Week 41: My mother and I spontaneously decided to make chirashizushi (which would be directly translated as “scattered sushi”) for dinner. It is a Japanese traditional dish usually served for ohinasama – Girl’s day – on the 3rd of March. Just like its name, it is basically a large bowl of sushi rice with various colorful toppings such as sashimi, eggs, vegetables, nori, mushrooms, etc. Although it seems and is easy to make, it is very time-consuming to prepare all those toppings! My mother taught me a method to scrambled eggs crumbly but fluffy, which I felt fascinated about. When I make scrambled eggs, I could only cook them crumbly but hard and slightly burnt, or fluffy but omlette-like. The eggs for chirashizushi would be better if cooked crumbly and fluffy at the same time.
The secret was simple – Use a beater! This allows the eggs to be separated and clot in small pieces before being heated too much and becoming hard. My mother also alarmed me that the amount of oil I use tend to be way less than required, so I decided to be more careful on that.
Week 42:
I made chicken, scallion and red pepper stir-fry for a quick dinner to clear up the fridge. I chose miso flavouring because it goes well with rice. Indeed we decided to make it a donburi, putting the stir-fry on top of rice, topping it with shredded nori.
Week 43: My father visited Singapore from Japan. We had Monday together because it was PD day for me, and that day my mother and father’s wedding anniversary – Thus we prepared for a small celebration dinner! We made Tofu hamburger steak, curry spiced chopped potatoes and carrots, and salad. For the hamburger steak, we used beef, which I never use by myself. By adding tofu, the patty becomes bigger with less meat and fluffier. I learned a lot from my father – who carefully cooked over a course of 2 hours – on some basics, which my I tend as I usually focus on finishing fast when cooking on weekdays. For instance, the way he cut the potatoes and carrots into very thin strips, and the countless number of times he tasted while cooking. Unfortunately I totally forgot to take a photo, but it was very nice to see my mother and brother’s delighted faces!
Week 44: I cooked a stir-fried dish on a weekday for dinner again. This has become almost like a routine for me! Because I make vegetables and meat stir-fries every week, my brother seemed to be getting bored. Therefore I decided to try and make something slightly different. 
Shrimp almost never appears on our dinner table, and it was my first time cooking it. I used chicken soup stock and pepper for seasoning, making it Chinese-style. It was very interesting to cook unfamiliar ingredients! I could’ve added more of the soup stock, as the taste was rather plain. Unlike pork and chicken, which I usually use, shrimp did not release much flavour, so I must add more seasoning. With this in mind, I would love to try cooking a dish with shrimp again!
