Our 26th “Follow them Friday” features Carry it like Harry blogging in English.
When did you start blogging?
Probably about 4-5 years ago. I started blogging after seeing that my recipe scrapebook was a complete mess. I am a digital strategist in my day job, so making sites are part and parcel of what I do for a living. But I didn’t plan for it to be a blog as in writing to be read, it is meant more as a logbook of my personal cooking journey. Which is why it is hosted on Tumblr.
How did you decide on the name of your blog?
It was supposed to be Curry It Like Harry. But it had to rhyme. But I figured that changing Curry to Carry is better than changing my name to Hurry.
Do you prefer eating in or eating out?
I would say 50-50. I tend to run out of inspiration if I eat in all the time. Eating out all the time makes me feel like I should have saved the money by eating in. Constant dilemma. Sigh.
What is your favourite dish to share?
Ohh my absolute favourite dish is Meepok Tah. It’s a type of fresh flat Chinese egg noodles with fish balls, fish dumplings and fish cake, with a Singaporean twist – namely, loads of chili oil. I guess it’s the sort of thing you have to grow up with to like it. I like it so much I can eat it everyday. That’s why it is in the banner of my site.
What is your favourite comfort food?
Stir-fried tsaitaogwey It’s a kind of steamed cake made with daikon radish and rice flour. And you can do all sorts of things with it, like stir-frying it with eggs, which is my preferred way of eating it. Perfect for a lazy Sunday lunch when it is raining heavily outside. Or as a midnight snack with beer under a breezy starry sky when you are in a tropical country like I was. (*Looking out at the grey sky now with disgust*)
What is your favourite dessert?
Anything with mango in it. Topped with mint, please.
How do you like your eggs in the morning?
Soft-boiled. I like slurping runny egg yolk.
Was there a particular dish that got you into cooking?
Nobody cooks in Singapore, everyone eats out. Because everyone does that, eating out is cheaper than in Belgium. But still, when I was growing up, poverty forced me to start cooking for me and my younger brother. The very first dish I tried making for the two of us was fried rice. And it must have tasted horrible because he still distinctively remembers it today. How unforgiving.
What has been your biggest recipe failure?
Tons! But if you have to eat it, you have to eat it, right? I don’t remember myself cooking well and never considered myself doing that until people started commending my food. It was a nice feeling being praised but I always thought people were just being polite.
What is your earliest food memory?
Oh I have to share this. I used to LOVE fried lard – they are literally little blocks of fats fried in oil. We used to add that in all noodles soups and stir-fried dishes 30-40 years ago in Singapore but not anymore due to the rise of the health nazis. So I was probably about 7 and I went into the school canteen and paid the cook all my pocket money to get a bag of that EVERY DAY. But after a year or two I got so sick of the taste I swore off pork and told everyone I was Muslim. I literally threw up every time I smelled pork. And that lasted till I was like 15.
What are the three things you always have in your freezer?
Meat, Seafood, Portions of goodies I cooked last weekend.
Who are your favourite food bloggers? I actually cannot find time to read my favourite bloggers! My absolute favourite is this Youtube star called Maangchi. She is Korean and she lives in the US. Her Korean dishes are absolutely gorgeous! https://www.youtube.com/user/Maangchi Otherwise I follow all the Belgian bloggers here on Instagram and I look at their uploads before lunchtime at work to help me find inspiration on what to eat. Which doesn’t make sense because there is nothing near my workplace that comes close to what they cook or eat.
Share the LOVE & remember to follow Carry it Like Harry on:
FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or follow the BLOG