Cooking Catastrophe

History
Cooking and me has never been in a single sentence before.
Cooking catastrophe and me -- countless times.
Although, to be fair, I rarely cook.
Okay, again, I lie (this is really becoming a habit!!).

I NEVER cook.

Ask my mum. She'll be glad to testify to that (think rigorous nodding of the head and going "Uh-huh" and "Definitely!")

Successful previous cooking attempts?
Hm.
Water. (Well, technically it's not cooking but I just want the list to look a wee bit longer) Maggi Mee.
Egg omelette.
Oh, and that thing with little bits of those things and yeah, with a dash of that other thing too.
You know?
Okay, ran out of things that I could remember cooking. So scratch that last one. ;P

Despite my "vast" experiences in cooking, I decided to give it one more try anyway.
In spite of the possibility of burning my house down to ashes, or at least smoking up the whole kitchen, I knew I had to try making *cue drum roll* -- the best ever potato salad!!

I just could not get it off my mind ever since Christmas dinner when I had a bite of my cousin sis's home made potato salad (she's 4 years younger than me and she can produce such yummy dishes - I'm such a failure *sobs*).
Plus, I couldn't lose to her. No way!! *winks*

Of course when you want recipes you go to the best. Nope, not Jamie Oliver. Although, seeing as he's a good buddy of mine, he wouldn't mind sharing some of his secrets. But no, this had to be my own.

So I turned to the best. The know-all. The Internet.

Yeah, so I got the recipe off the internet. You'd be surprised how many "Best Ever Potato Salads" there actually are.

Anyway, seeing as how I am such a generous person, I will share my secrets with everyone! *beams*

Alrighty, let's begin, shall we? First off:

Ingredients

1. 5 medium-sized potatoes

Potatoes, before peeled.

2. 4 eggs (you can leave one half to garnish, if you like)

4 eggs to be boiled.

3. small onion, chopped
4. 1/4 Italian dressing / olive oil, lemon juice
5. 1/2 cup mayonnaise
6. 1 teaspoon of salt, pepper

Instructions (Ooh, I can't believe I am giving instructions on how to cook! How exciting!!! ;P):

1. Boil the eggs and potatoes.
*You can either:
a) Boil the potatoes first, then skin and cut them into bite-size chunks, or
b) Cut them into bite-size chunks, and then boil them
I recommend that you choose option a) cos then when you skin them, you don't remove chunks of your precious potato as well (Ooh, don't I sound like a pro? *beams*).

2. Boil the potatoes till fork-tender (which means to poke them at various times while boiling, until the fork goes right through) and the eggs 5 minutes (or more, cos hard-boiled eggs can't really get any harder).

3. While waiting, chop the small onions into teeny-weeny bits.

Chopped onions

4. When the eggs are done, dunk them in cold water. Why? Too long to explain. Just do it. Trust the expert (Ooh, that's me, that's ME!!! *beams*)

5. Peel the shells off, and dice them.

6. When potatoes are done, skin them, cut them into bite-size chunks. Place them in a bowl. If you don't have any Italian dressing (like me), pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Haven't tried them with lemon juice yet, but you can. It'll be interesting! Refrigerate for an hour or two.

7. Then: you can do something else! Take a nap, or go online and watch 3 episodes of anime (as I did)!

8. Take potatoes out from fridge. Add the diced eggs and chopped onions. Mix evenly.

9. Dunk the gunk of mayo in, and add in the salt and pepper. Mix again.

10. If you saved the one half of an egg for the garnish, you can do so as creatively as you like. For me, I think Why do you need to garnish a work of art? It's already ART.

It's ready to be served!!!

Ta-daaaaaa!!!!>>>>

Finished product!!
Doesn't it look absolutely scrumptious?!
*beams*

I am so proud of myself. So proud.
I didn't burn the house to ashes!!
*beams*

Credit: Recipe and tips courtesy of my cousin sis, Soon Yi :)