Homemade French Dinner

Cooking is all about working with what you got. I couldn't find a bouquet garni at Cold Storage on Friday night so I just used thyme. No pinot noir? Use cabernet sauvignon. No lemon jus? Use apple vinegar. Hahha.

 

Speaking about Friday, I was supposed to go to the Singapore Art Museum but we were trapped in a horrific traffic jam along Orchard road for almost one hour until we gave up and went to Cuppage Plaza for ramen and gyoza. B1 was enviably sandwiched between two hot girls, but he complained that one of them was a horrible ah lian. Some people can be such snobs. And to think all through dinner I was thinking that I was leading a very tame and lame life. Just play CoH, learn my violin, blog, read books and study German. And these girls of late teens or early twenties were talking about clubbing, dancing and Ladies nights. Interesting how we are thinking different things about the same person.

Homemade Hollandaise sauce

But I digress. I discovered some petrified asparagus in the freezer so I made some hollandaise sauce. I also realized that I had been conned by the name "buttercup" when I bought the 3 blocks of "butter" on a sharp discount. They were actually blocks of solidified palm oil. Gross. I knew it the minute I melted the "butter" because there was no way in hell real butter would give off that sickening sweet smell. I immediately seized the block and took a closer stare... shit. 

My version of beef bourguignon

Anyway I also referred to the book on French cooking that I borrowed to make my beef bourguignon. It called for a bouquet garni, damn, a pinot noir, oops, pearl onions, WTF? I stopped reading. =D I could not find frozen brisket in the supermarket so I stripped the striploin and boiled them in my crockpot with onions and carrots and mushrooms (which I added half and hour before dinner). I also had to make my own tomato puree after I forgot to buy a canned one... Nothing four overripe tomatoes and water couldn't do. *winks*

I also prepared a simple Provençal salad with boiled potatoes, japanese cucumber and tuna. Well I was supposed to use anchovy vinagrette, but I was starving so I just used mayo (well it is French) and a slap of wasabi for a kick. 

We had everything with a baguette I bought from Delifrance. After lunch at Bistro Petit Salut, I realized how delicious bread is when lightly toasted, so I cut the entire stick into slices and toasted them over my non-stick frying pan. The cheap plonk today is Golden Gate cabernet sauvignon which I used in the stew. It is too spicy for me. I think vina maipo might be more to my taste. hmm. I should go and buy more bottles of that cheap plonk now that it is on sale.