Second Course From Cocina Nueva - Steaks and Butter

With just 2 hours to spare before my guests arrived and no groceries at home, I decided to do the simplest sounding , but not unsubstantial, main course in the cookbook - grilled steaks. It took just about half an hour of prep work and 10 minutes of cooking ala minute, which was quite fun to do with friends around chatting and contemplating the doneness of the rib-eye steaks. The little preparation required left me plenty of time to spend on making a great dessert.

The grilled steaks were to be moistened with a very simple reduction of veal stock, water leftover from soaking a handful of porcini mushrooms, and garlic; then served with a pat of pre-made flavour packed butter. It was meant to be a manchego, ceps (porcini) and olive butter, but since I didn't like manchego nor olives, I made a simplified ceps and caper butter instead. This really understated steak was served with steamed veggies, and while asparagus was recommended, I went with snow peas and baby corn instead because asparagus was sold out where I shopped.

Steak is great enjoyed neat - in its barest form with just a simple seasoning of salt and pepper. But with a light, earthy sauce and some flavoured butter softened by the heat of the steak, it is brought to a much higher (and sinful) level. Cafe de Paris butter, a similar home-made butter flavoured with mustard, parsley, shallots, garlic, herbs and spices, to be served with steak is perhaps the inspiration for Jane Lawson's rendition of grilled steaks with butter. It is really delicious and the possibilities for other versions are infinite. But I have a whole roll of ceps and caper butter left to use and that makes me glad that I decided to double the recipe.

Cep and Caper Butter

Adapted from Jane Lawson's Cocina Nueva

For 8 steaks

Ingredients

1 handful of dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 15 minutes, drained and chopped

15 small capers, drained and chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

100g softened butter

salt and pepper to taste

Method

Mash butter with mushrooms and capers until well incorporated then season with salt and pepper.

Scoop onto a piece of cling film and roll it into a log, ensuring that it is fully wrapped then twist the ends to enclose the butter.

Chill it in the fridge (or freezer, if you're rushing for time) until firm.

Three Courses from Cocina Nueva (Part 1) - The Palate Teaser

Due to some bad organisation, I managed to put myself in a position where I had to cook for two whole days in a row. The morning after a multi-course, multi-dish, multi-hands dinner for seven, I was to get up to wash the leftover dishes, napkins, tablemats, wine glasses and still decide what to cook for a lunch with Val and Addy+Derrick, and then prepare dinner for my family. 9am came and went, and I was still stuck in lala-land where dishwashers surrounded me, automatic chicken wing deboners existed and I had my very own Kitchen-Aid Electric Mixer (I'm still saving, slowly but surely).

I did however manage to drag myself away from my dream and quickly give the home a wipe-up by 1015. However, I was still looking through the cookbooks for an idea of what to make. Obviously I was finding for those fuss-free ones with few ingredients and even fewer steps. I decided to use recipes from Cocina Nueva: The New Spanish Kitchen by Jane Lawson, and try my hand at something new - Spanish food. The vibe I got from the cookbook was something laid-back, fun, yet gorgeous and extremely satisfying for the tummy and especially the palate. And the food photography is something that makes me aspire to greater heights, that is if write ups like this isn't inspiring (or embarassing) enough.

So by 1130am, I reached home with my groceries and set to work. I had planned a small appetiser, a simple DIY/watch-while-I-cook main-course, followed by a slice of cake. By the time I had prepped the ingredients for the main-course and put the cake into the oven, my first guests had arrived and the appetiser was shelved. But a main-course and a dessert for four, in under 1.5 hours was still no mean feat. I did however, get down to making the shelved appetiser at night for my family. No point letting some defrosted tentacled friends go to waste, right?

