0 Pancake batter [1]

This happy meal actually took place yesterday morning - a beautiful start to a beautiful weekend with beautiful food and most importantly, with beautiful company - mum, sam, and granny. Such a rare chance to get three-generations to gather.

I was so enticed by the drop-dead-salivating-inducing pancakes by Ashley over at Edible Perspectives, as well as the literal food porn that accompany GingerGirl's single-serve breakfasts. I could handle it no longer. Off I went to buy a pancake/waffle mix from the ever trustworthy Bob's Red Mill. Specifically, a 10-grain mix with baking powder and buttermilk powder all mixed in. All I needed was to throw in some milk and eggs, and do some flipping action. It sounds easier than it is; I have experienced failed pancakes of all sorts: burnt, stodgy, doughy, floppy etc. But yesterday I was Determined To Master THE PANCAKE.
I can't say I'm fully over with my fear of eggs and oils. Instead of 2 eggs and 2 teaspoons of oil (for 1 cup mix), I did one real egg and one chia egg (1 tbsp chia seeds, 3 tbsp water), and nixed the oil completely. The result couldn't be any better - the batter fluffed and puffed and stretched tall and proud as it heated up in the non-stick pan (I didn't even have to coat it with oil), as if trying to test it limits of how far it could stretch. In the end, 1 cup flour mix yielded 9 souffle-like pancakes, just so I know the serving size estimation in the future
My only regret was I wolfed down the pancakes too quickly, leaving no time to analyse the improvements needed. It was too good, especially with durians, chocolate, JEM nut butter and strawberries are involved. Pillows of Heavenly Goodness.
Now, for the exact recipe

Basic pancake batter [1] (BRM's 10 grain pancake/waffle mix)

• 1 cup flour mix
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 3 tbsp water
• 1 egg
• 1 cup almond milk, unsweetened

1. Make the chia egg by stirring chia seeds into water. Let stand 15 min (can be prepared the night before if you're to inpatient to wait in the morning)
2. Whisk the egg and add in chia egg and almond milk
3. Create a well in the flour and mix in the wet ingredients. Do not overmix (it's okay for the batter to have some lumps).
4. Heat a small non-stick pan over low heat. Spoon batter into pan (about 1/4 scoops) and heat each side for about 1.5-2 min.
5. Cover each cooked pancake with a kitchen towel to keep moist as you cook (an agonizing wait, I know)
6. Finally, pour/sprinkle/scatter on the toppings!

The contrast of cold durian against the steaming fluffy cloud-like pancakes was out-of-the-world. Better than four-seasons anytime.
Three more days, two more exams, but hardly in a mood to study!

0 A true JEM

Drugs paper was so bad today I should have cried. Instead, I relieved my sorrow with a bout of grocery shopping (4 peaches, 10-grain BRM pancake/waffle mix) and whipping up a yummy one-bowl-buddha-bowl lunch (couscous, garlic cod, avocado, blush tomatoes, red peppers). And then random surfing of the www until now. Is this yet another year-4-graduation symptom?

I haven't posted a picture in a long while and here's my pre-exam breakfast fuel. Delicious but sadly, did nothing to help in my writing speed and memory.

Steel cut oats cooked in almond milk (Natura, unsweetened) spiced with vanilla & cinnamon, on a bed of chopped strawberries, blackberries, nugget of Laughing Giraffe vanilla almond macaroon, chopped mango pieces. Baked for an additional 10 minutes to get it all hot and bubbly. Topped with my concoction of JEM cinnamon maca AB/melted raw chocolate truffles (Ultimana)/raw macadamia nut butter + more toppings of crushed almonds and dried cranberries. The shade of pink is so lovely, isn't it?

JEM nut butter definitely lives up to its name. For the cinnamon/maca version, it tastes exactly like caramel, and if you're familiar with asian cuisine, full of that gula melaka (jaggery) flavour. That's because they sweeten it with coconut palm sugar. My next haul from Raw Food Living will definitely include another of their products - likely the cardamom one. Sounds exotic!

