chocolate buddha

The Mid-Year Exodus

admin — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:22:59 +0000

Just barely 24 hours after returning home from a whirlwind 2 weeks in the Japan witnessing spring slowly transforming into summer, I can’t quite find the perfect adjective to describe the entire trip.

Traveling Asia, as an Asian, is a rather different experience from traveling in the West. On one side, the eastern cultures are natural extension of my identity but at the same time, they are entirely foreign. Only during this third visit to Japan, my first as an adult, I was truly able to see and absorb as much as she was willing to offer and as little as time could handle.

Now I’m hooked and I can’t wait to go back.

On the way to an island

admin — Tue, 26 May 2009 01:51:27 +0000

Suddenly there was a policy - a beach holiday on every birthday, his birthday. Last weekend or in actual fact, weekdays were a sneakaway to accommodate the policy.

For the longest time on the to-do list was to drive up north to Ipoh for a dim sum breakfast. Ipoh, famed for the most beautiful Chinese girls in Malaysia (which I absolutely agree - no, I’m not from there!), is also famed for their delectable Cantonese dim sum breakfast where locals are up from 6am to start their weekend.

We decided to skip Foh San, one of the iconic and most famous restaurants in Ipoh, as friends from Ipoh didn’t give it two thumbs up. Instead, we were recommended to Yook Fook Mun which didn’t disappoint at all. Arriving at 8am after a two hours drive north, the tables were packed and waitresses ran around with their large trays of steamed and fried morsels leaving us with too many choices.

After we ticked off ‘dim sum in Ipoh’ off our pseudo-bucket list, the drive continued to the coastal town of Lumut where immediately upon arrival, we were greeted and pampered 5-star style for the next 3 days at Pangkor Laut Resort because we paid affordable Malaysian rates instead of the exorbitant foreigner’s price. If you are a foreigner and plan to drop by, which I highly recommend, grab some local friends along with you.

What’s for lunch?

admin — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:30:50 +0000

That’s one of our two cats, who turns around for tummy rubs like my dog.

Well at least she doesn’t need to bother, her nibbly meals are the same - breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Last two weeks daily of Ayurveda Panchakarma treatments, a detoxification and rejuvenation program, allowed me some extra time to contemplate once again what shall I eat. A question brewing and simmering slowly since reading Michael Pollan’s book, In Defense of Food, which he recommends in an extremely well-argued and convincing manner that less meat, more vegetables is better for us and better for nature as well.

Taking my Ayurveda doctor as an example, I made the decision to maintain a vegetarian diet throughout the two weeks which was initially rather frustrating and challenging in the first days as I was often stumped in the kitchen. Vegetarian food was clearly not in my cooking repertoire. The first initial thoughts always began with a sense of dullness but my stubborn steadfastness helped me stick to my decision.

After several days, preparing meals became easier. Soon there were pasta with roasted vegetables, a Japanese rice meal with eggplant Dengaku-style and tofu with konbu, Indian-inspired cabbage with mustard seeds and till today, the menu at home is almost strictly vegetarian and an occasional fish with much more ease. Though I don’t see myself as a vegetarian as I do eat the occasional fish, seafood and dairy, it is more of a decision to reduce on meat with more information I’m learning about large scale livestock farming methods and the paranoia of all those hormones and medicines they pump into the livestock present in my own body - a paranoia thanks to the kind of work I’m doing.

So they say, birds of a feather flock together. In these weeks, I have met several friends who are also going down the same path. And they too had no struggles or frustrations at all, it was simply just effortless to stay on vegetables whilst the urge to eat meat simply diminishes.

Besides, they too reported similar benefits that I had been noticing since the diet change. Top of the list for everyone was clarity in the mind - something rather abstract to describe but it’s the difference between a grey, cloudy sky and a clear, blue one. If that made any sense at all. The other difference we all noted was a change in energy levels. Previously, the energy levels would take a nose-dive in the afternoon or an hour after a meal. Now the energy level remains more constant throughout the entire day which in turn banishes the need to a quick in-between meal sugar high.

