To Bitch, Or Not To Bitch…

Sometimes, you just get up on the wrong side of bed. I always wondered what that means. I know what that means intellectually, but what does it really mean? How can you just randomly get up and feel like shit? Or more accurately: why?

Yes, I got off the wrong side of bed this morning. I woke up, my head was pounding from over 10 hours of sleep, I missed my Sunday church service, and I just felt plain…crappy.

The smallest things annoyed me. Like how the sun was shining so brightly, so joyfully, so…damn irritatingly chirpy! Somehow the perfect weather just made me even grouchier. Then the pantry door hit my head when I opened it a bit too roughly. Obviously it’s my fault, but I cursed at it for getting in the way. Next, the dishes were undone again. Damn dirty dishes…why don’t you wash yourselves, you lazy asses? And so on, and so on…

What are you going to do when you feel like an old snotty turd? You stop everything, you sit down, and you have a one-to-one with God. Sometimes, you just need some alone time, and a big fat reality check.

Why am I feeling randomly crappy? Sometimes, it can be physical issues, such as too little (or too much in my case) sleep. Or it can be an unconscious layer of stress that has been piling up for several days. Whatever the reasons, I find that the best solution is not to ignore them and let them drag you down for many more days, but to confront them directly.

I was feeling lethargic. So I went out for a run, and took a cold shower.

I was feeling stressed from all the incoming schoolwork. So after a good hearty lunch, I sat my ass down and tackled my assignments without any further procrastination.

I was feeling irritated and bothered by some personal issues. I bitched to God for awhile, then thrust them all to Him to handle. I recognized that I am a human with too many flaws and mistakes, but I restored my faith that all is in God’s hands.

I was feeling ugly. I got plastic surgery. Haha, kidding! I reminded myself that beauty is temporary and trivial, and that it really has nothing to do with true happiness or success.

I also entertained myself by reading the Google search terms people used to find my blog:

• “obnoxious farts” (Who, me?)
• In-N-Out University (Where to get your Masters degree in flipping tasty and cheap burgers!)
• How to make your butt plumper (I’d like to know myself! I’m kind of sick of my pancake-ass)
• Evil pineapples eating coconuts (Sounds delicious)
• “Sophia Lee” FBI wanted list (What the hell?!)

Except for the fact that I may be on the FBI Wanted List, I was thoroughly amused. Tee, hee hee.

Anyway. I’m in a much better mood now, and I’ve cranked out 4 pages of my research paper. But I’m still in a rather bitchy mood, so prepare yourself for a bitchy review on the restaurant I went to with Mimi and Kathryn yesterday.

We went to Newsroom Cafe, a health-nut restaurant opposite the Ivy in West Hollywood. Obviously, situated in an affluent and celebrity-dotted area, Newsroom Cafe is a bit on the pricey side, and focuses on catering to the health-conscious people, serving healthy, fresh, and organic options, blah blah blah.
I really don’t care if it’s healthy or not, I just wanted good food. I had done a bit of research, and suggested several venues to Mimi and Kathryn. We eventually chose this particular place because the menu had tons of delicious-sounding options that appealed to all three of us. Unfortunately, Newsroom Cafe, though good in concept, failed terribly in execution.

First of all, the service was terrible. Seriously. It was almost 3 pm in the afternoon, there weren’t that many customers, and we were freaking hungry. The server took more than half an hour to take our orders, and she totally forgot Kathryn’s diet coke. She was nice enough, but she was just so…absent-minded and it was like she was physically there, but her mind was elsewhere.
Second of all, the lighting was pretty dim. I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate dark restaurants. I need to start a petition requiring that all restaurants equip themselves with good lighting for the sake of us food bloggers.

This was cute though:
Coarse lumps of brown sugar. Organic, probably. Or something like that. Surprisingly no Truvia. Gasp!

After what seemed like forever, our food arrived.

Mimi ordered the blue corn blueberry hotcakes:
Here’s the description on the menu: With banana, toasted piñons, maple syrup. Where is the damn pine nuts? Instead, it came with some kind of mini-berries compote. Not too bad, but pine nuts would have been nice.
The hotcake was big, but it was only one piece, and would probably make two regular-sized pancakes. It was good, but not great. I would have liked more of that gritty corn texture, and it was slightly dry.
Mimi also ordered a side of poached eggs:
According to her, they were watery. Drain the eggs, damn it!

Because they took a long time bringing the food to us, Mimi ended up filling herself up on iced tea. She could only manage 1/3 of the hotcake, so I finished off another 1/3, and then Mimi kindly let me take the leftovers home. Woo-hoo!

Kathryn ordered the ‘Lite’ Egg Steamers:
Here’s the description on the menu: ‘Scrambled’ with no butter, no oil or any added fat, only steam! Eggs steamed with herbs de provence our italian espresso machine. Kat asked for egg whites, nixed the roasted potatoes for sliced tomatoes, and with both raisin health bread and rosemary potato bread.
She couldn’t finish the eggs so I had a bite. They tasted like…microwaved egg whites. With no seasoning. Bland. Blah. Utterly forgettable, and not worth the $12.60 she paid for.

I ordered the Tandoori Chicken Sandwich:
 Indian spiced grilled chicken breast, baked onions, lettuce, tomato with sugar-free raisin date chutney. On Multi-grain health bread with side salad.
Sounds fabulous, looks fabulous. Tastes horrendous!
Okay, it wasn’t that bad. But honestly, I was really anticipating something that will wow me, because the description sounded absolutely drool-worthy. Unfortunately, the bread was hard and dry, the chicken was overcooked and tough and bland, and the raisin date chutney tasted like burnt pickles.
I paid $12.00 for shit. No wonder I felt like shit. Cheap gullible fool that I am, I still finished it.

Thank God for good company. Mimi and Kathryn’s engaging conversation kept my attention away from the mediocre food, so that I actually did go back home with a big smile on my face. But trust me, I will not be visiting Newsroom Cafe ever again.

I did, however, spot a heavily-botoxed middle-aged Tinkerbell. Totally made my day (sorry, no picture).

Kathryn gave me a pretty, glittery gift too! It’s now sitting all pretty but picture-less on my desk:
I’ll have to dig up a good picture when I return home for winter break!

She also gave me the most breathtakingly gorgeous card ever:
Wow, SOOOO beautiful! >.<

By the way, it’s time for some product review. Zevia sent me a sample package of their drinks a while ago, and I have been refraining myself to finishing them within a week. This is what they say about their product:

“We created Zevia for diet soda lovers who want something natural without calories. Made with pure ingredients, like stevia, an herb known for centuries as “sweet leaf”. Refreshing great taste with none of the bad stuff. Feel good about what you drink.”

Sounds good to me! I have to admit, I am a diet soda addict. I drink at least a can of diet soda a day. I know it isn’t “good” for me, but I don’t think a can a day will give me cancer. But still, it’s nice to know there are healthy alternatives out there.

Zevia sent me 6 varieties of their product:

• Cola
• Orange
• Natural Twist
• Ginger Ale
• Black Cherry
• Root Beer

Here’s the Black Cherry:
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the liquid was clear! It tasted pretty good, and I don’t even like black cherry-flavored stuff.
The Ginger Ale:
This was nice, very much like Canada Dry. The liquid was the color of pee.
The Root Beer:
Not a fan of this. It had some kind of bitter aftertaste.
The Orange was my favorite:
Loved this one!

The Cola tasted like Coke, but honestly, not as good as the real thing. The Natural Twist tasted like carbonated water. Too natural? Maybe.

Overall, I did enjoy these drinks, but then I enjoy most diet sodas, and not just for their taste, but for that jolting carbonation and happy gassy tummy. I happily burped a lot drinking these.

Now, I’m hungry. I need to make some dinner for myself before I get bitchier. Ta ta for now, and hopefully I’m less of a bitch by my next post!

Question of the day: What are you bitchy about today? Come on, let it out!

Shut up, voices in my head!

It’s sure been a battlefield the last couple of days! I had to eat out both lunch and dinner yesterday, and I had lunch out again today. Tomorrow I’ll be eating out for dinner also, and again on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!