***

Update. Was dreaming about pancakes for tomorrow's breakfast and then mum came home, with not just one box, but TWO or maybe THREE boxes of durians! New idea: durian pancake! Like Four Seasons style. My intention initially was fluffy pancakes with blackberries and strawberries but now, it's gonna be crepe style with thick chunky durian pulp! With all these going on, I can hardly focus on studying! Bad girl.

0 Juiced

It must be the weather. Of late I have an indescribable craving for juices - fruit juice as well as juicy fruits. Yesterday I bought a 750ml glass bottle of Why Not? biodynamic carrot juice (imported from Germany) from RFG. Poured it over [Superfood Greens spirulina/hemp granola + chia + protein powder] this morning. It was so carroty and fresh and you could almost feel the vit A/C coursing through your veins. + a juicy October sun plum on the side, with additional snackies like homemade butter, JEM caramelly maca almond butter & some nuts. Yum.

0 Berry Banana Morning

New star ingredient: Waitrose Blueberry Coulis!

There's only one ingredient on the list, which is 100% blueberry puree. But if there's no preservatives whatsoever, I wonder how the coulis manages to be packed without going mouldy. Anyway the coulis had a bright, tangy sharp flavour, clearly just blueberry goodness without the sugar nonsense.

Paired with fresh chopped strawberries, mashed banana, and spiked with cinnamon and vanilla, my steelies could not have been more awesome. The nut butter frenzy continues with four toppings today! Chunk of Laughing Giraffe vanilla almond macaroon, Jem red maca almond butter, Woodstock Farm almond butter and my homemade peanut/almond/flax/sesame butter.

I froze the rest of the blueberry coulis into ice cubes because I know I wouldn't be able to finish the package within 2 days as recommended. Makes as awesome after dinner dessert especially with the repressive humidity + blisteringly hot weather going on now.

0 Power up!

Could breakfast get any better? This morning's version was a buffet of treats. I wonder how many ingredients you can pack into this small Le Creuset bowl of mine ;)

• 20g oat bran
• Few drops of the last of Silk soy (unsweetened)
• Water -- microwaved and it overflowed :( --
• 3/4 (60g) frozen mashed nana
• Sesame-pumpkin-flax + Garden of Life raw protein
• 11 giant blueberries
• 10g Superfood Green hemp/spirulina/coconut granola
• Heaping Fage 0% yogurt
• JEM raw maca almond butter
• Woodstock Farm almond butter
• Homemade almond/peanut/sesame/flax butter
• Hidden treasure - raw cacao nib ball

12 Awesome ingredients! And very-belly satisfied!

0 1000 words a day

What a major load off the back! Poster session is finally over and done with. While one examiner asked plenty of questions, the other was barely listening and did not appear very much interested. Anyway, I'm so glad and happy it's over. Now I just have to write ~1000 words a day to the final thesis submission on 11 Apr. Okay, ideally I should write for one week and revise for another week so that makes it 2000 words a day.

Power breakfast to start the day: 33g oat bran (necessary for the time-being instead of steel cutters due to time constraints in the morning), 25g frozen nana, 11 blueberries, 1 strawberry, innards of one durian cream puff, chia seeds, sesame/flax/pumpkinseed powder, homemade almond/sesame/peanut butter, 2 raisins and topped with more sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Needless to say, the treasure in this bowl was the dollop of D24 durian cream strategically hidden in the centre of the bowl.

Let's get the ball rolling towards the goal of 2000 words a day! >>>

0 Strawbnana eggy oatmeal partaaay

Cream of whipped eggy strawbnana-on-a-hot-date Scottish Mayan oatmeal-quinoa-amaranth blend with sunbutter, and extra crunch fom sunflower and pepita seeds. If you understood that, you would understand the partaay that went on during this morn's breakky.

