Last year, I was eating homemade meals every day for stretches longer than a month. This year, I don’t know what’s up, but at times, I am simply too tired to churn anything out of my kitchen… especially when Curry Point will serve me butter chicken and basmati rice I can never hope to replicate for just $3.73 or Ichiban-kan Express california rolls are bulky and just $2.75.

It really feels like my cooking adventures have fallen by the wayside for the past month or more. Most recently, I was delighted to successfully follow Stef’s recipe for a Chinese-style chicken stew that had all the ingredients and instructions to produce authentic Chinese kitchen smells in my little kitchen! (If I switch up the ingredients, it will make a mean 牛南, my favourite dish!)

I was also delighted when the Garlic Pork Chops with Black Mushrooms (where I used firm tofu slices instead) turned out like a charm (pictured here). I used Chinese mushrooms and canned button mushrooms instead of chanterelle and left out the ginger. It was the perfect amount of tangy and fragrant sauce that pervaded the tofu and mushrooms and I was perfectly happy eating it for two days without need for a side.

Amidst the successes there must be one down point : Nut Burgers. They crumbled as soon as I flipped them in the skillet, and were quite unbearable as they were very 熱氣 (the sensation of deep-frying yet it wasn’t). =S