Festive Remedies

The perfect remedy after Christmas shopping

Version 2.0 = B

Kids liked Jambalaya 2.0, but I think I can still do better. They’re an easy audience! They asked if they could be my guinea pigs for mashed potato recipes. They loved mashed potatoes and I’ve just about gotten the perfect recipe down… but it looks like they’d like to be involved in more trials. Funny babies.

Jambalaya 2.0

My 2nd attempt at Jambalaya is simmering on the stove. The main improvements are: frying the rice in butter and sautéing all the ingredients in bacon grease! Butter and bacon is the sure-fire way to improving anything! Let’s see what the kids say later. I’m betting that their American DNA will respond to such embellishments!

Raw Food

Raw Foodism. My verdict: Yuck, but you feel like you have to chew, swallow and smile… I hear it’s what Demi Moore and Steve Jobs subscribe to. One’s trying to keep that child attracted to her, and the other is trying to keep cancer at bay. They have their reasons. Me? Blah. I’ll accept wrinkles and cellulite with my processed meat. It’s way too painful to be healthy. BTW – That round disc with sliced avocados is supposed to be pizza. Seriously.

Officier!

Joe and I were invited to the Chaine des Rotisseurs 2010 Chapitre to witness their induction ceremony and attend the dinner that followed. We were surprised and delighted that we got to see Uncle Pete promoted from “Chevalier” to “Officier”. We also witnessed some of our friends get inducted into the Chaine des Rotisseurs. What was intriguing was a rather imperious English woman conduct the induction. She made a very formal recitations in French and rested a short sword on each inductee’s shoulder while they each held a rather long and scary looking sword! Rather archaic… but then again, the Chaine was established in 1248! Felicitations to Uncle Pete! Dinner was absolutely decadent and delicious.

Brews

What would I do without caffeine? Dear Rasini who has worked for us for 10 years is well-versed in my caffeine dependencies. When I look wild-eyed or wan, she seems to know the exact brew to bring me. I flit from decaf, to espressos, then there’s strong black tea, decaf black tea and green tea. To calm me, there’s also herbal concoctions and my latest ginger tea from Eve. Depending on the time of day or night and which end of the candle I’m burning, trusty Rasini brings me the right mix to keep me up, then calm me down. Here’s tonight’s formula. Forget mixologists… I’ll take Rasini’s instinctive brews any day!

G is for…

Gin & Tonic.

If I weren’t so exhausted and lazy, I’d go make myself one. I think inertia (a.k.a. laziness/aversion to being in the kitchen) saves me from being an alcoholic.

BDS Therapy

Dinner at Bistrot du Sommelier last night was just what the doctor ordered. I sorely needed a night away from work. The Tuckers, Jeffrey and Ivan were in fine form. The food was brilliant as always and the wines that we brought were delicious. Steve’s bottle of ’88 Grange was a particular stand out, and I always look forward to Ivan’s Tokajis. I also enjoyed the unexpected treat of fresh mirabelles. It’s so nice that the restaurant brings in seasonal fruit and cheeses. Plums and nectarines are my favourite fruit, and the mirabelles were simply scrumptious. I’m restored!

Bliss at Bistro du Sommelier

There are a growing number of posts about eating and drinking.. it’s inevitable I guess! I’m a dyed-in-the-wool-food-loving Singaporean, and it’s way too easy to bliss out on food and drink in this town and amongst the circles we run in (yes, I’m blaming my peeps). We have been promising Eve & Eric that we’d take them to Bistro du Sommelier for ages. We finally got around to doing so last night. It was fabulous. The choucroute de couchon and calvados souffle were to die for. The company wasn’t bad either. True to our roots (ok, just Eve’s and mine), we went to bungkus teh halia (ginger tea) from “Mr Prata” after dinner and enjoyed sipping the tangy soothing sleep-preventing concoction at home. I needed a night like that after a chaotic and frantic week. This next week will be another psycho round of PTA and Art Outreach activities. Summer, Now, Please!

Sunday Supper

Our busy weekend ended on a happy note with Eve+Eric, the Tuckers, Ivan & Jeff coming over for dinner. Our guests bore the most delectable gifts: Ivan made ice-cream, Jeff brought an excellent 1990 vintage, The Tuckers spoilt us with wine, truffle mac & cheese, key lime pie and a pan cookie! Thanks to Eve for helping shop and cook. She cooked the roasts. We ate way more than we should. Good food, great company and laughter – that’s what I needed to cap off a very long week. Another busy week ahead…here we go again!