Cooking Adventures

Overall, life has been pretty quiet. I have reduced my dining out to just every now and then, and have been cooking more at home which I do enjoy much more. I discovered the beauty of ordering my groceries online and having them delivered through Asda.com. Asda is owned by Walmart, so they have pretty much the same things as in the US. It just saves so much time than to be at the store trying to find where things are, especially being unfamiliar with the stores and products. As wonderful and convenient as it is, I can feel everyone's judgement... how lazy! Just type what you want in a search bar and click "Add to cart" :scoff scoff:. I know I know, simmer down.

Before Asda, I was only stuck with getting limited things from the stores in the city centre. I find shopping hard since I like to buy a lot of things at one time. Unfortunately, one girl can only carry so much with her two skinny arms. I need to send my lazy butt back to Crossfit one of these days! Somehow, buying food from the stores directly ends up being so much more expensive too. In person grocery runs go for about £40-50 a pop, and I don't even buy that much! Asda let's me order a ton of food for £25-30. You might argue delivery fees, but I have to free delivery pass for 3 months at only £15. Sorry, but lazyness wins here.

Feast of champs: Chicken breast and a Clementine

This was my first home-cooked meal from before my groceries were delivered. It looks pretty lame, but they were some pretty amazing and juicy chicken breasts. It makes me wonder if it's because of the genetically modified or hormone injected chickens we eat in America that make the breast meat so dry and disgusting. All I did was sear, then steam them in the pan. Ten minutes and done! Unfortunately I did not have any veggies to balance it out, so I resorted to a couple clementines to do that.

Duck breast over spinach and corn on cob

After my first Asda order came in, I went on a cooking frenzy. Who wouldn't with duck breast, turkey legs and steak? This is not the most flattering picture of me, but it's my best mischievous excited and hungry face. Juicy, flavorful duck breast with crisped skin over wilted spinach and sides of corn on cob. As a home-cook, I consider myself a minimalist. My mantra is "Nature makes the best flavor". I only cook with pinches of salt and pepper, sometime garlic, ginger or green onions but very rarely do I spend a lot of time whipping up complex sauces over my food. I feel it takes away from true flavor the food ingredients bring from itself. My husband, on the other hand, thinks my food is bland. There are health reasons to not over-flavoring foods too--like fat, cholesterol, sugar and sodium control. We could all live much better lives, and have the taste buds to enjoy nature's flavor when our palates are not so oversaturated and acclimated to heavily seasoned foods.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving Day comes around. I am alone, stuck in place where no such holiday exists and no friends or family around to share the special holiday with. Countless posts of Thanksgiving come up on my Facebook newsfeed and the feeling of nostalgia comes around. I decide to celebrate from afar by roasting myself a turkey leg for one. Don't forget the corn! It was a 2 hour roast, but worth it. Aside from being alone, eating this with my parents on the video call made it all the better!

Sirloin Steak with Green Beans

The last meat dish from my first Asda order... Aged Sirloin Steak. This steak had a bit of a different flavor compared to American steaks. I am not sure if it was not fresh or what? The package said it had another week to go before the use by date. It had a sour note to the meat, and a gamey aroma. I ate it anyway... it's probably fine even if it was cooked medium-rare. Right?! Maybe that Cabernet Sauvignon will kill of whatever might be in this meat. I have to say my husband looks pretty intrigued by my bland piece of steak, huh?

Paying homage to home, here are a couple meals I cooked with my husband when I visited home a couple weeks ago. The amazing, melt-in-mouth Chilean Sea Bass with my favorite green vegetable, watercress and sliced portobello mushroom! Now, where can I find CSB in Leicester??

Chilean Sea Bass

Being in food (and lazy) mode, I've also been watching episode after episode of Mind of a Chef with Chef David Chang, owner of the Momofuku franchise. It is becoming one of my favorite food-related shows. He not only focuses a lot on Asian, specifically Japanese cuisine, but also goes to the world's top restaurants many of which are located in Europe. I'm definitely taking notes, and planning trips to visit these places. Spain and Italy in March 2014, here we come!

2014 is all about European travel. I'll share a bit more on that on the next blog coming up, so stay tuned.

Cheers!