My mum will be so darned proud (NOT!)

My mum brought over a load of bird's nest from Singapore when they came over earlier this month, and when they were here, she taught me the steps to cook the bird's nest using the slow cooker we have.

Every week, when she calls, she will remind me to cook the remaining bird's nest for myself and Wayne, and last night I did it -- or at least I tried.

I followed all the steps to the letter - soak with boiling water twice for 1.5 hours each time, adding it to the slow cooker and putting 1.5 cups of water, with a spoonful of rock sugar. We had then put the slow cooker on high, and it automatically jumped to low after 30 minutes.

Last night, I did the same thing, but the only thing different I did was to add the rock sugar when the slow cooker was just turned on at 10:30 pm (as opposed to adding it the next morning after the bird's nest was cooked).

Then I happily went to sleep, and when I woke up to nurse Rosabelle at 2:00 am, I thought she had pooed as I smelt something strong, but strangely sweet. I smelt her butt, it was clear. I even went out to the kitchen to check if the fridge door was closed tight as I had bought strong-smelling mangoes in the day. Nope, the fridge door was closed shut.

So I went back to sleep, and when I nursed Rosabelle again at 6:30 am, the sweet, and burnt smell was overpowering, and it then dawned upon me. The bird's nest! After putting her down to sleep, I quickly checked the slow cooker - it was still on high! It did not automatically switch to low after 30 minutes! And when I lifted the lid, I was greeted with the sight of burnt rock sugar and a bird's mess (not nest), and a strong burning smell! All I could do was to add water to the pot and soak it - the poor nanny has been trying to scrub away the burnt sugar to no avail for the whole day (and we've left it to soak in water with white vinegar overnight now).

Needless to say, Wayne and I did not get to drink any bird's nest today, and our whole family almost suffered from air poisoning from the all-night burning. As Wayne said, I'm really so NOT cut out for the kitchen - my place belongs in the boardroom. Burning bird's nest - sheesh, I don't think I will meet anybody like me in a long while... -_-