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Happy Halloween! 🎃

Tonight I watched my favourite sims content creator stream the new Life & Death EP while I myself arranged Halloween photoshoot for all my sims. It turned out great but lawd it took a while to include everyone (5 adults + 1 teen + 2 children + 2 toddlers). I'm very satisfied with the result, tho.

AND THEN I realized this is a sim cooking blog and not a sim blog and I haven't taken any actual cooking process pictures yet. On top of that, I didn't know there would be a patch and I set my game to update automatically so. I use many script mods so it means I will have to wait until they get updated too before I can safely open my safe file again.

Anyway, here's some photos of Nanami and the twins (Sean is white lamb and Kieran is black lamb) for Halloween. I know I'm most probably biased but they are sooooo cute, right? 🥺🤏🤍🖤

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Monster Brownie

Looks like we’ve got ourselves a mystery, tombler!

I got busy and didn't have time to do more Simblreen food before Halloween ends, so some late spooky posts would have to do. Back with Stella Ito in her Chestnut Ridge ranch, today the family of four celebrates Halloween morning before the kids go to school. And what's more suitable for a family dressed up in the Mystery Inc. members attire than to have some monster brownies for breakfast? 🐕

The monster brownie cc recipe is made by @littlbowbub (click here to download the recipe). You would also need Grannies Cookbook installed in your mods folder for the recipe to show up in your game. Now, let’s do what we do best, Scoob eat.

Does this very specific purple ensemble with a peculiar shade of light green scarf give you any hint of semblance of who Stella might be cosplaying as today? 👩‍🦰💜

To make homemade-style brownie, prepare some eggs, all-purpose flour, powdered sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, chocolate chips, neutral oil (or unsalted butter), and vanilla extract.

Mix the dry and wet ingredients in two separate bowls. Then, combine them by sprinkling the dry ingredients over the wet one. Fold until combined. The batter consistency will be thick.

Her youngest, Soleil, decided to grace us his presence as he started playing computer games in the kitchen. Remember when I said "The next time we see him, he would already age up to a teenager"? Well, sometimes I lie.

Pour the batter into a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Bake in a 325F (or 160C) oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few crumbs attached. The beauty of video game is those brownies came out perfectly decorated right out of the oven -- But hey, I'm not complaining!

The whole's gang is here! From left to right: Stella as Daphne Blake, Leia as Velma Dinkley, Kylo as Fred Jones, and little Sol as Shaggy Rogers. The family doesn't own a dog, which I will proudly use as a golden opportunity to say: Scooby Doobie Doo, where are you? 🐕

They did some photoshoot before Leia and Sol went to school. This hallway is probably my favorite area in the house. Poses downloaded from here.

Detail of their costumes. I'm aware of special pack dedicated for Scooby Doo costumes Mystery Inc. Pack by Brianite Sims, as seen on Daphne's dress and Fred's sweater and pants. For Velma and Shaggy, I mix-and-matched miscellaneous CCs. Especially in love with Velma's -- technically, Leia's -- ghost earrings, which came from the Rougarou set by simstrouble.

Ending this post with one more Scooby Doo quote: Say, Scooby, kind of a spooky night, huh? 'Til next time, dag dag!

P.S. Detailed cooking process is taken from this article.

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Mud Crumble Pots

Sul sul, tombler!

Second post for the Halloween features a set of desserts that's family friendly -- even for your sharp-fanged family member 🧛. Today's treats mud crumble pot is a variation of a fruit desserts similar to cobbler, but made with a brown sugar streusel. Both recipe are made by @littlbowbub: original mud crumble pot cc recipe can be downloaded here, and plasma mud crumble pot cc recipe can be downloaded here. Please be aware that you also need Grannies Cookbook for the recipes to show up in your game.

Who's the redhead? Vienna temporarily dyed her hair red for Halloween, and she's maximizing every Halloween cosplay she could do with the hair. I will reveal who she's cosplaying in the end of the post (hint: it's a character from a cozy farming game).

The first recipe, mud crumble pot, features rich chocolate to act as the mud. Start by preparing butter, sugar, brown sugar, unsweetened cocoa, and Oreo cookies. Chop down the ingredients into fine chunks. In the photos above, Vienna is chopping the brown sugar.

Stew the chocolate and brown sugar together for what I assume is for the second layer on the dessert pot (that seemed to have either flan or pudding consistency).

Pour the pudding into the pots, on top of the crumble already layered in the bottom. Refrigerate until the top layer became firm, then top with some Oreo crumbs, Oreo cookie and jelly worms to further mimic that dirt environment. The mud crumble pots are ready to enjoy!

