New Year's Resolution

New Year Resolutions

I haven’t done this in a while but I guess writing it and publishing it on my blog makes me truly accountable for trying to achieve my goals. Do note that I wrote “trying” before “achieve” because I don’t want to set the bar too high…

At some point last year, I wrote in my blog that I was on a mission to get into the best shape of my adult life. It is true that I am now in the best shape of my adult life, however, I have managed to gain a lot of weight since the summer time. I think the process of moving from living on my own to living with my parents while studying for the bar and back to living on my own again affected my eating habits tremendously. In addition, the transition from being a student to a working professional also had something to do w/ the weight gain.

My first NY resolution is losing weight, keeping it off, and doing it the healthy way.

Eating Habits

My goal is to lose some pounds and return to my summer weight. Whatever that was. I only know depending on how my clothes fit. Here's a photo for inspiration.

Water

Why do we always forget to drink water? The first thing I do in the morning now is drink a full glass of iced cold water. Drink LOTS of water.

Drinking

OMG. This part is so hard. I’m trying to limit to weekends (limited consumption) only and no weekday drinking. One glass of wine at dinner if I must have some during the week.

Living Alone

I eat alone a lot and as I do believe that all things are relative – I’ve had no one else’s plate to measure up to and see how much I’m actually eating. I now try to use dessert plates for dinner and do not go back for seconds. Also, when I was living at home we had a “no carbs” rule at dinner time. I am trying to go back to that rule for myself as well.

Snacking

I love crackers and can finish boxes and bags in a sitting. However, with other people such as my parents around, they make snide remarks when they notice I’m consuming way too many and this usually gets me to stop. I now take out as many crackers as I’m allowed to eat and put the box or bag away.

At work, I find myself looking forward to meal times because it means I get a break. I tend to overeat. I now bring healthy snacks to work and try to eat more times and smaller meals each time. My fave is baby carrots w/ either hummus or PB depending on either my craving for sweet or savory.

Desserts

Whenever I’m gaining weight, I begin to crave sweets uncontrollably. I now make myself eat a fruit instead of chocolates or baked goods. I go for apples, pears, or oranges. I realize that after I have a fruit, my craving for sweets is gone.

Holidays

It is so easy to overeat during the holidays because of the massive amount of food. What I do now is fill my plate first with the salad then add the rest as though I’m just making my own salad at the salad bar. I do go easy w/ the protein and cheese.

As for the desserts during the holidays, I take a sliver of each. It’s just WAY TOO HARD to skip out on that part but having a huge salad as the entrée make me feel less guilty about the sugar.

Working Out

I have to incorporate more cardio in my exercise routine even though I hate it and dread it.

Cardio

I now make myself run at least 2 miles on the treadmill and 3 on the elliptical or that in between machine as I call it on high resistance (8 and up) before I start my strength training.

At Home

Whenever I can’t make it to the gym, I will try to do an intensive yoga workout at home as well as an abs exercise. I try to do at least 20 minutes of abs workout – it goes by pretty quickly while watching Bridalplasty.  

At work

I take the stairs almost everywhere like on the T and in my work building. The only thing is that I get really dizzy because of the winding of the stairs so I try to look down the entire time. I try to drink lots of WATER at work.

My second NY resolution is being more patient with myself and others

Unnecessary Multitasking

Extremes

I, often, think that if I can’t get one thing done soon enough then it only slows down my getting the second thing done. Which is why I’m often doing three things at once even though it is not always necessary to multitask. I can’t respond to an email seriously without also being on the phone while scrolling through google reader. I don’t believe in doing things on a small scale because that’s for others to do and not I. I can’t cook on just one stove top because if I’m going to be around the stove, I might as well work all four and the oven. I was recently asked why is there no in-betweens with me – why is it that if I were to do something I either go big or go home. I must reflect.

Moments

I approach life in the same way and manner. I think about what’s going to happen in two years one month into my fellowship. I start writing down goals and steps I must take to secure what might happen in two years. I then forget to stop and truly enjoy the moment because every time I reach a moment (that was once set as a future goal), I’m too busy setting my goal for the next moment. I truly never get to enjoy the moment ever. I’ve just used never and ever in the same sentence. FAIL.

I have got no solutions yet. I will come up with some, soon.

Holiday Dinner w/ New Friends and Old

My college friend, Wayne, is in town from SF and asked that he and I co-host a wonderful dinner party for our friends. Since I never had a housewarming or apartment warming to be exact - this party served both purpose. Talk about being efficient!

