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 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.

0 Wah[hhh] Lok

Despite my love for all things Mediterranean, I suppose one cannot ignore one's roots. Mum chose to mark her big 55 at Wah Lok, a Cantonese restaurant at Carlton Hotel. It was a good choice; a classic comforting Cantonese dinner that pleased with every dish. 'Cuse the pun in the post title ;)

Christmas deco at the lobby. Not quite sure of what to make of their weird-shaped bauble lighting

Apparently the restaurant has just been renovated, and the new decor and furnishings are really stunning. For example, walking through the entrance itself already makes for a dramatic experience, with the arched frames, dark wood glossy marble flooring and backlit lighting giving an ethereal feel.

Equally stunning were the dishes. As with the Cantonese tradition, we started off with a soul-comforting soup - abalone and chicken/pork and wolfberries. The abalone was slightly tough and chewy, but I nevertheless ate it knowing its price value. Luckily though, it didn't have any of that fishy taste. On the other hand, the soup itself was very moreish; a great way to whet the appetite.

Then came the Peking duck which I didn't have.

After a hideously long wait, the tofu, spinach, sea cucumber and chicken feet casserole finally arrived. The ingredients were coated in a brown sauce that didn't fall prey to being too starchy or gloopy, as with many places do. The tofu could have been slightly softer, and the sea cucumber, for some unknown reason, was mushy instead of springy like it was a vegetarian mock sea cucumber. After all these nitpicking though, the casserole overall was still rather enjoyable.

But of course, the highlight of the meal, and possibly in my gastronomic experience - a whooping humongous 2.4 kg Alaskan king crab, lightly steamed in a clear egg white broth. I'd never seen such huge pincers and legs before. The shell was soft and obediently yielded to force, unlike those crabs at zi char places. For example, I didn't even require tools to open the pincers! The meat came out in chunks and was sweet and succulent and so very umami. It was a highly memorable experience.

By this time we were all groaning with pleasure but we still had to tackle the last dish - vermicelli with bean sprouts and meat. The brown sauce nicely coated the strands of vermicelli and bean sprouts added a nice crunch.

Service was great; the recommendations by the waiter was spot on and personally, he came across rather comical and entertaining too. The only complaint is that the food came out rather slowly so there was lots of waiting time in between. But maybe that's what you need to trade for top-notch food. The bill was beyond our expectations, largely attributed to the king crab. I'm looking forward to try the more affordable dim sum range in the future.

1 What stole my weekend

It was a whirlwind of a weekend that ended much to quickly. In the name of saving time, I'll let the photos tell the bulk of the story.

1. The Amazing Spiderman! Although it boasted a typical storyline, it was nevertheless an enjoyable film with bits of humour and lots of swinging action. Andrew Garfield (who I prefer to Tobey Maguire as Spidey) and Emma Stone freshens up the blockbuster series with their younger personalities. James Horner is now added to my favorite list of composers, with his grandiose take on the main theme, filled with the fanfare of trumpets doling out a soulful tune. Just listen!
2. Crab bee hoon soup from Hong Kong Street Chun Tat Kee at Balestier Road. This cze char place is known to dish out a mean bowl of XO slice fish bee hoon and san lo hor fun. Wanting to venture out of our usual orders, we had the crab bee hoon this time round. This is my first time handling crabs in their fully shelled form and it was certainly an experience with the shelling and extraction of the meat. A very tedious and painful (literally) process but the reward was sweet, succulent and robust fresh crab meat. The stock was superbly flavorful with the crabby taste, with notes of hua diao rice wine dancing on the palate. It bordered on being excessively salty towards the end though. Our other orders were sambal kangkong and cereal prawns. After the tasty meal the bill came as shock though: $59 for two people!
3. Pizzeria Mozza.My sis and I had lunch here before the Harry Potter exhibition (see below). It's her first visit and my second, 10 months after celebrating my birthday here.
   

   Rucola, funghi and piave salad came as a mound of fresh rocket leaves with (raw) white button shrooms and shaven piave (an Italian cow's milk cheese similar to Parmigiano-Reggiano) layered in-between. The vinegary dressing did well to highlight the peppery tones of rocket, although it somewhat overwhelmed the less ostentatious shroom profile.

