Visiting the Niah Caves, and a Devil's Food Cake

Nothing like a good dose of blogging, scanning through captured photos, a slice of proud-product of the weekend just past in hand, crumbs on lips and keyboard all sticky, to beat away the troubles of a Dilbert-worthy Monday.


We rose bright and early on Saturday to make our way to the Niah National Park. It was a relatively painlessle ten-kilometer jungle walk, on a plank walkway so we didn't soil our shoes too much. Age-old trees provided shade that I was grateful for, given the awful spell of hot weather we have been having lately.






Caving was, well, not nearly as fun as the jungle walk. Credit to the park authorities, the raised walkways were well laid out and made it easy for us to navigate. Bats and swiftlets hung about above our heads as we tried to avoid as the guano , an impossible task. It was actually pitch-dark in some areas and we needed our torches to walk through.

 

Truth be told, what I felt really made our little trip extra special was our stop overs on the way to the park itself, the teeny town of Bekenu, where we had a freshwater prawn fried noodles breakfast.

 

And thanks to a minor vehicle malfunction, I got the chance to wander around the Niah Bazaar and the nearby river, on the banks of which stood this adorably garish hot pink Chinese temple.



And the Bekenu market. Clams the size of fists, with their white flesh peeking out only to slip back when we curiously touched them. Mussels by the bagful for 2 ringgit! And a rather sorry assortment of baby sharks, their skins leathery to the touch, their little fins, which could not have been more than 2 or 3 inches long, cut off. When will we learn to stop this unsustainable demand? :(



On the bright side, we were lucky that it's the season for fishing for freshwater prawns. Small-time fishermen brought in their prawn traps with their catches inside still writhing and leaping out of the river. A kilo cost us 28 ringgit! And as you can tell, these were healthy, good-sized specimens.

We also bought some garish pink dragonfruit (which turned out to be supersweet) and a giant soursop (we were advised that it’s a powerful antioxidant) that would have cost us a lot more in Miri. I wish I bought those mussels though - I could never find them in Miri and they were so darned cheap.


Sunday was an altogether different day. Aside from resting my aching bones (obviously the quest to get fitter has not been going as well as I'd hoped). We went over to a friend’s place for his housewarming. I’ll admit I’m pretty jealous of his super plush sofa and built in oven, and of course, of him having a place to REALLY call his own. I made Devil’s Food Cake, following a David Lebovitz recipe. I followed his recipe to the T, except for the frosting part where I made the mistake of using my 72% cocoa solids bar which turned out way too strong (never thought I’d say that), and had to whisk in almost a cup of butter and spoonful after spoonful of icing sugar to temper the bitterness.



So all in all, a weekend well spent. Next – on to a recipe that will hopefully do my prawns some justice!

My future home's gonna look like this...

...............Uma Sapna in Seminyak, Bali, where we spent a glorious three days relaxing in the super comfortable bed watching DVDs and snacking, swimming in our private pool and taking in the uber chic boutiques along Jalan Laksamana.



The Spa display

Zen landscaping

Our little slice of heaven on earth

And inside the villa, modern tropical with more than a touch of luxe

Crazy May Pit Stop

Time flies. May was a little crazy, what with travelling every week (KL, KK, Bintulu, KL again, Penang) and then ending with a second wedding in one week, and (I am so glad), Bali next.

The past five months have passed by like a blur. While I feel that I did move in the right direction in some aspects (change of financial mindset, sureity of what I want for my future), physically I feel as if I am lagging behind. I've gained some weight, which is no disaster, but I do not feel physically as strong or even healthy. I feel tired all the time, and with each business trip I feel less and less resistant to change.

My stomach paunch is larger and flabbier than ever, to the point that I feel it in my way in certain position. My arms are larger (I can feel them bulging in my sleeves) and not because of muscle, mind you. I also read in Shape magazine that women in their 30's lose a quarter to three quarters of a pound of muscle a year naturally. And I do turn the big 3-0 this year, although the muscle loss thingy could have started earlier in my case. A physical overhaul is much needed before things start spilling out.

And on to other things. Some things happenned recently that I was really unhappy with, specifically at work. AK consoled me with a really great quote, "The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat." And a few other things to steer me out of my pool of self-pity. Truth is, what happenned does not derail our plans in any way. So I will continue to channel my (little) energy into reading (economics is my current favourite subject, alongside perennial loves food, cooking and such), blogging about what I read and learn and of course, investing.

Another thing I have been noticing about myself, something which has been worrying me more than the rest - rapid deterioration of my written and spoken English! Horrors! I don't know if it is because of my workplace, or just laziness on my part, my reluctance to place effort into my emails or even my speech. I suspect the latter.

