Posts in Food For Thought

So very tired. It’s week 11 of uni, with roughly about three more weeks till I finish. Not the just the semester, not just the year, but the the whole shebang. And since food does relieve a lot of the stress, it’s essays, baking, cleaning, tutorials, cheese-making, tests, eating, readings, essays, munching, essays, lectures…zzzzzzz.

Just three more weeks!!! Then (hopefully!) a food trip to Tasmania! What’s keeping me going now is the thought of seafood…

 

I caught a glimpse of Junior Masterchef the other day, and boy did it make me feel old. I remember when I was in primary school and tailing my mother in the kitchen, forever getting in her way, and always wanting to “help out” (although I think that I was more a bother than a help). At that age, I was helping to stir things, and whisk things, never going near a stove or knives.

But the kids on Masterchef? Chopping and whizzing away like there’s no tomorrow! What is this? How can it be that it took me 20 years to get truly comfortable in the kitchen and there are these 8 year olds doing amazing things. Where did all those years go?

It also makes me wonder, though, about my kids (if I have them). How early should they be introduced into the kitchen? How should they be exposed to food? I have this constant nightmare that a glutton like me is going to have a kid who just genuinely doesn’t like food. What then?

=(

This calls for some comfort munchies. Cheese platter ahoy!

Some people are against all forms of processed foods. Nigella (my goddess!) is an example of one. She believes in eating lots of ‘real foods’, but can’t stand ‘processed foods’.

But what are processed foods exactly?

One example of processed foods that is commonly given is canned food, and I have to admit that I’ve had (have!) a secret love affair with them. Yes, I do believe in ‘real foods’, but tinned goods have so much to offer! They are always on hand, cheap and last for absolute ages! No, I don’t think that you should have it for every meal, but when it’s late at night and everything else needs prep, tinned foods can be that shining beacon of light saves you from the hunger! I remember when I was a kid and a quick, easy, comforting lunch would be bread and a creamy bowl of Campbell’s soup.

Apparently, Campbell’s soup was meant as a luxury side dish for the upper echelons, but they found out that the ‘lower class’ were the ones buying the product and using a tin as an entire meal! Either way, tinned soup just evokes warm, fuzzy memories of childhood.

The best time was when I was sharing a tin of oxtail soup with my mom, and it had an egg cracked into it. We had the soup with soft white bread, sitting across from each other at the dining table.

What’s your best food memory?

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I’ve been busy moving house, and it’s absolutely killing me that I don’t have a useable kitchen at the moment. Everything’s in boxes and I think that I’ve actually run out of space in my kitchen!! =(

Seeing as how it’s a public holiday (Easter long weekend in Australia), there aren’t many healthy alternatives if you don’t have a kitchen. Which I don’t at the moment. So it’s been pizza and burgers, and as much as I appreciate junk food once in awhile, I just can’t take it anymore!! What I would give to have rice and veg at the local hawker’s in Singapore!!

I miss hawker food like you can’t imagine.

I miss late night hawker food even more.

I NEED VEGETABLES!!