To BBQ a duck

The excuse that I have today for not executing a perfect meal is that my daughter is still recovering for her Foot and mouth disease. Although recovering from her illness she was very demanding. I am hoping her sickness hasn't caused personality alteration. She was nicer when she didn't say 'no' so often.
I had to face the inevitable today. without my sister-in-law in sight I had to do the honour of cutting the neck off and removing the fatty deposit in the cavity (just like doing a lipo-sucking I suppose). What I wasn't prepared for, was how it looked so much like a duck. Usually when I am slicing a piece of meat, I am not reminded how it is a part of a cow. As I extended its long neck I had flash back of the ducks at Norwest pond floating in peace. Why do they have to look so much like duck? what was worse is that to distract my daughter from whinging I would actually say to her, "look! A duck!". How horrified would my daughter who has learnt the word 'duck' before "mum" to see a duck in such form.
When poaching a duck it is good to have enough of boiling water to cover the duck. One thing to be mindful however is that ducks float, even without their feathers.
My husband came to my rescue and finished the cooking off by doing the BBQ, because that is what a man is good at.
The BBQ duck was not as much as a seller as the roast duck.
Needless to say that I will not be craving for a duck dish too soon.

Roast Chicken Salad

The day I made this salad was a full day, as my Tuesday tends to be with doing my housewife duties. I did wonder if this is all worth doing as I watched my clinging daughter on my leg. Thanks to my brother and sister-in-law, I managed to cook up two salad dishes. In the middle of preparing for the salad dressing I realized that I was preparing for "Roast chicken Salad" and not "Warm salad of spicy minced chicken" as I had intention doing when I defrosted chicken mince. Again, I turned to my faithful brother to rescue our tummies from already delayed dinner. We drove through (literally) Coles and picked up BBQ chicken. Hence, it should be called Coles' BBQ chicken Salad.
Now, I did not research prior to going to grocery shopping to find out what "mignonette lettuce" look like. I was relying on the shop owners to label their fruits and veges for clueless people like me. There were many different types of lettuces from Coles, to Woolworth to Asian fruit and vege stores. In the end I decided to pick any that looked appealing enough to chew. Now that I have also learnt what mignonette lettuce is I hope I get to use it to impress someone one day.
The salad did survive my handling. However, it did turn out to be too limey. Combined with the vinegar, if you like less tangy taste put little less of lime juice. I did start to think about the type of erosion all these salad dressings will have on my teeth. Maybe I should have listened to my husband and not cook them in order of pages.

Wonton Soup with Noodles

The challenge started on 9th February so I have to some catching up to in order to keep my many, many followers up to date. (I am feeling rather self-conscious of the cyber expose. Almost, hoping no one will come across the blog...)
I must say the wonton was superb. I have never made wonton before. It gave me faith in Neil Perry. If he can turn this non-intuitive, too scared-to-diverge-from-the-recipe armature cook, into a most favoured person on dinner table his recipes must be really good.
Also, I have discovered the wonder of food processor. For a mum who has a one year old hanging off her leg they do wonders. I've also, learnt a new word, "julienne". I am sure I know a person with the name by Julienne. well, it means to be cut into thin strips. Thin strips of spring onion tossed on top the noodle dish added an air of professionalism (Cooking has turned quite serious in my household).
Not bad for a first day of the challenge. One advice I can give to people who care, is to make sure you stock up on the sauces. it isn't good to run out them in the middle of your cooking when you have so many anticipating mouths to feed, as I did when I ran out to Kecap manis. I managed to replace with more oyster sauce and sugar. hew...

The start of the challenge

OK, this idea is not original but I am allowed to be inspired by others who has had a humble beginning to their journey of finding their destiny.

It was during my recent holiday to Bali that I watched the movie, (well blinked through few scenes of) Julie and Julia. As I often do when I take time away from my crazily busy life, I consider ways to regain some perspective on life.

One thing I have come to see is that life is too short to be bogged down to hard work.

Hence, I have decided to mix bit of the pleasure of my love for Asian food, and my unshakable ambitious nature that needs to have goals to work towards.

So here is my journey to mastering Asian Cooking through the guidance of Neil Perry and perhaps somewhere along the journey I may also discover the secret to living a life of 'balance & harmony'.