One of the first dishes that caught my eye in that book was for Galician Octopus. It promised tender baby octopi simmered for at least half an hour then flavoured with a tangy and smoky olive oil dressing. What's not to love? I truly adore (eating) our tentacled friends, but have always hated it when not done right and turn into ridiculously chewy and indigestible monsters. I have been advised by friends, cookbooks and the 'fishmonger' behind the counter at Greenwood Fish Market and Bistro, to cook the baby octopi either very quickly or for a very long time. True enough, these beautiful purple babies softened after half an hour of simmering.

As the baby octopi that I bought came cleaned and gutted, that cut the preparation time in half. Other than leaving the octopi to simmer for half an hour or more, the dressing took just a few scoops, pinches and bashes (of garlic) to put together.

Adjustments:

-Though I tripled the amount of baby octopi in the recipe, I only doubled the amount of olive oil used since a little actually goes quite a long way.

-I also substituted some of the lemon juice and zest with mandarin orange juice and zest, and that mellowed the dressing a little.

-The local supermarket stocked none of that Italian parsley, so a handful of cilantro did the job for me. Just as well since I really prefer cilantro.

My parents were quite taken aback by how deceptively tasty the dish was and how tender the octopi were. I guess they've had their fair share of horrible experiences with rubbery octopi. I simply love the dressing as well and can imagine it being used with salad or to drizzle over pan-fried salmon. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge and added cold (together with the leftover sauce) to a leafy green salad as a refreshing wake-me-up dish. They are still tender but has more of a spring and a bite to it. Still, no ridiculous amount of chewing will be needed, really.

Coming up next: What I served at lunch...

Galician Octopus

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

500g baby octopus or 350g cleaned baby octopus

2 tbspn sherry vinegar

80ml extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp smoked sweet paprika

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tsp grated lemon zest (I substituted half with mandarin orange zest)

1 tbspn lemon juice (I substituted half with mandarin orange juice)

3 tbspns sherry vinegar

1/2 red (or white) onion, cut into thin wedges (these were quickly blanched in with the octopi for a while just before serving)

1 large handful flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, roughly chopped

Method

Put baby octopi in a saucepan of cold water with sherry vinegar and bring to boil.

Immediately reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 30 mins or under octopi are very tender.

Drain well.

Mix the oil, paprika, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice and extra sherry vinegar then toss through the warm octopi along with the onion.

Leave to cool for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Toss through the parsley, season to taste and serve.

Dinner for seven

I still amaze my mum with what else I can lug home from the Takashimaya (I should really get a Taka Loyalty Card soon) Department Store, and declare absolutely necessary for the dining table/kitchen. My most recent purchase, among many others, is a blow torch. I can FINALLY make Creme Brulees, and erm... well, I'm sure there are many more uses for it. Look here for one excellent example that I'm definitely going to try one day. Moka will just have to share some of his food with the rest of us.

But the reason I took so long to get a blow torch of my own, other than the fact that these things cost quite a bit, is that I could not think of another use for it besides Creme Brulee. But when I spotted a recipe in 'Asian Tapas: Small Bites, Big Flavours' for some Spicy Tuna Tataki Rolls, that clinched it and off to Takashimaya I went.

These rolls are so simple to make, as long as you can get someone to help you cut a 1x3x5 inch slab of tuna and slice into 1/8 inch thick pieces. Thank heavens for the kind staff at the Takashimaya Cold Storage sashimi section, or I would really have to put my slicers and skills to the test in an already stressful situation. The rest just takes some blending, spreading, rolling and for the most fun part, torching. Unfortunately I didn't manage to do the torching myself, and left it to a cousin to do while I busied myself with some other stuff. This was for a dinner for five of my relatives and my parents, which my brother and I initiated, and for which we 'recruited' our two hunky cousins who both have some interest in cooking as well.

Apart from the dessert, everything was taken from that cookbook. I took a leap of faith (after my previous bad experience) and bought the cookbook with the intention of cooking the entire dinner from it because of its Asian inspired theme. My aunts and grandma are relatively conservative Chinese with a rather reserved palate, and I realised that I had almost no 'new age' Asian cookbook that would be able to help me create the meal that I envisioned. Thankfully, my faith was not misplaced as the recipes did work.

