Raya Ala Italiano 2011

Many people thought that I can only eat, but in fact I can also cook. However, ever since I came back to Penang ... I could count the number of times I hold the wok and skillet. Well, living with aunties who are great cooks made me looked pale in comparison hehehe. Nonetheless I missed the times when after watching my favourite cooking shows on the Asian Food Channel, I couldn't wait to try out the recipes in my kitchen. I miss my mum's kitchen the most ... the anticipated look of my family members when I was on my cooking misadventures.

Thank God that you can find some of the freshest ingredients in Ayer Itam market.

To a cook, be it a professional chef or domestic goddess ... the kitchen is like a sacred place. I also don't like people messing around with my pans and pots or misplacing the utensils. So I understand when Auntie Rose reluctant to let me do all the cooking. But there are times when I sensed that she seemed to be cooking the same menu over and over again.

OK I cheated a bit, I didn't do the sauce from scratch hehehe

So for the Raya holidays, I decided to give her a break by cooking something Italian. To be honest I was craving pasta after watching 49 Days (a Korean drama). But I was also not sure that my aunties would swallow something non-Nyonya. To my surprise, my aunties love it ... in fact they are quite adventurous about food except that now age is catching up and so they had to take things in moderation.

I chosed Vermicelli for this project.

Since I was not sure about my aunties preference, I made two types of pasta toppings. Ala carbonara and ala Bolognaise. Just to add some K-Drama feel to it, I bought some salad to be eaten with roasted pork hehehe.

My pasta ala carbonara ... I love eating it with chopstick hehehe

Upclose shoot ... couldn't find mussels so make do with whatever I could get.

I got the inspiration of eating pasta with chopstick after watching 49 Days

My pasta in ala Bolognaise sauce.  Bolognaise is not my favourite sauce but since my cousin bought a bottle and never used so I decided to cook it so that it won't go to waste.

Well projects like this excites me and most important of all, you can share it with your loved ones. I hate eating alone and I wouldn't want to miss the chance to bond over a hearty meal of pasta. Last but not least ...

"Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Maaf Zahir dan Batin"