Almost every Saturday morning, after lazing around in bed for a bit, a familiar question comes up: “What’s for breakfast?” Eggs are always a favourite, and mushrooms. Fresh mushrooms are pretty cheap this week at Woolworths… only $6.95 per kg (normally it’s around $9.95 per kg). I usually worry about buying too much because they tend to get soggy after a while. I only bought about 500 grams, but feel like going back to get some more. But enough about mushrooms… here’s this weekend’s breakfast sizzling away on the stove… My bro recently posted up a youtube video of Gordon Ramsey’s version of scrambled eggs . I actually thought the man was overcomplicating a very simple dish. This is the way I like to cook my scrambled eggs, Bill Granger style: I lightly beat a couple of eggs with about a quarter cup of cream. I heat up a dollop of butter in a pan (drizzled with some olive oil to prevent the oil from burning), pour the eggs in, then gently fold and stir the eggs aroun...

After reading a recent entry on Irene’s blog and speaking to various people lately, as well as looking within myself, I’ve been confronted with this universal issue with seems to confine so many hearts. Shame. We try to cover up so much of ourselves. Conceal the imperfections. Put on a mask. Hide our true selves. Most of the time we are happy to just cruise along, just barely touching each other with the tips of our fingers. But every now and then, when I stop to ponder, the frustration of treading in these shallow waters all is so stifling… like a fish out of water... I wish I could plunge into the refreshing cool waters of deep meaningful relationship (apologies for the dramatic metaphor). But most of the time… most of the time we just smile. Smile and answer “I’m fine”. Because it’s just easier. And so much safer. Fear. Why risk exposure only to be faced with blank looks, stifled yawns, distracted eyes or worse still, that sympathetic look on the face opposite you, as you struggle t...

Following my current obsession with prunes , I decided to experiment with other prune recipes. Thanks Irene for sharing this prune cake recipe which I just tried out Sunday afternoon. I used three quarters of the amount of sugar stated in the recipe... and instead of the icing, I used the liquid leftover from boiling the prunes, added some sugar to make a sort of prune syrup to drizzle over the cake. Enjoying a glass of sangria on the side... perfect Sunday afternoon treat!

Thanks to a recent comment posted by my dear friend, Irene. During my next grocery shopping expedition, I added a pack of pitted prunes to my shopping trolley to make an attempt at making stewed prunes . The end result seemed pretty good. The prunes still tasted pruny... but with a slightly smushier texture with a hint of cinammon and citrus flavours. I'm not entirely sure whether this is what stewed prunes are supposed to taste like, though. At that point, I so wished Irene wasn't so far away, and I was able to pop by her kitchen in some way to sample her stewed prunes and compare notes. But these were good nonetheless... and were a yummy accompaniment to this morning's oatmeal porridge .

Apart from freshly baked bread , there's nothing more comforting that the smells of cookies in the oven. Coupled with one of my pet indulgences - reading cookbooks, with lots of yummy narratives of food and ingredients. Current cookbook read: I curl up on the couch with a cup of green tea and read through each recipe, thinking which recipes seem feasible to try. This morning I decided to put some of my education into action and baked a batch of rustic, chewy oatmeal cookies. Just like oatmeal porridge and raisins ... in a cookie dough wrapping. A little sinful and rich for brekkie... but I figure that the amount of oatmeal packed into each cookie is enough of health boost to make up for the indulgence. Quite easy to make too! In a bowl or electric mixer, cream 250g butter, 1 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup caster sugar. Add 1 tbspn vanilla essence, 2 eggs and 3 tbspn milk. Sift together 2 cups plain flour, 1/2 tspn ground cinammon, 1/2 tpsn salt, 1 tspn baking powder, 1 tspn bicarb so...