Beef & Mushrooms with Egg Noodles and Polenta Pudding

JenJen came over last night for dinner and to watch a movie chez moi. I made a simple homey noodle dish that we used to eat a lot back at home. Jen took care of the dessert and made Polenta corn pudding.  Cooking these kinds of food always gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling of nostalgia, which brings me closer to home but which also makes me miss it and my Mom’s cooking more.

Beef & Mushrooms With Egg Noodles and Polenta Pudding

Ingredients:

Beef, Mushrooms, Garlic, Spring onions, Soy sauce, Corn starch, Pepper, Oil

Instructions:

• After cutting the beef into thin slices, marinate them with corn starch, pepper and soy sauce
• Cut the mushrooms into slices
• Chop the garlic
• Pour some oil in the pan, and fry the garlic, then add the beef and cook for 3 minutes
• Throw in the mushrooms and stir fry for 5 minutes
• In the meantime, boil 3 cups of water and add the egg noodles when the water is ready
• Drain the noodles, add oil and some soy sauce and mix them well
• Fry the eggs (optional)
• Put everything together nicely on a plate and sprinkle some spring onions on on top

Polenta pudding

Ingredients:

Polenta pudding powder, Milk, Sugar, Dry raisins, Coconut powder, Vanilla essence

Instructions:

• Soak the Polenta powder in cold water and get rid of the water (skim off the floating bits)
• Add milk and bring it to boil over medium low heat
• Add sugar, 2 drops of vanilla essence and the dry raisins
• Stir constantly to avoid burning
• Pour the whole thing in a bowl or plate and leave it to cool down
• Sprinkle grated coconut on top
• Allow it to cool down and put it into the fridge
• Go watch a movie and serve when it’s cold enough

VOILA!

Is Cooking an ART?

Two days ago I was talking to my friend about being artistic. And he raised a very good question about what ART is really. He asked me if programming is considered an art.

ME: hmm… I’d say maybe it’s abstract art?
HIM: Is playing guitar an Art?

And I smiled, because haa! he got me on that one.

ME: I guess music is abstract too, i.e., the notes and everything; but the end result is quite an art, well at least to me.

HIM: If I write a piece of code, am I artistic?
ME: Well I guess it depends what your intention is maybe? What the meaning behind it is and what you’re trying to convey.

His response which I really like was:

“Programming is not always an art, just like playing guitar is not always an art. The definition of art is subjective, just like everything else.”

I later thought about it and I suddenly realized that actually FEELING/EMOTION is a very important determining factor or component of ART, isn’t it? So I quickly went back to him again to tell him, excited and proud about my little epiphany.

HIM: Well, not for me…
ME: For me it is!
HIM: Yeps… and that’s okay 🙂
ME: K yeah it’s SUBJECTIVE, I gotcha! Lol
HIM: Wahahaha. Finally 😛
ME: hehe

Yan is a programmer based in Western Australia, and he plays guitar and practices 3 martial arts, 1 out of which he doesn’t consider ART but a skill only. You can visit his blog at rapetou.com for his ideas and concepts of everything (computer science, philosophy, etc.)

And to quickly answer today’s question “Is Cooking an Art?”, I’d say to me it is! =)

Easy Noodle Soup

You think Spring has settled in as the temperature goes higher and higher, but as soon as you store all your winter coats and boots away, the weather plays a joke on you and cools down drastically by a lot. So here I am, walking home from work on this chilly evening fighting against the wind, hoping to get home as fast as I can.

And since I don’t have any strong motivation to spend a lot of time cooking on this Monday evening, I opted for this quick and easy Noodle Soup for supper. To make it healthier, you could add lots of veggies of your choice.

What I did here is:

• Boil 2 cups of water
• Add the soup base/stock cube
• Add the fish balls and tofu cubes
• After 1-2 minutes, add the baby Bok Choy and Bean Sprouts
• Add the noodle last and let it cook for 3 minutes
• Put 2 drops of sesame oil

That’s it!

Have a great Monday night!

Chickpea Qunioa Salad

As I’m learning to cook more delicious vegetarian dishes, there’s sometimes the worry of not getting enough protein. But there are so many other sources of protein other than meat, such as beans, tofu and QUINOA! This salad is very easy to make.

Ingredients used here are:

• Quinoa seeds, boiled
• Chickpeas
• Cucumber, chopped into cubes
• Red peppers, chopped
• Coriander, finely chopped
• Onions, finely chopped
• Lemon juice
• Salt and Peper

All you need to do is combine all ingredients and toss well. Let the salad stand for a while before serving.

Tofu Fish Stew

STEWS are wonderful, a comfort food that’s perfect for colder weathers! They are extremely flavourful with lots of nutrients conserved. Stews are healthy: you can add lots of vegetables but be careful not to add too much salt, they are easy to prepare and so appetizing. Plus you can do other things while you let it stew on the stove!