The Whole New Me

This whole new me has already started from the moment I found out that I'm pregnant. Well, I still indulge sometimes while missing those times when I just ate whatever I wanted and whatever pleased me but then it left me thinking about just how miserable I feel. So now I'm gonna be the healthiest I ever be. You're hearing it now. This is my declaration. I'm going to not "do better," but actually cut real things out of my diet. I'm going to be better.

So here's what's going out the door:

Soda

Coffee (I cried about this one, no more caramel macchiato)

Sushi

Tea

Coke

Durian

Soft cheese

Most fishes

Too much sugary food/drinks

What that means for my choices: 

Vegetables (more and more greens, more and more fresh choices)

Fruits (more and more fresh, seasonal fruit. Less canned/packaged stuff) 

More high protein that is lean - chicken and beef

More non fat and low fat dairy

More and more and more water 

More nuts and dried fruits as snacks

Light popcorn with movies 

More grains and cereals and juices

It's really happening. I don't know what part of me flipped a switch the second half of this year but I've really been on a roll. Despite everything that's been going on around me, I feel together and I've been actually setting my mind to real goals again. Go me! 

I tried to do something similar to this diet change before, but I didn't have the motivation of feeling this awful behind the decision, in all honesty, a lot of these kinds of choices we make are made purely on the vanity of the choice or ourselves. But this time it's because I'm pregnant and I'm doing this for my baby. Also I really need to get back on my yoga routine. I can't wait to start tonight with more fruits, no late-night indulgences and then wake up at the right time and actually do yoga. 

From Aemy's Lab: Curry Noodle

Nobody can resist the temptation of curry noodle! It's one of the famous dish here in my country. My undying love for anything remotely resembling curry noodle, be it dry or wet, santan-full or santan-less, spicy or sour or sweet, from north to south and everywhere else, led me to the urge of making one at home. It's my first attempt. ^^

What you need:

#1

- a pack of yellow noodle (blanched)

- a cup of bean sprouts

- crisp-fried onions

#2 (sliced)

- 2 fried tofu

- 2 stalks of parsley and scallion

- 2 red chilies

- 3 limes 

#3 (for the gravy)

-1/2 kg of chicken (cut into chunks)

- 200 g of shrimps

- a pack of chicken balls

- a pack of fish cake (sliced)

- 2 tablespoons of chili paste

- 3 tablespoons of curry powder (mixed with a little tamarind juice)

- 5 cups of coconut milk

- cooking oil

- salt

#4 (blended)

- 2 stalks of lemongrass

- 1 inch of ginger

- 1/2 inch of lengkuas

- 5 onions

- 2 garlic

How you do it:

1. Stir-fry the #4 ingredients until fragrant. Add curry paste and the spices and cook until the oil separates.

2. Add the chicken, fish cake, chicken balls and coconut milk into the pan. Let it boil.

3. Serve with noodles and #2 ingredients.

4. Bon appetit! 

Sweet Green Rolls

Taken from MalaysianFood

Just because we can't eat and drink this month, doesn't mean we can't talk or write about food, right? ;) 

It's the 4th Ramadan and it's been good. I haven't set a foot at any bazaars yet to buy food for iftar. Well, I just don't feel like going because I prefer self-cooked meals. As you know, I always find joy in cooking even in fasting month. Though it's quite a challenge because I can't taste the food to know whether it needs more salt or sugar, it's still fun. Sometimes you don't need the specific recipe to cook what you want, you just have to follow your instinct. 

So yesterday, I made a traditional Malaysian dish: Pandan Crepe with Coconut Filling. You know, the sweet coconut stuffed green roll. Yes it's green but I don't use any artificial coloring, the color is 100% made from pandan juice. Here we call it as kuih ketayap or kuih lenggang. At some places it's called Sweet Nyonya Pancake Roll, kuih dadar, etc. It's my mom's specialty and one of my favorites. So I've learned the recipe from her and tried to make it by myself. So here's the recipe:

The filling

3 cups grated coconut

150 g palm sugar (gula Melaka), chopped

1 tablespoon white sugar (optional)

2 pandan leaves, knotted

A pinch of salt

Water

How to make the filling:

