Thursday 18th Sep '08

Today I was excited to use the clam meat I bought yesterday. I decided on a pasta dish.

Spaghetti and Clams with Garlic & Chilli

1. Sautee some sliced onion, chilli flakes (optional), and a generous amount of chopped garlic in some olive oil.
   
2. Add some mushrooms that are sliced thin, a good spoonful of butter and toss around until the butter melts.
   
3. Add some white wine to deglaze the pan.
   
4. Throw in some spaghetti (cooked al dente with a pinch of salt) and the clam meat that has been thawed.
   
5. Toss spaghetti through the sauce until it's covered. Add some olive oil if it's too dry.
   
6. Serve with fresh cut chilli.

You can add some herbs if you like, but I decided to keep it simple today. Just garlic and chilli.

In the evening I caught up with Marie over dinner at Spencer Village. I wanted to have biryani rice with some curry but they only had plain steamed rice. Bugga.

I decided on the combination which gives you rice with optional choices of the curries.

Tofu & Beans
Cabbage
Beef Rendang

We each had a fresh coconut juice, although I think when they say 'fresh' they actually mean 'fresh out of its packaging'. The food wasn't that great and it looked really sloppy the way the lady served it to me on my plate. Ah well...I suppose it's the case of you get what you pay for. Half way through my food, I was mid sentence and spotted a hair amongst my cabbage. *shudder*

I paid $8 for the dish...took it back to the stall to show the lady at the counter...in trying to get rid of me quickly so that her other customers didn't see, she quickly refunded my money and told me to leave the plate on the table behind me...walking back to Marie, I checked how much I'd quickly stashed away in my pocket and found that she gave me $9 refund - so I actually made a profit!

Back at home, I set about creating my supper (or my real dinner since I woke up so late). I'm having a seafood platter!

Whole Crayfish with Garlic & Thyme Butter
Scallops Panfried with Cajun and Garlic
Clams and Broccolini Leaves with Chilli, Garlic & Butter

Oh yes - I was spoiling myself tonight! I love my scallops with the roe...the orange coloured ones taste better to me. They taste sweeter than the white roe. Ooh - I just googled scallops and found out an interesting fact - scallops are hermaphroditic - the ones with the orange/red roe are females, the ones with the white roe are males. Females rock!

The broccolini leaves are from my garden - they're delicious tender and sweet, with just the right amount of crunch to them.