Off to a good start!

My jobless sojourn got off to a good, fulfilling start after all. My big plan was to whip up pasta for lunch, and what do you know, it actually turned out quite good!

I got up fairly early this morning and after logging on to the Internet for an hour, I headed for the newly established Cold Storage that is about a 15-minute walk from my home. After rummaging through the racks and aisles, I headed off home with some shiitake mushrooms, a huge jar of Prego’s Parmesan Mushroom tomato sauce, a pack of San Remo Linguine, a small bag of Bockwurst (pork), and a small jar of basil leaves.

Once I got home, I rootled in the freezer for prawns. After soaking them in water to defreeze, I de-shelled them, then I washed the mushrooms and sliced them. Ditto with the Bockwurst. I then junked all my ingredients into a small bowl. Yes, I know it’s a weird combi – prawns and sausages – but I like it, can?

I put on a pot of water to boil, added some salt and then dumped in a handful of linguine. At this point, I was going to put some olive oil into the wok, saute the garlic slices and then throw in the tomato sauce. Alas, a minor disaster happened. As I had just finished with the garlic, I tried to open the jar of tomato sauce but the lid would not budge. Ever.

I held it over a flame, twisted it with a damp dish cloth, held it over a flame again for a longer time, and twisted it again,, but all measures to open the damned jar were to no avail. I started to panic as my linguine would be cooked soon and if my sauce was not ready, the linguine would turn soggy. So I turned off the fire, drained the linguine and set it aside in a bowl first. Then, I proceeded to wander around my neighbourhood in the hopes of bumping into a kind neighbour who would also be strong enough to open the jar. As luck would have it, the first person I bumped into was a construction worker, at the void deck, so I went up to him and asked for help. With just one twist, the darned lid came off and I was wholly mortified, yet relieved.

When I got home again, I dumped in a fifth of the jar’s contents into the wok with the olive oil and sauteed garlic slices, stirred, and then put the prawns in to cook for about three minutes, occasionally adding some water. Then, I emptied the bowl of sausages and mushrooms into the wok as well. After stir-frying for about two minutes, I shook the Chinese cooking wine Hua Tiao Chiew liberally over the wok, stir-fried some more, turned down the fire and left the contents to simmer for a few more minutes.

Then, I emptied the bowl of linguine into the wok and and gave it a few stirs, shaking in some more Hua Tiao Chiew. Then, voila! My linguine was done! As a nice finishing touch, I then sprinkled my newly acquired basil leaves into my bowl of pasta.

The verdict? Well, my major quibble was with the sauce. I think it could have done with more Hua Tiao Chiew, and the tomato taste was too strong and just a bit tart. I wonder if adding in some cheese or some black olives to the cooking process would have vastly improved its taste. Nevertheless, it was quite palatable all the same, not bad for my first ever attempt at cooking. Yippee! I can cook! I just can’t decide if I should improve on this dish for my next cooking attempt, or try something new altogether, like fried rice. Hmmm…

It looks quite pretty!