Post-Valentines
This is the cooking part of the post. If you don't like cooking, you can skip over this WHY NOT?! Lol
Well, first things first, I don't cook. I can, but usually I don't have the time (to practice the art of cooking), which is why when I do have time to cook something, I have no confidence in what I'm doing. XD So Friday night was another attempt at making a nice family dinner, which I was kinda scared to do for a while, since I botched my previous one--in a nutshell: moody appliances resulting in squash paste instead of a nice soup. Ugh.
Anyway, my uncle was generous enough to give us some smoked salmon and canned foie gras with truffles (asdlfkjas;dlkfas!!!!!), and so my mom suggested that we have a nice homecooked dinner. Meaning, cooked by me. ^^' I dragged Karen along, and she helped me chop stuff XD and did the plating.
Most of the recipes called for the dishes to be served immediately after cooking.. and since my dad arrived late, we didn't want to start on the foie gras (because it isn't good when it's cold). So when he finally arrived, Karen sliced some smoked cheese (one of the loveliest things in the WORLD) and blue cheese and served it on a plate with crackers. We had them sit in the lanai with the lights dimmed and with Matt Monro on the stereo XD which gave us time to prepare the first course.
For one thing, foie gras is expensive. Which is why I was soooo scared that I'd ruin it. D: I phoned my aunt for some cooking tips, and she said I should slice it and sear it for a short while on each side, since it might fall apart if I overcooked it (!). Ack. We took it out of the can and were surprised that there was a chunk of truffles in the center of the whole thing--!! O_O I mean, usually when you order something with truffles (otherwise known as "black gold/black diamond"), they only put little shavings of it. So WOW, more pressure not to screw up this meal, lol.
So I managed to slice the foie gras log (seriously, it looked like a log) into 8 -- 2 for each of us. I put a little olive oil in a semi-non-stick pan (I say semi- because the teflon had already worn away in some parts), and proceeded to sear the foie gras. My, how the kitchen quickly filled up with smoke. ^_^' Karen plated a bit of mixed salad greens with some fresh mango slices while I placed the foie gras straight from the pan. We drizzled the salad & foie gras with some homemade balsamic vinaigrette (we couldn't find any in the grocery T_T so we just experimented made our own, LOL!). Below is the result, and you can see the hugeness of the truffles (as compared to itty bitty shavings). Before you laugh at the ugly plating, keep in mind that we were in a rush, and we didn't have any fancy-looking plates. XD
When we sat down to eat, I was afraid that the it would be undercooked or something. But my mom and dad said it was good. Yay! :D But Karen & I had to eat fast so we could prepare the main course, which was smoked salmon and olive pasta. The sauce turned out kinda dry because we made it earlier and I reduced the sauce too much. Chalk it up to experience, lol. And the plating TOTALLY lacked garnish. T_T And it was a little bland, but nothing some parmesan cheese couldn't fix. ^^'
We totally ran out of ideas for dessert, but it was a good thing we still had strawberry & chocolate FIC in the freezer. So we just scooped some out and served it with some dark chocolate Loacker wafers. :3 no trans fat (or so the label says)! "Healthy".. lol!
All in all, the dinner turned out quite nice, considering that I don't cook often and that the menu was organized right before we shopped for ingredients (around 3 hours before dinner). Whew. Next time I should plan it earlier, just in case something goes wrong and I need a Plan B. XD
Well, as they say, practice makes perfect. I'm one step closer to being the ideal wife! Hahaha! Whatever, Leslie! XD
Last night I met up with aksvc, aciss and her buddy Ka. We went to Jack's Loft in Eastwood and killed our waistlines on dessert. Man, this week has just been full of food trips. Snacking on the sweet stuff without a valentine is.. sad! XD Lol. I will seriously try not to have any desserts in the next couple of weeks.
Oh, and I just watched SIDNAD. It was so..strange. It was beautiful and creepy at the same time, but I didn't get it at all! All my mind could think about was how hot Aki was in that scene with the eyepatch and rifle. X3 There was an eerie mood throughout the whole 'movie', which made sense when I saw that it was directed by Higuchinsky. XD He also directed the PVs for Alibi and Otegami, as well as Diru's Clever Sleazoid, MYV's Ashita, Genki ni Naare, L'Arc's Kasou and Shinshoku, and DAI's Raven (from one of the strangest movies ever made, Uzumaki). See the similarities?
