It's been a while since my initial post here so time for some updates. It's been a crazy month or so of trying to decide where I want to go next in my life, in the meantime there's always cooking.
Random Pansit Dish:
Made this one night for no other reason than I was craving Pansit. First off I was super lazy and didn't know the right way to make it so I just bought the noodles at the market then threw in whatever I thought would work well, mushrooms, chicken, carrots, onions, tossed in some garlic, red chili, and pad thai sauce. It came out pretty tasty and it was very affordable. The noodles were probably about $3-4 and it lasted all week more or less.
Thai Chicken Tacos:
I was craving a different spin on tacos so looked up recipes on thai tacos. I found a few different ones and decided to try one from food.com. Save for not having fish sauce basically marinated the chicken in soy sauce, cilantro, shallots, red pepper flakes, and shiracha. The marinade was quite good, I let the chicken sit overnight in the sauce but normally I'd think an hour or two would be fine.
The cabbage to accompany the tacos was comprised of carrot, cabbage, green onion, radish, cilantro, peanuts and some rice vinegar. Personally after finishing the dish it was light and not bad but I thought more flavor was needed. Next time I'll probably try to make the slaw sweeter or perhaps make some sort of hot sauce. I still think the marinade worked well with the chicken.
Chicken Marsala:
I've always wanted to try and make this dish, truthfully haven't even cooked with marsala before this.
My first dilemma was deciding between sweet marsala and dry marsala. At the advice of some others I opted for sweet, and upon tasting I can definitely say go for the sweet -- it's not even that sweet! For starch I kept it simple and just baked a red potato.
For greens, baby bok choy. This was really simple to make and actually packed with flavor. Just lightly cooked the baby bok choy in olive oil salt and pepper then drizzled maybe about a tablespoon of Kabayaki (unagi) sauce into the pan before removing from the heat.
The chicken was simple too. Lightly battered with flour, salt, pepper, oregano and then basically pan fried to make the crust and simmered in the marsala and some sherry. The mushrooms were added in the last couple of minutes to cook.
The finished product. Not bad for a late night meal that looks more complicated than it was. Now I have a bottle of Marsala I need to experiment with and make use of haha.
I'll be adding a post later about a seafood Orzo dish, wanted to give that it's own post because truly I think that's the best dish I've made so far. I was very satisfied, until then these random pics will do!.
How fitting a new relationship for me, this blog, on Valentine's day 2012.
In a lot of ways I miss blogging, I still sometimes update and visit my old Xanga page although now I plan to make this the new medium for my thoughts. One of the great things about keeping a blog - or basically a virtual diary - is reflecting on the past and seeing how far I've come. I can go back to old posts of mine and sometimes laugh about how dumb my problems were, or other times reflect on how somber or how victorious certain moments of life really were.
Although I plan to update this blog with random thoughts and ramblings from time to time I did want to keep it focused on some key goals in my life: Cooking and Music, in essence the blog name "SingTasteLive" emphasizes this point. Adding live in there also justifies random posts about life as well :) -- Winning!
Speaking of living life now is a great time to quote my favorite artist Jason Mraz:
“Frustration and Love can’t exist in the same place at the same time, so get real and start doing what you would rather be doing in life. Love your life. All of it. Even the heavy shit that happened to you when you were 8. All of it was and IS perfect.” "
“Everything is perfect.
Everything is fine.
The rules of life are made up.
The rules only exist in your mind. "
I've been stressing myself out over the rules of life lately. It's been a year since I graduated, a college life comprised of all the things you're "supposed" to do. I had a great GPA, I finished with two majors, I ran two executive positions in a school club, I worked a part-time job, I did a summer program, I did internships with two separate companies. If there was a script for success I think I damn near followed it in college.
Yet here I am.
A year removed from college, no full time job yet, unsure of my path or what my true calling is. I decided I didn't want to start off in a bank, I saw no serious marketing opportunities, I dabbled with the idea of financial advising but somehow I always get pulled from it at the last moment. Am I purposefully keeping myself away from these things? or is it something deeper.
Passions.
I have a settling complex. I don't want to settle for something I don't love, I can't do it for women I can't do it for a career. It's a blessing and a curse, in some ways it may work out for the best however my path is in no way linear and in no way follows "life's rules".
But if Mr. Mraz is right, maybe life doesn't have rules, maybe going the path less traveled is indeed the route to go. So for now, at least that is the path. And the path of this blog shall follow accordingly.
Music:
How can one not love music? I read a study somewhere that said music targets the same part of the brain that's activated during sex, pretty orgasmic eh? So much can be conveyed through music, a story, a life, a message, hope, despair, it's endless and I love it.
My experience in music started quite late. Aside from taking a year of piano lessons in first grade I was never in band, I never even sang karaoke until I was around 20 years old. It's tough starting an instrument, learning on your own but like all things in life, love and passion can drive it home.
Recently a good high school friend of mine has been trying to get me to come to an open mic. He knows one of my dreams is to do a gig (I said before 30, he want's me to perform now!). By nature, I want to learn until I'm at a point where I'm confident. It took me almost a year to finally upload a video to youtube and I still could use a lot of work but it feels nice to finally take a step forward and get something recorded.
Cooking:
Food was another random passion that hit me late in life. Growing up I didn't cook, and I certainly wasn't a fan of fine dining. Triple the price and 1/3rd the food?! I didn't get it.
Then cooking really started to take off on TV, I developed a love for Hell's Kitchen and eventually Gordon Ramsay. I bought cookbooks, I started cooking at home, then I bought my own knife set, and the process continues to roll from there.
Like music, I have no professional training but I find myself having a great time anytime I'm cooking. It's like a new adventure everytime, constructing every little ingredient into the final picture. Sometimes the outcome is disappointing, sometimes it's great but it's a learning experience.
Recently we had a layover in Seattle and I got to visit Pike's place for the first time. Needless to say I was in heaven. The fresh food, the vendors who could probably sell product in their sleep, the street musicians, and the wide assortment of cultures passing by, twas quite the sight.
Now cooking has a possibility as a career option. At this point, it's a very far possibility but the possibility is there and it's growing.
So there it is, February 14th 2012. This blog relationship officially begins, can't wait for the ride.
