because you can be happy – a little bit about sake

 

“Drink because you are happy, but never because you are miserable.” ― G.K. Chesterton, Heretics

 

SO I recently attended a sake appreciation session, organised by Beam Suntory Asia, at World of Wines.

I am pretty much unstudied when it comes to sake and was definitely amazed by the complexity in making sake.

While the complexity may easily faze anyone, here are the 4 key things I learnt which will prove useful when choosing your prized bottle of sake, and deciding whether to serve it warm or chilled.

 

1. Rice Variety

Amongst the myriad of sake rice varieties available, there are 4 preferred/most commonly used by brewers: Yamadanishiki, Gohyakumangoku, Miyamanishiki and Omachi of which,

Yamadanishiki – Known as the Queen of sake rice as it produces a more “feminine” brew – sweet, floral and light

Omachi – Known as the King of sake rice as it produces a more “masculine” brew – robust, bright and strong

2. Rice polishing ratio

If you google this (which you will more than likely hit wikipedia) This can get a little technical. Choose one that falls into a category of Junmai Daiginjo – which means that the sake is “pure”.

Some brewers also fortify their sake by adding alcohol from a separate type to the brew, however this is not an indication of it being less luxurious, or of a lesser quality. Brewers sometimes fortify the sake to enhance the aroma, or taste of the sake. Think of it as adding layers to the flavour profile of the sake.

3. Water

Alkalinity and water source is obviously one of the things that would affect the resulting brew. Depending on the mineral content, the sake may appear yellowish or crystal clear, and may be “drier” or sweeter.

4. Maturation temperature

Sake is requires between 9 – 12 months to mature. Depending on the temperature at which it is allowed to age in will determine if the sake is best served warm or chilled.

 

I know I could’ve gone more into everything about sake, but for a newbie, I think this is a good starting point to depart on your sake journey.

 

To find out more about sake, check out Beam Suntory Asia on their Facebook page

I hear they organise food pairing and appreciation sessions, so be sure to like them to receive updates in your feed.

 

T.

 

 

So strong, so forceful – the way you have always wanted to be

 

(View of the Singapore city skyline of the CBD area, from Ku De Ta Singapore, Marina Bay Sands)

 

LIFE had definitely got in the way. Weeks are running, how few weeks do we have left of 2014?

 

To each his own, and with each day we discover more of who we are. As we grow, we become braver to assert ourselves, for time is not on our side. How long are you going to stand on someone else’s grounds?

Late have I discovered a post from everydayisa.wordpress.com – on the Staying Philosophy where she quotes Donald Miller, from his book, Through Painted Deserts, Light, God and Beauty on the Open Road:

 

Leave.

Roll the word around on your tongue for a bit. It is a beautiful word, isn’t it? So strong and forceful, the way you have always wanted to be. And you will not be alone. You have never been alone. Don’t worry. Everything will still be here when you get back. It is you who will have changed.

 

And like Isa, I agree that what we fear most, isn’t exactly losing people; it is rather, learning to able to live life without a particular person – whom represents a certain comfort and habit in our lives.

Having said that, I find myself on the flip side of things. The desire to leave. Leave – we all have to do so, one day, in one way or another. Leave, we NEED to. And this desire to leave, I mean departing from the norms I had once believed I needed to conform to/emulate.

 

It is okay to be different, and to desire different things, or even, to desire the same things, but differently.

 

“Why are you not____?” or “You possess (such and such a quality) but why are you not like (so and so)?” – Do you find yourself often being faced with such questions? I would have to Hi5 you on that.

While in my younger days, admittedly I believed that it was possible that there was something wrong about me, which was why I never seemed to follow the stencil that seemed to draw out the life paths of my peers.  But the truth is, there is nothing wrong. But this self discovery and acceptance, while altogether liberating, leads on to a lonely and difficult path ahead. True friends will accept you, fair weathered friends might leave, and some might even despise you. And days can get painfully solitudinous – but take heart, for while it is a lonely path, it is not a path trekked alone.

