Gastronomical Accidents

Halfway through the movie Julie and Julia, I was drooling away at the Boeuf Bourguignon Amy Adams was preparing.. I could almost smell the aroma coming out of her oven and honestly, I was dying to taste it there and then. So as derod and I stepped out of the movie theater, I told him I wanted to try out that recipe. Derod volunteered to get Julia Child's recipe book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, for me as a present. But I held him off, saying that we'll see if her claims -- recipes for servantless housewives -- are true before investing in it.

I downloaded the recipe, roped in livingjoyfully for the big project and made plans for the day. We dropped the kids off at my parents', shopped for ingredients at a supermarket and a butcher and busied ourselves in my kitchen for a good FOUR hours of preparation and cooking.

And so we began...

...by showing off the most expensive ingredients from the butcher.

We worked hard, at trying to ensure we were following the instructions correctly.

The sauteed bacon and beef chunks.

We were doing pretty well until we realised that the proportion of red wine and the beef stock didn't seem to look very right. Anyhow, we improvised (?!) and chucked the casserole into my oven. At this point, I have to say that my confidence in my oven has been seriously shaken. The last few trays I popped in there turned out pretty queer, and it was with fingers (and toes) crossed that we popped this casserole in there. As expected, it turned out a bit burnt, and not exactly as described in the recipe. Well...

We served it, along with plain boiled potatoes, and seated our husbands at the table. My personal verdict (and I believe I speak for livingjoyfully too): it was... alright... not fantastic at all, and I'll never attempt it again. The amount of time we spent at it, added to the cost of the ingredients and my casserole cover which I had to replace after its stint in the oven, and most importantly, how the dish turned out, it was not worth going at it again. Derod thought the more he ate, the better it tasted. But the verdict of the night came from KK, who concluded that the best part of the meal was ... *drum roll*... the plain boiled potatoes.

Well needless to say, I won't be investing in the recipe book.

Now to redeem my reputation, if there is any at all, is this accidental (now on the positive side) dish I threw together one day. In my household, everyone has to contend themselves with one-dished meals for lunch and most dinners. The only condition to these is that they have to contain carbohydrates, protein, fibre and if possible, additional ingredients.

I was at a loss of what to cook the other day, and decided to put together whatever was left in the fridge. I'd say it turned out looking rather pretty, and tasted quite good too. Gabe enjoyed the meal; polished up his bowl at great speed.

Stirfry garlic, carrots, asparagus, minced pork (I added fishballs on subsequent attempts). Toss in the ready pasta shells and omelette , season with salt, pepper and some herbs. Serve with grated parmesan and for the adults, some tabasco sauce. Throw in some real bacon bits if you have them available. Yums!