Aishah and S*** had a playdate yesterday. I volunteered to prepare a Moorish lunch at Zana's place, since I had borrowed her Middle Eastern recipe book. I had also intended to test run cooking in a Moroccan tagine there. Well, you know how things are, we can only plan so well la kan?
I "studied" the recipe book,concluded that the dishes lack variation in ingredients and that I would not be able to stay interested enough to cook with the same herbs and spices all the time. Ala, you and I know that my fridge isn't well stocked for a Mediterranean dish, hence the lame lazy bum excuses. It's Thursday whaaat? I will only stock up on Sunday.
So happens that I was camping out at MIL's place since I have cleaned my house and got the laundry out of the way. Sneaky huh? Ala, lagipun, it was time to spend some time with my SIL who came back from Lahore. Anyways, my MIL's freezer was also in dire straits need of replenishing jugak. Nak dijadikan cerita, not much options to whizz over the stove, so I headed to the neighbourhood grocer. Bapak punya mahal sekor ayam!!! 7 dollars for a chicken. I usually pay $4.50 only at the supermarket. I guess that pop yeh yeh grocer knew I was desperate so he slaughtered me lah! I also got a kilo of prawns for 7 dollars jugak.I am quite squirmish when it comes to chopping the heads and legs off a chicken, so I made him prepare the chicken for me.
Got the meat.Still had no idea what to cook.
I saw some Granny Smiths and good looking seedless red grapes. Ha, got idea!! I'll just cheat and cook ala Provencal-wannabe. Bought meself a jar of Scotch Marmalade and rushed home. Smeared some garlic paste and half a jar of that orangey bittersweet jelly, salt and pepper. Massaged and rubbed off my frustrations on that poor chicken. Chopped the apples and scattered the grapes. A little sprinkle of rosemary here and there. And Plonk! Into the oven it went, covered in foil.
Hmm, what else? Rice. Boiled some rice in chicken broth and threw in leftover dried mixed fruit. Soaked some of my MIL's precious saffron in milk and mixed into the cooked rice, a few knobs of butter thrown in. Garnish some toasted shallots. Siap!
I had one hour to spare and since I made use of MIL's kitchen, it is only fair that I cooked something for her as well. You know, when your MIL says you should not worry about her lunch, she means, masak pun bagus! She does not fancy chicken that much. I had the prawns remember? Apa lagi, meyambal la kita.
Mind you, I was already dressed to go out, the pungent smell of belacan, spoiled my whole do. Ha? What do? I was in a hurry what? So much for tak payah la masak untuk mak. After a few belacan-induced sneezes, she popped in the kitchen, a wide smile on her face.
Mak dah lapar.
Alamak! Nasi Putih takde!!! Luckily Mak got the cue and cooked a few lengs of rice for those who must eat white rice and sambal at least once a day.
Okay, lunch for both parties was ready, I did not have the time to un-belacan my body, so I quickly spritzed some Envy and off we went to Pasir Ris. You can't even begin to imagine the clash of olfactory suicide.
Everyone was so hungry when we got there. Zana made chicken as well, almond chicken in lemony, herby sauce cooked in an authentic tagine. We were so hungry, malas nak set up the table nicely. Makan nasi campur style. The aubergine salad she made was so beautiful it brought out the taste of all the dishes we had that day. So lunch was a success. So well that we only realised that we could have got a great shot of the spread after there were just chicken bones leftover.
Later konon-konon nak burn off the calories, we went downstairs and had a bit of what I would like to classify as exercise, chasing after our kids. After a bit of art and kejap gaduh kejap sayang playdate, the mommies had a short session catching up while the girls watched Sesame Street. I scanned a copy of Vanity Fair. Wahh, I didn't know what got into me, I almost wished I was Angelina Jolie's horseriding pants. (Mohon ampun, kalau tersinggung). She's just so gorgeous. So not for Brad Pitt.
We got back to our house quite late. Had a fruitive chit chat with my rockstar, got me an East Coast roadtrip, yeay! Dozed off after I tired myself out waiting for him to give back my laptop. The other laptop's wireless was not working so he hijacked mine. I won't admit that he was depriving me of the sheer joy of blogging, and how pathetically desperate I was to get my bloghop fix.
It must be the weather or all that food I had earlier, when I woke up this morning, I was not in the mood to do anything housewifely. Except perhaps that mug of coffee and salmon-chillipadi-bawang for his cracker breakfast, that's also because I was so hungry, I was going to eat his leftovers. As soon as Che Anwar left, I rushed to get my darling thinkpad on my chunky thunders and blogged a tribute to Rye. Ahhh...lega. Asal ada topic, hentam je.
Begitu begini, it was close to lunch time and I was still in bed. Malas. Baloq liat.
Che Anwar called to ask me what I wanted for lunch. He hardly ever asks "Masak apa ni hari?". That makes it such a joy for me to cook for him. He never expects me to cook. Alhamdulillah. So this afternoon, my dapur tak berasap. He brought back lontong and mee rebus.
Mati idup balik tak sedap. Both looked like air basuhan pinggan post-kenduri kahwin. Because of that, teruja to cook his favourite dinner sebab baik hati jugak bawak balik lunch. Thank you Ah Be.
Sultan Sirloin
This dish is suitable for grasshoppers, and busy people who enjoys soulfood but Mommie is too far away. Ayu dan Atenah, sila ambil pena mata bola.
Steak tu, Ayes , Tenah and Ayu, you just chug it into a sealable sandwich bag, a few dashes of malt vinegar or balsamico tradizionale and Montreal steak shakers, ke apa2 rubbing salts you can get at your nearest supermarket. Otherwise, generous shakes of coarsely ground peppercorns would do. Marinade in the chiller while you prepare the condiments.
I just boiled some russet potatoes, peel and mixed in Dijonnaise. Then I chopped some bawang goreng and fresh coriander leaves. Gaul.
Mommie says you must eat a lot of veges. So microwave-steam some broccolli, baby corn and earthy mushrooms after a light sprinkling of salt for 2 minutes.
When you are ready to eat, just melt some butter or a little olio, and panfry your steak to your liking. Che Anwar likes his medium rare. Sat saja tau. You would not want to eat slippers for dinner.
Construct your plate as you like it. Drizzle some of that steak juice over your steamed veges.
Jom mamam!
Sure fire way to guarantee another lazy day in bed, blogging.
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