26.10.09

meringue

1. Made this recipe from one of Jamie Oliver's older books,Chicken in Milk.I do this thing where I ponder over the recipe the day or night before,and imagine a slick and seamless process where everything goes well and an apron-clad me pops the thing into the oven,smiles into the camera and gives a brilliant thumbs up.Of course,in reality I had to struggle to get things done-I get nervous during Preheat The Oven period,always afraid it'll get to hot and things will prematurely melt-and then there was frying the chicken in a snug pot,reason I avoid Asian cooking is because I'm quite horrible with the cook top.Things get burnt,takeaway ordered,friends lost.Except nowhere that dramatic lah.

Alas,my dish came out beautiful except the gravy tasted weird and I realized I had accidentally added the lemon juice sans seeds,when it only demanded zest.So I nibbled a bit,took a few chunks and resigned to the overpowering sourness of the dish,but when I returned from the library there was only a bare carcass left and to my amazement the Sister and her misleadingly skinny Black Hole Tummy friend had found the thing irresistible,and devoured it to bits.This is what family is for,above all else.

2. And tomorrow I'm attempting Jamie's NYC Cheesecake,from his new book which I love more than I let show.It is so full of bright colors,incredible photographs and he goes around America gathering these gritty,street-folk (I'm really not describing this well) dishes-I don't care too much for the salads or soups,his previous books contain plenty of those-but its the crocodile popcorn,rabbit stew (I know,I know! Rabbits are too cute to end up eaten! I would never,or maybe very,very reluctantly eat one,but I'm curious to just COOK one rabbit dish-feel how its texture is,see how it goes with basil and sage and all those wonderful herbs,then graciously serve it to a willing rabbit-eater,I've found a volunteer for Projek Kartoon Bugs Bunny-the stupid name might distract people from the horrific thought of a dead rabbit in my freezer-,may attempt it next month),Mexican breakfast,gruesome but delicious looking omelette's.

And I don't know exactly WHERE but when I do get to the two crocodile meat dishes,I'll want to catch and kill and skin and carve the crocodile myself.Meaning see it through from the pond (or WHEREVER crocodiles live) right to the dinner table.I've got more than half the recipes in this book bookmarked to be attempted,I just hope I'll be better at the cook top by the end of it.

3. I admit all this misplaced bravado is strongly inspired from having watched too many Man vs. Wild episodes.Bear Grylls drank his own urine and squeezed liquids from a huge piece of elephant dung IN THE NAME OF SURVIVAL! So,I guess,seeing that one of my ultimate hero (is it still ok to admit having heroes at my age?) is out there in jungles and oceans and deserts being a fearless badass,I should be able to do the meringue on the cheesecake tomorrow.I've baked plenty,but attempted meringue just twice and both times they were such epic failures I dumped both after a couple spoonfuls.

We will march on,and skin crocs and kill just one tiny rabbit and bake meringue and do amazing cheesecake,and both Jamie and Bear will appear from the skies like Mufasa and call on me to continue to do amazing and wonderful things.Or at least,things that appear so in my mind.

But first,the meringue.

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2 comments:

syz said...

haha hey I kinda like this post

Al said...

tks syz :)
the meringue wasn't too bad,had a pleasant coconut taste to it heh