What could I possibly be making with these ingredients?

Cheese, garlic, potatoes, cream of mushroom and cornflakes all combined together for a meal? YES! And IT WAS SO YUMMY!

I practically ransacked my kitchen to see what I could cook with and ta-da! I present to you, my twist on the classic Potato au Gratin. Here's what you need,

• Thinly-sliced potatoes (I used abt 6 medium sized ones)
• A can of Campbell's soup, any creamy flavour will do
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups of cheese
• 6 cloves of garlic (I love garlic so I added more. You can reduce it as you wish)
• 1 large white onion
• A few slices of streaky bacon (I LOVE BACON! It adds just so much flavour even if it's just a little)
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 cup cornflakes
• Salt and Pepper to taste.

1. Preheat your oven to 175deg celsius. If you're using a metal dish to bake, grease it well. I used a glass dish so I didn't have to butter it!
2. Dice the onions, garlic and bacon. Fry the bacon in a small frying pan and with the oil from the bacon fat, sauté the onions and garlic till fragrant. (Onions will turn translucent and that's when you know it's done.)
3. Mix 1 can of Campbell soup and 1 cup of milk in a large mixing bowl. Add the potatoes, 1 cup of cheese, and sautéed onions, garlic and bacon in. Mix and combine well.
4. Pour the mixture into your baking dish and cover it with alumininum foil. Bake covered at 175deg celsius for about 45 minutes.
5. After 45 mins, mix the melted butter together with 1 cup of cornflakes. Add the remaining 1 cup of cheese on top, and then the melted butter/cornflake mixture.
6. Bake for another 20 minutes, this time leaving it uncovered till the cheese is bubbly and cornflakes golden brown.
7. Serve warm and enjoy! I served it with a side of freshly made corn bread :>

I've been spending a significant amount of time at home lately since it's the summer holidays and I don't have a full-time job (yay!).  With that extra bit of time on my hands, I've been whipping up some meals at home so I thought I'd share some of my easy homemade meals and bakes.



I love corn. I mean, I really do love eating corn. Just last week, I spent about $15 on a plate of creamy corn pasta from Pasta de Waruku (it was so good, by the way). So you get my point, I love corn. Frozen corn is a staple at home and it's super easy to make a quick meal out of it! All you need is butter, or even better, garlic butter. Butter is one of those ingredients, like bacon, that literally makes everything taste nicer.

Now on to my recipe. To make garlic butter, simply combine chopped garlic, chopped rosemary and pepper with softened butter. Mix it all up together and leave it in the refrigerator to set.

To cook the frozen corn, you don't even need a stove. Using the microwave to cook your corn is a completely fuss-free way. Just add a cup of frozen corn to a ceramic bowl and microwave it covered for about 2 minutes. Add your homemade garlic butter (yum) to the corn and mix well. The heat from the corn will melt the butter perfectly.

Best served with your favourite Food Network show (currently watching: Chopped!)

Happy eating,
N.

Labels: Recipes

Hi again,

This is my 9239914th attempt to keep on writing and keep this alive. Hopefully I'll stick to it, this time. I figured that since I'm keen to make a career out of words, I better start getting used to writing regularly. (Dad had a talk with me last night, and he wants me to do my Masters after I grad next year. Masters of publishing, editing and writing sounds particularly interesting hmmm...)

So what's been up so far,

1. Frantically planning and putting together/resolving some last minute issue for the upcoming Hall 3 FOC. Can you believe that it's gonna be a week till camp? Feeling all jittery and excited at the same time.

2. My cousin, Vanessa, got into Hall 3 (yay!)

3. Just got back from Yogyakarta with Jing Ying, Jon Yang and Chee Meng, which makes that my 3rd trip this summer holidays. Will try to squeeze in a Yogya travel guide soon! For now, this gorgeous picture (no filter) of the stupas of the Borobudur temple will have to make do.



4. With SO many of my friends asking me about Bangkok tips (I'm not kidding, I'm truly the Queen of Bangkok HA), I'll probably do up a Bangkok entry too.

5. Dad's been clearing up some of Mum's old stuff and passed me quite a number of her old treasuries. Had no idea she kept so many precious items... Will definitely be keeping them for generations to come :) And, I'm still a little sad from losing one of her Ruby earrings last Sunday. Not sure if I should continue wearing them in her memory, or leave them in my jewellery box for safekeeping.

Five seems like a nice number so I'll stop here for now.

Till the next time,

N.

I just want to be simply, but genuinely happy. I mean, isn't that truly the (my) lifelong dream? 

6am is the worst time to fall asleep.

Somewhere out there, morning starts coming alive while sleepy souls bask in slumber.

6am is the worst time to fall asleep.

Somewhere out there, lovers are holding each other. Content in knowing they'll wake up, cuddled in arms.

6am is the worst time to fall asleep.

Somewhere out there, someone else is holding you dear. While I'm lying here, all alone, save my thoughts of you.

6am is the worst time to fall asleep.

(Lie down with me, I'll be your safety)