0 All the good eats in a [klutz] day

Breakfast - banana cinnamon oat-muffin-bagel porridge topped with Justin's chocolate almond butter, a chunk of Theo & Philo green mango and sea salt dark chocolate and cocoa mole hot chocolate sauce made with Delamere's skimmed goat's milk, and a scattering of pomegranate seeds. Lunch - Italian salad leaves, roasted vine-ripened cherry tomatoes and uber-ripe mushy avocado slices, purple potatoes & carrots roasted in avocado oil, seasoned with black pepper, cumin, paprika and dill, two whites-one-yolk creamy scrambled eggs, crumbled goats cheese, and half an Ambrosia apple afterwards. Dinner - lup cheong, shitake shroom and scallion soy sauce fried rice, sea bass, slow cooker chicken wolfberry herbal soup with si shen powder, papaya slices.

On the other hand, something was wrong with me today. 1. Spilled gooey egg whites all over the kitchen counter when I cracked the egg (NOT fun cleaning up). 2. Splashed egg mixture onto stove top when stirring the eggs in the non-stick pan. 3. Prepared my secondary antibody mixture wrongly three times before I got it correct. 4. This included fixing the dissected brains in the secondary antibody mix instead of fixing buffer! 5. Almost incubated the in situ brain samples with a secondary antibody mix with mouse Cy3 (red is Tyramide Cy3!) 6. spilled rice all over the floor when scooping rice for dinner.

I believe He was trying to impart a message about having quiet quality time today. The topic in Our Daily Bread today was "Time Out," a reminder to take time out and pray in the midst of hard work. Incidentally Luke 10 (I'm still through Luke 10) also talks about Jesus' teaching on Prayer.

So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

0 Lovely Sunday

Sunday Dinner Menu [for 1]

Soup: Bob's Red Mill Vegi Soup Mix (green split peas, yellow split peas, barley, lentils and vegetable pasta)and baby carrots simmered in water for 40 mins, blended in soy milk and topped with roasted garlic and roasted red peppers.

Salad: Curly lettuce, iceberg lettuce, red cabbage, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and avocado massaged in a apple cider vinegar and hazelnut oil dressing.

Toast: SwissBake Abendbrot (evening bread) topped with avocado, canned tuna and the remainder of roasted red peppers.

-

It's been a while since I posted. Basically my life is on repeat mode right now: sleep, wake, eat, lab, home. Every night I reach home so dead tired I don't feel like doing anything else. Not the most healthy of lifestyles, but when time and results are of the essence, what can I do? Fortunately, I've completed the time-point experiments so now the timing of heat shocks and dissections are more flexible. But unfortunately also, school resumes tomorrow. Is it really the final year 4 already?

Apart from lab, which is dominating 90% of my life right now, this week also saw some other memorable events. Unlike mainstream Singaporeans who chose to celebrate NDP with the televised show (or at Marina Bay for those lucky ticket holders) the fam (except daddy who is in Malaysia) had a lovely vegetarian dinner at Original Sin at Chip Bee Gardens on National Day. I think they revamped their menu since the last time I went there for my 20th birthday two years ago. Nevertheless, their food remains wholesomely Mediterranean. I loved my order of Capsicum Quinoa - roasted capsicums stuffed with crunchy quinoa and topped with a delightfully refreshing mint tzatziki. It also came with antipasti (cherry tomatoes, grapes and olives in a zesty vingerish dressing) and salad. However I think the portion of quinoa was rather small for a main course. The chef's special of the day, potato gnocchi, sounded interesting, but I didn't feel very carbish that ngiht. No cameras that day so I can only rely on visual memory.

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.

2 A weekend to remember

Tourist in my Country

Gallivanting around the city, discovering the new and old side of Singapore. This weekend brought me to places from Marina to Tanjong Pajar, Duxton Hill and Ann Siang, Botanical Gardens and even Geylang [see below]. While each area boasted their own charm, I cannot help but feel that there is too much consumerism and 'urban spectacle' at the Marina area. An aura of development also hangs palpably in the Duxton area; construction was going on in every other shophouse, perhaps to make way for yet another indie cafe, quirky book store or off-the-track fashion store. Give another one or two years, I will not be surprised if Duxton morphs into the next Clarke Quay. In contrast, the vibe in Geylang, with pot-bellied Singaporean uncles, Bangla and China workers and families out in full-force over the weekend, feels so much more authentic, so much less pretentious.