The second recipe, as the name suggest, offers a vampire-friendly version of the original mud crumble pots. The recipe features the tartness of plasma fruit. Using the same crumble base used in the first recipe, add the plasma fruit layer into the pots.

Garnish with the same Oreo crumble and jelly worms toppings and the plasma mud crumble pots are done!

The family enjoys the dessert together, as you can see Astarion and Frejr also dressed up for the occasion.

The family did a tiny photoshoot on their ensemble costume party. If you have guessed Stardew Valley somewhere earlier in this post, you completely got it right! Vienna dressed up as Jodi, Astarion as Kent, and adorable Frejr as Sam. Technically Jodi and Kent has a younger son Vincent, but Frejr is almost a teenage! He's "old enough to cosplay as Sam!", as quoted.

Details of their cosplay. I used some cc from the custom contents I've already had in my Mods folder. I surprisingly enjoy dressing them up using base game clothing and ccs I already installed -- it feels like dressing yourself up for an actual Halloween party -- the mix-and-match and everything!

I love treats that include a special variation for your occult loved ones, and I've already had some other Halloween-themed desserts from @littlbowbub I plan to make next. 'Til then, dag dag!

P.S. Detailed information and cooking process are taken from this article, this article, and this article.

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Halloween Macaron

Hello, tombler!

Welcoming the spooky season, we're back with Vienna in Willow Creek! For the next few posts, we will be trying some scary snackies to celebrate the season. Today we'll be making two Halloween-themed macarons: jack o'lantern macarons and creepy eyeball macarons, both are made by @robinksimblr and can be downloaded here. Please be aware that you would also need to install Robin's Food Enabler for the custom recipes to show in your game.

A typical Parisian-style macaron is a sandwich cookie filled with ganache, buttercream, or jam. If made correctly, the cookies have a unique nougat-like, chewy texture, mildly moist but melts easily in the mouth. But, before we go further about the scrumptious treats, let's look at who decided to dress up for the occasion!

Vienna is dressing up as Trinity from the blockbuster series The Matrix. The dress and accessories are from @arethabee's part of The Glitch Collection. A very iconic collab between two big Sims 4 creator, and especially relatable for the spooky season. OK, let's get back to the cooking!

To make the French macarons, it's important to 'age' the egg whites in the fridge for at least 24 hours before starting the recipe. This will improves the eggs' elasticity during the whipping process.

Add cream of tartar to the aged egg whites and beat until very soft peaks form. Next is to add super-fine sugar and continue beating until stiff glossy peaks form. Vienna also added the food coloring during this process.

In another bowl, combine the almond flour and confectioners' sugar. Begin folding beaten egg whites in a circular motion. There's a whole process until you reach the macaronage stage but it's too complicated for me so I'll skip that 😂

To make the maracon shells, pipe the batter in 1.5 to 2 inch circles. Before we bake them, it's important to let the piped circles sit out until they're dry and no longer tacky, usually about 30 to 60 minutes. Then, bake at 325F or 163C for around 15 minutes.

After cooling, the shells are ready to fill and sandwich together. Two flavors of macarons we are making today are the jack o'lantern macarons with orange flavor and chocolate ganache filling, and the creepy eyeball macarons that come in both apple (green eyes) and blueberry (blue eyes) flavored fillings. Drawing each eyeballs into the macaron shell was an experience, for sure.

Time to try everything! It was honestly very good but Vienna already knew she was going to have a sugar rush after this self-indulgent treats.

A closer look to today's treats. The spiders are not edible and is only there for the vibes! We still have ample list of Halloween cc recipes, but for now, dag dag!

P.S. Detailed cooking process of macaron is taken from this article.

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Hong Kong French Toast

Lei ho, tombler!

Today's dish is the third dish from the brunch series after brunch plate and jambon-beurre, and culturally the most interesting. As the name tells, Hong Kong French toast is the hybrid dish combining the original French toast elements: bread slices soaked in mixture of eggs, milk and spices before being pan-fried until golden, and the Hong Kong touch: peanut butter or hazelnut spread filling sandwiched between the slices of bread. Its roots can be traced back to Hong Kong's colonial era when British influence left an indelible mark on their local culinary scene.

Before we begin, today's Hong Kong French toast cc recipe is made by @oni28 (click here to download the recipe). Don't forget that you would also need Oni's Recipe Pack Mod for the recipe to appear in your game. This recipe is under the Deserts section.

Hong Kong French toast, or sometimes also referred to as Western toast is usually made using a shokupan (Japanese-style milk bread) or a brioche bread. However, if none of those type of bread is not available, a plain loaf of bread can be used instead.

Not shown in the picture, Nanami trimmed off the bread crusts and cut the thick slices in half, with one side intact. Spread a generous layer of peanut butter or hazelnut spread inside each piece of the bread.

