Fancy fast food

Being a busy foodie means you're constantly tempted to look for something delicious and tasty to eat, yet you want as little hassle as possible when it comes to deciding on meals. For the past few nights I've been desperate, and turned to ordering Indian takeaways and binging on instant noodles - Korean, Malaysian and Thai - I've tried them all. I've always thought of these as comfort food, but didn't realise how horrible their effects were on me until I've had them for several consecutive meals. I felt bloated and uncomfortable, thirsty despite constantly drinking water, and to the extent of getting minor headaches. My conclusion? No short-cuts.

Some meals take a longer time to prepare, but I've decided that smoothies and salads are my absolute go-to. They are fast, colourful, and much healthier than takeaways and instant food. I always sneak in one of two strips of bacon in my salads, because they add so much flavour to the meal. 

I also can't wait for this week to end because I'm itching to try a new recipe, perhaps red velvet cupcakes. Baking is fun, but on a side note I recently discovered the beauty of raw desserts, although it does take some effort if you don't have a proper food processor. All my ingredients were mixed in a normal blender and it didn't turn out as smooth as it should be. Anyway the taste was still as yummy as ever and I had a slice of citrus "cheesecake" for breakfast each morning for a whole week. The cake was made of Medjool dates, walnuts, cashew nuts, blood orange, lime, lemon, beet and coconut oil. No flour, no butter, and no oven needed.

Praying for a good week. Go Joyce, go.

Lately, very lately

I've been really busy (or at least, supposed to be) recently with writing my dissertation and catching up with tutorials, but I decided to take my time off today to update this space. It's been quite awhile since my last post, and looking back at old photos made me realise how much I did in this period - most of the time playing with (and eating) food, as you can see below.

Haven't been travelling much - going home for christmas holidays, Singapore, and visiting Yong Xuan in Dublin don't count here... what I mean is that I haven't been exploring places ever since I got back from America. I definitely want to go to new places, but I'll reserve those plans for summer. 

Brown french loaf with pandan kaya (from home) with berries

Left: Blended broccoli and leek, with balsamic vinegar and walnuts; Right: "Cream" of carrots with sesame oil

Left: Kaya and goats' butter on seeded toast; Right: First attempt at goats' cheese, spinach and sweet potato tart

Second attempt at gluten-free goats' cheese and spinach tart, and leftover dough turned to people biscuits by Ying Hui 

Left: Salmon, grapefruit and avocado salad & chocolate marble cake (note-to-self: you'll always need a hand mixer for baking...); Right: Pancakes with bacon and salted caramel sauce

CNY potluck with the housemates, and I made rice spring rolls with cervettes, basil, mint and corriander (prawns are so expensive here - bought 5 of these at £8! CNY the season to be jolly indeed)
Wendy prepared yee sang with raw sashimi-grade salmon
Our soup stock was the bomb 'cos we used salmon fish head and bones with ginger - yums!

Pasta, spinach and cheese for potluck at Alyssa's

Plum tomatoes, cheddar and dill pizza topped with walnuts and fresh kale

Left: Mung beans and sago hot dessert; Right: Raisins pancake with apple cooked in sugar, and salted caramel sauce

Potluck brunch at Raghavi's; I made red bean, longan and sago hot dessert
Raghavi made cous cous salad
Nishi made cooked oats with bananas and blueberries
San made pasta with bacon and cheese sauce

Chocolate muffins with salted caramel centres and sea salt flakes

Muffins sank in the middle 'cos I took them out of the oven too quickly (hee, impatient me), so I topped it up with more caramel sauce and sprinkled toasted almond slices to fix the look

If you're wondering why I'd used salted caramel in most of my food recently, it's 'cos I bought 2 jars meant for friends, when I planned to visit them in Ireland. Only later did I realise that I couldn't bring them on board with me as I didn't purchase any checked-luggage allowance. Silly me!

Going further back in time... I received the best present for my 22nd birthday (I still can't believe I'm already in my twenties), ever! I was struggling with my courseworks then, but it was very comforting to have my most favourite person in the world, by my side. Physically! Literally, by. my. side. HEE. Thank you, you.

Also I noticed myself wearing my blue, long-sleeved, light cotton top and the aztec dress a lot. But these are very comfy, so I can see why! It's soooo hard to find reasonably-priced tops that aren't t-shirts, or formal wear, so I can see why I dig this piece. Besides, I love wearing sleeves. Protects me from the sun, the cold, and- arms. Haha! As for the dress, I love how it can pull off the casual look, yet works fine for a dinner event.

Gotta love your guy when he happily agrees to have tea with you,

-cooks for you (just kidding), or even gets food for you!

And brings you out for brunches 'cos he knows how much you love having them!
BOTTOM LINE IS THAT HE HAS TO CONSTANTLY FEED YOU. YES.

We went to the zoo! My dress makes me look like a zebra! Rui Ling did my makeup (love it 'cos it's so natural)! 

Home is DEFINITELY comfort zone. If you have a mom like my mom, you'd hardly be tempted to dine out... unless you have cravings for roti canai. My mom is a classic home-maker, and I'd say that most of my meals are inspired by her. 

Homemade fried dumplings, even the dim sums. Stir-fried pumpkins, steamed fish, broth, veggies, and chocolate cake!

Being home for a month felt great - I got to catch up with Jasmine and Katherine, then Abi, Michelle and Shu Yee, and le papoy! I can't believe I'm a few months away from leaving this place, and I won't be seeing most of my friends I met here after this...

A date with piepoy

Till next time!

Braids

I'm here, I'm here! Still alive and busy!

So much to do, so little time - yet I had time to braid breads. See what I did there?

Had leftover strong flour from pizza-making earlier this year so I decided to make a 5-braid loaf. Only tempted to bake this because I saw photos while surfing through Instagram and it looked pretty! However I think my dough was too wet, and it didn't rise properly, so the texture wasn't great in the end.

Not sure if I'm gonna do a second try on this since I've got very little flour left and I don't really intend on getting any more. Partly because I discovered that I might have gluten-intolerance, I'm trying to cut down on stuff like this. Not avoiding bread totally though, since I love them quite a bit! 

Have you tried Sainsbury's Cranberry, Orange & Pumpkin Seed Loaf? 

or Marks & Spencer's Pecan and Cranberry Baton?

My two favourites! 

Anyway here's the recipe I sort of followed - tweaked a bit here and there since I didn't use cheese and herbs. 

I also really want to try some gluten-free recipes soon so hopefully I'll have the time! Back to work now!