Soul Food

While at Marina on Friday, I had lunch at Alli*Oli, a tiny nondescript cafe in Marina Link mall, seating no more than ten. It was the dreadful lunch hour, which meant the white-collar yuppies and expats were out in full force. This cafe was the only decent one that had space for dine-in. Although they had sandwiches and hot pasta, I opted for the salads which went at 3 for $8. Unfortunately, it was a case of over-ordering and over-eating. The black pepper linguine, tuna carrot & asparagus salad, and vinegary mushrooms were superbly tasty, but I still can't believe I finished that whole mound of food. Not to mention, the pasta was dripping in [olive] oil and the tuna was probably canned in brine for it was a tad salty. I felt quite disgusted after, and my bloated stomach (which remained bloated for another 10 hours or so) was a cruel mockery of my overeating episode. I must say it did provide fuel for my walk from Marina to Chinatown [or maybe it was the cause of it?]

The Big Bird wholemeal wrap from Salad Stop! is an in-house combination consisting of mixed greens, roast turkey, avocado, green apple, grapes, celery and ranch japanese wafu dressing. I had this for lunch today with the parents 'cause I was sick of Novena FC. I was slightly disappointed that the turkey was in the form of turkey ham rather than meat, and as such, quite on the salty side. That aside, I was pleasantly surprised how well fruits go in a salad, albeit "wrap" style, for I usually prefer salads to be of greens only. The tart sweet green apple and grapes helped toned down the saltiness of the turkey, while the avocado provided creaminess and healthy fats. Overall it was rather refreshing. I wonder why salads are so expensive though. Surely some green veggies shouldn't amount to more than $10? But a dear $10.80 this yummy wrap was.

At Cold Storage, I bought a tub of So Delicious Chocolate Almond ice-cream. The company specializes in dairy-free ice cream, and this one is soy-milk based and fruit-sweetened. (They also have coconut milk-based and almond milk-based ice creams but these were not available at CS.) I don't know whether to rejoice or be guilty. I mean it's the first time buying ice cream in years (although not 'real' ice cream). Anyway I opened the tub and peeked inside and it looked and smelled deep and rich with chocolate. Wonder what I should pair it with. Perhaps I should make spelt pancakes or even spelt ice cream bread.

And the highlight of the weekend no doubt goes to..... unctuous, creamy, bitter, sweet, potent, deep yellow mao shan wang durian. I specifically trooped down to Geylang after church to buy durians! At $20 for 2 boxes, this was reasonable. This was from the stall at Lorong 19, and as I walked from Aljunied side, I didn't know there were still so many stalls further down towards Kallang. Luckily the durians at those stalls didn't look that good, and although some were slightly cheaper, they were of other varieties (D24 etc). If not, the pain of regret! As mentioned in the first paragraphs, the atmosphere was fantastic. Families gathering by the road side to have durians on the spot, cars queueing for the $1 kampong durians... so very Singaporean. The two boxes of durians were so potent I could smell it even as I was in the MRT. Luckily no one else seemed to be able to smell it. Or do I have an extra sensitive nose for durians?

Quiet mornings and more chocolate bakes
this time with Royal Gala apples, Ezekiel cereal and spelt flour streussel

Play time with the Cat

At this point he was not fully awakened yet, but in less than a minute later he was all ready to bite!

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?

3 Born to be free

Yesterday I took part in my first "protest" - Save the World's Saddest Dolphins organized by the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) held at, most appropriately, the Speakers' Corner. This peaceful protest cum concert is to speak, or rather sing, out against the capture of 27 bottlenose dolphins for the new marine park attraction at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS). I wasn't very clear on what makes this campaign different from the rest (aren't animals kept in captivity in zoos too?). Apparently, the public furore was because these dolphins were caught from the wild, off the shores of Solomon Islands. This is akin to animal wildlife trading. For all the talk on championing conservation and sustainable development, this makes Singapore nothing less than a wolf in sheep's skin. Disgusting. The dolphins are now being held in an enclosure in Philippines and two have since died from acute bacteria infection despite RWS promise to provide "the very best care for our dolphins including a superior diet, daily enrichment, and veterinary care."

From left to right: singer Alicia Pan, ACRES President and singer Michaela Therese. In one part of the campaign, names of the public (mostly children) were randomly drawn. These names will then be used to name the 25 remaining dolphins, to show that these dolphins are just as innocent as children. You wouldn't harm your children, so why would you harm the dolphins by capturing them from the wild?

The dolphins had support from their furry couterparts too. This pair of dogs, in particular the larger one, was quite the attraction of the day.

