sacha chua

Finally, a chance to sit down after one solid morning of baking! We made cream meringue tart cockaigne and devil's food cake cockaigne, both from the first edition of the Joy of Cooking. The cream meringue collapsed a little bit when we took it out of the oven, but the meringue tasted yummy. I can't wait to add the strawberry whipped cream filling. I'll practice baking this cake until I can do it consistently well. It was W-'s third time to make the devil's food cake. The cake came out beautifully thanks to the spring-loaded pans. I'll insist on using those pans the next time I bake a cake. ;)

I know that I can get prettier cakes from any supermarket, but those cakes won't have stories baked into them. Cooking is a terrific hobby. It not only keeps me busy and learning, but also increases the pleasures of eating and entertaining. It's a good way to develop my ability to track multiple things and to adjust when something doesn't turn out according to plan. It's a hobby that will grow with me. I'm looking forward to finding out what I'll be like when I'm seventy!

Getting back to the two cakes: I don't know how many people will come later, or at what time they'll arrive. But at 3:00, we're going to assemble, cut, and serve the cakes, because *we* definitely want them. =)

Random Emacs symbol: eshell-process-wait-milliseconds - Variable: *The number of milliseconds to delay waiting for a synchronous process.

Tags: cooking, cookordie by Sacha Chua
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It seems very inefficient to use the Broil/Grill function on the oven to heat up a peanut-butter sandwich, but this suite has three rice cookers and no toasters. Go figure. =) I won't have a toaster at the other side yet, either... I'll add a toaster oven to my wish list.

I'm a little uncertain about the prospects of living off peanut butter sandwiches for the next few weeks. My mom told me stories of managing it when she was in college, though, so it can't be *too* bad for me. I'm looking forward to having a proper kitchen, though! I will be very slow and very careful about buying things, but I'm looking forward to properly doing once-a-month or once-a-week cooking.

I hope to get the paperwork for the lease together in time. Thursday, I'm going to run around and pick up paperwork. I'm looking forward to eating more than peanut butter toast...

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Tags: cookordie by Sacha Chua
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One of the simple joys in life is waking up (relatively) early on a weekend morning and preparing a proper breakfast. I made myself a twice-baked potato that was pretty decent, although it wasn't as good as the ones I enjoyed in childhood. The idea is to scoop out the insides of a baked potato and mash that up with cheddar cheese, then bake it again until the cheese browns. I settled for microwaving the potato for 7 minutes, mashing it up, mixing it with grated cheddar, and broiling it for a short while. I also cooked bacon bits on the side.

Ah. Happy girl.

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Whenever I get organic large rolled oats (not quick-cooking!), I keep telling myself that ah, this is life, this is what oatmeal is supposed to be like. It's actually a *joy* to eat.

Someday, I might even take pll's advice on preparing them perfectly. <laugh>

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One of these days, I'm going to try properly following the recipe for curried chickpeas. I like curries - Japanese and Indian-style curries in particular. Apparently, cooking curry isn't just a matter of mixing water, flour, and curry spice. Or at least I *think* it's curry spice. I inherited it from my very first roommate here last year. The jar didn't have a label, but I vaguely remembered that I had curry in my cupboard somewhere, and it was in either that or the jar labelled "pepper".

Right. Someday I'm going to learn how to do a proper curry.

The chard that showed up in my Organic Good Food Box worked out quite well, though. I actually followed a recipe this time around, instead of treating it as some random leafy green. Joy of Cooking gave a recipe for chard sauteed with garlic and seasoned with red wine vinegar, which turned out to be pretty nice and easy to prepare.

As for carbs: I've decided to work my way through the frozen bread that I've accumulated over several months. The oval pita I picked up on sale reheats quite well under the broiler. Ah, for a little toaster oven instead of these less-flexible slice toasters. (Although I suppose slice-based toasters make it harder to burn toast unattended.)

My mom will be pleased to know that I've gotten back to regularly taking vitamins. I'm also succumbing to peer pressure and becoming semi-vegetarian. ;) Not for ethical reasons, mind you, but for purely practical ones.

• I'm less likely to give myself food poisoning as long as I stay away from dangerous plants.
• It'll be easier to entertain friends, many of whom are (aspiring) vegetarians/vegans.
• I can get through the Good Food Box and other food arrangements faster.

That said, I still like bacon and eggs, and I'll have to work my way through the chicken in the fridge eventually.

As long as I make sure I cover possible deficiencies in a vegetarian diet, I should be fine. =) Besides, I don't mind eating meat when I go out. I just want to learn how to cook veggies in a way that makes me want to actually eat them. ;)

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