I’m not going to lie. There has been two clear forces battling within me. There is my ED, going ballistic about all the unknown calories that I’m ingesting, and then there’s my conscience, berating me for all my stupid fears and anxieties.

My ED side is malicious and sneaky and bitter, trying to entice me to resort to his manipulating ways and deceits, encouraging me to order the “safest” item on the menu, coaxing me to eat as little as possible. Meanwhile, my conscience is snotty, critical, and judgmental, telling myself I am stupid and selfish and weak for having such struggles in the same place.

I hate either sides. I hate how both of these two battling voices in me make me feel guilty, weak, frustrated, and hopeless.

I have never been too comfortable with eating out, because obviously the food will be richer, and ED freaks out over not being able to know the exact nutritional information in each bite that I put into my mouth. Anorexia, as I once mentioned, is really all about control, about following my own (but really ED’s) set of rigid rules and calculated numbers, and being faced with a dish prepared by somebody else freaks the hell out of me. Who knows how much freaking oil or butter the cook ladled in there? Who knows what other sort of sneaky, disgusting, high-caloric and super-unhealthy things they slipped into even a simple thing like a baked potato? Nothing can be trusted, nothing is safe.

I can deal with eating once in a while, but eating out consecutively, most of the time with me having no idea exactly where we will be dining and what the menu will be like…that requires a ton more concentrated effort and motivation and fighting spirit.

The thing is, I can always take the easy way out. I remember when I used to only order salads. Dressing on the side, no croutons, no cheese, no meat, actually, why not just bring a mega bowl lettuce and tomatoes, thank you very much. Man, I’m really splurging today, aren’t I?

At times when I was really forced to eat something I did not want, I would resort to even more desperate, shameful attempts like hiding my food in my napkin, pretending to chew my food then spitting it out secretly, and yes, at times even rushing to the bathroom to puke anything I could out.

But I’m no longer at that stage, thankfully. I’m at a weird conundrum, actually. I’m at the point where I desperately want to get well, yet I’m still deathly scared of the process, the necessary steps I have to make in order to recover. I try my best to order something that will be challenging, but not that scary enough to send me into an anxiety spasm.

That’s where the battle between my conscience and my ED comes in. One says, “You’re actually going to eat that you crazy fat hippopotamus? Have you forgotten you are anorexic? ANOREXIC?! ANOREXIC!!” The other says, “That’s the best you can do, you stupid cowardly rat? Do you still want to be anorexic? ANOREXIC? ANOREXIC?!!”

Please…just shut the hell up. ED, I’m not anorexic anymore, and you’re the one who has no place in my heard. Now shoo, I have better things to worry about. Conscience, you need to tone down and give me some space, girl! I’m trying my best, and constant self-criticism won’t help the least bit.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a bit about what was going through my very messed up head during these last three meals that I had recently.

For lunch yesterday, Wengang, Liwen, Suyun and I went to Eatzi Gourmet, a family-style steakhouse and bistro. They wanted to go to a Chinese restaurant at first, but I begged them to reconsider because I detest Chinese food and I’m still not comfortable with eating foods I truly find unappealing.

I order the set lunch, which included soup of the day, main entree, dessert, and coffee.

The soup of the day was cream of mushroom soup and garlic bread:

It was very rich and creamy and the mushroom taste shined through. I could only manage half of it though, as I did not want to fill up on soup before I got to the main course, which was…

New Zealand sirloin steak in brown sauce cooked medium-rare, with french fries and cooked vegetables

I was disappointed that it came with french fries, because deep-fried foods is not something I am ready to handle yet. Especially when my friends’ executive set lunch came with this!

A loaded baked potato! Topped with loads of sour cream, fried bacon bits, and chopped spring onions! Thankfully, Suyun did not like her potato, so I switched my french fries for her lovely loaded baked potato.

The steak was really juicy and tender, though a bit more cooked than I would have liked. I ate almost all of my steak, plus a few bites of Liwen’s NY steak and Suyun’s rib-eye steak. I didn’t touch the vegetables, because I knew they would fill me up too much.

We were all stuffed by the time coffee and dessert were served, which was a good thing, because dessert was horrendous.

Horrendously sweet, that is. I don’t even know what this is supposed to be. Some sort of coffee cream cake? All I could taste was the sugar! Blech! The bottom yellow cake layer was okay, though, so I just ate that part. Suyun didn’t even touch hers, Liwen only ate the cake part like me, while Wengang ate all of his and stole a few bites off Liwen’s. And I thought females liked desserts more than males!

For dinner I met up with a church friend, Vivien. After discussing some options, we decided to dine at Swensen’s, a family restaurant known for its ice-cream.

I ordered the Chicken Ratatouille:
 
Baked chicken roll topped with tangy tomato sauce, with authentic French ratatouille and roast potatoes.

I have no idea what that green thing in my chicken is. Anyone familiar with French cuisine who knows what it is? It tasted like some kind of meat, but I couldn’t detect what kind of meat. It almost tasted sort of like…offal…especially since the French loves their sweetbreads and such! But it was actually pretty good, and I polished off all of it.

And the ratatouille…Oh my God, it was freaking amazing!!! That was the first time I tried it, though I’ve been wondering what it tasted like ever since I watched the movie Ratatouille (one of my favorite movies, by the way). It was definitely really oily though, but its incredible taste made me forget about the amount of fat in it.

The potatoes were quite nice, it was creamy in the inside yet crispy on the outside.

Vivien ordered the Beef Rouladen:

German recipe of stuffed beef rolls braised in herb sauce, accompanied with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes.

I had half of one of her beef rolls, and unfortunately found it rather tough and stringy, though the sauce was quite superb. And of course sauerkraut is always awesome! The mashed potatoes were a little too creamy and buttery for my liking, though.

Our dishes also came with the soup of the day:

Creamy corn soup. It was quite good, but only because it was laden with MSG. I could tell right away this came from a package or box or something. I had half of it.

We also had a cup of Lipton tea:
 
Lunch today was with Jingwen at Cedele, a bakery and deli. I was the one who suggested this place because I was craving sandwiches for some reason.

And I think I spiked my craving for sandwiches even more, because mine was freaking delicious!

Smoked turkey with cranberry sauce and brie cheese in Wholemeal Linseed Loaf.

Holy…freaking…good!!! One slice of bread was slathered with spicy mustard and mayonnaise, the other with a thick slab of brie, and they sandwich a luscious layer of thick cranberry sauce and smoked turkey slices and crispy lettuce and fresh tomatoes in the middle.

At the first bite, I was so disappointed that the bread was so hard and dry! But after a while, the bread soaked up all the acidic-sweetness from the cranberry, the smoky juices of the turkey, and the pungent, rich fat from the brie…

The cranberry sauce was tangy with whole bits of cranberries in it, and not at all saccharine. The turkey was smoked to perfection, so flavorful and yummy! And oh my gosh the brie!! My only response to it is groans of ecstasy.
As you can see, I’ve definitely been indulging a bit more. The food is richer than my normal fare, and most of them I have never tried before. I’ve walked this battle path, and I will be walking several more for this week. I think it got easier and easier for each meal. The voices are still loud in my head, but that doesn’t mean my actions towards recovery have been seriously disrupted.

It’s emotionally and mentally draining to have these struggles battling within me all the time (before, during, and after meals, so pretty much the whole day) but I can feel myself getting stronger and braver at each step, in each bite, with each satisfied burp. I think this is another necessary and beneficial training process towards recovery, and I shall do my best.

Plus, I’ll never ever forgive myself if I ruined all my last moments with my precious friends worrying about the little additional weight that I desperately need to gain anyway!

Question of the day: How often do you dine out? Do you check up on menus beforehand? Do you get nervous when you don’t know what restaurant you’ll be dining in beforehand?

The Furry Muffin

Phew! I finally updated my blogroll! It sure is one hefty list! There are just too many lovely blogs, but too little time and not enough saliva to drool over all of them! If you’re a faithful reader of mine and I have somehow idiotically missed you out, let me know so I can add  you in!