We were then engaged to participate in the dolphin formation, which appeared in today's news! I'm somewhere in the dolphin's tail :) I sincerely hope RWS and the ministers will finally open their eyes and ears to our voices and reconsider their decision based on animal rights, environmental welfare and the moral fabric of society.

After a long sweaty day under the sun, I wanted nothing more than to return to the hot kitchen. Instead, I picked up a regular box of salad from Sumo Salad at Raffles City Basement. The regular box entitled me to two salads, which I chose the Penne Pesto w Pine Nuts and Tandoori Chicken. For all its claims of being healthy, I noted that the tandoori chicken salad came with a dressing of what I suspect is mayo. Twas yummy though - the standards you expect from takeaway counters.

PS. I'll be celebrating by 21 bday later tonight with my college mates at Pizzeria Mozza! I'm so excited! I'm torn between the myriad of pizzas to choose from.

3 Salad beasts

What I like about salads is that its quick, fresh, clean, tasty, simple, one-pot meal, minimal clean-up, and great for "operation: clean out the fridge" days. I had an old Japanese sweet potato and a block of firm tofu waiting to be used. I've always been baking my sweet potatoes whole and I was ready for a change; sweet potato wedges it was. For the tofu, I went with a simple soy sauce/cider marinade, which sounds horribly wrong but fear not, it's pretty tasty in fact. In addition, I've been wanting to experiment with roasted chickpeas after reading some recipes online and I bought a can last weekend. With these ingredients in hand, I present two yummy salads, suitable for all occasions, any time, any day and any where.

Sassy Sweet Potato & Tofu Salad Yield: 1 salad Ingredients

• 1 sweet potato, chopped into wedges (I used the Japanese variety which has purple skin and cream-colored flesh)
• Seasoning for sweet potato: paprika, cumin, white pepper, cinnamon, oregano, extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 block firm tofu, cubed
• Marinade for tofu: 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 ripe avocado, cubed
• Handful of lettuce leaves, chopped
• 1 tbsp pumpkin & almond chutney (Pert's Pantry)
• 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
• Drizzle of raspberry balsamic vinegar (vom Fass)

Directions

1. Place tofu cubes in soy sauce/cider marinade and let sit for at least 3 h. Feel free to use your own marinade for the tofu. It's versatile!
2. Preheat oven to 190 C.
3. Mix chopped sweet potato wedges with the seasoning. Arrange sweet potato wedges and marinated tofu cubes on a lined baking tray. Bake tofu for 20 min and wedges for 40 min, turning halfway through for each. (I cooked the tofu and sweet potato together to save time.)
4. Once the tofu and sweet potato wedges are done, remove from oven and let cool, then mix with remaining ingredients.
5. Enjoy!

The sweet potato was just marvelous - crispy outsides (a wee bit tough but I shall overlook that) yielded to pillowy pockets of caramelized sugars. I devoured the entire sweet potato, skins and all! I didn't expect much from the tofu but the apple cider taste was surprisingly detectable, lending it a sweet edge. Fancy chickpeas instead? Try this out then!

Chickass Chickpea & Tofu Salad Yield: 1 salad Ingredients

• 1/3 can chickpeas
• Seasoning for roasted chickpeas: paprika, cumin, white pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, oregano, extra virgin olive oil (it's almost identical to the seasoning for the sweet potato just 'cause I love this combination so much!)
• 1/2 block firm tofu, cubed
• Marinade for tofu: 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 tbsp frozen veggie mix (peas, carrots, corn, green beans)
• 3 cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 ripe avocado, cubed
• Handful of lettuce leaves, chopped
• 1 tbsp pumpkin & almond chutney (Pert's Pantry)
• 1 tbsp sunflower seeds

Directions

1. Prepare the tofu as above.
2. Preheat oven to 190 C.
3. Drain the can of chickpeas and rinse thoroughly. Peel off the skins if desired (I did but I'm not sure how leaving the skins on will affect the roasting time and cooking of the chickpeas). Pat dry thoroughly with kitchen papers.
4. Place chickpeas in lined baking tray and roast (without seasoning) for 20 mins. Remove from oven, shake thoroughly, add seasoning, then continue to roast for another 10-15 min. (I'm not sure why the seasoning is added only at the end and not before but most recipes seem to add it only at the end)
5. Mix chickpeas with remaining ingredients and enjoy!

I'm not sure if I did the roasted chickpeas correctly. It was hard but not crunchy like kacang puteh, the local version of popcorn. Perhaps the roasting time was too long? I will have to experiment with that. Otherwise, this was a well-textured and well-flavored beast of a salad. The pumpkin & almond chutney from Pert's Pantry knocks my socks off!