When I moved out of home I didn’t know how to cook anything. I love food though, so I decided to learn a few things and see what I could come up with. I got really into it, made some delicious meals, enjoyed entertaining, posted about it regularly on socials.

Then somewhere along the way I got bullied for it which cut deep, excuse the pun, and then I had a kid and the exhaustion that comes with that can really take the wind out of your sails. I wanted to be a pandemic baker, I was not. I still cook several times per week and it’s great, but it’s utilitarian.

Anyway, one thing I’m doing while I have three months off work is getting back into cooking elaborate things that take time and energy, because I want to get back to that joy. For all that blathering, gentle reader, you may be expecting something more involved, but in the spirit of easing myself back into it I started with something fairly straightforward that I dearly miss being able to eat regularly, laksa.

I found this fantastic recipe from RecipeTin Eats, which uses store-bought paste with a bunch of tricks and extras to make it worthy of guests. While there was no puffed tofu to be found, they had fish balls and fish cakes at the local grocer, which worked a treat. And I used fat rice noodles because they’re my favourite and life’s too short for lesser noodles.

I gave myself two hours and it was both enjoyable and deliciously rewarding. We even had leftovers for lunch. I will definitely be doing this one regularly.