Thursday Trivia

It’s nearly the end of the week. As I turn my gear down a few notches towards weekend mode (aka total slacker mode), I’m pleased to leave you with a few bites of information to tickle your palate.

1. Hot King, Cool Queen
   In South-East Asia, the durian is known as the king of fruits. The queen of fruits is purportedly the mangosteen. The Chinese consider durians “heaty” while mangosteens are believed to have “cooling” properties. This is why some people believe in eating The Queen after bingeing on The King (to counteract the heatiness). I don’t know how true this cooling/heaty thing is, but I once got sick with a sore throat and fever for 3 days after feasting on durian mooncakes. Then again, I should have stopped at 9 slices(?!!).
2. Get This Monkey Off Your Back
   According to a study conducted with rhesus macaques, eating dinner late doesn’t necessarily lead to weight gain. (This is for S, who insists on having dinner before 6.30. Come on, live a little! :D )
3. Step On the Gas
   Fruits and vegetables release ethylene gas as they ripen. Some fruit, like apples and avocados are high ethylene-producers; others are ethelyne-sensitive. You can speed up the ripening process of some fruits by placing high ethylene-producing fruits near them. Alternatively, sealing an unripe fruit in a paper bag prevents the gas from escaping thus hastening its ripening process.
4. It’s Just Soy
   Edamame is just a fancy name for young soya beans (accept it, Polly).
5. Once in a Blue Lobster
   The odds of finding a blue lobster is about one in two million. A yellow one? One in 30 million.

Related links
Yin and Yang in Chinese Cooking

Why I Go to Bed Hungry Every Night

I have quite a number of food-related websites for you to feast on for “Wednesday Websites”. Bon Appetit!

Let me set the record straight — I don’t really cook. If you consider boiling spaghetti and then serving it with premade sauce from a jar cooking then, then I do “cook”, but that’s about it. But that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the art of cooking. I love watching cooking shows. Every night before I sleep I tune in to the food channel. It’s my way of relaxing. I love eating too but I prefer desserts and snacks; the main meal, not as much. I derive great pleasure from looking at gorgeous pictures of food (evident from the amount of food books and magazines I buy) and boy do I love food blogs!

Blogs I Visit Every Day Without Fail

Delicious Days by Nicky- The yummiest looking food blog on the net, but I bet you already know that
Nordjlus by Keiko – Inspiring photography and stories

Blogs I Visit Regularly

Foodbeam by Fanny – When I need a sweet fix
Chubby Hubby by Aun – Cooking and dining in Singapore
Kuidaore by Joycelyn – The sugar artisan

Long Service Award

101 Cookbooks by Heidi – A blog I’ve been following since the beginning of time. Ok, since 2003, nevertheless, a very long time in blog-years. Still inspiring as ever.

Recent Favourites

Oswego Tea by Michele – Personal ramblings and a side of food
White On Rice Couple by Diane and Todd- An entertaining and informative food blog
Rasa Malaysia – Blog with a focus on Malaysian and Singaporean cuisine

Other Food-Related Communities and Websites

Tastespotting - Gorgeous visual inspiration.
Open Source Food by Yong Fook – Recipes contributed and rated by fellow food lovers
Chow – Great resource for eating and drinking

All-Time Favourite Website

Martha Stewart Food
I know a lot of you are closet Martha Stewart fans but I’m by far the worst. I’ve only recently contained my addiction to Martha Stewart magazines- Living, Kids AND Food (Please note again, I don’t have kids nor do I cook – I buy the magazines just to look at the pictures!). I am now limiting my MS addiction online.

As I’ve mentioned above, I have a habit of watching cooking shows in bed, right before I sleep. It’s little wonder then I always fall asleep with a rumbling tummy! Here are some of my favourite cooks.

Night Time Treats

The Hilarious Anthony Worrall Thompson (Love his voice!)
The Hypnotic Nigella Lawson
The Inspiring Jamie Oliver
The Intrepid Anthony Bourdain
The Laid-Back Rob Rainford
The Far-Flung Keith Floyd
The Fiery Gordon Ramsey

Have a delicious Wednesday!

Dessert Island Dish

Today being “Desert Island Tuesday” (inspired by BBC’s Desert Island Discs), I’ll imagine myself a castaway on a desert island. This week theme is Food so I’m allowed to bring a few food items with me.

What a beautiful Tuesday to be stranded on a desert island. The sun is shining brightly and there’s a nice cool breeze. Of course the island I’m stranded on is a lush, tropical oasis full of delicious edible fruits and a good supply of diverse marine life. Here’s my list:

Desert Island List – Food Edition

Rice
Coffee
Salt
Pepper
Sugar

You can see from the list above I am quite a simple person, and good at fishing too, as I don’t foresee myself eating only rice with salt and pepper. I’ll have boiled rice with grilled fish one day, fish porridge another, and maybe attempt to make nigiri sushi now and then. Did I mention that fresh drinking water is available from the tap? Yup, there’s a tap conveniently located near my air-conditioned shack.

Oh, wait, I also have a PC with full internet access on the island, so I could, if I choose to, order more things online:

Desert Island List – Food Edition, Fancy Version

Milk
Cheese
Chocolate
White Bread
Butter
Parsley
Ice cubes

Now I can make grilled cheese sandwich, fish in a creamy parsley butter, and iced coffee. Plus I can snack on chocolates after that. Ah… I can get used to this lifestyle…

Still not impressive enough to be called a fancy list? Ok, lemme think…

Desert Island List – Food Edition, Extended Ultra Fancy Pants Version

Diet Coke
French Fries
Decadent chocolate cake with all the works
Pancake with banana, berries and maple syrup
Double chocolate chip cookie
Donuts – plain glazed, choco-peanut and white choc-oreo
Nachos with creamy melted cheese
Crème brûlée

Hmm…I suspect my ultra fancy list is just a compilation of desserts and junk food I’m supposed to avoid. Oh well…

Related Link
Desert Island Discs: Selected Castaways’ Choices

Related Post
Maybe I Should Go Bananas?

