Zen Dinner for Two (Thank you Nigella again)

I'll confess, I love the thought of ceremonial eating. Light candles, lay out the linens, matching ceramicware. But when it comes down to it, the thought of washing a few extra dishes wins out. So more often than not the food is served in the pots they were cooked in. Which of course is not really a bad thing, especially if you have invested in a few Le Creuset pieces. I decided to put our tea light holders to good use yesterday. Lightly bergamot-scented tealights. This unique holder is also from Taiwan, a replica of a silver urn. The placemat printings are copies of that was actually inscribed on the real thing. Something a little special.

Dinner was soba noodles courtesy of Nigella again (how will I ever thank her). Only I had to substitute whole wheat spagetthi as I could not find any in Miri. Accompaniments: grilled pork tenderloin coins, marinated in my old standby Maggie seasoning, sugar and pepper, and stir fried shitakes. The noodles I served warm instead of cold, as I have an aversion to cold savoury foods (with the possible exception of smoked salmon). But otherwise I followed Nigella's recipe to the T, and loved the crunch and savouriness of the lightly scorched sesame seeds with the spring onions and lightly sweet noodles. I'd make this again in a heartbeat.

Hearth-y Dinner for Two

Lotus root soup, the way mum makes it. Sliced lotus root, pork ribs, peanuts, dried oysters, dried squid for salt and flavour, rock sugar.

Beautiful baby bok choy, impulse purchase at the local expat market, briefly blanched then doused in a simple sauce of ginger, garlic, soy and sesame oil. Inspired by Nigella's Gingery Broccoli recipe on Forever Summer.

Served on these gorgeous black and white National Museum of Taiwan silicone placemats. Aren't they pretty? Gift from AK from Taiwan (duh).

A quiet dinner with good conversation, slurping of soup, Boo Boo at our feet. Simple moments to savour at home.

Nigella's Quesadillas

Nothing like another prospect of where to eat??? in Miri to drive one to attempt one's own.

And Nigella provides her salve again.

Simple quesadillas. Wholemeal tortillas (managed to find 'em at the local Giant hypermart here), beef pastrami from Brunei, spring onions I had to hunt for (nearby market and 2 supermarkets didn't stock them - thank goodness for the local expat market wahaha), minced chilli. Just assemble, fold the tortilla and brush the with oil. Griddle until warmed through, cheese molten. Serve ASAP.

Inspiration Needed (and found), Citrus Olive Oil Cake

Life right now might be a little far from perfect.

Securing our futures is at the top on our minds, now more than ever.

We pore over spreadsheets and numbers, reports and maps.

But sometimes, one has to break out of it and do the things you love.

Like baking a joyously fragrant, citrus-kissed cake, a spur of the moment decision looking for inspirations from this blog. It's funny how one thing inspires another, inspires another.

I love this for a couple of reasons. First of all, no need to wait for the butter to soften, just pour olive oil from the bottle, and off you go. Secondly, how the baking process filled the house with a fruity, citrusy scent. Thirdly, I sprinkled the top of the cake with demarara sugar for a crunchy little topping. Good move, that one. Fourth, when your other half demolishes one-third of the cake in one night, you know you're on to something. Priceless.

So here's my adaptation of this inspiring recipe.

ORANGE AND OLIVE OIL CAKE Inspired by this post

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour
1tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
zest from 2 oranges
3 large eggs
Juice from 2 oranges
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons demerara sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (180 degrees C).
Grease and flour one 12 x 4 inch loaf pan.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.
In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and clementine zest and rub together to extract the fragrant oil from the zest.
Add olive oil and mix on high speed until completely combined (preferably with the whisk attachment).
Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix on slow speed.
Add half of the juice and continue mixing.
Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by the rest of the citrus juice and the remaining flour mixture and beat until combined between each addition.
Pour batter into the prepared pan.
Sprinkle demerara sugar on top.
Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven, wait 10 minutes for it to cool down and then remove from the pan.

I Heart Anthropologie

A browse through the Anthropologie website always ellicits sighs from me. Gorgeous furniture and textile compositions, outfit ideas that delicately balance the elegant with rusticity and bohemia.

This season I am in love with the artistry of their jewellery line.

After THAT weekend

The good news:

1) Someone took a good look at our financial situation and the end result was validation, not to mention relief

2) We met quite a few mature, successful and interesting folks our age whom we'd love to continue to get to know. People outside of our working lives, who have similar goals and sensibilities. People whom we can learn from and share experiences with. I met someone my age who took a two-year career break to pursue her passion. When will I have the guts to do the same?

3) Our direction is clear - relocate, liquidate some of our paper assets and dive into a brand new, exciting venture. Our age and and where we are financially means that we possess just the right risk appetites and financial muscle (if we do say so ourselves) to be able to do this. Guess we should start counting our blessings more often.

The bad news? None, really.

For myself and myself alone, all of this has invigorated me somewhat. Make no mistake, I am still down on the fact that we are where we are (actual location). And the pull is now stronger than ever. But at least it gives me something to look forward to - and importantly, to plan for and move towards, that independence and giving up a cushy job to pursue something I truly want to do is not an impossibility.

We just have to lay the foundation, and I guess you could say we have been laying it for some time now - working offshore and not spending as much money as some of our peers, staying in this rural township, renting instead of buying, and getting into investment before we reach our 30's. Here's hoping for that big leap (or two), for better things to come.