Tuesday, January 29, 2013

1/29/13

I was actually screaming my frustrated heart out at the four walls before I collapsed on the bed with a mixed emotion.

Talk about subconscious thoughts.>.<

I dreamt that when the neighbor yelled at me for my dog's barking and my screams, I spun around and yelled my head off that she was just as bad; she had no right to demand that I surrender the dog away and that she should learn to respect people's sensitivities.

A shouting match began, with me screaming at the top of my lungs and venting my honest feelings about the whole neighborhood and its residents, which silenced and shocked everyone to their core. I was terribly exasperated that when another neighbor lit up her cigarette opposite me, I went forward and snatched her butt and demanded that she take it somewhere else, and to leave my sensitive nose alone.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Sugarless Banana Chocolate Cake



Ingredients:

Dry
1 Tbsp Van Houten chocolate powder, sifted
2 cups cake/pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
40g chocolate bars, roughly broken

Wet
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1/2 cup olive oil
300g mashed bananas

Directions:
Oil a mould of your choice with butter.

Pour in oil to a mixing bowl and add the vanilla extract.

Beat in eggs (one at a time) with flour (half at a time) and milk (half at a time)on low speed.



Add in baking powder and baking soda, followed by chocolate powder.


Any brand of chocolate bar is alright. Since I had bought this particular brand, why not use it up? It's from Ikea, by the way...

Fold in bananas and chocolate bars until creamy.



Pour batter into the mould.

Bake at 130C on bottom rack of the oven for 35 minutes or until a stick inserted comes out clean (or with a little melted chocolate)

 

Leave on a metal rack to completely cool before serving.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Plain Banana Smoothie



Note: This drink serves 2 people.

Ingredients:

190g roughly mashed bananas
2 cups of natural, unsweetened yoghurt*

*It is highly recommended for one to make one’s own yoghurt from scratch, and I know that it requires some searching for the yoghurt starter. This particular brand – Easiyo’s Natural Yoghurt – can be found in major grocery stores like Cold Storare and Jaya Grocer and in certain organic shops.

Directions:



Pour the yoghurt into a blender and throw in the bananas.



Blend for 1 minute, and pour the mixture into 2 tall glasses (picture on top)

The ingredients are variable; feel free to substitute the bananas for other types of fruits or to double the amount of yoghurt - or even whip it up in one's own way.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Food Review: Organic Freshmart Vegetarian, Subang Jaya (2nd Visit)

Since the crisper had been severely depleted with nothing much left in the fridge and since we hadn’t had the time to pick up a couple of ingredients from the grocery store, we instead drove straight to Organic Freshmart Vegetarian after Sunset Mass to pick up our dinner.

It’s one of the many places that I often go to.

After Mama Carrie placed the order with the waiter, we hovered around the restaurant to while away the time when, with a flicker of the invisible switch, the light bulb in my head went on. It was time to snoop around and take a couple of pictures for this food review.

Me being me, I never liked taking pictures of the crowd unless I have to because my photography skills are never as great as Mama Carrie’s and I can’t bear the thought of all the diners posing away in front of the camera.

I had always known that Freddy’s place enjoys brisk business during the weekends and weeknights and serves the affordable (economy) lunch that the office employees love a lot. But since there were way too many diners to deal with, we decided that we’d just have the order take-away and eat it at home instead.

Dining Area

One of the two dining areas

Merchandise Area

Another section of the merchandise. Here, Organic Freshmart Vegetarian sells a variety of organic items such as flours, noodles, sauces, fruit juices and rice among others.

There is a smaller dining area, with tables of four chairs each.



Mini Hawaiian Pizza (with the thick crust), RM 8.90

Whenever I'm there for dinner, I'd always order this dish as I love it a lot. My taste buds tell me that there isn't excessive sugar or salt, which is a guaranteed plus!

Even after being cooked in the oven, the pineapple is still juicy and the capsicum still has the crunch. I also like it that the cheese don't overpower the overall taste of the pizza. From what one employee told me, the cheese is vegetarian-based and handmade. He did rattle the list of ingredients away, but I didn't catch any one of them.



Vegetarian Sushi, RM 7.90

The restaurant's version of the ever-popular Japanese sushi.

