Whoaaa

Ahem. Hi.

It's been a pretty long time since I have written anything actually. Unless you count my brief captions on Instagram and Facebook and that one Yelp review I posted.

To address my online absence, here are some FAQs I am sure you are dying to know because I think I am that important:

Q: Where the hell have you been?
A: Well, still here in sunny Singapore. I have graduated and am adulting...at least trying to. (I just paid these things called..taxes or something? It was like a lot of money.)

Q: Do you still cook/bake or have you sold your soul to the corporate working world? 
A: I do not have a soul so there isn't really anything to sell but yeah, I still cook and bake time to time.

Q: Are you still a fat ass? 
A: Yes, of course I am but I would like to say lesser of a fat ass? Had a check up with a doctor few years ago and the convo went a bit like this:

Doc: You are almost obese. You need to lose 10 kilos. Here ar-
Me: What? That's fat shaming!
Doc: No, real-
Me: I love my body and will not accept this, Doctor!
Doc: That's great but you really nee-
Me: *grabs her collar* I. Love. Food.

Okay - I exaggerate but I am currently trying to lead a healthier lifestyle. I exercise now and then and even...*whispers* like it. I think it's part of this adulting thing? It's terrifying. Did I also mention that I am turning 27 soon and feel like I am about to have a break down every morning I wake up before heading to work? No? Well, now you know.

Now that you are caught up on my glamorous life, let's get back to the main purpose of this blog which is for me to talk about food AND, wait for it...TRAVEL. Yes, that's right folks, I might re-vamp this blog and put random black and white pictures of planes, nature and buildings to give off that 'oh-my-god-i-am-travelling-be-jealous-but-i-am-so-broke-when-will-i-save' sort of feeling to you, as the reader. We shall see!

ANYWAYS - here are a few pictures of my travels:

1) Melbourne, Australia, December 2015

This was near 12 Apostles. We rode on a helicopter!! It was pretty epic.

I mean it's not Niagara Falls but it was sort of like a hike and it was pretty fun.

Phillips' Island and we saw penguins after this!!

Melbourne was a pretty awesome experience with my sister and mom. Though Melbourne was pms-ing like crazy in terms of its weather, I would definitely visit this place again. I would post pictures of the food I had in Melbourne but it was mainly kebab and gelato. Not very picturesque foods, I must say.

2) Siem Reap, Cambodia, March 2016

We had to leave our hotel at 4 AM for this. It was crowded and hot. Was it worth it ? Definitely. Would I do it again? Hell nawww.

Oh hey - just sitting on some ruins of a temple. 

The famous Tomb Raider temple. I don't think anyone cares for its actual name. The point is Angelina Jolie was here at this very temple shooting for Tomb Raider and adopting kids.

The freshest mango I have ever had. Our lovely, totally not creepy driver who may/may not have fallen in love with me *ahem - a story for another time*, bought a few mangoes and placed them in ice while waiting for us! When we were done visiting what seemed like the 7364th temple in Angkor Wat, he gave the mangoes to us and it was a refreshing treat. Did I mention Cambodia was hot? Like so hot and dry.

This was probably the highlight of the trip - ATV bikes! It was da bomb. I saw green rice paddy fields and cows which I had to take photos of...because I am a tourist.

Spending 7 days in Siem Reap was INSANE. Do not do this. 3 days. That is ALL you need. The hotel staff was shocked that we were spending 7 days. They were like "Wow, 7 days? That's great..but why?". It was definitely too long and there were so many temples. SO. MANY. It's a beautiful city no doubt but we could have planned this trip better.

I think I will end the post here and talk more about Chennai and Kochi in a separate post. Those cities were food havens fo sho.

Till then, byeee....

Another Weight Loss Resolution? Really?

Well, December is coming to an end and you know what that means - realising that the resolutions you made at the start of this year are still not fulfilled! Hey, I am not judging you or anything. Hell, I stopped making resolutions for years now so that I won't be disappointed. Trust me, the satisfaction rate is 100%.

