whine & dine

&t

Apparently, there’s been a sudden dearth of I went to XYZ restaurant and it was AWESOME-esque posts, and I guess as most of you can gather, I’ve been doing a lot more cooking now that we’ve moved out of the rabbit hutch and into a bear cave with a grown up kitchen. Tonight we had another friend and her partner over for dinner, and I’m feeling quite proud of myself for two reasons: 1) I managed to make a mushroom gravy (I won’t call it mushroom juice anymore okayyyy) that I actually liked! Hooray! And, 2) I MADE CRÈME BRULÉE.

Of course it helps that I have a blow torch and flaming crème brulées to caramelize the sugar was totally the coolest party trick ever, but to be honest I was really worried for a bit ‘cos the custard didn’t seem to want to set for a while. Thankfully, it didn’t ‘grow’ too thick/hard/overcooked-custard-y skin on top, and it was yummy! I love vanilla! I love vanilla beans/pods! Long live vanilla farmers!

The menu for tonight’s dinner consisted of fillet steaks (done medium) with a mushroom cream and red-wine reduction gravy, served on a bed of garlic mash with garlic and rosemary roasted new potatoes and a simple salad. (Yes, there were a lot of potatoes but said friend loves potatoes so what can I say right?) Dessert was vanilla crème brulée.

For once, I didn’t over-cook (not cook too long, but cook too much) which I have a tendency of doing (I usually assume that all normal people eat the same amount that bunny, Steph and I do). So there we go. I’m a full-fledged housewife (and part time reluctant student), but hey this is totally the life to lead. And evidently my friends aren’t complaining ‘cos a friend came over yesterday to partake of the leftover bak kut teh which she very cleverly reserved, and the following conversation ensued:

Grace: I hope Yirong comes back in March!
me: Yeah me too.. but she doesn’t know if she’s going to yet right?
Grace: No, I don’t think so. I hope she comes back in March. If she comes back in March, it only means ONE THING……..
me: Huh, what?
Grace: YOU’LL COOK!!!!

(I was very flattered but a bit hurt on Yi’s behalf only it was really funny la so hahah oh well.)

Couldn’t be arsed to take photos (as usual) but the steaks were very pretty (I have a grill pan hurhur) and anyway there are other photos in my memory card which need to be uploaded. Hurrrr.

Okay lah. Enough rambling. Time to watch TV and vegetate. Will try to remember to take photos either tomorrow or Sunday when we’re also entertaining. Ngearrgghhhh I’m tired.