Marmite Mania

I've never really been a fan or marmite. I would never have bought it if not for Chuan's incessant claim that it's a good addon ingredient for Bak Kut Teh (he was right, btw), and I still wouldn't eat it as a spread for bread.

(though the fact that it's a by-product of the beer brewing process does it make sound more appealing)

I have, however, grown quite fond of it as a cooking ingredient. I've used up the small bottle that Chuan bought, and will probably get more the next time I go shopping.

Here are results of recent marmite-laced endeavours.

---

Marmite beans with Chilly and Bacon


Fried the fine beans with a generous portion of bacon, shallots and chopped chillies. (The beans take a while to cook, so it helps if you pre-cook it in the microwave for about 1-2 minutes).

When almost done, a mixture of marmite, honey, sesame seed oil, and soya sauce is added, mixed well, and served immediately.

Would go really well with rice, but I had some left over fries (chips, as they call it here) to get rid of.

---

Baked Marmite Chicken

Marinated some thin chicken breasts steaks with:
* Worchestershire sauce
* Marmite
* Oyster sauce
* Soya sauce
* Honey
* Chopped garlic
* Finely sliced chilly
* fresh groud black pepper

Let it sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours.


They are then placed in a baking tray lined with olive oil. Sprinkled some mediteranean herbs.

(Can't recall adding the chopped shallots, but the picture shows I did. Hehehe)


Into the oven for 35 minutes.

Dinner is served!


It doesn't look too great in the photo, but the chicken actually turn out nice and brown, with caramelised marmite and honey around the edges.

Chocolate Chilly Salmon

One, two, three, four, five
Once I caught a fish alive
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten
Then I let him go again

"Why did you let him go?"
"Because it bit my finger so"
"Which finger did it bite?"
"This little finger on the right"

That damn kiddie song has been playing in my mind for the last two days! It's driving me crazy... grrrr!!

OK, so I have been having fish for dinner two days straight, salmon to be exact, but why the song???!!

---

For the first fish dish, I was feeling kinda brain dead so I stuck with the good ol' cannot-fail-one Pan Grilled Salmon.

Prepared a simple salad as a side dish: some Rocket salad, Plum tomatoes (wanted Cherry tomatoes, but couldn't get any), Olive oil, crumbled feta cheese, and ground pepper.

Next, pan fried the salmon: seasoned with salt and black pepper. Oil on the fish, not on the pan,.. placed the fish on the pan presentation side down first. Ideally, it should only be turned only once, so timing and heat control are important.

Served with some Hollandaise sauce (can get it in packet form. Just cook with milk and butter).

---

Preparation of the next dish was when things took an interesting turn.

Note to self: when talking to self, "why not?" is a dangerous response.

It started off in a normal fashion - my mind was still confounded by work, and so I let my subconscious take over the cooking.

"Ahh... fish! It needs a boat!"
"wait... fishes don't go on boats"
"Aiya.. don't care lah. Ready liao."

The foil was lined with olive oil just in case the salmon decided bond itself to it.

Seasoned the salmon with some sesame seed oil, salt, and fresh ground pepper.

"Take photo first. OK, set! Over preheated liao. In you go fishie..."
"wait.. too plain lah! Paiseh to put on blog."

(btw, yes, I do talk to myself like that, especially when I'm short of sleep or high on caffein :p)

"hmmm... add some onions/garlic?"
"Why not? and some italian herbs too"



"Yup. look better now. OK, into the oven!"

... and this was when sanity left the building.

"Wait! Let's put some honey!"
"sure, why not"

"eii.. I think I put too much. Need to balance out the sweetness."
"Make it creamier?"
"Mayonaise?"
"why not?"

"Still looks a little plain lah"
"Some fine beans, for colour?"
"ok"
"Crushed chilli?"
"yes!"

"err.. heheheh... chocolate????"
"Why Not?!"


Into the oven for 35 minutes, and Chocolate Chilly Salmon was born :)



I expected it to taste funny, but it surprisingly didn't. The honey and chilly complemented the salmon very well, while the mild flavour and bitterness of the chocolate only came up in the after-taste.

Yes, I liked it. Will probably try it again in the future.

"perhaps with some beer and tomatoes?"
"sure, why not?"

Old Man Bites Tenderly

More crazy japanese vids. I still can't stop laughing. Heheh..

gaki no tsukai @ "Silent Library 3"

What is Net Neutrality? Why?

Follow up on No Food Blogs day.

Here's a video that explains why discrimination on the Internet is a problem, and how it will continue to be as long as net neutrality rules are not enforced.


... and here's a brief video report on the groups for and against network neutrality, and how it can affect you.


How can you help?

Awesome Asparagus

It has come to my attention that Asparagus does wonders to your wee.

Is that good news or bad? Hmm.. I can't really tell. I have to admit that I haven't had much asparagus to date, and I can't recall if I liked them or not.

Only one way to find out :)

---

I've no idea how to cook asparagus. I don't even know which portions are the edible ones. Since they're pretty pricey, I just assumed that everything short of the packaging can be eaten. Waste not, want not :)

After googling around for ideas, I decided on a simple and decent recipe. So simple, even Bubbles couldn't botch it.

The asparagus were cleaned, cut, and arranged on a tin foil.

Sauteed some bacon and chopped garlic in olive oil and butter...

... and coated the mix equally over the asparagus.

Pop them into the a preheated oven (200^oC) for 15 minutes, and it's done!

Served with some Chicken Kiev to form a balanced and hearty meal.

---

So now, do I like asparagus? Yes I do.

Did it make my pee Awesome? I don't know. I've had asparagus for two consequtive meals, yet visits to my bathroom have still remained pleasant and odour free. Perhaps it's the cold weather.