However, I didn't realize how much work it was to put together a vegetarian meal for 10 people. I hope my options weren't all so carby. I was also so afraid of not having enough food but now I'm positive that my guests eat like birds. Even after my darling Sue took home some food - I now still have a fridge full of tupperware filled with various goodies from the party. I'll be eating that for a month plus whatever else I gathered from my own family's holiday dinners.

Okay, enough chitter chattering... I'm snowed in and loving it! Enjoy the photos.

The spread - covered up and waiting for guests. A host should not keep her guests waiting to eat especially when they are invited to a dinner party at dinner time.

Checking the oven and making sure those potatoes are doing okay in the heat. 

My love, Sue, overlooking and making sure those savory multigrain scones are good to go. 

I cooked the scones in this pan - what a great idea when you don't have the ability to mold stuff. In any case, in the scones were multigrain flour, milk, egg, green onions, corn, and some cheese. I added a teeny bit of salt. Feel free to play around with the filling. 

My guests serving themselves. That is Jesal from Veggie Wala - check out her blog!

I served toasted sourdough bread and I'm glad to know that it was everyone's favorite kind of bread. Win!

This is a pasta salad w/ lots of veggies. In goes grape tomatoes, button mushrooms, zucchinis, roasted carrots and celery, egg and cheese. I made a red wine vinegar dressing w/ some fresh fennel and other spices. 

Mashed butternut squash and taro w/ bananas topped w/ cinnamon and some sugar. Oh la la. 

Simple roasted potatoes w/ sea salt and sweet basil that I grew. :)

Asian peanut noodle salad w/ vermicelli noodles, firm tofu, bok choy, ginger, and garlic. 

Blame Wayne, our photographer, for this blurry photo. Basmati rice w/ herbs and veggies. I can't take any credit for this... I bought it at Trader Joe's. 

See. My guests do eat like birds. Although a lady shouldn't share that kind of info or pass such judgment...

Beautiful guests. 

Sugar plums dessert that Jesal made. I forgot to stick it on her display block. :(

Gingerbread brownies. Yes, as good as it sounds. 

Black sticky rice w/ coconut milk and pandan topped w/ sesame seed when served. 

Do also blame Wayne for not taking a photo of some of the other dishes on the menu plus the appetizer spread and other desserts we had such as the vegan chocolate mousse Jesal made. 

Crustless Spiced Pumpkin Pie

Again, we all know that I'm quite against making crust so hence more crustless pies. Again, I often say I'm a poor baker so you must know that this recipe was super easy to make. It was. It really was. Please go and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. All you will need is a nice mixing bowl, mixing spoon, 9" pie dish, and 1.5 cup of flour, 1 can of pumpkin, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of butter*, 1 T of fresh grated ginger or 1/2 tsp of ground ginger, and a 1/2 tsp of cinnamon.

I made this pie for my building's holiday party and I'm glad to report that my plate came back empty! The whole spread was so nice and everyone really made an effort to make the event so much fun. Even though the Pats were playing, most ppl just took moments to run upstairs to check on the score and back downstairs to enjoy good food and conversations. Even my swollen-ankle guy made his way down to try the homemade chocolate chip cookies that I have promised to make but not yet made for him. The party was really quite nice and I must admit, everyone in this building is so kind.

*I used a lightly salted butter. If you're not using salted butter then remember to add a 1/2 tsp of salt to your mix. Melt it over low heat.



In a large mixing bowl, add your flour, sugar, and can of pumpkin.



Cinnamon. This is a must add ingredient during this time of the year.



Grate some fresh ginger. I recommend this over ground ginger but again, use whatever you have on hand.



Then pour in your butta. So awesome.



Oh la la. Your apartment must be smelling so decadent right about now.



Mix well. This part is quite easy. Just make sure you get all the flour coated. So keep folding for a bit.



Grease your 9" pie dish and pour in the mix.



After 25 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees... It was smelling quite nice.



I sliced it up, not perfect, and added a few dashes of cinnamon. YUM!



On top of that, we ordered takeout from Kashmir since the weather in Boston was quite treacherous with thrashing rain and 50 MPH wind. Food at Kashmir is always great... plus free delivery!

E.A.T. w/ Cheese

Egg, Avocado, and Tomato on Toasts w/ Cheese. This was one of the Greatest. Breakfast. Idea. Ever. Early Sunday morning and after a night with lots of good wine... this piece of heaven totally hit the spot. I will make this dish, again, for many many more Sunday mornings for friends and family because I know, they will love me ever more dearly after having this. Except, I promise not to overcook the egg.

Preheat your oven to broil (low).