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Huh.. Anyway, this started out as a happy post, but as I was typing this, I got news that Ate Chette's father passed away from cancer yesterday, and my friend Abi's grandmother passed away this morning. :\
Well, first things first, I don't cook. I can, but usually I don't have the time (to practice the art of cooking), which is why when I do have time to cook something, I have no confidence in what I'm doing. XD So Friday night was another attempt at making a nice family dinner, which I was kinda scared to do for a while, since I botched my previous one--in a nutshell: moody appliances resulting in squash paste instead of a nice soup. Ugh.
Anyway, my uncle was generous enough to give us some smoked salmon and canned foie gras with truffles (asdlfkjas;dlkfas!!!!!), and so my mom suggested that we have a nice homecooked dinner. Meaning, cooked by me. ^^' I dragged Karen along, and she helped me chop stuff XD and did the plating.
Most of the recipes called for the dishes to be served immediately after cooking.. and since my dad arrived late, we didn't want to start on the foie gras (because it isn't good when it's cold). So when he finally arrived, Karen sliced some smoked cheese (one of the loveliest things in the WORLD) and blue cheese and served it on a plate with crackers. We had them sit in the lanai with the lights dimmed and with Matt Monro on the stereo XD which gave us time to prepare the first course.
For one thing, foie gras is expensive. Which is why I was soooo scared that I'd ruin it. D: I phoned my aunt for some cooking tips, and she said I should slice it and sear it for a short while on each side, since it might fall apart if I overcooked it (!). Ack. We took it out of the can and were surprised that there was a chunk of truffles in the center of the whole thing--!! O_O I mean, usually when you order something with truffles (otherwise known as "black gold/black diamond"), they only put little shavings of it. So WOW, more pressure not to screw up this meal, lol.
So I managed to slice the foie gras log (seriously, it looked like a log) into 8 -- 2 for each of us. I put a little olive oil in a semi-non-stick pan (I say semi- because the teflon had already worn away in some parts), and proceeded to sear the foie gras. My, how the kitchen quickly filled up with smoke. ^_^' Karen plated a bit of mixed salad greens with some fresh mango slices while I placed the foie gras straight from the pan. We drizzled the salad & foie gras with some homemade balsamic vinaigrette (we couldn't find any in the grocery T_T so we just experimented made our own, LOL!). Below is the result, and you can see the hugeness of the truffles (as compared to itty bitty shavings). Before you laugh at the ugly plating, keep in mind that we were in a rush, and we didn't have any fancy-looking plates. XD
When we sat down to eat, I was afraid that the it would be undercooked or something. But my mom and dad said it was good. Yay! :D But Karen & I had to eat fast so we could prepare the main course, which was smoked salmon and olive pasta. The sauce turned out kinda dry because we made it earlier and I reduced the sauce too much. Chalk it up to experience, lol. And the plating TOTALLY lacked garnish. T_T And it was a little bland, but nothing some parmesan cheese couldn't fix. ^^'
We totally ran out of ideas for dessert, but it was a good thing we still had strawberry & chocolate FIC in the freezer. So we just scooped some out and served it with some dark chocolate Loacker wafers. :3 no trans fat (or so the label says)! "Healthy".. lol!
All in all, the dinner turned out quite nice, considering that I don't cook often and that the menu was organized right before we shopped for ingredients (around 3 hours before dinner). Whew. Next time I should plan it earlier, just in case something goes wrong and I need a Plan B. XD
Well, as they say, practice makes perfect. I'm one step closer to being the ideal wife! Hahaha! Whatever, Leslie! XD
Last night I met up with aksvc, aciss and her buddy Ka. We went to Jack's Loft in Eastwood and killed our waistlines on dessert. Man, this week has just been full of food trips. Snacking on the sweet stuff without a valentine is.. sad! XD Lol. I will seriously try not to have any desserts in the next couple of weeks.
Oh, and I just watched SIDNAD. It was so..strange. It was beautiful and creepy at the same time, but I didn't get it at all! All my mind could think about was how hot Aki was in that scene with the eyepatch and rifle. X3 There was an eerie mood throughout the whole 'movie', which made sense when I saw that it was directed by Higuchinsky. XD He also directed the PVs for Alibi and Otegami, as well as Diru's Clever Sleazoid, MYV's Ashita, Genki ni Naare, L'Arc's Kasou and Shinshoku, and DAI's Raven (from one of the strangest movies ever made, Uzumaki). See the similarities?
---
Huh.. Anyway, this started out as a happy post, but as I was typing this, I got news that Ate Chette's father passed away from cancer yesterday, and my friend Abi's grandmother passed away this morning. :\