With Friends (and Family) like these

William came over last Friday, he left yesterday (Sunday) it was great to catch up with my big brother and have a long chat with him about life and the future.

On Saturday, Marlene offered to make us a meal (an offer we could not refuse of course)...the meal was quiche, and it looked as good as it tasted, it looked like one of those cookbook pictures, you know, the one that you can quite never get your own version to look like. It was stupendo!!!

Renate joined us a little later in the meal, she is also studying in Newcastle Uni, and we had planned to meet up, but somehow hadn't managed to get our schedules right. Anyway, William's visit prompted everyone to get right and meet at Marlene's.

We chatted for ours about or respective lives, what we had been up to in the years we hadn't seen each other, lot's of great tales of Oriental adventures....all I could offer was my exciting time writing my dissertation (thrilling!!!)

It's great to have these mini-AIS reunions and think back to what an amazing time we had in that grand old school.

We only managed to take one picture...and there it is. Enjoy!

I Funghi, I Gamberetti, il Porco e la Pasta

My former classmate Marlene is leaving for China in August to study in Hainan University. As she is going to be eating dogs, cats, rats and pandas for the next year, I decided to send her off with a dinner- Julian style (Italian cooking- as all my recipes are pasta based- due to the fact that I cannot cook rice up to the required standard)
William Cunningham had never met Marlene before so he was invited as well.
I christened the meal "I funghi, I Gamberetti, il Porco e la Pasta"- figure that out yourself!
The taste was heavenly, in some other life I might have been a cook. The ingredients included- pasta (obviously) Mushrooms, Prawns, Onions, Pork sausages- all these fried in honey tinted oil, as usual a chicken accompanied the meal, with some Australian Shiraz wine to wash it all down- Scrumptious
A friend of mine got me some plantains from London, cheaper in London than in Sunderland. I haven't had plantains as a student, so this was special.
Since Marlene was the guest of honour, she got the honour of eating with my sqaure plate- the highest honour that can be bestowed upon a guest.

Unfortunately, the only pics that exist of this meal are really unflattering and do no justice to my culinary skill, but I will make do with what I have



Click for a larger picture

Coconut

I was wandering through Tesco yesterday and came up to the fruit aisle, I was feeling odd and decided to get an exotic tropical fruit, my first thought was: Mango! but then I recalled that I usually get tummy trouble after eating it..I then thought about Avocado, but I had eaten that a few weeks ago...I scanned the aisle, and my eyes fell on this round, brown, hard fruit...with hair! yes The Coconut. I picked it up and checked out.
When I got home I picked the coconut and stared at it, I asked myself two questions. Firstly, with the absence of a hammer, how on earth was I going to break it open? and then How could I incorporate coconut into my meal?....I also asked myself other questions like Who was the first person to eat a coconut? I mean he or she must have been stranded on an island with absolutely no food, just coconut trees and large stones.
Well, Tesco advises to use the blunt end of a very large knife and hit the coconut at its widest point. I do not endorse this method, as it involves a large blade pointed at your face. If you wanna eat coconut, go to Tesco and get it, then go to hardware store and get a hammer.
Well, I tried the Tesco method and all it did was mess up the kitchen, with coconut hair flying everywhere. My flatmate Vishal (who is less scared of big knives) managed to half the coconut using this method, I then proceeded to break the halves into smaller pieces using our kitchen wall..it worked.
What was left was to seperate the endosperm (or Coconut meat as it is known, but I prefer coconut white....as it does not look like, taste like, or feel like meat) from the husk, this proved a daunting task, and involved us Googooling (notice the extra 'oo' after the 'l', this is to prevent you pronouncing it -Goog-Ling', and since 'Googleing' would add to confusion, I have come up with 'Googooling- Smart!)methods of removing the white from the husk...suggestions included getting 'Indian coconut scoopers from Calcutta'...we didn't have the time, but I had an idea. I decided to boil the pieces for about 20 minutes, this softened the white a bit, and it was much easier to scoop out.
I was eating the remnants of my whole chicken...actually it was still pretty much whole, just missing thighs and wings, so yes, I was eating that, and pasta. I grated the coconut and fried it with the breasts I had carved out, I also added some to the pasta, and it gave it a nice sweet tinge! Innovative!! So yes I had once again formed a new recipe "La Noix de Coco avec le Poulet et Pâtes" (never have recipe names in English it makes it sound normal...use a Latin language instead) which in English simply means "Coconut with chicken and pasta", now you see why French is better!

Unfortunately no pictures of this meal exist as I gobbled it up as soon as it was done.

Oh God I Love Cooking!

Julian O'bubo's Two Pan Method to making the perfect omelette

Do you strive for perfection? Do you want to make a circular omelette, but end up making scrambled egg? Do you think you can never make an omelette like you see in cookbooks? Well fear no more, for Julian O'Bubo (My Irish alter-ego) is here.
Through long research and dedicated dedication I have found a way to make the perfect omelette, it's called the 'Julian O'bubo Two Pan Method' Yes Two-pan method. As the name suggests you will need two non-stick frying pans. Mix your egg and ingredients (mushrooms, fish, chicken etc) in a mixing bowl and begin to fry, when the bottom of the mixture has hardened, get the other frying pan (with oil or butter in it...obviously) and turn the runny side of the omelette unto the other pan. When both sides are done, you my friend would have made the perfect omelette!

Please be careful....hot oil is involved.

Your omelette should vaguely resemble this:

If it doesn't look like this then you have messed up along the way, toss it in the bin and start again!

La Pasta Africano

Yesterday, my flatmate Vishal and I, while shopping at ASDA decided to have a cooking competition. We were to go head to head and create an original recipe, cook it and present it, and an independent judge will taste and assess the food and declare the winner.
Well, being the Cook that I am (if I wasn't doing PR, I'll be doing Theology or Culinary Arts) I created my second original dish, aptly named: 'La Pasta Africano'(pasta is a running theme in my cooking)
The Recipe is as follows:

1 Tin of Sardines
1 fruit of avocado
Dried carrot and Swede
Canned rings of pineapples
White sauce
Small fry-able parts of chicken breasts
2 chicken breast fillets
Pack of salted peanuts
Stir fry vegetables
Mateus Rose wine
Mushrooms
Fusilli Pasta

Procedure

1- Grind the peanuts in a grinder
2- Chop and fry the mushrooms, and add the ground peanuts
3- Fry one breast in the mixture
4- Fry the other breast in the mashed flesh of avocado
5- Boil the pasta
6- Mash the sardines and add to the white sauce, add a dash of Rose wine
7- Bring the sardine sauce to boil
8- Stir fry the stir fry vegetables, add a healthy dash of Rose wine
9- Mix the stir fry vegetables, the carrots and swede with the boiled pasta
10- Serve in a large plate, generously apply the sardine sauce over the pasta
11- Fry three rings of pineapples for about 2 minutes in low heat, with some pepper
12- Garnish the dish with the pineapples
13- The chickens are also on the plate...

After all that, your dish should resemble this:


If it does not look like that then you have done something wrong. Eat your mistake (if edible) and start over again