I have known Adrian for many years, going back all the way to the days of Bulletin Boards Systems, monochrome monitors and 300-baud modems. Like most techies back then, Adrian ended up pursuing a career in IT and is now overseeing the IT Support at the local campus of a UK-based university.

Besides our common interest in IT, gadgets and other things geeky we also enjoy coffee. In fact, our meet up at Starbucks has become an almost weekly routine. It was while we were chatting about seemingly random things topics and racking our brains for people to feature on The Weekend Chef, that Adrian jokingly volunteered his services. Of course, I was didn’t let him forget it and after much pestering, he finally relented.

What as the first thing you cooked?

I was about 10 when I was shipped off to a survival camp for youngsters, kind of like “Outward Bound School” but tougher. We had to take turns cooking for our groups and when it was my turn, the group wanted to have congee for dinner.

I figured it was a relatively easy thing to do. Just have extra water to keep it soaked, open up ration of canned food for the day and heat them up in the mess cans. Of course, that was the plan. What I ended up with was rice paste. At least it was edible!

What influenced your cooking style?

Not too sure, but my family is really into food, especially my mum, and she would challenge me to find out how a particular dish was made by only viewing and tasting it. Every now and then, I try to replicate certain dish, which yielded more disasters than success stories.

Any specialties?

Not really but friends tell me I make some really weird but great cocktails.

In your opinion, what would be a perfect meal?

I guess it would be one where everyone eating ends up begging for more even though they are stuffed.

What are the must haves when you cook?

Nothing really. I have pretty much learned to cook with what I have at hand and improvise. But it does help to have a sound knowledge of what each ingredient would taste like when mixed with another ingredient.

Any sage advice for budding cooks?

Never ever over-steam tofu in eggs, unless you relish the taste of rubber.

Ok, last question. Compare IT and cooking…

I know there are techies who will beg to differ, but honestly cooking and being a techie are worlds apart. In IT, everything is about logic, one process after another with little or no compromise. Cooking is an art form, with recipes being guidelines, but ultimately it is up to the individual to be creative and try something totally new.

In IT, you really cannot swap positive and negative connectors, but in cooking, you can substitute regular vinegar with something more daring like red wine.