A Swan Song for Nina Smooth Operator: OIAJ

The swan song for PB&Co Smooth Operator was worth a standing ovation. In the form of an OIAJ made with scottish oats, this was a peanut butter lover’s dream actualized. Still, I can’t help feeling a sense of loss at the demise of this awesome peanut butter.

Kabocha Avocado Pepper Mango Bisque

What do you do with overripe mangoes? I didn’t want to go with the typical method of juicing it or turning it into a lassi; instead I threw it together with other leftover ingredients and transformed it into a vitamin A-booster soup – Kabocha Avocado Pepper Mango “bisque”.  That’s a spork on the side that my sister bought for me!

Kabocha Avocado Pepper Mango Bisque (serves about 3)

• 1 slice kabocha (~200 g)
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper (or other color)
• 1/4 avocado, chopped
• 2 1/4 cups water or vegetable stock
• ~1/2 cup mango, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. “Steam” kabocha by wrapping it with aluminium foil and placing it in oven until flesh is tender, about 30-40 minutes. At the same time, roast the bell pepper.
3. When kabocha and bell pepper are done, let cool, then chop into small pieces.
4. Bring water/vegetable stock to boil. Add in all the vegetables except the mango. Simmer for a while (15 min?) until vegetables turn soft.
5. Stir in chopped mangoes and simmer a while more.
6. Use a blender/immersion blender to blend into a smooth, thick, creamy soup.

This was very unique-tasting thanks to the addition of mango. I would have added some curry powder but unfortunately I don’t have any. I enjoyed this along with a toasty tuna bagel. Yum!

Mango Slushie Scottish Oats

I still had some remaining mango which I then froze it. The next morning I added it into oats, which made the oats rather slushie-like, unfortunately. Having said farewell to Smooth Operator, I welcomed Barney almond butter. I held high expectations and expected some kind of “transcendence,” but really, it was not that great. It tasted like a cross between almond and peanut butter, like it was having some identity crisis. In contrast, Maranatha’s AB is full on with the almond flavor. While it is supposed to be crunchy (I bought the crunchy version), I think they went slightly overboard with the nuts. The proportion of nuts to butter was skewed towards the former and I found myself digging for some creamy buttery bits. The texture was also a tad dry although it’s no-stir. A redeeming point was that the nuts were well-roasted and really crunchy. Overall, I would say Maranatha’s AB has a more classy, elegant feel, and Barney has a more casual appeal.

Plum Apricot Oatmeal Jelly

I had this quite a few days ago. Basically overnight oats cooked with plum and dried apricots, then turned out the next morning. It looked prettier than it tasted though. My preference still lies with hot oats.

Anyway, after hearing about the troubles Borders is facing, I was upset as I thought the outlet in Singapore would be closing as well. It’s one of my favorite hang-out places, call me nerdy if you will. But few other bookstores actually provide seats for you to browse magazines and books. Can you also imagine Wheelock Place without Borders? It’s like it’s flagship store. However, my distress is uncalled for because there’s good news – for the time being!

My stress-busters: going on long walks, enjoy the outdoors (if the weather is good!) reading (a whole range of materials), blogging, surfing the net, window shopping, and…. grocery shopping.

From left to right – slice of kabocha, Nature’s Path Smart Bran, BRM Creamy Buckwheat (influenced by Ashley’s buckwheat bakes!), Provamel unsweetened soy milk, Barney almond butter, and vanilla pumpkin seeds.

I’ve seen Barney all over the blogosphere and read so many great things about it, so seeing it on the store shelf before my very eyes sent a wave of excitement wash over me. Could it be better then the reigning Maranatha? Time will tell!

Cornvomato  Pepper Salad

You can infer all the ingredients from the (cheesy) name of the salad. I couldn’t think of a way to incorporate the “pepper” into the name but it would be super fun to have a single word instead of two words. I used a zesty lime dressing for an extra perky flavor.

Ingredients (serves 1)

• 1/4 cup corn kernels
• 1/3 avocado, diced
• 1/2 tomato, diced
• 1/4 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• Drizzle of EVOO
• Juice of 2 limes
• Dashes of ground white pepper

I imagine this will go down well with a toasty baguette or in my case, Kashi TLC Stoneground 7 grain party crackers topped with canned tuna. Speckled with toasted sesame seeds and made with whole grain, the crunch and slightly savory taste of the crackers indeed made a party in my mouth I’ve also tried their original 7 grain crackers before, which come in a smaller size, and they were equally good.

