I have this weird way of alternating between being a perfectionist and completely not giving a shit. Sometimes the perfectionist side can come out in strange ways, like my continuing quest to make singapore-style fried noodles the way Jubilee does. (Jubilee == mediocre f'ton chinese restaurant that's open late so they're the only one I usually order from. Natalie says the only decent Chinese place in the city is Season's, where she used to work. But she also said the owner once chased a rude customer out of there while holding a meat cleaver and dressed in a bloody apron...) Back on topic. Does anyone have any idea how easily curry powder burns? The recipe I found says to put it on the bottom of the wok and let it heat up in the oil before putting the soaked riced noodles in. But holy shit that stuff catches fire easily. And of course when that happens you have to start over. I'm thinking there must be a good easy way to make a kind of paste out of the curry powder first..

Of course after that initial annoyance there's the matter of finding that moment between where the little hair-thin noodles are still brittle and dty and where they are falling apart. This window seems to be about 5 seconds, and if you miss it you'll be eating mush.

I think I've finally got it, the secret seems to be to rush frantically through all the steps, since the killer at each step is taking too much time. So when I can get the whole deal done in under 10 minutes I am golden.

I still generally consider my chinese cooking skills to be "good enough for white people".

Now to get my bloody apron and meat cleaver, then i'll be all set.