Jemej Cooks

We had my old friend SY and my sista over for dinner last evening. It's been a while since I've caught up with SY, so when she said "Can I bring a friend over?", I got suspicious and asked, "Boy ah?". Till they appeared at our door-step, she remained tight-lipped on who this friend was.

In anticipation of good company, including my sista coming all the way from the west to Pasir Ris (she calls it "World's End"), I decided to try out another of Jamie Oliver's recipes from "Jamie's Dinners - the essential family cookbook". It was another baked dish, a proven popular method of cooking adored by many, including Beanbean. I set about preparing at about 5-ish, so engrossed in the recipe that I didn't notice The Boy slipped up and took a shot of what he calls "Jaime Reading Jamie".


Soon, SY turned up with "friend" in tow. He was introduced simply as "Jeff". While he sat alone in the living room entertaining himself, SY accompanied me in the kitchen. The chicken was baking nicely in the oven by then, which I must admit I loved the smell that was coming out of it. As I was about to start cooking the aglio olio, we started talking about Jeff.

Me:: What does Jeff do?
SY:: He's a chef.
Me:: Wah, serious?! Then he should come in and help me cook this aglio olio.
SY:: But he doesn't really cook.
Me:: He's EXECUTIVE chef??
SY:: Ya.
Me:: Where? (I was getting really nervous already.)
SY:: Uh, ritz.
Me:: F*** nooooooo!!!!

I went hysterical. It's one thing to work with chefs, and sometimes get recipes from them. It's another to cook them a dinner by an amateur me lor!!!!!!! I got really nervous and self-conscious. I panicked. I got worried about how good is my chicken in the oven. All these while, SY was being very sweet. She said that's why she didn't want to say anything more about who this "friend" was, and that she would love anything I'm cooking for dinner tonight.

I popped my head out of the kitchen and grinned at Jeff, "Would you like to cook us some spaghetti?" He gamely took up the "challenge". I guess he was just "gravitating" towards his natural instincts. In my anxiety, I had forgotten about the garlic for the aglio olio. When he asked for it, I jumped into my role as "the assistant". But I cowered over the garlic and the chopping board, warning him not to see the way I chop my garlic. Can't let him see that I don't chop garlic like how Yan Can Cook does it on TV!

And of course, I had to take a shot of him in action, IN THE JEMEJ KITCHEN. My pans felt "christianed", as he tossed the spaghetti around over the stove - their bottoms getting scratched from the "professional act". The aglio olio was done in a few minutes, of which I learned a couple of tricks in the process. And I confirmed that chefs are definitely a lot more messier, handling the equipment around the kitchen.


We settled down to good food, wine and company soon after, but not without taking a few shots first.


And till I got the nod of approval from Jeff, exclamations of "It's really yummy" from SY and my sista, and my dear hubby polishing off the last bits of the chicken, I remained shy about my baked chicken.... I'll defnitely cook this one again though - it's a really nice (though strange sounding at first) combination of chicken stuffed with bananas (which lent a nice aroma), sweet corn and smoky bacon.