November 30, 2008
· Filed under 1 · Tagged 1984, books, democracy, dystopian, fear, happiness, politics, religion, socialism, society, utopian
Most of you have probably read “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley. I’m a bit slow…and *just* finished reading it for the first time and have to say that it is one of the most thought provoking books I’ve read. Ever. So many themes, parallelisms, imageries, references, fears, visions…I can’t even begin to write out all the thoughts and questions swimming in my mind right now, so I won’t. But I might have to revisit parts of the book soon after I’ve sorted out some of my thoughts. A seminal piece of work for anyone who lives in a society (i.e., everybody).
November 29, 2008
· Filed under 1 · Tagged dinner, food, recipes, Thanksgiving
Here are photos from or Thanksgiving dinner last night. For most American families, a Thanksgiving dinner has to be a home-cooked meal, and so we did it too (it also gave me something to occupy my time with). I spent almost 6 hours in the kitchen yesterday preparing every single dish from scratch. I even pureed my own pumpkin for the soup. Whew! A lot of work, but if you’re crazy about being gourmet about food the way I kinda tend to be, it can be very satisfying. Heh.
One dish I would like to highlight is the stuffing. I tried, for the first time, this Wild Rice and Mushroom stuffing recipe from recipezaar.com to go along with the fowl, and my, my, it was beyond delicious and amazing…and I’m not being hyperbolous about it. It made me wonder whey I didn’t just live on stuffing alone. The juices and flavors from the chicken and the stuffing interacted really well, really enhancing each other’s taste. MMmhmm.
I also tried this chicken preparation technique from a Kosher cooking site to get a more even and tender taste throughout the chicken, and would recommend it to anyone roasting a chicken or turkey this Christmas or at anytime: soak the chicken in brine (salt water) for at least an hour, then dry it with a kitchen towel, and leave it in the refrigerator for another hour before marinating it and roasting it.
Needless to say, I was EGGXHAUSTED, very stuffed, and a little uhm…red from all the Lambrusco by the end of the night (I also went for a 5km run and after that did a few more sit ups than I should’ve that morning.). Anyhow, apart from muscle aches from the exercise, I also had body aches from mashing potatoes and from all the arm movements involved in chopping, frying, and carrying stuff. SO…it gave me an excuse to not run this morning. Yay. 
(Apple crisp missing from the picture)
Stuffed roasted chicken
November 28, 2008
· Filed under 1 · Tagged smiles, Thanksgiving, thoughts
So many times, we forget to be thankful about things in our lives. We get caught up with trying to solve problems, overcoming challenges, or focusing on the negative. Or think that, in being thankful, we think our lives are awesome and therefore become boastful.
I like to be reminded that thanksgiving breeds humility, not hubris. In being gracious, we recognize that we don’t deserve anything good. Because, really, what have we contributed to the world or the universe that we should enjoy blessings?? Blessings: they’re all bestowed to us by grace from God. Even if you’re not religious, it is by grace, luck, fortuity, some universal force,…maybe karma.
It also breeds humility because we recognize some other person’s involvement in bettering our lives: our parents, husbands, boyfriends, friends, etc., not because they HAVE to but because they WANT to.
Having said all that, gosh, I have SO much to be thankful for this past year and I’d like to share them here:
- Life!
- Food on our table everyday
- My extremely loving family: parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces, in-laws…
- Bryan
- Wonderful friends…just awesome, amazing, thoughtful, loving people scattered across various continents and are able to remain connected through the internet
- (The internet!!!)
- Good health
- Graduation from grad school
- Perfect weather on our wedding day, and a fun and memorable wedding
- Safe travels (in SoCal/Arizona/Nevada itself, and then from LA to SG to BKK to SG and then to MELB)
- My parents’ and godmother’s visit to SoCal
- A pretty smooth settling in into Melbourne for Bryan and I
- Bryan’s job
- Religious freedom
- Security (from war, riots…) and minimal discrimination
- Our little Melbourne city pad
- Free time to experiment with new recipes, take Spanish, paint, and try various art and craft projects
- A part-time telemarketing job to earn just a little bit of shopping money while waiting for my SLP license.
- And, of course, GOD. FOR HE IS GOOD.
There’s actually so much more to be grateful for but I will stop…hehe. Of course, my life is far from perfect. But I am working at overcoming these imperfections so, there is no need to wallow in them.
Whether or not you celebrate thanksgiving, here’s a question for you: What are YOU thankful for?
(I would also like to remind ourselves to think of the victims in Mumbai…to remember them in our Thanksgiving prayers as this traumatic event is still unfolding.)
November 27, 2008
· Filed under 1 · Tagged coffee, coffee beans, cooking, recipes
I finally tried roasting my own coffee beans today!
Yes, my coffee consumption habits seem to be moving toward one often associated with elitist gourmet type snobbery. In my defense, I would like to say that…I can REALLY taste a difference between instant coffee, freshly brewed coffee, freshly ground and brewed coffee, freshly ground and brewed in a french press (or plunger) coffee, and now, freshly roasted, ground, and brewed in a french press/plunger coffee. And there is no way my taste buds can take anything less anymore.
Am I nuts? No. (Although if you ask Bryan he may tell you otherwise. Heh.) I just love GOOD coffee too much AND I just happen to have a lot of free time.
Here are photos documenting my little experiment! I tried the skillet method from Sweet Maria’s Home Roasting site.
Raw, green coffee beans from New Guinea
Coffee beans roasting in the hot skillet
Roasted coffee beans with chaff still on
Roasted coffee beans cooling down
Quite a success! Although the coffee beans weren’t roasted as evenly as I had hoped; as you can see, some beans are lighter than others. It kind of works out for me, actually, because I enjoy a mixture of darkly and lightly roasted coffee beans anyway. But next time, I will be more aggressive in mixing the beans in the pan for a more even result; it’s a skill! I would recommend this to anyone who cares enough about coffee. It’s really fun! You will get the best, freshest, and most satisfying cup of coffee ever, and your apartment will smell of coffee all afternoon! MMMmmhmm.
November 27, 2008
· Filed under 1 · Tagged dinner, environment, Thanksgiving
I forgot what we were talking about that led Bry to comment (jokingly): Singapore does whatever America does. It is this close to becoming Guam.
But you know what, he’s kinda right!
Speaking of America…I’m now planning tomorrow’s Thanksgiving dinner meal. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite American holidays, which is why I wanna hold on to this tradition even while in Australia! It really promotes graciousness and family bonding…and HOME-COOKED FOOD! Technically, it is today. But because I have Spanish class tonight, we decided to do it tomorrow…which will coincide with the actual Thanksgiving day in the U.S.
Menu:
- Roast chicken (yeah, no turkey for us this year. it is selling for $10/kg – totally insane!!)
- Pumpkin soup
- Mashed potatoes
- String beans fried with shallots and shitake mushrooms (made this for last year’s Thanksgiving…very delicious!)
- Apple crumble pie (yes, gonna try this AGAIN! need to perfect it)
I think that’s enough food for just the two of us. 