Okay, a lot of you are gonna be flabbergasted with me when I announce this: I am not a dog-lover. Please don’t send me hate mail. But I’ve never met such a devoted affection for dogs as I when I moved to America. The idea that dogs are actually considered part of a family and referred to as a person was very strange to me.

Perhaps it doesn’t help that I’m Korean and Koreans eat dogs. Yes, that’s true, I’ve actually seen the carcasses of dogs being skinned and hung to dry in Korea. And no, I don’t feel good about it and I will never ever eat dog stew, but still, I’m just really not a dog person. Especially since I’ve been chased, bitten, and barked at by dogs countless of times.

My best friend Jingwen recently got a puppy, and she kept trying to bring her along when we met up. To be honest I wasn’t really thrilled with the idea. The image of a barking, salivating, hyper little attention-seeking creature did not appeal to me.

Then she finally bought her puppy yesterday night to our church’s youth group, and it was love at first sight.

Just look at that cute nose and the doeful eyes! The floppy ears, the furry paws! Aaaaawwww~~

Her name is Muffin and she’s only three months old! I couldn’t believe how quiet and shy and docile she was.

Yup, I think I’m gonna have to reconsider my prejudice against dogs.

Oh, and I also baked something new for my youth group!

Don’t you love the crisp crumble on top?

This was apple cream cheese pie, with an almond shortcrust pastry on the bottom, layered with thinly-sliced apples, loaded with cream cheese filling, and then topped with almond streusel crumbles. Let me know if you’d like the recipe.

It smelled so good out of the oven that I couldn’t resist sampling a tiny slice before I brought it to church, so there was a small gap in the pie, but oh well. I was just making sure it tasted good enough for my dear church friends! And it was.

Lunch today was finally out to the Soup Spoon with Liwen, Wengang, and Suyun! I guess they felt bad for changing the venue so suddenly last week after I requested to dine there. They were so nice to remember and bring me there. This was the third time I visited the Soup Spoon, and I still love it!

I got the smoked salmon in a wrap this time:

“Smoked salmon, lettuce, tomato, alfalfa sprouts, red onion, tartar sauce”

This wrap was so flavorful and fresh. The vegetables was crunchy, and the smoked salmon was just perfect.

I wish Panera sold wraps, too. And they should have smoked salmon in their menu, don’t you agree?

I’ll be eating out a bit more often the next coming two weeks because it’s my last two weeks in Singapore, and I’ll be doing last gatherings with my old friends before I leave. It’s just so sad…It’s like losing my friends all over again. Of course we can keep in touch through emails and facebook and stuff, but it’s just not the same…

(T____T) {{{TEAR}}}

Question of the day: Are you a dog or a cat person?

I think I like cats better. They’re independent, neat, predatory creatures, and I admire that. And I love how they clean themselves up and bury/hide their own poop, even without training!

P.S. Rebecca from Unintuitive Eating tried my pumpkin/black bean croquettes! This made me so happy! Check out her amazing picture here!

Welcome to Brunch Heaven

Thank you so much, everyone, for the reassuring and heart-warming comments. You guys are the bomb!

But you know what else is the bomb? My cheesy-mango sauce that I made a few days back. If you still haven’t tried it out for yourself yet, get into the kitchen right now! Seriously, your taste buds will praise hallelujah to you.

That sauce has been lingering in my mind, and my tongue has been aching for its wonderful taste again, so I relented and made another batch of that amazing sauce. But this time I prepared it in a different way.

You know those cute little eggs-in-toast? I first saw pictures of it when I started blogging, and have been meaning to try that out someday, and today was that day. I wanted something really breakfasty, something that played on a classic brunch dish. So I decided to do my own combination of Croque Madame, eggs-in-toast, and eggs benedict. A three-in-one. Welcome to brunch heaven.

                             “Three-in-one” Brunch Heaven

• 2 slices whole wheat bread
• 1 large egg
• 1 thick slice of ham
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese (mine was cucumber-garlic flavored)
• 1/2 sliced tomato
• 1/2 serving of the incredible cheesy-mango sauce
• 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
• pinch dried parsley

I first cut out a circle in one of the bread, then toasted up both breads, including the cut-out circle, on top of a skillet coated with PAM. Once the bottom was golden and toasted, I flipped them all over.

Then I broke the egg into the hole. Next I sprinkled the Parmesan cheese over all three pieces of bread.

When the egg was set, I lifted all the toasts out. I slathered the eggless one with the cream cheese, layered on the ham and the tomato, and topped it off with the egg-in-toast.

And the finale: drench the whole thing with the cheesy-mango sauce and sprinkle on some parsley.

Okay, tell me this isn’t heaven.

I tell you, I can eat anything with this freaking delicious sauce, but the simple combination of ham, cream cheese, tomato, and the liberal additions of Parmesan cheese just made this whole dish so…ethereal.

Apparently some people just throw out the cut-out circle from the bread, but what a waste! Crusted with the Parmesan cheese and dipped in the sauce, this simple dry toast became something quite extraordinary.

This dish has got to be in the Four Seasons hotel brunch menu. I think I gotta patent this dish to my name.

The only little complaint I had was that I might have overcooked the egg a teeny bit. It was still good, but the yolk wasn’t as runny as I hoped it would be.

But all was forgotten when I smothered it with more of the sauce.

Yup, this was one heck of a brunchy lunch. If heaven is half as good as this, please God, take me right now.

By the way, I was thrilled to receive this award from the fabbity fab fab Girlichef!

It’s the PREMIO MEME award and it asks you to share 7 of your personality traits. I was so honored that she wanted to know more about me. Me! Yay! I love talking about myself, so I’m really excited to share a bit more about ME ME ME!

                                  7 Personality Traits of Sophia

1. Passionate: I think you figured this one out already by the way I get so excited and emotional about things and people I love.
2. Open and honest: This is both my good and bad trait. I’m a terrible liar, and sometimes my words can be too blunt and really hurt people. I’m trying to find a middle ground on this.
3. Hot-tempered and emotional: Yeah, I’m a volatile little thing. I flare up easily, but I also cool down as fast as I heat up. And I cry easily, which I hate.
4. Self-absorbed: No need to explain, it’s already very evident in my blog. Besides, what is blogging but an excusable way to be self-absorbed?
5. Impatient: Like, very very verrry impatient. People laugh out loud in my face when I tell them I once wanted to be a teacher to the disabled, like Helen Keller’s teacher. They say, “What did the blind and deaf ever do to you that you want to torture them so?” Jeez. I hope I’m not that bad.
6. Stubborn: Once I fix my mind on something, or make a decision or opinion, I will stick to it. Nobody can get in my way. Again, this can be both good and bad. It sure worked against me in the case of ED, but now I’m using it to work against ED.
7. Studious, intellective, creative: aka NERD!! Yup, I’m a total nerd. I love reading, learning, and experiencing new things. I actually enjoy school and studying, and cannot wait for college. I’m the kind who would find any excuse to continue studying even when I’m well into my forties. Hey, God blessed me with a good brain, gotta put it to good use! Heh heh! (I think you can see that modesty is just NOT one of my traits)

I’m supposed to pass this on to 7 other bloggers whom I’m interested in knowing more about, but I really cannot choose just 7. I’m curious about all of you, so consider all of you tagged! You can reveal your 7 personality traits on the comment page, or post them on your blog. Either way, I’m excited and intrigued to know more about you!

Question of the day: What is one personality trait of you that you’re proud of?

The Yin and Yang of it all

I’ve noticed a trend in my lunches. I always have an eggy dish one day, then grains/beans the next. Egg, pilaf, egg, pilaf. But I’ve still managed to avoid any repetitious dishes, thanks to the versatility of eggs and my “Mix-it-up” bowl. Though I use the same base ingredients and method, the result is always something fresh, innovative, and different. I’m interested to see how many different variations “Mix-it-up” bowls I can come up with. So far, I’ve come up with five:

• Barley alla Carbonara
• Beans-and-Squash Barley Pilaf with Coconut
• Cheesy BBQ Pilaf
• “Hawaiian Pizza” Pilaf
• Yin-Yang Pilaf (today’s lunch, more on this later)

I’ve still got a whole list of other variations I want to try, so you can expect to see more of this in the upcoming future! I wonder if I can get up to more than 50 variations. Hmm…Anyone have any creative suggestions of their own?

