Good eats

Yesterday's real quick mussels spaghetti in a white wine and basil oil broth was just amazing, especially the broth. Pasta with mussels is something that I like to order when eating out but never attempted to make at home. I can't believe it's so easy to make, not at all expensive and so much better than the restaurant version I had. It was very light, and again, the broth, oh... you've got to try it.


for dinner tonight I made whole baked cauliflower with tomato and olive sauce, accompanied with a simple roast lamb shoulder. Throughout the cooking process, my flat smelled like summer in the Mediterranean. I couldn't find good black olives this morning, and I used green olives instead (sorry Jamie, I hope it's ok. It's still very good).

It's day 55, recipe number 22 and the project continues...

Molly and Me

Just watched 'Marley & Me' (again) and I cried my eyes out (again). What a great film, and an even better book, because it reminds me of Molly, my own puppy. Molly is my first pet. Well, my family had a dog before but I was too little to remember.

Molly was a present from my dad's friend about six years ago. When Molly first came to our house, I wasn't thrilled. She was loud and very demanding. We have to feed her (obviously), take her for walks, clean her mess and watch her every move. The first few months, the most popular sayings were 'Stop that!', 'that's enough!' or just 'MOLLY!!!'.

But over the time, she became a big part of our family. She likes to accompany my mom in the garden; eavesdrop to our conversation and she was the star at my sister's 'show and tell' at school. She is funny and she love papaya. Everybody in our neighbourhood knows Molly, hopefully for good reasons. I haven't seen Molly for the past couple of years and I missed her. My sister sends me updates every now and then, funny stories about her or when she was in trouble.

I love this quotes from 'Marley & Me' and it is certainly true: A dog has no use for fancy cars, big homes or designer clothes. A water log stick will do just fine. A dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor, clever or dull, smart or dumb. Give him your heart and he'll give you his.

Anyway, yesterday I finally tackle the first recipe from the fish section of the book. I made pan-roasted salmon with purple sprouting broccoli and anchovy-rosemary Sauce which was delicious. The only thing that different was the sauce. Jamie's instruction to make the sauce is to use pestle and mortar, but I don't have one so I used food processor instead. It's finer than how it should be but still really good. Pestle and Mortar is definitely in my things-that-I-want list (this is a big hint hint for Christmas, my dear friends).

I spent this morning hunting for fresh live mussels to make real quick mussels spaghetti in a white wine and basil oil broth for tonight. After a quick journey to a neighbouring city, I finally got them. Yay! It's gonna be good. Plus tonight is also X-Factor night which makes it even better.

I'll tell you all about it later. And this is the very first picture of Molly. Did I mention that she also loves the camera?

22 today

When I was seven, my teacher asked me, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" And I said, "I want to be an astronaut. I want to go to the moon". I'm not very good at science.

When I was nine, my uncle asked me, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" And I said, "I want to be a comedian. I want to make people laugh". I can't tell a joke.

When I was fourteen, I wanted to be a news reporter, because I want to look smart and travel all over the world. I went to University, studied media and communication, got a degree and I'm not a news reporter.

Everyone, including me wants success. I set goals and positive thinking and attitude to make my way to the top. In my life, all I want to do is to reach the day when I could shout to my mom, dad, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends, "Hey! Look at me! I did it!"

I heard somewhere that success is a continuous learning of strategy. When you do something long enough, you become very good at it. This process is accelerated when you follow someone who can guide you past common mistakes.

Since I started this "My Guide to Making You a Better Cook" project, Jamie has taught me how to cook the creamiest risotto; how to choose the riht cuts of meat; and the secret to make the most delicious pork chops.

I'm 22 today and still want to learn many things. I want to be able to make fresh pasta and learn how to prepare a live lobster. I want to be a better cook.

and another chops

Yesterday I had dinner with some friends and I made old school pork chops again...
I loved it the first time and I just felt it's very selfish of me not to share the oh-so-good-pork chops with others :) My friends loved it as well.

This evening is the first live show of the X-Factor and how exciting!!!
My friends are coming over later and in the menu tonight: Japanese Beef Curry and home made Tiramisu for dessert. I cannot wait.

I found myself in the local paper two days ago, giving my opinions about the X-Factor. I was interviewed by two strangers at the beginning of the week and I thought it was just for students' work. I guess any publicity is good publicity, right? Anyway, my top three is Olly, Joe and Lucy.