Assorted Ravings of the Slightly-Weird

Kitchen Capers

Baseball season is upon us again! So far the Yankees are 3-3, the A's are 3-4 and the Giants are 1-5. Hmmmmmm. Not a promising start, and I've been so out of MLB that the teams are barely recognisable to me now. Sigh. (And Des, you can stop snickering now...)

The weekend was pretty uneventful, except that I "taught" my first cooking class ever. Haha. A couple of my teammates came over to learn how to make carrot cake, which is about the best cake that I can make with the highest percentage of success. I've blogged about it before, I recall. Anyhow, I decided to teach my teammates how to make this cake for the simple reason that this recipe is one where a mixer is optional. All in all, I think the lesson went pretty well, and I'm looking forward to teaching more lessons!

Other notables of the week: I made a roasted pork belly roll stuffed with mushrooms and apples, served with roast vegetables and mashed potatoes for dinner early in the week. That one turned out pretty good as well, so I'm pretty happy with it. I took some photos on my phone and will put them up the first chance I get. I was particularly pleased with the stuffing where I sauteed some minced garlic and diced onions in butter, then I added a mixture of diced shitake and button mushrooms and cooked them till soft. Then I added in the cubed apples and some prunes as well, and enhanced the flavour with (get ready for this) instant chicken stock powder. Hahaha.

I'm not a purist cook. Given the constraints of time, if there is a shortcut that doesn't compromise too much on taste, I'll take it. So, sometimes I'll use instant chicken stock powder to up the taste factor; sometimes I'll use canned soup to help make a quick gravy base. If a recipe calls for a pinch of something that I don't have lying around, then I'll either substitute it or omit it. I know, Martha Wannabe is having a minor heart attack reading this as she is a) anal and b) a consummate cook. But in my defense, if I do use instant mixes I'll punch it up with something else so that the end result still comes out looking and tasting fairly original. The one thing that I will never ever use is instant mashed potato mix because I make damn good mashed potatoes and it doesn't take that much effort! :)

Hmmm. All this talk about cooking is making me think of new stuff to try :) Maybe this week I'll try making beef carpaccio and revisit my anchovy pasta! Yum yum!

Oh, and I really want to throw a pizza party. Who wants in??!