So anyway, following this unintended trend of egg/pilaf cycle, I had eggs for lunch yesterday. I had lunch out with Jingwen, and of course we chose our favorite, Shokudo. And, obviously, I just had to order my favorite dish, the Japanese omelet. Excuse me for being boring and sticking to the same thing, but it is so good! I do switch up on the fillings, though. This time I chose sakura ebi, which is tiny dried shrimps.

To make up for my boring, repetitious dish, I took pictures of the steps to making a good Japanese omelet:

First, start off with a well-oiled square pan…

Ladle in the egg mixture (which is seasoned with dashi broth and sugar)…

Once slightly cooked, roll it up to the corner…

Then ladle in another layer of egg mixture with chosen filling…

My filling that day was sakura ebi…
When the second egg layer is cooked, roll it up over the first egg roll…

And ta-da! The finished product, drizzled with okonomiyaki sauce and mayo, and sprinkled with bonito flakes.

Unfortunately, the guy cooking this was cooking two omelets at the same time…

So he failed to devote 100% of his efforts and attention to my omelet, as he should. My omelet, instead of being cooked just right to a soft, creamy texture, was overcooked to crispy dryness. Bad. But the worse thing is that this guy was stingy!! There were barely any shrimp in my omelet, and the amount of toppings on it was miserable. Argh! I hate stingy cooks! Cooks should never, ever be stingy with their food! He was a tall, wiry guy, so maybe what they say about never trusting a skinny chef is true…But wait, I am skinny myself. But then, I don’t call myself a chef. Anyway, as you can see, my omelet this time was infuriatingly unsatisfactory. I still ate it, albeit with a disgruntled scowl like this: >:-(

To prove my point, this was the piece with the most sakura ebi I could find:

How disappointing. What an anorexic lunch. Boo hoo.

Jingwen ordered the omu-rice (fried rice in omelet), which was so much better than mine. I stole a few bites:

But thankfully, to make up for yesterday’s disappointing lunch, today’s lunch was freaking amazing! As mentioned above, I came up with another variation of my “Mix-it-up” bowl. This time the combinations were really interesting, “complicated”, and fun. Here’s what went into this bowl:

Yin-Yang Pilaf

The base: 1 cup cooked pearl barley

The mix-ins: 1/4 cup black beans and 1/2 cup chopped roasted winter squash
The dressing: The leftover marinade I used for my roasted veggies with a dash of cinnamon (see below for ingredients)
The topping: Roasted, marinated vegetables, fresh raw cucumbers, dollop of garlic cream cheese, dollop of homemade spicy almond sauce (be patient, recipe follows soon!)

I marinated chopped eggplant, green bell pepper, and tomatoes with this marinade mixture: soy sauce, sake, maple syrup, fish sauce, salt and pepper. Then I popped them into a 400 degree oven to roast for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, I whipped up my spicy almond sauce:

– 4 tablespoons roasted almonds
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon homemade ketchup
- 1 small de-seeded bird-eye chili
- 2 tablespoons blackcurrant preserves
- 3 tablespoons water
- 3 tablespoons almond milk with drop of coconut extract (my last-minute substitution for coconut milk)
- 1 tablespoon sweetener
- salt and pepper

Phew! Sounds like a lot, but it really was very fast and simple! I just dumped all of it into my mini-blender and liquidized the whole thing. Then I stir-fried my barley/black bean/winter squash pilaf with onions and garlic in the marinade with cinnamon, and once it was done, dumped the contents into a bowl, and topped it off with the roasted marinated veggies, a sliced cucumber, cream cheese, and the spicy almond sauce. Voila~!

Now can you guess why I’m calling this bowl Yin-Yang Pilaf? What a myriad of tastes and textures!

Here’s the yin:

Cool, refreshing, crunchy cucumbers with tangy garlic cream cheese, soothing and mellow on the palate…

And then there’s the yang:

Spicy, complicated, intricate tastes and textures. We’ve got the smoky, bold flavor of the marinated vegetables, and the spicy, nutty kick of the almond sauce. Stimulating and warm on the palate…

The spicy almond sauce was seriously freaking amazing. I modeled this after a peanut dressing recipe, and am loving the almonds much more. It has that buttery, roasty flavor, with a hint of coconut, and the kick from the chili. Perfect blend, if I say so myself. I have a bit left over that I am excited to try on other stuff. Any suggestions?

I know this might seem like a mess of contrasting flavors in this bowl, but just like yin yang symbol, the whole dish was quite harmonized and well-balanced.

I ate half of this bowl tentatively, scooping up the contents with just bits of the sauce…

But then ended up just mixing the whole thing together like this:

It was way better eaten this way. Yum!

So, have I converted anyone yet? You’ve got to try this “Mix-it-up” bowl concept for yourself! If you ever do create something using this basic recipe, please let me know, and I’ll feature it on my blog.

Now, since we’re on the subject of yin and yang, today’s question is: Are you a yin or a yang personality? According to Wikipedia, Yin is black, female, receptive, yielding, negative, and nurturing. It is associated with night, valleys, rivers, streams, water, metal, and earth. Yang is white, male, active, dominating, positive, and initiating/creating. Yang is associated with day, mountains, hills, fire, wood, and air.

I am quite definitely a yang. I like leadership, I like being in control, and am active and outspoken in my opinions and thoughts. But I have a bit of yin inside me too, I guess, as I can be a pretty pessimistic person. I’m trying to change this about myself, as well as learning to be more relaxed and not so domineering.

So, what about you? Are you a yin or a yang personality? I’d love to know!

A baking throw-down, Q&A, and unauthentic Middle-eastern cuisine…

Wow. I’m in tears. Really. My (tiny Asian) eyes are glistening with grateful emotion. Thank you so much for your amazing, kind, encouraging comments to my last post. They mean so much to me, and have strengthened my resolve to overcome this sickening disease and pursue my dream. Being able to go back to college means so much to me, because I love learning new things and studying. I’m an uber-nerd that way. Heh. But seriously, I just want to forward all your comments to the admission-decision committee of USC and say, “Come on, now. How can you not accept me? Are you really gonna disappoint all these incredible girls out there?” Bet that will work! Hahahahahaha!

A-hem. Anyway, I’m still joyfully chomping my way through recovery. Delicious eats, and a fear food faced and conquered! Are you ready? Here we go…

Lunch yesterday was another variation of my soufflé-omelet…

Can you guess what’s inside this fluffy blanket?

I was meaning to try a sweet version of this, but suddenly I had a real craving for something cheesy, so I went all cheesy-crazy. I whipped up my soufflé-omelet just like before, but for the filling I used roasted butternut squash and four kinds of cheeses: bleu cheese, Parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, and cucumber-garlic cream cheese to make a Four-cheese-butternut squash Soufflé-Omelet:

Oh, heaven. How can you ever go wrong with cheese?

I did not measure, but I used about 2 tablespoonfuls of Parmesan, a fistful of cheddar, a tablespoon of bleu, and 3 tablespoonfuls of cream cheese.

I was afraid the flavor of the cheeses would all mesh together into one incoherent, unidentifiable mess, but I could actually detect each distinctive taste and texture…

There’s the tangy creaminess of the cream cheese…

And the stringy, sharpness of the cheddar…

Every bite was amazing. The roasted butternut squash gave a nice smoky, mellow sweetness to the omelet that was perfect with the blend of cheeses.

I had church youth group that night, so I had to pack up my dinner. Along with my usual 12 mini chicken hotdogs, I tried out a new sandwich combo. Do you remember my Poop-in-poop-out? This is how it looks like:

You can click here for the recipe, but it’s basically a chocolaty blend of black beans, pumpkin, and cocoa. I paired this poopy (but so delicious)puree with sliced green apples on two slices of whole wheat bread:

And of course sandwiches tastes best toasted like this:

Check out the filling! It was torture restraining myself from gobbling this up right there and then!