In a bowl, combine milk, eggs, cinnamon and salt. Soak the bread which has been stuffed with peanut butter in the mixture for 1-2 minutes on each side.

While the bread is soaking in the mixture, melt butter over medium heat. Add the soaked bread to the pan and cook until golden brown (around 2-3 minutes for each side).

Again, you can clearly -- ironically it is blurry -- see that someone had just learned about cinematic DOF shader from the picture above.

Serve the Hong Kong French toast with a drizzle of condensed milk and a slab of butter. The ideal taste of this dish should be crispy and caramelized in the outside, and rich and nutty in the inside. For some, this indulgent dish doubles as their comfort treat.

Ironically, Nanami made this brunch food at 11PM after everyone went to bed. She regrets nothing. Also, as the spooky season is here, we're going to visit some old faces to cook some tasty treats together. Who might that be? We'll see soon! And 'til then, dag dag!

P.S. Lei ho (你好) means "hello" in Cantonese.

P.S.S. Detailed information about the recipe is taken from this article and this article.

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Jambon-beurre

Bonjour, tombler!

Still on our brunch series with Nanami, today we're cooking the classic French and butter sandwich, also known as jambon-beurre. The dish we're cooking today is actually divided into two cc recipes by @oni28: baguette cc recipe can be downloaded here, and jambon-beurre cc recipe can be downloaded here. The recipes need Oni's Recipe Pack Mod which is updated regularly on their Patreon page.

The baguette made by this creator can be eaten as a meal or used as an ingredient for jambon-beurre. Even though The Sims 4™ logic makes ingredients appear automatically when you make a recipe, today Nanami decided to bake her baguette from scratch.

I love taking pan shots from Nanami's kitchen. Some elements including the top counters are from @tudtuds's BSCO Kitchen set which I think match very well with the base game counters (I think it's base game? Definitely need to check again).

Everyone in the family seemed to be challenging the inner trad wife by making their bread from scratch, Nanami included. To begin, prepare all-purpose flour, water, yeast and salt. Mix the ingredients and let the yeast do it work for about 10 minutes, followed by 3 stretches and fold over a period of 90 minutes (honestly I'm already lost here, goodbye). Let the dough ferment in the fridge for another 8-10 hours.

One important thing in making your own baguette is the baking stone. A heavy duty baking stone won't crack easily and will promote a better oven spring for the baguette. Preheat the oven to 500F or 260C with the baking stone positioned in the upper rack and a small pan with hot water and a rolled kitchen towel on the lower rack. The towel helps control steam release.

After scoring your baguette, slide them off with the parchment paper onto the hot baking stone. Using a water spray bottle, spray some in the sides of the oven to boost the steam. Bake for about 15 minutes, remove the water pan, and bake for another 15 minutes at 450F (232C) until deep golden brown.

If I were as successful as Nanami in baking baguette, I'd make that smug face too. Alas, 100% of what I wrote above is just a rewrite from the recipes I googled.

Now, onto the jambon-beurre. Jambon-beurre or parisien is the simplest combo of baguette topped by slightly salted French butter and spiced Parisian ham (also known as jambon de Paris). Yet, finding a great jambon-beurre is harder and harder to find. Pictured above, Nanami sliced each baguette in half length-wise.

Next, the butter and the ham. A good European butter makes the best choice, as it has a much higher fat content and less water compared to American butter. If you're unable to find European butter, pick a salted butter or sprinkle a few salt crystal over the unsalted butter. For the ham, using jambon de Paris or any unsmoked, wet-cured ham with juicy texture. The last part -- arguably also the easiest, is to combine everything together!

We've seen one of Nanami's twins in the previous post, but here's both of them eating jambon beurre together: Sean in a blue overall and Kieran in a light purple shirt. Sean loves to be carried but Kieran hates it, and they look so alike that Nanami sometimes mistakenly carried Kieran only for him to throw tantrum. The joy of the terrible threes, doubled.

Last picture featuring full serving of baguette, full serving of jambon-beurre, and a single serving of jambon-beurre. 'Til next post, dag dag!

P.S. Bonjour means "hello" in French.

P.S.S. Detailed information about baguette is taken from this article, while detailed information about jambon-beurre is taken from this article and this article.

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Brunch Plate

Sul sul, tombler!

I'm back with the last household in my gameplay rotation -- the Ito-Landgraab family featuring Nanami Ito. My Nanami used to live with Kiyoshi and Aria, and grew up together with their daughters Stella and Vienna. She went to Foxbury University to study Computer Science, and later entered the tech guru career. Nanami was still living with Kiyoshi and Aria even after the twins graduated and moved out; matter fact it was a few years back when she met Malcolm Landgraab and agreed to be in a so-called traditional marriage and have kids. The twins, Kieran and Sean are born the following year.

