The Tiniest Details in Eating- My Food Quirks

Whilst eating matcha ice cream in an enclosed wafer biscuit just now, I realised i took a strange little delight in biting into the flattened wafer that separates one pocket from another so that the bite is neat before i start another pocket. This became almost an obsession as i quietly try to bite off that section without Shawn noticing, heehee...

I do admit i have certain habits when it comes to food selection and partaking. It puzzles some people (a very cool lady did not understand why i didn't eat a dessert after thinking about it for DAYS) and frustrates my family members.

They tell me i am picky with food. I beg to differ. I am just very specific with my likes and dislikes :) So maybe this (growing) list would be helpful to some people who cannot decipher my food cravings, hee...

I like:

1. that thin film that clings unto the seed of a durian
2. tiny pieces of potato chips
3. but big pieces of fried carrot cake
4. burnt and crispy rice
5. ice cream in a cup/ wafer biscuit
6. the slight effervescence in my mouth as i eat an over-ripe fruit
7. the slight sore throat extremely sweet tropical fruits give (my favourites are longans, mangoes and durians)
8. spooning soup unto my rice as i take the FIRST mouthful. And only one spoonful. (Then i realised quite recently that my dad does the exact same thing!!! freaky!)
9. Ya Kun Kaya Toast
10. Sardine puffs. From ANYwhere.
11. Otah. From ANYwhere- even those bicycle vendors.
12. shortbread pastry for pies
13. raisins on their own
14. raisin bread
15. raisins in briyani rice
16. plain fish cakes/ fishballs

I dislike:

1. sticky fingers when eating a bag of potato chips so i eat them with chopsticks
2. melted/ melting ice cream
3. ice cream in a cone
4. the soup in green bean soup so i only eat the beans
5. red bean soup
6. a meal that consists of dry rice, deep fried food, no gravy and no soup. bleah.
7. toasted savoury sandwiches- i always request for my cedele sandwiches to be untoasted.
8. puff pastry for pies
9. blackforest cakes. YUCKS.
10. raisins in chocolates and cookies. I swear i nearly fainted when i took a sniff at some fruit and nut choc bar eons ago.
11. fish cakes/ fishballs with chilli flakes/ spring onions. YUCKS.

Eating and Exercise

I've been practising Ashtanga yoga for the past 5 years. It has brought me many, many things. I have first learnt how to really listen to my mind AND body (you need to, to co-ordinate some tricky moves!). I have for the first time in my life understood terms of the human anatomy. I have, for some reason, stopped liking the taste of meat and have been pescatarian since 2005. I do not think it's just the yoga that made me stopped eating meat; i suppose it could have been the intense activity after years of being sedantary (really awful word!).

Today i had a really good practice. I practise about thrice a week and it's not every time or even for weeks that i get to feel happy and energetic after yoga. Many times, especially in the evenings, i am just too mentally tired after a day's work. I would be thinking about a hundred and one things while attempting the poses and that's double the punishment cos i'll be both physically and mentally tired after that! In the mornings, i sometimes feel sleepy, groggy, and yes, tired again. And some days, i feel more flexible than strong and the reverse on other days. And using our favourite tropical climate excuse, some days it's just so so warm that you can't even breathe through the thick cloud of  vapour right before you! It is really quite rare to find days when you have the energy, flexibility, constant breathing, always 'mula bandha-ing' and yes, nice cool breeze to accompany your practice and this evening was one of those...

I wasn't that hungry to start with, so that's always good. I didn't have a heavy lunch either... Actually, it could be something i ate that did this. Not just today but yesterday would count too.
Sunday: I mindfully had sweet potatoes and pasta early about 7pm for the carbo load to last me today.
Monday: Breakfast: an olive foccacia bun from Peck (love their breads!); brunch at 9.30am- dry 'mee-suah' with fishballs at the coffeeshop outside school; 'lunch' at 2pm- something sweet- chocolate waffles and a Nutri tea from the school canteen. That was it.