However, the most popular resolution is: I am going to lose (insert an impossible number that won't be pulled off unless you drink water everyday) pounds/kilos. Prior to my cynical years, I did such a thing and I did stick with my "healthy regime" for the first 1 month or so. After that, reality set in : I loved food. Don't get me wrong, I am not promoting unhealthy food or encouraging the best form of exercise is to sit and do nothing but thinking of that huge number to lose is cray cray (Yup I said it). As a 24 year old woman, I have had my fair share of diets and exercise regimes. Some worked. Some didn't. Well looking at me now, they mostly didn't. 

Just for laughs, let me tell you a few of the regimes I have tried. 

1) Eat less, move more.

"Well, my arms are doing quite the workout shoving this huge burger into my face - this counts right??"

Yeah...this one did not last long.

2) "Atkins, bitches"

Even when I was 12 years old, I was on a diet. Let's just say, the fat disease found me when my family moved to America. Anyhoo, my second sister and I had numerous, hilarious diets. One of which was "the first one to eat a bag of potato chips or anything unhealthy owes the other person $20". 

During this diet, we would eat healthy crap and no rice. One morning, my sister decided to make us a salad. She chopped some lettuce, cucumbers and effin' raw mushrooms. My mother saw what my second sister was doing and she was laughing her ass off. Who the hell eats RAW mushrooms? And my second sister made me eat it too.  

Sis: "Do you want to lose weight?"

Chubby me: "Yes :( "

Sis: "Then, eat the damn salad."

Of course, I am not sure of the exact words but I was pretty convinced to eat a salad with raw mushrooms. I guess you could attribute it to my 12 year old naivety but this incident made me realise how hungry I still was even after downing a huge bowl of salad.

Anyway, being the weakling I was, I bought a snack size bag of Lay potato chips and paid the 20 bucks to my sister.

Couple of years after that, during the fasting month, my mum and sis wanted to try the no carbs thing again. Like in the morning, before fasting started, we normally would have rice and some side dishes. I thought - hey, why not? I am not 12 years old any more so I did. My mother and sister were fine at the end of the day. I, on the other hand, was counting down the minutes and seconds till I get to put food into my mouth again. Of course, this is not the case for everyone but it was for me. 

To me, rice or any form of grains is essential. I mean I don't eat a lot of it but even eating 1/2 a cup of it reassures me that I DID have food. And you do need to have carbs. I mean, eating a ton of it isn't good but not eating it, isn't good either. 

3) Calorie Counting

This IS the most effective way to lose weight and you know what - if you have lost/gain weight using this method, I salute you because you are pretty awesome to have that amount of discipline. 

To me, keying in every food and drink I consumed into MyFitnessPal mobile application is freakin' insane. Sometimes, I eat unhealthy food because once a month, my uterus takes over my brain and commands me to eat fries and ice cream. Okay, let's be honest, I just do that whenever I want to.

Regardless, I was loyal to my mobile application for a pretty long time until I fell sick and that kind of screwed up everything and it went back to "Shanaaz keyed in for 1 day". Give me a break - I thought you WERE my fitness pal. Pun definitely intended. 

In all seriousness, trying to restrict myself to 1200 to 1400 calories was pretty tough and you know what, I was hoping that after this hell, I would just get to do whatever I want. Then it hit me, holy shit, I have to do this EVERY DAY even AFTER I hit my goal weight. 

Then I got it, it has to be a lifestyle change. Once the diet or whatever is over, you just go back to eating the way you were comfortable with. It's not a permanent solution, for me at least. Right now, I think that is something I am trying out like drinking more water and stuff. It's a slow journey but I am trying to get there. Of course, knowing the calories of what you are consuming is definitely important. Some of the foods that you are eating, you will be surprised how much crap there is in there. For example, a hot fudge sundae from McDonald's is like 500 calories which is almost the calorie intake for 1 ENTIRE MEAL. 

Thus, I conclude here - have a realistic resolution. Better yet, fuck the resolution and do what you want to do because you want to do it and not wait for fucking 1st January 2015. I can already foresee the hashtags: " #2015resolution #365daysofhappiness ". Ugh.

I know this is not a recipe post so no food photos but here is one from the internet: 

 And another:

I'm done.

