Quality Cooking Time

My husband and I like to create quality time at home by cooking new recipes and trying to recreate our favourite take-out/restaurant meals. This is becoming an even more prominent activity with the limits of COVID on our going out. We’ve found it a great way of trying something new, spending time together and working as a team. I appreciate the approach of just trying new recipes rather than learning a particular type of cooking over the long term. If we decide we want to re-visit a recipe again, we can, but we are not committed to the consistent practice of any specific skills. This activity makes for excellent, at-home date nights.

This weekend, we tried our hand at some Vietnamese food! We made Lemongrass Beef Vermicelli Bowls. It was our first time using fresh lemongrass for cooking, and the flavour on the charred meat was excellent. I got super particular about thinly cutting the carrot and cucumber; one of the things we both love about cooking new meals is creating a beautiful presentation for ourselves (and photos.) Not pictured are the spring rolls we also made, a recipe we have tried before and continue to try and improve on. Instead of deep-frying, we use the air fryer, making for a challenge to have the same golden, crunchy wrapper we want to achieve.

We both loved the meal, and it’s extra satisfying to know that we experimented with a new recipe and got to spend time together creating it.

October 18, 2020