Back in the Kitchen

After months of being quite lazy and too many McDonald's quickie dinner, I'm back in action. A new colleague had just arrive in Singapore, so I finally had someone to experiment a recipe I had been wanting to make for a long time...

Kylie Kwong's Sweet and Sour Pork

I like the little touches Kylie gives to this classic recipe. The pork itself is coated in a bit of batter and fried til crisp and then dusted with Sichuan pepper and salt. It's the first time I've used the spice, which has a very unique with this wonderful aroma. Kylie uses it a lot in her cooking, at one point her her cookbook using it as part of a 'ritual' performed daily at her restaurant:

Each night we 'smudge' our perfect little dining room by dry-roasting Sichuan peppercorns with sea salt in a hot wok. The aroma and smoke created not only smells divine but also 'cleanses' the air and energy of the space.

The sauce, served on the side, is a wonderfully colorful mix of colors with pineapple, capsicum, tomatoes, ginger and pickled veggies.

We threw together some quick kailan with oyster sauce and there's a nice, Thursday night meal.

Bookish

Sorry it's been a while since I posted, but honestly I've never cooked anything during the hiatus that was worth taking a picture of. Plus there was the trip to the US last month.

Also I've started a new blog, Bookish. It's mainly got all my boringly serious rants on politics, non-fiction books and news in general. I'll try to continue posting here with 'lighter', more personal updates... expect some pictures tomorrow when my friend and I will try to cook a 3 course meal.

PS: I've booked myself a ticket this Friday to see "Invisible Waves" at the reincarnated Picture House. More on that soon too!

The Kidney-Shaped Stone That Moves Every Day

I like this short story by Haruki Murakami - I keeps coming back to my mind somehow at my present state of life.

For me the kidney-shaped stone still sneaks up on me once in a while...