Embrace love and life.

At 2.45am in the morning, after getting all blurry eyed over Stats, my tummy is craving for.....


STEAMED BROCCOLI and hummus?! I have the strangest cravings during the exam period man.

Some other random foodie facts-

1)
 
(recipe for grilled eggplant stack can be found here: http://brookes-bearnecessities.blogspot.com/2007/06/grilled-eggplant-stack.html. I sub the zucchini with cucumbers and skip the goat's cheese. Still, it's so yummy!)

I love eating and cooking eggplants. Especially when they're brushed lightly with olive oil and grilled. They are really versatile veggies to work with! Except there was once I tried making eggplant soup, and it turned out to taste really funky. Not exactly in a good way.
2) I love garlic. When my maid makes Aglio Olio, I usually chop up 2 more cloves... for myself! And if you didn't know already, garlic is a superfood!

3)

I love raw red and yellow peppers. Sweet!

4)


 I love my grandma's spinach soup. Ok I love veg soup in general. The Soup Spoon and Cedele serve up very comforting ones! I think SMU students are quite lucky because we have good food a stone's throw away, at places like Bencoolen, Waterloo St, Prinsep St, Raffles City etc, only draw-backs are the food sold at Kopitiam in our sch basement sucks and we can never have $2-$3 school meals like our peers in NUS or NTU do.
5) I don't drink coffee. Hardly and by that I mean, once every 2 months?! I'll stick to my green/camomile/forest berry teas anytime. Coffee makes me want to run to the toilet!
6) I wish I can spend my days reading up on recipes, experimenting and cooking for others! Yes like Nigella Lawson and Kylie Kwong. Mmm... Jamie Oliver gets too messy (and his accent is a bit thick) for me sometimes.
7) Eating fresh food makes me happy... duh. I am so lame!

8)


(photo from www.katheats.com. I love that site! She was the one who got me crazy over banana-peanut butter oatmeal for breakfast! And if you haven't tried banana oatmeal- http://www.katheats.com/?page_id=2032, I say you're (and your heart because oatmeal's good for your heart) missing out!)

I prefer a filling sandwich made with creative ingredients over some zhi char chinese rice foodstall (because the food is always oily).

9)

(look at the peppers' riot of colours!)

Sometimes I wish I stayed in a temperate country like Australia just so I can easy (and not to mention cheap) access to the fruits and other fresh produce there! Like strawberries, raspberries, huge crispy mesclun salads. 3 days ago I was at Raffles City MarketPlace and a small punnet of raspberries cost a freaking S$12.90!! What a rip-off.

10)


(am having a really unhealthy cupcake obsession now but you've got to admit those look soooo cute! Esp the ones with white icing!)

I sound like a freaking bunny only eating veg but NEVER put me near chocs and cakes. There and then will I MELT, no pun intended.


I wanted to make a salad today but the veg drawer in my fridges (yes plural- we have 2 fridges. One to store fruits, the other, veg. And in one freezer, it stores all the frozen meat/fish, and for the other, other frozen produce like chive dumplings, frozen peas, frozen prata and what nots.) were empty! :( Only one pathetic orange left but I didn't fill like eating it. BUT!! I'm heading to American Club with Sam after the exams end, for our favourite salad buffet which makes us feel saintly while eating... because following that is a very sinful dessert buffet, in which we will swim several laps to redeem our lack of self-control before tucking in!

Come to think of it, my DAD usually does the wet-marketing, while my MUM, goes to the supermarket. Nowadays, I offer my services to my MUM and help her do the groceries. My DAD is still bugging me to wake up early on Saturdays so he can teach me how to pick the freshest seafood. I used to go to the wet market with him every weekend in Primary School because I would be so fascinated by the pot-bellied uncles hollering their wares, the frozen pink meat of chicken, the bloody red meat of beef (not anymore, it makes me nauseous looking at it although I admit I have failed to be a good vegetarian for the past month, more about that soon), the poking of the fish meat and peering at its eyes to gauge the freshness but after ONE incident in which some ah-soh stepped on my slippers and I slipped and landed on my bum on the gross, wet market floor, I've sworn off from entering wet markets when it is full of jostling aunties (I still like going to wet markets, like the Tekka Mall one, because you can get very good and cheap spices from there!)

Managed to sneak in a 10k run today because I was bored sick of mugging but my time's so off (85 mins!). I stopped so much! >:( Stamina's down; am determined to get revved up again after the exams. Tallie and I have decided to take part in this year's Shape Run, our very first. I heard the freebies are quite good? Haha!

And funny how I am not tired, I think it's because of the run but my leg muscles are feeling a little sore. Still it's time for bed. 2 more days till the start of the exams. I can't wait.



And isn't this the coolest bookshelf ever?! I wished I had one of those, and I can hide out in that little hole and spend my time reading in there! Looks so comfortable to me! Oh no,  can't find the site where I got this pic from! :(

I have to thank my classmate Cassandra for telling me about this video clip.

WARNING: What you are going to see is sick. If you're not ready to see how the meat industry is really like, I suggest you skip this.




This video gives these voiceless creatures a voice. Animals have feelings too. The part where the piglet were squealing with fear, and when the cow was being castrated... I swear, I hear those sounds and I want to cry everytime I am reminded by the inconceivable agony they are going through. At least spare the babies!

You know George Orwell's Animal Farm? Imagine how it is like if animals took over humans and they treated us the way the video presents. As absurd as it sounds, the point is no living thing should have to withstand and undergo such torture.

I have been eating meat since I knew how to chew, and that knowledge makes me feel sick in my gut. I have been so ignorant all along, and I simply cannot bring myself to endose such inhumane acts anymore.

Even if you don't convert to becoming a vegetarian (and there are varying degrees, being totally vegan is one extreme), at least this cause you to want to consume less, because awareness has been increased. The video is not propaganda. Ok, perhaps it is slightly extreme, designed to shock and initiate change to get the point across. (Even if they are not tortured like this, they still end up at the slaughter-houses, the supermarkets, your plate and into your stomach.) So you do your own research on going vegetarian, and know your reasons. Then, make the personal choice of change.

If you want to come from an self-absorbed point of view, are you positively sure that your body benefits from consuming those sick creatures, with pus-filled eyelids and gruesome artifical hormones injected into their bodies?

It's not too difficult to go veg, since there are many subsitutes for meat in the mass market today. You will come to realise that meat is not necessary. It is an acquired taste. I admit, there are people there who choose to blatantly ignore the fact that animals are not meant to satisfy their carnivorous ways.

And for those who say its natural to eat meat - that's fine, but it's not natural to grow up in confined, tortured, mutilated conditions. Spend a little more on organic meat, knowing that you can enjoy it with a cleaner conscience.

'The beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters, and all automobile accidents combined. If beef is your idea of "real food for real people" you'd better live real close to a real good hospital.' ~Neal Barnard, M.D.

More videos:

Vegetarian Video.


Reasons why you should be a vegetarian.


Animal Rights. (VERY GRAPHIC)