lioness in japan

Last week, the kangaroo was unwell with exhaustion, flu, and two hangovers. I have never really thought about what he would like to eat when he gets sick until his last bout of flu which happened last month (he tends to get ill after his hardcore business trips).

Usually he hoovers anything on his plate, but that evening, he asked me what I was going to cook and I chirped, “Teriyaki salmon!”

“Oh babe, nooooooo. No salmon. That’s not sick food.”

I was so puzzled, “Honey, why not?”

“It’s just not sick food. Remember I grew up on a farm and never had any seafood until I was 20.”

I was tickled but dismayed: What do I cook?

You would think it is strange that I have only discovered this after living together for so long — beats me, too. Hey, you realize new things about your partner no matter how long you have been a couple.

Either I have never attempted fish when he was sick or he did have fish but was silently queasy. Though I do recall some time ago we both had an exhausting week and I shopped for food with zero enthusiasm for cooking. My grilled red snapper and leftover curried veggies smelled even a tad too pungent for me. The kangaroo declared he was running a fever and chose to pick on his veggies before climbing into bed.

When I was ill with severe stomach flu, he ran out to get me…..green Mountain Dew. My Chinese stomach lurched at the thought but he must’ve thought the lemon-lime flavour would help my troubled tum. He apologised for not being able to find 7-Up which is what he likes to drink when he is sick.

To be honest, when I am ill, I would gravitate towards chicken and macaroni soup, fish porridge, steamed fish, or…..laksa (if my stomach is not affected). I totally believe in the idea of sweating it out when you’ve got a fever, so eating something spicy would be ideal.

I know it looks like a bowl of orange horror but it tastes like heaven to a Singaporean. I don’t have access to good fish cake here so I use king oyster mushrooms, yaki (fried) tofu, xiao bai cai (green leafy Chinese vegetable with pale green stems)

It’s a small part of our cross-cultural relationship and I am sure others would have sort of the same experiences. Being in a mixed couple, you are happy to mingle with another culture daily, but when you are feeling run down, you just want comfort food — kind of like being an expat overseas, too.

So, I thought that I should make my kitchen more kangaroo-friendly last week and it was fun trying out new recipes. Lest you think I hunted around for ideas, I actually follow and comment on a bunch of healthy food blogs in my RSS reader, which is part of my work. I was happy that I stumbled upon a couple of easy angmoh (Western) recipes.

This is a light summer chicken dish made with capers, chopped onion, garlic and lemon. I tossed some eggplant and cucumbers onto the fish grill and this was done in less than 30 minutes.

The kangaroo licked his chops although he had not much appetite — I don’t think my cooking is that out of this world but he is encouraging enough. If I didn’t cook, we would both be eating pizza and ramen daily. This is not only tasty but it’s made of cheap, healthy ingredients. Try it when you are tired at the end of the day but want something easy to make.

The next day, the kangaroo was still sick so I wondered what to make again. Thankfully, I chanced upon the word meatballs and thought, “That’s something really Western and yummy.” I found a recipe for Greek meat balls (they are South Beach ones as they don’t use breadcrumbs soaked in milk like traditional recipes do). Instead, all you need is an egg, low fat cheese and olive oil as binding agents, plus a dash of red vinegar for that extra flavour.

I plucked the leaves off our basil plants for the first time to cook.

Tossed in herbs like oregano and parsley, finely chopped garlic, and onion and mixed well with minced beef.

It was really fun using a teaspoon to shape the meatballs.

Tada… homey meatballs in tomato sauce with grilled veggies on the side plus a piece of corn.

Check out the cooked basil. We are so proud of our garden. I would like to say it is organic but it’s not because the kangaroo whipped out his slug zapper to keep them away from our pretty plants.

This is such a long food post and it seems this is all I write about. No fear, I will be posting non-food entries soon.

Back to the topic at hand: the kangaroo gave his stamp of approval on these two dishes as “sick food”, so I’ll be happy to spin these out when he’s down and out again.

What’s your “sick food”?

Related posts:

1. In the mood for food
2. Being sick overseas
3. It’s all about the food

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