 

And here is where I urge you to be brave, and to be compassionate towards yourself. And it will all be worth it.

To put it into an imagery, seabirds, while being birds, would be happy merely flying, but true happiness is flying out to the open sea – facing the crisp air and icy oceans, and not confined to the safe boundaries of lands, no matter how vast.

 

“Solitude is fine but you need someone to tell that solitude is fine.” ― Honoré de Balzac

 

It is fine.

 

 

T.

 

Power Mornings – Breakfast smoothies

*disclaimer – I am not a nutritionist.

 

So recently we’ve equipped ourselves with a Shake and Take, and trust me when I say its a wonderful invention. Essentially, it does as its name says, you make a shake and you take it with you immediately!

And its been working really great so far. Give me a week or two more, and I’ll probably write about this wonderful device.

 

The office has since been bitten by the juice bug. Having tried the 3 day cleanse by Rejuicenate, and the morning and night drinks from Lucky You, we were convinced, we can do this on our own… for breakfast at least.

 

Thus, the few recipes from the test week. The ingredients picked had to be easily accessible to anyone, though there were some ingredients that were initial investments (like cacao nibs in the first recipe). So don’t expect to see Kale anywhere.

All recipes are based on a volume of 600mL

1. Power Blueberry and Cacao

1/2 Punnet of blueberries

200 grams Blueberry Yogurt

1 tbsp Cacao Nibs

100 mL non fat chocolate milk (feel free to replace this with a chocolate nut milk)

1 tbsp chia seeds

2 frozen Bananas

BLEND.

 

2. Spiced Oat Smoothie

250 mL non fat milk

1 large apple

2 tbsp cinnamon powder

1 tbsp ginger powder

2 tbsp honey

30 grams or more of oats (depending on your desired thickness)

 

BLEND

 

 3. Green Friday Smoothie

1 Cup raw spinach

1 and 1/2 golden kiwis

5 strawberries

60mL water

2 tbsp honey

 

BLEND

Any suggestions for recipes to try out? Comment below.

 

T.

so I am a social meat eater – Vegan Burgers

“Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.”
― L.M. Montgomery, The Story Girl

 

In recent years, I have revived my love for meat, and its been a struggle really to return to my once meatless days. But nothing good comes easy, and I am happy to announce that I have been vegetarian for a good 3 weeks now.

For those who know me personally, deep down this girl’s a burgers and beers kinda girl. But I just had to make my life difficult by taking the beef out of the picture now do I?

 

Well actually, no.

 

While I am well aware that there are people who are convinced that such messaging is a propaganda for vegetarianism/veganism (not sure why such -isms exist in the first place but anyhow), if environmental reasons such as reducing your carbon footprint (and thus greenhouse gas emissions which promote global warming), minimising water usage, and reducing fossil fuel dependence aren’t in themselves good enough reasons to go vegetarian at least ONCE per week. Please let those of us who wish to do so, do so in peace.

 

Did you know?

To produce 1 pound of meat, it requires 12 times more land, 13 times more fossil fuel and 15 times more water than producing 1 pound of soy protein?*

Going meatless doesn’t mean salads all day everyday by the way. As with every change – like deciding to get a gym membership or deciding to take part in a marathon – the initial phase is difficult. Quite frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if any meat eater thinks vegetarians don’t eat for that matter. Or worse yet, if you do go meatless you might end up feeling starved and deprived simply because you weren’t eating enough of the RIGHT kinds of food.

 

But thats ok – all of us learn by making mistakes. And I promise you, it is only the initial phase that is tough, just like learning to ride a bicycle. But once you understand where your balance is, its cruising from there on out.

Back to the matter of burgers and beers, I was determined to have this fix without needing the otherwise star of the combination i.e. beef.

I did my research and wanted a recipe that would be easy for any Singaporean to do (because beets aren’t always available, quinoa and flax breathe “health food” in their mere mention, and I certainly did not want to involve eggs)

Inspired by the Food Lab’s recipe, the ingredients I ended up settling for are cheap and easily available from any supermarket.