’Twas a poopilicious dinner ^______^. Youth group ended late till midnight, and I was just too pooped out to blog…

Well, that brings us to today, Saturday! Those who have followed my blog continuously should know that Liwen, Wengang (the couple who are hosting me) and I have lunch out together every Saturday. Today we went to a place nearby called Istanbul Gourmet. As the name indicates, it’s a Middle-eastern restaurant. Can you believe I’ve never really tried Middle-eastern food before? Unfortunately, we chose the wrong place for my first taste of Middle-eastern cuisine. Istanbul Gourmet was definitely…not gourmet. It was small and the prices were too cheap to be able to serve great food.

I ordered the Chicken Kebabs and Yellow Rice on Bean Salad:

The chicken…tasted like fried chicken. I’ve never tried chicken kebabs before, but I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to have chunks of crispy bits in kebabs. They came shredded over a bed of bean salad with some kind of sweet chili sauce drizzled all over.

The yellow rice…

Meh. I hate rice, but had decided to challenge myself with this dish. Besides, I thought it wouldn’t be so bad as it is yellow and had other mix-ins like herbs, turmeric,raisins and chickpeas. But it was so bland! Looks are deceiving. But at least I faced my fear food and I still forced myself to choke them down.

Liwen ordered the Istanbul laksa:

Yeah, this is so totally not Middle-eastern at all. Laksa is a Singaporean noodle dish based of a coconut-curry soup. The only thing “Middle-eastern” about this was the chicken kebabs they used in the soup. I thought it was just sub-standard. Not a huge fan of coconut-based laksa.

Wengang ordered the Beef Bomb, which was marinated beef stuffed with hard-boiled egg on salad and a side of potatoes:

Again, I can’t see anything authentically Middle-eastern about this dish. The beef was pretty tough and stringy.

Damn, my first experience with Middle-eastern cuisine, and we had to pick a lousy unauthentic place. It’s like going to Taco Bell to try my first “Mexican” fare. Or calling sweet-and-sour chicken and fortune cookies “Chinese” cuisine.

But that’s okay, because we had a lovely time together, and that’s what matters. But still, I hope to give Middle-eastern cuisine another chance once I return to the States. What do you guys recommend? (Except hummus…Please don’t kill me, but I really don’t see what’s so great about hummus)

Bad Middle-eastern food aside, I got some baking done for my friend Mei-er, who’s birthday is on March 22nd~! I made sure to take pictures of it…Yup, Morgan, these pictures are especially for you! Consider this my first baking challenge to you! Check this out:

My Chocolate-Pumpkin Swirl Brownie Cheesecake!!!!

Take a hunk of that! (The knife is for dramatic effect) Can you beat that chunk of drool-worthy baby? Put on those baking mittens, girl, because the baking throw-down is ON!

As the Iron Chef chairman says, ”ALLEZ CUISINE!!!!” *Takes a chomp on a bell pepper muffin and grins lecherously challengingly*

Um, just to make sure. That’s not me.

Right. Before I scurry away, here’s a mini-mini-mini Q&A section in response to the last post’s question of the day! LOL, are you guys shy to ask questions? But anyway, hear are the questions that were asked by these lovely fellow bloggers [with a bit of my add-ins in these brackets ]:

Emily and Kiki asks:

Do you have recipe for that [freaking amazing oh-my-god you’re such an amazing baker] brownie?

My answer:

Those brownies were actually just leftover batter from my chocolate-pumpkin swirl cheesecake brownies (see above for the fabbity fab fab pic), which I plopped into a muffin tin to bake. I sort of “made-up” this concoction by mixing-and-matching several recipes, but here’s the basic recipe for the brownie bottom:

• 6 oz unsweetened chocolate
• ½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 large eggs plus 5 large egg yolks
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla
• 1 cup chopped almonds

To make the brownies:

1. In the top of a double boiler over simmering, not boiling water, melt the chocolate and the butter, stirring to combine. Set aside to cool to warm.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla until smooth.

4. Pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and combine with a whisk. Add the flour mixture and almonds to the chocolate/egg mixture and stir until just combined. Pour the brownie batter into muffin tins. You can pour all the way, because you don’t need to worry about the batter rising too much.
5. Bake for about 40 minutes in a 325 degrees. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

I adapted this recipe from here, and used a lot more egg yolks so that the batter will be a bit drier and more like a cookie so it’ll keep it’s shape better. If you want my added recipe for the chocolate-pumpkin swirl cheesecake topping, just ask.

Noodlegirl asks:

Hey the sushi looks yum just out of curiosity, I noticed you use pearled barley on most of your stuff in place of rice. I have never tired it before and intend to ask what is the reasoning behind it, if you don’t mind me asking, just so curious…

My answer:

Of course I don’t mind you asking! Ask away!

I have mentioned this a few times, and will probably mention it over again many more times, but I absolutely hate, detest, abhor, loathe rice! I’m so not Asian in that way. But I like pearled barley. I actually only just discovered this, and have fallen in love with its plump, chewy texture. Plus, it has way more nutrients, fiber, and protein than plain ol’ rice. I hope you give this grain a chance, it’s awesome! And if you come across any great barley recipe, share the wealth!

Yasmin asks:

Where have you always wanted to travel to?

My answer:

Wow. Where to start? First of all, traveling is my dream and I really hope to be able to touch all corners of the Earth before I’m dead. That said, one of the top things on my to-do list of “Things I wanna do before I DIE” is to backpack all across Europe. I also want to go to China, but just to immerse myself in the language and culture there and perfect my Chinese. Anybody wanna join me?

Heather McD and Emily asks:

[You crazy girl!] How can you not like avocadoes?

My answer:

I know this sounds like blasphemy to a lot of you guacamole and avocado-lovers out there, but there’s just something about avocadoes that turn me off. Probably their creamy, mushy consistency. I like food with texture, food that I can chew and bite. I don’t really like mushy stuff, which is another reason why I also do did not like tofu. But! I am willing to give avocadoes another try…Suggestions on recipes with avocadoes, anyone?

And lastly, Ellie asks:

When are you coming to the UK to teach me to cook? Kidding. Seriously though- do you like traveling? if you could go live anywhere, where would it be?

My answer:

Hey girl, if you could fork up at least half the amount for the plane fare, I will hop onto the nearest plane and live in your kitchen! Haha! But yes, as I mentioned above, I love traveling. But if I could live anywhere, I’d have to say southern California. I’m a girl who loves the sunshine and freezes her skinny ass off in the slightest chill, so the sunshine state it is for me! And I heard that west coast people are more laid-back than the crazy ambitious east coast peeps, so that’s good for me because I need to learn to relax. It’s one of the reason I applied to USC (that and it has a pretty good journalism program).

Hee hee! I like this Q&A thingy! I’ll probably give this another try some time, but hopefully more of you will ask questions the next time! But I’m sure you’ve had enough of me for one day, so here’s today’s question for you: What is the least authentic ethnic food you’ve ever tried? For me, I’ll have to say every single item on a Chinese take-out menu in America. I seriously can’t stand the “Chinese” food they serve…way too greasy and sweet!

Oh, by the way, I found this random quote that really tickled me:

“I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond. “~ Mae West

Tee hee! Wise words, eh? I certainly should learn a little from this smart, insightful woman!

Okay, I’m off now. Have an awesome weekend, everyone, and please indulge me by answering my question!

P.S. By the way, Donna from My Tasty Treasures is having a food magazine giveaway! THREE, actually! As a hoarder of foodie magazines and cookbooks, I’m thrilled!

I have a dream…

I remember writing my first article ever to be printed in hard copy when I was a junior in high school. I had just joined the school newspaper staff, and was assigned my first article ever: to review a local Japanese sushi restaurant. It was nothing much, just a small section in the entertainment section, and the contents were barely impressive; just your basic amateur reviewer heaping glowing raves because she is just so ecstatic to have her name printed and has yet to master the art of true criticism.

I progressed from there on, being promoted from staff writer to entertainment editor, and writing many more articles other than restaurant reviews. Even so, I still loved writing reviews most, and tried to grab any chance I could get on writing any review articles, be it food, music, movies, or books.

