In the Kitchen with Manly and Babe

I Manly, finally got around to writing a blog post as both Babe and I have finally had the time to share a relaxing weekend together away from family, friends, and responsibility.  Last week we were with Babe's brother and his family in Fairfax, Virginia.  Sunday morning, Babe wanted to make me an omelet for breakfast.   She poured the scrambled eggs into a very small sauce pan, and while the eggs were still wet, she plopped in all the ingredients.  "Oh my," I said, "you do not know how to make an omelet do you?"

Babe's sister in-law was in the kitchen during that time and was about to become Mother Bear in Babe's defense, but Babe simply stated helplessly with a whimper "I'm sorry, but I don't know how, but I thought  I'd try."

The evening before this weekend, I received an iMessage from her stating how she wanted to make omelets again for breakfast Saturday morning, yet this time, with my help.  After running to H-Mart for some missing items - tomato, onion, mushroom, cilantro, and about everything else required for an omelet - we were off to the kitchen.

Out of my many years of being in the kitchen cooking for largely myself, I explained to her the few key ground rules that make a good chef, an excellent chef.  Your skill is not based upon ingredients or the recipe as a monkey can pick ingredients and follow a book.  Yet, culinary skill comes through proper planning and preparation of the ingredients, and the timing of bringing everything cooked to finish at the same time to be served.  This prevents soggy or over cooked vegetables and meats, or finished dishes cooling for prolonged periods while you are still waiting on that souffle to finish in the oven.

We diced and sliced every ingredient up before hand, and placed them all into small ingredient bowls to be added when needed.  Next we sautéed the onion, mushroom and bacon together first and left them on a warm simmer while the large skillet was heated up; as I explained to her, the real omelet is what is inside the egg.  The egg is just the tortilla that holds it all together, where the cheese is your glue.  I helped cook the first one, and let her cook the second one, the one that I'd have for myself.  It ended up being probably one of the best omelets I ever had.  

In conclusion I am reminded of the old Chinese proverb by Loa Tzu "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."  I could always make myself an omelete, and be fed for a day.  However, teach a good woman how to make an omelete, and you'll be fed for a lifetime.  

Till next time,

- Manly

  

In the Kitchen with Manly & Babe

For those of you who haven't seen on FB already, our engagement pictures were posted!

A few weeks ago I asked you viewers to guess what the most likely scenes would be for capturing the moments in our relationship for the engagement pictures. Not many of you took the risk of guessing. But I'll make the big reveal anyway ;)

One of the locations was the kitchen! Because we do like to cook together and we're pretty good at it, if I do say so myself. Ahemmm..... Well, I should be honest. Ian is really the chief chef in the kitchen; he really is a very talented multi-tasker and creative with spices and herbs and flavors. To be honest, I am the one who's learning from him. Haha!

Below I've selected a sample of the first shots taken. There are others that were taken in other locations. But for the purpose of drawing you in, I've posted "In the Kitchen with Manly & Babe." Please do check out some of the amazing shots that Photography by Susie captured of the two of us!

In the Kitchen with Manly & Babe

Manly and I like to experiment with food and be creative with our meals. We intend to share many of our experiments, funny stories, and recipes with you on our blog. Look for "In the Kitchen with Manly & Babe."

The other night we made Chicken Tikka Masala, a spicy Indian dish. It turned out SO well! Highly recommend using this recipe for the dish.

When we cook, Ian likes to impersonate an asian chef. This is usually what it's like for me to work in the kitchen with Manly.......

After all the ginger had been smashed, the last drop of cream stirred in, and the garnish applied..... voila! (because we like French food too ;)