Latest Wish List

Amazon now ships to Malaysia!!

I am such a pushover for kitchen products. Did I mention that I just spent half a thousand on a bright yellow, cast-iron, made-in-France, good-for-induction hob, gas hob, straight-into-the-oven, comes-with-a-lifetime warranty pot? Damn the Malaysian ringgit.

Now, I have stumbled on Amazon Global! *Weak in the knees*

I want:-

- Silpat Silicon Baking Sheet - two, preferably
- Set of six 6-ounce souffle dishes, like ramekins, can be used to make custard cups, oefs cocotte, individual sticky toffee puddings...
- Salad spinner (eventhough I HATE salad...teheh)
- Kitchenaid box grater
- 20 cm Global chef's knife
- Coffee grinder
- Silicone pastry brush
- Fat Separator
- Onion goggles - how useful is that?? No more tears

OK, am obviously not safe left alone with working credit cards and not much to do.

Sigh.

Moping for One

BooBoo and I are all by ourselves, from yesterday to the coming weekend.

Which also means that I get to eat whatever I can rustle up from the dark depths of the fridge and use up whatever gunk I bought that AK didn't agree with (cue the wholemeal spagetthi).

So far I've eaten the following - 1901 beef hot dog with steamed sesame bun; whole-wheat pasta stir-fried in lots of garlic and canned crabmeat, deep-fried flour pastry with sambal udang, seri muka, apples, raw Mamee noodles, microwaved egg and a couple of chocolate-covered macadamias. All in a span of 1 lunch and 2 dinners. Like I said, whatever I could find.

BooBoo is doing his psycho thing again, where he runs up and down the house chasing some imaginery shadows, skidding across the newly-mopped floor and crashing into the door. He treats my laptop power cable is a ball of string, pawing it and putting it into his mouth. Then he comes and stares, meowing occasionaly as I sit and type, hoping for some measure of mercy (that I will feed him something).

Meanwhile I'm trying to make sense of the economical terms and conditions of this country's Oil and Gas resources and the very complicated commercial relationships we have with each other as players in this field. Oh crap what made me think I could switch from engineer to analyst after one meet? From analyzing iso's, MTO's, Operating Envelopes and Operating Ampere to sifting through Priority of Supply, Production Sharing Contrcts, Gas Sales Agreements, ullages and MTAB?

Sigh. Even typing that gave me a headache.

Oh well CSI: NY is about to start :)

All this while, AK is indulging in Claypot Crab and the freshes seafood that JB has to offer. As I type this he is off for a Thai massage with the other guys. Hmph.

The Spoilt One

Our lives have taken a turn for the better since we fully adopted BooBoo into our home. He now has his own basket with mattress, a scratching post, his colorful fish cartoon bowl, an entire basket of medication and his own bathroom (well, actually that's more because no one wants to share it with him).

King of the House

He has taken our new couch hostage too.

Here we are checking out recipes for oysters.

The Many Stories of Streaky Bacon

I have to confess, I am terrified of getting fat.

I am NO fine-featured, oval-faced nymph - tall for my gender and race, but with bulkier legs that I ever wish. Which is why I believe that my only saving grace is the lack of flesh on my bones.

Pretty much of my life after twenty, I was so health-conscious (read: fat-and-sugar-fearing) I wonder if I missed out on anything. My typical day's worth of meals would be like this:

- Morning: Oatmeal with Anlene (fat-free calcium-fortified milk powder), cinnamon and water; a cup of Nescafe made with the same milk powder, no sugar

- Mid-morning: Half a bowl of fish beehoon soup - rice noodles in a clear soup

- Afternoon: Slice of whole-wheat bread with 1 tablespoon peanut butter, or an apple

Evening: Home-made wheat noodles in clear soup (pan mian), or at home, sardines with spinach (yech)

I could make a small bar of chocolate last for weeks, or a half a cup of fat-free yogurt for tea.

The word "supper" was almost a dirty word, not ever, even though I joined my coursemates outside more often that not; mostly I had tea while they ordered roti planta, roti cheese, nasi lemak with deep fried chicken and the excess crumbs from the coating of the chicken - I stole a couple of bites from my friends. I could look on serenely, happy in the knowing that my concave belly was worth the abstinence.

I'd jump rope at night in my room, swim for miles on weekends, and run up the staircases in campus and to my second-storey bedroom for "bursts" of calorie burning.

Today I take a more liberal approach to food and exercise in general. It's all cool. My priviledged days of foie gras, bacon, chocolate milkshakes and caramel cheesecake seem to happen all too often.

On to the subject. The best bacon I have tried is not from the UK or Spain, it's from Brunei. Granted it's definitely not made in the Muslim-denominated country, but thanks to Brunei Shell and the considerable expat population there, a bulging pack of gorgeous, streaky rashers cost us less than 3 Brunei dollars. Total bargain. And it was - succulent, fatty, juicy and, best of all, yielded a full quarter cup of rendered, flavourful liquid FAT which I smartly used to fry rice for dinner.

I guess there's no need to explain on the cooking of the bacon itself - over a medium low heat in a non-stick pan without any oil, pouring away (into a heatproof container for safekeeping) excess fat, until browned in places. If you have bread, instead of butter, panfry the slices in a small amount of bacon fat (after pouring away most of it) until crisp.

The BEST Fried Rice

1/4 cup bacon fat (rendered)

2 cups cooked rice

1 large onion, sliced (larger slices, don't process to mush)

Anything else to bulk it up - I used beef sausage, sweetcorn, and a small pork fillet I sliced thinly and marinated with sesame oil, soy sauce specially brewed in Penang, a teensy bit of sugar and pepper

Seasoning - I like a mix of Penang home-brewed soy, and Maggie seasoning.