BYE.

German Chocolate Cake Bars #It'sAmerican

Earlier this year, as I mentioned in my previous posts, I went to good ol' U S of A and I have cooked and baked QUITE a bit. Mostly, I ate a HELL lot more. Hahaha. I am so funny. Nope. Never mind.

Wheeee fireworksssss

For 4th of July, my sister's fiance had this barbeque celebration at his parents' place. I have no idea where it was but there was a lot of corn and cows. You would think after a 2 hour flight and reaching at 11 PM, my sister would have taken pity on me and let me go to sleep when I reached her place. Did she? No. She made me help her marinate the meats for the next day! When you are born the youngest, you are automatically classified as a slave. Trust me. 

Anyway, I wanted to bake something for the bbq and prior to the trip, I did some research on a couple of recipes so that my sister could buy the ingredients before I reached. After a lot of research on recipes and a few Ellen videos, I went with German Chocolate Cake Bars (taken from Six Sisters' Stuff).

Yes yes, "GERMAN chocolate cake? On 4TH OF JULY?! BLASPHEMY!" Well, looks like it is time for me to teach you something. German chocolate cake did NOT originate from Germany. The cake is actually named after Sam German, an AMERICAN chocolate maker who specialised in making dark baking chocolate. So ha! It's totally an American dessert.

This recipe is pretty simple to be honest. Any fool can bake this - I mean I did it! I think the tough thing about baking this in Singapore would be the cost of ingredients and finding them. I mean it is not impossible or anything but being a cheapskate (and you can verify this with anyone in my family), I am not going to pay $7 dollars for a bag of chocolate chips when it is like $2 from Wegmans in 'Murica. But I might spend that $7 because this dessert was effin' amazing.

Ah - the good ol' ingredients picture.

To make this, you would have to first bake the base. It does not have to be thoroughly baked - just for 7 minutes because you are going to bake this again with the filling.

Because I am all about that base..about that base.. (geddit? geddit?)

Then, you pour in the filling after the base has cooled down. The filling was amazing. Condensed milk, for the win *fist pump*. This is probably the first time I added sweetened dessicated coconut into a dessert and good god, it was amazing.

My dear sister looked at the baking dish and saw the pathetic number of chocolate chips so she did this:

Finish the bag of chocolate chips!

When are we going to use dessicated coconut again? Just finish this bag too.

Then, the dish was popped into the oven. After it was done, took it out and cooled it down and poured caramel sauce all over it. 

Please take your time and stare at this

Everyone loved the dessert. Trust me. I know when people are lying when they tell me one of my dishes are good when it actually sucks but I still give it to them because (1) I don't want to eat it, (2) I need a boost in my self-esteem and (3) I want to get rid of them.

Getting into the holiday spirit!

At the end of day, it was a really fun filled day. Being that it is my first time celebrating 4th of July, it was pretty....awesome. We also sat around a campfire and talked about our feelings. No, we didn't. Maybe I did but no one listened. I don't know. Let's not get emotional.

CAMPFIRE! CLICHE MUCH? UH HUH. LOVED IT.

Alright, I am going to stop rambling. 

Toodles!

(P.S: I MADE/GENERATED ALL THESE GIFS!!!)

Uzbekistan - WHY YOU NO LIKE ME?

Why hello there....person!

It has been a long time...my friend.

You can blame school. Yes, that is the excuse I am going to go with at least.

I cooked so much this year! When I mean 'this year', I mean like when I was away from my family in Atlanta, GA and I had to feed myself. It still counts.

BUT (let me just start the sentence with this, k?) I am going to document a recipe that went terribly wrong!

It all started with this article from Buzzfeed: 16 Delicious Uzbek Dishes You Need To Try Immediately. Please pause here and take a look at the amazing list of dishes.

Have you seen it? You have? Okay, please proceed.

OMG ISN'T IT AMAZING?!!! I MEAN DON'T YOU WANT TO JUST EAT ALLL OF IT??? I mean I have not heard much about Uzbekistan. Honestly, I thought it was somewhere near Pakistan because it ended with "-istan" (Yes, insert: #ignorant). It's not.

