Not on a Menu

Daily writing prompt
What food would you say is your specialty?

I am not a great cook and neither do I have a good flavor palate. I do like cooking though.

I think cooking is my blissful time. I just zone out and every single worry in my mind flies away. I started my cooking with baking. I like baking cookies, cakes and muffins. I started baking because I did not like the store bought cookies or cakes. They were too sweet for my taste. So I baked for the first time, a chocolate cake with coffee extracts for a little bitter taste. I liked it. So I kept trying my hand in baking. A new recipe every year.

As far as actual cooking goes, I can cook everyday meals. However, when it comes to new cuisine, Chinese was my first attempt. The first time around the rice was not cooked and the spices and sauces ratio was totally off. I kept at it though and after multiple tries I made a decent Egg fried rice. After that, I tried Mexican, Thai, and Indian cuisines. My initial attempts were royal failures, but I have improved since then.

If you were to ask about my specialty, it would be cuisines that are a little on the spicy side. I do not understand most other flavors but spiciness is something that I can identify easily. So I mostly deviate to such cuisines.

I am unsure if I will ever have a specialty. I think my specialty is making food that my family likes. For now, it is enough.

My Favorite Fruits

Daily writing prompt
List your top 5 favorite fruits.

I am not much of fruits or vegetable person. I think my mind rejects any sort of healthy food. Despite this I do like some fruits:

a. Bananas
My mom made sure banana was part of my regular diet through out my childhood. She used to tell me that it gave me strong bones. So I used to eat it without much complain. I am glad she did. Though not as often as I would like, it is probably the only fruit that I eat without someone forcing me.

b. Apples
Another scam by my mother “Apple a day keeps the doctor away”. I may not have gone to the doctor for a lot of colds and flu. But keeping the doctor now that is another matter. I had multiple “accidents” through out my childhood. The number or times I have broken my bones exceed the number of bones my whole family have broken put all together. Needless to say, I was a kept my parents in a constant state of worry every time I step out of the house.

c. Grapes
Grapes are hands down my favorite! I love them! Green, Red, Black doesn’t matter. Its fun to eat just like popcorn. Just wash it well and eat. Also, the added fancy of it being part of many royal scene depictions. I used to love eating it directly from the bunch like I was a king.

d. Mango
I love eating them both raw and ripe. Raw mango with a little bit of chilli powder and salt make for a perfect snack. The blisters from it are totally worth it. On the other and ripe mango is like ice cream. Its just tasty! No more words needed.

e. Jackfruit
They are seasonal and I do not eat much of it. But it tastes so good. the hassle for cleaning it up is something that deters me. My father loves the fruit so he does all the cleaning all I have to do is sit beside him and patiently wait as he cleans. This fruit brings back happy memories. I remember me and my sister used to keep count to ensure that no one got more than their fair share.

Pantry Restock

Daily writing prompt
List your top 5 grocery store items.

As a child shopping for groceries was like an adventure. Today I don’t think I put in much thought to when I go to the grocery store.

I make a list at home before I go and the run around the store trying to gather all the items as soon as possible. The faster I am out of the store the better. All I think is the faster I can get the things back home the sooner I can make food and the sooner I can take rest.

If I were to list out my top frequent grocery store items are:
a. Bread
b. Milk
c. Eggs
d. Oil
e. Tissue

If the list was of my top 5 favorite grocery items are:
a. Wafers
b. Chips
c. Ice Cream
d. Coffee
e. Noodles

I Could Try.. But Would I?

Daily writing prompt
What could you try for the first time?

I think this prompt is a weird one. I mean who asks “what could you try for the first time?”. I could try anything but I would try only those that I want too.

If I were to try something for the first time in food, it would maybe be Italian food. Particularly ravioli. I think I have eaten it when I was younger but I don’t remember it. Some where in my teenage years I fell sick after eating pasta and since then I have ran away from anything close to Italian. I have a family whole loves to explore new types of cuisine. All the while I sit in the corner with my fried chicken and fries. I hope that one day soon I can also come to appreciate the different cuisines around the world.