Another type of writing I loved most was features. I loved interviewing people, talking to them and listening to them talk, digesting the bits and bites of their personal details to form a full, organized picture of their story to the readers.

It was from this stint in my school newspaper that I eventually decided what I wanted to do the most was to interact with people, to write about them, and to experience and observe all sorts of things to share my opinion and thoughts on them. So, I chose to be a journalist. That is my goal, my passion. My plan was to graduate with a degree in magazine journalism in the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, then find a prestigious internship at some magazine company, then get my masters degree at Columbia University. Big plans, great dreams.

Then anorexia struck. Long story short: I got into Northwestern with a full scholarship, but got hospitalized and was sent back home just a month later. I gained some weight and tried to return to school, but they required me to have proof of treatment at an eating disorder residence, which I refused (and had no money for). I reapplied to other schools, and got into University of Southern California. But before I could actually attend, I relapsed and had to postpone my enrollment to Spring semester. Spring rolled by, but I had barely gained any weight; in fact, I lost even more. So I asked permission for another delay…and that brings me to now, where I am still waiting for their decision. It is highly probable that they will say no, as I am being re-evaluated among all the other freshmen. Thing is, I am no longer “fresh.” I am almost 22 years old; it’s been more 3 years since I last touched a textbook.

Meanwhile, I am still…still trying to recover. At this weight, even if the school re-admitted me, I would not be able to attend. It’s a sobering, terrifying thought, one that grips me with icy fear and panic. Will I make it? Will I ever be able to fulfill my dreams to be a great journalist?

As I pray to God about this, He comforts me. He opens my eyes to discover that I don’t need a college degree to become a good journalist. Hell, I’m getting all the training I can get right now with all the experiences He has provided me. I give thanks to Him for letting me discover the blogging community. While blogging I practice my writing skills so they don’t go rusty, while meeting many incredible people and reading their stories and their own struggles.

Most of all, I have discovered the power of the internet. Gone are the days of newspapers, magazines, even radio and broadcast. Now is the age of the wireless, of the citizen writer. Everyone can be a journalist now. Writing and sharing online is even more interactive, efficient, and rewarding. Thus I have switched my choice of major from magazine journalism to online journalism.

If I ever get into college, that is. Which is one of the reason I’m still clinging and fighting. I have a passion, God gave me that passion, and I am going to fulfill that passion, damn it!

So it is in that spirit that I made today’s lunch: in memory of my first article ever to be printed about sushi (albeit in a crappy high school newspaper), I present to you: “I’m going to California” roll.

It’s called that because it’s has most of the components of a California roll: crabmeat (imitation), carrots, cucumbers. And because so help me God, I am going to USC (University of Southern California)!!!! The only thing that’s missing though, is avocado, which I left out because 1) It’s expensive and I am mega-broke, and 2) I dislike avocadoes. Always have. Love the color, hate the texture and blandness.

I made two rolls. Both had a crabmeat salad, carrots, and cucumbers, but one had pearled barley as the base and the other had the roasted winter squash.

Here are the ingredients that went into the crabmeat salad:imitation crabmeat, plain yogurt, cucumber-garlic cheese spread, salt and pepper.

For the sushi barley “rice”: pearled barley, splash of vinegar, sweetener, salt.

Sorry, no exact measurements, I just taste-and-tested as I went.

It’s amazing how clean and fresh these tasted even though made mainly from leftovers.

Heh heh. These are the “Rejects” that were too ugly to make it into the previous picture. Don’t worry, they still got “first place” in my stomach. I ate them up first.

Here’s a close-up of the one with the barley:

And another one of the roasted winter squash:

One fat roll having a nice bath in soy sauce:

I think I liked the one with roasted squash more, but the barley one had great chewy texture.

The colors are so bright and cheery, I decided to go with a more somber tone with this one to match my above story…

One of the perks of not being in college? Lots of free time to bake! I was baking chocolate-pumpkin swirl cheesecake brownie for a friend’s b-day, and had some leftover brownie batter which I popped into a muffin pan…

Topped with chocolate-pumpkin cream cheese…

I’ll try to remember to take a picture of the grand product tomorrow!

Another reason I love the blogging community? Fun, uplifting rewards! Here are not just one, but two blogging awards I received!

This one was from Emily:

And this one from Katherine Aucoin!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Emily and Katherine! You have totally cheered me up when I needed it the most.

Ah, and now comes the dilemma of who I should pass them on to! I’ve been brooding over this for the longest time, and have finally reached the decision…I’m sending the “I <3 your Blog” award to Heather of Heather Eats Almond Butter and Reeni of Cinnamon, Spice & Everything Nice, for their amazing, creative, and delicious recipes!

The “Excellent” award to Ellie of Inside I’m still Dancing and Lexi from Live.Life for their strength and courage in continuing their personal battles. No matter what, you guys are EX-CELLENT little troopers and don’t you ever forget it! Rock on, sisters!

Hmm. Today’s post has been all about me, me, me. But since I’ve already crossed the border to narcissism, why not go all the way? So for today’s question, instead of me asking you lame questions, I’m challenging you to come up with fresher questions for me. Yup, ask me anything, and I shall answer! Seek, and you shall receive! (Except…I draw the line when it comes to asking questions like what’s my credit card PIN number…not that there’s any savings left anyway…)

My “thick and dense” head and lunch

Wow. I did not know how time-consuming switching from a PC to a Mac can be! I’ve been spending hours and hours reading up on Mac Tutorials, transferring all my files from my PC to Mac, downloading new software, seraching for a suitable alternative to Windows Live Writer…I had no idea just how labor-intensive and frustrating switching computer programs could be! Or maybe it’s just because I’m really a technologiramous (new word: technologically-ignorant), so I had to look up for online support on everything from using the touchpad to importing my iTune library files…

That said, I still haven’t found a good Mac substitute for Windows Live Writer, even with those programs for which you have to pay! I would have thought Mac would be more blogger-friendly than Microsoft…but I guess you can’t have it all, even with Apple.

Right now, I’m even considering switching to WordPress…For all you WordPress-users, could you tell me what is good about WordPress, and whether it is fast and efficient in uploading images? I don’t mind blogging straight from blogger, it just takes an awful lot of time uploading images…

Anyway, computer-frustrations aside, it has been a pretty delicious past couple of days!

For yesterday’s lunch, I made another variation of a “Mix-it-up” bowl.

When I was young, our family would always go out to eat on the weekend. It would be after church, so my mother would be too lazy/not enough time to cook. So dinner would be out, and of course my parents, the loving and unselfish beings that they are, let us kids choose the dining venue. Obviously, being stupid kids, we did not have exquisite palates; we always ended up choosing Milano, an all-you-can-eat pizza and pasta restaurant. Here, we could stuff our little bellies silly with all the greasy pizza, cheesy lasagna, and sugar-laden ice-cream we could want. Suffice to say, we would waddle out with swollen balloons for stomachs, reeking of cheese and grease.

Now we would always order the same things, but I would always be arguing with my mother over the choice for pizza. I wanted pepperoni, but she said it was too unhealthy. In the end, we would always compromise by ordering the Hawaiian pizza. I was happy with the ham and pepperoni, while my mother was satisfied that there was at least a tiny sprinkle of pineapple there to at least make a dent on my daily required serving of fruits and vegetables.

What is the point of this little anecdote, you ask? Well…absolutely nothing, except that this was the fond memory I reminisced in my mind as I made yesterday’s lunch: “Hawaiian Pizza” Pilaf.

Anyone of you Hawaiian pizza-lovers? Can you guess what went into this delicious “Mix-it-up” bowl? Here’s the breakdown:

“Hawaiian Pizza” Pilaf

The base: 1 cup cooked pearl barley, 1/4 cup black beans, 1/2 cup chopped roasted winter squash

The mix-ins: 1/3 cup of chopped pineapple, 1 whole slab UK back bacon, 2 slices of breakfast ham

The dressing: tomato sauce and sprinkle of Italian herbs

The topping: handful of red and white cheddar cheese and Parmesan cheese

Gosh, this was a humongous bowl. And such an interesting mix of tastes and textures! It really did sort of taste like a Hawaiian pizza, with the tomato sauce and the cheese and the meat and the pineapple. How can I ever have coveted the plain old Pepperoni pizza over this? Mother knows best, I say.

