I'm in my cooking era

Today, I: 

• Googled whether baby spinach leaves are safe to eat raw... while eating them raw (with buttered sourdough bread and garlic & herb cream cheese spread)

• Spent some time reading up on the difference between poached eggs and coddled eggs

• Watched videos about how to make poached eggs

• Tried making a poached egg in the microwave (fill a medium-sized bowl with water up to halfway, crack an egg into it, microwave for about 1 minute 20 secs... I tried 2 mins first and it was way overcooked, then did another for 1 min 10 secs and it was slightly undercooked) 

• Watched videos on how to make miso soup 

• Watched a video by a Japanese chef (speaking English) on how to identify if store-bought miso paste contains dashi pre-mixed into it, or is sweetened

• Watched videos showing how to cook Japanese curry in the Instant Pot using store-bought cubes of roux (I have a Philips pressure cooker, not the Instant Pot, but I'm pretty sure the pressure cooking function works the same way on both)

• Asked a friend whether the extra virgin olive oil I'd bought was suitable to be used for cooking food in the air fryer 

• Looked at various brands of hand blenders on Shopee because I want to make pumpkin soup and don't want to have to wash a whole blender (I do have a bullet blender, which I've never used 🙈)

• Put off the decision about buying the hand blender cos it's not urgent and I literally just bought a mini 1.6L Cornell multicooker and the Ninja Crispi air fryer like three weeks ago. How many gadgets does one need, anyway? (All of them!!!!)

• Did NOT cube and airfry the butternut squash that I had planned to cube and airfry, because I didn't feel hungry so I skipped dinner 

Tried & tested: Cooking frozen salmon in the microwave

Microwaved frozen salmon

Marinade salmon fillet with salt/light soy sauce, pepper, and a dash for Worcestershire sauce. Chuck into freezer. 

When you need a quick meal, take salmon out of freezer, rub rosemary powder and basil flakes onto the frozen fillet, and place in a microwave-safe dish. No need to defrost!!

Place one-third of a stick of garlic & herb butter on top of the salmon fillet. Pop in the microwave on medium heat for 2 minutes. 

Turn over and microwave on medium heat for another 1.5 mins (depends on the thickness of the fillet). 

Yes, there is such a thing as too much cheese

I made quiche again yesterday and this time I discovered that you can definitely have too much cheese in a dish, something which I did not believe before 🤣 So it is overly salty and the cheese taste is overwhelming. Oh well... still edible, as Em says, but this will teach me not to be greedy lol. 

I don't actually measure out my ingredients except for the 6 large eggs. I go by packs -- one pack of mushrooms, one-and-a-half packs of baby spinach leaves -- I put in nearly two packs of cheese, so now I know one pack should be sufficient. 

And I forgot to layer the container with baking paper first because I was so focused on putting down my layers of ingredients. Luckily it's glass and therefore should be easy to wash. If metal, once any melted cheese gets stuck to it in the baking process, that would be a pain and a half. 

Microwave cooking: Quick & easy

Tonight I nuked some bacon bits in the microwave for 50 seconds (I put them in together with the dinner roll buns -- both were from the fridge -- nuked the buns for 20 seconds to warm them up, then took the buns out and decided the bacon bits probably needed a bit more cooking, so popped them back in for another 30 seconds). Added the bacon bits to the sandwich that I assembled with mayonnaise, streaky beef brisket cold cut, and lettuce leaves. It was super tasty! 10/10 will do again, maybe without the streaky beef. I usually add dill pickles to my sandwiches also, but left them out this time.

Two nights ago I learnt that you can microwave salmon and cook it super fast and easy that way, even if it is frozen salmon. Win! 

I don't like cooking that requires a lot of prep (chopping vegetables, etc) and a lot of steps. But I also need to eat reasonably balanced and nutritious meals. During MCO I learnt that you can microwave broccoli with 3 tbsp of water for 4 mins, toss with butter and serve, and it is delicious! I would eat a whole head of broccoli a day (as part of my lunch) to fulfil my daily fibre quota. 

I love my microwave... it's the most used appliance in my kitchen 🥰 I love that clean-up is minimal and I don't need to stand over a hot stove and watch the food to make sure it doesn't boil over or get charred or whatever else that can go wrong with stove-top cooking. 

I think I have read too many romance novels

Can we talk romance plotlines for a second? The billionaire wants a kid but he wants to conceive it the old-fashioned way... Which billionaire would leave that much up to chance? You could end up having sex for years with no baby to show for it! He's much more likely to opt for IVF imo. Extract the eggs, provide the sperm, pay the lab guys to ensure there's a viable embryo, and then get her to carry the baby to term and give birth. He has all the money, he can afford IVF. He'll want to ensure he gets the kid he needs in order to secure his inheritance or whatever. 

