It seems that nowadays, every cooking forum has people extolling the virtues of cast iron pans. People dwell on their longevity, their hardiness, their second-to-none ability to hold heat and give a good sear. And I gotta tell ya, I’m pretty impressed with my cast iron pans. They are pretty great. 

So what if my wee 6.5-inch pan couldn’t fit a steak? And does it really matter, given that cast iron is more high-maintenance, that I still reach for my stainless steel as a default? There are more important considerations for purchasing a cast iron pan: for example, how it makes the food you cook looks good. And that’s where a cast iron pan truly shines.  

My current obsession is Banana Foster. It’s a dressed-up banana split: a pan filled with tender bananas macerating in warm caramel sauce, which is topped with scoops of ice cream and served straight from the stove. It’s easy as ABC to put together and tastes like a treat. 

My folks are firmly in the Alice Waters camp that when a fruit ripens to the point when it's good to eat on its own, it is best enjoyed by itself, and shouldn't be cooked with. And, with them not being fans of overly-sweet desserts, they gave me the stink eye when I added perfectly-ripened bananas to a simmering pan of caramel. But my counter argument was infallible: unlike other fruits, bananas are guaranteed to be sweet when ripened. I don’t think I have ever had a bad banana. Most varieties of bananas taste a little starchy, and cooking them down tenderises them and removes their starchy texture*.

Banana Foster 

INGREDIENTS

30g unsalted butter

60g dark brown sugar 

1/4 tsp cinnamon

3 bananas, sliced lengthwise  

Ice cream, pre-scooped 

40ml rum (optional)

Pecan, whole or halved (optional)

STEPS

1. Place butter, dark brown sugar and cinnamon in a small skillet. Set it over low heat and let the butter gently melt, stirring occasionally to combine the melted butter with the brown sugar. If the melted butter is not mixing well with the dry ingredients, you can add 1-2 more dark brown sugar to help bring everything together. It should look like a thick slurry at this stage. 

2. Add sliced bananas and gently spoon the warm caramel sauce over them, making sure each piece gets equal time macerating in the sauce. They should begin to soften in 1-2 minutes. At this stage, the brown sugar melts fully, and the sauce should thin out. When the banana is soft and pliable, turn off the heat and remove the pan from stove.  

SERVING
Reserve couple of tablespoons of the caramel sauce. Add the scoops of ice cream over the top, drizzle over with caramel sauce and top with pecan. Serve immediately.   

TIPS

Flambéed banana foster: Prior to serving, heat up rum in a small saucepan set over low heat, until the rum begins to simmer at the edges. Remove from heat, and using either a kitchen torch or a long matchstick, ignite the fumes near the surface of the rum. Pour over the banana foster. As the flames die down, stir, add ice cream and pecans. Serve immediately. (If you have young nieces and nephews, as I do, you can bedazzle and befuddle them with this flambéed version. Just as befuddled would be their parents, to whom I might have expressively told that I had made desserts for their kids, before rum had been added. But that's okay.  

Since a recent visit to an Argentinian restaurant where we scooped up melted provoleta with fugazetta (Argentinian stuffed pizza), I've been low-key obsessed with recreating the dish at home. It was a real-life enactment of every pizza commercial: warm molten cheese stretching from the tabletop to the height of your arm span as you dip crisp toasted bread into the cheese and devour it whole. 

Months later, I finally bit the bullet and bought myself a couple of Lodge cast-iron skillets. For a couple of heavy cookware that were made half the world away, they are surprisingly affordable! I got a 6.5-inch and a 10.25-inch pan which was just about $60 total. 

Cast iron pans have a cult following for many reasons: their durability and longevity, an ability to hold heat and deliver a great sear, the ease of use for both stovetops and oven, and an eventual non-stick surface. But I'm keeping it real: I bought a wee 6.5 inch pan just so I can indulge my desire to eat melted cheese in the comforts of my home. #nightcheesehabit

My decision composition for buying a cast iron: 30% for durability, 10% for its good sear and 90% because they look just fabulous. Is that how percentages work?

