THE SUPERIOR CRUMB

I'm becoming a Squirrel

2008-06-20T10:55:00.002+08:00

I just realised that I'm quite a hoarder. I collect interesting food items. I don't even have enough space for all of my stuff that I have to store them at the bottom of my clothes cupboard! Me mum says I've got an obsession. I think its endearing.

I've got raspberry liquor, lemoncello (lemon liquor), peachcello, a few bottles of wine, Spanish sherry, pomegranate molasses, and my latest buy, a bottle of cherry brandy! It is divine. The smell of cherries is really strong and the liquor pretty darn smooth. Nothing better than having it over a cube of ice after dinner. Oh yum. I actually feel safer with it in my cupboard.

Besides the above, I also store large bars of dark chocolate, mountain bread, middle eastern spices, sponge fingers for making tiramisu and other baking essentials. Don't get me started on the number of baking utensils and cookie cutters I have. My grandma is appalled.

Right now the sponge fingers for tiramisu is sitting on a sideboard and everytime I walk past it, I am compelled to pick it up, look at the ingredients list, look at the recipe provided by the side of its package, admire the 4 rows of sponge fingers and gaze lovingly at a picture of tiramisu at the bottom corner of the package. I really can't wait to turn it into the gorgeous dessert it is fated to become.

I'm hungry now.

If I were a superhero...

2008-05-31T20:56:00.003+08:00

I would be one that helps people who are clueless about what to buy in the supermarket! Sounds strange but I think it is valid. I'm sure there are plenty of people who are just learning to cook and have problems with the ingredients in the recipes. For instance, I came across this woman in the supermarket once. She had ham and a packet of cheese in her hand and was standing in front of a shelf full of tinned tomatoes. I knew at once she was thinking of making pizza. Ten minutes later, she was still standing in front of the tomatoes, clueless on which tomato to get. Finally, she asked the couple standing next to her which tomato should she get for pizza, the tomato paste or the tomato sauce. I was also standing next to her, which is why I could hear the conversation. The couple she asked said they didn't know as well but their best guess would be the tomato paste, since tomato sauce SOUNDS LIKE it is for pasta! Oh man. WRONG ANSWER!

Tomato sauce would be better for pizza as it spreads nicely on your pizza base. Tomato paste is mostly for thickening stews and soups. The poor woman is going to have a hard time spreading the tomato paste onto her pizza. She might give up cooking after this. I could have intervened and told the woman to get the tomato sauce instead but I think I would have came across as eavesdropping on their conversation and trying to sound smarter than the couple.

Oh well, so I walked away and thought of me being a supermarket superhero. My territory would be the supermarket of course. I would be dressed in an ultra sexy apron and my weapon of choice would be a balloon whisk. Anyone in doubt of ingredients would shout for help and I would swoop in swiftly, gladly and correctly pointing out the best ingredient for the recipe. My reward would be knowing that the people I have helped would go home, prepare a nice meal and be happy eating it with family and friends.

Rosemary Corn Muffins

2008-05-17T15:02:00.005+08:00

Its a Saturday. This is the day where the urge to bake is the strongest. I must make something! So I decided to make rosemary-corn muffins. It sounded yummy, the intense herby aroma of rosemary together with sweet crunchy corn kernels, what could be better for a Saturday afternoon?

Anyway, everything started well. I mixed the ingredients together and even took care not to overmix the batter to prevent it from toughening. It looked great in the oven and looked nicer when it came out. Finally, here comes the big BUT......the damn muffin stuck to the paper!! The taste was also rather strange. Oh well, I blame the recipe. Haha. I was supposed to bring some muffins over to my aunt's house but decided not to after looking at the results. My reputation is at stake here. I will never serve substandard food.

I love being on holiday. No school, no homework, no deadlines. I love waking up around 9am to having a toasted bagel with cream cheese and ham for breakfast while I read the papers. I love going out later at around 11am for a browse around the shops before heading for a nice lunch. I love hanging around Borders listening to music or reading cookbooks after. Then finally walking slowly back for a short afternoon nap. At 5pm, I would start on my exercise. When I return, I can have a cold shower before having my dinner. What could possibly be better?

Its been a while

2008-05-14T11:14:00.003+08:00

Ok, so it has been forever since I was last here. My tomato plants have reached the height of 1 metre already but has yet to borne any fruits. And my bell pepper plant is apparently diseased. Oh well, gardening has never been my thing. At least I tried.

