Bulgogi Rice Burger (불고기 라이스 버거)

I swear this is the best dish I've ever come up with (erm, okay, strike that, just last week I made another finger-lickin' good dish, but hey that's another story). Yeah, so, I stand by my first statement.

불고기 라이스 버거 (Bulgogi Rice Burger)

Beef Kimbap (쇠고기 김밥)

Hello Korea. It's been almost a year. Wait for me, we're to be reunited soon. In the meantime, here's some kimbap I made a while ago.

Beef Kimbap (쇠고기 김밥)

Gyudon (牛丼) and Onsen tamago (温泉卵)

It's no secret that my fave choice of meat is beef. Whenever I'm out, if there's beef on the menu, there's an 80% chance that I'll get the beef choice. The other 15% is because someone else is getting it, and we'll be sharing. Or a 5% chance when I actually crave for something else.

Gyudon  (牛丼) and Onsen tamago (温泉卵)

Katsudon (カツ丼)

I was going to blog more this month. Alas, I was busy with work, and also, I've actually been sick for the past week or so. First, with a bout of acid reflux where I was coughing non-stop for days. Then after an ah-may-zing night catching Jason Mraz live in concert at the newly opened Gardens at the Bay yesterday night, I caught a flu bug. I know. Lucky me.

Let me take a mo' here to stop and gush about how awesome the concert (Tour is a Four Letter Word) was. I almost couldn't even go cos I couldn't find a friend who was keen on him or who haven't already bought tickets. Then I managed to persuade a girlfriend to go with me, but the tickets were sold out. :( Fortunately, said girlfriend managed to caught wind that extra tickets will be released, so we did managed to buy tickets in the end. Phew to that. Cos I loved every single minute of the 2 and a half hours standing concert (legs were aching like crazy).

He started the concert with my favourite song from his latest album "Love is a Four Letter Word" - "The World As I See It", followed up closely with a few more songs from his new album. I admit it's a little hard to get high on his songs cos they are more mellow than hard rock thumping rhythms. Nevertheless, the crowds favourites would definitely be "You and I Both", "I'm Yours" and "Lucky" (where Corrine May was a guest to sing a duet with him) where everyone sang along word for word verbatim (and where the most people whipped out their phones to record him - I recorded when he sang "You and I Both"). I liked that his band was really good too, and he gave them time to shine individually with their solos. I can't stop stressing how great the performance was. *end fan girl rant*

You're here for the food aren't you? Sorry I took a while to get to it.

Katsudon (カツ丼)

Arancini (Fried Italian risotto balls)

Remember previously when I had cooked mushroom risotto, I said that I had specially saved some leftovers? Yeps, these were the results.

Arancini are fried rice (risotto) balls coated in breadcrumbs. It is said to be of Sicilian origins and can be filled with a variety of fillings, the ones that I've made here are stuffed with loads of mushrooms, bacon and wrapped with brie cheese cubes.

 Arancini (Fried Italian risotto balls)

Mushroom risotto with toasted panko

I was thinking of cutting back on baking, not because my love for sweets has diminished, but I think my waistline will thank me for this (in the long run!).

The kitchen's still my favourite place to be, so what can I do about it? I guess I should turn to cooking instead than. As my Sis aptly pointed out, "You still gotta eat your three meals, don't you?"

 Mushroom risotto topped with toasted panko

Loco moco

Loco moco. What's that? I've never heard of this dish before until I was researching on how to cook minced beef. Loco moco is a dish native to Hawaiian cuisine. The essential loco moco consists of white rice, topped with a hamburger patty, a fried egg, and brown gravy. Just imagine. Gravy, a beef patty, and a sunny side fried egg? You've so got me hooked, lined and sinkered.

 Loco moco

Inarizushi (稲荷寿司)

I was thinking of what to make for lunch, and remembered I had some inari (fried tofu pouches) in the freezer. I love Japanese food, and the preparations for inarizushi is really a very simple process.

I simply defrosted the inari pouches in the refrigerator the night before I made my lunch, and the next day, I cooked up some rice to fill the inari pouches. While inarisuzhi can be filled with just rice alone, I like to top mine with meat soboro and iri tamago, which are pretty simple to prepare too.

A simple lunch at home...

Bibimbap (비빔밥)

It could be the Korean lessons I'm taking. Or it could be the cold weather. But I seem to crave Korean food very frequently these few days. The ultimate craving being for good ol' simple 비빔밥 - Korean bibimbap. 비빔밥 literally translates into "mixed rice" - a bowl of rice topped with a variety of vegetables (meat optional) and red pepper paste sauce. Add a fried egg and sprinkling of sesame seeds and you're good to go. The ingredients are all mixed together right before consumption.

There are several names for the humble Korean dish, the ones I'm more familiar with are 양념비빔밥 (Yangpun bibimbap) - the ones most commonly shown in Korean dramas where the Koreans dump a whole load of leftover stuff into a kick ass metal bowl and start mixing everything before digging in with a spoon; 돌솥비빔밥 (Dolsot bibimbap) - served in a hot stone pot, where the bottom layer of the rice becomes delicious crispy rice bits and just plain ol' 비빔밥.

비빔밥 lunch bentos