Pavlova

For the pass few weeks, I have been having the urge to make Trifle. I always love them. However, there is this side of me that would gag at the thought of making Trifle. There’s something about it that feels wrong.  I can make Tiramisu with no issue, but Trifle? Urgh...There are other people who gag at the thought of meat handling but would nonetheless enjoy steaks and burger, I experience the same with trifle. It’s embarrassing, but I just cannot shake it off. So what do I do?  I made Pavlova instead.

Usually, I would brush off Pavlova recipes because they seem too froufrou to me. Who has time for that? But then again, my sister—who doesn’t know to cook a thing—had made this a few times. So, it cannot be that hard, right? And last week or so, when I saw a tweet with a very inviting picture of Pavlova, I knew I had to make it. So, I did.

It’s my first time making Pavlova and I have no frame of reference on how it should taste like. I didn’t have any high expectation on it. I just needed an excuse to eat something sweet, I mean, fruity. And then, I had my first bite. Wow. I was taken to another place. It was light and pillowy, just enough sweetness, and the cream, I mean the fruit, just enhanced the experience. Wow. 

Sure, it could have been better. But that hit the spot with my Trifle craving, and I am actually not gagging at the thought of making it. You know what? I will make this again. Will you be my guest?

Recipe Inspiration:
Three-Layer Berry and Brown Sugar Pavlova from Gourmet Magazine (via Epicurious)

2013 All-Clad Factory Outlet Sale

I was so happy when I saw the ad above on my Facebook newsfeed. But, it didn’t last long. Mr. P reminded me that he won’t be able to drive me on that day. Yes, I am an independent woman who cannot drive. Oh, well. I’ll just wait until the next sale event at the end of this year. But to everyone else who is interested, here are the details:

Location:
Washington County Fairgrounds, Washington PA

Dates and Hours:

Friday, May 31st from 9am-7pm
Saturday, June 1st from 9am-4pm


The Washington County Fairground is about forty minutes to an hour outside of Pittsburgh. It’s worth the trip. I can’t want to return myself. Now, I will just continue daydreaming about which pots and pans I shall get next. La, la, la, la, la….

SXSW 2013

I was in Austin for a week for the SXSW Film Festivals. The weather was nice and the food was great, but the only pictures I took were of Dave Grohl and Jared Leto. My thirteen-year-old self would have fainted with the sight of these two guys, but my matured self tried to act composed while the heart was filled with juvenile glee.

Dave Grohl was there to present his documentary “Sound City.” Here’s the trailer.

Jared Leto was there to present his documentary “Artifact.”

While I enjoy both of the documentaries above, my favorite movie from the Festival is Joss Whedon’s version of Shakespeare “Much Ado about Nothing.” I can’t wait for it to be on DVD/Netflix so that I can watch it over an over again :-D

Sunday Lazy Sunday

It is Sunday and I just didn’t feel a particularly motivated to do anything. Did I mention that it is Sunday? Thank goodness for my Magic Freezer I could still have homemade Johor Laksa in less than 10 minutes. Lucky me!

I didn’t have the condiments needed for a typical Johor Laksa and I substituted them with tomatoes and asparagus. Thus, the “fusion."

Recipe Inspired by:
Johor Laksa by Chef Wan
Johor Laksa by WendyKK from Table for 2… or More

Tips from Around the World (Wide Web)

Photo took by Mr.  P.

I don’t remember when I first learn to make pasta or fried potatoes. And for the longest time, I did them the same way. For pasta, I started with a pot full of water, bring it to boil, add pasta to it, and cook until al-dente. For deep-frying potatoes, I always wait for the oil to heat up before adding the potatoes. Well… all that changed after the Internet.

A Different Way to Make Pasta

This is how I usually make my pasta now—especially Thin Spaghetti. I would start with covering the pasta with cold water in a shallow pan and heat it up to medium high to high heat. While it cooks, I would prepare the ingredients for the sauce and stir the pasta every now and then.

I typically use the same pot to make the sauce. Sometimes, it involves simply reheating the frozen pasta sauce. If it is too thick or too dry, I would add the pasta water reserved earlier to the sauce and season it accordingly. Then, simply turn off the heat, toss the pasta into the sauce, and dinner is served.

A Different Way to Fry Potatoes

I could not find any video for this. But I read in a few places about cooking potatoes in cold oil. This is the only way I fry my potatoes now. Basically I would put a layer of cut potato in a pot, cover it in oil and turn the heat up to medium to medium high. Way less mess and a perfect for dinner for two.

Here are a couple links that discuss this method in more details:
An Easy Way to Make French Fries from NY Times Diner’s Journal blog
French Fries the Robuchon way from Matthew Kayhara

Two-Different Ways to Peel a Head of Garlic Quickly

I usually buy peeled garlic. But I find the tips above to be helpful in the event that I have a whole garlic instead of peeled garlic.

A Different Way to Make Corn of the Cobb

Can you imagine making corn-on-the-cobb without having to deal with those pesky silk? If you don’t think if that’s possible, please watch the video above. Simply amazing. The wonder of microwave.

I have to admit, internet helps me a lot with my cooking. With all the endless articles, forums, blog posts, and of course, YouTube videos, I have a lot to learn. Maybe next time I can share you my favorite cooking show on the net and, you too, can share some of the tips you learn from the world wide web.

Organized Chaos

Clutter is my kryptonite. I can be paralyzed by it. Unfortunately for me, I am not a perfectionist. So instead of super straightened out place, I have an organized chaos. Nothing is in the center and everything else is tucked away. To an untrained eyes, it might look neat. But as a word of warning, DO NOT open the door, and we shall live in peace. For awhile at least, until one of us forget about the rule and lets the clutter rules.

For some unknown reason, today I peeped behind one of the doors. The virtual door. The door that keeps the clutter aside on this blog. The door called Drafts folder. It was a point of no return.

Apparently I had a lot of unpublished posts. Like real life, most of the clutters in my draft folder were junks. They were a combination of posts that are somewhat whiny like complaining about how hard life is, and somewhat fluffy like the crush I had on fictional characters—Jordan Catalano and Jesse St. James. I’m grinning just by writing those names. What am I? A sixteen-year-old? Goodness, no! So, I just had to delete those drafts. While not all of the unpublished posts are junk, all of them were definitely half-baked. Here is a peek at my virtual clutter.

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One thing I struggled a lot as a child was that no one thought highly of me. I was the oldest from four. But, I didn't possess the qualities other adults would associate with a typical first born. My brother was the smart one, my sister was the well-behaved one, my youngest sister was the funny one. I was... the wild-card.

My parents never brag about me. Well, there was nothing to brag about—I was a child. But being a child didn’t stop other parents to brag about their kids. Nonetheless, instead of being sad, I convinced myself that I was secretly awesome, and no one else could see it. Deluded, I know.

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I have all kind of ideas flowing all day. I have a lot of stories to tell. I want  to write it all. But as soon as I click "New Post," and the text editor is in front of me—whoops—suddenly everything is gone. Where? I don't know. I call this a blog's block—an identical twin to a writer's block.

Maybe it is not blog's block. Maybe the ideas were not fully formed, maybe the stories were too fragmented, maybe  I was just full of myself (syok sendiri in Malay).

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Including my current apartment, I've had nine different mailing addresses as an an adult.

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I could put this post aside as a draft too. But what do I have lose? Let me click “Publish” this time.