Since I'm so free right now, I've decided to give blogging another shot. For those who don't already know, I fell and fractured my right hand about three weeks ago. So now I'm mostly stuck at home doing hand exercises. I have plenty of time for doing useless things.

You really miss your right hand when a mosquito has landed on your left hand and you are unable to kill it. I had to blow the damn mozzie away. Really pathetic. My surgery scar looks pretty neat, but it is pretty long, 5.5cm to be exact. I hope people don't think I tried to kill myself, since the scar is on my wrist. They might think I'm stupid because the cut is the wrong way, vertical instead of horizontal.

I have never been in hospital before this injury. So this injury sort of change my life a little. I saw lots of people in the emergency ward and they were old and ill with all sorts of pains. It sort of frightened me into living a healthy life, so I would never have to end up in an emergency ward in my old age.

I so regret rollar blading. For those who want to start learning, give up immediately. Don't put those blades on! They are dangerous! In fact, stay away from wheels. Stick to walking!

I'm hoping to start cooking again soon. I am thinking of making muffins, because they can be stirred with one hand only. Maybe in a week's time.

My Babies

2007-10-09T22:35:00.000+08:00

Look how my babies have grown! I have 19 tomato seedlings! That’s a lot of tomato plants to have growing in a balcony so I guess I’m going to have to pick the strongest seedlings to transplant into bigger pots. How exciting!

Funny how I get so worried about these seedlings. When I wake up in the morning, I head to the balcony first to check on them, to see if they have grown any taller. After making sure that they are placed at the best spot in the balcony, will I then go make my breakfast. When I get back from school, I go again to check on my basil plants and seedlings. By the way my basil plants are doing fantastically well. With so many baby leaves sprouting out everywhere, they’re beginning to look like basil bushes instead of plants! I may have to start making pesto.

Once my tomato plants are transplanted and bigger, I think I’ll try planting potatoes and rosemary. I think all potatoes need is a big pot with lots of soil for them to grow in. And all I need is a potato with spuds! Growing rosemary is apparently easy, they don’t need as much sunshine so I guess they’ll be great as an indoor plant. We’ll see. I haven’t killed anything yet. Yay!

Growing my own food!

2007-10-02T19:54:00.000+08:00

So, after watching Jamie Oliver muck it up in his garden and produce delicious results, I decided to give growing tomatoes and basil a go. As some of you already know, I am a disaster when it comes to keeping things alive. I’ve had countless of pets and some plants. Their combined lifespan would probably add up to less than a year. That’s how bad I am.

Anyway, it all started when I saw some basil plant pots in Cold Storage. You can buy one mini pot or get all four pots which include Red Basil, Thai Basil, Lemon Basil and Cinnamon Basil. I got the four pot one. My mother who had attempted growing a pot before warned me that they weren’t that easy to grow. She is worse than me in keeping things alive though.

It has been two weeks (still pretty early to tell, I know) and my basil plants are doing well! So I then decided today to grow tomatoes! I love tomatoes! So it was an obvious choice. And I read that they are quite easy to grow? I don’t know. We shall see. Went to Far East Flora and got myself some burnt soil, compost, tomato seeds and a planting box. Came home, stuck my hands in the dirt and planted 12 tomato seeds. Now I wait.

Saigon

2007-08-16T16:25:00.000+08:00

Wet wet wet. Vietnam was wet. Too bad we arrived in typhoon season. Anyway, we took Tiger Airways to Ho Chi Minh City, or more affectionately known as Saigon. The ride wasn’t that bad for a budget airline. After leaving the airport, we headed for Pho Hao at 260C Pasteur. It supposedly has the best pho in Saigon and I must say that that is indeed correct. The rice noodles were soft but still had bite to it and the soup was an explosion of flavours! I took my first bite and was just blown away. On the table where we were eating, there were also a lot of condiments you could have with your noodles. There were you tiao, Vietnamese mint, basil, a little pork paste wrapped in leaves and steamed and chilli sauce. All these added to your soup made the entire meal fun and absolutely YUMMY! We also tried Vietnamese filter coffee. Not my favourite I must say, but the experience of having to wait for your coffee to filter down drip by drip before you can even take a sip did make my mouth water with anticipation.

After breakfast and dumping our bags in the hotel, we headed off to Ben Thanh Market. It is a huge indoor market selling everything from fresh produce to clothes. There was also a small stall providing grooming services like threading, manicure and even pedicure. The market was a buzz of activity. We arrived around 1pm, the time of the Vietnamese Siesta, so lots of people were dozing off at their stalls or on nearby chairs. This meat stall owner looked like he might just doze into the piles of intestines he’s selling.

