Made With Love

Its not very often that Hunky cooks for me. I remember the first time he "cooked" me dinner, it was from an El Paso tortilla pack. I appreciated the thought but it was definitely not what I was expecting from a romantic evening. Since he has been away, Hunky has honed his cooking skills much to my admiration. The last trip I was here, he blew me away with his perfect little scones. So crumbly and light. This time it was his risotto. I had heard about his risotto so many times over the phone, I just couldn't wait to try it. I had been cooking quite a bit so one night he just shoved me out of the kitchen, made sure I had nothing to snack on and 45 minutes later we were having risotto with organic (only the best for me!) smoked bacon, mushroom and pea (I insisted, I love peas). I was so impressed! Risotto is one thing I never cook for myself so I was well chuffed that Hunky cooked it for me. So delicious! The rice was cooked to perfection and it was a nice balance of savoury and sweet from the peas and onions. I liked it so much, I ate two big bowls.

We also had his little scones several times. We discovered the premium clotted cream from Asda was still nowhere as nice as the one in Sainsbury's. However, our favourite is from M&S. I could just eat it on its own! In between the risotto and scones, I'd whip up quick pastas for lunch. I must say I really enjoyed my cooking! I think its more like the comfort of holding a big bowl of hot pasta while its cold and dreary outside. I also cooked lots of curries and Chinese during the cold autumn nights. I didn't even have a cleaver to chop the chicken. Years of watching my mum skillfully butcher a chicken have made me more than competent. The only part I'm still squeamish about are the organs that are still attached. Shudder.

Staying near Asda is pretty cool. The produce are the cheap and ethnic friendly. They had a special deal in Asda for frying steak once. It was bloody tough when I made a black bean stir-fry with it. So with the remaining steak, I pounded the hell out of it using my fist (ah, good to get eh aggression out!) and made us a steak sandwich with caramelised onions and melted mature cheddar. I was surprised at how good it tasted! Well, frying it in butter (something I only do when I am on holiday) and good quality mature cheddar really makes a difference. It was freaking delicious if I so say so myself! Mmm, think I will make myself a steak sandwich this weekend...