I present to you Exhibit A:

Well, I was not THAT far off..its's sort of near Pakistan. The red arrow says so!

Okay - I am not going to turn this into a 10 Things You Did Not Know About Uzbekistan so don't worry.

Anyway, getting back to Uzbekistan food - a particular recipe caught my eye: the Dimlama. Damn son, meat and veggies getting it on in a pot?! Ooooh yeaahhh.

I followed this recipe: http://globaltableadventure.com/2013/09/19/recipe-uzbek-layered-stew-dimlama/ and honestly, I think what went wrong with this was  (1) the wrong pot (2) I forgot the existence of salt.

According to the recipe, I should be stewing this for 2 1/2 hours which I did except I burnt all the good meat below. It was like the goat died twice when I made this dish. Thus, you NEED to use like a cast iron pan or just a pot with a heavy base so it does not burn the meat immediately. I guess an alternative would be to either you put the flame very low and to keep checking. I asked my mum to take a look at it and left for school - pshh I ain't got 2 1/2 hours to look at a pot. Actually, I did but I didn't (life - am I right?? Never mind.).

Mmmm...uncooked vegetables...who doesn't like this? (Me)

Another point when making this dish which was also my second mistake: salt every layer.

After you cook the onion and mutton/beef or whatever meat you use as your base with salt and pepper, you have to switch it off and start layering the vegetables. Yes - the recipe did state to salt EVERY layer, but did I? No. Like I said, I am just ignorant!!

The final step is layering is the cabbage which is sort of used like a lid to seal the heat in for the layered vegetables below. You could say that this dish is like cooking 'dum briyani'. In other words, you do NOT stir the layers. Once the cabbage is on top, you close the lid and just let it cook for 2 1/2 hours. After one hour my mother kept saying "I think it's cooked - are you sure you want to leave it for another hour?" and I was like "Mother - if the Uzbekis left it for 2 1/2 hours - I am going to leave it for 2 1/2 hours - DO NOT QUESTION THEM!!".

If there is one thing I learnt, listen to your mother - especially when it comes to cooking. (Maybe just cooking.)

You see this was my expectation:

Taken from Global Table Adventure

But in reality...

This was BEFORE I pooped this out.

You can understand my mother's frustration when she realised she had to make dinner after stewing this for 2 1/2 hours. It's ALL part of the learning process. That's what I tell myself, at least.

I think I would try this recipe again but without my mother knowing. I do not think she likes Uzbekis any more because of this experience. Or maybe she just doesn't like me. Who knows! The dish itself is good - it has that homely feel to it, if you do it right, of course :)

Well I am done with my food rant - hopefully I will post a successful cooking/baking attempt the next time! Or not!

Till next time - toodles!

It's been like 8 months? ONLY?? (Quickie)

Whoa. 8 MONTHS.

OMG.

Alright - a lot of things happened in these 8 months!! I went to Atlanta, GA for 10 weeks and had a blast over there. Had to do A LOT of cooking.

So...will definitely update soon!

Here's my favourite comic strip to entertain you guys meanwhile:

(http://thedoghousediaries.com/5875)

See y'all soon!

Mango Cheesecake - Yay or Nay?

Let's face it. I am not good in keeping this blog up to date so much but I am trying my best to - sort of. It's not like I even have fans or something. Then again, I live in my own world so...sorry fans.

Well, the other day I attempted to make a mango cheesecake for a friend's Christmas party. The last time I attempted a cheesecake which involved baking turned out to be cheese cake. In other words, I managed to screw up the science involved in baking and made into a cheese flavoured cake. The texture, taste and everything was off with the cake. Since then, I decided to stick with no-bake because the texture is more spot on for me. Not everyone has the stroke of luck with cheesecake like my sister (aka the Baking Goddess) but I still try. I must say, cheesecake might be my next red velvet project but the one thing that is pulling me from doing this, is the cost of a cream cheese block. IT'S INSANE. $5-$6 for 250g of Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Yes yes, I know I can get the alternative but they are definitely not close to Philadelphia's.