1. Mix palm sugar, knotted pandan leaves and water in a pot. Boil until the sugar melts.

2. Take out pandan leaves and set aside

3. In a clean wok, caramelize white sugar by heating.

4. Add palm sugar mixture into the caramelized sugar.

5. Add the grated coconut and salt, mix thoroughly.

6. Keep stirring so the coconut doesn't burn and cook until almost dry.

7. Transfer to a bowl and let cool.

The batter

2 cups flour, sieved

1 egg, beaten

6 pandan leaves (or more), blended with water

A pinch of salt

1 tablespoon corn oil

How to make the batter:

1. Put the flour and salt into a mixing bowl, make a well at the center.

2. Pour in the beaten egg, pandan juice and corn oil, whisk slowly. Make sure the batter's not lumpy and add in a little more water if it's too thick.

3. Set aside for at least half an hour.

How to prepare Pandan Crepe with Coconut Filling:

1. Heat up a non-stick pan over a low flame and lightly grease with a little oil/butter. Pour one scoop of batter into pan, tilt pan to form a thin crepe.

2. Fry on one side only. Once it's cooked, crepe is ready and remove it immediately.

3. Put a spoonful of the coconut filling on the crepe and roll it up like the spring roll.

4. Done and ready to serve.

They're burnt a little, just the way I like. 

Happy cooking! ^^

When Life Gives you Bitter Melon

If I were to write the nasty food column, bitter melon or bitter gourd would be at the top of my list of underappreciated vegetables. True to its name, the squash is unabashedly bitter, with an acerbic taste that leaves your tongue and the roof of your mouth dry. I couldn't understand people who love it, especially those who eat it raw. My mom loves to serve it as kerabu but I still don't like it because it gives me stomach acid.

Most of you out there would have bitter gourd in your hate list. I was one among you until my aunt came the other day bringing fried bitter gourd. I didn't know it was bitter gourd at the first place, it looked like tempura or something but I didn't care enough to ask because it smelled so nice. So I ate it joyfully, it was crispy, savory..just the way I liked it. Then they told me it's actually bitter gourd. And I was like, OMG how can bitter gourd taste so good?? It's not bitter at all! I was so shocked with that new discovery that I had a feeling that my entire life has been a lie. Lol. Too much. :p 

So I asked for the recipe and tried to make it on my own. So this is how to turn hate into love:

Ingredients
Bitter gourd
Kentucky flour
Egg
Garlic
Black pepper
White pepper
Salt


Method
1. Slice the bitter gourd, remove the seeds and cottony part. Wash the slices and keep them aside.
2. Put minced garlic, peppers and salt into the whisked egg.
3. Toss in slices of bitter gourd into the egg mixture and mix them well.
4. Evacuate the slices from the egg mixture and dip them into Kentucky flour, make sure they're fully coated, then immediately fry in the hot oil. Deep fry until they're golden brown.

It might still taste bitter a little bit, but better then it was. At least it's edible.

Well, it's a whole new definition to the saying "when life gives you lemon..."

Except when life gives you bitter gourd, make them not bitter. Lol.

From Aemy's Lab: Salted Fish Sambal

I used to hate cooking. Why? Because it was boring. (This just in: It is not.) Well, the real reason I hated it is because I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, no confidence whatsoever that I'd ever be able to navigate my way around the kitchen. 

My mom is an amazing cook. So much of my childhood was spent sitting in the kitchen, watching her whip up elaborate meals for us. She goes through the motions without thinking, adds ingredients without measuring. So I decided to dive in. Well, okay, maybe mom pushed me in a little bit. I can't just sit and watch her cooking forever. I'm not living in a castle waiting for my dinner to be served. So mom taught me to cook and she convinced me that I'd fall in love with cooking if only I learned how. And so I did learn. And so I do love it. Mom's always right. :)

Sambal dish is part of main course in our place, with chili base paste stir-fry to fragrant before adding the other main ingredients. They can be vegetable or seafood. One of my favorites is salted fish. So recently, using mom's recipe, I cooked salted fish with chili or sambal tumis ikan masin. Salted fish slightly stinks, but the taste, holy moly, is yummy! So here it is:

Ingredients:
Salted terubok fish (cut into pieces)
3 onions (ground)
4 garlic cloves (ground)
5 small chilies..or more, as you like (chopped)
2 tablespoons of chili paste
1/2 cup of tamarind water
2 tomatoes (diced)
2 big green chilies (chopped)
Pinch of salt and sugar