Here’s what you’ll need (recipe yields 5 patties)

1 Can – Red Kidney Beans

1 Can – Black beans

1 Green Bell Pepper

1 white onion – you will only use about 10 grams

100 grams baked cashews

For seasoning the patties:

1 tsp chili flakes

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tbsp Shoyu

1/2 tbsp Mirin

 

Others:

mushrooms, wasabi sprouts, mustard, burger bun.

 

Here’s the plan:

Rinse beans well, and fry them up on an un-oiled non stick pan to remove moisture.

Dice up the bell pepper.

Saute onions with the chilli flakes and dried basil. Once onions soften, add in the bell peppers and cook well.

Toast the cashews to bring out the aroma. Once cooled blitz them. This will add texture and fat to the patties, which will also help to hold them up a little.

To the beans – mash them up like you were to make mash potatoes. Once mashed, add the cooked bell peppers and cashews. Add the shoyu and mirin here.

Mix well.

Start moulding the patties. I found using glad wrap helpful in getting the patties nice and tightly packed.

Heat up a tsp of cooking oil to a non stick pan.

Cook on the first side for about 2 minutes (I use an induction stove by the way) or until golden, before flipping to cook on he other side.

 

If I may, these burgers were delightful. I was really surprised at how it held up without needing any of the conventional binding agents. Apart from being highly satisfying, these were both light and filling. If you’re still not convinced how good these are, well there’s only 1 way to find out. Try it!

 

 

T.

 

 

*information from : http://www.chooseveg.com/environment

 

Be your own hero.

“Because everyone else is trying to save themselves”

While statement is on the rather harsh end of things, the point is this – you should not depend on anyone else but yourself to find yourself, and find your happiness. Feelings being feelings, they are subjective – here we dive into the realm of quality, and no matter how we try to quantify this (scales, ratings) a number 2 on your happiness scale may mean and feel entirely different from another’s 2 of their happiness scale.

So in a recent meet up, I had an eye opening experience taking the bus through Little India on my way to Jalan Besar. The crowd is madness, and people gather and rush up buses – the scene reminds me much of a zombie apocalypse. Think humans with wide hungry eyes, arms reaching forward and round after round of people trying to shove their way into an already filled bus.

And I don’t mean this as an offense in any way, just prepare yourself mentally, for the number of people who seem to congregate in that area.

But I would say the walk from Little India to Jalan Besar was manageable, 3 parrallel streets down and I found myself along its quiet stretch.

The food centre next to Jalan Besar stadium, along Tyrwhitt road now houses my beloved Long House Duck Rice. The old adage, “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, while the way to a women’s is nostalgia,” definitely has truth in that, I would travel (and bear through a rather uncomfortable commute,) just to have this. And nothing beats having a good old plate of duck rice.

Tyrwhitt road is also home to some well knowned cafes (if you’re into that). Google that street and you’ll find post after post on Chye Seng Huat. What follows is a blog post dedicated to all the cafes in Jalan Besar: more hip than Tiong Bahru?

Desserts found us at Tiramisu Hero, which is just across the road from the hawker centre.

Mud Pie
Classic Mommahero

While I have arrived late in the field of hawker food appreciation, I have learnt to appreciate this aspect that sets this tiny city apart. More interestingly, is this city’s F&B profile – cafés that occupy shophouses right next to a hawker food centre, and Jalan Besar isn’t the only neighborhood that is like this.

Good food and good company definitely does make life feel a lot less overwhelming, at the end of the day, we all have a choice when it comes to matters of our own happiness. Though we too cannot force anyone to make decisions according to your life’s plan (they are exercising their rights to make their own decisions, whether misguided or rational), we should be vehemently dedicated to understanding what it is we need, and separating that from what it is that we want, and also, to decide if these things that we want, how beneficial are these things to our own well being.

So go on, and be the hero in your story. (And happy eating!)

T.