There's no taste to it, except for the natural, raw taste from the vegetables and a little kick from the mayonnaise.

Cashier

Opposite the cashier, you'll find the bread section.

And behind it, you will find the chiller, where the organic miso, organic tofu and Japanese organic mirin are kept in.

Cold Room

Walk a little further and you'll find the cold room, where a variety of organic vegetables can be found. If you're lucky, you might just able to buy the ever-elusive paku/midin.

Shop's exterior

Address: 17 & 19, Jalan SS18/1B,
                47500 Subang Jaya

Telephone: 03- 5636 2468

Landmarks: Organic Freshmart Vegetarian is located behind the NPE (New Pantai Expressway) flyover, directly opposite the SS17 Police Station and the Fire Station. 

Neighborly Annoyance?


Urgh, I think I have bitten off more than I could chew.

I shouldn’t have promised anyone a copy of that; should have just taken my own sweet to complete the copy and perfect it – to my satisfaction. It however doesn’t matter now. I’ve lost all inspirations and muses on it and I’m sure those eager recipients have forgotten all about it.

Ransacking the kitchen cabinets for the stainless steel cake cutter (or knife, whichever is the correct one) has resurrected the annoyance at the whole episode of moving again. On one side, I hear that every item of mine has followed me but on another side, I’m seeing that some of the items have grown legs and fled the scene.

For the Grace of God, not that handy cheese grater!

(Um, if any one of you, readers, happen to occupy my previous place and notice that the kitchen’s second drawer (the one nearest to the dry kitchen sink) is full of kitchen accessories and items like the cake cutter and ladles, please keep it aside and let me know. Even though it’s been months, I still want the items back.

Thanks in advance, yeah?)


I don’t know if I should hold the previous landlord accountable for this; he obviously could’ve chosen for a better time to serve the eviction letter instead of choosing that awkward timing – when all the packing and arrangement fell on my head.

FYI, I’m still pissed at the whole thought of it now that I’m seeing the ugly side of my current neighborhood. There’s so many cons here that I’m starting to wonder, why on earth did I move here in the first place and not near the favorite haunt of the hills?

Heh!

And since I’ve managed to throw some time out of my packed schedule, I think I shall jump at the opportunity to loll around the house. That particular neighbor shouldn’t have complained that the dog will bark whenever there’s a fellow furry friend passing by when the same dog chose to wake me up at the crack of dawn.

That was yesterday’s story. *yawns*

Monday, January 14, 2013

1/14/13

A soothing Christian hymn like this would do the trick on an infuriating night like this. (I feel like I want to yell my head off and send everyone cowering under fear)




Friday, January 11, 2013

01/11/2013

I dreamt that my paws and stomach ached after being on the road for 2 straight hours on the NSE and swerved into the R&R area, wanting to catch a break.

Even from outside, I could see that the restaurant was packed to the brim but nevertheless entered. If a restaurant has so many diners at one time, it has to mean that the food is tasty yet cheap, am I right? But anyway, it had a small interior but compensated with the lack of floor space with a large outdoor seating area.

All the tables there were occupied by fellow travelers. Since it was packed to the brim with not many vacant tables, I decided that I will grab something light - maybe a tuna sandwich - and finish it on the drive back.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Avoidable Frustrations

Like what I told Charlie, I screwed it all up and am in for a tough time.

Who am I to blame but myself? Literally speaking, how could I have forgotten that I needed to accomplish everything before the bowl of wet cement hardened into mud? It was I who chose this route; it is I who has to be responsible for the consequences.

As the title says, all of my frustrations would have been avoided if only some proper planning and thinking had been done ahead of time.

My current sleeping pattern of collapsing on the sack only at midnight – after the entertainment news – and arising at the break of dawn by force has really shown its color. Let’s see, I’m now battling indigestion (which, if interpreted the right way, is good news for me: I won’t be a voracious carbohydrate lover) and constantly craving for siesta with my right fingers all turning achy and, sometimes, numb for unknown reasons.

Had I been able to foresee all these, why in the world would I have waited until now and slogged over all things trivial yet important to me? I’ve gone the easy way out: I’d have stayed back in the land of the long white clouds and graduate from UOA, majoring in Criminal Law.