We had prepared a few nibblers for them before the actual meal started. Arranged on a few long ceramic chopstick holders were Quails Eggs dipped in Nori Flakes, Purple Seaweed or Sancho pepper, and Garlic Macadamias and Cashews. Then to start the meal on a sweet note, we did Honey Glazed Baby Squid on Deep-fried Mantous, Honey Glazed Stuffed Chicken Wings and Honey Glazed Pumpkin Wedges. These were served with a Fresh Pomelo Salad that had bits of dried shrimp, fish sauce and lime juice as a refreshing contrast to the sweet bites.

If you think tiny baby squid are small, wait till you deep fry them and see them almost shrink into nothingness. I'll definitely try these with baby octopus instead in future. Those chubby tentacles might hold better to deep frying. One thing I appreciate about the cookbook is the step-by-step photos given for some of the more challenging recipes, like the Stuffed Chicken (Mid)Wings. Deboning those little things takes quite a fair bit of work and was really challenging for people who have never done it before. Thankfully my brother and cousin were on hand to do all the work for me. All the deboning, stuffing, wrapping, blanching and stir-frying resulted in deliciously shiny, plump morsels of heaven. If I could only purchase deboned chicken wings somewhere, I would make this all the time.

Next up, we served two rolls. A Beef Salad Roll with black sesame sauce, and the Spicy Tuna Tataki Rolls that I wrote about above. Julienned carrots and zucchinis, beansprouts and alfafa sprouts were wrapped up in slices of blanched sukiyaki beef and served with a side of tangy and nutty black sesame sauce spiked with rice wine. While I was afraid that one or two of my relatives might be put off by the raw tuna only very briefly torched on the outside, they all cleaned their plates. I would only tone down the heat in the coriander spice paste that was used in the tuna rolls in future.

The last savoury dish of Umami, Umami, Umami, brought to the table Baked Miso Threadfin, flanked by Seared Scallop and X.O. Sauce, as well as Steamed Scallop with Black Bean and Garlic Dressing. Being the easiest course to prepare, it was also the best crowd pleaser. Good quality, fresh, fat scallops did all the work for us.

Finally, I served a scoop of Mango Gelato with Coconut Macaroons to end off the meal. The Ultimate Frozen Dessert Book that I borrowed from a friend has been supplying me with many reliable ice-cream recipes (this Mango Gelato being one of them), that I keep referring to it despite the lack of food porn. Food porn is usually what keeps me looking through a cookbook, making me think 'Wao, if I could just follow this recipe, I can create something so beautiful!'. Of course, cookbook writers, food stylists and food photographers know that and exploit this nugget of knowledge to no end while people like me get constantly sucked into illusions of hope. Anyway, I do intend to get the Ultimate Frozen Dessert Book for myself soon.

After the whole dinner, my cousins and brother were utterly spent. They spent the whole afternoon and evening, right through the dinner, frying, mixing, chopping, blending, peeling, simmering, slicing, torching and serving. But they were all extremely good sports and complaining only a little. Fortunately I had prepared more food than was necessary, in order to feed the three hungry chefs in the kitchen to keep them alive till the next course they had to serve. That saved me the trouble of making a quick pasta dish just for them.

Perhaps the most eventful part of the whole experience was when I left them to their own devices after I told them to deep fry the baby squid. Check out the manly oven gloves as well.

A Colourful Life

I can't remember when I first chanced upon a recipe that called for ribbons of zucchini and carrot to be added to noodles to add colour and crunch to an otherwise ordinary dish. Ever since, if I felt the need to bring a little colour to a meal, I'd grab my vegetable peeler and get working.

The great thing about making carrot ribbons is that it is twice (or even thrice) as quick as trying to julienne carrots into little matchsticks, and takes only a few seconds to cook through. This brings back fond memories of how Stella and I used to agonise over those idiotic chunks of carrots that would take ages to even start to soften, torturing us ravenous souls. Over time of course, we got smarter and our carrots were sliced thinner. Sometimes I even resorted to microwaving (oh the sin!) them before dumping them into our wok/frying pan to stir-fry.

