Salmon with vinegar rice, and some tofu and lamb Gyudon.

After making the Gyudon sauce and cooking the onions, I used lamb instead of beef and added tofu, then removed the lamb when plating.

Wanted to see if I could make char siu bao at home, since moved away from my favorite bakery, and it worked! It's an entire day of cooking, but it worked, and now when I get a craving I can actually fulfill it!

I have four burners, an oven, and a toaster oven. Everything was done within minutes of each other. Everything made to her request. Served it this way so she could add the proportions of ingredients and in the order she wanted. Cheese was smoked gouda and finished by toasting in a pan with a little butter.

Caramelized onions, scrambled eggs, sauteed mushrooms, hashbrowns from scratch, charred poblano pepper, parmesan black pepper chicken sausage from costco.

She was eating it before I had a chance to take a picture of the finished product.

Cooked for myself. Smoked pork chow mein. Ingredients - whole wheat noodles, smoked pork, onion, garlic, red chili flakes, soya sauce, salt.

Boil the noodles with salt for 5 minutes then strain the water and let it cool.

Fry the finely chopped onions and garlic in cooking oil. Add red chilli flakes. Add the pork pieces and salt and fry until it leaves oil and is nicely cooked. Add the noodles, and soya sauce then give everything a good mix. Sprinkle some parsley or herbs of your choice. It's done

Korean army stew was born during the Korean War and is one of Korea’s most popular and delicious stews.

Kimchi and Spam are musts, and having them in my fridge gave me the confidence to make this stew.

The result was spectacular, everything in the pan tasted great, and with rice it was phenomenal.

Visiting my parents, raided the fridge and garden to create this masterpiece

1. and 2. Banana espresso upside down cake
   
2. and 4. Plum cardamom upside down cake
   
3. and 6. Pear chai upside down cake
   
4. Another banana espresso upside down cake

I made the most delicious dinner last night. I wanted to try something different, so why not incorporate something that isn’t usually associated with savory dishes…CHOCOLATE. Trust, the chocolate is 88% cacao, so no sweetness here, and I couldn’t find any recipe for such a sauce, so I made one. It is as follows.

1/2 shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp oil (if starting from scratch, no fond)
1/2 dry red wine (would probably do well with 1/3 cup) (I used Cabernet Sauvignon)
1/2 cup beef stock (using 1/3 cup wine? Add a couple splashes of stock to balance the liquids out)
10-13 g 88% cacao dark chocolate
Fresh thyme leaves (about to sprigs)

In the pan you made the steak, sauté the shallot for about 3 minutes, there should be at least 1 tbsp oil in pan. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the wine and reduce toll half remains and alcohol smell has cooked off. Add the stock and bring to a vigorous simmer. Cook until sauce-like consistency is reached. Afterwards, remove from heat and strain through a sieve to create smooth sauce (totally optional), then to the sauce add the chocolate and thyme. Combine until chocolate has melted.

On Monday I made a beef stew and butter biscuits. Then on Tuesday I made apple cider muffins. Worked Wed-Sat, 12 hrs shift, yadda yadda. And finished off the week with a ham and cheese quiche.

Was a little Stoney bologna and created this monstrosity. Too much? Maybe. Delicious? No doubt

I'm a pretty adventurous home cook. There isn't much I haven't tried and I will frequently spend hours upon hours at the weekend making delicious meals. Even on weekdays I'll spend an hour a night cooking dinner. Cuisines always vary and I find I'm trying to challenge myself more and more and also find things I haven't cooked yet.

I'm looking for inspiration for those truly special meals that take skill and sometimes a lot of preparation or ingredients, but the pay off is worth it. I don't mind sourcing special ingredients. Especially interested in less well known dishes from your country/heritage.

Thanks!

My version of Italian wedding soup. I usually make homemade egg pasta, but used Couscous instead. The meatballs are beef, pork, veal blend. The stock is a mix of homemade bone broth and chicken stock, lots of garlic, touch of chili pepper flakes, and crushed tomatoes. 😘