Enjoying CB project thus far!

Day 36-38 Circuit Breaker: My kitchen project checkpoint... 

After staying home for 4+ weeks, I discovered new dishes and flavours. First time making sushi and pizzas. First time using avocados and truffles. This lockdown truly brought out the chef in me! 😄

CB: Circuit breaker (in case you dirty fellas have something else in mind, hahaha)

My top 3 kitchen fun:

1. Rolling sushi! 
2. Making avocado toast or milkshakes
3. Baking pizza with wraps

My top 3 most repeated meals (mostly carbs 😂):

1. Miso udon  
2. Tomyam noodles
3. Koay teow soup 

My top 3 snacks:

1. Baked almond (from Melbourne OMG tastes so good!), figs, raisins 
2. Edamame 
3. Milk & good ol' Marie biscuits 

Coming up next:

1. Pad Thai noodles
2. Carrot cake
3. Shakshuka 

Cooking is so fun. Gonna keep cooking till I'm old. It's my expression of love.😍 

Sauerkraut

Day 35 Circuit Breaker: Sauerkraut, my lifesaver this lockdown

I bought a bottle of sauerkraut late last year. Scoop a generous portion of sauerkraut from the bottle, toss coriander sprinkle black pepper, and it's ready to be served as a vegetable side. I love how appetizing it is!

Soy sauce roasted chicken from Cold Storage

The foodgasm verdict: 6/10

The Pizza Craze continues.

Day 34 Circuit Breaker: A friend calls me "pizza" and I'm living up to my nickname!

It looks like pizza has become my staple diet during this circuit breaker period. I had pizza for 3 consecutive days and I'm not bored of it just yet. 😜

Here are the toppings I made:

• Pizza with bell peppers and truffles 
• Pizza with minced pork (also the Captain's favourite)
• Pizza with aubergine

I like adding salad leaves on top of the pizza. It adds texture. 

The foodgasm verdict: 7/10

Salad with Hard Boiled Egg

Day 33 Circuit Breaker: Delicious Salad with Hard Boiled Egg

If you have noticed, I've recently reduced my meat intake. Replaced my protein dietary needs with eggs and tofu. It's supposedly healthy but it feels like something is missing in my diet. Oh well, will let my body guide me what nutrients I need. Might go back to meat and seafood next week!

Meanwhile, here's my salad ingredients for today:

• Bell peppers - green, yellow, red
• Cucumber
• Lettuce 
• Spinach
• Sauerkraut 
• Kimchi 
• Garlic
• Feta cheese 

The salad was delicious, but I got hungry a few hours later.

The foodgasm verdict: 7/10

MAMA Tom Yam Noodle

Day 32 Circuit Breaker: Yes I'm official instant noodle queen! 

Besides Indomie, I also enjoy Thai MAMA Tom Yam instant noodle and I have no shame to admit it. 😆 Yes I know it is unhealthy and it's a cardinal sin to some people. But then again, it's just so convenient and satisfying. As long as I don't take it all too often, it should be fine. What's life if we cannot indulge occasionally?

My toppings today:

• Mint leaves 
• Ginger flower 
• Mushroom
• Coriander 
• Egg 
• Chinese wolfberries (for sweetness and eye health)

Toppings overloaded 

The foodgasm verdict: 8/10 

Thin Crust Pizza with Rocket

Day 31 Circuit Breaker: Making pizza using wrap. It works! 

Happy Vesak Day! Today is a holy day for Buddhists to commemorate the birth, enlightenment and death of Gautama Buddha. I decided to go vegetarian.

Since I was not happy with the pizza crust I previously made, I decided to try again. Apparently, I heard that Mission pizza crust will do the job. I searched high and low, typically at the fresh bread section, but it's out of stock. Looks like everyone else is also making pizza. I didn't want to wait until it comes back in stock, so I decided to use Gardenia wrap instead. I am pleased with my pizza. Please allow the Italian chef in me present you with "thin crust pizza topped with rocket." 😊

Superbly satisfying thin crust pizza! 

Ingredients 

• Wrap 
• Tomato ketchup (lazy me!)  
• Toppings: Tomatoes, yellow bell pepper, onions 
• Mixed Italian herbs, dried chilli flakes.
• Cheese: Mozzarella + Cheddar + Parmesan  
• Rocket leaves 

Preparation 

1. Preheat oven at 250 degrees Celsius. 
2. Chop the vegetables.
3. Lay a fresh wrap on a baking sheet. 
4. Then, spread tomato ketchup, toppings, cheese and herbs.  
5. Bake the pizza for 10-15 minutes. 

The foodgasm verdict: 8/10

Truffle on fromage bread

Day 30 Circuit Breaker: Finally using the truffle spread 

If you've been to my kitchen, you won't find any jam, peanut butter or kaya. Why? Firstly, too much sugar. Secondly, I don't usually eat bread (again the sugar) unless it's a baguette (cos no sugar). And since I cannot finish a baguette all myself, I've stopped buying.

