0 Q_Q

Once you start, you can't stop. Slurp slurp. Ccrrrunch! Chewwww.... Repeat. Sluuuurp!....

What the heck am I referring to? It's the original black/white (or more formally known as soy bean/grass jelly) mix with multiple funful toppings (peanuts, red beans, pinto beans and QQ yam balls from BeansTalk (did they infringe the copy right law of BreadTalk?). And all for $2 only! Quite proud yet shocked at myself dor finishing the tub. I had portioned out only about 1/3 of it, topped upon Earnest Eats Mayan blend (15g) and a Rude Health Spelt Oaty biscuit smothered in Maranatha's sunbutter. But it's too slurpilicous to stop! I'm not sure but it could be by far the heaviest breakfast in a while. The switch up (and venturing into the unknown territory) feels so good. Shoulda have taken a pic of the dessert tub.

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 Lychee 'POP'!

I was rather apprehensive about my order of Lychee 'pop' icy soy milk from Mr. Bean. I had in mind canned lychee in saccharine sweet syrup, not to mention the slightly weird combination of lychee and soymilk. The only reason I bought it was that I had a voucher that expired in November and didn't want to waste it. And also the weather has been infuriatingly hot lately, perfect for a cuppa ice blend. Unexpectedly, this was probably the best thing I had in a while. There is no fruit pieces in the drink but instead, the lychee flavour is infused throughout. The subtle fragrance of lychee actually paired quite well with the soy milk. But the best thing is the lychee pearls, or 'pop's as they call it. Instead of your regular gargantuan starchy black pearls, the lychee pops were small translucent innocent-looking globules. But when you bite into them.... they explode to release an intense burst of not-too-sweet lychee juice. It's akin to packing the goodness of lychee fruit into a small globule; that's how intense it was, not to mention a fun eating experience!

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!

0 Old is Gold - golden finds at OAHC

(Excuse the lousy photo from my lousy Nokia; believe me, it was AWSM)

Freshly made [prawn] chee cheong fun from Old Airport hawker centre!
This made the excruciatingly boring lectures, the seemingly endless mrt ride to Dakota and the insanely cold MRT ride totally worth it. In truth, I came to the hawker centre specifically for the famed lao ban tau huay (more about this later) but I can't just come here for that right? It would be just a waste of time, effort and money. I thought the chee cheong fun would make a nice side accompaniment to the tau huay. It was the best $2 ever spent. The rice rolls were smooth, silky, light and embodied the melt-in-your-mouth quality. The crunchy prawns gave a nice contrast in texture. This was done hong kong style, meaning the sauce was the thin kind, and topped with scallions. The chili was the dried-prawn kind, reminiscent of non-spicy sweet sambal. While yummy, I thought a more spicy kick would have been better. This is seriously the epitome of CCF. Who says you need to go top tier Chinese dim sum restaurants to satisfy your CCF cravings?

The tau huay was equally matched in quality in the equivalent of tau huay competition. The jelly-like pudding had a firm top just barely a nm thick that crinkled and broke on the slightest pressure to reveal the depths of beany goodness. There is no fakey sugar syrup here; the sugar is all infused within the huay, and it tastes au natural. As if were magic, the wobbly soy pudding would change its state of matter and melt into a pool of soy liquid upon touching your tongue.

Conclusion: there's so much more to explore at Old Airport H.C!