0 New [oatmeal] idea!

Rooibois infused oatmeal base ft. (beyond-juicy) Red Anjou. The rooibois tea (TWG) will be steeped in soymilk overnight for a stronger flavour (may it not be too bitter), and then cooked in oatmeal as per usual. Toppings will be dates, nuts and SUNBUTTER!

0 Every second matters now

Oh my, I hate seeing the calendar page flip from "Feb" to "Mar;" later at 12pm (1 hr to go), the church bells are going to chime in their mocking tone, chiding my procrastination and perfectionism which results in me doing things so slowly just for the sake of precision, which ultimately, nobody would really care (except me).

Farewell lunch turned out to be at Itacho Sushi, which was a life-changing event, really. The blow-torched soy sauce salmon sushi was orgasmic, the fatty omega-3 oils literally oozing from the skin and melting into fishy goodness on the tongue. Salmon nigiris topped with lobster salad, chawanmushis, crabmeat beancurd, tamago were all equally good, and not too expensive. This has sparked a new found craving for sushi and I'm so going to have to check out the "shiok sushi" from Koh's Grill and Sushi Bar at Wisma's Food Republic - in 3 months time? And to learn to make sushi. It's amazing, rekindling the passion and love of something that I'm never experienced since... the discovery of oatmeal (which of course I'm still passionate about)

Speaking about oatmeals, this morning's creation was rather novel - 1/2 portion BRM's oatmeal cooked in Pacific soy milk and Garden of Life RAW protein powder, with a Rude Health Spelt Oaty biscuit crumbled in, a slice of Larabar Cappuccino melted in, Sunbutter, topped with a sprinking of nuts & seeds. Superb mix of creaminess and crumblyness from the biscuit (which surprisingly didn't disintegrate in the heat). A Red Delicious that was so red it could be the Snow White poison apple on the side. Garden of Life RAW protein powder has that malty, slightly chalky taste similar to Sunwarrior, which may be disagreeable to some as I found initially. However, I've even grown to like it now! So far, Lifetime Basics has the most neutral of "neutral flavours" out there in the market; you relaly can't detect the powder taste at all when mixed into oats.

0 Doughy, carby, chocolatey

Things have been busy lately, but it's the repetitive-kind-of-busy, which means not much progress made on the lab front. At least I've managed to clear 90% of confocal imaging, which was my target set for 31-12-12. I'm really quite sick of lab now; what's keeping me sane is knowing that it'll all be over in a matter of months time. It's so near yet so far. I know all this will pass in a whiz, yet during this period of time there's still the data to process, thesis to write, poster presentation. These very thoughts scare me.

On the food front, things could not have been better. I take every meal, especially breakfasts and Sunday dinners, as an opportunity to exercise creativity. From Christmassy oatmeal themes featuring s'nog (soy nogs) and homemade cranberry sauce (above) to pools of hot mole chocolate made with good quality dark chocolate like Godiva and Fauchon (below).

Today's breakfast theme - triple chocolate & banana (from bottom up): seared 'nana coins; Rude Health The Oatmeal cooked in water with a nugget of Justin's chocolate almond butter stuck in the core; topped with hot chocolate mole sauce made with soy milk, protein powder, square of Fauchon 65% coffee chocolate noir, chocolate mole powder and extra coffee granules.

This week I also bought Rudi's cinnamon raisin bagels which I had for a quick lunch today before going off to Middle Earth. Mouthfuls of doughy carbs paired with mushy avocado and flakey salmon = pure satisfaction.

Dinner was aloo matar gajar, basic indian curry with potatoes, peas and carrots (translated in that order). I added carrots for extra bulk. Alongside I had a hunk of Curry Times' curry bun, which was filled with even more potatoey goodness, and I must admit, their filling was much tastier than mine. I loved the soft sweet white bread bun. Doughy carbs again!

