Jade: Bitemybrownies#2

I'm pre-nights today. And while I'm absolutely shitting myself at the thought of having to deal with surgical emergencies at 3 in the morning...or worse..having to wake my registrar up to deal with surgical emergencies at 3 in the morning...I'm quite enjoying this lull before the storm. I woke up today and realized I could actually go back to bed if I wanted to... I no longer have to live in the dark..literally..because I finally have time to speak to accomodation services about the light that's blown. Even ringing the bank and being put

on hold for half an hour felt like a treat. So as I walked into my kitchen last night, relishing the peace and quiet...I felt a little celebratory baking was in order...something sweet..something deliciously sinful...Something like thick slabs of fudgy brownies with salted caramel swirls.......These are going to the Obs and Gynae department, where people actually enjoy chocolate. Here's hoping no one gets stomped on by a horse tonight..

Jade: Bitemykimchi

I had this fantasy...that I would start work, take care of sick people in the day, go home at 5, cook myself a nice hot meal, buy lots of fancy bakeware with my fat pay cheque and bake pretty things over the weekend. It's been 2 and half weeks, sick people who pull out their cannulas are really starting to irk me, I have yet to leave the hospital before 6 on any given day, cereal's about the closest thing I've had to a balanced meal and I'm oncall every other weekend. Oh as for that pay cheque, I'm still waiting....and waiting...Like I said, I had this fantasy...

Kimchi fried rice~because my kimchi was expiring...I'm sure I've said this before..but who knew kimchi expires? Surely the whole point of preserving vegetables is so they don't go bad...like ever...

1/2 cup cooked short grain rice, overnight's better

lots of chopped garlic

2 stalks spring onions, chopped

Fatty bacon, diced

Kimchi, sliced fairly thin

1 tbsp gochujang/ korean chilli paste

fish sauce to taste

1 egg, sunny side up

1. Slap the bacon in a pan, fry till crispy..rendering the fat as you go along

2. Add the chopped garlic and spring onions

3. Add the kimchi and gochujang

4. Turn up the heat, add the rice and stir to coat everything in the yummy spicy paste. I like to leave it while I do the washing up, that way you get beautiful crackly bits of rice at the bottom of the pan. Probably the closest you'll get to 'wok hei' on an electric hob.

5. Season to taste, plate and top with an egg, sunny side up. Runny yolk please...fried eggs with solid yolks are an utter waste of time.

6. Enjoy with a nice korean drama :)

Jade: Bitemycookies #3

I remember my first box of After 8's. I was 6, all dressed up in a pastel yellow dress with white polka-dots, lacy socks and white leather mary-janes. I was about to meet one of my mother's closest friends, a quirky British doctor who loved durian and deep sea fishing. I must've rehearsed how I planned to greet him about a million times, so eager was I to make a good impression. We went grocery shopping...don't ask me why...and as we strolled past the chocolate aisle, I spotted After 8's. My mum had told me about them before, and to my 6-year old self, they looked like the most sophisticated things. I wanted them...but I was so intent on behaving that day I bit my lip and kept going. The good doctor must've noticed that slightest of lingers..because he slipped a box into the shopping cart and as we left the shop, pressed the beautiful black box into my hands. Was it all worth it? To be honest, I thought it tasted like chocolate covered toothpaste...but to this day, I have never turned down an After 8 mint, simply because it reminds me of one of the most special people I've ever met:)

Mint Choc Chunk cookies ~ My cookie version of After-8's, because my parents' had just left, I'd run out of vanilla and was still technically unemployed. I miss being technically unemployed...