Directions:
1. Deep-fry the salted fish until crispy.
2. Evacuate the fish and replace the oil with new one (when you fry salted fish, the oil turns dark and you wouldn't want to reuse it).
3. Heat the oil in the pan, then stir-fry ground garlic and onions.
4. Add chili paste and stir-fry until fragrant.
5. Add small chilies, tamarind water (with the pulps) and tomatoes, stir. Lower heat and let it simmer.
6. Adjust the taste with salt and sugar.
7. Toss in salted fish and stir evenly. Add green chilies for garnishing. And it's ready to serve.

Maybe you can try this for dinner tonight. ;)

Bon appétit!

Light as Air

Recently, life has been a bit of a whirlwind. A good whirlwind, to be sure, but a whirlwind nonetheless. Last weekend left me calm and rejuvenated. Refreshed. Outdoor brunch, an all-day barbecue at the river, hangout at playground, and friends who bring out my truest self. We faced the sun and ate barbecued chickens and ate pickles and welcomed life with open arms. And something within or above or around me lifted, loosened, so that now I'm feeling light as air.

It's the new weekend and life is good, you know? Life is just so damn good.

our picnic spot

Kibambangan River

dipping in cold river

glad to have him 

brothers

the chefs

Well, I know it's the month of love. But I'm not a valentine's day person because I'm not celebrating it, but everyone can celebrate love anytime. Let's celebrate all kinds of love everyday, shall we? Romantic love, yes, but also friendship and the love of our families, our acquaintances, our old loves and new loves, puppy loves and forever loves. The love of words, of sunshine, of fresh flowers sitting on the windowsill. And let's not forget to show love, too, to those we care about and also to ourselves. Also, let us not forget self-love.

And thank you so much for all the love you've shown this little blog over the years.

Have a blast weekend. ^^

From Aemy's Lab: Gulai Kawah

dream kitchen

My favorite part of my house is the kitchen. Hi-5 if we have thing in common. ;)

Yep, I've been spending a lot of time in the kitchen these days; not just eating, but also cooking. I'm not a great chef, I don't know all the recipes in the world, but I really love cooking. It's such a joy. I think if you're a food lover, you should love cooking too, right? I like trying new recipe and new ingredient. The kitchen is my laboratory. And I love reading food blogs, chef bloggers' especially, browsing food photos, watching Food Network (Ina Garten, Giada De Laurentiis and Bobby Flay are my favorites) and searching new recipes. Did you watch Julie And Julia? Isn't it a wonderful movie with wonderful casts?! It has inspired me so much to start blogging about cooking. I actually wanna wait until I own a house with cute kitchen. But I don't know when will that happen..so I guess I can just start blogging like Julie Powell anytime..except, I don't have Julia Child's book.

Few days ago I cooked gulai kawah beef. It's like curry, but I didn't use the curry paste, instead I used a special powder mix for gulai kawah that my dad bought from his Kelantanese friend. Traditionally, this dish is cooked in a large cooking crater and usually for big feast or ceremony. But we can also cook it at home for few servings by only using a regular saucepan. So this is how Chef Aemy do it, lol (I've never wrote recipe before, so I don't have the exact measurement, I mean, I just use the ingredients as much as I please..heee..).

Ingredients:

Beef. People commonly use tenderloin, but I use the bones because they really give distinctive flavor especially in broth.

Gulai kawah paste.

Herbs and spices (cinnamon, bunga cengkih, bunga lawang, buah pelaga, ketumbar).

Kerisik.

Coconut milk.

Brown sugar.

Tamarind water.

Ground garlic and onions.

Chili paste.

Ground ginger.

Ground turmeric.

Ground lengkuas.

Potatoes.

Salt and sugar.

Method:

1. Heat the saucepan, add oil and stir-fry the herbs and spices until the aroma is apparent. Add grounded ingredients and stir-fry for a couple of minutes.

2. Add gulai kawah paste, chili paste and kerisik, cook until fragrant and the oil separates.

3. Put the beef meat and bones into saucepan, add plain water, and cook them until the beef get tender.

4. When the beef is tender, add coconut milk, a little bit of brown sugar and tamarind water. Adjust the taste with salt and sugar. Add potatoes.

