuku's famous pork buns.

Momofuku is a 2 Michelin stars restaurant in New York. Extremely popular, extremely delicious (I would assume). Its owner/chef is David Chang, extraordinarily inspiring. He is not quite like any other celebrity chef. His restaurant only accepts online booking and there is no special treatment for anyone, not even celebrities. Momofuku serves American and Asian fusion.

One point to note: I rarely like (even despise) fusion food. Some things are not meant to be added together: pasta sauce together with rice, the most atrocious would be those Hong Kong styled cha chan teng (tea restaurant shops). Extremely ridiculous mixture of ingredients. Even reading the description would turn me off.

On the other hand, David Chang's concoctions do not raise such distaste in me. In fact, they sound fabulously delicious. Yums! There are many other reasons to love this chef David Chang.

Watch this. And you will know why. And if you have more time, like an hour, this.

He is now one of my role model, the only other would be Galen Rowell, a nature photographer based in California which I was introduced to while I was in USA.

As I mentioned above, I attempted one of Momofuku's signature dishes: pork buns. (I would LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE to try the actual ones when I am ever in New York! Hello Guan Huan.)

So, the recipe called for buns to be accompanied with the pork. It can be bought, but me being adventurous, I tried my hand at making the bread.

Utter miserable FAIL! Never have I failed so badly in baking. Until yesterday, I never knew that things can go so wrong that all the time and effort spent produced nothing (other than a list of things NOT to do).

Not only did I have to THROW EVERYTHING AWAY, the clean up was extremely time-consuming. The yeast dough went too soft and sticky, making it useless AND difficult to clean, it stuck to everything, like glue. Unfathomable smelly glue.

I am dubious whether I should ever try again. But not so soon. It was traumatising.

I got another cooking book. Bless my family never finds out about this, ever. Another reason I idolise David Chang, he dared to go against his parents' wishes. A big taboo in Asian culture, definitely.

Cheers.

P/S: Thankfully the £6 pork turned out alright. Not perfect or close to it, but still edible and delicious with hoisin sauce.

The recipe can be found here.

Maybe a bit too much.

Thinking about recipes gets me excited. It is the main cause of my sleepless night.

A bit too much. I cannot concentrate on anything else.

Chinese New Year is coming~

I shall do my very best for Chinese New Year. Try my best to make it no different from every other new years we have had, as much as possible.

Feels like everyone is putting in the same effort, which feels very enlightening.

Maybe a Chinese New Year away from home is not that bad after all.

Lots to do for "reunion" dinner. Enjoying every minute of it.

We had the perfect excuse to create a feast last Thursday (together with the surprise of the year, to date!)

Of course we had to do something right? (Especially after the "wonderful" face painting on my birthday.)

The surprise... Too long to elaborate. I will skip to the FOOD!

There was so much food that day. We had pork ball noodles, seri muka and the awesome-st chocolate cheese brownies. Bad me for not taking more photos of the food.

A fraction of the stuff for dinner.

Three tier of 500g mince pork. The pork ball (surprisingly) turned out wonderfully. Thanks to the recipe on this site http://kongkay1.blogspot.com/2007/05/yoo-chee-mee-sua-revisitedrevised-pork.html

We made the pork noodle based on that recipe (certainly not for the faint-hearted). In the end, there was enough leftovers for another 3 meals for two people. Wow! The cost = £2 per person, including dessert (not cake).

Thank goodness there is death. For if there was none, the pig inside there would have suffered in hell for way too long.

Pork ball extraordinaires=) Thanks to them the pork ball tasted so good (and Swarna will go, "That sounds so wrong." when she sees this) Oh, caramel pros too.

Just had to post this up=) Doing illegal activities in the kitchen.

Cake of the year! With the chef (aka girlfriend). Haha.. No wonder it tasted so good.

P/S: OK, so this is not the average post for a cooking/baking blog. Oh well.

Ever watched a cooking show? Ever noticed that other than the preparation table, the rest of the place would be filled with multifarious utensils for baking, cooking. Ever seen those huge jars they use to keep flour and an equally large one for sugar?