Of course, other than creating strips of faux noodles, I could also buy those tricolor dried pasta readily available in supermarkets. Or even some jet-black dried squid-ink pasta to toss around in some olive oil and capers for an almost-instant-noodle-dish.

But if you, like me, have recently purchased a pasta machine from your friendly local kitchenware store, then you should probably try creating your own coloured fresh pasta. It is uber-satisfying and almost like working with clay, except that in the end, you can eat your work of art. How cool is that!

Though not at all a fan of beetroot, I ventured into making beetroot pasta because of the beautiful pink it would impart to the pasta. Perhaps an alternative would be to use red dragonfruit, which always manage to stain my fingers a dark pink. A lesson to be learnt for future pasta-making sessions would be to always stain the pasta just a shade darker than is expected since the colour fades a little after being cooked.

Now if only I could find some pesticide-free flowers that can help me attain some deep purple pasta. Wouldn't that be interesting?

A Wok Through Time

An extremely thoughtful, generous aunt of mine recently gave me an autographed copy of Sam Leong's new cookbook, A Wok Through Time. It held plenty of food porn and little odd quotes from the chef himself. In return, I intended to prepare a whole dinner using only recipes from the cookbook for her and a few other relatives. However, as I browsed through the cookbook and saw very slipshod recipe outlines, I grew a little worried. Similar to Anderson Ho's Menu Degustation: Tasting Menus of New Asia Cuisine, it took only 3 - 4 steps to create almost every dish and lacked sufficient detail for a novice chef to follow accurately.

As I soon found out though, Anderson Ho's recipes are still alright as long as you know the skills because the recipes that I've tried out resulted in great tasting dishes. But Sam Leong's recipes just don't seem to work at all. I tried out two of his recipes that required the least fuss to prepare and the flavours were just all wrong. The Bean Curd Topped with Baby Anchovies and Spring Onion was way over salted even after following the exact ingredient combination (minus the deep-friend baby anchovies). The very interesting sounding Wok-Fried and Stewed Assorted Mushrooms with Soy Bean Milk (with only a one liner under its 'Method') sounded a little exotic and exciting but was unpalatable if using the exact amount of herbs called for in the recipe. The rosemary overpowered any other flavours in the dish.

So I ended up throwing away my entire lunch and buying some comforting red bean buns to sooth my disappointment. I could be entirely wrong of course. Maybe I'm just doing something fundamentally wrong in the kitchen, or maybe my kitchen scale had decided to sabotage me. And I could tweak the recipes a little, but I'm probably not going to have enough time to try out every single recipe I intended to use for the dinner for my family. So it's back to the cookbook shelf to plan out a new menu. 'A Wok Through Time' is still going to stay on the shelf of course, as a source of inspiration and drool-worthy food porn. But I'm probably not going to try cooking from it again anytime soon. Not until I get all that rosemary out of my mouth.

The Ultimate Meat Platter

I remember a time not so very long ago, when I abstained from meat in my obsession to lose a little weight. Sure, I might not be in ideal shape now, but I'm never going back to avoiding meat ever again. How could I resist something as divine as a simple piece of grilled steak?

Last night, after dinner plans with a friend were cancelled at the eleventh hour, I decided to head home straight from town and cook a proper meal for my family. Somehow, we seldom dine together because of their irregular working hours and much less dine together at home unless I make the effort to get everyone together. By some stroke of luck, every single one of them (I make it sound like I have an army of a family when there are actually only four of us) was at home.

I needed something quick since I was expecting to arrive home a little tardy, but it had to be greatly satisfying. And I badly wanted to break in my cast-iron grillpan with a foldable handle (poke me and I can even give you the reference number of the item). I knew that if I created a dinner of meat, meat and more meat, I would not only make my father and brother happy (not to say that my mum doesn't have her carnivorous side as well), I would also be able to get my brother in on the action without a problem. I saw how his face lit up when I showed him the grillpan and remember how he talked endlessly about creating the perfect piece of grilled steak.