During digestion, the body takes far less energy to digest fruits and vegetables compared to poultry, meat and other animal-based food therefore it explains the constant energy levels when less meat is consumed. You surely would have noticed after a heavy meal of chicken or roast pork rice, you would feel sleepy and drowsy. In my old life on a desk, those afternoons were the least productive ones!

So is this a big callout for you to do the same? Food don’t play only the role of nourishing our bodies, albeit it is a very important one. The joy and interaction from sharing a meal together with friends and family are as important too. Some days if a plate of roast brings me together with a dear friend, why not share a bite too?

For delicious-looking vegetarian meals, 101cookbooks.com and mahanandi, which has a great collection of Indian vegetarian recipes are among my favourites for inspirations. Also the book, Harumi’s Japanese Home Cooking has lovely Japanese recipes for vegetables.

The Flu and Vaccinated pigs

admin — Mon, 04 May 2009 09:54:19 +0000

As a measure to manage the purported spread of swine flu in these weeks, the Malaysian government had announced the vaccination of 1.7 million pigs with a flu vaccine that will prevent flu mutations. Although we already know that commercially-farmed animals are injected with many different doses of antibiotics, growth hormones and other chemical concoctions to prevent diseases which are caused by industrial farming methods and to quicken the rate of production to match with the consumer demands, the flu vaccine is just one more on top of this cocktail in the pork we buy from the butcher.

We probably will never know the ingredients of this flu vaccine. We know that an organisation will be making a windfall profit from supplying the vaccines. We probably will never know if this vaccine is effective. But the most scary fact which we will never know is how this vaccine will affect our bodies, when we savour that lovely roast this Sunday because the meat will taste deliciously the same.

My wish upon a star - a supplier of organic pork at my local market.

patatas fritas

admin — Sun, 03 May 2009 14:20:43 +0000

Prior to patatas fritas, regular cravings of grease and potates with salt were satisfied at a closeby McDonald’s outlet. A craving means quick and almost desperate speed during eating as the fries were first smothered in chilli sauce that comes out from a pump. I can no longer recall these occasions - fortunately.

If you have a remedy for similar cravings, do share because I still madly love a plate of greasy fries. But I’ve swapped McDonald’s and all other establishments which serve frozen processed fries with ones made at home. The kitchen does tend to be slightly greasier after a round of frying but if you had a taste of them, it is probably a small inconvenience.

Following Thomas Keller’s techniques, I have yet to achieve his crisped pomme frites which requires the cut potatoes to be washed several times to remove the starch. Then they are fried twice, first till they are turning slightly golden and then scooped out of the oil. For the second time, the temperature of the oil is increased so the fries get a final golden colour without too much grease as they won’t drench in the hotter oil. But F and I love most his mom’s patatas fritas so every batch gets a run-down comparison to hers. So that’ll be my excuse of not perfecting Keller’s version.

Halfway through

admin — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 08:55:30 +0000

When Feist sang “one, two, three, four..tell me that you love me more” on the alarm, I crawled out of bed at too early of a dawn. It was Day 7 of the Ayurveda Panchakarma and time to check in half a day into the clinic. Already six days of abhyanga massage and really, not difficult at all to get used to daily massages that leave the skin and hair gleaming more each day. However, Day 7 is quite like the peak in a Bell’s curve. A highlight, perhaps.

I would wish medicine one day can taste like chocolate cake or sweet mashed potatoes but they remained quite a drama to take, probably as a reminder to us that health is in our hands - you abuse it, you ’suffer’ for it. Not that ’suffer’ is the right way to describe it. 5 seconds of gulping half a cup of thick, pasty and bitter medicine is much less suffering than many other matters. Within the next hour, the medicine made its way down through the esophagus, into the stomach, moving on to the small intestines to be absorbed and finally to the colon. I don’t wish to continue, but you can probably guess where it will end up next - yes, out of my body.

