going healthy

going healthy, eh?

DIY salad set

I got this from Mustafa (I went on Deepavali- crazy!) at only $4! Quite a steal, if you ask me. A head of butter & lollo rosso lettuce each, a WHOLE japanese cucumber, a handful of cherry tomatoes (at least 6) and a packet of sunflower seeds.

ready-to-eat

I pan fried slices of spiced chicken meatloaf, cut them and toss them into the bed of leaves.

Taiwanese mulberry vinegar

Made vinaigrette of mainly olive oil, mulberry vinegar (which I purchased at the Halal Consumer Expo over the weekend), dry herbs and pepper.

This vinegar tasted pretty good. Slightly sweet and pretty tangy. I bought the jam as well and they can be mixed into some water or milk to be made into a refreshing beverage.

venison - also known as 'DEAR' meat

My mum and I spotted this halal Australian venison and we sneakily hid this in our shopping basket. We have to be pretty careful with meat cos' the 2 men in our home are darn choosy with their food.

These are people who are so used to the clean taste of beef and chicken that any other meat are deemed 'exotic'. Meaning: won't try, won't eat.

My dad got pretty suspicious though and snuck a peek at this package. I hope he didn't understand what 'venison' means and hopefully the word 'DEAR' will mislead him to think of something else...

My mum cooked a pot of stew and another pot of soy-sauce dish out of this. It tasted splendid! We bought the ribs and spine portion and they were soft and lean; fall-off-the-bone and really juicy.

The meat DO look different from regular beef or even mutton. There are some chewy layers and it does smell slightly 'gamey' at parts. Otherwise, they're pretty good. However, my dad did get slightly suspicious. I tell you, he'll know when a meat taste different. But he continued eating anyway.

Even my brother asked, "What meat is this?"when he came upon a funny-looking chunk towards the end of his meal of baguettes with venison stew (yep, he didn't eat that one). I just shrug my shoulders. Heh.

The next day, my mum remarked that the meat gave a better after-effect compared to mutton- which can be pretty 'heaty'. The venison seemed to 'energise' her somewhat. I totally agree.

In the end my mum decided that it'll be the last time that she'll buy 'exotic' stuffs like this. It's just not worth the pressure, withholding the truth from these 2 picky-eaters and hoping they won't know. And worse, should they push aside their plates.

But then again, between the both of us, we know that we're game for more gastronomic adventures. Gonna get ourselves an eel to eat sometime soon! Or maybe pure beef tendons. We looove that!

grilled fish salad

Something that my boss brought back for our lunch. Healthy..? All that mayo..? And this battered fish... 'Grilled'..?Hmph!

Most likely oven-baked if you ask me.

And the 'salad'? Oh, it's just that the piece of fish sat on a bed of shredded lettuce. And the 3 tomato slices on the side.

Yeah. But this dish did cut down my grease intake for that day, somewhat. So there.

green tea & red bean gelato

Sometimes I think that I may have gone a step too far with my fondness for the colour green. When it comes to food that is.

I hung around the gelato display, STILL wondering what flavour to have; despite the fact that my bro & cousin were already licking on their tarfuto & mango gelatos respectively. I eventually saw the green sludge and asked for a taste. I widened my eyes in excitement.

I then ask the 2 guys, "You won't mind if I don't share, right??" And proceed to order that flavour (finally!).

Later on, I let my bro have a taste, giving him the side with red beans studded all over. And yet, he insisted on the side with only the green tea flavour.

You should have seen the look on his face when the flavour finally come bursting on his tongue after the numbness of the cold dissipate. That look that seemed to say, "WTF??!"

And my cousin Dzul had a taste before my bro could warn him. By the time my bro remarked, "THAT tasted like medicine!!" Dzul already had his tongue tinged green. He then gave that same look.

He soon took a big chunk of his mango ice-cream and my bro went at him in all urgency, "Quick, gimme some of your mango! I need to remove this horrible taste!!"

All became well after they both ate the mango gelato to counter the taste of the green tea. After that, they refused to look at me until I was finally done with my horrid green gelato. I have to admit that it did carry the strong and bitter matcha taste, after all.

But I like!

Hey, one man's medicine is another man's poison! Muahaha!