Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Why I got Fat

I do not know how to cook.

I know how to bake -- or at least follow recipes. I used to bake a mean cheesecake back in the day. I used to attend cooking classes when I was little. I even graduated from a sushi making course! I joined a pasta cooking class somewhere after college. My mom, the quintessential Bree Van de Camp, cooks our meals regularly and when we were little, she would demand that we stand in the kitchen and observe. It didn't even matter if we were doing anything. She just wanted us to study what she was doing although at times she would ask us to do some slicing or moving around items in the pan.

The thing that baffles me most about cooking are the terms. One can buy and measure the correct ingredients but the words used in the recipe are hard to understand for the unitiaited -- baste, broil, sautee, deep fy, pan fry, ... Thank god for the internet with how to videos!

I cook rice on a weekly basis as I don't have the time or the patience to do it everyday. I have done plain rice, garlic rice and fried rice with spam and egg. The dish would usually be frozen food from the grocery that I just need to fry or heat. Pasta is another easy dish and I cook it with ready made sauces or with lots of garlic and olive oil and whatever meat I have on hand (hotdog, ham, ...). Grilled sandwiches is another go-to dish as anything with melted cheese and lots of butter tastes good and cannot be messed up!

my weekly portion of rice

one of my many variations of pasta

grilled ham and cheese sandwich

As you can see, all the things that I know how to do are oozing with carbs! And since I live alone, there is pressure to finish the dish before it goes bad or so it doesn't go to waste. My pathetic attempt at being healthy would be to buy a big bag of lettuce leaves and eat a portion of salad.

My mom, again being the quinessential Bree Van de Camp, sends me food everytime I go home. She cooks dishes already at home or buys it ready made, freezes it and I bring it back with me to Singapore. Saves a lot of time as then it means I don't have to cook for at least a month!

And the other reason why I got fat here? My friends below that keep me company. I think I also became an alcoholic here...!

new-found friends