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 Go MAD

Have you gone MAD (make a difference) today?

Anyhow, Hamm bought a crate of lovely baby alphonso mangoes back from India and Praise the Lord!, for they were surely God's nectar. Despite its greenish tinge on the outside, it boasted a deep orange flesh that could rival a setting sun. It was dribble-down-your-mouth-juicy, bursting with summery notes of honey, just purely fantastic! After an awesome Monday lunch (I love mondays!) of wholewheat red wine couscous + omelette topped with red peppers, spinach, garlic & avocado, an enjoyed an equally awesome fruitful bowl of fat strawberries, blackberries, cubed alphonsos, fresh coconut meat, all swimming in a pool of refreshing coconut water. Lovely. And to think it's 8 more days to FREEDOM.

0 A much welcomed break

I had a mini respite from the 12-hour intensive lab work over the course of last week. We marked granny's 83rd birthday at Ming Kee seafood restaurant, which meant I had an excuse to complete my work earlier. The dishes were lip-smackingly good from start to finish: signature homemade beancurd with shitake and broccoli, bamboo (razor) clams, triple cooked crab bee hoon, soft and silky smooth steamed tiger grouper, sea cucumber with more shitake and broccoli, and chinese spinach in superior stock. Everything was flavorful without being too rich, salty, or having that MSG taste that so often plagues cze char eateries. The crab bee hoon was Shiok with a capital 'S' - thin rice vermicelli coated in its sweet & robust crab stock, with more crabtastic goodness from the chunks of fresh Sri Lanka crab pincers. The fish was also very good (flavoured in the classic soy sauce/spring onion way), albeit a tad pricey. I loved the plump shitake shrooms featured in the bean curd and sea cucumber dishes too. Unfortunately, I didn't take to the bamboo clams, and the broccoli and sea cucumber could have been more well-cooked as they were slightly hard to the bite.

Before that I had a jaunt at Marketplace@Tanglin Mall, where I stocked up my supplies. Exciting new buys included Mullers coconut greek yogurt, cappuccino Larabar and a tabbouleh salad mix (Fantasic Foods). Also bought Israeli couscous, Pacific soy and cage-free eggs (to test if there's a difference between that and normal eggs).

For lunch today I decided to have the egg yolk, instead of throwing it away. Lunch was tri-colored fusili pasta with purple sweet potatoes and the last of my soaked and roasted crunchy buckwheat groats, salmon, aforementioned egg done sunny-sideup, cucumber and lettuce, and pesto and goat's cheese. I thought the egg yolk would make a "sauce" for the pasta since I don't fancy Pappy's pasta sauce, which is the bottled creamed version. Although I couldn't really make out the taste of the yolk, I did have the thrill of poking into the yolk and seeing the golden liquid ooze out. I was eating in the dark (in confocal room), and sometimes I like it that way.

2 Medz about mediterranean

A lonesome Sunday lunch at the Medz, tucked in a far corner of Orchard Central B2. This has a dining concept similar to Marche where you get a card which captures your orders, except that the food has a Mediterranean focus. The various stalls were ordered by cuisines of Mediterranean countries such as Greek, French, Tunisian, Italian etc.

I had the vegetable tagine with couscous ($8+). I was hoping it would come in those cute tagine earthenware pots but sadly, it was served without the lid. The stew was hearty and mildly spicy, with chunks of tender braised broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, tomato, corn and peas. The couscous was topped with a simple but delicious sweet golden raisins. Overall a very heartwarming dish, although the gravy was a bit oily and salty.

A view of the restaurant from the corner where I was sitting. I wouldn't mind a return visit to check out the paellas and kebab station, which looked really tempting.