Butterhead Lettuce Salad with Chick Peas and Balsamic Vinaigrette

It turns out that living healthy in Singapore is not cheap, folks. It seems like anything green and related to 'ang moh' eg. lettuces and the gang are priced like a gold in here. With a 5SGD bill, guess what you get, just 2 cute bouquet of red and green crispy lettuces, or a very, very slim romaine lettuce. I have to carefully reading all the descriptions on the price tags hanging above those lettuces. And I don't even bothered to go beyond lettuce. If the main salad ingredients are priced like this, it'll be more horrifying to see what's the price for the topping. This makes me miss US, where lettuce are abundant and very much bigger and cheaper.

So with this in mind, I have to be smarter and more creative in what I should throw to my salad bowl, or I'll spend equally like if I buy any salad from a bistro.

After mix and match, here is a new recipe that at least still fits in my budget.

1 pack of butter head lettuce (consists of 2 cute bouquet, just nice for 4 portion), cut to bite size

2 red bell pepper, diced thinly

1 can chick peas, washed and strained

4 eggs, hard boiled, sliced

Vinaigrette: 100ml balsamic vinegar, 50ml olive oil, lemon pepper to your taste, marjoram to your taste, mixed

Assemble:

1. On the bottom place lettuce, then bell pepper, top it with the chick pea and eggs

2. Drizzle the Vinaigrette for finish, 3 tbsp is enough

Storage tips:

1. All ingredients MUST be dry before go into the fridge. With that said, it means that everything must be strained to the last drop of water. Lettuce is the most particular. You'll get a rotten lettuce if you store it wet inside a Tupperware. One way to avoid this is to put 1 layer of strainer inside your Tupperware. This way, at least the water stick to your lettuce will be slowly go down.

2. Separate all the leavies and greenies separate. Mixing them up will cause them to rotten faster. It's the same principle when you see pre-packed salad bowl in supermarkets. They separate your dressings, croutons and greenies, so that it lasts long.

3. Greenies should not be stored more than 3 days, unless you like to have your greenies with dry and red colored ends. I'm very particular about this and that's why I'm so fussy about storage.

4. Eggs should be stored in whole, not cut. Only cut when you want to eat it.

Salad Week

I finally reach to my limit of MSG intake and declare a lost and 'enough with the freaking MSG.' That means, no more mee siam, no more freaking economical rice, and no more ANY hawker food. I just recently realize that even the freaking Japanese restaurant use MSG. They don't call it Ajinomoto for no reason, folks. But this declaration means another thing, I must be diligent to stay in the kitchen after work which can be quite dreading. The laziness always sink into your head when you got back from the gym or worse, work, at around 9pm plus and you still have to think of what to cook. That can't do anymore.
Starting today I'll start a healthy diet for my recently poor nourished body. Today I had my lunch with a bowl of green salad and a bagel, and turn out it's not that bad. The bagel surely help to keep me from starving, after all 1 bagel = 300 Cal. So tonight I whipped myself a tuna mayo salad w/ some greenies. And I still have 2 portion left for tomorrow.
What I can hope for is that this diet lasts more than 1 week, or another saying is that my will and determination lasts for more than 1 week. I think that's good enough for me. 1 week with no MSG should at least lift some of my discomfort. So some support is needed to get through the first week :). If you see me eating greenies stuff, don't assume that I have cross over to the vegetarian lala land, I'm just trying to eat something healthier for a change.

Sunday's blues?

Believe it or not, people can have a Sunday blues, but why, you might ask. Off course if you think tomorrow is Monday and you have to move your butt early in the morning to work, you'll have a Sunday blues. And this phenomenon is start sinking into my head now. I have 2 full-charged with electromagnetic vibes laptops in front of me. One for work and one for personal usage. Off course the thought of switching to my work laptop is very dreading. And the dilemma starts to kick in too. The train of thoughts of should I do it now, or should I do it tomorrow, flows in an alarming rate. Bubbles of plans for what priority items to do swarming, clouding the brain cells that was empty during the weekend. But to no avail, I still need to do something about work tonight or else, tomorrow will be another chaotic day. Sigh... I guess this is what it feels like having yourself in the working class.

Motherleaf

I came across this Japanese blog (click here to check it out, it's pretty interesting, especially for fellow foodies like me) when I was browsing for pasta on Japanese Google. The blog features Motherleaf, one of the many Japanese cafe chains. Then, I proceed to Motherleaf's website, who would not be after looking at those tempting waffles and pasta glaring at you seduce you to eat them? So click here to symphatize with me. I'm still full with my Shokudo pasta, but after seeing these, my appetite revived and I do wonder why I'm getting rounder and rounder...
On the link above, you'll find that luscious waffle with topping that I've never seen in Singapore. It gives a new meaning to waffles. You'll want it for all yourself, no sharing is allowed! Got to give a hands up for Ruru, the blogger, her blog made my blog so plain and she knows where to go for good food. But then again, it's Japan, where tons of good food is up for grabs in front of your eyes, whereas in here you have to scrap and analyze the not so honest or rather exaggerating food reviews.