That was the initial plan until something (and, maybe, someone) drew me back to my hometown, where my paws are buried in. Without much ado, I jumped away to avoid returning to the old habit and schedule of early mornings and late nights and, certainly, without an appropriate amount of time to catch a break and breathe the fresh air but my hurried decision landed me in this bowl of now-hardened mud.

Since none of us, mere mortals, can turn back the time to undo our mistakes, I can only do what is in my power and leave the rest to the Almighty One – even though there are a lot riding on this little, important matter. Truth be told, I’m still unsure on how things will turn out. Whether it’ll turn out north or south, it shall remain to be seen.

It’s, after all, in the Lord’s hands.

And now that I’m preparing to call it a night at exactly midnight, I am thinking, how on earth am I going to catch adequate sleep and arise early enough to absorb some of Mr. Sun’s radiance? Not only that; I can’t help but wonder how I am going to be able to stick to my short timeline and tight schedule and being able to accommodate the arrivals of my British acquaintance and my Aussie relative at the same time.

Nah, they have already planned their accommodation in advance and won’t be bothering me but that doesn’t mean that we won’t be meeting up to catch on each other’s lives.

Perhaps, something has to be sacrificed.

Maybe I’ll shorten my hours on entertainment and siesta and use that time to rush up the work, ignoring the immense numbness and pain that the fingers will cause. And maybe, the earlier I get it done, the earlier the posts will return to its normal frequency.

You get the drill, don't you?

Sunday, January 6, 2013

01/06/2013

I dreamt that since we were able to throw out some time out of our busy schedules to catch up, we agreed upon a day and time to meet up for shopping. It was my familiar friend behind the wheel but for some weird reason, we found ourselves lost in a foreign area with little traffic. I exhaled deeply, not wanting my panic to throw my friend into further worries.



But as we drove along this coast, I whipped out my camera and told her to drive a little slower as I wanted to take pictures of the beautiful oceanic waves and the Aussie-like outback with the spiky cactuses.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

A New Year, A New Chapter

Amidst the immense and growing pressure of completing everything before Chinese New Year, I have finally managed to throw some time out and write the promised, proper post. It stinks when I recollect my decision on throwing it aside; it’s making me burn midnight oil to finish it exactly on the dateline.

I’m afraid there isn’t much to reminisce on – apart from the outing with Kar Wyai – but since today’s post is about reminiscence, I shall try to reflect on the past year of 2012 and write on the memorable events that have embedded itself in my porous brain.



The contents of this dream came true on New Year’s Day to Mama Carrie’s surprise and to my stoicism. What comforted me was that [the sender] still remembered me after the months of distance between us. We are merely cordial now; we are no longer keeping in touch that frequently.

Chinese New Year was differently celebrated; instead of the open houses, we chose to instead remain where we were at and welcome the festival with a buffet brunch at the now-closed Hotel Equatorial KL.

More specifically, Kampachi Restaurant.

The first attempt at baking turned out disastrous; it tasted crap and looked like crap. I can’t tell if my skills are improving because the consistency of my cake and muffin batters is forever sporadic. One minute, it’s perfect; another minute, it’s as wet as melted ice.



And now, I’m hooked on an original recipe: chocolate loaf. It’s actually chocolate cake baked in a loaf tin. I would love to spend more time in the kitchen experimenting with recipes but there is one particularly important issue that needs to be dealt with, and I’m suffering a setback with such a small kitchen.

As the year came to an end, I slowly dabbled a little bit in food reviews. It had been something that I wanted to do for quite a while – but I had to improve my way of descriptions before I could venture even further, which I did.

I hope that in this current year of 2013, I will be able to execute everything that is that I have failed to do or avoided in 2012 before the Season of Advent announces its grand arrival.

I won’t reveal much about it; I’m not sure what my list of resolutions is, haven’t been able to sit down and pen it down. I’ll make a mental note as the months pass us by.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Split Second

Sorry for the sudden stop in posts.

It's just that I was carried away with life; haven't found the time to even play The Sims Social and SimCity Social.

While I try to pull some time out of my busy schedule to write a proper post, please bear with me. It's quite tough to write a blog post when the brain's fried for the day.

I promise I'll be back within the next few days; just need to draft it out on paper first.
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