Chan Can Cook... Most of the Time...
I worked this past weekend, but everything went very smooth at work and this time, I did not have any clients walking in with dying pets that I had to resuscitate. On Sunday night, Dan and I met up with Naomi and Mark to have dinner at Tulio, an Italian restaurant in Seattle, and to see ‘Sweeney Todd’, a musical about a serial killer in 19th century London.We arrived at the restaurant a bit early and were waiting for Naomi and Mark when we half-witnessed a 3-car collision at the intersection by the restaurant. We were only half-witnesses because we heard the screeching tires and the collision while our backs were to the intersection and we only saw the end result of it. No one was hurt because it was fairly low-impact, but I think the old man who was either running a red light or trying to turn the wrong way into a one-way street was quite shaken up. One of the pedestrians crossing the street called the police and they arrived when we were just entering the restaurant.
Tulio is a very nice restaurant. Naomi and I went there sometime earlier this year before another show; so we thought it would be nice to introduce our spouses to it (and other restaurants that we have visited in their absence). The show was a bit of a disappointment as a musical. The story was gruesome and intriguing – it was about a 19th century barber, Sweeney Todd, who was determined to avenge the death of his wife and to get even with the people who accused him of and punished him for a crime he did not commit. He returned to London after 15 years in Australia. He paired up with an old acquaintance and ended up being a serial killer who murdered some of his barber shop customers and made them into meat pies. Lovely, huh? The story, the set, costumes etc were all very well done. But the music was not enjoyable. We all agreed after the show that we would have enjoyed it as a play instead. Nonetheless, we had a nice evening out.
Work was fairly steady yesterday and the day went by without too much drama… if only the sick pets come in earlier in the day instead of at the end of the day!
Today and tomorrow are days off for me after working the weekend. I spent today doing the usual day-off things: some household chores, taking Gander to the park, grocery shopping and cooking. Gander did very well at the park today – I am sure his one-week refresher course at Riverdog last week has a lot to do with it. He stole a couple of toys from other dogs, but he was pretty good at letting me take them back. We did not lose any tennis balls either.
One of my favourite things to do on my day off is to cook, often trying out new recipes. Last week, I bought a Chinese cookbook filled with a lot of basic stuff as well as fancy ‘restaurant foods’. One of the recipes that caught my eyes and helped me decide to buy the book was fried glutinous rice. That has always been my favourite winter dish and I bought the ingredients few days ago, planning to make it today. Lucky for me, Uwajimaya, a Japanese supermarket with a large selection of Chinese (and other Asian) groceries, is just a couple of blocks from my hospital. I was not able to find Chinese bacon in the store, so I just used extra Chinese sausages. Despite the slight change in the ingredients, the result was amazing!! I am quite proud of myself – it tasted just like the stuff I’ve had in restaurants!! I am sure if I could find Chinese bacon next time, it will be even better!
Another thing that I made today was Ching Po Leung soup. This has always been one of my favourite home-made soups. I bought the packaged dried ingredients a while back, but I forgot about it until a few days ago when I found it while going through the pantry. I tried making Ching Po Leung soup a few years ago, but it did not turn out to be that great. So I went online this morning and Googled it. I found a recipe for the soup and it included a couple more things besides the dried ingredients and the meat. I have all but one of the extra ingredients, but I went ahead and made the soup anyways – and it tasted so yummy! I am sure Mum would be proud of me! Like most Chinese mums, she is always concerned that I am not having any home-made, slow-cooked soups. Well, at least I have got one of them figured out!
My next challenge will be to make Dan’s birthday cake next week. My last attempt to make a cake was a bit of a disaster. It tasted good, but the texture was way off – it was more like shortbread than cake! I suspect it was because the baking powder I used was a bit old and perhaps I didn’t add enough milk and the batter consistency was not right… I have bought new baking powder since, so I hope it works out. I was going to make a chocolate cake, but I think I’d better stick to the basic sponge cake for now; instead of putting jam in the middle of the layers, I will be using Nutella. Even if the texture still doesn’t come out right, at least I know it will taste right!
posted by Anne-Gigi @ 9:04 PM
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