I wonder why we always overeat when we are overseas. Perhaps it is really the only time when we have a legit excuse ( or is there such a thing as a legit excuse? ) to binge out and be happy and absolutely guilt-free…. while at least until we come back home. That’s what I always say… ” Eat first… later go back then we exercise!”

When you touch down to home, the guilt slowly sets in… at first you get excited about the gifts you got for everyone. Then you get almost deliriously happy over the great bargains you snagged at the local markets ( scheming & plotting ways to gain the upper hand in the bargain battle )… and then wham!

You look in the mirror. Bam!

Yup, looks like some “extra” gifts followed me back on my body…. time for weight loss action!

Now that I am back, I have reverted back to my more vegetables & less meat diet a.k.a. healthy diet ( does not help when you have to attend gatherings with friends at restaurants/BBQ though… ) Plus I will try to avoid any sweet stuff, even not taking sugar with coffee. And of course, try to do more yoga!

My #1 way is to eat my healthy Vegetable soup for most of my meals. Not only is it nutritional but it is oil free!

Yummy Vegetable Soup
=================
Soup base like chicken cube or fish cube ( personally I use Red Miso Paste & japanese fish soup base )
Carrots
White carrots
Celery
Onion
Potato
Corn
In fact, any vegetables! Bean sprouts, spinach, any leafy greens…

Boil water. Cube the root vegetables. Add soup base into boiling water. Add in all the hardy root vegetables like carrots, potato, corn, onion etc. I’ll add the celery in at this point probably at the point when the carrot just about become tender cos I like them soft. Leave the leafy green vegetables later. Boil & simmer until the vegetables is tender. Then add in the leafy vegetables to cook and then serve.

Add the following for a more hearty soup :
Tofu
Mushrooms
Dumplings
Udon

You can add a bit of healthy olive oil or seasame seed oil just before serving. ( oils are important in our diet too! )

Hence this year starting with my birthday, we tried to start as early as possible. Meaning to start the outing as early as possible. And we did by starting the day early at one of the few places that offer buffet in the morning – Red Star Restaurant. We figured we’ll have a nice dim sum buffet breakfast and the continue to another location for coffee/tea. So we planned perhaps to eat from 9.30am to perhaps 12pm. But guess what? We ended up hanging around there until 2pm!!! We were pretty impressed with ourselves indeed… *smug*

Then we went for this nice little cafe, Flor at Duxton Hill. It is a japanese confectionery bakery that serve yummy light and yet delicious cakes. We were spoilt for choices and it was really hard to settle for just 4!

Strawberry Soufflé

Mont Blanc

This is my absolute favorite, Waguri Millefeuille, nice flaky puff pastry with a not-so-sweet French chestnut cream – creamy and deli-ccccious:

Waguri Millefeuille

Earl Grey Chocolat

Definitely heading back there for more yummy treats! Now I am aiming for their Tofu Chiffon!

And today I had a craving for the curd but alas! No passion fruits in sight! Thus as the saying goes, when life throws you lemons, you make lemon curd! How about that?

photo credit: thepinkpeppercorn

Yay! And so I did. But instead of following the recipe taken online on how to make lemon curd, I foolishly followed back the passion fruit recipe by replacing the lemon juice. And I ended up with cooked egg bits in my curd. Rule 1 : Never mix the eggs into the juice while waiting for the water in the double boiler to boil. Lemon juice + egg = cooked egg…. Even if its with eggy bits, the curd still tasted very good… So just strain the mixture to get rid of the eggy bits and the curd is good to go!

The method I used was meant for the passion fruit curd. Thus be smart… follow lemon curd recipe method… After the incident, I read up more on the lemon curd recipe and found that the recommended method was to cream the mixture of sugar and butter first ( much like baking a cake ) and then to add in the eggs. Next, then add in the lemon juice (mixture will cuddle but don’t panic, the heat later will dissolve all the bits) and then cook the mixture in a double boiler.

Ingredients for Lemon Curd
===================
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 lemon juice
3 eggs
Some lemon zest
About 115g butter

PS. if you do not like too sour curd, you can reduce the lemon juice.

Yummy!

photo credit: toholio

What are ramen eggs?

yummy egg! double yolks too!

These are oh-so-yummy eggs that beat every kind of eggs hands down – well almost… ( hmmm, maybe not sunny side eggs… ) These eggs are hard boiled eggs with a soft centred ( yes, the yolks are still creamy! ) and a seasoned egg white. They taste best when served with ramen.

A recent article in the local newspaper wrote about a recipe on how to cook them and I tried it… since then I have been hooked! Now everyday I think about cooking the eggs and eating ramen…. however, my ramen are usually instant noodles which aint so healthy, so I tried not to eat them so often…

Anyway, here’s how I made my ramen eggs :

The eggs must be in the fridge prior to be cooked. If you don’t keep them in the fridge, please put them in the fridge prior to cooking. The slowly heat a pot of water. Try to heat the water up slowly (small fire), up to the point where the water is on the verge of boiling ( you can see tiny bubbles starting to form at the side of the pot ). Then go to your fridge and remove the egg and put it slowly into the almost boiling water. Then time your cooking to about 7 minutes. The timing is really dependent on how cold your fridge is. In my case, my fridge is pretty cold and I had to put for 8 minutes and 10 seconds for that oh-so-perfect egg!

Once the time is up, quickly remove the egg and dunk it into cold water to stop the cooking. If you have done it correctly, when you remove the egg shell, the egg white is slightly soft.