Shokudo Pasta

Today was another extreme makan sessions for me. After a full set lunch of black curry rice from Sun Dining at Chimes, I still have another round of pasta at Shokudo. I came to know this pasta join after having lunch with my department on some blue moons ago. Singapore do have a very limited Japanese pasta, let alone a good one! Off course it still can't beat the small smokey joint of St George in Seattle (heard that the place got bigger and smoke-free now, what a big difference from my time). But then again, after my second experience of eating pasta there, I still say that Shokudo is still better than Waraku in terms of value and quality. It left me with the impression that only go to Waraku when it's ladies' night, meaning 50% off the menu.
I had their basil sauce last time, which was nice, and this time I was lured by the wobbly poached egg over the creamy asparagus and hottate pasta. Off course, we also have to order the thin crust pizza as my deary may not have this kind of foot once she steps on the land of koalas next week. For our pasta, we had the option to choose either spaghetti or penne, but we'd rather stick with the original. I was a bit disappointed when my pasta came because the poached egg was rather runny than sit still on top of my pasta, thus looked uglier than the cute picture on the menu. But that negative feeling was swept away when the pasta went to my mouth. I'm usually take a step back when I encounter a creamy based pasta because it's so sinful and fattening. But this time I was so curious that I stepped out of my comfort zone. And it turned out not a wrong decision. The cream was lighter than I expected and I managed to finish my pasta and didn't feel so lethargic thereafter. It turned out that asparagus with hottate can make a good combination of pasta, thus another new point of learning here, too.
And off course what farewell dinner that doesn't end up with dessert. And this is another reason why I dragged my friend to Shokudo. I know my friend is an ice cream lover, and Shokudo may be the 'it' place when it comes to ice cream. Ice cream normally was not my forte as my teeth normally can't sustain the icy cold sensation creeping from my teeth nerves. But, when it comes to Shokudo's strawberry ice cream, I'd say, to hell with my sensitive teeth. And true enough my friend's black sesame ice cream screamed the same thing to her.
So all in all, I was satisfied with my food in Shokudo, while feeling guilty now as the fat start to sink on my stomach as I'm sitting on the couch now. But, as a foodie always say, We live to eat, not eat to live. So might as well enjoy it!

The Listings Starts Again....

Time sure flies too fast! By the time you realize it, Christmas chorus has started to chirp from every corners from malls to even my office's lobby. Then it hits you, year end is coming, and what have I done this year? I'm still busy in chaotic mode especially with the coming Quarter end and with all the forecasting, checklists and recons to be submitted in timely if not urgently manners. All of these will keep me as a buzzing busy bee until the end of the year. But, what's next? What's the plan for next year? Surely as we grow older and with all the recessions looming around, planning becomes more and more crucial for next year.
So, I start to carve my own to-do list for next year, and apparently my list is getting longer and longer, and it looks like I'm going to be a busy bee too next year. Some of my must-do items in 2009 are:

1. Housing related ~ Pay property tax, pay TV license (totally forget that Singapore also do have TV license) and the bills are already laying on my table screamin at you 'Please pay!' Also, I have to renew my house loan, which means I have to do another loan shopping, calling all those banks, asking what's the rate and package that they're offering. Hopefully I'll lock in a lower interest rate thus lowering my payout amount.
2. Immigration related ~ Renew my Singapore PR (yes! this is very important), renew my passport (though I rant and rant on it, I still have to do it), apply for US visa (another ranting but I still have to do it too, which much sighing)
3. Further education related ~ Still stuck with CPA, and 2009 is full with dry subjects, ugh... so it'll be another saga to study read those materials
4. Holiday related ~ in correlation to the immigration item, yep! I'm planning to go US in 2009. The will is firm that I must go US next year though, I still don't know what I'm going to do when I get there, but the point is, I have to get to US first, right? Have asked my boss for future off days and got an OK already, so I'm left with the visa.
5. Fun related ~ OK, for this section, let me see. Hmm... With my current job, although I'm busy and work can be very hectic and stressful, surprisingly, I have more time at night than I'd ever before! So I've always been thinking that may be it's time for me to do other things that I like. Everybody knows I like food. So baking school is a top option. I've been eyeing to go for the UK City Guild 1-year certification, but I got put off before because of my master. But now as I'm taking CPA, it's a self study at your own pace, so it actually allows me to have more time on the weekdays to do other things and leave the studying to weekend section (this is the beauty of being single, you don't need to squeeze anything on weekend, just leisurely let the time pass through and do what you deem to be fit for the moment). A second option is language. I've been studying foreign language forever, but never move beyond the beginner level. I've tried and learned Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and even try to pick up French (but this one is a total failure). So, may be 2009 is time for me to further my language skill? That will be left to see.

So with that being said, I do have lots of things going on for me next year. Now comes the punching line, will I end up doing it in 2009? Or I will end up caving in again. You can list lots of things, but when it come to the doing it part, you'll end up in the spot that screaming the cliche, do I actually got the time for this? Can I afford to do this with so little time? Or just simply the worst, I don't have time for this. So, if you see me struggling to pass through next year, please give me a pad on my back because believe it or not, this girl really need it from time to time.

Mr. Children

Mr. Children is my first encounter with J-Rock, and I like J-Rock music since then. At that time, I didn't even know the term J-Rock, and even before I know J-Pop (I was one of the dorky kids whose house didn't have satellites). I just like the songs from this particular album that my brother bought in Singapore. That first song that made me a fan of Mr. Children is 'Dakishimetai.' The song is about loving someone by being there through adversity.
Included in the playlist also their latest single, 'Hanabi,' released on Sep 2008.

What I like about Mr Children is that their music is always different in terms of arrangement in each singles. Their theme and subject is also different from time to time. Something that rarely found in Johnny's Jr band. But the downside is that this irregularity results in not all Mr Children is easy on the ear. So, I end up skipping the songs that I don't really fond of when I play Mr Children's album. The good thing is that Mr Children compilation album is literally compilation, unlike V6, which tends to scatter their songs all over their singles and albums. Also, most of Mr Children's song was written by the lead vocal, Kazutoshi Sakurai. Though their music style differs from time to time, one thing that making it easy to recognize is Sakurai's vocal. I can easily tell Mr Children's song when it's aired on the radio, though I might not have heard it before or it's been long forgotten.