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Monday, April 28, 2008

My personal touch

Been helping my aunt in the kitchen for the last few days. Not cooking main dishes or any meals yet but more of like putting together our set meals.

Our main set meal has salad, fruit, 2 side dishes, sweet potatoes, brown rice and soup. Different fruits, sweet potatoes colours, types of soups, different dressing for salad and dishes everyday can perk up anyone's day.

I try to ensure that my customers get their colours for the day, like today, I put together RED apples, RED (purple) & GREEN cabbages, carrots (ORANGE), YELLOW and LILAC coloured sweet potatoes, brown rice (WHITE), others side ingredients for modifications we have cherry tomatoes, sweet corns, seaweeds pickled and 2 different types of salad dressing (1.honey lemon vinegar, 2. passionfruit & pineapple mayonaisse)

Its like a personal gift from me. Changing a person's expectation and norm, a little joy, a little surprise to their usual dish. The surprise might last less than 5 seconds but the effects from that little simple gestures might give them a nice mood or a great start to a day.

Though I might not satisfy every walk in customers, and some might not understand or appreciate the efforts behind each dish.

Then again...probably they are the ones who are satisfying my creativity vines.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

braised dried tofu


(looks better in real life, half eaten before remembering to take pictures....hungry mah)


One of my favourite and easiest dish to cook. Just cut and throw, switch on the gas.

Maybe its in my blood, as hokkien they like lots of dishes cooked with thick black soy sauce whether its porks, noodles, pig's knuckles and of course veggie for me.

Ingredients (for 2 or 3 persons)
1. Tau kuah or dry tofu - 3 pieces -cut into 4 halves
2. Black fungus- 3 -5
3. carrot- a few here and there (for colour lah and some veggie)
4.mushrooms (love the fresh types of tong ku)
5. Abalone mushrooms (brown types, they are crunchier in textures)


6.optional: can add radish and dried chillies if you want.

Others: A bit of cinnamon, star anise, cardamon and a dash of pepper

Seasonings
1. Liquid aminoes (a dash or two)
2. Black strap molasses (to brown the dish, suffice if you replace it with the amount you would with the convention thick black soy sauce)
3. black bean sauce (a lil squirt)
4. optional: japanese black vinegar (my favourite part!)


(my precious japanese black vinegar!)

5.Sesame oil- few drops

Directions:
1. Cut all ingredients into a pot, add water filling half the pot without drowning the ingredients (I used 5 vege soup as base)
2. Let it simmer a while, slowly add the seasonings in one by one.
3. Season to taste. Cook until you can see tofu brown brown and the smell makes you salivate...

brown rice chee cheong fun


yummy.....just got it from one of my supplier. Aunt quickly whipped up a sweet sauce for it.

recovery day

yeah....i quit the fasting... Tried listening to my body and did recovery day straight away by munching on a red apple after I drank some digestive juice. Did not feel like eating much, but the next day I feel much more energized.

Before that I was having rough sleep most of the nights mixed with lots of suspense dreams from themes such vampirism, waterworld meets the day after tomorrow, bollywood like feel waking up in temple full of cobras etc.

After the recovery day, I woke up feeling upbeat and earlier than usual.

Definitely would continue with this fasting routine..

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

1st day fasting

It was bad...bad in sense I felt I rushed into it without proper rest since I just returned from Langkawi, I started with splitting headache and the splitting heachache has not stopped. Don't get me wrong, I have done it before and I never had this problem, the juices were fine, delicious to be exact.

Promised myself to listen to body if I still headache today. I will probably stop the fasting and do recovery day when I slowly eat again. BF already threatened to send me to the doctor when he saw me groaning in pain yesterday (yes it was that bad). After meeting him around 9 plus, I went home and slept without changing my clothes, and was shivering the time I went under the blanket. The worst has not arrived, woke up at 1.30am, thinking it was 4am and had trouble sleeping even with the splitting headache. Then I dreamt that I have to climb a 50/100m ladder with heels!!!

Lisa and Chris had a better success, they brought their fruits for me to juice while I prepared organic juices for them. Today will be their 3rd day and we are meeting today for a another round of juicing.

Wish me luck, will keep you guys posted on how's my programme goes today.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

One week juice fasting- preparation day

Just came back from Langkawi, my tummy felt as if I have poured acid on it.

As planned(before I left, I knew!!), I started my juice fasting today. Today is the preparation day which I have to start drinking my 150ml of digestive juice which made up of chokeberrires (whatever it that..), herbal tea, prune juice etc three times a day. I can still eat today, light meal each time and for dinner I can have a bowl of salad and two small boiled potatoes.

My fast is rather easy with schedules , 1 2bottles of organic juices and herbal tea given in a box and all I have to do is drink up and follow whatever the schedule says. Perfect for me who hate doing all the juicing and cleaning up.

Still tired from my trip yesterday, I am not sure whether its low food consumption or the travelling that made my head feels dizzy.