   

   Long-cooked broccoli, caviocavallo and chiles pizza. Another first for having broccoli on pizza. The long-cooked broccoli was tender and tasty on its own but I felt it didn't pair too well as a pizza topping. Caviocavallo is another type of cheese but I'm not an avid fan of cheese and especially when melted on pizzas, all the cheeses taste the same to me. On the whole this pizza okay, if not a tad salty.

   

   Of the Tomato, Sicilian oregano and extra virgin olive oil pizza and Broccoli pizza today, and the Margherita pizza the previous visit, the former is my favorite of the lot. If you're a tomato lover, you'll be most delighted. Intense tomato sauce topped with oregano, this upheld the adage of beauty in simplicity. You'll get your lycopene dose filled with this one!

4. Harry Potter exhibition.
   

   We breezed through the exhibition in 45 mins. It mainly featured the actual costumes and props used in the film. It was quite surreal to actually see the exact items used in the film right before your very eyes. The Marauder's Map and Potions book were some of the cooler items on display, filled with scribbles of wizardry language. I also enjoyed the display of the Yule Ball costumes; Hermione's lilac dress was so pretty! The souvenir shop of a cash-milking machine though. $50 for a wand?

5. Hacking open a young coconut. Yet another first this weekend. Much skills and strength is called for!

6. Church talk on Biomedical Ethics. An interesting and informative insight on biomedical ethics from a theological perspetive

There goes my weekend. It's past the 6-month mark of 2012. Scary how June whizzed past in a flash.Time to start relooking at monthly resolutions again.

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.

1 For the last first time

Today was a day of many firsts.

Black Cherry Chocolate Spirutein

I tried out my first Spirutein energy supplement in Black Cherry Chocolate in lieu of the usual Ensure Plus. I followed the instructions and added 3/4 of the packet of powder to a mix cold soy milk and ice-cold water, which I found weird because usually powders are added to hot liquids to aid dissolution. I stirred the mix vigorously, dubious as to whether the powder would dissolve. Surprisingly, it did, though only after quite a bit of stirring and not completely. To sum up the taste experience, it was blackforest cake packed into a drink - great flavour but overly sweet. The bits of dried cherries floating about was also kind of annoying as it interfered with the drinking process. On the plus side, Spirutein comes in an amazing range of 20 (!) flavours like Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl, Double Fudge Crunch and Peaches & Cream. If I ever buy Spirutein again I would get those without the fruit pieces. Overall I still prefer Ensure/Ensure Plus for it being less sweet. Nutrition-wise, I would say Spirutein is more suitable for those looking for protein enrichment (110 kcal, 0 g fat, 15 g carb, 14 g protein) while Ensure Plus is a more balanced source of energy (300 kcal, 9.8 g fat, 40 g carb, 13 g protein).

First cookbooks!

I finally put the $50 worth of Kinokuniya gift vouchers I received a year ago to good use and bought my very first cookbooks: 500 mediterranean dishes and 500 vegan dishes of the 500 recipes collection. At first I considered buying cookbooks by well-known figures or even celebrity chefs, but then I decided that perhaps generic cookbooks would suffice, at least for me the novice cook (and I wouldn't have to pay for all the celebrity fluff too). The 500 recipes cookbooks boast plenty of pictures, easy-to-read texts and multiple variations for each recipe. For example, the basic squash & apricot tagine in 500 vegan dishes can be varied by using beans & apple or prunes. For $15.95 for each book, I think it is very worth it. Hopefully this will inspire me to cook more and expand my repertoire of recipes :) I also bought a small London travel guidebook by Time-Out for my upcoming exchange.

Then just outside Orchard Building, I had my first up-close encounter with models who were, I believe, part of an event for the launch of H&M. Okay, I wasn't that close to them, just about 5 m away, but it was the closest I'd ever seen a real-life model. Now I fully understand what is meant by being a "head-turner." The male and female models were mostly Caucasian, tall, slim, leggy, decked out in trendy (H&M) wear, and veiled under a layer of immaculate make-up. Many Singaporeans were inevitably gawking at them, and some of them stared back - they were simply standing outside Orchard Building as if waiting for something to happen. I felt so... small, so underdressed and so ugly next to them. They made me feel like I was from outer space and a total different breed from their species. I guess this is what it takes to be a model.

I met mum at Plaza Sing to get party decorations and run some other errands. The day culminated with dinner- a bowl of shrimp Ipoh hor fun (soup) - at Angel Kitchen at Cuppage Plaza which was simple and good. They are better known for their curry chicken, which mum had. I bought the last bowl of hor fun available!