Fast forward a few years later, the twins are well into their tenacious toddler phase, yet Nanami and Malcolm's marriage is distant. Just when they both consider coming off clean to Malcolm's parents, they are hit with two consecutively horrible news: when taking a respective vacation on Mt. Komorebi and Henford-on-Bagley, Geoffrey had died after falling off a cliff while climbing, while Nancy perished after a fierce attack by a rabid rabbit (no pun intended). Just like that, the only people who forced Malcolm to "marry a nice girl and bear a heir for the family" is gone. Which brings us to today: Malcolm and Nanami is still married by the papers, but he spent half of his week with them and the other half in his other properties. Don't get him wrong -- Malcolm is a good father, he (and Nanami) is just not a good spouse for each other.

I did warn you Nanami's family drama would be juicy, didn't I? 🍵

Anyway, let's just start with the cooking process. Life in the desert is good, and since the twins have their own nanny, Nanami's mornings started off later than for other people. Hence, today's menu brunch plate fits perfectly for Nanami's lifestyle. Additional point for it being easy enough for the twins to feed themselves with. The cc recipe is made by @oni28 (click here to download it). Please be aware that you would need to install Oni’s Recipe Pack Mod which is updated regularly on their Patreon page.

Brunch is a portmanteau of breakfast and lunch, and is usually eaten during late mornings. It originated in England in the late 1800s, but gained popularity in the United States in the 1930s. Although the menu features a wide range of foods, some common brunch items include: eggs, either fried eggs, eggs Benedict, or omelets; bread, most popular being French toast or pancakes; fruit or vegetables for vibrancy; a sweet touch of pastry for sweetness; and alcohol... for emotional support, I guess.

I feel like I need to take 1,000 screenshots from this angle just because of how much I struggle putting all those items on the shelf. Beginner's struggle.

Cutting the store-brought bread into slices. Another chance, we will make bread from scratch with Nanami, I promise!

Chopping the tomatoes, because girl have to stay healthy and eat enough fiber.

EGGS! It's always sunny-side-up in Philadelphia Oasis Springs!

Really love how chonky everything looks. Might be biased but one could never go wrong with a plate of toast and egg.

Also, another close-up of my Nanami. She is always so fun to makeover in CAS! Growing up, she was very punk with her red and black attire (Wei WuXian could never!) -- dark eyeshadows, fishnets, and piercings! So much piercings. As she grew older she took most of them off, but keep one in her right brows for sentimental purposes. Nowadays she enjoys her comfy boho style.

I have yet to find the perfect photoshoot place for this house, but this will do for now!

And one more picture -- a sneak-peek of the next member of the Ito-Landgraab household, if I may. This is Kieran! He just woke up from his morning nap, just in time for some brunch plate. Better leave some for your twin brother too! Until then, dag dag!

P.S. Definition and detailed information of brunch is taken from this article, this article, and this Wiki page.

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Ham Ramen

Hello, tombler!

I'll be moving on to Nanami Ito's household soon, so I thought I'll indulge myself with this last recipe (for a while!) from the ranch. However, today we're not cooking with Stella, but please welcome (a) very special guest(s) -- give it up for the Osh Coush B'Gosh! It's the club name for cousins Leia, Soleil and Frejr, and I tried to be puny with the name too, hehe. A little refresher if needed: Leia and Soleil are Stella's children, while Frejr is Vienna's son. Stella and Vienna are the daughters of Aria and Kiyoshi Ito. I consider Nanami's kids to join the cousins' club too when they're older. Maybe a detailed family tree is needed sooner than later.

One of the club's favorite activity is to watch movie, and thanks to the Studio Ghibli Movie Mod from @midnitehearts, today they're finally watching Ponyo, a Japanese animated movie from the renowned Studio Ghibli. The gorgeous television set is the TELLY by @charlypancakes -- I literally use this on television everywhere, it's already there on the background on Vienna's house on my first post! So, so versatile. And if the TV is an inch too left, I have to blame it on my (lack of) object-placement skill.

Soleil and Frejr are feeling particularly hungry after watching the ramen scene... Also, I can not stop gushing at how cute they are. How are they already almost teenagers! I want them to stay puppies forever. My friend did tell me this is what parents must've felt about their growing kids, but I wouldn't know better.

As you probably guessed, today we are cooking Ponyo's ham ramen. The recipe cc is made by @oni28 (click here to download the recipe). Please be aware that you would also need to install Oni’s Recipe Pack Mod which is updated regularly on their Patreon page. Before we begin, allow me to introduce today's cook: Leia Ren. She's a straight A student on Chestnut Ridge High School, working part-time as a video game streamer and having interest in robotics. Leia hasn't decide what she wants to study for college, but that's okay. She's not a die-hard horse person (it's a complete different story with Soleil), but she does enjoy energetic rides with the horses.