So a huge Meat Platter it was. Four pieces of Pork Loin (marinated in homemade barbeque sauce and grilled), 2 pieces of Beef Striploin (grilled neat, just salt and pepper), 4 Chicken Drumsticks (marinated with island spice, honey and olive oil, seared and roasted) and 2 thick 'Chorizo Sausages' (just sizzled on a pan and sliced up into chunks). Our dinner was huge, especially if you count the cold egg tofu with red lumpfish caviar, and baked mini portobello mushrooms with black truffles, that my brother and I prepared as appetisers. Plus, the slices of multi-grain bread with tomato chilli jam, and my mum's yearly (leftover) Turkey Vegetable Soup.

But the night's gorging was all worth it. The barbeque sauce with cocoa, made using a recipe that I had gotten from one of my long forgotten cookbooks, was well received. As a marinade or as a dip, it is intense and assaults every single one of your tastebuds mercilessly, and is (yet again) amazingly easy to put together. The whole chunks of garlic that were crushed and added to the sauce were delicious straight out of the sauce, and even more so after a little caramelising on a pan until it has attained an almost crispy exterior that gives way to tender flesh.

My brother was in charge of the grilling of the beef and pork loins, naturally. And he treated his meats with utmost gravity. The striploins were dutifully rotated forty five degrees at a quarter of the cooking time, flipped at half-time and rotated again just over 1 minute before they were done (total cooking time was 5 minutes for medium rare, the way my entire family likes it). The pork loins required a slightly longer cooking time and were done to perfection, even though it was his first time. With just a slight blush of pink on the inside, the loins were still moist - better than what I've tried at some restaurants.

Needless to say, my brother was a picture of pride at the dinner table as he sliced into the beef and revealed the textbook example of what medium rare beef should look like. And to my horror, we finished every last piece of meat there was to have on the platters. But to hear my father, the picky eater of the family, sing nothing but praises of the meal, now that was rare. Alas, the way to a man's heart is actually through the Ultimate Meat Platter.

Barbeque Sauce with Cocoa

Enough for 2 kg of meat

Ingredients

4 tbsp cocoa powder, 200ml red wine vinegar, 200 g tomato puree, 8 tbspn honey, 2 tbspn olive oil, 10 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed, chilli powder to taste, 1 tbspn dried oregano, 2 tbspn soy sauce, salt and sugar to taste

Method

Dissolve the cocoa in the vinegar and place in a pan with the rest of the ingredients. Bring to boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, stirring, for 20 minutes.

Use it to marinate (marinating time = 2- 24 hours), as a baste for barbecueing or simply as a dipping sauce for barbecued meat or vegetables.

Practice makes perfect

In my previous post, I spoke of how my brother requested me to teach him how to make eggs benedict from scratch. I was only more than happy to, despite not having poached eggs before myself. It couldn't be all that difficult, could it?

The verdict is - it really isn't all that difficult at all. Sure, our first poached egg came out a little rough on the edges and perhaps a little overcooked. But our second poached egg, after adjusting the fire a little and being a little more gentle with our slotted spoon, emerged with perfect curves. Did I also mention that we also had to abandon our first failed attempt at hollandaise sauce because we had overcooked the whisked egg mixture? So I bought another block of butter and we started all over again. The sense of satisfaction seeing your egg yolks turn creamier and thicker as you drizzle in your melted butter while whisking at the same time, is indescribable.

Sure, we did take a couple of hours making an eggs benedict for each of us, and it wasn't even the authentic eggs ben since we conveniently substituted ham with sliced cheese sausage. But the moment you pierce your fork through your poached egg and witness all that glorious deep yellow liquid mix with the creamy and rich hollandaise sauce all over the sliced cheese sausage and your freshly baked bun, it all becomes worth it, and sausage or ham does not really matter anymore. Not a single second spent on creating that one dish would have been a waste.

