Lao Ban almond-flavoured soya beancurd

$1.50 for plain tau hway. $2.00 for almond-flavoured tau hway. 

Delicate, fine, silky, slides down your throat. Place a spoonful in your mouth, and it will literally melt / disintegrate on your tongue. I have never really liked tau hway, but place this new kind of silky tau hway in front of me, especially the almond-flavoured one, and I can do three bowls at one go (even though I am Paleo!).

Why do you eat what you eat? (Pt 2)

You may have heard of Terry Wahls, a doctor who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2000. By 2007, she had to use a special tilt-recline wheelchair to get about, and expected to become bedridden. She was taking all the latest drugs, but none of them helped. Later, she changed her diet to: "greens, sulfur-rich, color, grass-fed meat, organ meat and seaweed" (ie. whole, unprocessed foods), and not long after, Dr. Wahls was able to walk around without a cane and even completed an 18-mile bicycle tour.

Tung Lok Seafood Ala Carte Buffet (Dinner)

As my father recently survived a major operation, he wanted to invite our relatives for dinner to celebrate that and to celebrate his birthday in advance. Tung Lok Signatures at The Central serves fantastic food and their service is excellent. However my sister had just held her wedding dinner there last December (pity I did not have a camera then to take pictures of the food). It had been more than a year since I enjoyed Tung Lok Seafood's lunch buffet, so I suggested the venue to my father. After taking a look at the dinner buffet menu, he immediately booked a table for 11.

Sup Kambing from Bahrakath Mutton Soup King, Adam Road Food Centre

"It smells so strong!". That was what my mother said when she poured my sup kambing from Adam Road into a corningware. She has probably never tasted mutton in her life and has no cravings for sheep meet. I do not particularly crave sheep meat either, but like sup tulang, sup kambing is one of the few bone dishes available in Singapore.

Roasted almonds and walnuts with the Philips AirFryer

Before we had the Philips AirFryer, the microwave was our equipment of choice for roasting nuts. With almonds, spread a layer of almonds on a large plate, microwave on high for two minutes, stir them a little and spread them out again, microwave on high for another two minutes, and they were done. We had tried roasting nuts in a non-stick pot, but it required constant stirring and it took a long while for the nuts to roast. Leaving them in our toaster oven usually led to the nuts getting burnt.

Grandma's Restaurant

Before late 2010, Grandma's Restaurant had never really been on my family's radar. The reason was that our go-to place for Indonesian or spicy food was Tambuah Mas at Tanglin Shopping Centre. What made my family try Grandma's in December 2010 was a disappointing experience at Tambuah Mas. Since then, Grandma's has overtaken Tambuah Mas as the place to have Indo-type spicy food.

Why do you eat what you eat? (Pt 1)

Throughout my Paleo years, I have frequently been asked why I eat the food I eat. There have also been some times when people have seen my packed lunches of, eg., a piece of pork chop on top of a bed of baby spinach and tomatoes, and have remarked that "oh it looks so healthy", and then they go on to eat their fast food for lunch.

Jarrow Formulas' Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

Since 2007, I have been using coconut oil in most of my cooking. It was easy in Australia to find both extra virgin and expeller-pressed coconut oil at cheap prices. But in Singapore it has been more challenging. NTUC Fairprice Finest used to stock one or two brands of extra virgin coconut oil in its health food section, but has stopped for about a year. I have not seen coconut oil in Cold Storage either. The organic shops in Singapore usually carry one or two brands of coconut oil, but of the extra virgin variety and at twice as much as it costs in the US. 

Home-cooked dinner: Selar fish, eggs, watercress, ikan bilis

Pictures of another typical dinner my mother might cook. That night we had selar fish pan-fried with my mother's blend of chilli, garlic and caramelised shallots. Spicy!

Popcorn

 Bowls of fresh microwave popped popcorn

My mother never much of a popcorn fan until she had Garrett Popcorn's Caramelcrisp popcorn in Chicago. When she returned to Singapore and Garett popcorn opened some shops, she bought a bag for herself, and has since gone through 3 small bags.

Home Gym Set-up

When I tell people that I work-out from home, I usually get quizzical expressions and questions like whether I jog around my home and whether I do yoga with an exercise ball. Jogging around my home is.... okay a valid question. But "yoga" or "exercise ball" makes me giggle.

Sup Tulang from Al-Noor Biasa, Newton Food Centre

Literally translated, "sup tulang" means "bone soup". Sup tulang is a Tamil Muslim dish consisting mutton or beef bones stewed in a spicy red sauce with their marrow intact. It is a dish that Anthony Bourdain himself has tried and liked.

I like bones, and I like connective tissue. So when we happened to drop into Newton Food Centre to eat, I jumped at the chance to procure some sup tulang for taste testing.

Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut with freshly ground black pepper

Sauerkraut. What comes to mind? A large pork knuckle with crispy skin? A fat juicy bratwurst?

Sauerkraut is commonly used as a condiment, but uhhh... I eat it as a snack too :)

At 22kcal per 100g (1.5g protein, 1.9g carbs, 0.1g fat), this fermented cabbage packs a vitamin C and probiotics punch (possibly 13 species of gut friendly bacteria).

Adams' Natural Peanut Butter

Paleo'ers usually stay away from peanut butter because:

(1) Peanuts are legumes, and not nuts;
(2) Peanuts contain lectins, which are associated with inflammation and digestive diseases in the human body (read this);
(3) Peanuts, both normal and organic, are susceptible to a mold which produces a carcinogenic substance called aflatoxin. High levels of aflatoxins can cause liver cancer (read this).

Home-cooked dinner: Bok choy with garlic and dried shrimp, pan-fried mackeral cutlets with minced chilli, garlic and shallots, salted vegetable pork rib soup

Bok choy stirfried with garlic and dried shrimp.  It is not very often that we see bok choy at the supermarket that is not squished up and/or dried up, so whenever we come across fresh-looking springy ones, we snap it up for dinner.

Indian Chicken Curry from Chinese Swimming Club

One of my favourite Indian chicken curries is from Man Zhu at Chinese Swimming Club. It is one of their best dishes and I pack it to go everytime I swim at the Club.

The coconut curry is very aromatic from the spices used, and tastes thick and rich. It is so good that I drink it straight up with a spoon to savour its complexity. Man Zhu is very generous without the amount of chicken, which is usually tender and well-marinated.

Song Fa Bak Kut Teh

It was 8pm on Thursday, and all the tables at Song Fa were occupied - even the extra ones along the sidewalk. At first it was mostly office workers catching dinner before going home, with a few tourists. Then, gradually, the office workers were replaced by students.

Langsat fruit

Langsat is one of my family's favourite fruit. Its peel is thin and brown and releases white sap when cooked (or even when you are peeling it to get to the fruit). Like the longan, the langsat's sweet milky translucent flesh encases its seed. Unlike the logan, each langsat fruit has many soft seeds which taste really bitter. At the markets, be careful to distinguish the langsat from the variety called "duku", which has a thick skin and flesh that is more sour.

Fish Soup

What's one Paleo snack / meal you can find at most hawker centres and food courts? 

Fish soup!

Semi Home-cooked Dinner

Pan-fried selar fish stuffed with minced chilli and garlic. My mother and I both prefer our fish fried or barbequed over the baking and steaming methods.

Zi Yean Restaurant (with Paleo tips)

Last Sunday, we went to Zi Yean Restaurant for my father's catch-up dinner with his old classmates. Zi Yean Resturant is a little Cantonese restaurant with an adjoining cafe in the Redhill area. According to their website, the restaurant has been around since 1980, and their head chef Mr Fok Wing Tin has had many years' cooking experience in China.