玄米茶

Recently acquired a taste for 玄米茶. Green tea leaves mixed with roasted rice grains. The fragrance of the grains overpowers the mildness of green tea. The tea leaves looks really beautiful with the little brown grains amongst it. I'll usually put the leaves into a teabag (those that you pack yourself) and throw it into my mug. Once I left the teabag in the mug still half filled with water, and when I got back to it the next day, the grains looked as though they were from porridge. The tea now looks murky and I wonder it is due to the starch found in the grains. Anyway I did not try to find out by tasting it. So I just left it as a theory. Until I can be bothered to test it. At least it can be verified. Some things in life will always remain a mysterious. Some will always remain in theory, never becoming a law. Look around yourself, ponder for a moment and its not difficult to find things that you'll never have the answer to. The "what-ifs". Just one thing? Think again.

小白和大黑的故事

小白下午时打了一通电话给大黑，问他要不要吃晚餐。 一个钟头后大黑就到了牛车水，等着小白。小白想吃田鸡粥，大黑就带他到长城那里去。 田鸡粥，猪肉粥，炸大肠。和途中买的咖哩角。匆匆地吃饱后，赶到小白看戏剧的地方。 满座。大黑就一个人在街上游荡，等着小白。散场后，他俩走到了一间甜品店，坐了下来。要吃什么？他们互问对方。杏仁糊，小。芝麻糊，大。从此之后，他们有了新的小名。

还好没有叫我最喜欢的腐竹白果。

A.G.N.O.

Just about a week before Davina reminded me about our date on Thursday night. Must have arranged it while I was.... (a) Not paying attention to her (b) In a state of daze (c) In a state of shock (therefore memory of the event wasn't captured consciously). So in actual fact we are supposed to go for a play. We met up somewhere along the track towards Bugis. Beneath the clock. Da Vina Code. Walked along the streets filled with eateries and decided on this Taiwanese Eatery. Best decision of the night. The rest of the good decisions came about after this. We ordered the Mee Sua with Intestine, Minced Pork Rice, Fried Tofu, Garlic Pork and something I never knew she would try... Pig's Trotters. We just brought our friendship to a higher level.

Contentment

Hmmm... a non-food topic. But the idea flashed across my mind while I was on my way back home after collecting the pastry from Felicia's place. The contentment did not come from the apple pie or cheesecake. I haven't tried them then :) As I was walking I thought about being content. Being content with whatever you have, and you will have no wants. What you have may not be much, may not be enough in other people's eyes but if you feel content, you will be happy. Then I thought about the simple pleasures of life. And just being alive. Not many people will appreciate their two legs until they seriously injure them. Most will take their senses for granted too, until one day when they suddenly lose them. I vaguely remember there was an email talking about the topic of appreciation. Hmmm... for a moment I thought I digressed. Anyway you have to appreciate what you have before you can be content. I realise that my thoughts are rather uncollected. Lack of sleep. But I appreciate the fact that I have the ability to project my thoughts onto this blog without much effort. And appreciate that I have a bed waiting for me when I am tired. Find it difficult to do? Imagine yourself to be one of those affected by the Jogjakarta earthquake.

This Nasi Briyani Stall

A few days back, on Sunday, I went down for dinner at the Yishun 10 Foodcourt. Again the queue at this corner Nasi Briyani stall caught my attention. Queue = Good Food. One simple law that can help you sniff out good food. This time I decided to join the queue and try out for myself how is the taste of the NB. They have a pretty good idea, using banana leaves instead of plates (on trays of course). Later on when I was trying the rice, the faint fragrance of the leaf could be picked up as I brought the spoon close. Refreshing. The grains were longer than usual rice we eat. It was difficult to tell what is the difference between that and the normal Thai rice we eat, but eventually I decided that it was more "Q". The lower water content allows the grains to remain separate and not clumpy.











Longer grains than the normal Thai rice we usually eat.

The curry mutton was very tasty. Instead of the normal mutton chunks, this stall gave a large piece of mutton, bones attached. The reason why I chose mutton over chicken was because I did not want to de-bone! Next time I would just order the chicken curry. Well, back to the mutton. It was soft and tender, with a hint of the usual mutton smell, and the spiciness level was just right. What do I mean by just right? Well, I like the way it was, so it was "just right". Like other things in life, if you are able to accept and appreciate it, it will be just right.

Rejuvenating December

Seems that the stars have aligned my destiny in June with Australia. The unbearable Singapore heat and humidity, coupled with friends edging me to fly down under, my first trip to the island continent seems to be taking form. Until the ultimate decision maker said no. Although hardly an entity by itself, this decision-maker manipulates your actions and affects your emotions. It doesn't say much, what it has to tell you carries a lot of weight. And very straight to the point. No grey areas. I tried to negotiate but this is one firm, unswerving... character. So I guess I am destined to be stuck with the very undesirable Singapore mid-year weather. Come December I will reopen the negotiations, and hopefully this time I will be allowed to go where I want. December, the month of year-end bonuses; bonuses, the elixir of bank accounts; bank account, the decision maker of my whereabouts.

Food Taster

Good thing that a friend of mine began her exploration in her kitchen. Was pleasantly surprised that she offered me two pieces of the apple pie she baked when I met her for coffee in the library. Didn't take long for me to gobble them up. It was quite delicious, I forgot to ask if it was her first attempt. The eggy part of fillings reminded me of those found in quiche, while the apple parts was still... apple. Seeing the culinary books that she had just borrowed, and with my mouth still munching on the last piece of apple pie, I quickly put up my hand and volunteered to be her food taster when she trys out the receipes.

Two days later I got a SMS from her. She told me that she had baked another apple pie and a chocolate cake. And asked me if I wanted to try. You bet. Well, she told me to comment after eating so.... The apple pie's crust was different from the previous one. This one was crispier and I suspect a little too heavy with the salt. The pieces of apple were just right, not too crunchy nor too soggy.







This... was gone in sixty seconds.


I opened the box of chocolate cake and attacked a piece. Very chocolatey but it taste a bit heavy (celebrity critics often use adjectives not normally used in their trade). I think I have an idea how to reduce its "heavyness" but thats beyond the scope of this blog entry. The smooth coat of chocolate made the cake a little hard to handle, literally. So I did what I thought was the best way to deal a slippery piece of cake. I stuffed it all into my mouth.

Felicia, thanks for the wonderful pies and cake. Keep them coming while I still provide my food-tasting services FOC. And now that you know I blog the stuff you bake, are you going to make them more visually appealing? Just kidding ;)

Beauty of Blogging

Felt like blogging. Not that I am one who likes to share my boring personal life, nor am I one who enjoys basking in the limelight. Blogging pays, yup... "ka-ching!". Of course, the blog must be popular, so that enough "eyeballs" get fixated at the site, hence giving the advertisers value for their money. How am I going to make my blog popular? Sex and gossip definitely sells... Getting reported on some newspaper or magazine wouldn't be too bad either. Getting into trouble and then reported on will definitely cause a surge in the number of visitors. Most just wanting to see what shit I have gotten myself into. Come to think of it... having a pretty face and some cleavage would be so much easier. Not in this life though. Unless I pretend that I do have a pretty face and some ample cleavage. No one will really know right? Cool. The beauty of blogging.