Whole 30: Rebooting Dietary Habits

Overeating can be a big problem, according to this video, we apparently have not sufficiently evolved to override our prehistoric nature of wanting foods that are high in fat and sugar (calories).

"If this hunger regulation system is in place, why can't we say no to that piece of cake or to a second helping of dessert?"

Why not? Just say, "No"
It's all about practice and will power. I think society has become too soft. Studies today reach back to blame our cavemen instincts. Yo, our prehistoric cavemen ancestors also had predatory instincts, we hunt and kill each other. We've evolved to be more restrained and civilized than ever. Why can we then curb our carnal and predatory instincts but not how we eat? I call foul.

It's time to take some responsibility and start acting to fix the problem. Reboot your system and reboot it often. Some cultures encourage fasting, some people do health detox, caloric restriction, do it for a period of time to reboot your system.

I've personally only done Ramadan fasting as my reboot. I've not tried other diets but someone convinced me to do Whole 30 nutritional program with her, so I'm doing it. I'm only on day two, and it's not fun but I'm trying to channel my Ramadan will power to get over it.

Pineapple Tarts: A Family Legacy

When grandma 'Tok Ha' passed away in January 2010, the first thing that came to my mind, after the initial shock and grief was:

"I have NO idea how to make pineapple tarts. Panic mode!"

This was a genuine family tragedy, one that we continued to fret and freak out about in the coming months after her passing because how were we going to cope celebrating Raya/Eid without Tok Ha's pineapple tarts???!!!

The first Raya without (homemade) pineapple tarts came and went.

Missing pineapple tarts was our way of saying we miss our grandparents Tok Ha and Tok Wi. Both of them had worked as cooks at some point. I remember them working in the kitchen together, they're like machines.

When it comes to Raya/Eid, I have memories of spending school holidays with them, churning out hundreds and hundreds of these wonderful pineapple tarts. None of them were for sale. They were all for family. She bakes these and rationed them amongst her sons and their families, the grandchildren. Our families hoarded Tok Ha's precious pineapple tarts in reserve jars for family consumption only. It was our yearly ration. The ones we put out for house guests were almost always store-bought pineapple tarts.

My first year in college in the US, my dad mailed 50 tarts. I licked every crumb.

Clearly these tarts are a big deal to the family and now we're all freaking out because grandma is gone and so is her RECIPE!

A general note on Malay cuisine: Malay cooking requires a lot of eyeballing

So unless you were paying close attention to everything (color, smell, texture, sound), recipes only count for 20-30% towards your success!

Between 2008 and the present we've been piecing together the recipe but it wasn't until this year that I said, 'fuck it, I'm not going to sit around and mope in a despondent fashion... I'm making some pineapple tarts dammit!'

Grandma's recipe isn't very helpful but I'll post it anyway and I'll post my version at the end

Tok Ha's Surviving Pineapple Tart Recipe:
Pineapple Jam:
Shred pineapple with a grater
Remove 1/4 to 1/2 of the juice
Cook over slow heat until reduced and thickened
Stir in sugar until good (Tok Ha does not measure... just eyeball it)
Dough:
2 (small) blocks of butter (about 250 grams each)
1 kg flour (wtf?)
2 eggs
1 tsp or tablespoon of sweetened condensed milk (up to you)
With softened butter at room temperature, add condensed milk and eggs and blend well. Stir in a little flour at a time and knead until you reach the right consistency.

What I DID:

Pineapple Jam:

2 medium sized pineapples

2 cups of sugar (400 grams)

1 stick of cinammon

2 cloves

Cut pineapples and DO NOT REMOVE THE CORE. You need the fiber more than the juice for this jam. If you have a juicer, use the juicer and save the 'pulp'. If you put in a blender, you have to cook it longer or try to strain out and discard some of the liquid. Otherwise you will be cooking for HOURS like I did.

To save time, use a pan with a large area so that the liquid can reduce faster. Cook the pineapple with cinammon and cloves over low to medium heat until you see it bubbling and getting thicker and mushy like oatmeal. Don't stir so much during this time, it's pointless. Once 80% of liquid is gone, go ahead and add the sugar and stir over low heat until you get the desired color. The amount of sugar is approximate. Use more/less as desired.

Keep in mind that once you turn off the heat, the jam will continue to cook and caramelize so don't overcook until it's completely dry. Turn off the heat, wait for it to cool down, check the texture. You can always heat it again to cook more but once it's overcooked you can't add more water or juice because you'll ruin the sugar structure and caramelization process.

Dough (very similar to Tok Ha's)
250gm butter (salted)
75gm caster sugar
170gm cream (full whipping cream)
3 egg yolks plus one yolk for glazing
400gm cake flour
30gm corn starch

1. Cream butter and sugar together.
2. When it comes together, pour in cream and whip on medium speed
3. Beat in egg yolks for 1 minute.
4. Sift both flours and pour half of it into buttery mixture. Mix on low speed until it comes together and pour in the remaining flour and beat until it comes together. Do not over mix.
5. Let dough sit for 10 minutes minimum before you start wrapping jam
6. Bake at 180-200°C for 20-25 minutes. Dough is better undercooked than overcooked.

For super traditional, Tok Ha's tarts were open faced tarts. I was already struggling making these so I could not make proper open faced tarts.

Enclosed tarts

Buruk tapi sedap je

Final product

Time Tracking Study Hours

Tabs to keep myself honest

I have to re-take my PE (Professional Engineering) exam, in October. My honest assessment is that I had not been serious enough in putting in the hours. I went out dancing a lot. I procrastinated till the last 4-5 weeks. Bottom line, I didn't get enough studying done.

I thought that visualizing how much time I spend on each activity that is important to me will put things into perspective.

Tracking:

• PE study time
• Couch to 5K running program
• Dancing
• Ukulele

I still need 'play' time because it keeps me happy and creative. I just can't overdo it. So I'm keeping tabs to make sure my play time is still under my serious time.

Giving Up:

• Spanish
• Cantonese
• Partying
• Coursera, Udacity, other random e-Learning projects
• Motorcycle trips
• Traveling

I don't have TV time because I don't watch or miss TV.
I might need to add social/dining time... A girl's gotta eat.

Do you think this will work? Or is this just another time consuming thing I'm using to procrastinate from doing actual studying?

Homemade Hummus

 I made heaps of hummus last night after reading this article and being inspired to make my own Stuff. I wasn't ready to take on bread yet, but I heard that making hummus is awesome and delish and inexpensive.

I used the recipe from Mediterrasian blog

4 cloves of garlic (I like extra)

1 can of garbanzo beans (chick peas) rinsed and drained

1/2 cup tahini
 1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup water
teaspoon of sea salt

Extra:
some olive oil
teaspoon of smoked spanish paprika
chopped parsley

garlic hummus

The final result took a LOT more effort than I had imagined, my little food processor is crappy and the hummus was a bit chunky, and I still preferred the taste of store bought hummus. Costwise, hummus is pretty cheap ($3-5) and I probably made twice as much hummus for the same amount of hummus but I don't think it's that much worthwhile.... unless I eat hummus regularly.