Spinach with Sesame Dressing

If you are looking for a quick side dish, look no further! This is officially the recipe with the shortest cooking time on this entire blog.

Let's play a guessing game. Look at this beautiful spinach with sesame dressing, adapted from a recipe by Donna Hay. How long do you think the spinach is cooked for?

Heartburn by Nora Ephron

Hilarious, true to life writing. That's how I would describe Nora Ephron's novel, Heartburn. Ephron also wrote plays, essays, and screenplays, most notably When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and Julie & Julia.

Heartburn is a novel that is mostly autobiographical, and it was our Kitchen Reader pick for July. The narrator is a cookbook writer named Rachel whose life falls apart when she discovers her second husband is having an affair. Ephron somehow manages to make this a very funny book, while also being true to the pain of the situation, which mirrored her own life.

How to Reduce the Sharpness of Raw Onions

I love raw onions but find they taste too strong. I feel as though their sharpness is just one notch too high for me. Thankfully there is an easy way to reduce the strong bite of raw onions slightly. And it only requires reordering your preparation steps.

Brussels Sprouts with Lemon and Almonds

I found some beautiful Brussels sprouts at a grocery store near me. What a treat in Singapore - they are definitely not local food. These few sprouts cost me S$6.24, which is approximately GBP 3.25 or US$5. I made sure to enjoy every bite! I made them into my lunch: brussels sprouts with lemon, garlic, and almonds from Donna Hay's website.

Since coming to Singapore I bought my first Donna Hay cookbook! I've long admired Hay's simple food and absolutely beautiful styling. Below is the sort of image for which she is famous - this is from a recipe on her website for bacon and roasted tomato omelette. I love this photo because it is a very straightforward picture, not fussy, but nicely composed and inviting. Hay is also famous for this pale blue colour, just click through her website to see how prevalent it is. I am sometimes a bit in awe of blue in food photos; it's not at all common and hard to get right. All my photos with blue backgrounds look a bit sickly.

Supermarket Finds (and Mysteries) in Singapore

Hello Singapore! My husband and I have just moved here and I have been settling in by finding my closest grocery store. Today I snapped some photos of things I found there. Some of them are exciting finds, others are mysteries to me. (Please chime in if you know what to do with any of them.)

How small are these limes?! (Fingers shown for context; heehee.) Wow, the large ones are not that big and the small ones are tiny! They would make cute garnishes, but could they really be used for juicing?

Simple But Impressive Stuffed Peppers

I used to believe that stuffing a pepper (or mushroom, or squash) was a waste of time. And pretentious. Why bother with something that takes extra time and looks so ridiculous? Yet recently I have changed my tune.

I have come to believe that stuffing a pepper makes an easy meal look more impressive than it is. It's so easy to do. First, turn the oven on and cut some peppers in half. Put them into the roasting dish and into the oven while it heats. Meanwhile, scramble fry some meat and vegetables. Then pour the mixture into the hot peppers; top with cheese. Return the peppers to the oven to melt the cheese and voila! Impressive dinner!