I am going to try this eating thing out for evening practices for now on... I have tried having a heavy lunch (with white rice) and i have always felt groggy and heavy. So now i will have as much complex carbs as i can the night before and have more protein based stuff for the day. Even sweet 'junk' food is alright :)

Work- work and house- work

It is not fun working when it is so close to the festive season! And with a festive season that typically, traditionally (and which we also follow quite blindly) involves cleaning of a 1400 sq ft apartment, it is really not funny. Not when we work 11 hour days and have to still clean mirrors and wipe down and shine the vanity at the end of it.
Don't get me wrong. I love cleaning. I am very house proud. I just immensely dislike the fact that I do not have more time to do these things!
Agh! So, have to plan the last remaining days to the Chinese New Year properly...


Thursday 11022010
1200 to 1400 Staff Lunch in town
1400 to 1600 Buy cloth runner for new console- Isetan or Tangs.
Buy Japanese rice, sushi condiments from Isetan supermarket.
1600 to 1700 Make way home. Change. Rest. Spray cleaning solution on bathroom floors.
1830 to 2030 Yoga
2030 to 1030 Dinner at Whampoa Market. Buy plants there too.
1030 to 1100 Scrub bathroom floors. Defrost chicken bones.


Friday 12022010
1415 to 1700 Management meeting (can you believe this? Neither can i)
1700 to 2000 Reunion dinner at parents'.
2000 to 2200 Wash bedsheets. Go to supermarket. Buy leeks and other vegetables. Defrost abalone. Defrost duck.


Saturday 13022010
0800 to 1000 Yoga
1000 to 1100 Brunch
1100 to 1300 Prepare chicken stock.
1300 to 1500 Braise abalone
1500 to 1530 Slice duck. Season.
1530 to 2100 Reunion dinner at MIL's.
2200 to 0000 Pack study room. Throw out stuff.

Sunday 14022010
CNY Day One
Visit MIL for Brunch.
Veg out at home.
Cook dinner (Bamboo Shoot Rice)

Monday 15022010
CNY Day Two
Sleep in.
Cook lunch (Sushi)
Visit Aunty for dinner.

A New Year, A New Decade

Day Three of 2010


Spent the bulk of the day juggling preparations for the work week ahead, facebooking, watching some telly and dinner preparation.
The past few days have been pretty awesome even though it was by no means exciting or eventful by anyone's standards! Spent new years' eve evening at home and the new year's day itself at home too. 
I did some reflecting and it dawned upon me that the past decade was an important and eventful one... Career- wise, in the last ten years i graduated, started work and got promoted thrice. Love- wise, i met Shawn and married him. Health- wise, i started seriously exercising in 2005 and have been maintaining a thrice- weekly ashtanga yoga practice. I have also stopped eating meat in June 2005 and am still on my pescatarian diet. Another love aspect which brought me to frantic tears again as i thought about it on 01.01.10 was our cat Bel of course. I adopted and lost him to cancer in that decade. The memories of him are always, always bitter-sweet but i could never ever not think about him every day (it is hard not to when the wallpaper of my phone is still his funny face!). Of course the crying and pain has abated somewhat, but really, all it takes is just that longing to hold his heavy and furry body, to hear his 'meow' responses to my dialogue with him, to feel his kneading on the covers each night... these are what reduces a normally sensible woman to wrecked sobs...
This is him:

Bel

And, back to my ramblings for the next decade... 

I never believe in setting new year resolutions. Those, i believe, are just excuses to procrastinate one's resolves to another calendar year. If something is wrong, set it right ASAP! I mean, there is nothing very wrong with starting a year wonderful and right, but what have been holding you back to do it right last year? 

For example, a rather common resolution i see/ hear is to be a better/ nicer/ more understanding person... So, when you snap at someone undeserving, you reserve your guilt and resolve till say, 6 months later when 31/12 is approaching??? Does not make sense to me!

In any case, resolution- less, I wonder what the next decade would bring me...

Work- wise: I have no blinking idea! I am not feeling ambitious now!

Family- wise: Travel lots, with Shawn and maybe, my parents cos they are getting older

Pet- wise: Hmmmm... I only want bel! Well, not too keen on having more for now...

Health- wise: too crazy to project a 10 year stretch goal, but with regular practice, perhaps finish the intermediate series in 2 years' time? Oh, and stretch my sad 15 minute runs! I may also turn full vegetarian (lacto-ovo) when i reach 40...

Life- wise: More lives born; some lives lost... very morbid to think of such things at this time!

So, day three into a new decade, insights into my life...