Speaking of which, I always wondered if those types of clauses in the grandfather's will could be enforced. You know the ones: grandfather requires grandson to be married within six months in order to inherit, or all the money and other assets will be donated to charity. Surely this could be challenged in court. It seems absolutely bonkers to me. It's not like the assets are held in a trust; that would be different, the trustees would have to abide by the parameters of the trust but when it's just a stipulation in the will, can it be upheld? 

And finally, the trope where "I hate her, so to get my revenge against her, I'll force her to marry me." Err hello are you thinking quite clearly? You hate her but you want to legally tie yourself to her and see her face across the breakfast table every morning? What??? I think it's more that you hate yourself. You might need therapy, boyo.

Crustless quiche

I generally don't like cooking, especially over a stove with open flame (very hot ok! Perimenopause is making me hot enough!). So I like short-cuts and easy recipes with very few steps. 

I also really love eggs. 

Recently, I ordered mini quiches from a friend who's between jobs and was baking as a way to make some money. Then I remembered that quiches are -- theoretically -- pretty simple to make. 

So I looked up a bunch of recipes and compared them, watched some YouTube, and then decided how I wanted to make this quiche. The game changer for me is baking it in an oven-safe borosilicate glass container (1.5L). Why? Because once the quiche cooled, I could pop the lid onto the container and shove it into the fridge for easy storage! Who says quiches always have to be baked in a round pie dish or round pan? 

Also, I opted for a crustless quiche because that removed one step from the preparation process, even though I could have used frozen pie crust or frozen puff pastry. And I decided to leave the ingredients as layers instead of stirring them up in the egg & milk mixture.

The quiche turned out super yummy and I was very pleased with myself! Very easy to assemble and make. 

Crustless quiche 

• 200g shredded cheese (I used a bag of Emborg "3 cheese bake", which is a mix of mozzarella, gouda, and red cheddar)
• 150g sliced shiitake mushrooms
• 100g baby spinach leaves
• Bacon bits
• 6 large eggs
• 250ml (1 cup) milk

Preheat oven 180°C

1. Slice the shiitake mushrooms. Place in bowl with two or three tablespoons of water. Microwave 1.5 mins then stir, then microwave another 2 min (adjust time depending on how much mushrooms you use)
2. Line the 1.5L borosilicate glass container with baking paper
3. Place ingredients in the container. First layer: Baby spinach leaves
4. Second layer: Mushrooms
5. Third layer: bacon bits
6. Fourth layer: Baby spinach leaves (actually you can put just one layer of spinach, but I wanted to have 2 cos I wanted more fibre)
7. Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top
8. In a separate bowl, whisk 6 large eggs & 250ml (1 cup) of milk. Add pepper and if you have mustard, a dollop of mustard. (I didn't add salt because the bacon bits were salty, but if you omit bacon then add salt to the egg & milk mixture as well)
9. Pour the eggs & milk mixture into the borosilicate glass container with all your layers. Give a little shake to help the mixture to settle
10. Bake at 180°C for 35-45 mins (depends on your oven and how many eggs you used)

Theology course: Week 10 reflection

Following on from last week’s class about the heresies surrounding the doctrine of the Trinity and the Incarnation of Jesus, this week’s class was about the orthodoxy of the creeds (like the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed). This one was sort of a history lesson and explained how the early church settled on the fundamental doctrines that are deemed correct, which believers all around the world agree on today.

It was interesting to me to find out that Christians only experienced sporadic persecution in the first 300 years AD. During this time, Diocletian was the emperor of Rome. He decided that Rome was too vast to be ruled by a sole ruler, and separated it into four sections, two in the east and two in the west. The east would have one emperor, and the west another. He appointed Maximian as emperor of the West with the title of “Augustus”; Constantius was appointed “Caesar” (a.k.a. deputy emperor). Maximian was to watch over Italy, Sicily, and Africa, while Constantius was to watch over Gaul, Spain, and Britain. Diocletian himself also took the title of “Augustus” as emperor of the East, aided by Constantius who was appointed “Caesar”. Diocletian watched over Thrace, Asia, and Egypt, while Constantius watched over Gaul, Spain, and Britain. (All this info from Encyclopaedia Britannica; the lecturer didn’t really explain this. I didn’t understand how the titles “Augustus” and “Caesar” were connected until I read the Britannica entry. Also, until this lesson, I never knew “Caesar” was a title and not part of Julius Caesar’s actual name ::facepalm::)

Although Diocletian ordered Christians to be persecuted in four edicts from 303-304, this was mainly carried out in the eastern parts of the empire where he was emperor. It is said that Constantius chose not to enforce Diocletian’s edicts against the Christians and “demolished some churches but did not execute believers”; and some members of Constantius’ family might even have been Christians. Constantius became Augustus of the West in 305 when Maximian abdicated.