When circuit breaker began, I started buying bread again. Bread is versatile when hunger strikes. Simply spread a thin layer of truffle and I was in heaven. It's funny how our taste buds can change. I didn't like it previously, but now I've learned to enjoy it so much! Thank you Alex for the bottle of truffles from Italy.

Truffle, fromage bread and Kiwi fruit.

The foodgasm verdict: 8/10

Udon with garlic

Day 29 Circuit Breaker: Garlic to spice up my udon!

I made miso udon again for lunch. It's quick and easy. This time round, I added wolfberry, black sesame, and topped it with garlic. I love the garlic so much!!! Thank you Sheryl for the recommendation. Next time you go to Don Don Donki, don't forget to grab this bottle of garlic. I bought 3 bottles and I'm glad I did. 😁

The foodgasm verdict: 8/10 

Sandwich: Avocado + Banana

Day 28 Circuit Breaker: I'm falling in love with avocado.    

What do you do with leftover avocado? Cut it up, spread it over bread and add sliced bananas. I swear the combo is heavenly! For someone who did not like avocado, I am now wondering why did I not incorporate avocado in my diet before. But then again, avocados is high in fat, thus high in calories. So maybe I'll go slow with it.

Photos don't lie. Tastes as good.

The foodgasm verdict: 8/10

Avocado milkshake

Day 27 Circuit Breaker: Thanks to leftover avocados, I learned to make milkshake

Happy Sunday folks! I wanted to cycle since 6:30am but it has been raining till now. While waiting for the rain to go away, I decided blend leftover avocado into milkshake. Topped it with honey and cinnamon powder. Decorated with strawberry and mint. Truly healthy yet I have not learned to enjoy avocado. But then again, the photo presentation impressed many people, so I'll be kind with the foodgasm scores. 😁

Looking so pretty! I do have a sense of food presentation.

The foodgasm verdict: 6/10

Sushi project. Finally!

Day 25 & 26 Circuit Breaker: Sushi project 

A year ago, I wanted to learn how to make sushi. I bought most of the ingredients but the project did not take off due to lack of inspiration.

Late Friday evening, the Captain sent me a photo of his dinner. California roll with fried shallot. Such interesting combination, I thought. Perhaps tabiko is rare in Amsterdam, so they replaced it with fried shallot.

Inspired, my sushi project resurrected! 😃

The next morning, I went to Don Don Donki to shop for the ingredients. I found most of it except rice vinegar. I contemplated using apple cider vinegar, but I was against it. The next day, I found rice vinegar at Cold Storage. So happy! My sushi project is back on track.

Rolling the sushi into rolls is very easy. The art of making the perfect sushi rice was the trickiest part. Thankfully there's YouTube, and just let judgement and creativity lead you to do the rest.

Sushi rice ingredients 

• 2 cups short grain rice 
• 1/2 cup white rice vinegar 
• 4" piece of konbu seaweed
• 2 teaspoons salt 
• 1/4 cup of white sugar
• Cold water 

How to make sushi rice? 

1. Clean the rice over cold water.
2. Soak rice for 30 minutes. 
3. Cook rice in high heat. Let it boil until there is bubbles and steam.
4. Then slow down the temperature and let it simmer for 20 minutes. 
5. Cook rice until all the water is absorbed. 
6. Let the rice sit in a flat surface (shallow wooden bucket) for 15 minutes.  
7. In a different pot, cook rice vinegar, sugar and salt until mixture dissolve.
8. Add the mixture to the rice. 

The rice turned out well cooked. So happy! Now it's time to make sushi rolls. 

Sushi ingredients

Ingredients

• Nori - sushi seaweed
• Wasabi tube 
• Garlic tube 
• Soya sauce
• Pickled ginger 
• Avocado - ripe, not too soft.
• Cucumber - as straight as possible 
• Fried shallot - Amsterdam inspired 
• Salmon 
• Tamago - egg omelette 
• Tabiko - flying fish roe 
• Crab stick 
• Inari - sweet tofu skin 
• Siracha mayo (optional)
• Black sesame (optional) 

How to make California rolls? 

1. Bring out the rolling mat and wrap it with a shrink wrap. 
2. Cut cucumber slices 
3. Cut the crab stick. 
4. Cut the avocado last.
5. Now you're ready to make California roll. Use your imagination how. 😁

California roll. Seaweed is in the inside. 

Nigiri sushi

Temaki handroll

 Maki with seaweeds on the outside.

Maki with siracha mayo

I sent the photo of California roll with fried shallots to the Captain. He said it looks like what he had the other day. 😆

I also sent the photos to once-upon-a-time sushi chef Alex. "Pretty pro! The rolls look great! And so does the nigiri! I'm impressed," says the chef.😊

The foodgasm verdict: 8/10