1/4 cup castor sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

114g salted butter, melted

1/4 cup vegetable oil [ I used olive oil because I haven't had time to go grocery shopping for about a month]

1 medium egg

1/2 tbsp milk

200g flour

50g cocoa powder

1/2 tsp crushed sea salt

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tspn baking soda

1/2 tbsp mint extract/ oil

1 cup dark chocolate chunks

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees

2. Cream butter, sugar, oil, milk and mint

3. Add dry ingredients

4. Fold in the chocolate chunks

5. Chill the dough for about half an hour

6. Scoop out large dollops and drop them on a cookie sheet, bake for 8-12 minutes

7. Cool, break one in half, and share with someone you like:)

Jade: Bitemysardines

I loved Sugarbun as a kid. Not so much the fast food, although the fish burger is still my go to burger on days when I just want to feel as unhealthy as I possibly can....can't beat synthetic fish and old grease. No..I loved the adjoining bakery. Applebee. I'm not even sure if it's around anymore, but when we were in Miri, we had a massive Applebee in one of the shopping complexes where we would go nearly every weekend to could pick out curry puffs and buns for school. The best bit about that bakery though, had to be the semi open kitchen. Everyday, someone wearing a chef's hat would stand at the work station piping icing roses, icing baskets, icing cartoon characters on elaborate celebration cakes. And whenever I went, I would press my nose against the glass panel eating either sugary doughnut balls on a stick or their swirly ice cream cone. It was my treat for being good :)

Sardine puffs [One of my favourite pastries from Applebee..after sugary doughnuts on a stick, of course...only now I'm all grown up. So I don't have to buy them..I can just make them;)]

1 pack ready made puff pastry

1 can sardine

1 onion, sliced thinly

1 red chili, chopped

1 carrot, grated

Juice of half a lime

1 beaten egg

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees

2. Fry the onions till fragrant and chuck in the sardines, chili and carrots, breaking up the fish as you go along

3. Add the lime juice and a bit of sugar or salt to taste

4. Cut your pastry into squares, spoon about a tbsp of filling on top, brush the edges with egg and press down with a fork to seal

5. Score the top so steam can escape and glaze with beaten egg

6. Bake for about 15-20 minutes and enjoy, fresh out of the oven :)

Mine didn't have as much 'puff' as I would've liked...might have something to do with the fact that the pastry's been sitting in my freezer since 2009..

Jade: Bitemyrojak

I remember the haze and coxsackie outbreak out '97. My sister and I weren't allowed out of the house for nearly 2 months. While I was perfectly happy not going to school for 6 weeks, the thought of all the street food I was missing out on was pretty damn near unbearable. I would lie in bed at night imagining the smell and taste of my favourite noodles, unable to sleep. Having said that, I think a lot of the food we miss when we're away from home is associated with treasured memories and a sense of longing for days gone by rather than a sole appreciation of the actual flavours involved. For me, teh tarik is less about the sweet tea and more about nights out with boarding school mates at mamak stalls; kampua mee never fails to bring back that buzz of excitement I used to feel when we would load up the car for our yearly trips back to our hometown. So when my pregnant friend's husband brought her jars of rojak sauce from home, I found myself craving for exactly that. Not so much the husband bit, but the pungent, briny smell of prawn paste...takes me right back to when I was 12, waiting for my dad to pick me up from tuition, knowing he's late because he's stopped to get a packet of rojak and ang dao beng for tea :)

Rojak for two

Half a cucumber, pared into chunks

Half a pineapple, cut into chunks [ I got mine ready peeled and cored from Asda]

Half an apple, cored and cut into chunks

Half a block of firm white tofu, cubed and panfried till brown and crisp on the outside

Sauce

2 big tbsp prawn paste

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp sambal olek

1tsp roasted chilli paste [potent stuff, adjust accordingly]

Juice of half a lime

As much crushed peanuts as you like, reserving a bit to sprinkle on top. I'm very generous with the nuts

* In an ideal world, I'd have ginger flower..but let's be realistic..this is England..

1. While the tofu is frying, whisk together the ingredients for the rojak sauce, tasting and

adjusting as you go along. Helps to add a tiny bit of hot water to break things up a little.

