The in-laws' current helper, Y, can cook very well, provided she's not restricted about the ingredients in the dishes. When she cooks for me, or according to my instructions, her dishes came out as expected. The other evening, I told her to roast a chicken, Western style, according to whatever recipes she chose. She mulled over it, and asked if I was okay with garlic and honey. Oh yes. She usually doesn't roast it like that for the in-laws. There's a roast chicken recipe in Ellice Handy's 'My Favourite Recipes', which is horrifying, because it's exactly the type of roast chicken that I fear, as it's served along with baked stuffing. Eiooow. It's a little too traditional and conservative.
A roast chicken is brainless, and a crowd-pleaser, especially if the quality of the raw meat is good. The suppliers to Singapore's chicken stocks don't offer very many nice ones. Done simply with garlic and honey, pepper and salt, properly flipped over without one side turning black, one can't go very wrong with roast chicken on the table. Even the breast meat would be moist and tender. Obviously I can't be arsed to touch a whole raw chicken, much less roast it. Meidi-ya provided us with a lovely spring chicken. Y sorted out it with a bed of fine beans, pumpkin and zucchini, all of which was added in only when the chicken was flipped. Vegetables cook faster, anyway, so it's one's choice whether to put in the vegetables first, or later.
The roast chicken was PERFECT, to me. Honestly, it was delicious. I took a bite to taste. A pity I'm not a fan of chicken, otherwise it would make a great meal. There were no additional carbs that night. We didn't need it. Y stir-fried a portion of sambal kangkong for me. The chicken was mainly dinner for the man, who ate it with gusto. He loved it so much that he didn't mind having it packed as a cold sandwich for lunch the next day.
I love Y's sambal terasi and sambal belado. She's the only helper (in a long line of helpers) who can do sambal-anything to the complexity of flavors and level of spiciness the way I like them. I only needed fry up the types of sambal once for her to taste, and she's able to replicate it. Awesome. Y is independent, smart and decent. She went away after her first stint with the in-laws, and she returned last November for a second stint. She has the patience of a saint. I don't know if she'll hang around longer, but I'll be very sorry to see her go.
A roast chicken is brainless, and a crowd-pleaser, especially if the quality of the raw meat is good. The suppliers to Singapore's chicken stocks don't offer very many nice ones. Done simply with garlic and honey, pepper and salt, properly flipped over without one side turning black, one can't go very wrong with roast chicken on the table. Even the breast meat would be moist and tender. Obviously I can't be arsed to touch a whole raw chicken, much less roast it. Meidi-ya provided us with a lovely spring chicken. Y sorted out it with a bed of fine beans, pumpkin and zucchini, all of which was added in only when the chicken was flipped. Vegetables cook faster, anyway, so it's one's choice whether to put in the vegetables first, or later.
The roast chicken was PERFECT, to me. Honestly, it was delicious. I took a bite to taste. A pity I'm not a fan of chicken, otherwise it would make a great meal. There were no additional carbs that night. We didn't need it. Y stir-fried a portion of sambal kangkong for me. The chicken was mainly dinner for the man, who ate it with gusto. He loved it so much that he didn't mind having it packed as a cold sandwich for lunch the next day.
I love Y's sambal terasi and sambal belado. She's the only helper (in a long line of helpers) who can do sambal-anything to the complexity of flavors and level of spiciness the way I like them. I only needed fry up the types of sambal once for her to taste, and she's able to replicate it. Awesome. Y is independent, smart and decent. She went away after her first stint with the in-laws, and she returned last November for a second stint. She has the patience of a saint. I don't know if she'll hang around longer, but I'll be very sorry to see her go.
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