As my energy waned by the minute from the regular visits to the loo and loss of water, the morning began with pleasurably readings of Rupert Sheldrake’s brilliant and still very relevant book, Rebirthing of Nature but as the sun rose, I could barely read another sentence. So I laid in bed, resting and letting the detoxification process take over my body. Seeing my therapist at the door lifted the spirits up several hours later and of course, when the other half came to accompany me. The passionate cook, who I could hear the entire morning clanking away to prepare delicious Ayurveda platters and the scent of all that, served a bowl of plain porridge and spice yogurt soup, signifying it was over and I could go home.

The rest of the day I was floating in and out naps, my voice was soft and I was craving to eat a cake, drink coffee and a decadent meal. But I persisted with rice porridge and some boiled vegetables. For dinner, the same except some luxurious boiled white asparagus just landed from Deutschland.

The process of detoxification doesn’t seem like a pleasant one, however in these last week I learned again the importance of eating well and living well. In these days I respected and listened to my own body’s needs plus recognised the battering it had gone through in these last years through the mere act of living - from those I truly enjoy like working, eating, traveling to others unavoidable things like stress, over-indulgence, late nights and bad habits.

Today is Day 8 and I woke up feeling as though my digestive organs are almost innocently brand new like a baby’s. My mood has significantly lifted, my viscera feels extremely clean and my energy level is climbing steadily. And there is still six more days of rice rubs and more abhanya. They say, everyone comes out of their Panchakarma beaming of health and I have also seen that myself in those who had just completed theirs. I feel that I am halfway there and that feels really good. With gratitude, to the healing herbs that nature presents to us and the knowledge of the science of life from almost 1000 years. It is all really, rather simple.

*It is recommended to do the Panchakarma annually. If you have access to an Ayurveda physician and trained therapists, I truly recommend this process.

Turning up the oven

admin — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 16:06:59 +0000

Prior to the Kitchenaid stand mixer which appeared unplanned in the kitchen, which I must mention the weekly cakes and ice-cream those around me had been indulging in, the budget was allocated for an oven. A year of cooking with a single gas stove didn’t feel inadequate in any way, rather the longing for a tray of succulent grilled vegetables and roast potatoes with rosemary. Not much can be shared about roast chicken as this poultry had never quite entered past the gates of home - except one presented by M healthily fed in her family’s farm at Cameron Highlands. Sorry but commercially-farmed and antibiotics drugged chicken in the market, really ain’t a chicken for me.

Along the main road I zip by often, a banner screamed out a kitchen appliances sale. After mustering a bagful of courage (and cash), I stepped in - all set in the ‘give-me-an-oven-now’ mode. Quickly the deal was closed. Two days later, the GLEM oven laid gleaming on the counter.

Now slightly marked with finger prints two weeks later, I can’t stop using the oven. Such sheer convenience too. Pop some sliced aubergines, zucchinis, peppers and onions with olive oil. Set it to beep 1 hour later. One session of Rolfing later, lunch is ready once the pasta turns al dente in 11 minutes. Chop up the grilled vegetables, add chopped fresh parsley and a squirt of lemon juice for a zing. Efficient, isn’t it?

Meantime, I have get cracking for more vegetarian meals as I have dedicated the next two weeks to my health and its restoration. Less work, less multi-tasking, less meat while taking a break from my Tuesday mornings barefoot exercise sessions (which I will miss!) as I decided it’s about time again to do the Ayurveda Panchakarma, 14 days of detoxification and rejuvenation so my body goes back to tip-top after another twelve months of rewarding but hard work, delicious meals and living life up. More about that soon.

Evocation by Francis Bacon

admin — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:57:12 +0000

“Well, again, I don’t think one really knows whether it’s a run of luck or whether it’s instinct working in your favour or whether it’s instinct and consciousness and everything intermingling and working in your favour.” - Francis Bacon

I keep Mark Rothko close enough while Klimt drapes above me. I can see clearly Manet’s dark impressionist portraits staring back at me. And I chuckle often at Dali’s Blonde installation in Figueres as his hyper realism paintings draw me into his 3-D world. But I never once chanced upon an artist with the last name that carries many succulent and luscious of porcine tastes - at least in places like mine where a good slice remains in scarcity.