Now, my brother will just have to find a lady who is content on having eggs benedict every morning for breakfast, for the rest of her life.

Dip it in

I've been incredibly busy this past week (what's new?) with dinner parties and gatherings in our newly redecorated home. Though I should really qualify that statement by saying that only the living and dining room has been massively changed while the rooms have remained exactly the way they were.

Of course it goes without saying that I would never let a bout of redecoration pass without having it sweep its magic through the kitchen as well. Little demolition was done, the kitchen has been well equipped with more shelves, a foldable table giving me the much needed extra working space for plating during service, and most notably among others, a reasonably priced oven that works like a dream. Actually it is possible that compared to my two-in-1 microwave cum convection oven, anything would be a dream to work with.

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For the group of girlfriends who have stuck with me since the days I donned my blue uniform and white bolero, I had planned my most elaborate dinner party to date. I sent out e-invites, named the party a 'NewMas' (go figure) Celebration Dinner and gave it a Kim Gek theme that only SCGS girls would appreciate. Thankfully, Addy volunteered her help and the party went smoothly - it had better be considering that we spent three days prepping for it. I hardly even broke out in a sweat, except when having to crank the pasta machine, and we had a couple of hours before guests were due to arrive for us to freshen up, pour ourselves a glass of sparkling white wine with strawberry puree each and indulge in some chin-wag.

Thinking back to the same gathering the previous year, I still marvel at how I survived. An incredibly ambitious menu with no help at all and little preparation before the day itself was a sure-fire route to failure. My girlfriends were being overly kind when they talked about how the Chestnut Ravioli was great. Yeah sure, if you happen to love extremely chewy, thick and irregularly shaped ravioli skins. They are really such dears.

In any case, Addy was such a blessing to have with me in the kitchen and absolutely conscientious in every task she carried out. Without her, I would probably have grown a whole tuft of white hair as a result of the dinner. The only pity is that I lost the SD card that I used to take photos of some of the food. I really hope they are not at the mercy of Moka's digestive juices at this very moment. Perhaps then it is fate that I am not meant to have a pictorial log of what we managed to serve our 5 beautiful girlfriends that night.

The Menu

Roasted Tomato Soup with Basil Foam and Slow Roasted Tomatoes (a tried and tested recipe that I knew would not fail me)

Beetroot Pasta with Beef Stew

Truffle Risotto

Red-Wine Poached Pears with Homemade Cream Cheese Ice Cream, Pink Meringue finger and Chocolate Canele

Fleisher Family Hornchen Cookies and Pink Meringue Kisses (to doggie bag home)

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A more recent dinner was a countdown dinner that my family decided to throw for my extended family. A couple of families were missing, making the crowd very manageable. It was also turned into a potluck just to make administration and preparation a little less hellish for us.

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A few days before THE night, my brother and I mulled over the few cookbooks that I have, to choose an appetiser and a main to prepare. He seemed extremely excitable while talking to me about what we could or should do, creating a mild lovely tingly sensation in my heart as I adore talking to people about food and even more so my very own brother. (A short digression - he has requested that I teach him how to bake buns, poach eggs and make a hollandaise sauce tomorrow just so that he can prepare his very own eggs benedict!)

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On THE morning, we went to Tekka Market together to purchase fresh herbs, vegetables (from Chia's veg supply, where else?) and meat then went home immediately to begin the preparation. While I had expected his help in the kitchen, remembering how thrilled he seemed while talking to me about possible dishes to prepare, I had NONE on the day itself. Granted, he had his room to tidy, but so did I! Anyway, I somehow managed everything alone and fell even more deeply in love with my new simple oven that I would never have been able to survive the day without.

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I had made the Oolong Tea Steeped Pork Belly, that is yet another tried and tested crowd pleaser, along with a variety of dips for bread and table water crackers, and more Fleisher Family Hornchen Cookies to doggie bag home. I am a little (understatement!) embarassed to admit that I cheated a little by buying a bottle of cheese dip instead of melting my own cheese.