For the first night in Saigon, I arranged for dinner to be at Lemongrass. The restaurant was housed in a beautiful four storey shophouse with French architecture. We were not really sure on what to order so we sought the help of the waiter. The waiter who attended to us was very polite and helpful. Besides helping us order, he also taught us how each dish should be eaten. For example, the fried spring rolls should be rolled in a lettuce leaf with a bit of mint, basil and vermicelli, before being dipped in some chilli fish sauce. We also tried catfish! It was amazing. The thick syrupy gravy that came with the fish was heavenly when eaten with a bit of rice.

On the second day, we visited the War Remnants Museum in the morning and the rest of the city in the afternoon. The war museum was a real eye-opener. The only two words in my head when I was looking at all the pictures of war and the after effects of it were “Those Bastards!” Nothing will prepare you for the horrors of war. There were pictures of children deformed because their parents were exposed to a herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War. There were pictures of children with limbs or body parts missing. There was a picture of a family where all the children were deformed and mentally retarded. There was also a picture of a 17 year old girl with half a face that looked young and the other half that looked old.

We also visited the Cathedral and the General Post Office of Saigon. I sent a postcard to myself! It still has not arrived. These two buildings were very ‘French’ in style. The post office was beautiful. As soon as you walked in, a portrait of Uncle Ho greets you. The ceilings are high and arched and the floor is made up in lovely mosaic patterns.

On the third day, we went on a trip out of Saigon to the Mekong Delta. A tour bus dropped us at the city of Ben Tre and from there, we took a chug boat to the surrounding islands. The tour guide brought us to a bee farm, a fruit orchard and a coconut candy factory. On the way, we got to experience sitting in a long row boat that cruised through a palm tree lined canal. It was a little touristy but rather enjoyable. We took a 3 hour speedboat ride up the Mekong Delta back to Saigon, all the time munching on the coconut candy.

On the last day, we went on a tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels. The tunnels of Cu Chi are an immense network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Cu Chi district of Vietnam, and are part of a much larger network of tunnels that underlie much of the country. The tunnels were used by NLF guerrillas as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous guerrilla fighters. Our tour guide for this tour was a war veteran named Binh. During the war, he went over to the American side. He lived in America for 7 years before coming back to Vietnam. When he arrived back to his homeland, he was put in prison for re-education for 4 years. He had to clear minefields and dead bodies from the jungle during this time. Till today he says he doesn’t sleep well. He is still haunted by the war that has also left so many others like him scarred for life. I respect uncle Binh. He harbours no ill feelings towards the Americans despite what they have done to his country and people. I have the highest regard for this man and all other war veterans alike.

If I had to describe Vietnam in one word, it would be Resilient. It is one of the poorest countries in the world but the people there do not give you the impression that they are starving or in despair. The Vietnamese are busy working in the fields, in the city, trying to build up their lives from the devastation of war that ended not too long ago. They are proud. They are proud of the fact that they managed to kick out the Chinese, French and the Americans with nothing but simple equipment like hand guns. They did not have the fancy tanks the Americans used against them and they did not possess sophisticated weapons used in warfare. What they had was intelligence, resilience and a very strong sense of togetherness and unity. I am proud of these people. I respect and salute them.

Fresh Start

2007-07-14T15:04:00.000+08:00

Quick introduction. I enjoy books, travelling and cooking. What I really like best is combining the three, travelling in search of good food with the companionship of a good book. What could possibly be better?

I have been reading a lot this holiday. Some of the books I have read recently include The End of the Affair by Graham Greene, The Spire by William Golding, La Dolce Vita, a food memoir by Isabel Coe and The Lost Art of Travel by Vic Darkwood. I went crazy the last time I was at the library. I even had to borrow my friend's library card to get more books as I had exceeded the limit of 8 books per person.

What I love about books, especially classics by authors like Graham Greene and William Golding, is their ability to change the way you look at the world. For example, I read this sentence from a book titled Blue Dragon White Tiger by Tran Van Minh. It goes, "He walked hesistatingly, like a bird on a rainy day." I love the reference to a wet bird walking.

Another sentence that caught my attention came from The End of the Affair by Graham Greene. He writes "Eternity is said not to be an extension of time but an absence of time, and sometimes it seemed to me that her abandonment touched that strange mathematical point of endlessness, a point with no width, occupying no space." Does this not blow your mind? The way these people string simple words together is absolutely beyond me.

More again next time.