2. Cut up the fruit and veg

3. Spoon over the delicious rojak sauce, sprinkle some crushed peanuts over it, toss to coat and top with even more peanuts..and what you should end up with are juicy, crunchy chunks of fresh fruit cloaked in spicy, salty dressing

*I rather think eating it is an art on its own..I start by eating all the cucumbers because I don't like them..then I start on the apples..then the sweet, sweet pineapples..and finally, I mop up what's left of the rich sauce with soft bits of tofu...sheer rapture :)

Jade: Bitemybruschetta

I love the versatility of food. It's hardly ever an exact science and most of the time recipes and cook books serve as more of a guide/ source of inspiration..I never follow recipes to the letter because half the fun is in experimenting with alternative ingredients and ratios. I got a little cookbook from the charity shops over the weekend and what I found most precious were the pencilled-in notes and suggestions in the margins of every page. "Too salty, try adding cumin?".."More zest, smaller portions, would make a wonderful starter"...someone had obviously taken the time to try these recipes and alter them to suit her palate. Shame that it ended up being given away...ah well, lucky me:)

Tomato bruschetta [ Adapted from yet another one of Raymond Blanc's recipes. This started out as Maman Blanc's tomato salad..thick slices of organic tomatoes marinated in a tangy mustard dressing. I had a craving for something light that I could pick on...something like bruschetta ;) ]

Half a crusty french baguette, sliced diagonally

1 beefsteak tomato [ you want something very firm and meaty since it forms the bulk of this dish]

1 shallot, cut in half, slice one half thinly and chop up the other half, this way u get a bit of it in the dressing, and a bit in the salad for crunch

1 clove garlic, crushed and minced

1/2 tbsp dijon mustard [ I used wholegrain]

1-2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp warm water

some torn, fresh basil

some chopped parsley

1 chunk of goats cheese

1. Chop the tomato into medium sized chunks and place in a bowl

2. Add the thinly sliced shallots

3. In a separate bowl, mix the mustard, oil, garlic and chopped shallots till you get a thick paste

4. Then add the warm water, and whisk, so you get a lovely yellow emulsion

5. Spoon over the tomatoes, give it a gentle mix and leave to marinade for an hour or so

6. Preheat oven to 180 degrees and when that's ready, bake the baguette slices for about 10 minutes

7. Remove the baguette and drizzle with olive oil. I used sundried tomato oil because I had some in the fridge

8. Add the herbs to the salad, give it a quick toss, spoon over the baguette slices and top with some torn up goats cheese. Bon apetít :)

Jade: Bitemytomato

The best thing about living in catered halls, besides having someone to clean your bathroom and kitchen, was always breakfast. Granted it was the only palatable meal served at the canteen..I loved the convenience of waking up, knowing a hot breakfast complete with my choice of tea, coffee or hot chocolate awaited. There was something so grown-up about getting to choose between hot danish or buttered toast, fruit or yoghurt and if it was yoghurt, what flavour? And then there was the cooked breakfast~ sausages, bacon, beans, mushrooms, eggs, fried bread..the works. It was always sausages and beans on days when I was feeling particularly indulgent...eggs on toast whenever I missed home because my mum used to make them..and on weekends, bacon on toast, topped with lashings of honey.

Stuffed tomato with mushrooms [ Inspired by Raymond Blanc's stuffed tomatoes. I was watching him on BBC and all I could think about the whole time was how I could turn it into a nice breakfast. Monsieur Blanc stuffed his tomatoes with minced pork and served them with a rich tomato sauce. I stuffed mine with sausage meat, nestled it in a bed of fried mushrooms and topped it with an egg, sunny side up]

1 beefsteak tomato [you want a big, sturdy tomato that will hold the filling and not turn into mush after baking]

1 pork sausage, skin removed

2-3 tbsp breadcrumbs [ I didn't have any so I used cracker crumbs]

1 small shallot, diced finely

1 clove garlic, minced

some chopped sage

1 egg yolk and a drizzle of olive oil to bind

some grated pecorino

freshly cracked black pepper

mushrooms

fresh parsley, chopped

a splash of white wine

salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees

2. Combine sausage meat with breadcrumbs, cheese, herbs and seasoning, binding it with the egg and olive oil. Don't bother with a fork, use your hands

3. Cut off the top of the tomato, and using a spoon, gauge out the pulp and discard or save it for a tomato sauce

4. Stuff the tomato with your sausage mix, grate some more cheese over the top, drizzle with olive oil and bake for about 20-25 minutes

5. In the meantime, pop the mushrooms in a pan, add a glug of wine and stir till softened

6. Fry an egg just before the tomato is ready

7. Dish up and there you have it. My version of a British fry-up. None of the grease, all of the pleasure ;)