If I were to try something for the first time in activities, it would be deep sea diving. I find the life below the sea quite fascinating. But the sharks are definitely a factor that has deterred me from pursuing this activity. I mean I like the colorful fishes, but the teeth on the shark is enough to have me running in the other direction.

There are a million things that I want to try doing. I am super hesitant to try new things. However, I want to change that about me. Maybe start with one new thing a month and then slowly and gradually make it a habit.

Price Tag Taste

While I am not a stranger to having a costly meal at times, the second part of the prompt leaves me dumbfounded.

Daily writing prompt
What’s the most money you’ve ever spent on a meal? Was it worth it?

I have come to realize the cost of the meal does not really define the worth of the meal. Yes, I would choose a fancy place, but only to make memories with someone I care about. I took my best family on my first salary and since my parents made so many sacrifices to get me to the stage where I could earn the salary the bill did not matter to me.

On the other hand, I enjoy the food that we make at home. I love the craziness, the messy kitchen, the dirty clothes and the fun conversations during the cooking process. After all the hassle, we may end up with burnt food sometimes, but when we sit to eat together, the food always tastes better.

So in conclusion, maybe money is a factor but the memory behind it always will matter more.

Where there is Good Food

I am not one to understand that much about food. Weird as it may sound, food is complicated for me.

I do not understand the nuances of the various flavors and their balance. For me if the food is not bad it is good. As such, I have not developed any particular interest to any sort of restaurant. As long as the food tastes good I would like the restaurant.

The one thing I do understand when deciding if a restaurant is good is if the atmosphere is comfy and does not put me on edge. I love when there are booths which give a little privacy and comfy chairs.

So in conclusion, give me a comfortable setting and good food I will rate the restaurant as a favorite. 🙂

Daily writing prompt
What is your favorite restaurant?

Sweet Tooth

I believe with all my heart that I like most kids loved all kinds of candy. As I grew up though I started to loose my interest of most kind of candies.

There are however a few of them that have continued to hold a place in my heart. Kit Kat is my forever favorite! I simply love the Hazelnut chocolate flavor. I know there are other chocolates with the same taste but those wafer covered chocolates will always be my first choice.

I also love the Heartbeat candies.. Especially the purple colored ones. I have not eaten them in a long time but I still have the memory of the taste and it is just amazing.

I am not sure it would be considered as a candy. But when talking about my favorite sweet food item, Loacker cube wafers cannot be excluded. I could eat a whole bag of it at one go. Even though now I don’t prefer having a lot of candies, I still I could binge eat them today.

All these are stuff I have been having since my childhood so I guess they are part of my core memories. I can just close my eyes and imagine their taste.

Daily writing prompt
What’s your favorite candy?

Brewing Recipes

I really love watching cooking shows and food shows on TV. I enjoy listening to the innovative food recipes the people on these shows come up with. However, I do not have a good taste palate.

I may not understand the different taste profiles but I love cooking food though. I think prefer cooking anything non-vegetarian. I love trying new recipes and making food that my wants.

But the meal that I love making the most is “Fried chicken”. It’s what Minny Jackson said on The Help – “Frying chicken make you tend to feel better about life”.

It took time.. trying many recipes from online. To finally figure out the recipes that made the chicken skin crispy while being cooked all the way through and mostly importantly without it getting it burnt.

With the fried chicken I also love to make potato cheese balls and toasted garlic bread. The combination it just heavenly. It’s my description of comfort food. And when I make them everyone in the family eats them with relish. The family that usually runs in different directions when it comes to favorite cuisine always comes together to enjoy it.

I also love baking. I bake cookies, cakes, biscuits anything with chocolate in it. Yet again, though I love only dark chocolate I love making chocolate goodies for my nephews.

Hopefully, in the future I can learn to appreciate all kinds of cuisine and also learn to make it.

Daily writing prompt
What’s your favorite thing to cook?