Last week before recess week = half the semester’s almost gone! Ahhh!!!

My day started fantastically. Scottish oats, this time with chopped plums, dried turkish apricots and Smooth Operator (ultra-smooth indeed!) PB, makes the epitome of a heartwarming breakfast. Have you ever seen dried apricots that are black in color?

When I saw black dried apricots two years ago in Turkey, I had every reason to be suspicious. Were they rotten? Were they even edible? It was only later that I found out dried apricots will take on a dark brown/black appearance if they are unsulphured. The vibrant golden-hued dried apricots that you and I are so familiar with are treated with sulphur dioxide, an anti-oxidant, to protect their color and flavour. However while the unsulphured ones are better in the sense that it is preservative-free, I do wonder if it means that the vitamins (e.g. vitamin A) are more prone to degradation. But when it comes to taste, unsulphured dried apricots triumphs. I love their deep, caramel flavour, and find that they taste much sweeter and have better texture too.

I digress.

Fantastic no. 2

After breakfast I embarked on my sound recording project. I left the house super early at 6+ AM just so I could record the sounds of birdsongs as dawn broke over Fort Canning Park. Needless to say the park was deserted at that hour and I couldn’t help thinking if there were spirits roaming about, given that it is a WWII relic. The leisurely walk was more enjoyable when the sun was up and real human figures were walking about.

Fantastic no. 3

I finally approached my Prof for a recommendation letter and he agreed! I have been procrastinating this task for eons.

Fantastic no. 4

Then I earned $5 for participating in a 30 min survey on forensic attitudes.

Managed to settle all my bank statements. Uhh nothing really fantastic but it feels great to get all such finances-stuff out of the way  

However recently lots of questions and doubts about so many things have been circulating in my mind and I find myself returning to Him and His words. My friend J has asked me a couple of times to join her (Catholic) cell group and I see this as God calling out to me. I finally agreed. I joined them for the first time last week and then today again.

I forgot how wonderful it feels to belong to a group, to experience strong bonds of fellowship, and to interact with people. Of course being a newbie in the group I haven’t really felt a sense of belonging to the group, but the prevailing community spirit was palpable, not to mention the people were very friendly and welcoming It dawned on me how deeply insular my life has regressed to. For too long I’ve been languishing in limbo, breathing but not living,  existing but not growing. Seeing and hearing people share openly about their experiences, ups and downs has opened my eyes – there’s so many awesome things yet to experience, so many opportunities to grab, so many possibilities in life. Is this God calling me closer?

To end off, I would like to share some inspiration on how to make everyday worth living (taken from a magazine):

D is for Dare

Dare to be wise- begin! He who postpones the hour is like one waiting for the river to run out before trying to cross it. What you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

N is for Now

The next time you see the hold button flashing on your life, remember two simple rules: (1) Begin at once to live; (2) Never postpone joy.

Y is for You

Never put yourself down – or let yourself be put down by anyone else’s putdown!

Hope you find it as motivational as I do! A few random updates:

I cleared my last driving lesson yesterday and my traffic police test is on 10th March. I’m so excited at finally getting a license! I cross my fingers that my legs won’t go all jelly from the nervousness on the test day.

I was munching on a Clif Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch bar as I was typing. I intended to have half of it only but the entire bar was chomped down instead. It was more peanut than chocolate and didn’t taste excessively sweet (although the first ingredient is brown rice syrup and there’s 21g of sugars!). No shame in late night munching. Best of all, this bar was given to me by my sweet sister. She was working at a sports shop that sold Clif bars and had 50% off on them! Her haul included Chocolate Brownie and Chocolate Chip flavors too. Score!

Perhaps why I love this film so much is because I am able to connect with Nina’s perfectionist streak.

Leroy: All that discipline for what?

Nina: I just want to be perfect.

Leroy: What?

Nina: I want to be perfect.

Leroy: Perfection is not just about control. It’s also about letting go. Surprise yourself so you can surprise the audience. Transcendence! Very few have it in them.