At the same time, as fate put us together, my BFF Lisa also started her version of fruit fasting today (without me knowing...).

So good luck Lisa, and good luck to me,...we will be just in time to hit Rakuzen next Wednesday!!!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Delicious vegetarian sushi


The birthday boy, Andrew

Last Wednesday, for a special friend's Birthday, and his first to be celebrated in Kuala Lumpur. A few of us (my veggie and organic food lover yet not necessary vegetarians at all time) Mei Yoong, Alan, sisters Yun Shiuan and Yun Chen, Jiaying and daughter Sue Anne, went and rackey a vegetarian sushi stall in Taman Connaught, Cheras located within a food court called 118 food court (next to Econsave).

Unlike the usual sushi quality you find in most of the food court and pasar malam, Mr Wong and his wife actually has 20 years experiences in preparing sushi in Japan. So you will be in for a surprise when you actually sample some of his sushi.

Some actually tasted much better than the real thing, the rice is just right , not too soggy or hard, biting into it you can saviour every bits of rice. We had enoki mushroom sushi (Mine and Yun Shiuan's favourite), spicy tuna sushi, tuna sushi, hand rolls each (Sue Anne's refused to share with her mom), cold udon, and the most creative one are mango and dragon fruit sushis!!!!!

(yummy yummy hand rolls!)

(the very creative and refreshing sushi; mango and dragon fruit sushi), had to make some of them put their sushi back for pics)

So in awed with sushi, I forgot to snap any pictures so pictures seen here are taken halfway through munching the sushi and demanding everyone to stop eating so that I can take some pictures.


(tuna sushi, almost done with the whole lot)

Definitely a place you want to recommend or bring friends to. Vegetarians will salute the ground you walk and meat eaters will be impressed with the current selection of vegetarians food (either that they will be happy with the delicious "char bei kuih" sold in nearby stall)


(happy Sue Anne after walloping endless sushi and ultimately the chocolate birthday cake (she ate all the cake decors!))



(The food court lighting was quite nice, adding great atmosphere to great companions)

Food taste ****
Food presentations ****
Food healthiness ***
Ambiance **(eh, food courtlah what to expect?!)
Price ***
*****Five stars means worth mentioning in the Michelin/Zagat book guide




Sunday, April 6, 2008

"Nutritious bun"



My earliest memories of these buns go back to when I was in early secondary school...probably much earlier, mum was experiencing with different ingredients to produce whole wheat buns without self raising flour, butter/margarine, & shortening.

Buns are then distributed and sold to temples, little stalls in market and whoever who wants to place order.

I hardly eat these buns anymore, so two days ago when I have to pick these buns from aunt, I took a bite of a fresh one, pungent and sweet citrus taste from the first bite. Make me relish the times when our freezer was jammed with these buns and these were daily breakfast staple or any gathering dessert.

These buns are the buns that launched other buns such as our red bean paste, pumpkin paste, vege char siew, chickpeas paste, black bean paste etc.



Ingredients include: Orange peels, sweet potatoes, whole wheat flour, sunflower oil, black sesame seeds& goji berries. (Steam and spread generously with omega oil spread, delicious!!)

Dumpling


Hardly any oil on the leaves when I touch this dumpling, great for those who are terrified on how much calories they gain per food serving.

Made by aunt for the " Ching Meng day' with ingredients such as red bean, black eyed beans, glutinous rice, vegetarian meat etc. For me, my aunt would usually use red brown rice to make this dumpling knowing that my friends and customers from the shop are concern over indigestions....



Friday, April 4, 2008

How big is your carbon footprint?


What's a Carbon footprint?


A Carbon Footprint is a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases we produce. It is measured in units of carbon dioxide.

The average footprint for people in Malaysia is 7 tonnes.
The average for the industrial nations is about 11 tonnes.
The average worldwide carbon footprint is about 4 tonnes.
To combat climate change the worldwide average needs to reduce to 2 tonnes.


The red statements above are all taken word by word from http://www.carbonfootprint.com/ .


Just yesterday, I was reading an article that took 3 different people and measured their carbon footprints. 2 of them which eats organic and also lives in the outskirts produces more than the girl that lives in the town. It caught me by surprise. But I should'nt as flying around the globes or commuting from their outwards homes to the city counst as burning the carbon dioxides as well.


How to raise your carbon footprint?

1. Don't carpool!

2. Don't take the public transport!

3. Don't walk when you can

4. Leave your computer on all day!

5. Don't switch off the lights or fan or air conditioner when you are not in the room.


YOU might say that I don't do all these stuff, I know of a friend who are environmentally conscious, eats organic and a vegetarian, but he travels around the country and out of the country quite frequently, so there goes his carbon footprint.


Go to the website I mention and I dare you to tabulate your carbon footprint.

Meanwhile I am going to use a week to do mine and see how I can reduce mine....(there goes the hot shower).
Food for thoughts.