Fast Food
In the world we live in, one of the most precious commodities, besides oil of course, is perhaps time itself. Despite the advent of new technology such as laptops and PDAs that promises to increase efficiency and cut down on the amount of time spent working, we seem to be even busier than before. Time seems to obey the same principles that govern the Rules of Roads: the more roads you build, the more traffic jams you get caught in. The more time we set “free”, the less time we have for ourselves.
However, there are in fact many ways of filling our stomach without resorting to Macca’s or KFC. For a quick food that is both easy to prepare and exotic, I almost always turn to noodles. They are more versatile than rice, in that they take less time to cook, and you don’t have to worry about making accompanying dishes (unless you’re happy eating rice with fried eggs, in which case I salute you for your lack of fussiness).
I keep a packet of Japanese noodles (ramen, soba or udon) in the pantry together with a packet of instant noodle soup powder. Purists might read this in disgust and abandon me altogether but I really can’t be bothered making my own broth. In any case, I plunge my noodles into the hot soup and simply add any salad or leafy vegetable that’s soft enough to cook in its own steam. Slurping my piping hot noodles, I am a happy man.
Desserts, the highlight of the meal, are normally not quick to prepare. A speedy dessert would simply be ice cream, or if I’m feeling a bit industrious, I’d make a hot chocolate sauce to be poured on top of the ice cream.
Brownies are really easy to make; simply combine flour, nuts, sugar and chocolate pieces (I’m being very general here, obviously there’s more things to add and measurements to consider). Sticky date pudding is a popular Australian pudding that’s not as revered as the Pavlova or even Peach Melba, but I personally find that it’s the best of the lot. Like the brownies, it takes only about half an hour to bake in the oven. I normally let them bake while I enjoy my main meal and have them straight out of the oven for a rich and sweet finish to another long day…