It's yet another eventful year gone by. I'll be ruminating on the changes and challenges I'll like to take on for 2013 as I reflect on events of 2012. Maybe a dedicated post tomorrow, if I can fit the time in.

0 Weed potato

My sweet potato kick started with an innocuous can of sweet potato puree (Farmer's Market). It featured in breakfast and lunch two days in a row. The canned puree is more watery than if you were to self-mash a sweet potato. Nevertheless, the taste doesn't suffer; if fact it's so freakish puddingly good that I'd call it "weed" potato - addictive!

For example, this morning's breakfast: Baked sweet potato s'nog oatmeal with cherries.

--Ringing in the season with seasonal oatmeal themes!--

Words alone cannot describe how good this was. It had a texture cross between a pudding and muffin, and of course, full of sweet, sweet 'potato. I made this with Silk s'nog and it did up the festive quotient a bit! Most importantly, before baking, I stuffed dollops of Justin's classic peanut butter randomly throughout the mixture, and digging into chunks of melted PB + sweet potato oats is the best thing to wake up to.

Baked sweet potato (s'nog) oatmeal with cherries
Yield: serves one

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup oats (Rude's Health The Oatmeal - blend of steel cut and medium oatmeal)
• 1/4 tsp chia seeds
• 1/2 scoop protein powder (Lifetime Basics, neutral flavour)
• 1/4 cup sweet potato puree (Farmer's Market)
• 1/4 cup soy eggnog (Silk)
• Dashes of cinnamon
• 3 cherries, quartered
• Peanut butter

Directions

1. Mix everything except peanut butter together and let sit overnight in the fridge.
2. The next morning, preheat oven to 375. Meanwhile, stuff peanut butter dollops into oat mixture.
3. Bake for 20 mins
4. Enjoy the best breakfast, especially with the festive Christmassy ingredients. Play some Michael Buble Christmas songs if you wish. :)

0 Beet this [smoothie]!

All it takes it just a little effort [and a whole lot of noise tolerance] to whip up this chokeful-of-antioxidants smoothie. This consisted of a chunk of roasted beetroot, slices of frozen bananas, Lifetime Basic's protein powder, scoop of chocolate mole powder, chia seeds, and a dollop of Rachel's ginger greek yogurt. The result was a thick, satisfying smoothie. The earthy notes of the beets were noticeable but nicely balanced by the sweetness of the 'nanas. Chili chocolate gave it a nice warm kick to the ice cold smoothie. I like contrasts, and this smoothie embodied multifarious textures and tastes.

I'm the most effective procrastinator; should really get back to studying. Feel an impending doom for tomorrow's paper. Yay for being the last exam but nay for being rather unprepared. Whatever, just wanna get over and done with possibly the second last round of exams in my entire life.

0 On a yogurt roll

Unexpected surprises evoke the most pleasure. Pulling off the cover of Rachel's ginger greek yogurt revealed a thick, creamy, off-yellow pudding-like yogurt that tastes as sublime as it looked, or even better yet. This yogurt is laced with bits of crystallized ginger which makes for an interesting warm flavour and texture. The ginger wasn't as kick-ass as I would have liked, but the highlight, as I stress again, is the gloriously thick and creamy mouthfeel that the non-fat Fage 0% cannot give. The power of fat, cream and sugar is manifest. I felt so indulgent, digging into the pot. But it sure did make for a good post-lunch dessert, and because it was so rich, I was easily satisfied with two (heaping) tablespoons.

Yogurt was featured in this morn's breakfast too as part of a yogurt mess: Last of Fage 0% + 1/3 crumbled [commercial] muffin + buckwheat flakes + coconut shreds + R2E2 (or KP) mango - the best, non-fibrous, super creamy and smooth mango I'd had ever!! It's a mango from Australia.

