Posted on November 10, 2008 in Food
While I have always enjoyed cooking and loved food, it was never really a big hobby until I moved to London. Now, I think about food, plan meals, and shop for food more than any other activity other than school work. I like to cook at home, and I try to be vigilant in terms of getting the right nutrients especially since I have cut a lot of meat out of my diet since my move. This new feature will be a food diary-cum-recipes/ideas book. I am not good at writing recipes since I just get ideas from friends, family, and the internet, and then adapt. I’ve been tracking my meals so I can get an idea for future meals and things to do with foods and to showcase ideas of food. I usually remember what I have for dinner, sometimes for breakfasts, and lunch I usually buy a sandwich/it’s not made by me. Enjoy.
Monday. November 3, 2008
- Breakfast: Toast. Yogurt.
- Dinner: Pan fried tuna steaks in garlic, ginger, soy sauce, oyster sauce, white pepper, salt, oil, and green/spring onion. For vegetables, I had zucchini/courgettes steam-boiled with a bit of Chinese leaf/nappa too. White rice on side.
- This day also marked a failed attempt at making lemon curd
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
- Breakfast: Probably toast again. I can’t remember what else.
- Dinner: Leftover tuna. I made two steaks and saved the other for this. On the side I had rice (leftover). For veggies, I had the Nappa again, this time steamed with a quartered tomato and celery.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
- Breakfast: Toast? Oatmeal?
- Dinner: Cantonese style steamed chicken. I boiled two pieces of chicken (one for the next day) with ginger, salt, and white pepper for about 1/2 hour. I heated up a store made Chinese stir fry mix (peppers, bamboo, water chestnuts, sprouts) to which I added soy sauce and oil. Rice on the side.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
- Breakfast: I think I had toast and oatmeal (with cinnamon, honey, and raisins added in).
- Dinner: I diced the second piece of chicken and I stir fried it with garlic and cucumbers in oil, pinch of soy sauce, and a tiny bit of the chicken stock from last night. Left over rice on the side.
Friday, November 7, 2008
- Breakfast: Museli cereal with yogurt. Rye bread toast with Green and Blacks organic chocolate hazelnut spread (so much better than nutella).
- I also had time so I boiled an egg for dinner and made edoes. I love edoes which are smaller taros. They are great steamed; I washed them, cut off the bad parts (I bought a bad bag), and boiled them with skin in lightly-salted water for 20 minutes/until tender. Drained the water, cooled, and popped them in the fridge. Later, I can microwave them, peel them, and eat them dipped in soy sauce.
- Dinner: Store bought New Covent Garden Winter Vegetable soup to which I added a quartered hard boiled egg and about 40-50g of couscous. Tip: Couscous can easily be added to soup as a great alternative to pasta and rice. You can get your fibre when eating a hearty vegetable or meat soup or stew. Since I ate this earlier, I also microwaved new potatoes for a few minutes and dipped them in homemade garlic butter (chopped garlic to butter and added s&p).
- In advance, I made a red onion and cucumber salad with garlic, grated ginger, s&p and olive oil (I don’t have white winegar). Chilled in fridge. This type of salad needs to be chilled at least 1/2 hour in advance of serving or up to 24 hours.
Saturday November 8, 2008
- Breakfast: Rye Toast with remaining garlic toast and the red onion/cucumber salad.
- Lunch/Snack: The edoes dipped in soy sauce. I also had an apple.
- Dinner: I went to a friend’s place. She made Jamaican spiced baked chicken.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
- Breakfast/Brunch: Fried egg on rye toast and the remaining edoes.
- Dinner: Whole wheat past and tomato sauce. I used red onions, green/spring onions, celery, dried parsley, and green olives simmer and sautee them til soft. I put in one small fresh tomato (because I have them) and one 100g can of chopped tomatoes with some minced garlic. I simmered it for 5-10 minutes adding chili flakes, pepper, salt, and dried basil to taste. I added some sugar, but it was not enough.
- Baking: I made an apple crisp, my first baking venture in the UK. All my flatmates+guests had tiny portions. It turned out really well. I used one Jonagold, and I bought a big bag of Golden Delicious. I put too much lemon juice, but it was crispy.
This Week in Drinks: Twinnings Earl Grey Decaf, Twinnings Chai, Honeybush Botswana, Whittard’s of Chelsea 70% cocoa, Yakult, and on friday night, 1/2 pint of Leffe beer.
Posted on November 10, 2008 in Movies
Working Girl (01 10 08) – So 80s! I like 80s Harrison Ford; he’s more fun and silly. I think this is one of the only things I’ve seen Melanie Griffth in. Odd. I really needed a girl power movie to inspire me since I can relate to the Tess McGill character somewhat.
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (02 10 08) – This was a bit slow to get into, but there are some fun, Almodvaresque moments. I really liked the gazpacho scene at the end. I saw the dub version sadly, but still an okay film. There is a young Antonio Banderas in this movie who wears big 80s glasses.
Dream for an Insomniac (02 10 08) – A 1996 romantic comedy with Ione Skye, Jennifer Aniston, and Sean Astin’s brother Makenzie Astin. Notable things I learned, Ioane Skye really reminds me of Nicole Kidman. They have the same cheekbones and have similar eyes. I also did not know that she is folk singer Donavon’s daughter; that explains the name. This was an okay rom-com. I liked the cafe, but I do not know if I related to any of the characters at all. Ione’s character was much too intense.
Sisterhood of Traveling Pants (04 10 08) – It could have been worse. I liked the Greek scenery. It’s a bit cute if anything.
The Ipress File (06 10 08) – A spy thriller from the 1970s staring Michael Caine. It’s a tad slow moving, set in London, and has rather deadpan Caine wearing black square glasses. When he isn’t, the director likes shots of his nice eyelashes; did they put mascara on him? Since this is a 70s movie, I am inclined to think yes. Unsurprisingly, Caine is a ladies man, and his impassiveness is rather good. I can’t say it’s shot well or badly, but the director was obviously going for intense, dark spy thriller. It’s just a sloth paced thriller and most of the interesting things happen rather late. It is by no means an excellent or rewatchable film, but I liked it just for Caine’s expressions or lackthereof.
Mamma Mia (18 10 08) – The cast is the only reason to watch it. To be honest, I barely paid attention to this and did other things while it was one. It makes no sense plot wise because of Sophie’s age. Amanda Seyfried is cute in it. It isn’t bad, but that much ABBA after awhile can be irksome.
Total: 6
Rewatched Movies:
Paris Je T’aime (02 10 08) – I showed this a friend of mine who hadn’t seen it. We rewatched all but two of the vignettes. I find that most of the ones I liked initially I continued to like. The others did not grow on me. It’s still a good anthology.