Also, should I really be standing over the pan taking pictures for the ‘gram as the oil smokes during the seasoning process? A question for another day.

I bought a set of cork-based place mats to use with my cast-iron pans, and let's just say, I'm glad I didn't go for plastic or silicone.

Provoleta is a traditional cheese made in Argentina, and can be tricky to find in other countries. Luckily, provolone, their Italian cousin, more widely available and makes a decent substitute. The ones I see in well-stocked grocery stores are sold in thick slabs or in 500g blocks. While melted provoleta is traditionally served as an appetiser for a meat-forward meal, I actually really like cooking and serving this for breakfast. There, I said it. Fight me. 

It's the ideal Breakfast Food; it's faster than making an omelette, and with even less effort. The cheese melts in just a matter of minutes over a fire or in the oven, which is the right amount of time needed to fix myself a cuppa. It's perfect with toasted bread, like the world's fanciest Nutella. And unlike eggs, which messes with your perception of how coffee tastes, provolone cheese has no such problems.   

At this point, you may be wondering, this have all been quite a lot of words and paragraphs, and where is the picture of my provolone cheese in my incredibly-photogenic cast iron pan? Well done. That is a very good catch and you’ll go far in life. Well, I've decided that tinkling around with a recipe while taking pictures is quite daunting, actually. Especially when I have got to schedule my workflow around mealtimes and natural lighting. So I’ve decided to take a step back, do what I can and then take my photos at a later date, when the opportunity presents itself. In other news, I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m incredibly lazy. Cheers. 

Melted Provolone

If you like, you may simply melt the cheese with sprinkles of herbs and chili flakes, have it for breakfast and call it a day. As I often do. But this is the Internet, where everybody presents a stylised version of their lives. So let's put in a bit more effort in our recipes, for the three of you who are actually reading this site, and for the one person who Googled 'hot chicks' and found his way here. And by more effort, I mean plagarise the Argentinian restaurant I went to and add in some sliced shallots.      

INGREDIENTS
A clove of garlic
100-150g provolone cheese
A big pinch red chili flakes
A big pinch of oregano (Or thyme. Or, y'know those bottled mix generically labelled ‘Italian Herbs’? Yeah. Use those. It'll be fine.)
2 shallots, sliced into thin strips

STEPS
1) In your beloved 6.5 inch Lodge cast-iron skillet* (Oh, you don't have one? Shame.), rub a clove of garlic over the interior. Stow the rest of the garlic away for other dishes; adding a whole garlic would overwhelm the rest of the dish. 

2) Add the provolone and let the cheese melt gently over medium heat. Add sliced shallot, chili flakes and the rest of the herbs.

3) When the cheese is fully melted, remove the skillet from the stove and serve immediately with thickly sliced bread (about an inch per slice). 

*A heat proof cookware, like a baking dish or a shallow ramekin, may be used. 

Tips 
There aren’t many things that don’t go well with melted cheese. You can use dukkah instead of Italian herbs.  You can serve it alongside traditional chimichurri, or with a heap of browned onions. Sliced crusty bread is a natural accompaniment to cheese, but you can also use firm biscuits or even boiled skin-on potatoes, à la raclette. But let’s keep it simple for breakfast, shall we?  

Using an Oven: set a tray in the upper third rack of your oven, and preheat your oven to the highest temperature. Assemble the ingredients in the skillet as described above, and then place the skillet in the oven for about 5-10 minutes, until the cheese is melted. 

29th April 2022: Okay, so I have finally gotten around to taking some pictures.

A friend in our line of work once said: work, rest or play - we get to choose two out of three. I might be a little slower on the uptake, because ever since I started working, I certainly felt that I haven't been playing or resting enough. Work had been especially demanding in the last couple of years, and I’ve been trying to catch up on some much needed zzz in my off time. When my stars aligned and a sympathetic administrator cut me some slack and approved a whole week of annual leave, it’s nice to take a break and sail away from everyday life.

