Another change at home since Hannah ‘popped’ 8 months ago has been cooking at home for the both of us. Before Hannah, we’d typically home cook perhaps 3-4 times a week. Since June last year, Ling very rarely cooks dinner anymore since she’s already occupied with Hannah’s milk feeds and in the last 6 weeks solids too.
Ling’s normal ‘free’ window of time at any given moment these days is about 1.5 hours. Hannah’s fed every 3 hours. It takes about 30-45 minutes to feed and burp her, 15 minutes to wash and sterilize her bottles post-feed, and between 15-45 minutes to prepare for a feed, depending on whether it’s milk or solids. And that’s not counting the time for sudden feeding mishaps, baby laundry etc.
So, these days it’s the man of the house who feeds the wife, though I must clarify that my repertoire of what I’ll whip up is really based on my entire value system when it comes to meals. And that value system comprises just one rule: Any meal that takes me more than 45 minutes to whip up is not worth the effort.
When I cook, timing is everything, i.e. I project exactly what time we start eating, then work my cooking and prep time back from there. And that timing’s always spot-on. If one goes into my kitchen, you’ll see a picture of someone who’s honed a small range of recipes to optimum efficiency. Carbonara? Time from reaching to the kitchen counter and having that plate of pasta on your table is exactly 25 minutes. Stir-fry vegetables with rice? Exactly 22 minutes. Green curry? Exactly 40 minutes!
In contrast, Ling takes her time during the months when she did whip stuff up in the kitchen. She’s more an artiste than I ever am – she cooks for self-edification, I cook to feed, factory-styled. Unfortunately, that also meant that our meal times were frequently out of whack. When she says dinner would be served at 6:30 pm, we’d be lucky if we got to eat at 7:30 pm!
In any case, I haven’t been doing quick curries for nearly a year now, but just recently got back to it in view of Matt coming by to stay with us later this month. Have to practice and get my touch back. Here’s Malay-styled chicken curry courtesy of paste from NTUC. This was done in 30 minutes from the moment I stepped into the kitchen and walked out with the pot and bowls of rice. Paste called for nearly enough ingredients and meat to feed a family of 4, but I cooked just for two persons – which made the curry super potent.
Litmus test: Ling said just now she prefers what I whipped up to Lentor mum’s similar LOL.
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