Ingredients for this recipe is simple but guaranteed to taste good: soft-boiled eggs, ham, and instant ramen. I love the subtle nod to Nissin's Chicken ramen package here.

Slicing the eggs and the ham. If you're wondering where the boys are... They're on the kitchen, stealing ham one slice at a time.

Leia starts boiling water to cook the instant ramen. Soleil's stomach grumbles, and Frejr heard that. He's shy about it but only if he knew Frejr is ravenous too! He just hides it better.

After the ramen is cooked and plated, place the slices of ham and boiled eggs, and garnish with green onion. I love how the cc creator ONI28 even made the bowl looks exactly like in the film. The details!

We love ham! And ramen! And clearly we do not have time for obligatory dining table photoshoot today, since the boys already went in and obliterated the food.

Ending the post with another angle of my Sol puppy. Next time we see him on this blog, he might probably be a teenager already... Ah, the hearts you'll break, young lad. Anyway, see you on the next one. Dag dag!

P.S. Detailed cooking process for ham ramen is taken from this post and this post.

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Chicken Satay

Sul sul, tombler!

It's a perfect day to do some outdoor grilling and we're making sate ayam (translated to 'chicken satay' in English!). Satay is an umbrella term for diced meat in a skewer which then grilled over a charcoal fire. The dish is popular throughout Southeast Asia and is even one of the topic of perpetual discourse between Indonesia and Malaysia (Malaysians please don't come at me). Even though the most popular version of satay in Indonesia (and probably worldwide) is the chicken satay with peanut sauce, satays in Indonesia actually varies from using chicken, beef, lamb, pork, even seafood like oyster and squid. Same goes with the sauce -- not all satays are paired with peanut sauce, some comes with sliced chilis and soy sauce, some with sambal and vinegar, and some with none at all.

Enough about the trivia, today we're cooking (or, grilling) the renowned chicken satay with peanut sauce. The cc recipe made by @icemunmun-spicy-scalpel (click here to download the recipe). I totally forgot to mention it but the amazing Icemunmun also created custom plants which you can use as ingredients for their recipes (in this recipe: if you have her lemongrass plant cc, you can use it when making satay). Don't forget to also install Custom Food Interactions for the recipe to appear in your game -- in this case, you can also click on your grill to find the chicken satay recipe.

Satay skewers are traditionally grilled over charcoal or wood fire, with the cook fanning the charcoal to control the heat. It's a running joke that what makes the satay tasty is actually the cook's sweat dripping into the grill. It's because even with the same meat, same grill, and same fan, some people grills better satay than others.

Halfway through the grilling part, we re-marinate the skewers with a mixture of white paste (I mentioned about the Indonesian base pastes on my ayam penyet post here), oil, and sweet soy sauce. Main purpose of this re-marination is to keep the protein juicy and to make sure the marination seep well into the meat.

It's the perfect afternoon munchies for the growing boys to snack on after they finish their game tournament.

Chicken satay (especially the one paired with peanut sauce) is best served with lontong, as shown in the picture above. The creamy peanut sauce coating well on the lontong slices is just a heavenly sight for us Indonesians. You can check out my lontong post here. See you next time, and 'til then, dag dag!

P.S. Detailed information and history about satay is taken from this Wikipedia page.

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Lontong

Hi tombler!

It's another fine day at the ranch with Stella. Today we're making lontong, an Indonesian rice cake made from boiling rice wrapped inside banana leaves. The custom content is made by @icemunmun-spicy-scalpel (click here to download the recipe). You would also need to install Custom Food Interactions for the recipe to appear in your game.

The Indonesian rice cake variants (most popular being lontong and ketupat) are typically plain and bland, often treated as an alternative to steamed rice and rarely eaten just by itself. Ketupat has a similar cooking process to lontong -- the difference is on the wrapping: lontong uses banana leaves as the wrapper, while ketupat uses young coconut leaves.

Chopping things. Out of topic but it's my first time seeing boiled eggs and cucumber in a recipe!

To make the shape, we start by partially cooking the rice. After the rice is half-cooked, pulverize and shape it into cylinder by hands, then wrap it in a sheet of banana leaf. The packaged rice is traditionally stapled shut with a wooden stick (same stick used in satay).

Continue cooking the rice package by steaming the lontong. The final appearance of the rice should have greenish outer layer from the chlorophyll in the banana leaves.

