A Storm In The Kitchen

Since last Saturday I have been cooking up a storm in the wee hours of the morning. 

Mum was discharged last Friday and dad a day after. The reason I have taken the food prep into my own hands is to make sure that my parents eat well.

In the past (due to the peak period in my profession, there is no way I could invest time in cooking) I had been relying on Grabfood for my parents' lunches.

Even then, they did not want lunch everyday, preferring instead to subsist on bread and eggs on days when they declined my offer. They feel that Grabfood is expensive and did not want to burden me financially (in spite of my constant assurance to the contrary).

So my kitchen is now back in business! I have been relying on boneless chicken chops and pork loin as the main source of protein. The chicken chos are marinated overnight and then roasted in the oven the next day.

This is served with rice and for vegetables I opt for simplicity - cucumbers, tomatoes, roasted vegetables and sometimes stir fried vegetables like French beans.

One morning I made mee goreng for variety. Luckily I didn't throw away my big ass wok.

I thought my kenduri days were over but here they are, my two trusty woks, all shiny after being cleaned and seasoned.

I made plain omelette and cut into strips to garnish the mee goreng.  Needless to say mum ate the mee goreng with gusto.

Guess how my mum eats mee goreng?

With salad dressing. We usually eat with a chilli/garlic/soy sauce vinegar dip.

Before I fire up the kitchen, I must have my iced coffee first.

Marinated chicken chops for roasting (one portion each for mum, dad, brother and lahling). So you see, my lahling is now getting homecooked food again.

I also fry eggs for added protein.

I also cook rice.

These are marinated pork chops.

I pan fry them on the stove.

And using leftover oil in the pan, I saute some onions.

Due to the mad rush in the kitchen, I kept forgetting to snap pics of the finished packed food. Maybe another time I will do it.

Leftovers from the food prep become my dinner.

This morning I was over ambitious and made a big breakfast for them (except my partner, he had rice). I roasted some cherry tomatoes and capsicum in the air fryer.

Roasted pumpkin.

These are air fried chicken chops for my partner and me (I eat mine tonight).

So this was how my dining table looked like this morning. There was also bacon, eggs, sausages and French toast (made using leftover bread from my brother's house).

Again I forgot to snap photo and took this one as mum was eating. My big breakfast was really, really big, so they had to keep some for later.

Next week there will be days when I Grabfood for my parents. This will give them variety and also a break for me. Come to think of it, cost wise, there is not much difference between Grabfood and MyFood (hah...hah...) if you factor in my time cost and the cost of ingredients that I buy. In fact Grabfood is cheaper at times (depending on what I order). 

Sure, I admit that it can be tiring cooking for 4 people every morning but the joy and satisfaction that I get from seeing my parents and brother (lahling, I hope you appreciate the food...) enjoying what I prepared more than makes up for the time and effort that I put in.

My mum and dad are eating well at home and I was very worried when mum was refusing meals at the hospital.

These were some of her hospital meals :

Fried meehoon which was quite nice in spite of its plain looks.

I think this was chicken chop and it looks pretty good. But mum did not eat at all.

This meal she enjoyed (nearing her discharge date). It was fish in lemon sauce (I cut it for her for easy eating) with mashed potatoes, tomatoes and blanched spinach (don't know what is the yellow veggie).

That's it for now. I gotta go grocery shopping. What's tomorrow's menu? Spaghetti Aglio Olio with Bacon and Mushrooms. Want? hee..heh...