Cooking adds a new dimension to life. You may or may not agree.

A new experience

Chart, my brother, surprised me last week when he told me that he was marinating chicken to air-fry with an air-fryer his friends gave him. He sounded very enthusiastic about cooking dinner. There was the excitement of trying something new. I was curious as I have never tried air-frying before. Some friends spoke about it over dinner last year, but I thought that this new method of cooking needed some cost-benefit analysis before I would try it, especially since it would involve investing in a new cooking appliance. Apart from cost, there is also the question of space and storage. We don't want too many white elephants in the kitchen!

I asked Chart to send me a photo of his air-fried chicken for the blog. He is usually hesitant about sending photos as he thinks they have to be "insta-worthy pics". But he did send one. I couldn't tell the difference between the air-fried chicken and traditionally deep-fried chicken from the photo. The big question was: "How did it taste?". Chart's answer was, "Tasted pretty good to me".

Air-frying - a new way to fry

I asked Cousin Siri and Soph (of Weave the Story Channel) what they thought of air-frying.  Soph has just started dabbling with an air fryer and is liking it. Cousin Siri had more to say. The comments were positive. The quality is almost like deep-fried food, but because less oil is used, calory-intake is less. However, since air-fryers are usually small, they can only cook small amounts of food.

What's new and what's brewing

Cousin Siri is interested in brewing kombucha, so I showed her my latest brew.

S

She is considering investing in a soy milk machine.  That is something new to me. Making ice cream keeps me busy enough these days, I won't try anything else for now.

Simple cooking

I am trying to keep in touch with young friends who have started university abroad to see how they are managing with meals, especially if they don't live in university halls where meals are served.

Marie sent photos of her cooking and I must say that I was impressed. She calls her dishes "thingy": "some pasta thingy", "some noodle thingy", "dumpling thingy", "rice bowl thingy". When I told her that it looked like she was cooking a lot of carbs, she sent a photo of a dish with the message: "See no carbs, all veg and some chicken." Marie also had the following to say: "My cooking is very "take no effort" (cooking). Less than 20 minutes to cook and eat and wash." Marie is not a fan of fancy food. She is certainly doing much better than I did in my first term at university. I don't think I attempted to cook at all. 

Marie's marvels

  • The pasta thingy
  • The noodle thingy
  • The dumpling thingy
  • The rice bowl thingy
  • Veggies and chicken (no carbs)

Elena's Food Art

While most people like to keep cooking simple, some people see cooking as an art. Elena, for example, sees beauty in food. She has been involved in developing and promoting the culinary programmes for years, and her dishes are indeed works of art to behold.  

  • Taiwanese Nori Rolls
  • Veggie Art
  • Lamb palette
  • Tart Art

Brenda's feedback

Brenda, a law student, was happy with last week's articles on dumplings, as she loves dumplings! Her father made two tubs of dumplings for her to bring back to her hall. That's a great way to have home-cooked food while living in hall.

Have a great week ahead.

By Chayo, HomSkil Editor 1, 31 October 2021