Obligatory dining table photoshoot as usual. Since lontong is an alternative to steamed rice, there's technically no wrong way to eat it. This recipe seems to incorporate boiled eggs and cucumber slices with what looked like a peanut sauce.

Although lontong is consumed in many soupy dishes -- especially pairing well with coconut milk soups and sauces, most popular protein dish to eat alongside lontong is probably chicken satay (pictured below), which we will be making next. 'Til then, dag dag!

P.S. Detailed information about lontong is taken from this Wikipedia page.

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Ayam Penyet

Apa kabar, tombler!

In this occasion, Stella is cooking ayam penyet, the Indonesian-style deep-fried chicken served with sambal. The term 'penyet' (translated to 'pressed' or 'squeezed' in English) refers to the chicken being pressed with a pestle against a bed of sambal, traditionally on a stone mortar. What I found quite funny is we have another fried chicken variation called ayam geprek (with 'geprek' literally meaning 'smashed') that has the similar concept with ayam penyet with the main difference on the degree of how broken and molded into the mortar your chicken is. The ayam penyet custom content is made by @icemunmun-spicy-scalpel (you can download the recipe here). Are you ready for the cooking process? Because ay-am!

In Indonesian cuisine, there are three kind of base paste ('bumbu dasar') used in daily homestyle cooking, namely: white paste, yellow paste, and red paste. The most basic one; white paste, is made from combining garlic, shallot, candlenut and galangal. Yellow paste is made from white paste and turmeric and ginger, while red paste is made from white paste plus red chili and/or tomato. This little bit information is important because the ayam penyet recipe we are trying today is marinated with yellow paste before fried. The more we left the chicken to marinate, the stronger and more aromatic the fried chicken will be.

Since this style of marination does not include dry-marinating/breading, the Indonesian ayam goreng is more aromatic but relatively drier than the American style of fried chicken. By squashing the chicken with a pestle into a bed of sambal, the chicken regains some sort of moisture back.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I love the detail of not only the main dish but also the side dishes displayed in this cc recipe. Ayam penyet is served alongside deep-fried tofu and tempe (also marinated with the yellow paste), steamed rice, and a variation of raw vegetables called 'lalapan'.

Vienna hung out for a little Indonesian feast today. Also, I didn't realize Soleil's expression until later when I check the screen captures 😂 He's probably in his picky eater phase. See you next time, where I hope Sol has gotten out of the phase. Dag dag!

P.S. "Apa kabar" means "how are you" in Indonesian.

P.S.S. Detailed cooking process of ayam penyet is taken from this article, this Wikipedia page, and my own knowledge.

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Nasi Goreng

Halo, tombler!

We are finally moving to a new household this time! As hinted a few times before, the sim we are following today is Stella Ito, twin sister of Vienna and daughter of Aria and Kiyoshi Ito. Stella lives in a modern horse ranch in Chestnut Ridge with her husband Kylo, daughter Leia and son Soleil (both of her children has made appearance in previous posts). Her husband is indeed Kylo Ren -- I was playing Journey to Batuu and tried to match-make her with him. Long story short, it was not successful and I ended up just downloading a handsome Kylo Ren (based on the actor Adam Driver) from the gallery. I try not to think that Stella's babies are technically Adam Driver's simchildren so maybe I shouldn't make you think of it that way either. Anyway. Stella studied education in college and is a college professor, but lately I just made her do the bare minimum at work and focused on her side-gig as a nectar maker instead (the said side-gig earned her family $200,000 already, so...). She has a designated space for making nectars and growing necessary exotic plants in her home, too.

The recipe we are trying today comes from the country of Indonesia, but is also commonly found in other countries on the Malay archipelago. Nasi goreng (literal meaning: fried rice) is a popular dish enjoyed nation-wide, from a tin plate at a street-food stall, or on a fine china plate in five-star hotels. The recipe we're making today is made by @icemunmun-spicy-scalpel (you can download the recipe here). Please be aware that you would also need Custom Food Interactions for the recipe to appear in your game. Instead of a special object and thanks to the script mod, this mod allows you to create custom recipes by clicking on your regular fridge (just like making base-game food). Now, shall we begin?

Regular Saturday morning in the Ren household is everyone gathering on the kitchen, whether helping in cooking or just doing their own thing. By "their own thing", this week they're addicted to stitching. Yes, that is a Brat t-shirt Leia is wearing.

Prepping the protein and the vegetables for the dish. Authentic Indonesian recipe don't usually includes onion, but garlic and shallot are usually the base for many Indonesian recipes.

Since the recipe has spread and evolved during years and years of traveling in-between cultures, I don't think there's strictly any ingredient that made it a 'nasi goreng' -- each and every ingredient can be substituted and alternated with other ingredient depending on the cook's taste buds. But as a Javanese person (who tends to have a preference for sweeter food), the three elements essential for a nasi goreng for me are: kecap manis, or the Indonesian sweet soy sauce; terasi or shrimp paste, and a day-old rice or refrigerated rice that has less moisture.