Something Fishy, Something Fruity

This week’s theme on Growing Happiness is food and today being “New Monday”, is about trying new foods.

As much as I tell people I love seafood, I’ve never really eaten much shellfish apart from small crustaceans. What’s more I’ve only eaten squid, lobster and crayfish for the first time two years ago. I’m trying to be more adventurous with seafood as I’m cutting down on meat(never been a meat fan, and then, to a certain extent, there’s this). The problem with valved shellfish is that they look disgusting and I have a strong aversion to eating anything that looks like it should be part of the special effects makeup in a B-grade monster flick.

Anyway, I tried a piece of abalone recently and didn’t like it. The texture was very chewy, it had an extremely fishy smell (the fishy aftertaste lingered in my mouth till the day after) and, at about $40 a can, it was very expensive — overrated and overpriced. I also tried cockles for the first time two months ago. It was a big mistake as the cockles were not fresh, so I got the double whammy of eating something slimy and foul-tasting. The most tolerable experience I had was with scallops. They tasted a bit like firm fishcakes. I won’t mind eating them again.

Despite their popularity and abundance at weddings and events here, I have never eaten fresh oysters(though I have consumed oyster sauce in Chinese dishes numerous times). I am, however, willing to try them next time (I may have to close my eyes though).

So here’s my list of three shellfish I might try in the near future:

1. Oyster - I’d probably try it cooked first before moving on to the raw deal
2. Mussel - Most likely in a seafood pasta
3. Sea Cucumber – Provided it doesn’t look like its original form

And three I’d pass, for now:

1. Geoduck - First of all it sounds gooey (that’s how you pronounce it) secondly, would you just look at it?!
2. Conchs &Whelks – I don’t fancy eating anything that looks like a snail
3. Sea Urchin – Looks like a hairy fruit and I don’t mind rambutans but still…

But fruits! Oh I love fruits! I’m game for any fruit! I think I have tried 90% of the fruits on this list.

Fruits I’d like to try if I could find them in the market:

1. Jabuticaba - looks like a large black grape
2. Fig - fresh whole ones, I’ve only tried dried ones
3. Peanut Butter Fruit - smells and tastes like peanut butter? Sounds yummy.
4. Chocolate Pudding Fruit (Black Sapote) – apparently tastes like chocolate pudding. Too good to be true?
5. Miracle Fruit – makes bitter and sour foods taste sweet

I’m off to the supermarket now to get my hands on a couple of new snacks to try later!

Related Links
Shellfish Wiki
Wiki List of Culinary Fruits
The Cook’s Thesaurus: Fruit
Why eating less meat could cut global warming
Rearing cattle produces more greenhouse gases than driving cars, UN report warns

Random Sunday – Names

Girl names:

Ava
Charlotte
Elisabeth
Lilian / Lily
Sophie
Rose

And boys:

Alexander
Daniel
Edward
Jacob

I might design a character based on one of the following names:

Beatrice
Doris
Edith
Gertrude
Mildred

The theme for the week, starting Monday, is one of my favourite things to talk about – FOOD!

Related Links
Old-Fashioned Name Generator
Why old-fashioned names are cool again

31 Days of Lists – I Have A Plan

How do you keep to posting a list a day without running out of things to talk about or worse, ending up feeling like you’re doing a chore? Would you write down your grocery list every other day?

Well, for a start, you’ll need quite a bit of discipline. But I think, with proper planning, even the most commitment-phobic blogger can accomplish this task without resorting to listing mundane things for the sake of posting something. Creating a post a day for 31 days and sticking to a theme will seem less daunting if you have planned your posts ahead.

Remember micromovements? 1 whole month sounds like a very long time but how does 1 week sound like? Much more manageable, yes? If I divide my 1 month into 4 weeks, I only need to concentrate on writing for the next 7 days. And if I have a different theme each week, I only need to concentrate on one topic of interest per week. The advantage of doing this is that it helps me focus, generates anticipation for the reader and eliminate the need to post something, ANYTHING, just because I have to.

So, where do I start? Why, by creating a list of things to list for the next 30 days of course! Here’s my plan for March:

The Masterplan

1 The First List aka The Masterplan (you’re reading it)
2 Random Sunday

Week 1 – Theme 1
3 New Monday
4 Desert Island Tuesday
5 Wednesday Websites
6 Trivia Thursday
7 TGIF
8 Saturday Summary
9 Random Sunday

Week 2 – Theme 2
10-14 Themed Lists
15 Week 2 Recap
16 Random Sunday

Week 3 – Theme 3
17-21 Themed Lists
22 Week 3 Recap
23 Random Sunday

Week 4 – Theme 4
24-28 Themed Lists
29 Week 4 Recap
30 Random sunday

31 The Last List

I plan to further divide the days of the weeks into their own themes:
on Mondays, I’ll try something new;
Tuesdays’ lists are inspired by Desert Island Discs;
on Wednesdays you’ll get to see a list of websites I love;
Thursdays are for trivia and
on Fridays, I’ll list the things I’m thankful for.

I’m leaving my weekends open for random things because the last thing I want to do on a weekend is think. I’ll be announcing my theme for the week on Sundays and will do a recap on Saturdays.

A final note – the above is just a guide. I wouldn’t be too upset if I don’t manage to stick to it religiously. The most important thing for me (and you) is to have fun! Have a good March, everyone!

Related Links
National Blog Posting Month
SARK Micromovement

Related Posts
Inspiration: SARK
Desktop Cleanup