Monday, March 23, 2026

When breakfast looks super presentable hehe

Very proud of this breakfast, so must post! Hahaha. I took a bite of it before I realised that, hey it looks quite impressive & Instagrammable, should take photo 🤣
Had time this morning due to the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holiday, so I put this together. Poached egg, avocado, and "herbs & spices" cream cheese spread on buttered sourdough bread. 

I used a shortcut for poaching the eggs: Fill a medium-sized bowl halfway with water, crack a raw egg into the water. Microwave for 1 min 20 secs (timing depends on your microwave and how done you want your yolk to be; it took a bit of experimentation to discover the perfect timing for mine). Scoop out the egg and serve. 
This Arla brand is the cream cheese spread I used. I like the tanginess and that it doesn't just taste like cheese, if that makes sense? It doesn't taste sweet, more savory. 

Loved the breakfast, 10/10 would do again. If only all mornings could be this leisurely! 

Saturday, March 21, 2026

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