I love this shot of the family just existing together.

First part of the frying is pan-frying each ingredients by itself, usually it includes the eggs, the protein, and the vegetable.

The use of pan here is sacrilegious (as Uncle Roger would say "Haiyah!") but I understand the limitations of animations. After each ingredient is pan-fried, starts by adding oil, chopped shallots, chopped garlic, and terasi in another pan -- ideally a wok, and sauté until aromatic. Combine the ingredients you had pan-fried previously, and add kecap manis and sambal. Cook together until the rice is nicely coated and every grain is separated.

I have to give my regards for @icemunmun-spicy-scalpel (the cc creator) for doing an amazing work with this recipe because the condiments looks very well-researched! As displayed in the dish above, nasi goreng is commonly served with acar or Indonesian pickled cucumber, kerupuk or crackers (commonly prawn crackers), sunny side-up eggs, and what I assume look like perkedel or mashed potato fritters.

The family enjoying nasi goreng together. If you remember Vienna's monochromatic kitchen and dining area, and you see Stella's house, you understand why I had a whiplash, right?

Also, the dining table has a window that gives unique sunlight that I definitely needs to show in this photo below. We'll still be cooking another Southeast Asian food on the next post, but for now, dag dag!

P.S. History of nasi goreng is taken from this Wikipedia page, while detailed recipe are based on my own experience.

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Yakitori

Ohayou, tombler!

With the snow starting to melt, Aria thought it's a good time to reheat the grill they have outside. Today's menu is a simple grilled goods that came from Japan -- Yakitori! The recipe is made by @oni28 (click here to download it). Please be aware that you would need to install Oni’s Recipe Pack Mod which is updated regularly on their Patreon page.

Yakitori refers to grilled chicken skewers, literally translating to 'grilled' (yaki) and 'chicken' (tori). Yakitori is traditionally cooked over Japanese charcoal binchotan, but you can basically grill it on anything or even under the broiler oven.

There are two kinds of yakitori we're grilling with Aria today: traditional chicken and green onion skewer and mushroom skewer. Also, look at the gentle spring sun starting to peek over the fence! We're so back, baby.

For the sauce, Aria mixed soy sauce, mirin, sake, water, and brown sugar to a saucepan, and reduce for about 30 minutes.

(Not me just trying to maximize every different angle I can take from Aria and Kiyoshi's dining area.)

Later, Nanami Ito -- Kiyoshi's little sister -- came over to give them new year's greetings. She now lives in Oasis Spring and has a twin toddler sons (which I think is very interesting because it means that both Ito siblings Kiyoshi and Nanami both have twins). As for Nanami's husband... It's complicated, but kind of juicy if you ask for my personal opinion. But that's for another story!

We are moving on from Japanese cuisine and into Southeast Asian cuisine with Stella Ito very soon. I hope you're as excited as I am. For now, enjoy this close-up picture of the scrumptious yakitori we just made.

Until then (pinky promise we're really moving on this time), dag dag!

P.S. History and detailed cooking process of yakitori is taken from this article.

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Okonomiyaki

Hello, tombler!

Okay maybe I lied when I said I'm going to move on to Stella's household after that soba post. Let me whip up two more dishes from Aria's kitchen while I'm still fueled up for Japanese cuisine. Today we're cooking okonomiyaki with Aria. The recipe is made by @oni28 (you can download it here). You would also need to install Oni’s Recipe Pack Mod which is updated regularly and you can scroll down their Patreon page a little to find it.

Okonomiyaki is a savory Japanese cabbage pancake with your choice of protein and tasty condiments and toppings. There are three key ingredients that truly gives okonomiyaki an authentic taste: nagaimo or Japanese long yam for a fluffy, non-doughy okonomiyaki; tenkatsu or tempura scraps for texture and depths; and dashi or Japanese soup stock.

Mince the cabbage strips, then wash and drain well to remove excess moisture that could potentially dilute the batter.

Do the same with your choice of protein. Aria chose to make beef okonomiyaki, so she's slicing the beef into thin slices.

Add the minced cabbage onto the batter. Regularly check the consistency of the okonomiyaki batter and make sure the cabbage is fully coated in the batter.

On medium heat, heat some neutral oil. If you're a newbie (which Aria is not), shape your batter smaller and thinner so it's easier to flip. Add the thin slice of meat on top of the okonomiyaki batter and flip when the bottom part is cooked. Flip again after a few minutes to cook the other side.

