Spicy as hell Potato Chips and a tub of Natuur Melon ice cream are my junk food staples. I eat bad food on weekends. When I am at my laziest, I’d have Potato Chips for breakfast, ice cream for lunch, Crackers smeared with Peanut Butter and a jug of Pepsi Max for dinner.
There is something comforting about being alone, eating the food you like, at any time of the day. I love the Saturdays when I do not have to go to the office to work. When I, in my ratty shirt could spend the morning all curled up in my soft chair, my favorite food all laid up in a corner while I munch my way into a marathon of my favorite TV series (Gossip Girl, Hell’s Kitchen, House MD).
Most Saturday afternoons, when I become restless, I would usually drop at the nearby grocery store and depending on my mood, I could end up with a can of tuna and some crabsticks for dinner. Or, when the cooking witch gets to me, I would go into a cooking/baking frenzy , whipping up ambitious menus for one– chicken cordon bleu, molton chocolate cake, a glass of Dry White Wine.
I love to treat myself to good food. I love to cook good food for one. It’s my way of giving myself a pat in the back. A sort of reward to be able to cook anything I want. Most weekends I indulge and try to cook new dishes, food that I personally like.
Like the time I bought three large prawns, brined them in salt ( I read that brining the shrimps would keep them crisp and juicy), marinated them in cider, garlic and onion powder, stuffed them with herbs and cheese then broiled them in the oven. Cheese Prawns and a glass of dry white wine on a rainy Saturday night is, in my world, an awesome way to eat alone.
There are times, usually on a slow Sunday, that the eating becomes an afterthought. When I am more obsessed by the process of creating, which is to say, it is when I get into the groove of testing out new recipes. I test recipes because I love cooking and I am always itching to learn new techniques, new flavor combinations, new levels of deliciousness. I test recipes when I am alone so that during the few weeks when I am at home in the Philippines, I can wow the socks out of the family. It’s how I’ve always shown my affection, cooking food that takes them by surprise, food that are not normally cooked by the maid. Food that only I, the daughter who presents herself as a kitchen goddess can create.
I am not so much concerned with what I eat when I am alone. I can live on canned tuna alone If I need to. But it is what I cook and bake when I am alone that gives me pleasure.
This weekend, I set out to make dimsum from scratch, including the wonton wrappers:
And as an afterthought, after seeing the still half-opened jar of Mangosteen Jam and a few rolls of Cocoa tableas from Davao, I made my own version of Vegan (egg –free, milk-free and no butter) Chocolate Cake with Mangosteen Jam.
And so of course, with the food alone, I had a happy and comforting weekend. Good food and the gentle rain for company, now, there is pleasure in savouring these small good things alone. :-)