For mum's birthday yesterday, I did a handmade card and whipped up some orange zesty french toast using the slightly stale rye sourdough baguette she bought from Bread Society. The french toast wasn't sweet at all (likely attributed to the small amount - 1 tsp - of brown sugar in the egg mix), but with the zesty orange flavour, seared caramelized bananas and yellow nectarine slices, there wasn't and shouldn't be much need for sugar in the first place. My only regret was that I wolfed down my share too fast that I did not have time to analyze the areas for improvements. And also I got serious bloatedness after that and its effects is still manifest till today (slightly).

The family's going out for a Chinese lunch/dinner tomorrow as a continuation of the big 55 celebration. Venue's not confirmed, but I'm game for anything :)

After my final paper next Wednesday, I cannot wait to (i)watch Life of Pi; (ii)watch Rise of the Guardians; (iii)Christmas-related activities; (iv)bake/cook; (v)FYP-related stuff. Yesterday the PI reminded me of the PhD application deadline, indirectly insinuating that I should apply. I guess he's hoping I stay on to continue on the research; I, on the other hand, am not too keen of another four years of studying. At least I should be glad I have an offer to stay on.

0 Dysregulation

I think am self-destructive, or at least immune to stress, or maybe, have a damaged amygdala. Knowing very well that I have an assignment which deadline is imminent, exam in two freakin' weeks time, and untouched revision, yet I still am surfing the web like it's the holidays. Why can't I regulate my behaviour properly???

But I haven't been that relaxed and happy in such a long while. After church (7.30 AM service - a convert to early bird :)) I headed to Cold Storage at Takashimaya for grocery shopping. Unfortunately at just past 9 the shops were still closed. What [bad] luck. As such, it called for a detour to United Square's branch instead. But it proved a blessing in disguise because I scored a few discounted items and exotic buys. Like:

• Kashi cinnamon harvest (blame it on Amanda's influence! In fact I still have an unopened box of Dr. Oz's buckwheat flakes)
• 71% Ecuador dark chocolate block (Montezuma)
• Swiss farmer rolls (Swiss Bake) - 1/2 price!
• Pacific Almond milk (unsweetened) [couldn't bring myself to splurge on Silk's almond milk]
• Flavour Fall pluots - 1/2 price and in rather good condition still!
• Wild sockeye salmon [omegas yum!]

I think what put in a such a good mood was really today's breakfast: (last of) rolled oats (Binda Valley) cooked in unsweetened soy milk (Natura), sweetened with 1/2 mashed nana and raisins, upped with protein powder (Lifetime Life's Basic protein - the most neutral flavour thus far, compared to Sunwarrior and Vega Health Optimizer) and protein blend (real good food), spiced with cinnamon and chocolate chili and dressed with chocolate hazelnut butter (Justin's). A double whammy of chocolate would be bound to deliver a double whammy of endorphins and it sure did!

And then it was home sweet home. Managed to be a good girl and squeeze in a bit of work before spending ~2 hours (!) cooking and eating lunch, which was a ooey gooey curry & cumin bean stew (BRM whole grains and beans soup mix) with torned tortilla pieces, avocado, sardines (Boiromar), curly lettuce, cucumber, tomato, honey goat's cheese (Delamere) and beetroot relish.

A Jaffa sweetie (pomelo x grapefuruit) to end the meal. Guess what was found on Pubmed:

All applied methods showed that sweeties had higher antioxidative activity than grapefruit. Experiments on laboratory animals show that diets supplemented with sweeties, and to a lesser extent with grapefruit, increased the plasma antioxidative potential and improved the lipid metabolism, especially in the rats fed with added cholesterol.

Apparently a sweetie has more antioxidants than a grapefruit!

Lately people's been asking what I plan to do after I graduate. My PI is persuading me to consider PhD at TLL. For once, I really don't know what should my next step in life; so far it's been pretty straightforward: pri > sec > jc > uni, with the choice of school's quite [re-determined too. Pray for God's guidance in this.

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!