I started with two simple slice of toasts that were toasted. What can I say, I like them extra crunchy. Add a layer of sliced ripe plum tomatoes. Make sure your baking dish is well greased with either a neutral oil or butter, if you must. :)



Top with some slices of cheese of choice. I recommend a pretty sharp cheese like sharp cheddar - and avoid low-fat and no-fat cheese since it's more rubbery than milky and won't melt well. Come on now... just go all out.




Next, top with ripe avocado.



Ignore the other slice of toast since it was obvious that I didn't keep up with the level of aesthetics with the cheese layering.



Top with even more cheese. How ingenious!



In a hot pan with canola oil (or butter, if you so prefer), cook an egg very quickly so that just the whites are slightly cooked enough for you to handle the egg onto the toast w/o it sliding right off. With a spatula, just push in the whites so that the egg appears more round. Does that make sense?



This egg didn't do as well as the other one.



Kinda' like this is ideal.



Now stick the thing under the broiler and be sure to take it out in a few minutes or you will overcook your poor egg like that I did. I should not have gone to take my laundry out of the dryer. :( I know, the focus is a bit off w/ this photo.



It was uber delicious!

Black Sticky Rice Dessert (Bee Koh Moy)

This dessert turned out part Malaysian and Vietnamese. How cute? My other half is half Malaysian - get it? The Malaysian variety includes a knotted pandan leaf but instead of that, I added toasted salted sesame seeds, which is often found in Vietnamese glutinous rice desserts. The dessert is so straight forward to make and the flavor, texture, and deliciousness make this dish just divine! I also brought some to the office and everyone enjoyed it. Even my sunshine found it to be tasty albeit it not being too sweet unlike American desserts.

I used one cup of black glutinous rice, 1 cup of coconut milk with 4 T of raw sugar and 1 capful of vanilla extract, and 1 TSP of raw sesame seeds toasted w/ some oil and a pinch of kosher salt.

In a large pot, I cooked 1 cup of rice with 2 cups of water over low heat and covered. Please excuse the steam in the photo.



After 15 minutes, I removed the rice and placed in a colorful bowl. The texture is still slightly al dente. I like that.



I just love the color! The deep purple hue is so beautiful.



In another pot, I added a can of coconut milk, 1 capful of vanilla extract (feel free to add pandan extract if you have that instead), and sugar.



I allowed the coconut milk to cook over low heat until it starts to boil then I took it off the stove.



In a small pan, I toasted the sesame seed over low heat. It took about 10 minutes to brown.



In a bowl, add some rice and top with the toasted sesame seed. How awesome does that look so far?!



Such a simple dessert to make but yet so elegant.



Now top with the coconut milk and enjoy!

Xôi Mặn (Chinese Sticky Rice) Part Deux

So, my sticky-rice-lovin' hippo was coming back to town and could not stop talking about the sticky rice that I made last time... which lead to my second attempt to make it for him so he would stop asking. This time, I had a different approach to cooking and changing one ingredient: mixing everything together before cooking and button mushrooms to dried chinese shiitake mushrooms. I still made my own broth* from bone-in chicken thighs and hand pulled the meat afterwards.

All other ingredients remain the same except no garlic & ginger:

3 cups of chicken broth (2 bone-in chicken thighs**)
2 cups of glutinous rice soaked overnight
1/2 cup of soy sauce
1/2 cup of oyster sauce
1/2 cup of rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup of sliced dried shiitake mushrooms
4 links of sliced chinese sausage
**hand pulled chicken thigh meat
1/4 cup of sliced spring onions (just the pale part)
1/4 cup of sliced spring onions (just the green part)


*Again, you can easily buy chicken broth instead of making your own.

I soaked about a 1/2 cup of these guys overnight and just thinly sliced them the next day. Just make sure you give them a few good squeezes and rinses or the "umami" flavor will be quite strong.



Soaked glutinous rice thrown into a large mixing bowl.



Now add the mushrooms, chicken, and chinese sausage to the mixing bowl.



Pour in the sauce (soy sauce, oyster sauce, and rice wine vinegar).



Then pour in the chicken broth. Mix well.



In a large pot, add 1 TSP of canola oil, wait until hot, then add spring onions. Stir well and allow to brown.



Lower heat and pour the mixture in. Cook on very low heat coverd for about 20 minutes. Check often on the rice's tenderness. As you can tell, the water level is covering the rice roughly over a 1/2 inch.



After 20+ minutes, everything is well cooked. Take off stove and pour into a large bowl. Serve warm. I forgot to take a picture of my adding the sliced spring onions (green part) but do add some!



On the side, I also folded some wontons into gold nuggets w/ ground pork, garlic chives, taro, and a pinch of ginger.






I brought some to my office to share with everyone and everyone agreed that this new method was better than the last. Yay!