Constantine the Great was Constantius’ son and took over from his father when his father died in battle in 306. But there was civil war as Diocletian’s successor had named someone else emperor of the West and a third person, Maxentius the son of Maximian, wanted the throne, too.

This is how Constantine purportedly became a Christian: on the eve of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge against Maxentius in 312, he reportedly saw a cross of light in the sky with the words “In this sign, conquer,” and that same night, he dreamt that Christ instructed him to mark his soldiers’ shields with a symbol representing the first two Greek letters of the word “Christos”. He did so, and won the battle decisively to become the emperor of the West.

Thereafter, he attributed his victory to the Christian God and became a convert; in 313 he drew up the Edict of Milan to legalise Christianity, thus ending the persecution of the Christians and returning any property which had been confiscated from Christians during the earlier persecutions. Eventually Constantine took over the East from the reigning emperor too and then reunited the whole empire in 324, establishing Constatinopole as its capital.

According to the lecturer, Constantine was interested in ensuring that the church was united and orderly, not divided. He felt that discord among Christians regarding doctrine and theological teachings did not just threaten the community of believers, but the peace of the kingdom. So he took action by calling bishops together to discuss the main issue of Arianism (which was one of the heresies mentioned in last week’s lesson: that the Son of God, Jesus, was the first created being, created with a semi-divinity to become the instrument through which the rest of creation was called forth).

Bishops came from Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, but also some from North Africa and even from outside the Empire. It is said there were around 200-300 bishops altogether. They were welcomed as the emperor’s guests, their travel, lodging, and other expenses covered by Constantine. This gathering of the bishops became the first ecumenical council, the Council of Nicaea in 325 and it set a precedent for all the other Councils that came later. In total there were four Councils:

1. Council of Nicaea (AD 325), convoked by Emperor Constantine
2. Council of Constantinopole (AD 381), convoked by Emperor Theodosius I
3. Council of Ephesus (AD 431), convoked by Emperor Theodosius II
4. Council of Calcedon (AD 451), convoked by Emperor Marcian & Empress Pulcheria

Each of these councils discussed specific doctrinal issues and came up with authoritative decisions on what was right. This is how we got the Nicene Creed – it was formulated by the Council of Nicaea as a statement of belief to encompass all the fundamental points of doctrine. The Council of Constantinopole expanded the Nicene Creed, adding a section about the Holy Spirit, making it the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.

The lesson did go into each of the four councils and the heresies or controversies discussed in each one, but I don’t feel like getting into that here. I was surprised that the councils came about due to the intervention of imperial power; and once the controversies had been decided, the person who had been the main proponent of that particular heresy was often exiled. I suppose, as far as the former is concerned, there had to be someone to put things in motion and you needed someone with authority who could gather people together – I daresay not many bishops would want to say no to the emperor when invited to participate in a council like this; it was probably an honour to be invited.

I was also surprised that even though the councils were decisive, this didn’t always solve the problem. Like, after the Council of Nicaea rejected Arianism as a heresy, this teaching persisted and had to be discussed again at the Council of Constantinopole. I was also a bit shocked that the decision made at the Council of Calcedon caused a schism between the Oriental Orthodox church (Coptic, Syriac, Armenian) and the Roman Catholic church. The issue discussed at that council was of the dual nature of Jesus (fully man and fully God), and it didn’t seem to me that any proper church could dispute this.

So I looked it up. The lecturer had mentioned the split but didn’t say why it had occurred. Apparently it was because of the way the document was worded. The bishops had composed a Definition of Faith, which became known as the Definition of Chalcedon. Part of it stated that Jesus is

…to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisively, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one person and on Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son…

Apparently, the Oriental Orthodox bishops did not like the “in two natures” wording because they felt it was too close to the Nestorian heresy – which says that the divine Son of God lived in the man Jesus of Nazareth, inhabiting Jesus’ body like a temple (remember, I said in last week’s reflection that it sounded like demon possession lol). This heresy claimed that Jesus the man and Logos the Son of God were two separate persons joined in a union. So, as far as I can tell, the Oriental Orthodox bishops accused the Chalcedonian council of heresy themselves and the whole thing caused a huge misunderstanding and falling out. Ah, humans. When you’re actually both on the same side but cannot even see it because you’re too busy arguing over minutiae.