1 Waffleton

Vans blueberry waffles were at half-price! Obviously I couldn't pass up the chance of not buying it, despite its expiry date drawing imminently near (1 Apr to be exact). I've tried the original one before and loved it, so I was pretty excited to try the blueberry.

It was blueberry domination. You could smell the the sweet fragrance of blueberries even when the waffles was in its frozen state. A start to a promising meal indeed. You could see specks of blue dotted through the waffles. And most importantly, you could taste the ephemeral blueberries; unlike most commercial brands where "blueberries" is synonymous with sickeningly sweet artificial blueberry syrup flavor, Vans was real and natural. My only gripe was that the waffles didn't get as crisp as I would have liked; perhaps that may be remedied by toasting it a bit longer. I had the waffle smothered in my homemade cashew butter and topped with the sweetest yellow peach ever. It's good to switch from oatmeal once in a while, you know [except that these waffles are wheat-based].

I can't believe its WEEK 11 already. So many things to do, so little time. 2 more thousand-word essays, 1 software to complete, 1 more short essay, 1 presentation and 4 exams to go.

3 Nature & nuture

What makes Sunday so special? It's always associated with a laid-back hippie vibe, coffee-on-the-patio and hearty brunches. Today encapsulated exactly the prototypical Sunday - good food, good mood and good company.

First off: breakfast in a mug! Or, more using the more popular term, smoothie-in-a-bowl (SIAB).

And it's not just any smoothie; it's a top-grade Mao Shan Wang oat/amaranth protein smoothie, with some strwabs and banana thrown in for goodm measure. Power-packed with nutrients!

Recipe

Flesh of 1 durian seed, best use mao shan wang

1/4 frozen banana, sliced

1 gigantic U.S. strawberry

1/4 cup Silk (vanilla) soymilk

1 ice cube

1/4 cup basic amaranth muesli, soaked overnight with 1/4 cup Silk (vanilla) soymilk and 1 scoop O+ protein powder

Toppings: 1 spoonful almond butter!

Directions
Mix & get those blender blades chuggin' and top with almond butter.

Outcome
Thick, creamy & hearty shake that could pass off as a pudding, strongly flavored with the potency of durian, with undertones of strawberry essence. The banana was barely detectable, although it probably served to give that creamy consistency.

It was back to church after a three week hiatus and today's topic was on repentance, befitting for the period of Lent. Using Mark 1:15 as the grounding scripture - "The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" - the pastor guided us on the hows of repentance: change of mind, change of heart, and change of life. It almost sounds like making new year's resolutions. After all, both boil down to the same thing - pausing to reflect, recognize mistakes, and take corrective changes. Things that are being increasingly rare in the fast-paced world.

Anyhow, since Daddy has gone back to Malaysia, Mum & I took the opportunity to explore far-flung nook-and-crannies of Singapore. We went to Marmalade Pantry at the Stables (Fairways Drive).

Despite - or maybe because of - being tucked amidst the lush greenery of Bukit Timah, Marmalade Pantry was as crowded (with tai-tais/expats) as it could get. Service fell a little short and I suspected they served our food to the wrong table, causing us to wait impatiently. Eventually, my Crabmeat Linguine ($24) and mum's Seared Scallops Linguine arrived.

Calling it crabmeat sauce would really be a misnomer; it was more like a crab ragout, thick and chunky from the generous portion of shredded crab meat and coated with a spicy tomato sauce. The linguine could do with a minute more of cooking; it was slightly too al dente. It was tasty, no doubt, and the pine nuts gave a nice touch to the flavours, which would otherwise border on being too one-dimensional. I suffered from the bitter pine nut aftertaste though.

After lunch, we wanted to explore the stables but it was restricted to club members only. However, we were lucky and got to spot one which was out exercising. It had an interesting spotty color and you can actually see its number branded on it's coat.

Having had a heavy lunch, dinner was a light affair, but no less delicious. A salad of massaged kale with grilled chicken!

