Fried, poached or scrambled eggs? (Charis cooks)

Is it true that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach? Folks in the 19th-century certainly thought so, with excerpts such as these:


Comic Arithmetic
By Alfred Henry Forrester (London: Richard Bentley) 1844 (Pg. 55)
"On the other hand, we cure villany by increased rations of beef, bread, beer, and potatoes, in accordance with the maxim, that the nearest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”


A Critical Examination of Dr. MacCulloch’s Work on the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland
By James Browne (Edinburgh: Daniel Lizars)1825 (Pg. 8:)
He was necessitated to use the eyes of others, because he was blind himself; and as the road to his heart happened to lie through his stomach, which it was not always practicable, in the Highlands especially, to appease, nobody was unreasonable enough to expect that he would discover any vestiges of high and chivalrous (Pg. 9—ed.) feeling lingering among a people who were nearly utter strangers to roast-beef and plum-pudding. 


and my favourite;


23 November 1838, Richmond (VA) Enquirer, pg. 1:
Our national characteristic—that the way to an Englishman’s heart is through his stomach—you must not, however, imagine is becoming extinct; it only sleepeth. 


(credit to The Big Apple, posted by Barry Popik)


Far be it for me to imagine it to be extinct, if Samuel's previous two posts are anything to go by. One of the things we learnt in our pre-marital counselling (hereinafter to be referred to as PMC) was the expectations we had of each other after marriage. To my surprise (but not horror, mind you), the expectations of me goes beyond the art of being a pretty,shy little wifey AND shopping for all of us (which I have, very responsibly, agreed to). I now have to learn to feed my man. And feed him I shall! 


Our conversation will probably go like this:


Me  : Samuel, do you want fried eggs or poached eggs today?
Sam: What's poached eggs?
Me  : Err... how about scrambled eggs?
Sam: For dinner?
Me  : Err... Food by Phone?


Thank God for food delivery in Bangkok. 



The author is in no way alluding to the fact that she does not know the difference between fried and poached eggs, nor to the idea that she does not know how to cook. The above scenario is purely fictional and will not, under any circumstances, happen in reality. Samuel, really! :D

My dinner before I return for the weekend (Sam speaks)

So I decided to cook up all my leftovers today since I'm going back for the weekend + Monday and think most of it are expiring. Opened my fridge and found that I had enough to cook myself some "Fettuccine ala leftover". Here's the recipe:

1. Firstly, turn on the TV so at least if you scream like a girl caused by oil splatter your neighbors will think it's the TV.
2. Next the Fettuccine, but before that take a cauldron out, fill it up with water, turn the heat up to maximum then let it boil. 
3. Take a shower.
4. Water should be boiled by now. Drop in a few spoonful of salt.
5. Thrown in whatever Fettuccine, spaghetti, maggi, and wait till it all gets soft. (I just had fettuccine :))
6. Once satisfied with the springiness, take the cauldron out and leave it at the side.
7. Next, my favourite part. Have an ice cream to cool down while watching a disney movie.
8. (3mins later). Time to cook the leftovers!
9. Ok, I had some bacon and sausages that was stuck to my freezer (must be still good cause the Freezer liked it so much that it licked and not let go)
10. Take a saucepan, oil it, throw it all in and stir. (Oh yah, before this defrost the meat real good.)
11. Once it smells good and you think it's cooked, throw in the sauce (I had a leftover sauce in a can from previous cooking endeavor)
12. *uh oh, not enough sauce!! Need to improvise! Open the fridge again...I see milk.
13. Pour in the milk. Ok, now too watery. Let's make it look creamy and thick. *what else do I have in the fride. Ah, cheese and butter.
14. Throw those in.
15. Stir a bit over slow fire. Looks creamy and delicious now.
16. Next, strain the Fettuccine. Then put the Fettuccine in the saucepan with the sauce! (save one plate to wash)
17. Mix it all up real good. 
18. Pour it all in a plate. Top it off with some leftover black pepper and chilly powder *I like it to have a little kick.
19. For drinks, Juice mix with sprite :)
20. A meal is complete, voila "Fettuccine ala leftovers in 20 steps"

*This is the real thing

Words to live by

"Lord, grant us in our work, satisfaction; in our leisure, pleasure; in our study, wisdom; and in our love, loyalty" - William Barclay

Living in Bangkok...surviving it (Sam speaks)

Living in Bangkok sometimes makes you miss home. BUT thanks to some good friends who managed to bring some good old Ramly burgers here, I made myself a triple decker, triple cheese, double pork bacon Ramly burger resting in between lettuces, tomatoes, onions and cucumbers, drenched in ketchup and thousand island, finished gently with some nicely toasted buns in between it all. Then for a moment, just a moment, it felt like home...