Next, you need to season the egg. The seasoning I use is a mixture of dark soya sauce, pepper, light soya sauce as well as some stock ( I tried with instant noodle seasoning, those ramen type, it works too! ). The amount used is sufficient to cover the entire egg. I find that it is best to leave the egg in the seasoning overnight for best taste.

You can buy Nissin brand ramen instant noodle which I tried and I find that the egg goes extremely well with this ramen! YUMZ….

Nissin Ramen has enclosed seaweed too!

If you are a egg lover like me, you’ll love this!

It was very fun and we got together to do stuff we had never done before outside of yoga. One of the yogi is from Thai and he made a few really yummy Thai dishes that everyone proclaimed that they were even better than Thai restaurants’. A few of us, the domesticated few, decided to lend a few “hands and legs”. Soon we were helping to chop meat ( some fantastic action here with fast and furious chops ), cut mangoes, mixing peanut sauce etc.

The resulting feast was an odd array of food – everyone tried to bring some food or cook some food. A mish-mash of food ranging from

1. Mini crossiants, ( japanese version… tiny but yummy )
2. Traditional curry puffs ( A1 branded… no less! ),
3. Durian puffs (delectable little creamy heaven… brought by yours truly…),
4. Gado gado ( instant peanut sauce that brought the house down – just add hot water paste that rocks! use on tons of veggies),
5. Pad thai ( tasty delicate glass noodles that packed a punch! Eaten with plenty of veggies, a topping of sugar and peanut and a splash of fresh tangy lime juice… YUMMMY )
6. Tom Yum soup ( oh yeah… spicy, sour, hot… one word… WHOA! tasty and addictive)
7. Thai fruit salad ( another hit! fresh fruits with a tangy spicy dressing… keeps one coming for more )
8. Rice with minced pork and basil ( I did not try this as I don’t take pork… but apparently, it’s another hit! )
9. Kuey Pie Ti ( this is a traditional nonya dish, deep fried cups that are filled with veggies, this is another yummy treat! )
10. Fish balls ( er… just balls of fish? )
11. Mango glutinious rice ( oooo… thai dessert that is loved by everyone. This home made version is a definitely winner… in my opinion, the best I have tasted! Sinfully satisfying… )
12. Sago dessert ( another coconutty yummy dessert – goes very well with the glutinious rice too! )
13. Tiramisu ( ok, someone brought this to-die for treat… luckily it is shared by 15 of us! )
14. Brownie ( again the same person’s sinfully rich and chocolaty treat… )
15. Strawberry crumble? ( I think… but it was sweet, thick and GOOD… )
16. Fruits
…

Did I missed anything else? Hehe…

Overall, thumbs double up for all the yummy food and great company!

Ok, I admit it. I took a little meat here and there. Had another piece of fish cake. And a fish burger. The day before, I ate chicken rice. But I also resisted 6 pieces of tempting chicken nuggets. Sometimes when you are outside, it is very hard not to eat meat at food stalls and fast food joints. Like yesterday, I was staring at the McDonald‘s menu. I think there is no full meal that is vegetarian. Sure you can eat the fries, the side salad, desserts ( apple pie, ice cream, apple dips ) but why no veggie burger? Burger King is no better either. Maybe you can eat the onion rings.

The only fast food joint that offer a vegetarian burger is probably MOS Burger. At least they have veggie burger ( potato patty ). Plus a few more choices of salad, big chunky chips, curry crouqette ( potato ).

As far as the yoga practice is concerned, I do not feel any difference. But I feel more sleepy… I am guessing is the intake of more carbohydrates like bread, noodles and rice. Anyway, figuring out what to eat for lunch is really a big headache. But I am currently in the vegetable miso soup phase. Really yummy and filling and it’s not heavy. No oil used! Miso is a soybean based paste that originates from Japan. It is often used in Japanese cooking and it is good for the body!

Here is my Hearty Veggie Miso Soup recipe :

miso ( large grain types… which is not too salty plus it gives the soup a nice body )
a quarter of tofu – this is the protein in the meal
some mushrooms – I use straw mushrooms but you can use any type you want
vegetarian meat – you need to get this from the shops, I got the “mutton” balls
half a carrot – cut into thin slices ( to cook through fast )
a few leaves of cabbage – chopped into strips ( gives the soup a sweetness… )
spring onions – chopped
Optional – pieces of crackers

Boil water in the sauce pan. Dissolve the miso ( taste the saltiness to make sure you do not add too much miso ) in the boiling water. Add the carrots. Cook until carrot softens. Then add in the cabbage. Also cook until the cabbage softens. Then add in the rest of the ingredients like tofu, mushrooms and vegetarian meat. Put to full boil.

Serve in a bowl with the spring onions sprinkled on top.

Goes great with a piece of buttered toast too…

But I do find that it is getting easier. It was much like 6 years ago when I gone off pork. Since then I have not taken pork consciously and have not missed it at all… ( ok I lied… I do miss bacon… but it is a good loss… helped me shaved off a whopping 5 kg ). I was talking to a yoga friend who made a suggestion that made sense to me – allow one or two meals a week to take meat.

What do you think?

Technorati Tags: McDonald, Burger King, vegetarian, MOS Burger, yoga practice, miso, yoga

Here are some photos I took from Melt :

Everything also must try…

Thick tomato soup with crusty garlic bread…

Who can resist those cakes and desserts?

Ok, those ice creams are to die for…. rich and creamy and totally “chef-made”… the richness of the ice cream with the waffles are just heaven…. I really feel like getting a waffle machine and start making them…

I am bad… very bad…. the best part is I cannot even taste the food…