: : Home Sweet Home : :

I’m back. After spending a great time back home. Was so nice to catch up with old classmates, old teachers (!!!) and old friends. Also caught up with my parents and the Khoo kiddies kidos. They now have a cat that looks exactly like my old cat Smokie! Unfortunately, no camera at that time so no pics. Not as heavy as Smokie though and this time, it’s a she. Surprisingly, her name is Satu (No. 1). Guess she is the big boss of the house. Actually, she’s the neighbour’s cat who found a home at the Khoo’s.

And, unfortunately, I cheated at my diet. Guilty of eating peanuts, sweet potatoe and some starch from the food that we had last nite for dinner!

Pictures up in the next few days.

: : Devong on Belachan : :

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

11:28 a.m. The Mother.

Devong’s school project is all about the senses. Today she brought to school the sape CD for listening. She also brought some belacan for smelling. “They are going to die!”, she laughs.

7:22 p.m. The Daughter (Devong)

Sam said, “Ew!”

He close his nose. “That smells like poo. And looks like poo! Is it poo?”

I said, “it’s belacan!”

He said, “what does your mother use it for!”

I said, “for eating. It tastes good.”

And he said “ew!”

Ha ha ha.

Devong goes to school in Rotterdam as her Mummy is working there.

: : Investing in Malaysia : :

Jark was asking about investing in Malaysia. Well, you’re in luck as it coincided with a talk I had with my father just this morning. We were talking about the new promotions : Malaysia ~ My Second Home. It speaks about foreigners wanting to live in Malaysia can now buy property with a minimum fixed deposition of RM150,000 with any Malaysian financial institutions AND a monthly offshore income equivalent to at least RM7,000 if single or RM10,000 if with spouse. It gets better if one is over 50 as only have to prove either a fixed deposit of the same amount OR a monthly income as stated. There are a few more critirias but it doesn’t look to be that much of a problem.

Now, as for investment opportunities, details of investing in the manufacturing sector can be found at :

Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA)

Level 5, Plaza Sentral

Jalan Stesen Sentral 5

Kuala Lumpur Sentral

50470 Kuala Lumpur

MALAYSIA.

Tel : +603-2267 3633

Fax : +603-2274 7970

Email : promotion@mida.gov.my

Website : www.mida.gov.my

As for the Malaysia ~ My Second Home promotion, enquiries are to :

Ministry of Culture, Arts & Tourism, Malaysia

Tourism Dvision

Level 33, Menara Dato’ Onn

Putra World Trade Center

45 Jalan Tun Ismail

50694 Kuala Lumpur

MALAYSIA

Tel : +603-2693711 / 2696 3133/ 2696 3132

Fax : +603-2694 1146 / 2693 2399

Website : www.mocat.gov.my

: : Investing in Malaysia : :

Jark was asking about investing in Malaysia. Well, you’re in luck as it coincided with a talk I had with my father just this morning. We were talking about the new promotions : Malaysia ~ My Second Home. It speaks about foreigners wanting to live in Malaysia can now buy property with a minimum fixed deposition of RM150,000 with any Malaysian financial institutions AND a monthly offshore income equivalent to at least RM7,000 if single or RM10,000 if with spouse. It gets better if one is over 50 as only have to prove either a fixed deposit of the same amount OR a monthly income as stated. There are a few more critirias but it doesn’t look to be that much of a problem.

Now, as for investment opportunities, details of investing in the manufacturing sector can be found at :

Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA)

Level 5, Plaza Sentral

Jalan Stesen Sentral 5

Kuala Lumpur Sentral

50470 Kuala Lumpur

MALAYSIA.

Tel : +603-2267 3633

Fax : +603-2274 7970

Email : promotion@mida.gov.my

Website : www.mida.gov.my

As for the Malaysia ~ My Second Home promotion, enquiries are to :

Ministry of Culture, Arts & Tourism, Malaysia

Tourism Dvision

Level 33, Menara Dato’ Onn

Putra World Trade Center

45 Jalan Tun Ismail

50694 Kuala Lumpur

MALAYSIA

Tel : +603-2693711 / 2696 3133/ 2696 3132

Fax : +603-2694 1146 / 2693 2399

Website : www.mocat.gov.my

: : Herbs : :

So I’m into the 6th day of the Atkin’s diet and onto the 4th session at Unisense. It’s getting slightly easier to plan what to eat for the next day but not always. While preparing for tomorrow’s salad, I was looking high and low for some herbs other than the ones used for curry and assam. Then, I came across this set of herbs given to me by my old boss. The herbs were part of a dinner gift for a Spanish theme function at Hilton (although RM200 per head sounds a bit too stiff for me, even if dinner, wine and entertainment are provided).

