Time is On My Side, Yes it is! [Recipe: Vegan Spinach-Cashew Pesto]

They say that having a child changes your life. And by golly, does it. In fact in more ways than one.

The moment I realised that I was carrying a child, my life began to change little by little, unbeknownst to me. I began being more conscious of what I was feeding myself (and her), showing more interest in fixing my meals, rather than simply delivery-dialing. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s not like I went cold turkey on my sweet desserts and fast foods;- as a matter of fact, I craved for more beef burgers than I could have ever cared to imagine, myself being a fan of white meat than red. Perhaps it was my subconscious telling me to watch my diet, or perhaps it was merely the willingness to spend time in the kitchen as opposed to being stuck on the bed, but whatever the reason was, my pregnancy had taught me two things;- to look deeper into what was going to land on my plate, and that sometimes, cooking isn’t all that time-consuming or horridly death-defying as my mind had made it out to be.

From the Mailbox: tips on baking the perfect cookies

Technically speaking, this was not from the mailbox, but rather, a culmination of google searches that landed visitors to this space. Seeing that it is the time of the year when most Malay/Muslim households are abuzz with baking cookies for the upcoming Eid (more commonly known here as Hari Raya Aidilfitri), there has been a surge of visitors looking for “Hari Raya cookie recipe”, “easy Hari Raya recipe”. But of all the searches, the one that caught my attention was “why Hari Raya cookie flat”.

Since I can’t seem to find the time to share new recipes (will update after the Eid celebrations, I promise), I thought it’d be best to share tips on baking the perfect cookies for this season.

From the Mailbox: the humble crumb topping

Of the email enquiries I’ve received, this one, courtesy of T, stumped me for a moment: “If there was one recipe you feel everyone should know by heart, what would it be?”

When I first read it, it seemed almost impossible for me to narrow it down to just one recipe. This coming from the person who has already told the mister that while I may not have a family [cooking] recipe to pass down to my children, I’ll let them in on my fail-proof butter cake recipe to last them for life. And then there is pavlova, an amazingly simple dessert that never fails to bring glamour to the dessert table with its versatile toppings to suit any occasion. Or the pate brisee recipe which holds the key to endless delectable galettes, tarts and pies.

But having said all that, I know that if there is just one thing that would tide me over any day, it would simply be the trinity of butter, flour and brown sugar.