3 Recipes Perfect for Date Night

I’m a big believer that food brings people together — and so does cooking! Spending time as a couple in the kitchen will not only help you to better understand your partner’s working style (which is key to a happy relationship) but you get to engage in a rewarding activity together.

So today, as part of a guest post for Love Out Loud Asia (LOLA), I’ll be sharing three super simple recipes that are great as bonding activities on date night. Whether you’re ready to call the cooking room your second home or complete novices, I promise these recipes can be done. Plus, all awkwardness is out the window here because you’ll actually have an activity to focus on, even if not on each other ha ha 🙂

The best part? Needless to say, it’s having a homemade meal to savour together when you’re done. You can thank me later.

Herb Lemon Salad

I have taken the time off to adjust to a new stage of life. Been working for the past three months on internship and I will have another three to go. I’m back to give my blog another go! Isn’t life about making time for the things you love? 🙂

Sharing a herb lemon salad that I promised to post the recipe, uh, 12 weeks ago on my Instagram… Yes, it has been that long!

But appropriate nonetheless, as I have been receiving requests from girlfriends for simple (and healthy) salad dressings. I will be incorporating more of these onto the site!

And as we enter spring, it’s all about colour. So really, colourful salad, why the hell not?

Buttermilk Pancakes

I’m always finding ways to use up the second half of my buttermilk carton.

That’s because most of the time the recipes I use call for only a bit, plus it’s not like I’m feeding an army here at home. It’s terribly inconvenient that the supermarket stocks them in such large quantities.

And then, I thought of pancakes.

Yummy, scrumptious, light and fluffy buttermilk pancakes!

I’m a total breakfast person, so pancakes are definitely top of the list when it comes to my idea of an all-day breakfast menu.

Hello from my kitchen again!

School has been swallowing me whole. Not to mention the birthday prep and the party itself for my 21st just a few days back.

I haven’t been posting, and about my food all the more 😦 What I’ve missed is cooking at home. It’s probably not the food, but the cooking that is my comfort; going back to why I started this blog, you’ll know.

And hence, on impulse, I plated up after making lunch today, got my camera and set to work.

BLT Steak Salad

So it’s common knowledge I love beef. I also love having myself a good BLT sandwich.

My parents are currently away in Malaysia, and will only be back later in week. With my Dad not around to make dinner, the responsibility naturally fell on my shoulders to “tank”. I blame my ovaries — wait, before you freak out at my preposterously crude remark, do understand it’s because I have two brothers and being the only daughter… You get my drift.

Now this is really a challenge. Settling my meal is easy; I’m O.K. with quick salads or sandwiches. My brothers? Hm, not so much.

Check out my attempt at striking a balance: give and take, with a little compromise.

Homemade Garlic Bread

Homemade garlic bread. Say what?

In under 20 minutes? Incredulous.

But no, let today’s post prove you wrong.

If you’re generally skeptical, never the type to believe in magic — or the magic of quick cooking apart from instant noodles, that is — then I’d suggest it’s high time you start believing.

C’mon, have a little faith, wouldya?

Potato Gumbo

So I haven’t updated in a while. I’ve found I actually have other things to do with my life, ha.

Anyway, as promised, I’m back with the potato gumbo recipe.

I hope all of you have been looking forward to this post. (Well, even if you haven’t, I’ve got one fan for sure — K has been bugging me to get this recipe up because when we had it over dinner he just loved it so much!)

And, if I hadn’t previously already mentioned, K is quite the foodie. So… You’ve definitely got the free hand deciding whether or not to trust his judgment; but if you love food too that shouldn’t be too hard a decision to make. I mean, just saying 😉

Cajun Root Beer Steak with Sweet Peas

Ever had one of those sudden revelations lingering in the realm of exotic flavours? That aha! moment when you’ve got different foods in your mouth and your tastebuds tell you “oh my goodness, this just might work”?

I can’t imagine how else it could’ve dawned upon Roger Mooking that steak should be marinated with root beer, if he hadn’t had half-chewed beef in his mouth while taking a huge gulp of A&W.

Because, trust me (and trust me because I’ve tried), the two are a match made in heaven.

To have them separately is one thing, but root beer infused steak? Ohhh, there’s a whole new world.

Yummy Yummly!

Hoorah, I’ve been featured on Yummly!

It was one of the most pleasant surprises when I received notifications three days ago — that Yummly had posted a comment (trackback/pingback) on my Cobblers entry a while back. It was then followed by a tweet mention! 🙂

To thank them, I’m writing a short review today about Yummly [dot] com.

Lemon-Infused Chicken with Chard and Caramelized Onions Spaghetti

I couldn’t think of shorter name for this dish. There’s just so much in it that I can’t quite describe it fully.

The lemon-infused chicken has been something I’ve wanted to cook for a while, after reading about it in the chicken cookbook I’m currently onto. The idea of little lemon pockets in chicken breast sounded too… Adorable.

And then for the spaghetti — I was browsing for Swiss chard recipes (as I happen to have had some in the fridge that needed to be used quick) and chanced upon one that sounded like it could pair well with the chicken.

It was all a series of very unfortunate events, that led to the most pleasant discovery.