Kitschen Chaos: Valentine's Day

Abdul and I never really go out for Valentine's Day. It's always too traffic and the thought of dealing with the millions of cars on the road AND overpriced set menus always turns me off. I usually cook something and we enjoy a nice dinner at home. This year we invited my dad to join us since my mom is all the way in Sydney and Abdul's parents joined us to instead of going out for their usual dinner/ concert in a hotel. His family can't eat pork so I had to make some adjustments (I super take for granted stuff like bacon bits in some of my dishes) Anyway, here's what we ate:

Roasted Pumpkin soup to start. Tip: Always use fresh herbs! Makes a difference.

Salad: Mixed greens with rocket, roasted tomatoes and fried brie with a honey vinaigrette.

Slow cooked lamb adobo with crumbled feta, basil and fried onions on couscous.

Baked Parmesan crusted salmon with roasted garlic mashed potatoes

And my favorite-Dessert: Panna cotta with mango compote. Use real vanilla bean and taste the difference!

Kitschen Chaos x 13: Burger Battle

First of all, I'd like to apologize for being such a bad blogger and not posting anything for over a week. Life has taken over my schedules and I am usually so tired when I get home that I want nothing but to read a good book or watch a crappy movie. The other night was Breaking Dawn (I know, gross and 2nd, I'm so behind lol) Before I get on with the actual entry for today, can I just say that the weird baby vampire birthing scene was one of the weirdest things I've ever seen.

ANYWAY... back to the topic at hand. Burger Battle. About 12 other friends and I decided to have a contest for the best burger. This seems fun and easy, yes, but on the day of, we realized that we EACH had to eat 13 burgers. Sure, they were all mini versions, but 13 mini burgers still equals about 3-4 real sized burgers. Bueno, but no bueno.

Sarah's chorizo, manchego, goat cheese and nutella burger

My wine and cheese burger-beef patty, chorizo, melted asiago, fried brie and honeyed arugula

The Nakayama's Big Mike--> tastes JUST like a Big Mac!

Dee Jae's Banh Mi Burger-> Pork burgers with cilantro, pickled veg and sriracha aioli

Rae's chicken fillet burger with cranberry, camambert, arugula and wasabi dressing

Hylton's beef burgers with duck confit, truffle cheese on a foie gras brioche bun

Banj's Ranch chicken cheeseburger

Sassa's Ensaymada, scrambled egg and longanissa burger

Abdul, Winner of the night's prize pot!

Sarah and I, best friends forever. In sickness and in health, til burger deaths do us part.

Abdul's winning Salpicao burger! It was Salpic-WOW!

Kitschen Chaos: Bangers n' Mash

My own version--> Honeyed Sausages, roasted garlic mash and onion dip on the side.