Beginner’s Choice: July Flavours

It’s not easy to plan a Friday dinner menu for people who don’t take meat on Fridays. Suzie’s family did an excellent job. They chose rojak for the appetizer and tempura for the main course. Suzie’s brother, Elijah, cooked tempura. It was really good. He deserves the “brother of the year” award. It was anContinue reading “Beginner’s Choice: July Flavours”

Beginner’s Choice: Festive SEA Food

You might be thinking that this article is about food from the ocean, until you see the chicken and the roast pork. Well, that’s because “SEA” here refers to “South East Asia/South East Asian”. Filipino Cuisine The featured photo is of Boodle Fight, a Filipino dish, which has both seafood and meat, mainly roast pork.Continue reading “Beginner’s Choice: Festive SEA Food”

Beginner’s Choice: Celebrating with Cakes

It has been a while since the last post, and that means that it has been a busy time for Homskil. There have been several runs of the Homskil’s Homemaking 101 courses and other customised courses. In the most recent course, a young participant who is preparing to get married had a request, she wantsContinue reading “Beginner’s Choice: Celebrating with Cakes”

Beginner’s Choice: Peachy egg soup

What do you do when you when you have no vegetables to cook at home? Start by looking at what you have in the kitchen. That was what happened to me this week. Fortunately, there were some essentials like eggs, butter, onions, potatoes, and tomatoes. I thought that I could make a soup with them.Continue reading “Beginner’s Choice: Peachy egg soup”

Beginner’s Choice: Lemony Treats

Every year-end Aunty Julie makes lemon curd, and she distributes it into country-kitchen-style jars to be given away as gifts. It has become one of my favourite Christmas treats. It was only last year that I learnt that she makes a limited number of jars, as the process is laborious and the ingredients are expensive.Continue reading “Beginner’s Choice: Lemony Treats”

OJ’s Indian Feast

I was amazed by OJ’s culinary skills as she planned and cooked a number of dishes for a gathering of friends last night. It was Indian Social Night with dinner, songs from famous Bollywood movies and, of course, Bollywood-style dancing. Indian cooking is far from easy. It certainly looked more complicated than Chinese cooking. IContinue reading “OJ’s Indian Feast”

Lunar New Year Specials

It’s five more days to the last day of the Lunar New Year or Chap Goh Mei in Hokkien. Restaurants are still serving Yusheng (raw fish salad). I had Yusheng with smoked salmon and crispy fish skin for the first time last week. It was surprisingly nice. This post features Anne Lise’s Lunar New YearContinue reading “Lunar New Year Specials”

Beginner’s Choice: Lunar New Year Dumplings

Many years ago, I met some students from China who told me about the tradition of making dumplings for Chinese New Year. It’s a whole day affair when family members reunite to make the dumplings and to catch up. When we were thinking of what to do for our pre-Chinese New Year gathering with friendsContinue reading “Beginner’s Choice: Lunar New Year Dumplings”

Beginner’s Choice: The Story of Fried Rice

Fried rice is an interesting dish. Although it has humble origins in that it came about with the objective of not wasting food, it has developed into a dish that graces many important occasions, including the Chinese New Year banquet. The type of ingredients distinguishes the simple staple fried rice dish from the celebration friedContinue reading “Beginner’s Choice: The Story of Fried Rice”

Beginner’s Choice: Food for thought

When food is so beautiful, it not only appeals to the palate but also to the intellect. One thinks about where it comes from and all the skills that have gone into making it both appetizing and appealing. I found a piece of the white chocolate and cranberry tart mentioned in the previous blog postContinue reading “Beginner’s Choice: Food for thought”