The baby kale leaves were purchased from Cold Storage at a rather offensive price. But since kale is so difficult to find in Sg, I decided to buy it. Anyway, I'm not playing with words when I say massaged kale. Kale is tougher vegetable than the normal spinach or rocket, and so by massaging it with acid (lemon/lime juice and/or cider vinegar) and oil, it breaks down the leaves a little and also imparts flavor.

Basic massaged kale salad and possible mix-ins (for one)

Handful of baby kale leaves, chopped
Dressing

1 tsp lime juice (or lemon)

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp raspberry balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp walnut oil

1/8 avocado, chopped
Mix-ins

Cherry tomatoes, chopped

More chopped avocado

Grilled chicken & capsicum satays

Sunflower seeds, roasted

Directions
Using cleaned hands, mix the leaves with the dressing ingredients for about 1-2 minutes until the leaves turn a brighter green and well-coated with a sheen of avocado and oil. Add the mix-ins and let stand for a little.

Outcome
The action of massaging the kale was quite therapeutic and during the process, you can actually feel the leaves becoming softer. The avocado, which will get slightly mashed from the massaging, will coat the leaves nicely. I liked how the raspberry vinaigrette balanced the zing of lime and vinegar with a touch of sweetness. And of course, the nuttiness of the toasted sunflower seeds and walnut oil! The chicken & capsicum satay was bought by Mum from Jasons supermarket and was pre-marinated. All I had to do was to grill it. I added that in for some protein. It produced a simple yet tasty salad!

Dinner is served, with a frozen & toasted ciabatta slice (Cedele) topped with smooshed avocado.

If only every day could be a Sunday... - but that would make Sundays lose it special meaning, wouldn't it?

1 Fragments of thoughts

I want to experiment with sous vide - eggs, salmon, chicken breast.

I want to whip up a mean white wine seafood pasta (shrimp, scallops etc.).
[Yesterday's squid ink pasta with cod and tobiko in Chreese sauce was nothing short of awesome, but it's not counted, because after all, it's from a package.]

I want to have a laid-back brunch - ricotta pancakes at Skyvve, blueberry pancakes at Rider's cafe, Californian at Wild Honey.

I want to eat cake - strawberry shortcake from Flor.

I want to enjoy nature - Punggol Waterfront.

I want to do photostories - Nikon 7000.

I want to do everything but study for tomorrow's test, Thursday's Immunology, look at the Scratch program, continue writing my essay which I have not touched for 6 weeks or so, do lab report.

For breakfast, I had the last of my steel cutters baked (~1 tbsp), added protein powder and a ball of chocolate spread 3/4 way through, topped with Carman's oats and amaranth muesli. As always, leave the best to the last; scrape around the edges, moving inwards, so that eventually you'll end up with a dark semi-solid, semi-liquid orb of viscous matter - dark, rich bitter warm chocolate that sensuously coats your tongue as you imbibe.

Today I bought wholemeal ciabatta from Cedele and had a tuna 'wich, half with garlic piccanti and the other half with beetroot chutney. Somehow, both tasted similar - vineargy and oniony. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of garlic and beetroot?

I got back two major assignments today - Heritage essay and com sci tutorials. Both were done well, I say. But in return, I get slapped with two CAs this week.

Bye and off to study.

0 What it takes

I'm currently reading up on hypermetabolism - a physiological state of increased rate of metabolic activity. Research has shown that although patients with AN are hypometabolic during the starved state (conservation of energy, glucose-sparing), they become hypermetabolic during refeeding. It appears to be counter-productive to the body and why this is so remains unclear. Nonetheless, this increase in metabolic rate can slow the rate of weight gain by significantly increasing caloric requirements beyond what can be predicted by the increase in body weight. As summarized neatly in a study by Garber (2011):