 
*for illustration purposes only (I'm dreaming of the day that Charis will served me this as is :))


A good burger does wonders.


Remember this speech from How I met your mother:
"Just a Burger? Just a burger. Robin, it’s so much more than “just a burger”. I mean…that first bite—oh what heaven that first bite is! The bun like a sesame freckled breast of an angel resting gently on the ketchup and mustard below—flavors mingling in a seductive pas-de-deux And then…a pickle…the most playful little pickle! Then a slice of tomato, a leaf of lettuce and a…a patty of ground beef so exquisite; swirling in your mouth breaking apart and combining again in a fugue of sweets and savor so delightful. This is no mere sandwich of grilled meat and toasted bread, Robin: this is like God…speaking to us in food."

The journey of a thousand miles... (Charis chats)

...begins with a single step. It started with a question, then an answer...

They say marriage is a journey, but I never would've realized I've started on the journey even before we've exchanged our vows. I guess as girls, we've always been ready and the key to the ignition is merely a question. Once the engine is started, the journey starts!

I'm talking about wedding planning. Once we've decided to do it ourselves, it has brought me to many places and led me to people I won't ordinarily meet. If you could just see what I have jotted down on my mini notebook, iPod Touch, handphone, flaps of stray paper... you'd see how the journey evolved from the booking of the hotel, to the wedding gowns, to the invitation cards, to the caterers, to the wedding cake...

It is a wonderful thing to be experiencing all the details by yourselves... although, some people would prefer to give it all to the experts. My focus would be on the joy of planning. It's like slaving over an American quilt (I really want to learn how to make those!) stitch by stitch till its finality. Beautiful!

So, read on with us as we continue this journey. Soon, I'll be packing my bags for yet another journey, going stitch by stitch, one step at a time.

One wedding dress for sale (Sam speaks)

I won a wedding gown! Well not for me to wear at least. Won it playing some games in some cinema just before watching some movie awhile back. Anyway, wasn't really a big deal till I found out it was a Carven Ong (don't know him either but knowing that it's retail value is RM4,800 definitely helped)

A DREAMY WEDDING GOWN FOR SALE

So here's the story, Charis already has a gown which she really liked so to ease our financial burdens we're trying to sell off the Carven Ong. (Weddings are really expensive!!)


How much really depends on how badly you want it :) Kidding, just inform Charis or mail us to notify us if you're really interested (or know someone who would be interested) and how much are you willing to pay for it.


Take a look at it here

Bangkok Life (Sam speaks)

So I have this other blog which I've not touched since I got engaged. And since we got this blog here so why not continue on from here. Instead of keeping it just as a wedding blog, it'll be so much more interesting if we continue on from here, no longer as individuals to get but ONE (so either Charis or I can update it - which I'm hoping will get more updates than previously :)) then I don't need to update so many blogs - as if I do update it :P

As of now, I've been in Bangkok for almost 4 months. It's not as different from back home apart from the language. Food and streets are pretty much similar. 

Still trying to get a hang of the Thai language which I must say...it's tough 

 By the way, this is where I'm staying at the moment:

 Way smaller than what I'm used to but I'm not complaining, managed to pimp it up pretty good but I'm guessing when Charis comes it'll be more "family" like, unlike now. (The ultimate bachelor pad):

 *Picture is slightly exaggerated. This is the picture that I got when I keyed in "ultimate bachelor pad" 

Ok! Slightly more than 2 more months to go to the wedding. Think the hardest part is coordinating/planning a wedding from so far away. Charis seems to be doing all the work till now where I’m only controlling the budget.

We got some fantastic people who’ve “volunteered” to graciously help with the wedding preps which I’m grateful for (but the real work has yet to begin!)

BUT that’s on the wedding part which we will continue to work on and if time permits updates some sound bites here.

So how’s Bangkok life? Come and pay me a visit :)

*Random pictures from the net

Wish the wedding couple

Here's your opportunity to write down a thing or two to us. Make it sweet, interesting, funny, romantic, anything! We'll flash it up in some creative multimedia/presentation/slides during the wedding or print it out and keep it in our hearts :)

 Just leave your comments in the comments tab. Who knows, you might be seeing your comments up in the slides.

"Now join hands, and with your hands your hearts." - William Shakespeare

(Several people mentioned to me that this comment thing doesn't work that well. Solution: Wait awhile for the word verification to load or play with the edit button till it appears. Must be some blogspot bug)