This little bite is sitting on the mountain of “Hawaiian Pizza” proclaiming, I’m the King of the World~

Little did he know…The poor little guy, clinging on for dear life…Say your goodbyes, little fella, it’s time to be devoured by Sophia…

’Twas a delicious, memorable lunch.

I tried out a new snack yesterday, too! I’d been eyeing this little guy for ages but had always chosen my usual cheese and peanut pancakes over him for my snack, but yesterday I was in a generous mood and gave him a chance…

Introducing my new snack buddy, Green tea steamed cake from Bread Talk…

It was really light and fragrant from the green tea powder, but rich at the same time from the cream cheese it was made out of. The texture was fluffy and pleasing. Unfortunately, it was gone too soon.

After my huge success with the Soufflé-omelet the day before, I decided to make another omelet, but this time taking it in a totally different direction. Instead of light and fluffy, this one was dense and thick.

See how heavy and stuffed it is? Can you guess what it is? Spanish Omelet! Here’s the steps:

I first fried up some bacon and ham with minced garlic until fragrant and crisp, then laid them aside. Then I cooked together a huge thinly-sliced onion and 1.5 lbs of thinly-sliced potato (I used a mix of blue and gold potato, hence the purplelish color).

Meanwhile, I whisked together 4 eggs, 3 egg whites, the cooked bacon and ham, 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, chopped spring onions, Italian herbs, salt and pepper.

Once the potato was tender, I dumped it into the egg mixture, mixed them together, then poured the whole thing into the skillet over low-heat. Here’s when thing got dicey: once the bottom was cooked, I flipped the whole thing over onto a plate, then slid it back into the skillet to cook the other side. Whew! You need some serious arm strength with this thing!

But all the labor was worth it, because this was seriously freaking amazing. I planned to eat a 1/4 of it, but ended up eating more than 1/3, even though I was stuffed!

Just look at the layers! This is definitely not your average “light” omelet lunch.

I think it could have been even better with a spicier and bolder meat like chorizo, but of course that’s almost impossible to find in Singapore. Next time though, I would use more bacon and cheese. You can never go wrong with more bacon and cheese.

Well, I’m off to experiment with my Mac some more and continue looking for a good blogger tool. I’m still considering WordPress, and am even willing to fork a bit of money to purchase a good software. It might be a good investment. I had originally planned to major in magazine journalism, but these days I’m so impressed by the power of the internet that I’m thinking of taking my journalism dreams online…

Well, just one day left till the weekends! Hold on there, fellow bloggers! And I’d love to read your answer to this question: Is there a particular food with which you have fond childhood memories?

P.S. AnAppleADay is having a second granola giveaway! Check out her blog for more details!

Broke and Happy

Sorry I haven’t been able to post yesterday…I’ve been busy with my brand new MacBook! I’ve been wanting a MacBook for the longest time, after hearing about how MacBook is so much more convenient and user-friendly than PC, and especially since my laptop’s hard disk was going haywire these days. It just so happened that Singapore was holding a huge IT expo last week, where many technological gadgets were on sale with great promotional bundles!

Anyway, I finally got the MacBook I always wanted, except I was forced to get the better (and more expensive) version! When I reached there the model I wanted was all sold out, and there was only one model left, and it was the new 2.4 GHz aluminum MacBook. I took it as God’s sign that He wanted me to splurge a little bit more on the better one…because I’m just that precious to Him. So, I obeyed His obvious will. Who am I to ignore Divine wishes? Everyone, say hello to my new shiny friend!

Anyway, so far I’m really liking the Mac, though I’m still trying to get used to switching from PC. The only thing the Mac lacks, though, is Windows Live Writer! It’s such a pain to blog without this blogging software, and I can’t believe Apple is superior to PC in all areas except being blogger-friendly! It’s so messed up. Any Mac-users out there know of any good blogging software compatible to Mac? Please help! I need my blogging tools! Right now, I’m still using my old PC right now to blog

Anyway, now that I have my shiny new MacBook in front of me (which I can’t help smiling and fondling it with adoration all the time), I am seriously broke. Like, SGD$2,700 (US$1763) broke. How fitting that I’ve been writing about economical eating in the last few posts. Now I’ve got to take my own advice. So be ready to see a lot more “Mix-it-up” bowls and many more variations of barley, beans, pumpkin, etc.

I had another “Mix-it-up” bowl yesterday for lunch. Same steps as the day before, just a slight change in the components to create this:

Cheesy BBQ Pilaf

The base: 1 cup cooked pearl barley

The mix-ins: 1/4 cup black beans and 1/2 cup chopped roasted winter squash

The dressing: homemade BBQ sauce (a mixture of my homemade ketchup, soy sauce, fish sauce, maple syrup, black pepper)

The topping: tablespoonfuls of red and white cheddar cheese, green onion, soft-boiled egg

This bowl was freaking amazing, even better than the one I had before. I loved the sweet and bold kick of the homemade BBQ sauce, and how the runny yolk of the egg soaked into each grain!

And oh, the cheese! I just plopped them on top of the fresh-out-of-the-skillet ingredients, and they slowly melted by itself into ultra-gooeyness…

Heh heh, I couldn’t resist taking tons of pictures, even though I was drooling from all the wonderful smells…

I had dinner out with Wengang and Liwen last night, as we were going to the IT expo together afterward. And guess what? I was the one to suggest dining out together myself. I even surprised myself, because I normally shy away from social and public dining, but I suddenly was just in the mood to really challenge myself that day.

Wengang and Liwen asked me where I wanted to dine, but I relegated the choice to them as I did not want to give ED any chance to worm his way into my decision. Truthfully, I was afraid I might chicken out and choose someplace familiar and safe.

We ended up going to out neighborhood Kopitiam (outdoor food stalls prevalent in Singapore and Malaysia), and chose this place called Piccolo, which sells pasta and pizza. I have a feeling they purposely chose this place because they knew I did not really care for Chinese food.

Anyway, this being Singapore and a Kopitiam, nary a dieter’s entree like salad in sight! I was actually relieved because that meant I had to choose something outside my comfort zone. No, really. I don’t know what was going on with me yesterday; I was in such a gung-ho spirit to fight ED. Hey, I’m not complaining. ED, bring it on!

Thus, to spit on ED’s face, this is what I ordered:

Crepes stuffed with chicken-spinach filling in creamy cheese sauce

Aren’t they cute delicious-looking things? I loved how they formed them into three little towers of cones.

The filling was a mixture of ground chicken, spinach, and mushrooms. The sauce around it was very rich and creamy, cheesy from the melted cheese inside and tangy from the tomato sauce. Very, very tasty, except it was not really a crepe, those liars. The wrapping was not your basic crepe, but really more like pasta. I think they used lasagna noodles. Oh well, it was still very good.

I actually finished them all! Even the cream sauce! I moped every bit of the uber-fattening cream sauce up with my refined white pasta. I even stole bites out of Wengang and Liwen’s dishes.

Wengang ordered the Spaghetti di Mussels:

This was just okay. I don’t really like mussels and clams so much. They’re stinky and slimy. Anybody agree?

Liwen’s dish was better. She ordered the Salmon-baked cheesy rice:

This was a dish of seasoned white rice, topped with chunks of pink salmon and finished off with lots of mozzarella cheese and baked till golden-brown. Very yummy, but I found it a bit too greasy…I wouldn’t be able to finish it, and neither did Liwen.

After dinner we marched off to get us some great bargains at the IT expo, where I got my beautiful, shiny MacBook. It came with a great promotional bundle: Microsoft Office:Mac, keyboard cover, laptop case, notebook cooler pad, and a mouse. I totally burned a hole in my credit card last night, but I take this as my reward for being victorious against ED that night!

Following my own advice in economical eating, I cooked up a big batch of black beans this morning. I have another tip on leftovers: you can always use them up to create innovative omelets!

