0 Tofuel: tofu fuel

I was so bowled over by the divine experience of the tofu pudding that I just had to make it again. This time, the base was the same (Morinu firm tofu, 3/4 frozen nana, chocolate mole powder), but I changed the source of protein. Specifically, this morning's one features Vega Complete Health Optimizer (natural flavor) which explains the bile-like, greenish appearance of the pudding. But looks are deceiving; this was one delicious, thick creamy pudding, with a block of chili cherry Chocolove to boot!

The Vega protein powder is derived from a mix of plant sources. Hemp is at the top of the ingredient list, which presumably contributed to the grassy smell/taste of the powder. There's also pea and brown rice protein in there. Compared to Sunwarrior, Vega has a more assertive presence. I quite like the grassy taste of it (something like Amazing Grass powder but less vile) but if you don't, Vega's definitely not for you. Both Vega and Sunwarrior have similar dissolvability. No problems with texture for both brands. The serving scoop provided was humongous (like the size of 3 tbsp?). The recommended serving is 2 (humongous) scoops, which gives 220 kcal and 26g protein, but I only used 1/2 scoop (=1/4 serving) for the tofu pudding, which was satisfying enough.

Apart from the tofu pudding, breakfast featured a tofu (beancurd) tart from Le Cafe. Talk about tofu fuel! It's similar to egg tart in appearance, but much lighter on the tastebuds. Imagine firm tau huay encased in a buttery digestive biscuit-like crust. It's not sweet, and that's what I like about it. If you noticed, there's an absence of oatmeal in today's breakfast. I unwillingly admit that over the years of nearly-daily oatmeal breakfasts, perhaps my tastebuds have become a little bored and jaded. Maybe it's not so much that I love oatmeal but the comfort the "safety" brings. Time to listen to inner cravings and honour the mind & body.

Lunch was also fueled by tofu - Amy's Indian wrap featuring spinach and tofu. I think "Indian" is a misnomer because its non-spicy at all and I wouldn't associate the taste of the wrap with Indian cuisine (e.g. no curry flavour). Nevertheless, the spinach was creamy and the blocks of tofu provided textural variations. Frozen fast food can be so good.

Amid all these, I was rushing to complete my 3-pg essay on pain/hyperalgesia, which I had spent is disproportionate amount of time for 15 marks. That's always the case isn't it? Don't know why I have to be so perfectionist and precise with my wordings. I left house in a hurry at 4.05pm, hoping to make it to school by 5pm (deadline). It must be through the hand of God that Mum's car miraculously appeared as I was running to the MRT station. She drove me to school and back!

The past few days have been relatively relaxed, mostly just completing confocal for lab because I've finished the dissection (except for lethal NICD crosses). Also lectures were canceled either due to tutorial/SDL or for no reason at all. In fact come to think of it, I only attended a grand total of one tutorial this week i.e. 2 h of school for the entire week! It's back to the grind starting next week, with CA on 8 sep, sadly.

Next week will be when I will turn 22 (sobs). I will be fulfilling my dreams of going to Gardens by the Bay and dining at Pollen!

4 To will a will

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How do I know God's will? Loaded question, no concrete answers. In search of at least some direction, I attended a talk on this topic at church yesterday. Life is, more often than not, punctuated by a few major crossroads: choosing a college, your career, midlife crisis, and so on. Growing up in a Christian family in Singapore, life has been good and highly structured so far: kindergarten > primary school > secondary school > college > university; the well-trodden, default path of a Singapore kid. But now, after uni, uh... welll? It's like being on auto-pilot all these years and now suddenly you have to manually navigate the direction of your vehicle. In short, I'm quite unsure of my next step after uni, albeit there's still another year to go.

Anyhow, it was my first time going for a specially organized talk on my own initiative. The 40-odd audience were mostly in late 20s and up, so I felt quite young there. The speaker wasn't particularly the 'wow' type, but nevertheless offered some guidance. His main point being, Stop looking for the will of God, and focus on developing a relationship instead. How? As always, through formative reading of the Bible, prayer and counsel.

The thing is, I've said and tried more than a dozen times to read the Bible regularly but it never lasts more than a few days. I mean, the Bible isn't the most exciting book ever. Then another question is where do you start? Do you just randomly pick a chapter a day, or read it consecutively? Do Bible dipping? And so I really admire those who have such great passion for God and great knowledge of his Word. But admiration isn't enough; I want to be part of it. Maybe I should stop my aimless surfing of the net and route my attention to reading the Bible together with some self-help books.

On a side note, I had a quick dinner at Baja Fresh at Rendezvous Hotel before the session. It's a Tex-Mex version of Subway (incidentally, I wouldn't expect a fast food outlet at an uppity class hotel). I placed an order for Original Taco (corn) with Grilled Chicken ($5.95). Service was polite and the food was delivered promptly.

I didn't expect a taco to be like that; I'd imagine a taco shell, like the ones seen on taco boxes in the supermarket. Nevertheless, it was fairly tasty, with lots of kick from onions and cilantro. If you're sensitive to onions, this is not for you. The chicken had a nice smokey edge to it, but it was overly salty. There was a free serving of tortilla chips (unpictured) and free-flow of self-service dips, over a range of spiciness. My favorite was the pico de gallo salsa with fresh tomatoes (the middle of the three dips above), perhaps because it helped to tone down the saltiness of the chicken.