Cooking Up A Storm

I think I am on a roll today.

i rose bright and early this morning, thinking i should make the best out of my final week before work at the university begins next monday.

since i probably wont have much time for idle pursuits like pottering around the kitchen in future, i decided to put an end to my years of procrastination and get round to making my own gyoza.

gyoza are the japanese adaptation of chinese pot-stickers, little pan-fried dumplings filled with minced pork, chives and chopped cabbage. personally i am a huge fan of the japanese version because the dumpling skins are much thinner, which means crispy goodness and juicier morsels.

the cooking book said i could make 20 dumplings, and that was exactly what i ended up with (you really have to hand it to japanese recipes for their sheer precision).


fried eight of them to go with a bowl of chinese vermicelli soup for lunch:



i then proceeded to bake a lemon gateau cake with lemon sugar frosting for tea.

the recipe was dead-easy but the frosting was a little tricky because i didnt have any icing sugar at home. googled for substitutes and realised that i could actually blend regular granulated sugar with corn starch to create my own icing sugar.

the frosting turned out to be a little rough for my liking, making the cake five points short of perfection, but still it was moist with just the right amount of tangy sweetness. perfect with a hot mug of tea on a rainy afternoon!