Cooking Process: Weeks 32,33

I have not been able to update on my cooking process for a while. Here is a quick description on how my process had been going the past several months:

From the 21st of May until the 10th of June, I was not able to make time for cooking due to the Grade 9 end-of-year exams. I resumed the process from June 11th, but had to stop again from the 23rd because of my Grade 9 outdoor expedition trip to Ladakh. At last (after 19 days in Ladakh!), from the 16th of July, I was able to go on with my cooking.

From that day for about 4 weeks, I was in Japan. With lots of spare time to allocate, and guidance from my grandmother, I was able to make many dished which I would like to share. I will be making separate posts for this.

Week 32 (11~17 June): My friend from Italy visited Singapore. She brought pesto sauce, which her mother had made for us in Italy, so we made pesto pasta again. She taught me her “real way” of cooking pasta, and I learnt that I have to put much more salt than I imagine when boiling – I have always only been putting a pinch! Unfortunately I had forgotten to take a photo of the pasta we made.

I also made “Chan-chan yaki”, the salmon and vegetable stir-fry dish from Hokkaido again, that I have shared in my process before in March.

Week 33 (18~22 June): For dinner, I made a pork stir-fry dish. I added onions and carrots, and seasoned it with soy sauce, “sake”, and “mirin” (sweet “sake”, commonly used for seasoning in Japan). As side dish I made a simple “ae-mono” (a type of dish where the vegetables or meat are tossed with some sauce and seasonings) of spinach, natto, and Korean seaweed. I did not use a recipe for these – I wanted to try cooking without following a recipe, but rather, by tasting myself. This made me recall all the seasonings and sauces used for cooking, and therefore was very challenging for me. I was very surprised that now I actually do know what will make the dish taste the way I want it to, and this made me very confident with my progress on my cooking skills.

The other day, I decided to use the remaining pesto sauce buy putting it on chicken breasts, and grill them in the oven. This turned out amazing!