Obarzanek et al demonstrated an increase in REE (resting energy expenditure) of 21% over baseline when calorie intake advanced from 1,105 to 2,105 calories, and a further increase of 63% over baseline at an intake of 3,216 calories [10]. Van Wymelbeke et al (2004) showed 13% increase in REE when calories increased from 823 to 2,057 in 1 week, with a total increase of 43% over baseline after 10 weeks of feeding, when subjects reached 2,615 calories [9]. These increases are partly due to increases in the energy required to process, digest, and absorb nutrients, or the thermic effect of feeding (TEF) [7], [12], [13]. However, increased TEF does not completely explain the dramatically elevated metabolic needs during refeeding in AN patients. More recent studies have shown that psychological factors, including anxiety, depression, and fear of weight gain, may contribute to the hypermetabolic state [9], [12], [16]. Rigaud et al administered blind loads (such that patients were unaware of the calories ingested) to AN patients through tube feeding and demonstrated a calorie-dependent increase in REE [12]. This study demonstrated unadjusted correlations between TEF and increased calories, plasma cortisol, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), and catecholamines, decreased beta-endorphin, fear of becoming fat, and feelings of satiety and anxiety. These findings underscore the complexity associated with energy expenditure in AN.

The conclusion of another study speaks much for the sentiments expressed by many recovering AN:

According to our results, a body-weight gain of 150 g/d requires the intake of not only the assumed 6500 kJ but also a further 4500 kJ (ie,11 000 kJ, or 2630 kcal/d), or 300 kJ (ie, 75 kcal)/kg body weight/d. One can understand why it is so difficult in such conditions to obtain a weight gain of >1 kg/wk. And thus, it is often unfair to accuse most of these AN patients of discarding their food when they do not gain body weight.

When I read that, I was like MY SENTIMENTS EXACTLY! So many people just think that we don't eat or refuse to eat when we actually make tremendous effort to put on weight. They don't realize the body is so much more complex than input>output. That said, now that I am more educated on the prospect of my body of being in a hypermetabolic state, I too must be more conscious of how much more effort I must put in and eat eat eat. On forums, recovering ANs talk about having a minimum of 3000-4000 kcal/day just to kick start the weight gain process. Based on my current diet plan, I don't think I hit anywhere near that. Time to change that.

References
Garber AK et al (2011) A prospective examination of weight gain in hospitalized adolescents with anorexia nervosa on a recommended refeeding protocol. J Adol Health 24-29.
Wymelbeke VV et al (2004) Factors associated with the increase in resting energy expenditure during refeeding in malnourished anorexia nervosa patients. Am J Clin Nutr 1469-1477.

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Yesterday I attempted again to make my own nut butter. My first attempt was quite long ago, with almond butter. It turned out disastrous, more like chopped nuts than a butter. I used a blender then. This time round with cashew butter, I used a chopper which yielded better results, though still on the crumbly side and far from the gold creamy standards of Artisana. I did add oil - walnut oil - while processing; maybe I added too little? It was 2 teaspoons I think. I had some for breakfast (protein oatmeal/Magoo's granola) and it tasted not bad, though I would skip the soaking step cause I think it washed away some of the flavour. Being packed in a generic plastic vacuum bag without any indication of it being raw or roasted, I thought the precautionary soaking step would be better. Finally finished the last of the durians (3 entire durians in 4 days). Scrummy till the last seed :)

Today before Heritage I went to Mac Commons. Quiet and spacious, with luxurious iMacs, huge tables and comfy chairs, this is an ideal studying place... except the cold from the blasting air-con, as usual.

0 Do u durian?

How can anyone not like durians with such gastronomic creations?

Today: durian smoothie + toasted sprouted carrot raisin bread with a hunk of AB.

Work progress update:
To-do tasks
Neuro - understand what I observed in lab esp. patch-clamping, ISM
Immuno - notes, lymphatic system
Microbio - :D
CS & IT - tutorial (Sun or I'll spend too much time on it)
Heritage - paper 1, readings.