For the toppings, Aria spread okonomiyaki sauce, followed by mayonnaise, katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), aonori (dried green laver seaweed), and freshly chopped green onions. It's more of a simpler dish to make; definitely a breeze for Aria.

Next dish we're making with Aria is yakitori. She's already got the ingredients prepared! 'Til next post, dag dag!

P.S. Detailed okomiyaki recipe is taken from this article.

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Zaru Soba

Konbanwa, tombler!

It's New Year's Eve at the Ito household and one of Aria's daughter Stella Ito and her children is spending the holiday with their grandparents (this is also me soft-launching Stella because I'm moving on to her household soon). In Japan, there's a tradition to enjoy soba, more specifically toshikoshi soba, on new year's eve. The tradition to eat soba is because soba noodles are easy to cut (symbolizing the hardship) and long and thin (symbolizing good luck and longevity). The recipe we're trying today is leaning more toward zaru soba, which is served cold, but I hope it brings the same luck for the new year.

The recipe is made by @oni28 (you can download the recipe here). Oni's Recipe Pack Mod is also needed in order for the recipes to show up in your game, and as the mod is regularly updated, here's a link to their Patreon and you can scroll down a little to find the latest version of the mod.

Three generations of Ito ladies -- matron Aria, her daughter Stella, and her granddaughter Leia.

A comically-large green onion -- the kind that Farfetch'd would hold (someone out there must've get the reference) for the garnish.

Boiling the soba noodles. For the dipping sauce (tsuyu), combine sake, soy sauce, mirin, konbu (dried kelp), and katsuobushi. Bring into a boil and simmer on low heat for 5 minutes. The soup and the noodles are to be served side by side.

The light and refereshing zaru soba is ready to serve! The word 'zaru' refers to the bamboo strainer used to strain the noodles during the Edo period.

New Year's Eve dinner at the grandparents' house go really well. Guess who got (affectionately) called out because he uses fork to eat? And if Soleil chose "learning to use chopstick" as his New Year's resolution, I doubt it is coincidental.

We'll be moving on to visit Stella and her family soon, and until then, dag dag!

P.S. Detailed cooking process of soba is taken from this article, and history of eating soba during new year is taken from this Wikipedia page.

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Katsu Curry

Hello again, tombler!

Back again with our cozy Komorebi-go residents Aria and Kiyoshi Ito. 'Tis the season to be jolly! One of their grandchildren Leia is spending Christmas with them, making the whole ambiance merrier. Since none of them is not really in the mood to cook anything complex (wrapping presents and decorating the tree is a hard work, you know!), Aria asked Leia to buy a few pieces of pork cutlets from the konbini store nearby, and took out some curry roux to create today's dish: katsu curry. The recipe is made by @oni28 (click here to download the recipe). Now, let's see how they cook it.

Having some quality time together as Aria gathered the ingredients for the curry. The color scheme is not fully intentional, as I do have some winter clothes in warm palette but I do not expect them to choose the very similar clothes at the same time.

Sauté the onion until translucent and caramelized, then add minced garlic and grated ginger. Add water and the curry roux and boil until everything is cooked properly.

Don't you just love it when your loved ones are already there, waiting as you finish cooking?

So far there's not really much to say about Japanese curry. It's a simple, hearty bowl of goodness that will instantly warm you. It's since the holiday season, so we'll probably see the big Ito family celebrates New Year soon. Until then, dag dag!

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Udon

Hi there, tombler!

To be honest, cooking over-the-top dishes like yesterday's lunch sets is a little bit of a hassle when you're only cooking for two. Aria would prefer to cook simple, comforting, soupy dishes when it was just a regular day. The udon recipe we're cooking today is made by @oni28 (click here to download). Without further ado, let's start with udon, shall we?

Remember when we're making rasta pasta with Vienna and I said she's challenging her inner tiktok trad wife for making pasta from scratch? Maybe it does run in the family because currently Aria is also making udon noodles from scratch.

The history of udon is unclear, but one theory claims that udon came from China in the 700s and became widely popular during the Edo era in the 1600s. There are many variants of udon: served both hot or cold, and with different kinds of toppings. Each region of Japan has their own specialty udon, like Kanto-style with strong soy sauce flavor, or Kansai-style with konbu dashi.

The udon broth is made by combining dashi (Japanese soup stock) with soy sauce, mirin, sugar and salt to taste. This version of udon -- kake udon, is inspiring because it celebrates simplicity.

The bowl of noodle soup is so comforting that Aria didn't even sit down on the dining table to enjoy it. Girl literally just stood there and slurp her noodles while standing up.

This pot of udon lasts for two days of three for Aria and her husband. 'Til we need to cook again. Dag dag!

P.S. History and detailed recipe of udon are taken from this article and this article.