So here's my half-year resolution:

1) Start going to body combat classes - a good friend of mine organises free classes every Monday. How great is that? Attending a class instead of exercising on my own has its advantages - my own self-consciousness about not being able to keep up with the rest forces me to go on way beyond what I would normally push myself to. And one class burns an estimated 600 - 800 calories. And did I mention that it's free?

2) Start weight training. To combat that muscle loss factor and gain some firmness in my jiggling belly and arms.

3) Blog at least 3 times a week - whether in our newly minted financial/investment blog, BooBoo's or my own. To be a good writer (something which I used to pride myself on when I was much, much younger - those pre-engineering days), one has to practice practice practice. At least 200 words a day, the requisite minimum. So I will make an effort to improve.

Effort!

Zen Dinner for Two (Thank you Nigella again)

I'll confess, I love the thought of ceremonial eating. Light candles, lay out the linens, matching ceramicware. But when it comes down to it, the thought of washing a few extra dishes wins out. So more often than not the food is served in the pots they were cooked in. Which of course is not really a bad thing, especially if you have invested in a few Le Creuset pieces. I decided to put our tea light holders to good use yesterday. Lightly bergamot-scented tealights. This unique holder is also from Taiwan, a replica of a silver urn. The placemat printings are copies of that was actually inscribed on the real thing. Something a little special.

Dinner was soba noodles courtesy of Nigella again (how will I ever thank her). Only I had to substitute whole wheat spagetthi as I could not find any in Miri. Accompaniments: grilled pork tenderloin coins, marinated in my old standby Maggie seasoning, sugar and pepper, and stir fried shitakes. The noodles I served warm instead of cold, as I have an aversion to cold savoury foods (with the possible exception of smoked salmon). But otherwise I followed Nigella's recipe to the T, and loved the crunch and savouriness of the lightly scorched sesame seeds with the spring onions and lightly sweet noodles. I'd make this again in a heartbeat.

Hearth-y Dinner for Two

Lotus root soup, the way mum makes it. Sliced lotus root, pork ribs, peanuts, dried oysters, dried squid for salt and flavour, rock sugar.

Beautiful baby bok choy, impulse purchase at the local expat market, briefly blanched then doused in a simple sauce of ginger, garlic, soy and sesame oil. Inspired by Nigella's Gingery Broccoli recipe on Forever Summer.

Served on these gorgeous black and white National Museum of Taiwan silicone placemats. Aren't they pretty? Gift from AK from Taiwan (duh).

A quiet dinner with good conversation, slurping of soup, Boo Boo at our feet. Simple moments to savour at home.

Nigella's Quesadillas

Nothing like another prospect of where to eat??? in Miri to drive one to attempt one's own.

And Nigella provides her salve again.

Simple quesadillas. Wholemeal tortillas (managed to find 'em at the local Giant hypermart here), beef pastrami from Brunei, spring onions I had to hunt for (nearby market and 2 supermarkets didn't stock them - thank goodness for the local expat market wahaha), minced chilli. Just assemble, fold the tortilla and brush the with oil. Griddle until warmed through, cheese molten. Serve ASAP.

Inspiration Needed (and found), Citrus Olive Oil Cake

Life right now might be a little far from perfect.

Securing our futures is at the top on our minds, now more than ever.

We pore over spreadsheets and numbers, reports and maps.

But sometimes, one has to break out of it and do the things you love.

Like baking a joyously fragrant, citrus-kissed cake, a spur of the moment decision looking for inspirations from this blog. It's funny how one thing inspires another, inspires another.

I love this for a couple of reasons. First of all, no need to wait for the butter to soften, just pour olive oil from the bottle, and off you go. Secondly, how the baking process filled the house with a fruity, citrusy scent. Thirdly, I sprinkled the top of the cake with demarara sugar for a crunchy little topping. Good move, that one. Fourth, when your other half demolishes one-third of the cake in one night, you know you're on to something. Priceless.

So here's my adaptation of this inspiring recipe.

ORANGE AND OLIVE OIL CAKE Inspired by this post

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour
1tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
zest from 2 oranges
3 large eggs
Juice from 2 oranges
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons demerara sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (180 degrees C).
Grease and flour one 12 x 4 inch loaf pan.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.
In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and clementine zest and rub together to extract the fragrant oil from the zest.
Add olive oil and mix on high speed until completely combined (preferably with the whisk attachment).
Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix on slow speed.
Add half of the juice and continue mixing.
Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by the rest of the citrus juice and the remaining flour mixture and beat until combined between each addition.
Pour batter into the prepared pan.
Sprinkle demerara sugar on top.
Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven, wait 10 minutes for it to cool down and then remove from the pan.