Anyway, moving onto the recipe. This was inspired by: http://www.everyrecipe.com.au/click/index/5153430/?site=i-lostinausten.blogspot.com

Before I review this recipe, I have not had mango cheesecake before and if the taste is suppose to be as such, I am not a fan. I guess if I had topped a good ol' New York cheesecake with some mango couli, it might have tasted better. Who knows?

Back to the recipe, I followed everything to its precise measurements. I used a 9 inch spring form pan for this recipe. Here are the pictures:

Le Ingreidents

Made another one to taste for my family

Pureed some mangoes - I have no idea the name of the mangoes. Thai? Indian? I don't know I used the ones that were growing on my aunt's trees.

My Mess

Mango Cream Cheese mixture

Here is the cross section of the cheesecake that I made for my family. Puny,eh?

After I baked it for 25 minutes, I left the cheesecake in the oven for 3 hours (didn't sleep till  3 AM) and then I put it into the fridge

Added some mango couli as a topping onto the mango cheesecake. 

A mistake I made was to add the couli then bring it over to my friend's place. When I reached his place, I opened the cheesecake box and only half of the cheesecake had the couli on. Talk about a smooth cheesecake surface. I should have just brought the couli over to his place and poured it over then. Well, people said they liked it but I can never trust people's opinions. I guess you could score it 5/10. Passable. Certainly not the best - but at least I got the texture right which I am proud of.

Well, here's a belated Merry Christmas AND Happy New Year! I am not going to reflect about 2013 and be all nostalgic because I don't give a crap. 

Happy Holidays, everybody:)

Duncan Hines Red Velvet Mix #CheatBake

Soooo.... how are y'all doin'? 

Yeeeahhh...It has been a while. More like 3 months and 9 days but hey, who's counting? 

Well jokes aside, it was a very hectic semester. I usually bake at least once during the semester but did not get the time to. So, when exams were over, I just had to bake something. My aunt came down to Singapore about 2 months ago and I asked her to get me a red velvet cupcake mix. I don't know what it is about me and red velvet - I am just so keen to find out more about this not-that-mysterious-over-hyped cake. Yes, I know I can do it from scratch and it does taste better but I am lazy time to time (fine, all the time) and I want to make something with a bit of satisfaction and tiny bit of hard work thus I use cake mix. Don't judge.  

Duncan Hines - Apparently a stranger recommended it to my aunt in the store. Thank you stranger. 

This cake mix is different from many others I have used before. It includes frosting! Well, let me talk about the frosting later. 

Pastry Bag included! 

Okay - this cake mix is crazy bright red. I have made red velvet many times before and I have never been able to get the perfect red that this red velvet cupcake mix does. It's crazy! The moment I added in the water, it was like as if it was the Plague of Blood and Moses dipped his staff into the bowl and turned it into blood. Perhaps that comparison was a tad extreme, but you get my point: It was really red. 

Oil, Eggs and Water - Yup...alot of hardwork...

I thought I should be innovative and change up the recipe a bit. I added these Hershey's Chocolate buttons into the cupcake mix. I know...It's like as if I have learnt how to stop time. 

Pardon the blurriness, getting used to mah new Samsung Galaxy S4 !

Well here are the baked results:

                                    

I have learnt a very important lesson from this cake mix. Never use powdered frosting mix. The cake was not bad - I would say it was moist and fluffy. The frosting, however, was bad. I'd rather make my cream cheese frosting the next time when I am not lazy and have $6 to buy 227g of Philadelphia's Cream Cheese block. Regardless, I still piped the cream cheese frosting and also added some sprinkles for some. 

My dear cousin's 'artistic' piping skills

My other cousin's piping - well, she doesn't know when to let go, clearly. #poopcake

My piping. Sigh. Of course, the picture must turn out blurry. 

SPRINKLESSSS

This brings me to the end of this baking entry.

Apart from my baking entry, what can I say about my life? It has been good. Although I had a pretty hectic semester, it was not so bad (and people say I am not open about my life more! Ha!)

Well adios! Hopefully I will squeeze in a couple more baking/cooking entries before school starts in January 2014.

Good Night(: