whine & dine

So I’ve never been a huge fan of Valentine’s Day (originally Saint Valentine’s Feast(?) – now I would probably be a bigger fan of the occasion if it was all about feasting, wouldn’t I?) since I’m not a fan of pink, nor heart-shaped things, and especially not pink, heart-shaped things which are staining my plates in over-charging restaurants and garnished with rose petals or something of the sort.

Besides, I’ve always been one of those buy-you-flowers-for-no-reason-even-though-I-don’t-like-flowers types, and I just think presents are so much more meaningful if they just come from you just because instead of because it’s Valentine’s Day and if I don’t get you a present then I’m a bad girlfriend.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t like receiving vday presents. :) Especially if they’re self-serving ones like the latest addition to my stash of recipe books. She’s so clever she bought me Donna Hay’s Instant Entertaining ‘cos she’s seen the obsessive-compulsive menu planner in me over the past few weeks of entertaining.. what starter goes with what main and what dessert would give a good light finish to an already heavy meal or perhaps I should do smaller main courses so I can have a richer dessert since I know they love my cheesecake but then again I want to play with my blow torch so we should try different crème brulée recipes instead of sticking with the same ol’….. and so on.

Anyway. Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you out there, hope the couples have a lovely, mushy, pink-petals-and-heart-shaped-jellies kinda vday, and the singles have fun (at Que Pasa) drinking and cursing the couples. I’m gonna be at home cooking laksa pesto for the love of my life. Will post pictures for you guys tomorrow or something. :)

xx

PS: Can I just say that the best part about the present is that I now have something else to scan into my library. I’m such a freak. I know. It’s like how what I was proudest about regarding the degustation madness wasn’t so much that I pulled off a 9 course dinner all on my own, without even dragging it on for like 6 hours, but that I made a pretty collage with pretty borders that I could post on my blog. I’m such a sad, sad person.

There’s molten chocolate cake in my fridge, waiting for consumption. I think there are 3 in the fridge, one I presume automatically goes to Grace, but the other two are up for grabs. First come first serve.

PS: GA315 was HORRIFIC. Don’t watch it until you have gotten your hands on 16 17 – apparently it’s a three part-er. GREAT. I was swearing at the computer for a good 2 minutes.

&ot

And behold my cooking prowess! Every single item in this 9-course extravaganza (except the burger buns – because I didn’t have time) was prepared, shaped, presented, plated, and served by yours truly.

The rest of the photos – along with the names and descriptions of each course – can be viewed in this magnificently drool-inducing photoset. (The ego will deflate to its usual size and regain some sense of modesty in a couple of days.)

Apparently, in light of sensitivity towards Muslims, this coming new year – according to the Chinese zodiac – isn’t going to be called “The Year of the Pig”. Instead, it’s going to be referred to as “The Year of Abundance” or something of the sort. I’m not sure how true this is, but someone’s colleague read this somewhere or… something.

Maybe it’s just me, but doesn’t that kind of equate ‘pigs’ to ‘abundance’? Isn’t that, then, causing a deeper insensitivity – since now anything that’s referred to as abundant is going to instrinsically be corelated to pigs, as per this new substitution.

Sometimes traditions are better left as they are – I mean, I don’t mean any offense to Muslims around the world, but if you guys have gotten on fine every 12 years whenever there is a Year of the Pig, what’s wrong with leaving it as it is? Racial/cultural problems often exist/worsen because of two things – 1. insensitivity toward a certain race/culture, and 2. oversensitivity toward certain races/cultures. This one is definitely falling into the latter.

Furthermore, considering how 2007-2008 is purportedly the best year for pigs, it’s kinda sad that their year is being stripped of its title, don’t you think? How are the Chinese going to feel about that?

Tonight’s (or, by now, last night’s) scaled down trial tasting menu went off with nary a hitch in sight, and I’m quite pleased with myself. In spite of the scalded palm and lack of gas, I even managed to get everything prepared – apart from the stuff that needed to be done on the spot at least – slightly over an hour ahead of schedule. :)

I also seem to be getting better at estimating portions, so if all goes well, none of you will go home needing your stomachs pumped next week when the full-fledged gastronomic mayhem ensues.

Anyway, I’ve posted a couple of pictures on flickr, including one of my impromptu volunteer taste-tester looking very happy halfway through her mini-burger (pictured right), and another one of my mixed berry pavlova (which you guys won’t be getting next week).

Next weekend, I hope to have better photos since I think Ashwin’s going to help me shoot (I’m assuming that I’m going to be more stressed since the number of portions I need to plate and serve will be twice as much as today, and there will be a couple more items on the menu which I couldn’t figure out how to scale down enough to include today) and since I shouldn’t be making the same presentation mistakes that may have occurred today.

Alrighty, the previous 24-hour-cooking-marathon has left me completely exhausted so I’m going to go crash.

Over and out.