Happy New Year!

Woohoo, 2007 is finally here! 2006 has actually been a rather interesting year for me. There were a lot of ups and downs during the year, but one of my favorites has got to be this blog! :D To those who still don't know the history, I actually started this as a joke. (See 100th Post) But somehow, its turned into a hobby, obsession sometimes, hehe. It is now something that I love doing everyday, something to look forward to and something that makes me enjoy cooking even more!

From my Friendster blog, I've "moved" to Blogger. (Those of you who are still reading this on Friendster, what are you doing??? Check the new one out now! ;) ) This was definitely a very great thing to do, and I have Pablo to thank for it! Blogger has so much more features, and among my favorites are the chatbox and stats counter, which practically allows me to stalk my visitors, hee~! It also allowed me to present my blog to a much wider audience (as compared to my friends on Friendster only), and am now proud to say that I know quite a few more Bruneian bloggers, a lot of them being food bloggers like myself! :D A big HI to Aunidayini, CookieMonster and the peeps over at What's In Your Tummy?

And it seems like food blogging is enjoyed by a lot of people! I've had the opportunity to make the aquantaince of a few people "offline" because they were interested in reading a food blog, hehe. And my stat counter currently has recorded over a thousand visitors - in less than a month! I know some other blogs probably have more visitors than that per day or something, but for me, that is just so awesome! I find it amazing that people are willing to read what three broke students are eating for their dinner! I don't have a lot of fancy foods here (though I do hope the pictures are mostly pretty :D) and only have simple comfort food to offer, but this is good enough for some people that there are more than a few repeat visitors. I can't thank you all enough, seeing that makes me really really happy! Hehe, yes, easily pleased, I know. ;) But thank you for reading, and I hope all of you will come back often. I eat everyday, so this blog will most likely be updated everyday! ;)

Of course, a lot of you came here today to read more recipes and perhaps drool over a new picture didn't you? I'm sorry to say this, but we had Buttermilk Chicken yet again, so no new recipe. But no worries, I won't disappoint you! For today, I will be highlighting the best foods (that I cooked) in 2006, in order to help you decide which recipe to try, if you haven't already. ;) So...here we go!

Best Dinner: Buttermilk Chicken

This was a tough decision, but the award would have to go to Buttermilk Chicken v1. It was a toss-up between v1 and v2, of course, but v1 was much creamier and thickened more easily. Hadi and Justin have dubbed this dish a "legend", hehe, and insisted I cook this tonight so that Justin's friend could have a taste. He loved it as well! This dish is very smooth and creamy, with a nice zing from the chillies used. I don't have a big sweet tooth, but am very much willing to get second helpings for this, hehe. I've presented this dish to a great range of palates, and everyone loved it. So...what are you waiting for? Go cook it now! :D
Runner-ups include Tori Teriyaki, Claypot Chicken Rice, Honey Chicken

Best Dessert: Chocolate Cheesecake

Now this was very very difficult. I've eaten so many yummilicious sweet things over the past few weeks, its so hard to decide. In the end though, I've decided to give this to the Chocolate Cheesecake. Its classy, very rich and SOOOOO easy to make! People were raving about it, so I'm sure you won't be disappointed.
Other contenders were Chocolate Mousse (required more effort) and of course, Maltesers Cake (required some fine-tuning, hehe).

Best "Comfort Food": Nasi Goreng Cheese

No contest. I love Nasi Goreng Cheese. I've forgotten just how much I liked it, and only rediscovered it this past month or so. It is so warm and filling, perfect for the winter months, and brings back memories of my first year, hehe. It was the highlight of my first year here, my first proper proper dish, hehe. Of course, comfort food is different for different people, but I'm sure those of you who like cheese will love this. :D And its so easy to make, something most people will appreciate, I'm sure. :)

Best Cookbook: Comfort Food by Parragon Books
I am someone with simple tastes in food. I don't like too many fancy ingredients in what I cook most of the time, so this book was absolutely perfect. It has over 50 recipes, elegantly presented with gorgeous mouth-watering pictures. The recipes were my kind of thing and exactly what it says: Comfort Food. Simple recipes, that will make you oh-so-happy~! I usually find it acceptable if a cookbook has about 2 or so recipes I can try, but I've used a lot more recipes than that from this book (in the short month that I've had it) with very happy results! And some more recipes are coming as well, so look out for them!

And that's it for today! Unfortunately, I'll be going London tomorrow, so there *might* not be updates for the nest few days, but rest assured, you'll get your daily food fix very soon. Until then, have a very happy new year!

Quote of the day: In cooking, as in all arts, simplicity is the sign of perfection.