5. Let it simmer for a while. Serve when it's ready. You can put some garnishes like some chili or parsley.

That's it! ^^

To Make you Giggle

I'd like to share something that I found on Tumblr: Funny Cafe Board Signs. 

*gigglin*

Sweet Evil in the Cup

From the alarm clock to a traffic jam on your way to work or you-know-where, there are many pretty morbid experiences in the morning. Embodying these morning moods, here's an idea for you to literally throw in some skulls into your morning coffee. Yep, you can make that coffee 100% sinister by adding these amazing skull and cross bones sugar cubes to your cup. These skulls are created by the brilliantly creative mind and fingers of designer Snow Violent.

Can you imagine looking down into your coffee and having the skull staring back at you? You watch as the bones float and bob in your cup slowly dissolving in the murky darkness of your cup. Now that's the way to start the day. Lol. But make sure your guests know your sense of humor before you sweeten their coffee with these. :p

The Moment I Could not Forget

Manila Trip: Day 4

It's not really surprising when the shop assistants spoke Tagalog to us, thought that we're Filipinos and said that we look like ones. We're typical Asians after all. I've learned some Tagalog words and basic phrases from my friend, Lan (the guide of our trip, it's his 2nd hometown), such as makgano (how much?), maraming salamat (thanks so much), magandang araw (have a nice day), magandang umaga (good morning), pagod ako (I'm tired), ingat (take care), counting numbers, and so on. It's really fun to learn new language. ^^

After brunch, we went to Robinson and shopping at some stores. Bench store was my favorite one and I bought a lot from there; dress, bags, fragrance. I really love the design, quality, fabric, and I only looked for Philippines' original brands. Despite being the only rose among the thorns, I had no problem shopping with the guys. Besides, sometimes they needed me to choose for them. Here I also found some bizarre foods like balut (fertilized egg with a fetus in it) and deep fried 1-day-old chick. Ugghh..

deep fried 1-day-old chicks

the last jeepney

By taking MRT, we went to Baclaran again and headed to MOA by a jeepney. That's the last time I rode a jeepney. I must say that jeepney's the coolest transport so far. I loved it and miss it already. In MOA, we watched Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. The cinema's way awesome than GSC or any cinemas I've ever been. The hall and screen were larger and hey, no censored scenes. Needless to say, I had to close Ifo's eyes with my hand at one scene where Mina was completely naked with Hansel at rock pool. 

After the movie, we rushed out to catch the "moment". Yes, we made it this time. We saw the sunset of Philippines and embraced the moment. That I will never forget. ^^

so do you think this is romantic? :p

screw the camera

Then we went to Kultura Filipino to buy some souvenirs and OMG I really loved the shop. It's not an ordinary handicraft shop. Everything's beautiful and attractive. They resembled the cultures and traditions of Filipinos, which amazed me. I wanted to buy a very beautiful purse, but when I saw the price, I let it go and bought souvenirs for my family instead. 

Since it was the final night of the trip, we made it count by having fun at Star City, a theme park. So we played and rode all that we can. The funniest was when we entered the ghost house and mummy's tomb. I thought I was the only that'd be scared, but the guys were scared too. :p There's this kind of laser light in the ghost house that turned our faces into ghosts. Dude, it's damn scary. And then when the other people came to us, we thought they're ghosts because of the horrible faces. So we screamed and ran to exit gate. Lol. The rest of the games were as common as we have at Genting Highland. I felt regret riding the last game because it made me absolutely dizzy. Glad I didn't vomit in the air. 

we were up there

had so much fun ^^
(from left: Selvin, Lan, me, Ifo, Russel, Jasper)

The night's ended with the final hangout at hotel's cafe. I miss that so much. :)

Superman Saved my Day

Manila Trip: Day 3

breakfast ^^

One of the Filipinos' traits that I adore is they're hardworking people. Well it's undeniable, right? Look what have they done to our buildings. They're morning people and even the shops open early in morning. It's maybe because they have strong family bonds. I can see that when they always had breakfast, lunch or dinner together as a family. The parents strive hard for to provide the basic needs of the family and they have this ideology that they don't want their family members to experience the tough times that they had before. And most workers are really polite and friendly. Another thing that caught my attention is the university in Philippines is not a place to do research, but it's only a place to get a licence for a job. 