From top: Pomodoro, Pesto and Tomato Chilli Jam

That aside, the dips were each well received and no clear favourite stood out. I presented a rather effortless Rosemary and Thyme Pomodoro Sauce (that got my dad's vote), a strong Pesto Sauce (my mum loved this) and a Tomato Chilli Jam (my brother and I enjoyed this the most)alongside the Roasted Garlic Cheese Sauce. Breads were purchased from Simply Bread, and Corduroy and Finch at 6th Avenue along Bukit Timah Road and everyone loved them.

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The Tomato Chilli Jam was almost as effortless as the Pomodoro to create. All you need is a good blender, the few simple ingredients and a pot, and you're good to go. I'm really glad I made quite a fair bit of each such that we had some leftover to enjoy the next day. This recipe was taken from The Cook's Book under the 'Flavourings' section contributed by Peter Gordon from New Zealand. I only suggest being a little less generous with the sugar if it is used as a dip, and perhaps even as a jam for your morning breakfast. Peter Gordon also recommends this as an accompaniment to 'roast lamb or pork, used to glaze a filet of fish under the grill, or in a sandwich of goat's cheese, rocket and avocado'.

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The night was fun, clowning around with my cousins and doing the customary exchange of well-wishes with all my relatives at midnight after the loud counting down. But due to my perpetual activity through the night, I had little time to reflect on the year that had just past. It is only now in my quiet room (other than the incessant whirring coming from my laptop), at 536am on the second day of the year, that I have begun thinking albeit in my half-conscious state.

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THE PAST YEAR saw me finally attain the paper that I had been working towards for the past 15 years of my life. It was a little anti-climatic though, since I did not attend the ceremony that would give me my five seconds of fame, but that does not discount the significance of the slip.

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In my personal state of affairs, I had gone through major upheavals. Departing from close friends I had lived with so closely in UK for the past three years while being finally reunited with those back in Singapore. Getting to know an amazingly talented, personable and overly generous couple.

The couple of work experiences that I had gone through taught me much, made life a more interesting and allowed me to meet people I would otherwise probably have never been able to get to know personally.

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On the homefront, I now have an additional member of the family called Moka, who has also adopted some very amusing nicknames such as Fei Zai (fat boy), but the winner has got to be 'Chief Shitting Bull' courtesy of my dad. The home is now a joy to come home to, and the kitchen very welcoming to cook in unlike before. My family has definitely come together a little closer as a result of the concerted effort, though that is not to say we made it through without some healthy argument. My cousins have also all bonded through a Big 81st Birthday Bash that we threw for our dear grandmother, slideshow, red and gold decorations and the whole works.

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The year has definitely been thoroughly eventful, and I can only hope that this spanking new year will be just as fulfilling. Already, the first day of the year started out on the right foot when I spotted a pair of rainbows in Clementi while I was walking towards the MRT station. I marvelled at it for the little while that I could afford without being late for my appointment, felt the ends of my lips curl upwards and a sense of peace settle over me.

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And here is the first recipe of the year:

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Tomato Chilli Jam

Makes about 500g

Ingredients

500g very ripe tomatoes

2 thumbs of fresh ginger, roughly chopped

3 tbsp nampla (fish sauce)

4 fresh serrano or other red chillies, finely sliced

4 garlic cloves, finely sliced

300g caster sugar (I used 250g)

100ml red wine or cider vinegar

Method

Blend half the tomatoes, the ginger, and fish sauce until smooth.

Chop the remaining tomatoes into 1cm dice.

Put all ingredients in a deep pan and bring to boil, stirring frequently.

Once mixture boils, reduce heat to a simmer for 30-40 mins, skimming off any foam during this time and stirring every few minutes.

Jam is ready when it thickens and becomes glossy.

If left to cook and poured into sterilized glass jars, they can keep in the refrigerator for 2 months.