It finally happened. Me and my brilliant idea of a cooking competition for my Mother’s birthday. I really needed to see how far today’s youngsters were willing to go to make an elderly (not that you’re old, mom…) happy and I was curious how they’d fare in the kitchen. The results as follows:-
Chocolate Surprise by Me, me, me!!! It was a BIG hit, dish was cleaned out. But because it was dessert, it couldn’t really compete with the rest but my Mother knows what a great cook I am anyway. Ahem…
This is the best chocolate cake ever, topped with chocolate mousse/or pudding, then thick cream, then whipped cream, then diced Toblerone chocolate with strawberries and chocolate sprinkles. Refridgerated. Heaven….I could tell everyone was having chocolate orgasms all over my tiny apartment. Heaven and orgasms? Mmmm…..
This is Chilli Chicken, an old time favourite family dish cooked by my Grandmother. Chilli Chicken is a Portuguese dish cooked purely with dried chillies and vinegar. It is an acquired taste and sends the backside burning (those kinky Portuguese!). I had cravings for this when I was pregnant (ate it every week, straight from the fridge, straight from the wok, whatever, as long as I had it) hence perhaps why my daughter is so fiesty and fiery *sigh*. My grandmother usually makes the best chilli chicken in the entire family but this time round it wasn’t so good. Maybe because she is now 85 years old or maybe because she had to cook this in the dark. Yup, there was a power outage when she was cooking this yet she chose to continue. Bless her heart.
This was overcooked by my beloved brother. He is 31 years old, does NOT cook but found this Thai scallop vegetable dish from the internet. It was NASTY!!! Not only was it not finished, we threw it out. We kept asking him why it was so sour and he kept defending himself saying it was THAI. Well, it tasted more like errr…..7 day old fishball and beans gone off. EWE…so he has resigned to bringing the KFC bucket for our next pot luck.
This beef strips and vegetable dish was also overcooked by my brother’s girlfriend. She apologised for the overkill on corn starch but the brocolli and carrots were a little soggy soaked too. Tasted alright, just didn’t feel perfect. 6 out of 10.
This was a very interesting Chinese wine vegetable dish cooked by a close family friend who also does not cook. It tasted great but was a little overcooked because we nuked it just before serving, perhaps a little too much. It comprised red peppers, shitake mushrooms, ginko, Chinese red seeds, peas, snow peas, ginger and crisp radish.
Cashewnut prawns cooked by another family friend of 31 years old who ALSO does not cook (now you know why I had the competition – they ALL don’t cook! HAHAHA). It was a winner (with my help….). The participant got the cashew nut chicken recipe off the internet and substituted it with prawns. When she looked into the recipe which said 1 onion, then saw in my kitchen that I had so many different kinds of onions, went into a little panic *roll eyeballs*. Then she asked me if she needed to marinade the prawns first. Huh? Lucky for her, I helped her but unlucky for her there were protests that she didn’t clean and peel the prawns herself. So she got disqualified.
Thai mango salad cooked by my Mother’s maid. A little heavy on the fish sauce otherwise OK.
There was one more dish not featured here, a great Indian curry chicken (the winner by default) because it arrived late and I was too busy digging into the food by then. It was very spicy, just the way I like it and had like 15 different spices and a LOT of onions. Yum……
All in all, it was a fun evening with some conclusions made that today’s youth (those that surround me anyway) spend way too much time hanging out at cafes and restaurants. I’m sure they all learnt something about themselves after this.
I leave you with my daughter singing Happy Birthday to my Mother just before we ended the evening with Pictionary and Charades. Thank God there were no complaints from the neighbours!
PLUS Mom said it was the best birthday party she’s ever had despite the huge surprise birthday bash we organised for her at a hotel penthouse for her 50th birthday with a hundred people dressed in themed outfits, emcee, music machine, tons of coordination etc. It was like a mini wedding! Yet, it was this simple labour of love from loved ones who went out of their way to do something they never do, that clinched her heart. It was funny. Watching people who don’t usually cook, cook for the first time, is damn funny.
**************************************************************************Who is Mamapumpkin?
Mamapumpkin spent 7 years in London committing crimes to gain her Bartlett degree in Architecture. She then spent 7 years as a Stay At Home Mom raising her children as documented in this blog of over 15 years thereafter returning to the Corporate World stronger than ever as the Country Director of a British Multinational. She sets out to prove to all, that you can have anything and everything that you want; if you have that fire of desire burning within and the drive to work hard. Even better with much love.
Mamapumpkin has not only grown corporate businesses successfully in the past but has grown not one but TWO network marketing businesses in the notorious MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) industry, achieving success in under 2 years. She believes in the MLM business model but realises the DRASTIC PITFALLS and great stigma attached to it, understanding EXACTLY WHY the majority would shy away (or RUN for their lives) from ANY MLM business. But open your eyes and take time to understand it intellectually, remove your hang-ups, confirm your research, and you may just want to seize an opportunity. She did. And no, she never went about chasing people for sales. She had a sophisticated system work for her through technology and a smartphone.
She now impacts lives authentically with proven strategies amassed through the last decade of her own transformation offering online coaching programmes and always supports the underprivileged. She believes that we can all have a life of our own desires to enable real contribution into the world. But first, one needs to understand what this all means.
A beautiful life without limits.
If you wish to learn some tools to propel your life forward guaranteed, be brave enough to make contact as her life's purpose is to build people. She operates through a discovery call after which she will commit to helping you. Or not.
Most lose out on an opportunity because they are afraid they would be sold to, conned or whatever fear resides in their brain without even trying. And that's on them.
Mamapumpkin is a living testimony that women really can have a lot. Being financially and time free has enabled her to travel the world anytime, anywhere, doing anything, and she spends most of her days with her children, having fun, and supporting others wherever she can. Also having fun.
