Ah Pui's 拿手好菜

"I want to eat some more." My eyes widened in surprise as Babi reached over and pilfered some of my share.

This is, mind you, after his second large helping and a bowl of ice-cream.

"I thought you said you're already full." I watched him stuff another forkful of pasta into his mouth.

Chomp chomp chomp chomp, his molars worked wonderfully efficiently. "I am. But it's so yummy."

I must admit I derive no small amount of satisfaction watching Babi stuff his anorexic face with the pasta I cooked.

Usually Babi is damn plastic. When asked if he liked what I cooked, he would nod his head and perfunctorily pay lip service. "Yeah, I love it." And then take all of like three bites before retiring from the dinner table. Can tell he super 勉强, super 应酬 wun lor. Actions do speak louder than words where gastronomics are involved, as far as Babi is concerned. If he really loves the food, he'd go for seconds, thirds and still pinch some off my plate. He would stuff himself so full even Eno couldn't bring him salvation.

Then he would spend the rest of the night, miserably bloated and whining about his killer bout of indigestion. Haha, I certainly feel honored that my pasta was worth braving an evening of gut congestion for.

Can't really blame him for doubting my culinary skills also lah, having previously subjected him and my in-laws to the dining trauma of The Steak Tough Enough To Concuss T-Rex. That was some excellent shit.

If you like your meat about as chewy as unprocessed buffalo hide.

All post-T-Rex-Steak announcements that I was going to cook were met with pure, wet-the-pants-horror and open skepticism, until I redeemed myself with Deep-Fried Prawn Balls.

Suddenly I wasn't such a terrible cook after all.

This was my second attempt at cooking seafood mushroom pasta. Babi specifically requested for it. Until this dish came about, my so-called 拿手好菜 was deep-fried prawn balls (made from scratch and a Chee family recipe).

I had barely shut the door getting into the car when he suggested, "Aye, pui eh, how about you cook pasta for dinner tonight?" Har? I was exhausted, having just gotten off my 7am to 4pm shift. The prospect of having to toil in the kitchen when we got home didn't exactly appeal to me at that point.

But, I rationalized, Babi must really love my pasta to actually be requesting for it. So I decided I would do the right thing and 委屈 myself yet again. Besides, I'm not known as his 伟大 wife for nothing lor. :p

So off to Cold Storage we went...


Nothing but the freshest ingredients.

The sweating, peeling, chopping, dicing, boiling and frying finally yielded...

Seafood Mushroom Pasta Mark II.


The product of 1.5 hours of blood, sweat and near-lopped off fingers in the kitchen.


My baby up close and personal. Babi has already requested for this to be our future potluck contribution. ;)