My Off Day and Cooking Time

Roasted Chicken with oyster sauce with mushrooms

 Hello guys, I'm back again from my boring posts about Manchester (But I like it). So this post is completely different because last Thursday I had a day off from the office. I could have go to the school but I thought I need enough time to do the preparation and I don't really want to rush back from the office or thinking that I needed to do something after the office while I'm doing my work. So I decided to have a day off and I am quite all right with my PhD research anyway. In fact, at the moment I am ahead of my plan so that's a good starting point. As planned before, a group of friends will be visiting and my friend emailed them that I will be cooking Malaysian food for them. Initially six of them would be coming but on Wednesday only three of them confirmed. So only three of them came for the dinner.

Prawns and bamboo shots with chillies

 I started the preparation about 3PM but I didn't start the cooking until about 5.15PM. When they came here, my friend opened a bottle of champagne for us. I had just a glass of it and I quickly rushed to the kitchen. I started my cooking and I was very careful with the spicy ingredients because I have been told the night before that two of them can't take spicy food. So I made it very mild and only one dish was a bit spicy (but for them it wasn't hot at all..Thanks God!). I finished the cooking about 6.40PM which means they waited form about an hour before the dinner. I was a bit late actually because the plan was to start eating at 6PM. But never mind because I made the food tasted great. It wasn't perfect but good enough.

Duck with plum sauce 

 If I was a judge and someone cooked those dishes for me considering the presentation and tastes, I would give 85% out of 100. Or maybe a bit less. I was a bit disappointed actually because the roasted chicken wasn't really to my standard because the chicken went a bit crispy and some of the meat became quite dried. So I should not leave the chicken in the oven after I roasted it. Although the sauce was very nice but the chicken wasn't tender. I was expecting the chicken to be really good but it was my fault leaving the chicken in the oven for an hour.

Chicken drumsticks with coconut milk

 So we started the dinner at 6.45PM (quite late but for me it was a perfect time). I introduced them each of the dishes. I cooked six different dishes. So when I was telling to them about the dishes they were quite impress with the different mixtures and colours. For example using coconut milk in cooking was quite unusual for them. Other than that, cooking prawns with cheese was also very strange for them.  I would assume they never had bamboo shots before because when I told them the prawns were cooked with bamboo shots they were like "ouhhhhhhhh....". Very funny actually and made me think "I'm not sure whether they like the food or not". Anyway.......Bon apetite!!

Prawns cooked with cheese and park choi

 I was very surprised!!!! because they really enjoyed the food. One dishes to another I always hear either one of them keep "yumming" or "mmmmm". Ha ha ha ha ha...in fact, they spiciest dish wasn't too bad for them because they liked it and I think their favourite was the duck and also the chicken cooked with ginger and lemon grass. I think they liked all the food anyway and they enjoyed it. I can see they ate a lot that night and for some reason I don't know why I didn't eat a lot. I mean I usually eat quite a lot but not that night. Maybe because I was nervous and my mind was quite tired trying to make sure the food was mild enough for them. Basically I was trying to predict what sort of food or flavour they can take and they can't take. So I was very careful selecting the ingredients and not to put all what I have bought.

Fantastic table setting

Anyway, it was nice although quite tiring (not really actually). Serving only four people wasn't really a great deal or challenging but making sure your food is acceptable and likeable by your guests is the main challenge. But I did it and I made it. They liked it and they said the food was delicious!!! So a great credit for me. I'm still learning cooking and still improving my skills. I hope not too long from now one of my ambitions would come true. Become a restaurant owner is a great ambition and I hope a Jungle Boy like me could make it a real dream despite my interest in research. Okay all...am off to bed now. Night night!!!!