Boarding Royal Carribean’s Quantum of the Seas marked my first voyage on a cruise. This is a cruise to nowhere, one of those cruises with no ports of call. I didn’t think we missed out on much; I had perfected the art of lounging around at home, and I did just fine doing much of the same on the cruise. Of course, the cruise came with better distractions: water sports, top-notch food and all-round excellent service. 

Wandering along the upper decks brought us to the pool. Or should I say, pools. There are several open air pools on deck. In the covered (and climate controlled) indoors section, there was a cascading series of pools. Hot tubs are present in both the indoors and outdoors section, and we spent our mornings bouncing from hot tubs to pools to poolside chairs where I caught up on some much-needed tanning. Every hour is cocktail hour at the poolside bar, and other cruise-goers were sitting around with a drink in hand - or three. An especially popular water activity nearby was the Flow Rider. It’s as hard as it looked. I could get up to my knees, but standing on the board was too much for me and I wiped out a few times quite spectacularly in the ten or so minutes.

Many dry activities are spread out across the ship. The Seaplex has an arcade. Aside from the usual games, it is also home to Bumper cars. We also gave rock climbing a go, although amongst the milling crowd, the number of spectators outnumber the participants. The gym is pretty well-equipped, though I prefer to work off the meals at the open air the running track on the deck. Running under the stars in the cool night air is quite pleasant, and as the ship powers through the ocean at night, you get a constant stiff wind blowing front to back of the ship.

Once on board, our days were filled with a godly amount of food. The fun part about cruises is to relinquish all thoughts of meal prep, and let a professional take the wheel. A lot of effort had gone into preparing food for the thousand-odd people on the Quantum of the Seas, and it showed. The meals were spectacular, even the basic ticket-inclusive meals at the Main Dining Room (which was really anything but basic). Every meal is an elaborate affair, with lunches and dinners being three-course sittings. Not that you had to limit yourselves to just three courses per meal: you could try all the dishes you like! The menu changes daily, and some dishes only may appear for one meal. (Sometimes to my chagrin, because holy sh*t, some dishes were fabulous, and I wouldn’t have mind eating again. The Steak Diane, for example, which I practically inhaled. And their delectable Crispy Coconut Shrimps.) The first nights’ menu was especially spectacular, with escargots and aged prime ribs on the menu. (I didn’t try ordering two prime ribs. I don’t think they’ll refuse, but my stomach may pitch a revolt.) For people who likes their meals a bit more casual, there’s also a concurrent buffet line running in the Windjammer Marketplace (also ticket-inclusive). Because I'm one of those who can't eat very much in one sitting but will happily snack throughout the day, I like eating at the Main Dining Room, and then popping by the buffet line to grab some fruits and cheese back to our room for supper, where we sit on the balcony overlooking the sea. The fridge in our room makes it ideal for storing beverages as well as buffet stowaways:)

Aside from takeaway food, there were also several complimentary snacking venues available throughout the day, so you'll never have to worry about going hungry. Try as we might, I couldn't quite manage to eat every fancy sausage from the Seaplex Dog House, nor every pizza flavour from Sorrento’s. And I’m ashamed to say, we didn’t try most of the cakes, pies and sandwiches from Cafe Promenade.

There were several other restaurants and pubs as well as a coffee house that were not ticket-inclusive. We were satisfied with the regular meals and snacking options, though we splurged for Wonderland, a molecular gastronomy restaurant. The setting and menu is based on Alice in Wonderland, and the meal was delightfully whimsical. The menu was a framed blank paper, and the words were revealed when you paint the paper over with a paintbrush. The ambiance and the playful display of each course made it a meal to savour. 

