A Taste from the Past

Do you sometimes wish that you can taste a dish again from your past? A really delicious something which your mom or maybe grandma or just anybody who cooked something which sort of sends a "ding" to your head one day.

I had a "ding" without the dong today :D I am never a morning person... i love to sleep in. Today i woke up and drag myself to take my dogs for a pee and some poo. As usual i will be making notes in my head on what to get from the market while they both did their business in the garden. Kinda like an active list in my mind with a highlighter to tick everything off when i am doing my marketing. Dang my stupid head, i always do leave out one or two stuffs... hahahaha.. i still don't believe in writing it down on a piece of paper.

While trying to maneuver thru a tight lane, dang lorry got to park at the already tight lane... i kinda hear a "kreeeeeeeeeek". Me and my morning stupidity still try to go thru the lane. I always think that i am driving a tiny car.. hahhahahaa.. My blue clunky got a scratch near the handle... hehhehehehhee. I could only laugh at my own stupidity. And there's really nothing wrong with a few more scratches. I bear more scratches and bumps than my blue clunky. So if you have a shiny new car, never let me drive.

My beautiful mind remembered the most important thing on my active list... which is the 5 spice powder (it smells like lovely cinnamon). But my beautiful mind also forgot some other thing.. hehehehe... trust my faithful active list.

Do you know that a scent... that you love... you tend to remember it in your mind. You can even smell it sometimes if you try to remember.

The 5 spice powder was for a dish that i wanted to make for a long time. But do not know how to make it... as i never asked my mom how to do it. My mom was a wonderful cook. She slaved and slogged in the kitchen... and churn out dishes after dishes... that none of my sisters and i can emulate till today. None of us are any good cooks anyway... hahhahahahaa But my brother in law is a very good cook! Thank god for that. At least someone in the family cooks.

I love to cook but i cook without boundaries. None of my dishes are ever the same the 2nd time around. Sometimes i am lucky.. and hey.. its nice. And sometimes its near disasters.. hahhahahaa.. There is no consistency in my cooking. If you ask me for the recipe, i will tell u a dash of this and a pinch of that... never in measurements. I can never follow a recipe closely and that is why i don't make a good baker.

My colleagues were like my lab rats. I used to bake cakes, muffins... and most of them are yucky.. hahahaha.. but my dear friends in the office still eats them. They are very forgiving and encouraging and that is why, most of them are still some of my best friends around even though i am away from the office for almost two years now.

My mother cooks with consistency. And that makes her a true cook. The way she cuts the vegetables and meat... are all precise and even the garlic are all chopped in almost the same sizes. That is why her dishes are all consistent in taste. And that is why i remember my 5 spice meat dish the way mom cooked it.

And today, in full glory... i attempted the same dish with a recipe i found on the internet. Hehehe... at 5.30pm.. i realised that i have to cook the meat much earlier... as usual, i didn't read the instructions all the way... hehehehhee.. well... it turned out ok... but dad said... mum's one is much better of course. HHHAHAHAHHAHAA.. No hard feelings, we just try harder the next round. If i can remember the recipe.

If your are a meat lover, its a wonderful dish to try. I think you can try this with other kind of meat. The recipe above was for a pork dish. (my apologies to my muslim friends)

Its called Braised Cha Siew. Happy trying. Hope yours turn out better ;)

Five-spice powder is a mixture of 5 spices used in Chinese cuisine. One common recipe includes tunghing or "Chinese cinnamon" (also known as rougui, the ground bark of the cassia tree, a close relative of true cinnamon), powdered cassia buds, powdered star anise and anise seed, ginger root, and ground cloves. Another recipe for the powder consists of huajiao (Sichuan pepper), bajiao (star anise), rougui (cassia), cloves, and fennel seeds. It is used in most recipes for Cantonese roasted duck, as well as beef stew. It is also used as a marinade for Vietnamese broiled chicken. The five-spice powder mixture has followed the Chinese diaspora and has been incorporated into other national cuisines throughout Asia. (courtesy from Wikipedia)