crash course in cooking for ida

ida leaves for melbourne in less than a month's time. while there - for the time being - she will be staying on her own. she will move in to stay in the same townhouse as her sister at the end of the year when one of ivy's housemates move to her own place.

ida has been wanting to learn how to prepare soup and cook some simple dishes. today, she got one of her church friends, joel koh, to come and give her a crash course in cooking. joel is the son of one of my former students, albert koh, who retired some years ago. yes, my student retired before me.

they went to the wet market at 7th mile upper bukit timah road to buy the groceries for making a soup and frying a vegetable dish. joel gleans his knowledge on cooking from reading cook books and observing how his parents cook.

it was not just a cooking demonstration. as he prepared the ingredients, he explained to ida how to cut up the garlic, what type of oil to use for cooking, how to check if the kwali is hot enough to put in the ingredients for frying. i also pick up a few tips on cooking from this young man.