Doesn't TaZte Like Chicken

Location: My tiny kitchen

Some people believe that there is only one true love in life. I believe there is one special cookie for everyone. Your special cookie might be the first cookie you had, or the cookie that you always had when you were a kid. Ultimately, the special cookie is the cookie that you want to have when you had a bad morning, a bad day at work or even a bad date. You might also want to bite into this cookie when you missed a flight, a hard deadline or the season’s premier episode of Lost. It is the cookie that could save you from kicking yourself (or other people’s behinds) in heated moments. If you are still looking for your special cookie, check if you utter a “Mmmmm” sound next time you have a cookie. If you do, then that cookie might just be the one for you.

My special cookie is a shortbread cookie made from an easy recipe created by Anna Olson. I have tried other people’s shortbread recipe but Olson’s remains my favourite. The right proportion of butter, sugar and flour listed in her recipe makes this cookie tastes rich and yet not overly buttery. To turn this shortbread cookie into my special cookie, I make them in different shapes – hearts, duckies and gingerbread men.

This recipe makes 36 cookies if you are using a small ice cream scoop. Based on the experience of making many batches, I’ve made a few modifications to the recipe. The ingredients are the same as Olson’s but the steps are slightly different.

1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature, soften
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp icing sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 310F.

2. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter with icing sugar until butter is fluffy. First beat at low speed until the sugar and butter are combined, then turn to high speed and beat for 10 minutes. This step is important because fluffy butter makes fluffy cookies. Beat the butter until it is almost white in colour. In the end, beat in the vanilla extract at medium speed.
3. Using a spatula, fold in the flour, cornstarch and salt.
4. Using a small ice cream scoop, drop the cookie dough onto an cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between cookies.
5. Bake for 15 minutes or until bottoms are slightly brown. Let cool and enjoy.

Those are the steps to make the shortbread cookies. There are a few more steps involved to turn the cookies into hearts, gingerbread men or duckies. You will need cookie cutters (in shapes that you preferred), wax paper and a rolling pin.

1. On a very long piece of wax paper, put the dough on one side of the paper. Cover the dough by folding the paper in half. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to 1/4 of an inch thick. Place the dough covered with the wax paper on a cookie sheet and put it in the freezer until it hardens, which takes about 20 minutes.

2. Once the dough has harden, let it warm up in room temperature for 5 minutes or until is is soft enough to cut through using a cookie cutter. Flour a cookie cutter and use it to cut the dough into individual cookies. If the dough becomes soft and start to stick to the cookie cutter, put the dough back in the freezer for 5 minutes. Flour the cookie cutter as often as needed.
3. Repeat step 2 for the remaining dough.

Once the cookies have been cut, they must be baked right away or must be stored in the freezer. Put the cookies on a cookie sheet and let them harden in the freezer. Once they are harden, stack them up in a container and keep them in the freezer until you are ready to bake them.

Besides cookies, I believe for everyone there is also a special chocolate bar, cupcake, ice cream sundae, fried chicken, mac & cheese… the list just never ends. But I feel that when someone had a bad day, the special cookie can always make that person feel, well, a little special.

Location: My tiny kitchen

It is plainly obvious that ET and I do not eat healthy and I suppose I should take full responsibility for it. We know fat is bad for us but like all bad things, they are exciting, addictive and most importantly, fat makes food taste irresistibly good. A world without fat or butter is a world without fun. Fat is like a gossipy relative; you know you are spending way too much time with them but you just can’t cut them out of your life because secretly, you enjoy their company. However, sometimes even I, the loyal fan of fat, would feel guilty. I have girlfriends who take good care of themselves and they eat healthy. When we go for dim sum, every one would order steamed dishes whereas I, being the odd ball, would order fried dishes like spring rolls. Hanging out with my girlfriends has a positive influence on me. They made me believe that as a woman, I should take good care of myself and when convenient, take good care of my husband as well.

As my attempt to become more health-conscious, tonight for dinner I made a tuna salad. To make sure I’m eating my veggie (how can you leave out veggie when you try to eat healthy?), I served the tuna salad on lettuce leaves and ate it like a wrap. I used olive oil instead of mayonnaise as well. I tested my invention on ET, who has an ultra low tolerance over veggie. Either he didn’t recognize the lettuce because it was used as a wrap or he just liked the salad, he finished everything without a complain.

Next time when I have spring rolls at dim sum, I will feel less guilty because I can always have this salad for dinner.

To make the tuna salad you will need:

- 1 can of flaked tuna in water, drained.
- 3/4 cup of canned navy beans, drained.
- 1/4 of onion
- 1 green onion
- 3 tbsp of chopped cilantro
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 butterhead lettuce

1. Dice the onion.
2. Dice the green onion.
3. Put the tuna, onion, green onion, navy beans and cilantro into a bowl. Add lemon juice and olive oil. Toss gently. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Rinse the lettuce and make sure the leaves are dry. Serve the tuna salad on the leaves or roll the leaves into a wrap.

Location: My Tiny Kitchen

Soup is a popular item in Cantonese food. When I was small, my mom would make a big pot of soup every few days. Cantonese soups are usually made by simmering a pile of meat and vegetables over a long period of time. My mom is always proud of her soups; she always tells me that good soups are made with the best ingredients that you can find.

Grew up drinking my mom’s soups has made me a soup snob. I believe that home made soups taste best. To be accurate, I believe that only home made soups taste good. Nowadays with everyone wanting to eat healthy, many soup companies have given its canned soups the health spin. Although putting labels such as “low sodium”, “low fat”, “no MSG”, “no artificial flavours” on the can might make canned soups more appealing, I still prefer to cook my own soups using good ingredients, like how my mom has made hers.

This recipe serves 4 people and you will need:

- 8 carrots
- 1/2 of an onion
- 2 celery sticks
- 5 cups of unsalted chicken stock
- 1/3 cup of heavy cream or cream that contains at least 33% of milk fat
- 1/4 cup of plain yogurt (optional)

1. Peel the carrots and cut them into slices that are 1/4” thick.
2. Slice the celery.
3. Dice the onion.

4. Add 2 tbsp of olive in a heated stock pot. Saute carrots, celery and onion for 2 minutes.
5. Add chicken stock and bring the stock to a boil. Reduce the heat and bring the liquid down to a simmer. Simmer until the carrots are soft and tender, about 40 minutes.
6. Using a blender, puree the soup.

7. Pass the puree through a sieve into a large bowl. Using the back of a spatula, press the puree through the sieve. The more puree you press through the sieve, the thicker the soup will become. I like my soup to be thick enough to coat the spoon and to do so, I passed most of the carrot puree through the sieve and left about 1/2 cup of puree in the sieve.
8. Pour the soup back into the stock pot. Add the cream and bring the soup to a boil. Add salt to taste (I don’t like my soup tasting salty so I added only 1 tsp of salt).
9. To serve, put a dollop of yogurt in the soup and garnish with parsley.