Dainty Bites

Okay, this is certainly NOT a dish for these too-hot-to-stand-in-front-of-the-stove days. Risotto needs tender loving care like a infant. It needs constant stirring and watching. For at least 20 minutes at the stove from start to stop. If not for my ridiculous craving, it would be crazy to sweat together with the onions. Many years ago while working at an Italian restaurant, I had often seen risotto being served. Unfortunately, the feedback from the diners and kitchen was that this dish was unpopular because the Singaporean diners do no know what to make of it. Remember that was like fifteen years ago when most people were still not well travelled nor well informed. It was a pity that I didn't have the money to dine at the said Italian restaurant before it closed for good when Shangri-la did their major renovations. In the years since, I didn't encounter risotto again until the other day we ate at Bonta , where we had Barolo Braised Milk Fed Veal Shank served with parmigian

The weather is just too hot to slave away in front of a hot stove still!! Arghhh ... Dinner options were kept extremely simple with minimal preparations. I'm looking at one skillet or one pot or one dish meals as cleaning up after dinner is also unpleasant. Everything must be simple! This pasta was just that. Minimal knife-work, one pasta pot + one skillet, serving plates and forks. Dinner is served. I love pasta. Because it is a respectable lazy man dish. Because it is satisfying yet easy. Because I have too many pasta to clear out of my pantry! Tonight's dinner was born out of sheer laziness to leave the comfort of our air-conditioned house. The aircon has been working overtime these few days and no doubt we can look forward to an eye-popping utilities bill by end of the month. Hopefully the coins we have saved from dining out will be enough to pay for it. The zucchini has been sitting in the fridge for the past two weeks. I was pleasantly surprised when I found th

It is hard to know when Spring ends and when Summer starts here in Singapore. But I will take the recent heat waves as a sign that Summer is here and we are in for hotter days yet. Since I missed the boat for Spring cleaning, I might as well hop onto Summer cleaning, if there is such a thing.   But let it be said first that I hate cleaning. And I hate the hot days in Summer even more. My lifelong wish is to move to a place where the weather is more amiable than our insufferably hot and humid one. Preferable one with a housekeeper.   Since I hate cleaning, I won't be doing anything too major except to tackle those raging hotspots around the house. Ironically, our fridge is classified as a raging hotspot with too much stuff chucked into it. Just the other day when I was trying to search for some ginger, I found that I have lots of apples in the vegetable drawer. No wonder all my other vegetable and fruits in the fridge are spoiling as a fast forward speed. That's

The last beans still in its original bag which I picked up from FoodXervices is the Great Northern Beans. I can't remember why I had picked it up in the first place other than the fact that these beans are hard to find in supermarkets without costing you an arm or a leg. Think: beans from Bob's Red Mill . I had recently paid S$12+ for their packet of French green lentils. Erm ... why did I pick up those French green lentils?   Anyway, back to these jelly bean-size white beans which I had to justify their presence in my pantry. I looked up the index of cookbooks and was disappointed to find that there were only a handful of recipes which this Tuscan White Bean Soup was one of them.   The recipe has been adapted from The Best International Recipe which featured selected popular recipes from the Italian cuisine. Their version will have you soak toasted bread cubes in the soup, which didn't fly with me. I prefer dunking crunchy cubes into hot soup while I e

I have been having problems adding new posts on Blogger for the past few days and there seems to be no resolution in sight!   Aaarrghhhhh ...   In the meanwhile, I will to rely on Email Posting to get new post up.   Blogger, please resolve this problem ASAP!

I once had this conversation with a close friend: Friend: "... During my off days, I'm my son's care-giver. We would go down for breakfast, lunch and dinner at coffeeshops nearby. And then, we would ..." Me: "WHAT??!! All 3 meals??!!" Friend: "Yeah, cos my wife doesn't cook and I find it too much of a hassle to ..." (He misunderstood my wide-eyed expression as one that was judging him as a bad parent for not providing home cooked food.) Me: "No, no ... I mean, how could you decide what to eat?" Friend: "???" (He gave me a blank look.) Me: "It always takes me at least 2 hours to decide on what to eat when we are eating out." Friend: "Girl, you need help." This is the same friend (it is a miracle that he still considers me his friend) whom I had this conversation with about make decisions . When meal time hits, I would panic and chew my nails. What to eat??!! Dining out is always a challenge for m