0 Turning Japanese

Woo hoo! Admist the business, I still managed to get in a lip-smacking meal. Tamari dumplings (steamed) from Real Food Grocer, plump with no less than 10 ingredients including carrots, mushrooms, bean curd, French beans and chestnuts. The crunchiness of the filling contrasted nicely against the silky smooth skin (for once, no thick, clumpy dumpling skins!), and each mouthful was a joy of savouriness. I'm so glad they opened an outlet at Novena. 4 dumplings downed, I continued with a California salmon roll from Cold Storage, and another tobiko gunkan sushi (the rice was compressed till almost cake form), home-double-boiled herbal black chicken soup, one giant Driscoli strawbby and half a Fuyu persimmon. Gosh, I feel like a piggy after typing all these, but my tumms is filled and happy!

My japalang nut butter (mainly peanut, almonds, flax, sesame) is getting better by the day, as it releases its oils. It has a really strong flaxy flavour that paired well with the sesame-pumpkin-flax powder (double flax power!). I had this with Earnest's Mayan blend this morning, and a plum on the side.

Lunch was whipped up in a jiffy. Wheat noodles, teriyaki mackerel, lettuce and rocket, cherry tomatoes, and mashed avocado, tossed all together in a little of the leftover pasta water, topped with broad bean paste and some random seaweed shreds from a long time ago. So umami. A whole Washington Red apple on the side

I most probably bombed my sodium intake today with the Japanese theme. To more low sodium meals the next few days.

First of four presentations tomorrow - systematic reviews for Drugs & Clinical Trials module. And I havent even prepared my script. Which I shall do so NOW

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.

1 Setting an undesired precedent

I don't know whether to be proud or ashamed of myself. Over the past few days I've been treating myself very well - too well for my own good. On Friday I decided not to pack lunch despite knowing that I had a long day, because I wanted a change from the usual. I decided I would get something from Starbucks in between my IT class and Immunology. I could probably count with one hand the number of times I've been to Starbucks (probably third or fourth time) so I wansn't familiar with their menu, or even whether they sold anything other than coffee. After a long glance at the display shelf, I decided on the Egg White, Pepper and Mushroom wrap. It doesn't sound the most exciting, but compared to the other mayo-laden and hefty looking sandwiches, I suppose it was a more healthy choice.

It looked small, so I wasn't sure if my $5.80 was justified. But when I started eating [during lecture], its size suddenly seemed to balloon - it was never-ending, like the Magic Porridge Pot story. The funny thing was the egg whites and the pepper/mushroom were not mixed but separated into two halves of the wrap, such that initially I was eating an egg white wrap, and then a pepper/mushroom wrap. Nevertheless it was really filling (think of all the proteins from the egg white) and really peppery. Not only does the peppers here refer to red/yellow capsicums, it also meant the black pepper folded into the egg whites. What made me guilty was that I actually enjoyed the bit of cheese hidden unexpectedly in the middle (cheese wasn't labeled on the display) - a savory sinful delight.

Then today I wanted to have something light - Novena Fish Head bee hoon (Goldhill) seemed to fit the bill. However I was disappointed when I saw its shutters pulled; it wasn't open on Sundays. So I went to United Sq FC and upon seeing that the Japanese chain Botejyu - the father of okonomiyaki - had set up a stall there, all my plans for "healthy" was gone. I ordered the salmon & steak yakisoba. In case you didn't know, yakisoba refers to noodles [soba] fried [yaki] on a hot plate, and then coated in the typical umami japanese black sauce - a grease and sodium bomb. Luckily though it wasn't as greasy as other versions I had before. If you have noticed, I underlined the word steak above. Initially that word missed my eye and I thought I was just ordering salmon yakisoba. And then when I saw him adding pieces of meat while cooking, I double-checked the menu. Indeed, the "steak" word was there except it was in a smaller font size! I intended to skip all the meat but to my surprise - and horror - I decided to try one piece - it tastes like chicken! I though. So one piece became two. And three. And before I knew it, most of the meat (I'm guessing beef) were almost gone. This is definitely unprecedented in my life's history. At that point in time I rationalized to myself that since I had made the mistake already I might as well not waste the food and eat it. But that's just part of the justification; I was well aware that I was eating [beef]. What's the beef with eating beef, you ask? Well, I don't know. It's like a vegetarian or vegan suddenly eating meat - and actually liking it - after abstaining from it for his whole life. It's not only a revelation; it's a mourn for the loss of control.

I guess it's back to healthy food for the weekdays.

Edit: after googling, I think those were pork slices instead.