So let's go straight to the adventure of the day. Here's the origin of Filipino Market in KK. 

It's called Barangay Baclaran, a bargain shopper's paradise where you can find the cheapest prices for almost everything; from foods to clothes, shoes, groceries, etc. Well it's the largest market I've ever been, and many of the sellers are Muslims. Since it's located near Taft Avenue, I got to be at the shooting location of Bourne Legacy 2012. They said it's a dangerous place and I did feel insecure because it's too crowded and people were moving so fast. Thankfully we're safe and nothing's missing. Hee.

We also went to some flagship malls at the heart of Makati City, such as Glorietta, The Landmark and Greenbelt. Greenbelt's divided into 5 sections that offer a mix of cafes, designer clothing shops, local and international brands, cinema and gardens. In other words, it's a place for rich people. So I was just there to take pictures and feel (without buying) the masterpieces by Jimmy Choo, Louis Vuitton, Giorgio Armani, etc. While strolling around in the city, sometimes I noticed "biodegradable" labels on most packaging materials, and that impressed me much. Even the dustbins only categorized into 2 types; biodegradable and non-biodegradable. And I met Superman at The Landmark. :p

Superman saved my day

like a boss

In the evening, we headed to SM Mall of Asia (MOA). I remember jumping out of jeepney and running to the bay side with my friends because we didn't want to miss the sunset moment. But we did miss it. It's already dark when we got to the bay. So we're just resting on the rock fence while eating fries and watching a glitter-coated street comedian doing a show. It's such a nice place. But I got a pang of sadness for being there too early. I mean earlier than Paramore. Well, they will be singing live in MOA Arena this 15th Feb. I cried in my heart and still do. 

We played ice skates in the mall before going back to hotel. I'm a noob and I can't skate for the life of me. But I had fun that night though. Back in hotel, we had dinner with hot cakes. They're the most delicious pancakes ever. I need to browse for Filipino's pancake recipe because I'm craving for it now. ^^

When Hard Work is a Joy

Food Product Development (FPD) is one of the subjects that I take for this semester. As a part of assessments, we're divided into teams to establish companies and develop new innovative food products. My team, Yummy Kids World Sdn Bhd have developed soy pancakes, namely Yummy Tummy Pancake, and yes, we're targeting on children since we fell under category of food for 5 to 6 year-old kids. This is the reason I spent most times in labs and to be frank, it's the most challenging subject so far. All of us have worked so hard until the day of FPD Exhibition and Competition 2012, which was yesterday at our faculty (School of Food Science and Nutrition). 

The event was a collaboration between faculty and Adabi Consumer Industries Sdn Bhd. So the judges of competition consisted of our lecturers and Adabi team including the president of Adabi, Mr Abdul Hady. The products include soy pancakes (ours), instant cereal drink, sweet potato brown rice crackers (best booth), spinach biscuits, breakfast cereals, energy bars (2nd place), mix chicken cake (3rd place), chicken-filled croquette (best product - 1st place), ravioli with dhal paste, chicken balls, seaweed and hinava flavored pizza, and fish patties. I loved them all.

The judges went from booth to booth for product testing and judging, which was both nerve-wrecking and exciting. They gave us constructive feedback including comments and suggestions, and we're delighted when one of lecturers praised us saying "I've never tasted such a delicious pancake before. Your pancake is even better than the ones that are served in hotels. I love it and if I were you, I'll take the challenge to sell this product in future." Touché! ^^

Even though we only won the consolation prize, it's still a joyful day. Besides, we didn't expect to win at all because the bottom line is that we wanted to learn and have more experiences for future's sake. And yes, I've learned so many things and had fun in so many ways. I enjoyed working with my team and together we've made unforgettable memories. We've also had so much fun with other teams and been very supportive all this time. Congrats to my friends who won and I'm wishing the best for all of us in next chapters. 

our developed food products.

my team: Yummy Kids World Sdn Bhd

we made it!

they won The Best Booth.

me and Umi, my best friend and one of the team members that won The Best Product .

with my Chinese friends.

It's fun to be a food technologist. ^^