dream kitchen with a view~♥

After a recent trip to Gold Coast, I was cooking on a 20th floor apartment facing the ocean with a breathtaking view, I wish I have a kitchen like the below, with some music piped in, a glass of champagne...I could cook 24 hrs a day! ^^!

salmon spinach fritata~♥

This is one of my fast combo all-in-one meal which is well balanced for the family. I usually cook with whatever ingredients I have in my fridge spontaneously, without a specific recipe and this one is just great for tea time or a lazy sunday brunch...

seafood~♥

If you ask my personal opinion, seafood especially fish and lobster are best eaten shashimi-ed (raw) for its freshness just like the Japanese do.You can actually taste the freshness of the sea so no wonder some bid for the highest price as early as 5:30am and as much as 440 pounds of tuna sold for USD220,000.00!

If restaurant starts recommending fried seafood to you, the chances are the seafood are not fresh anymore but if they suggest steamed dishes, then the seafood is still moderately fresh. In some fresh seafood restaurant, seafood from the tanks that are dead are sold for half the price!

The westerners and the asians prepare and cook their seafood differently depends where they stay. The westerners prefer fillets but the asians prefer theirs in steaks, cutlets or eaten together with their bones if the fish is small and save to eat as a whole.

The westerners hardly eat crabs or other shellfish except for prawns, shrimps and lobster. The asians love anything that is edible from the sea including the poisonous puffer (fugu) fish!

One of the secret in keeping fresh fish in your freezer, a tip from a fisherman, is after cleaning all the gills and innards of the LIVE fish , DON"T wash them in water, wrap them up in paper towel and ziplock bags which can keep them fresh for as long as 6 months!

meat~♥

I know most of us just enjoy eating whatever meat is served to us including myself. In cooking, you need to know what meat to buy and which cuts are the best for the recipe otherwise it will ruin the whole cooking. Once a diver friend argued with me whether we should steam, fry or shashimi the jumbo garoupa he just speared underwater for dinner and it ended up like a rubber when he insisted steaming the fresh fish!

Here are some examples of the cuts from chicken to beef...

MUST~HAVE utensils for the kitchen~♥

I started this blog to keep a journal for my tried and tested recipes from cooking books to my grandma's best recipes.I also love to keep a journal of the delicious food I ate as I travel and contrary to my chic outlook, most people assumed I don't know how to cook so here's a testimonial of my favourite dishes that I have been cooking over the years...^.^! I remembered as a lil girl from the age of 5, I used to watch my grandma pottering around the kitchen, preparing meals everyday and each meal always keeps the family's tummy warm and happy. She has inspired me to cook at a tender age and here's my story...

In those days, everything was done by hand so I helped out with mincing the pork on a large round and thick wooden chopping board with a large cleaver which my small hands could barely hold. I enjoyed all the diagonal, vertical and horizontal lines I hacked down to make the sliced of pork belly into minced pork for the wantons or steamed pork with egg and tung choy. Besides tearing up while peeling small onions/ shallots for a weekend of chicken curry, I also helped make agar agar/jelly for desserts to pounding all the spices with the pestle in a granite mortar which would make the rhythmic chank chank sound which signaled that day, we would be enjoying a great meal of curry .The smell & sound from the kitchen always remind me about my grandma's cooking with love...

Mum bought me my first set of cooking toy that was made from aluminium so I cooked a spoon of rice in the pot over a candle and the pot ended black as charcoal! The rice tasted just great as grandma's and that was my first journey to the cooking world...

Before you start cooking, you need the proper gear which makes a vast difference in your kitchen. Here's the list of MUST HAVE which will help you make better and tastier meals.

Speed peeler:

My Henckels speed peeler has been with me for almost a decade now and it's wise to invest in a trusted brand for kitchen knives because chances are, at the most crucial time that you are peeling your potatoes or cutting a meat , a lousy blunt knife will make you throw in your apron and storm outta kitchen!

Knives:

My basic set of Henckles which consists of a cleaver, vegetable paring knife & serrated knife, which I use all the time. There is no need to buy too many knives which will make you confused unless you are ready to be a professional chef :)

Tongs:

I use tongs all the time when I do my grilling, frying and for picking up hot food! It gives a better control and also great for serving food as well.

Grater:

Invest in a good quality stainless steel grater which will last you a long time because the plastic ones will turn color. Get a a multi functional 4 in ones so you can grate all sorts of things in different textures.

Chopping board:

Try to get a bamboo chopping board as they are lightweight and eco friendly or you can invest in an expensive thick wooden one which will age beautifully along with you instead of the trendy high tech plastic ones which create heat and the frictions will blunt your knives in a long run and quickly damage the surface.

Pestle and mortar:

It's an ancient kitchen gadget which makes your food taste authentic with all the flavour when you bash and bruise out the loads of ingredients for your cooking. Get a size which suits you which is really user friendly.

Food Processor:

My wonderful food processor helps me chop, mix and puree your ingredients, saving me loads of time and makes my cooking more enjoyable and easy!

Non stick frying pans:

It's worth investing in good branded non stick pans of different sizes but make sure they are not too heavy ones and remember the surface is like your skin on your face so use wooden spoons! Don't stack them, just hang them up and they will be your best friends in your kitchen for cooking.

Pots:

Get at least 2 good quality pots , one medium and one jumbo size which will be useful for stews, soup and cooking for parties! My set of pots was given to me by my mum when I got married umpteen years ago and it's simply useful and durable!

Mixing bowls:

You really need to get a few different sizes preferably like my stainless steel ones which lasted me for almost 2 decades now. I used them all the time for mixing, marinating and storing stuff in my fridge and believe me, you can't break it like the porcelain or glass ones. Be wise!

Kitchen utensils:

Just get the soup and spaghetti ladle and the skimmer and make sure they are stainless steel ones because it's easier to clean than the plastic ones which oil will cling on to and may get easily burnt when near fire or heat.

Last but not least, always bear in mind, everyone CAN COOK and PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT and always complete your cooking laced with love from you heart. Soon you will not only enjoy cooking, you will enjoy all your love ones nurtured in a healthy lifestyle and smiling back at you with never ending praises and throughout the generations, you will always be remembered just like I remembered my beloved grandma with love...~