whine & dine

It’s not quite this cold here, but it’s great to finally be having a cold Christmas in a place I’ve learnt to call home, with you finally next to me. :)

(Also, I don’t have any Christmassy pictures ‘cos I’m too full from the massive feast we had to take anything Christmassy to post up here. Haha.)

But anyhoo, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to one and all! I hope all of you are having a Christmas that’s as satisfying and warming-towards-the-cockles-of-your-heart as mine is.

I’m really more of a cook than a baker. I like the heat of the kitchen, the reliance on taste, sight, smell and feel to prepare and execute a dish whose flavours meld together on a warmed dinner plate, hastened by that rush of adrenaline where everything has to be brought together, seasonings corrected, and plated to be served in the last 60 seconds. But it’s not to say that I don’t enjoy baking – baking to me is something to be done on lazy afternoons, or in the middle of the night. When I have a craving that needs to be satiated, or when I want to gift someone with a homemade present (a plate of pasta really wouldn’t survive sitting around for a couple of hours, wrapped up in foil, before it is consumed), it is usually to baked goods that I turn. Keep reading →

Sadly, the most important meal of the day is also often the most neglected. Because I’m the farthest thing you could find from a “morning person”, I’m rarely in the mood to cook anything that takes longer than 3 minutes to rustle up. In other words, my breakfasts – when they actually manifest as a meal separate from lunch – are generally limited to cereal, toast, or quick-cooking oatmeal.

This week however, we’ve got a friend staying with us. And while we’ve been averaging 6 food-stops a day (I hesitate to call them meals, since some of them aren’t more than coffee and a snack), we’ve started the last three days with breakfast at home – something I wish I take the time to do more often, only it never really feels worth it to go through the trouble just for myself. Keep reading →

If I were to be completely honest, I’m not a huge fan of yoghurt. I don’t particularly like it plain, and I don’t even really like the fruity versions (apart from the strawberry-flavoured Meiji single-serve tubs I used to find in Cold Storage in Singapore). But this? I love. Keep reading →