Black or white pepper to taste

1-2 eggs, beaten with the same seasoning mixture as above

Heat the fat and onions in a large non-stick pan/wok. Cook the onions over medium-low heat till soft and translucent.

Add the meats (sausage, meat dice, chicken balls)

Add the rice and a bit of water if it's too dry and crusty

Season liberally and keep on stirring to combine. Make sure you cook off the water.

Taste and season as you go along.

Add the veggies to heat up, stirring frequently.

Serve immediately.

Awaiting the Bear

It looks like a mini-bubble, inflating, inflating, inflating.

Well, 1Q earnings are out soon. Then we shall see.

Come on bear, I'm waiting for you with cash in hand and finger on the mouse.

Here's my latest potential catches:

1) ABB
2) Baker Hughes

Bringing Home Home

Phew! I flew ten times this past 2 weeks, but am so happy - because - I was in Penang!! Here's what I did:-

- Ate chilli rempah crab cooked by mum, chilli clams for RM2(!!), LokLok, Char Kuey Kak, popiah - all the best!! And what made my meals even more wonderful, it's mango season now in Penang. Don't you just love seasonal treats? Makeshift mango stalls have mushroomed all over the island, and I have had my fill and more of sweet, succulent slices of sunshine to end all my meals with. Bliss bliss bliss...

- Went a little crazy at the airport over L'occitane products, like my favourite Shea Butter hand cream, a Verbena Eau de Toilette, and the new Cherry Blossom-scented hand cream for mum. Yes, it's nice to give in to my inner girliness once in a while :)

- Bought a dress from French Connection for church; it's shorter, flouncier and more colourful than what I normally wear, but what the heck, am giving it a try. After all, when I'm old and fifty with 4 double chins, tummy flobbing around, am gonna regret not showing off when I could. Erm, did I mention that the dress was purchased with the intention to wear it to church? ;p

- Roamed the streets of Little India (Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling), listening to the thumping but strangely soothing Indian beats....buying up a storm (a turquoise Punjabi Suit with gold filligree patterns, bronze platters with Lotus and Elephant motifs, rosewater for 90 cents(!!) and asoefetida for cooking).

- Finally bought a bit of art - gorgeous recycled paper patterns delicately etched with Javanese figures, and 2 little paintings of Georgetown shophouses. This is what I mean by bringing home home....bits, depictions and momentos of my island hometown to my home now, wherever it may be.

- Stocked up on Desperate Housewives, Gossip Girl and Gray's Anatomy

- Gave money to my Grandma and Dom, who will be starting his industrial training next week. Good Luck, Dom!!

If only all weekends were like this. What fun it was, despite the unrelenting island heat.

This weekend, we're off to another island, this time down south....;)

Comfort, Ginger In Ginger Syrup

Last weekend was a sorry one for me. It was, and this is why I maintain my privacy, the time of the month. Time of the month when my lower abdomen feels like pythons writhing in the very inside of me, my legs get "soft" or lembek as is the Malay term for it, they get cold and clammy and feel like they are unable to hold my weight up. Nausea and general exhaustion reign supreme as the emotions of the day. Despite the faithful doses of Evening Primrose Oil and exercise the day before, all the necessary prep before to ensure the least amount of suffering, and much to my chagrin - it's my weekend! - it happens and takes me down like a disease in itself. Dramatic yes, but as much as I wish it is NOT, what I recount is a story that is all truth. And I humbly beg your pardon for my over-the-top descriptions.

So I pad around in my sweatpants, clutching my pillow pathetically, and I want to eat nothing but hot, heaty food (heaty is the kind of food that warms you from the inside, like Bak Kut Teh, curry - no acid and chocolate chocolate chocolate).

But nothing, and I repeat, nothing comforts like ginger. It doesn't work, let me tell you. The nausea, the absurd feeling of coldness in 38-deg C equatorial weather, is all still there. From my various attempts on ways to prevent the dreaded pains, I have found that nothing works like swimming the day before the day. But a combination of a chronically painful right shoulder (doctor's recommendations) and general laziness to pack myself to the company pool after work tend to get in the way of those plans.

Right. To the ginger. Nothing works better to warm the stomach, then the chest, and then the ginger somehow manages to permeate and warm the entire body. Serious comforting for a body in serious need of it, ginger syrup dissolved in warm (no, hot) water and gulped down in desperation and relief.

And what magic it works on an empty stomach too, as part of the first meal of the day. I've been dripping teaspoonfuls of ginger+syrup into my peanut butter sandwich breakfasts all week. Sitting quietly in the office, early bird that I am, chasing away my hunger pangs with this and my thermos of extra-strong Nescafe as my laptop boots itself and the workday begins.

And, the weekafter, on my sofa I sit in solitude on this Saturday morning, with a mug of hot chocolate sweetened with this syrup for, again, breakfast.

View of Saturday morning through my bedroom window

And, maybe later, I will try out Molly Wisenberg's banana cake with crystallized ginger and chocolate chips.

Obviously this jar will not last till my next episode. Fortunately, it's so easy to make it's almost laughable. Cut up the ginger (preferably old) into thin slices (say 5 inches worth), place in a heavy-bottomed saucepan with 12 tablespoons white sugar and 2 cups of water, low heat. I didn't even bother to brush the sides of the pan or anything, just covered it and left to do half and hour on the elliptical while grimacing (at Paula Abdul)/cheering (at Adam Lambert/Chris whatshisname) American Idol along, cleaned the living room and had my bath. Syrup reduces, ginger turns a bit transparent-ish.

Cool, decant to jar, store in the fridge, and snuggle up in the comfort of knowing that comfort is a teaspoon away.