It is a paradox that in order for Nina to attain perfection, or to embody the Black Swan, she give up the technique and “let herself go”. Her obsession with perfection led to rigidness, creating a less “perfect” performance. In contrast, true perfection can only come through the danger of spontaneity. I could definitely take some advice from this film.

Although there are a myriad of other themes too – passion, mother/daughter relationships, self-surrender, and even got critiqued for promoting eating disorders, (Portman was required to lose 20 lbs for the film!) none struck me as deeply as the one discussed above. In short, this is one film that really lingers on your mind after you step out of the cinema hall. A solid film without the modern day fancy-schamncy 3D-effects and technological animations and highly recommended.

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On a side note, a super sumptuous Jai Ho! wrap from Salad Stop for lunch yesterday.

The name of the wrap is actually adapted from the lyrics of a song from Slumdog Millionaire. Translating to “Victory to You,” this Indian-style potato wrap (I chose spinach) was stuffed silly with chopped mixed greens, boiled potatoes, capsicums, cucumbers, chickpeas, cherry tomatoes, tandoori chicken and Indian spiced yogurt dressing. I loved the spicy kick from the capsicums and tandoori chicken.

And so I made use of the time to give my blog a revamp! I chose a new layout, cleaned up the link list and changed the header (still in progress). Hopefully a new layout will spur me to blog more often, if time permits!

This morning I made myself a bagel bread pudding.

Check out those hunks of bread (pun intended)!

Topped with a mandatory dollop of Smooth Operator peanut butter, this was one spongy, custardy, carby-licious breakfast.

The best way to counteract the rainy weather. I just wish I had the time to do this every morning.

Anyway, the point of this is that today I set out to do my first assignment.

Listen to the environment for 15 minutes or longer, but for a predetermined time length.
Choose a place to listen other than your room.
Use a timer, clock or any adequate method to define this time length.
Describe in detail the sounds you hear (heard) and how you feel (felt) about them.
Include internal as well as external sounds.
You are part of the environment.
Explore the limits of audibility:    (highest, lowest, loudest, softest, simplest, most complex, nearest, most distant, longest, shortest sound).

I had a hard time deciding where I should situate myself. With the Chinese New Year festivities looming, I thought Chinatown would be a good place to capture the city’s buzz. And so I made my way down – which was really a bad choice. I didn’t know that there was a road closure due to CNY celebrations and so the bus went a detour around Chinatown, which left me stranded at Outram. Then I had to battle the crowd – auties, uncles, young children, old grannies, tourists. The rain only exacerbated the situation by making the ground wet and squishy. I was so distressed I couldn’t pay attention to the noise/sounds around me.

It is ironic that eventually I went back to United Square at Novena and just sat in Starbucks. Surprisingly you can make out a lot of noises and sounds at different levels: sound sources like the music played in the background; human activity like walking, footsteps and talking; mechanical sources like the espresso machines and milk steamer machine. I shall save the detailed descriptions of these sounds for my actual paper

Before I settled at Starbucks, I bought a packet of black sesame paste soup from Mei Hong Yuan at Chinatown. Since I had traveled all the way there already, it would be such a wasted trip if I did not pop by this Chinese dessert shop famous for their peanut/almond/sesame soups as well as shaved ice. I just had a couple of spoonfuls of it and it’s so thick and creamy! Think black sesame tahini in soup form. There is some leftovers and I plan to use it for tomorrow’s breakfast by layering it with oatmeal to form a black sesame oatmeal parfait!

Back to my assignment! Open your ears today to your soundscape and you will discover a treasure trove of sounds!

I don’t mean to post so soon again but …

A risotto prepared without wine can be just as good as, if not better, than usual!

This morning I carried out my experiment. I used a diluted apple cider solution (3tbsp water + 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar) as an acidic starter to replace the wine, and soy milk as the  ”stock.” I also added some chopped ginger for flavour. Towards the end I stirred in some chopped Bosc pears, as well as the usual seasonings – cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract, chia seeds, LSA mix and a drizzle of Artisana’s AB. Usually I’m not a fan of rice for breakfast, but this one was superbly creamy such that I would make an exception. I got those Bosc pears at a steal ($0.40) because they were discounted for clearance! The delicate sweetness and creamy flesh makes Bosc pears one of my favorite type of pears.

So, this is great news for non-alcoholic people out there – you don’t have to be deprived of risotto!