20051229

Yesterday fried tofu with beansprouts in the wok. The order of placement in the wok was supposed to be oil, spices and chilli, tofu, beansprouts; but I forgot and added the tofu before the chilli and spices. Not sure if that's the reason, but the result was not as spicy as I had hoped for.

Today, fried chicken liver with sliced carrot in the pan. Tried adding 片栗粉/potato starch to the liver before cooking, to see if it would have the same effect as it does on meat. Well, it does. The surface of the pieces of liver remained soft and did not get hard. Kind of miss the firm texture of liver fried without the starch, though. Also, there was too much liquid when I mixed the liver and starch, so this starch suspension coated the pan and got burnt. Must drain properly next time.

Got round to preparing salted eggs too, today.

20051222

Yesterday's meal was chicken fried in the wok with ladies' fingers/okra added in. It was alright, but could have done with more thought given to the seasoning. Today, boiled chicken liver with golden mushrooms/enoki. Unfortunately, did not put much effort into it taste-wise. Used too much water as well. Ah well, it did not taste bad, just flat.

As you can see, I have not been doing much in the kitchen. Does not mean that I am not eating well, though. Just eating out.

20051203

Today I just made some cocktail sausages since it was the first birthday of a friend's kid and there was a party at church. Ingredients: cucumber, ham, pineapple (used canned slices, but fresh would be even better), cocktail sausages, smoked cheese (but any kind of semi-hard cheese will do) and quail eggs. Sliced the cucumber, ham, pineapple and cheese. Boiled the quail eggs and peeled them. Boiled the sausages. Took toothpicks, and impaled the ingredients in the following order: cucumber, ham, cucumber, pineapple, sausage, cheese, egg. Feel free to use any order. Back home the basic ingredients are sausage and pineapple, with the others being common additions too. Decided to use as many as I could fit on the toothpick.