My days on board revolved around live acts, meal times and water activities. Scheduled entertainment run at regular intervals. Music performances range from solo guitarists in a cozy bar to an entire orchestra in the amphitheater. We saw a cabaret show, a juggling show, and my personal favourite, the acrobatic act done by the talented Revazov couple. The acrobatic show was so spectacular, I could’ve watched them every night.

At the time when we bought the cruise tickets, four days seemed like the right duration. But on the fourth day after breakfast, I really didn't want to depart the ship, and wished we had gotten a longer duration. Barring the ploy to hide on the ship for round 2 while everybody else alights (which really wouldn't work too great for you), I guess we just have to book another trip, and soon.

Tips for the Cruise

Bring USD: It is easy to overlook that Royal Carribean is from the US. Its economy runs on the USD. The pubs and restaurants on board, the duty-free shopping and the gratuity (USD $10/pax/day) are charged in USD. If you're not from the US, have a think about which credit card you would like to use to pay with at the end of the trip, so you won't be scrambling on the last night. (A Youtrip card/app works well, which I brought along with me. I had some USD stored in the card back from my trip to LA). If you’re not from the US, you will also need a multiplug adapter for your devices.

The Royal Carribean App: Get it. You check-in via the app. Once on the ship, seats for activities and shows are reserved via the app. It also tells you the menu for every meal throughout the cruise. Checking in was a little buggy on my iphone, but using my partner's Android, I was able to complete my check-in.

Shows and Activities: Once we got aboard and linked up to the ship’s wifi, we could make reservations to shows and activities. Try to make your reservations soon upon boarding, as tickets do run out. (However, do also rock up early before the show starts if you would like better seats, as these shows are free-seating.) Bookings for popular activities such as the Flowrider or Rock Climbing Under The Stars are released in intervals at certain timings. You should speak with Guest Services for release timings and check the app at regular intervals for new reservation slots which do pop up time and again.

Cruise packages: There are packages for alcoholic drinks, internet access or specialty restaurants. You will typically get an email for such discounted prices a few days before the cruise starts, and that’s when you should sign up if you’re keen. Connecting to the free wifi powers only the app. To get internet access, you’ll have to purchase their data package (as below). AirSIM is a company that I usually use for data services when travelling overseas, though I left it behind for the cruise. As this ship oscillates between the coast of Malaysia and Indonesia, providers such as AirSIM may not work.

Meals: The ticket-inclusive meals blew me away with its quality, and echoing other guests, the food is especially more luxurious on our first day and last day. You will have a great time without going to other specialty restaurants, though if you are still keen to do so, I suggest booking specialty restaurants on mid-cruise days.

Amenities: I was pleasantly surprised. Our room is not luxurious, but perfectly clean, and spacious enough for the two of us. A 2-in-1 shower gel is provided but you may prefer to bring your own. While two 500ml water bottles are provided for drinking, we went ahead and brought our water bottles. Water coolers are down because of the pandemic restrictions, but after each meal, our servers are kind enough to fill our bottles for us.

The private balcony attached to our room was a godsend. We didn’t quite realise how good it would be until we got on the ship. In this ongoing pandemic, it was our personal space to relax with a glass of wine while watching the sea waves and feeling the breeze on our face. We ate platters of cheese and fruits, and hot dogs and pizzas. Even desserts like profiteroles and tiramisu from the dining room and buffet line made their way into our balcony. We spent an inordinate amount of lounging in our balcony, compared to the amount of time we spent in the common areas on the ship that are overlooking the sea.

There is a TV, but we had no luck playing our own entertainment from our phones or computer. A lot of finesse was required to get our HDMI cable into the TV port, but even after, the software running on the TV prevented our personal devices from playing on the screen. It was initially possible using an Android phone connected to the TV via a USB-C cable, but the quality was poor and the movie was laggy. But perhaps we shouldn't be watching streaming services on a cruise anyway? There's plenty more things to do, even if it's just getting a sun-tan on our balcony.