Yes, weather. Supposedly, pee doesn't smell bad when it's cold. One of the reasons why busy pubs often fill their urinals with ice.

From wikipedia:
Some establishments, often bars, pubs or nightclubs, fill their urinals with ice cubes during peak hours. As the ice melts it serves to slowly flush the urinal, and also cools the urine to prevent smells from rising during use. The ice may also provide entertainment to patrons as they urinate.

I like the part about "entertaining the patrons". Heheh.. What can I say, trips to public loos are often fun, and sometimes complicated for the uninitiated (I aced this test, btw).

And for some dodgy links:
* Does it make sense to install Female Urinals?
* "The best place to piss away your time on the Internet"^TM (warning: some may find this gross)


We aim to please. You aim too, PLEASE!

No Food Blogs Day, May 16 2006

Big boys in US wanna bully the small fries. Ciken!

I'm so pissed I don't even want to write about it ... so, copy-pasting from others. :p (ok, i'm just lazy)

~ Blindly copied from Food Blog S'cool ~

Have you heard? The democracy of the internet is being threatened. I hadn't even realized that it was possible to threaten the very foundation of this place we use so freely, until I heard about what's going on in the US Congress right now.

Big service providers -or the Pipes as called in the Telecom jargon- such as AT&T, Comcast, and others, are lobbying Congress and the Senate to allow them to create two tiers internet, essentially a fast and slow one. The fast one will be used by companies who are willing to pay for the über speed, while the rest of the little guys can move at a snail's pace on the slow lane.

~ ciplaked from Masak-masak ~

What can you do to help?:
If you're a non USA resident, put this plea put in your blog or write about it so your USA resident readers can read about it and contact their Senator or Congressperson to voice their concerns. You can also sign the online petition at SavetheInternet.com to support Net neutrality and ask your readers to sign it.

If you're a USA resident, contact your local Senator or representative by writing or contacting them to protest against this action.

So, what are you waiting for? Go Save The Internet!

Mountain Patrol

“If you paint in your mind a picture of bright and happy expectations, you put yourself into a condition conducive to your goal.” ~ Norman Vincent Peale ~

Since my secondary school days, crouching at the desk in the library/room in preparation for exams never was my thing. I've always opted for more radical locations - PCB, seminar room in a Hotel my friend's mom manages, Cafes (Starbucks in IOI Mall Puchong was pretty decent), Hospital foyers, etc.

For the recent (and 'lastest') exams, my study location of choice was Holyrood Park. More often than not, you'd find me on the peak of Arthur's Seat (middle of panaromic pic above) or Salisbury's Crags, mugging away a few hours of my life.

The view from above was spectacular - overseeing the city of edinburgh, numerous lakes and golf courses, the sea, and the highlands some distance away.

Here are some photos I took with my dinky ol' camera phone (resampled, resize, and enhanced):

One of my fav study spots on Salisbury's Crags.

My shadow saying "Hi" to you.

... and other randon shots

---

Another (panaromic) view from the peak of Arthur's Seat. The bulge of land in the middle of the pic is Salisbury's Crags, and the bulge person on the right is Yeng Yee.

Yeng Yee and Chuan dropped by Edinburgh for a visit a week before my exams. It was great fun - good food, good beer, good company. The day before going up the hill, we spent the whole night designing planes using cardboard boxes.

The mission: launch the planes from the peak of Arthur's Seat. Have it fly as far as possible.
The results: hehehehe.. plane couldn't fly, so we played baseball with it.

I took several unplanned video clips, which maestro chuan later spliced into the trailer of Mountain Patrol.


We now call Arthur's Seat 打飞机的山. *cheeky grin*

Exam food, final roundup.

Exams have been over for close to a week now, but I'm still yet to go grocery shopping and do some proper cooking. I guess I've been too busy catching up on sleep, and mourning over my camera :p

Anyway, here's the final listing of what's been sustaining me for the last two weeks. This will probably be my last post with decent photos. Subsequent entries will have to rely on shabby snapshots for my ailing Nokia 6600.

---

Spicy Chicken Vindaloo, cooked using a commercial spice pack. Just add chicken, oil, tomatoes, onions, water, and lots of chilli ;)

Lasted for a good four meals.

Beef Curry, thanks to Brahims. Another four meals settled.

Attempted Marmite chicken several times, and learnt that I shouldn't stinge on the marmite and honey. The most recent version I made was pretty decent.

Fine beans with mince meat and red pepper, fried with belacan (shrimp paste) and sweet soya sauce. I cooked enough for two meals, but it went so well with steaming hot rice that I cleared it in one sitting :p

And when laziness crept in, I usually resort to microwaving my vege. Just garnish generously with salt and pepper, some butter, and microwave for three minutes.

Makes a good side dish.

Toasted muffins with lettuce, cucumber, beef burger and bacon. Sometimes, I add in a fried egg as well. Beats BurgerKing/McD's anytime!

... and finally.

Countless pasta meals. With all sorts of ingredients (and leftovers) thrown in. This particular one was with beef burger, red pepper, and lots of ground black pepper.


Ok. That's it for exam food. Proper meals coming up soon (I hope..)

Evolution of Dance

Judson Laipply sums up the evolution of dance moves in 6 minutes. Hilarious!

Where is my rainbow?

First
Fib
The storm,
came and gone.
Where is my rainbow
To lead me to my pot of gold

---

Good News: Exams are over!

Bad News: My camera is DEAD!


Ciken.


[edit]btw, exams went well. Thanks for all your good wishes.[/edit]

I am a nerd

One more week of exams to go. Soon I'll be free. Soon. Wheeee!!!