Me - the novice sushi chef
I love to cook.
I don't know where and when I picked up the interest, but I've always preferred cooking to sewing. Not that I even had an inspiring Home Economics teacher back in secondary school. In fact, I didn't like Home Econs because I didn't want to end up like her.
She was our discipline mistress as well. The perfect personification of a head-mistress straight out of an all girls English boarding school. Rather old, but with procelain white skin, hair oiled and stretched neatly into a bun at the back of her head, dark glasses with full make-up on, and the most distinctive fashion item on her were those white stockings. Her back was always straight, her eyes bore right through you and she spoke with a crisp accent. She was the epitome of the mother-in-law from hell.
Anyway, I suddenly had an impulse to make sushi the other day after passing by a Japanese mini-grocer so I got a book of Japanese recipes. First, I had to get the right equipment and only managed to get the last set at Takashimaya.
The rice was the challenging bit and because I didn't want to follow strictly by the recipe, which would have me cook 2 1/2 cups of rice, I had to estimate the vinegar mixture myself. It was fun, but I made a real mess of the kitchen because although I prepared the tezu, I still had the cooked rice sticking all over the place while I was rolling the maki. I was quite satisfied with my maiden attempt and after getting some positive feedback from friends, I'm quite comforted to know I'm not THAT bad in the kitchen after all.
I also did my own modification of a dish I name "Fortune Sauteed Mushrooms". It is simple minced shitake mushrooms sauteed in a special sauce and then wrapped in an omelette and tied with a piece of nori, to resemble a bag. That was one hard dish to make.
1. The omelette cannot be too thick
2. The nori may break while you try to tie it together
3. The omelette might break if you put too much filling
4. After spending 5 mins perfecting the shape of the bag, it takes only 2 seconds to consume it
That's why my mom never liked cooking. For all that time spent, you achieve nothing except a pile of dirty dishes and kitchen utensils, an oily floor, and zero traces of your masterpiece. Yes, I suppose if you were to cook everyday, twice a day, it would be quite a chore. But for me, I don't do that often, so I quite enjoy it. I'm happy when people like what I make. Besides, it gives me a chance to practise, so that next time, if I ever have to impress a mother-in-law like my Home Econs teacher, I might score some points for knowing how to cook.
I don't know where and when I picked up the interest, but I've always preferred cooking to sewing. Not that I even had an inspiring Home Economics teacher back in secondary school. In fact, I didn't like Home Econs because I didn't want to end up like her.
She was our discipline mistress as well. The perfect personification of a head-mistress straight out of an all girls English boarding school. Rather old, but with procelain white skin, hair oiled and stretched neatly into a bun at the back of her head, dark glasses with full make-up on, and the most distinctive fashion item on her were those white stockings. Her back was always straight, her eyes bore right through you and she spoke with a crisp accent. She was the epitome of the mother-in-law from hell.
Anyway, I suddenly had an impulse to make sushi the other day after passing by a Japanese mini-grocer so I got a book of Japanese recipes. First, I had to get the right equipment and only managed to get the last set at Takashimaya.
The rice was the challenging bit and because I didn't want to follow strictly by the recipe, which would have me cook 2 1/2 cups of rice, I had to estimate the vinegar mixture myself. It was fun, but I made a real mess of the kitchen because although I prepared the tezu, I still had the cooked rice sticking all over the place while I was rolling the maki. I was quite satisfied with my maiden attempt and after getting some positive feedback from friends, I'm quite comforted to know I'm not THAT bad in the kitchen after all.
I also did my own modification of a dish I name "Fortune Sauteed Mushrooms". It is simple minced shitake mushrooms sauteed in a special sauce and then wrapped in an omelette and tied with a piece of nori, to resemble a bag. That was one hard dish to make.
1. The omelette cannot be too thick
2. The nori may break while you try to tie it together
3. The omelette might break if you put too much filling
4. After spending 5 mins perfecting the shape of the bag, it takes only 2 seconds to consume it
That's why my mom never liked cooking. For all that time spent, you achieve nothing except a pile of dirty dishes and kitchen utensils, an oily floor, and zero traces of your masterpiece. Yes, I suppose if you were to cook everyday, twice a day, it would be quite a chore. But for me, I don't do that often, so I quite enjoy it. I'm happy when people like what I make. Besides, it gives me a chance to practise, so that next time, if I ever have to impress a mother-in-law like my Home Econs teacher, I might score some points for knowing how to cook.
posted by Me at 9:22 AM
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