THE REASON I BAKE AND COOK
Friday, October 19, 2012
My mother once said (actually, I this was just last week) to me that women can't just study hard and work hard to get a good job career, but it's crucial that they know their way around the kitchen. They should need to know how to cook well, serve well, and entertain well, as well.
It is maybe for this reason that I've grown to enjoy the environment of the kitchen so much, especially when preparing foods for other people to enjoy.
I will forever love crispy pan-fried salmon with a pool of sweet soy sauce and soft onions.
Mommy also emphasized the importance of food presentation. She said that when it looks more appealing to the eye, it becomes more appealing to the mouth. Is it not?
Enoki mushrooms with bulgogi and broccoli.
Are you not convinced? Let me work some magic and convince you.
Okay I lied.
Forgive me, as there is no magic, but simply pictures which might make you DROOOOOL.
Now, can you please agree and nod your head with me that this picture above is visually inferior to this?:
Tadah! Bibimbap prior to mixing.
I did not have any gochujang (red pepper paste) a couple of weeks ago, and had to make do with the put-on-everything-you-can Sriracha hot sauce, some sesame oil and soy sauce. It still tasted really yummy!
But sometimes, there are some foods that just don't seem to look very appealing no matter how much you like to eat it. Let's turn your attention to the image below:
Gooey slimy, funny smelling, but still tastes good (at least to me)!
It's called natto, or in English, fermented soybeans. You're supposed to mix it before eating it, with an optional addition of mustard which comes included in a small little packet. The more you mix it, the more the mustard gets distributed (no duh), and the more slimy it gets. I don't think I could ever make this look good to the eyes unless you originally enjoy slimy stuff (which could happen!).
Oh yes, and I finally bought gochujang last week, and began to make everything I could with a spoonful of it.
Julienned red peppers, onions, fish cake, and a soft boiled egg.
It seems to me that you can make anything taste delicious with a spoonful of that yummy spicy red stuff. And that's exactly what I did. I stir-fried it with eggplant, broccoli, carrots...
And I love runny egg yolks. I think spicy stuff tastes really good with egg (boiled though, boiled eggs, but I suppose they can be boiled to any stage of your liking. Just boil some eggs to go along with your spicy food : D).
My mom and I spent a great deal of time together in shopping malls, and second to that I would say is in the kitchen. We make dinner together, cookies together, and for Thanksgiving, we make kimchi together.
I had to julienne 2 big radishes. But it was fun :)
After you soak it in salt, it goes all flimsy and crunchy.
My mom made the kimchi paste and smothered it between all the leaves of the napa cabbage.
We ended up with five jars of kimchi: radish and cabbage.
I love eating this because it's so versatile. Not only can you eat cold right out of the fridge, you can make fried rice with it. You can stew some pork and make soup with it. You can mix some flour, add some meat and various veggies and make a pancake with it.
I couldn't wait to try some, so I had a good sampling right after mommy mixed it.
The nasty looking thing on the left is steamed eggplants with onions and my yummy sauce.
The one food that gets me pissed whenever I want to take a picture of it is definitely eggplants. They never look like how they do in real life (but then again, after they are cooked, they still never look so good in person).
So I now officially give up taking pictures of eggplant dishes. *wave white flag*
To continue on with the Korean food that I've been making a lot more lately,
Soon Tofu
Which is essentially red chilli pepper soup with whatever you want inside, and tofu. Oh yes, and topped with an egg (or two in the photo above). My best-friend/girlfriend and I love soon tofu and so I made a good serving for both of us - and more. Best to be eaten with rice, but also very good alone, this flavourful soup will keep you wanting for more~
The French toast that was better than before.
Remember me talking about the French toast from Phoenix? We really craved for it one night (although we secretly wish to eat it every night), and I made it. But with extra oil this time, so when I pan-fried it, it would be more crispy and a slight bit closer to resembling the one in Phoenix (they deep fry theirs, so mine is still a loooong way from theirs). Oh, and let's not forget the nice layer of peanut butter sandwiched in between and the pool of condensed milk (we didn't have syrup!) on top.
Japanese cheesecake
I bought 6, or 7 bricks of cream cheese last week because they were on sale for 2$ a brick. And it was the nice Philly cream cheese too! (Should have bought more...)
What's the difference between a Japanese cheesecake and your typical New York style one? This one is much fluffier, almost opposite to its counterpart. It's crumbs are much more fine, yet it's kind of custard-y because it is still a cheesecake. Oh yes, and for one cake you only need one 250g brick of cream cheese. Whereas you have to shell out a much larger sum of money for the three bricks needed for the New York style cheesecake.
I didn't have much things to work with when decorating, so just simple chocolate plaques, a yogurty cream, topped with peaches and green tea powder. I think I will top this with red bean next time...
Oh! And it was during the decorating of this cake that I felt the most comfortable in my new kitchen ^^
So with this cake, I shall re-confirm the title of my blog, which is indeed, YKCAKE.
*Yay* And here is me giving a big high five to my best-friend/girlfriend.
By baking and cooking everyday, I shall become an awesome housewife (my future dream career).
X
MUAH MUAH MUAH
VICKI CHOW
P/S
I took out the CAPS from the blog post...
Not sure if this looks better or before, but I guess it's really personal preference...
On a very very side note, my fingers just came into contact with my nose and I realised that they smell really buttery (I was baking just now). I could really use some nice, warm, bread with butter...
Which reminds me of The Cheesecake Factory's warm rye bread with butter...
I want to have some now~
And I want you to enjoy my blog for a long long time starting from now on :)