On a shelf in the bathroom, rests a landscape postcard of Bacon’s tribute to his lover, George Dyer from the Prado Museum in Madrid. A gift from Madrid from F which I honestly admit did not lay much thought and look into. However the daily glimpse somewhat becomes evocative and thus now, I am sold.

Trio in memory of George Dyer

Damien Hirst said, “When I read David Sylvester’s interviews with Francis Bacon they changed my life.” That sentence alone churns me from within inside to throw aside preparations for this weekend’s postnatal anatomy lecture I’m giving, to stay up until dawn when the sun greets me and to plunge into the world inhabited by Francis Bacon. I had just read the interview and am intrigued by his utter frankness about himself, the world and its reality in such matter-of-factness. Absolute evocation.

Now, let me attempt to fall into slumber and pretend to greet tomorrow as though I never heard of this menacing Irish master.

Kitchenaid. It just landed.

admin — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 01:09:26 +0000

During those carefree days at university in Melbourne where most students from Malaysia was chewing away financial accounting standards and nodding off in taxation law lectures, W was having a ball with his fellows from the advertising and communications department doing assignments that made the rest of us green with envy.

W was also a well-known dinner kidnapper. He’d call to invite me over for dinner and when I arrive, the boys being boys, they would have done nothing for dinner so I’d end up cooking dinner for them! What lovely friends. One of those nights, W showed me his latest project, an assignment on “a really good looking piece of kitchen equipment’” in his words. That moment my lust for a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer was ignited. Each time one greeted me at the store, I would give it a pat and then wonder about which colour for that one day, when I will eventually.

Fast forward almost a decade later. That eventual day arrived, much earlier than expected. During a Sunday lunch at M’s, suddenly she offered to sell to me a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer as we were chatting over her white mixer preparing cheese tarts. While vacationing in Las Vegas, she couldn’t resist taking one home because it was 40% cheaper than the ones sold here in Kuala Lumpur though she already owned one. And so I left lunch with a silver Kitchenaid Stand Mixer!

Now I once again have a very good reason to dial up the heat in the oven as I leaf through page by page of Rose Bakery’s lovely tea time cake recipes.

Singapore in 24 hours

admin — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 08:12:06 +0000

About a month ago and probably weeks too late, I found out Coldplay was returning to Singapore for their Viva tour. The tickets were all sold out by then for the Singapore concert and after serious contemplation, I didn’t make it to Hong Kong to catch them. Perhaps it could have been a consolation to my several bad luck occasions in these past weeks with the grand winner incidence of a brand new but leaking Kitchen ice-cream maker attachment which the distributor refused to exchange because their warranty policies doesn’t cover accessory items, Coldplay concert tickets from a client landed on my lap three days ago! Through a long series of transaction and exchange, I got hold of my tickets 20 minutes prior to showtime at the Indoor Stadium.

A quick rest was necessary from the early morning flight before lunch with H at Iggy’s. We had a good meal and great time catching up as always, but unfortunately having shared a similar meal together here years ago, we both had to agree that something had gone missing since in their food. Several classics remained like the Iggy’s wagyu burger and mushroom cappucino though they both looked slightly tired on the menu. Also it was rather a surprise to take a bite into a partially frozen thick potato chip. F takes a much higher level of seriousness in patatas fritas than most of us and it was him who bite into that chip.

Nevertheless, we all had a great lunch and while H zipped off back to work with too much wine drunk, we met up next with J. In F’s words, ¨to soak up a little Spanish brotherhood love.¨ Time ticked away and we were soon at the concert! Unlike their previous concerts, there were no standing tickets for this one but when the lights when out, everyone shot off their seats. Absolutely brilliant show, I loved every minute of it and will relish in it until their next album comes out.

Exactly 24 hours later, our flight landed back into Kuala Lumpur and I’m already recalling ¨The Coldwave.¨