But! Today’s omelet was ultra-special…I decided that even if I’m going to have simple dishes, I’m going to jazz it up as much as I can! So I made a soufflé omelet with vegetarian curry-filling:

I separated two eggs, and whipped the egg whites until they formed firm, opaque peaks:

I whisked the egg yolks together with a tablespoon of water, seasoned it with salt and pepper, then folded them into the egg white cloud:

Then I just heated and oiled a skillet over medium-heat, and spread the puffy egg mixture over. Meanwhile, I made the curry filling, following the same recipe which I used to make the chicken-tomato curry, except I
substituted black beans, roasted eggplant, and pumpkin for the chicken. Oh, and a squirt of maple syrup at the end, just for fun. When the bottom of the omelet was done, I scooped in the filling over half the omelet, added 2 tablespoonfuls of cucumber-garlic cheese spread, and folded the other half over. Ladies and gentlemen, please applaud Soufflé-Omelet with Vegetarian Curry-Filling:

Isn’t this amazing? This was humongous, and I couldn’t believe I got so much out of only two eggs! All that air beaten into the egg whites really maximized its volume.

This method of omelet really kicked it up several notches. The egg is so incredibly fluffy and fat and thick and delicate! It was like eating protein pancakes!

The filling was awesome, too. Both sweet and spicy, with the added cool tang from the cheese.

A very odd and intricate combination of flavors and textures indeed, but the result was just phenomenal. I’ll definitely be trying another variation of this souffle-omelet sometime…Maybe a sweet version?

Hee hee hee! I’m just so giddy with excitement and pleasure over my new MacBook! This has been a good day. I spent the entire afternoon hunched over my new notebook, getting Mac tutorials online and just touching, touching, touching my lovely Macbook! Okay, how many times have I repeated that word “Macbook” in this entire post? No wonder the logo is an apple. This notebooks is like my Eve’s apple, beckoning and seducing me with its smooth, sleek screen and shiny finish…

Okay, sorry, I’ll stop. Another reason I’m so hyper right now is because I finally got my eating disorder series article posted at Not Another Omnivore’s blog! Please, check it out and let me know what you think! I’m very curious about your opinions and feedbacks.

Oh, and today’s question of the day has nothing to do with food: Mac or PC? For me, if Mac had its version of Windows Live Writer to rival PC, it would be just perfect.

All by Myself…

I love cooking for myself. Given the choice between dining out at a restaurant and cooking my own meal at home, I would prefer the home-cooked meal, even if someone else was willing to pay for my meal out. And it is not because of ED, I swear.

I just love the whole process of cooking, especially when I try out a new recipe or create my own dishes. I love the hands-on chopping and mixing and stirring, love choosing each ingredient with care and attention, being aware of each components that make up the overall taste of the dish. I adore the innovation and novelty of trying out a fresh new recipe, love adding my own little twist and trademarks; I treasure the experience of tasting the finished product with both apprehension and excitement, and thoroughly relieve the pride and accomplishment I feel with each success. Even if I failed, I end up learning something new. Actually, the way I look at it, the more disastrous the result, the more interesting a story to tell in the end.

But a lot of people shy away from cooking, especially if they are cooking for themselves. And truthfully, I do understand why they avoid it. Cooking for one is not that easy or cheap, as most produce don’t come in single-servings, or if they do, they usually cost a lot more. In addition, most recipes available out there comes in servings of four to six. Nobody likes to live on leftovers for four to six consecutive days. You could always scale down the recipe, of course, but cooking just a single serving worth of beans or rice, and turning on the whole oven just to bake a single potato or a small slab of tofu seems like an awful waste of energy and electrical costs.

So how do I do it? You might have noticed that I always cook for myself, and that I usually always have something different each day. My meals are rarely based on boxed, frozen, or microwaveable products, but are always made from scratch with fresh ingredients. Because I am an incredibly generous and kind person, let me just share a few of my tips based on my own experience:

Well, first of all, become best buddies with your freezer and toaster oven. When you buy meat or fish, portion them out into single servings and then freeze them, where they can keep for months. The toaster oven is a big help when you want to bake something small like a potato but don’t wanna waste energy by turning on a whole oven.

Also, when it comes to fresh produce, try to limit yourself. Don’t buy whole caskets of veggies and fruits, where they will inevitably sit for days in your fridge, wilting and molding. I’m lucky in that I live a stone’s throw away from the supermarket, so I can just hop over to buy fresh produce everyday.

Try different grains and beans. Buy them in bulk by weight, since they are cheaper that way, and you can choose your own measurements. Cook up several servings at once, and store the leftovers in the fridge. They make excellent base for new recipes and creations.

Get ingredients that are versatile, like potatoes, eggs, and cheese. Things that you can buy in bulk, but won’t have trouble using them up or having to eat the same dish everyday, because they are flexible enough to be used in myriads of different dishes.

Case in point: Today’s lunch was a whole new dish made out of leftovers. It took barely any brain energy nor time to whip it up. In fact, it was totally last minute, because I had been expecting to have lunch out with Liwen and Wengang, but at the last minute they had to hurry to church to deal with some issues. By then it was already past 2pm, and my stomach was growling. I didn’t have time to wait for a potato to bake, or dream up of a complicated new dish. I just wanted something fast, ready, and simple.

I looked into my fridge, and saw that I had leftover barley, black beans, and roasted winter squash. Perfect! Below is the “recipe,” and I have divided them into different components which you can follow to create your own signature dish:

                               Basic “Mix-it-up” Bowl recipe

The base: 1 cup cooked pearl barley (other suggestions: rice, bulgur, wheat berries, couscous, etc.)

The mix-ins: 1/4 cup black beans and 1/2 cup chopped roasted winter squash (other suggestions: any other type of beans, lentils, root vegetables like sweet potatoes and parsnips)

The dressing: splash of soy sauce and maple syrup (other suggestions: BBQ sauce, teriyaki sauce, pasta sauce, Italian dressing, blah blah whatever fits your fancy)

The topping: big spoonful of desiccated coconut and chopped spring onion (other suggestions: any kind of crushed nuts, seeds, fresh herbs, dried fruits, egg, cheese, the sky’s the limit!)

DIRECTIONS:  Heat up some oil in a skillet over medium heat, stir in minced garlic and chopped onions until soft and fragrant. Toss in your base and mix-in ingredients, stir to mix. Splash in the dressing and mix to coat. Dish the mixture out into a bowl and sprinkle with your desired topping.

This was my version of a “Mix-it-up” bowl:

Beans-and-Squash Barley Pilaf with Coconut

So freaking fast and easy, and I got to use up three of my leftovers! All I needed to do was choose the dressing and topping and chop up some garlic and onions. Now that’s what I call smart, efficient, economical, and practical!

Not to mention utterly delicious. Can you believe the colors and textures of this amazing bowl of leftovers?

The taste was really complex and interesting: the savory Asian flavor from the soy sauce, the subtle sweetness from the maple syrup, and the unique tropical taste from the coconut all combined together in one freaking scrumptious bowl.

I really love this “recipe,” because there are so many different dishes I can create with this one recipe! My head is already churning with all sorts of ideas…I can guarantee you there’s gonna be more of these “Mix-it-up” bowls in the future!

So, have I convinced anyone yet? There shouldn’t be any more excuses not to cook for oneself! Okay, I admit it, sometimes it doesn’t work, like with big batches of soup or baked goods or casseroles, but then…that’s when you’ve gotta share! In cases when I have to cook up a huge batch, I just set aside my own portion and then share the rest with my friends. Trust me, you gain a lot of popularity this way. Tee hee!

Now, I’d love to hear from you! Do you cook for yourself often? Any tips or advice you’d like to share on cooking for yourself? And also, please share some of your ideas based on this “Mix-it-up” recipe! What are some of the creations you’d like to try?

Oh, and heads up: I’ve been invited as a guest blogger to write an article on Not Another Omnivore’s eating disorder blog! The article is not up yet, but will probably be posted sometime on Monday. I’ll let you know, but in the meantime please check out her eating disorder blog! It has a lot of great information on eating disorders, as well as her own personal story. I love that she’s trying to bring more awareness to eating disorders, since this disease is so prevalent yet so misunderstood.