Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Donning the apron again

Seriously, it is not easy to be a working mom, for instance my wife wakes up 6 in the morning, gets the children up, dresses up and zooms she is out sending the children to school and head straight for work. During working hours, she might face problems, unreasonable customers, replying to never ending emails, and sometimes handle some staff's issues.

At the end of the day, i know her heart still longs to cook a nice,healthy and warm dinner for the family no matter how tired she could have been during the day, but lately i know she is worn out, and i know she still tries to do her best to cook for the family but i intend to cut off her cooking at least three times a week, and to stand in for her,i am donning the apron again...

I want her to feel relaxed when she comes back from work, clothes washed, clothes ironed, floor mopped, rice cooked and dishes ready. To let her tired body take a breather after a hard day's work and to enjoy the warmth of the family.

I used to cook and i love to cook, but i guess i am a little out of touch now after a long hiatus from cooking but i know i can still handle the wok and the fire but i still need you to share your cooking tips or even recipes, the simpler the better with me, if you could.

A little background here, my office is only less than 5 minutes drive from home and i can sneak home during lunch if i have to prepare the cooking ingredients for the evening cooking, next to my office, there is a vegetables wholesales store,that means i can buy fresh vegies everyday, and i dont have a slow cooker, i have a three burners stove, i have got an oven and the dishes are mostly catered for my sons (12 and 8 years old respectively) my wife loves the soups. We would prefer it to be simple, 2 dishes and one soup, that would be lovely.

I can be home by 5.45 in the evening and i need one hour or so for my exercise routine, be back about 7.00, so that leaves me with 30 minutes cooking times as we usually take our dinner around 7.30 to 8.00 in the evening.


Please share your cooking experience with me,ok? would appreciate your sharing.


P/S : I am not Anthony Bourdaine, just a husband sharing wife's loads every now and then

11 comments:

  1. Hi eugene,

    I m not sure if u can find those thermal pot there, cos this thermal pot dont use electricity, u just boil the soup on the stove for abt 15 mins and put inside the thermal pot after a few hours, the soup is ready, u can boil again for 5 mins and add seasoning if require.

    Which means u can prepare the soup in the morning or afternoon and have it ready by evening, all u need is 15mins on the stove. And the soup is really tasty or as per normal. No need to waste elect on slow cooker or time watching over the stove....Suitable for any soup that require long time (ABC soup, chicken soup etc)

    :)

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  2. 30 min is more than enough for u to prepare 2 dishes and a soup if u prepare the ingredient, may be a night before, so dun have to go back during lunch..

    actually it's a good suggestion to cook at home. i never cook during weekdays.. but may be we should try to have a more healthy food.

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  3. i know how to cook potatoes chicken only... *wink* that is the only dish my kids will request... hehehe..
    other than that.. all vege vege.. simple la..garlic and just stir for awhile... :)

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  4. Simple things is better.. 2-3 dishes is good enough..use eggs, vegies and soup with tomato and gingers..

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  5. I understand your situation.. as even I am at home the whole day, but most of the time, it's for the little baby...

    I use the pressure cooker for soup, boil at the gas for half an hour and transfer to the charcoal stove and let it simmer till the fire gone. The soup will be very good then, no need to jaga api.

    I will cook 1 vege and fish, or 1 vege and meat for the rest.

    And once a week, fried rice (coz it will definitely be leftover rice over the week)

    My 2cents

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  6. today I am cooking chicken and gourd. It works very well as a one-dish meal, because it has meat and vege. It's fast and easy, and most importantly delicious. My kids love it. Just marinate the chicken with soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, pepper. Then fry some garlic and ginger, put in the chicken, once it's ready, add the gourd (bottle gourd), and simmer until everytime is cooking. Lastly add spring onions and give it a good stir. Serve with rice. Chicken and potatoes is another of the kids' faves. Cooked about the same way.

    Talking about soup, the fastest soup to make is soup that's made out of ikan bilis stock. Fry ikan bilis and some garlic, then simmer in water until the ikan bilis is tasteless. Strain and discard the ikan bilis and garlic bits. Add spinach and sweetcorn or spinach and fishball soup. Or watercress. We love this soup too cos' it's fast to make without the long hours of boiling chicken and bones, and just as nutritious.

    Lagi fast ones will be egg dishes and canned sardines. They taste great when you add your own ingredients like onions, a little bit of chilli, etc. :)

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  7. Cooking is easy, just enjoy each and every minute of it... I love to cook and I hope my cooking blog will help you with the tips and etc.. http://cookingcrave.blogspot.com

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  8. Way to go bro. Looks like there makes two of us, donning apron in the evenings and whipping up a storm (literally..haha) in the kitchen.

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  9. Awww what a sweet husband. I’ll share my recipe: Chinese style broccoli

    1)Cut off the stalk, cut the floret into half or quarter, soak in water for 1 minute and drain.

    2)Chop 2-3 clove garlic and 2 chillies. More if you wish.

    3)Add oil to pan, and fry these two

    4)Add broccoli in and fry. You may add carrots too.

    5)Add 2 spoons of oyster sauce and 1 spoon of water

    6)Fry and taste. Add in a bit of salt or more oyster sauce for taste

    This is my fav vege and my husband’s too! It’s so simple yet SO good la. Goes well with rice.

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  10. Thank you lovely friends, will do like wise

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  11. I think your gesture is really sweet.

    How has it been going?

    Agree with Jas on the thermal pot. You can get it from Cosway.

    Veg - i usually blanch it and then add some bottled already prepared fried garlic oil.

    Steam fish...atop the rice cooker will only take 15 min of prep.

    Many other simple dishes really....

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