I have said that I’m not fond of cooking but ironically, I love cookbooks and I’ll usually check them out at bookstores. I have quite a few of them at home but I never seem to optimise them in any sense. Sometimes I pick up something interesting, I experiment and promptly forget about it all. Other than Gavin flipping through occasionally, the books are, well, just lying in the drawers.
The thing is that I haven’t got much time or interest in the kitchen. As such, daily cooking in our household is left to the maid. Every morning, I’ll just pen down on a piece of paper what should be cooked for the day and she’ll take care of the rest. With this arrangement, the problem is after a while, there is a serious lack of variety because she doesn’t know too many dishes to begin with.
So yesterday, I dug out all my cookbooks to study for new dishes. Instead of just reading them and forgetting, I wrote out some of the recipes I’ve picked out in one of my many notepads. By writing it down, it’ll be a whole lot easier for me to remember what to buy at the supermarket or wet market when I bring my notepad along. Moreover, most of these are simple dishes I already know and a matter of varying the methods or ingredients to cook with.
And that’s how my shopping list this week has expanded to include pig’s tail, lily flower, lilybulbs, Chinese chives, Chinese mushrooms and satay sauce. Okay, nothing exotic but something more exciting for the tummy. *Ahem* I hope lah.
I’m not interested in cooking but more interested in eating..
Ashes: I know…
Lucky you got mummy to cook for you!
Comment by Ashes — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 @ 3:34 pm
Lily flower is exotic.. What are you cooking with it?
I love cook books too.. I always get one for myself for my birthday or Christmas.. so I have tonned or them, and probably only used a few recipes out of this heaps of books. You think it’s a female desease?
ZM: Lily flower is exotic? Heh. I didn’t think so. I’m going to use it for soup. Mix it with pork and beancurd. Disease? Maybe. But that applies to some men too cos my husband also likes to buy cookbooks and rarely refer to them.
Comment by zara's mama — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 @ 5:23 pm
I have no interest in cooking but i love cook books as well (i got ulterior motives lah). I would buy them for my mum and she’ll gather new ideas from there…she cooks then i get to eat lor..hehe…
Eileen: Wahaha…you lucky woman! Got mummy to cook for you! I also want leh…
Comment by Eileen — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 @ 5:51 pm
Cooking is easy …. feel it in your heart.
Perhaps you may like to look into our international foodie blog http://ieatthereforeiam.blogspot.com
All the best to your effort.
Comment by ganchau — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 @ 10:46 pm
I bought a few but have stopped. Realised that I’m too lazy to unpack my books so I prefer to search for the recipes online.
Comment by domestic rat — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 @ 11:51 am
Somebody is cooking this weekend! :g
I love to own cook book too but seldom refer too… Hahaha
Comment by wtpgrr — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 @ 8:12 pm
How can you not love cooking, Sesame?
If Choo can cook, so can you!
Cooking gives me a feeling of power. When you become so oooooo good at cooking, you need not follow recipe books anymore. I feel like a witch in Macbeth, where can just throw in anything I want and come up with a tasty concoction. Read my earlier entries about my cooking experience in Canada. I did not even know how to make coffee…. just threw in coffee beans into the pot… no wonder no aroma! The lady who interviewed me for a housekeeper’s job for the summer months had a great shock…. but she still hired me…. Hence I had to learn fast…today I am a self taught chef!
ganchau: I’ve also been like that. Blame it on the home econs teacher who called me hopeless just because I forgot to bring my apron. :razz: I’m just not creative in this department. Unlike my husband. He can eat something and more or less know the ingredients and thereafter whip up something in the likes.
Comment by ganchau — Sun, 3 Sep 2006 @ 10:26 am
Don’t know how many domestic science (in those days we call them that) teachers had suppressed and murdered many an effort by students to learn how to cook and sew. I remember I was always filled with fear and worry on the eve of my cookery lessons… somehow or other, I knew the teacher would bark at a lot of things… forgettting to bring this and that; messy table, untidy arrangement, etc.
Comment by ganchau — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 @ 8:48 am