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

Happiness is A Box of Mocha Chip Cookies

1: Get your hands on the most indulgent pack of mocha chip cookie you can find.
2: Read the nutrition information for recommended serving size.
3: Ignore nutrition info and eat the whole box!

PS: Alternatively, you can skip step 2 and go directly to step 3.

Happiness is A Pancake Breakfast

Warm, fluffy pancakes drizzled with thick maple syrup and slapped with a generous serving of butter. My happiness may be 525 calories too many, but who’s counting?

Happiness is Eating Donuts with Instant Coffee

This is my first post under “Happiness”. Here I will write down things(no matter how small) currently making me happy.

Isn’t it amazing how something as simple as eating a donut could make you so happy? I’m so savouring this moment. Yum!