25 July 2013

Everything looks so enticing.

A friend of mine was on the phone with a mutual acquaintance. He was talking about the times he comes over to my place to have a meal. "Every time I've gone there, everything is so pretty, and different. It looks so enticing." I think that's the nicest thing someone's said to me.

I don't really spend too much thought or effort on presentation, such as garnishing a plate, or making the dish that I serve the food in look attractive. I tend to finish cooking the dish, and serve it in whatever is most convenient for me. Sometimes, it'll be served in the dish it's cooked in. Other times, it'll be the tupperware that I want to put the food away in. I don't actually have specific serving dishes, because I don't have the space for all that stuff in my home.

That said, I do like to make the food itself look uniform. I tend to chop my vegetables on the smaller side, so that if there are multiple vegetables in a particular dish, each spoonful will have a bit of everything on it. I also tend to make smaller quantities, but larger varieties. I find that having more choices of things to eat makes it more fun for the person eating. You can try a little nibble of this or that, and more or less find what works for your tastes. Some dishes will be spicier than others, some will be lighter, some will be raw. All of them work fine with each other, or separately.

What I'm getting at is that you too can make your food interesting by trying some of those techniques out. Cut food uniformly, into about 1 1/2 - 2 cm cubes. Try to have a large variety, but don't try to make such a huge quantity that you're spending hours preparing one dish. Make things work together. That way, regardless of what someone prefers, they'll still have an excellent meal.