And here are the herbs, in simple tin canisters with simple labelling. However, the smell of the fresh herbs were so good that it’s a lot better than the ones found in supermarkets. Titled Italian set, it says on the box that there are gourmet herb and spice mixes from Rakey Watsom Australia by Peter Watson. Well, the aroma wafting out of the little silver tins definitely scream “Quality Herbs are in the House!” I will go through each tin from left to right and what it says on the label.

The first tin is the Italian Herb Marinade that goes well with grilling and barbecuing. It contains the wondrous smell of oregano, marjoram, basil and sage. I’m tempting to seriously try it out but we need to get an oven first. Yes yes, I know, I know. I should be getting one. Soon.

Now this tin containes herbs for Italian Salad and Pasta Blend. As the name implies, it is good for salad as well as pasta. What is inside it? Garlic, parsley, basil, sage, oregano, marjoram and rosemerry, black pepper and dried capsicum. I mixed some of this into the mashed egg yolk with a bit of Dijou mustard and mayonnaise. Was preparing a dip for my sliced cucumber breakfast meal tomorrow morning.

The last one is a Gremolata. What is Gremolata? It’s an italian mix of chopped garlic, parsley and citrus zest (usually lemon rind) that goes well with Osso Bucco, Italian cooking with veal. Sounds so divine. On the tin, it’s mentioned that it would make a great salsa topping verde by adding in some olive oil, capers, anchovy and pound them all together. Wah! It’s a pity that I’m not allowed to eat tortilla chips at this moment. Ah well.

You can read up on advice by Peter Watson here. Seriously, a lot of very good advice on how to prepare a good marinade and use spices. If you wish to order his spices, here is a website that sells his products. Other than that, he doesn’t seem to have an official website.

What am I bringing to work tomorrow? Here they are :

Breakfast

Egg yolk dip mixed with chopped celery, dill, mayonnaise, Dijou mustard until smooth. Dip to be eaten with some cucumber slices.

Lunch

More cut celery, cucumbers, egg whites. To be mixed with some dressing (olive oil, the herbs mentioned above for the salad, bit of Dijou mustard, black pepper). Along with some chicken that is boiled but cut into little cubes. Will rub some pepper and salt into it.

The problem with dieting is that one has to think well in advance what to eat for the day and how to prepare it. Even now, I do not have all the ingredients available as Atkins is more suited for Western dining rather than for Asian cuisine. Although it’s not entirely impossible to do so, it’s not easy to always avoid sugar in the food. The sugar can be both natural and artificial sugar. Ah well. Because of this, I’ve been preparing my meals at home to bring to work.

What’s for dinner? Well, since I’m flying off to Miri for the weekend, my dear and wonderful parents are cooking me a meal. We’re eating some lovely roast pork that was given by Auntie Mimi (who is a wonderful cook, never EVER turn down a dinner invitation!) as well as some veggies. Probably have to skip desserts for the time being.

Having mentioned that I’m off back to Miri, will not be posting any pictures up over the weekend. So, toodle-loo!

: : Planning for Lunch : :

Tonight, I spent some time thinking about what to bring for lunch tomorrow. Better to bring my own food to work as to avoid eating carbohydrates and sugars that are found in Asian cooking. Granny has been a gem by not adding in sugar and cornflour into the cooking. She cooks everyday to keep herself occupied and she loves shopping as it allows her to get out of the house. She also wants to lose weight so ends up following my diet (albeit partially) as well.

Looking through the Atkin’s recipe page, thought the Devil’s Egg recipe sounded really good. And it got me thinking of how tasty it really is when my sister’s fiance made it in the USA last year. So, decided to give it shot. After work today, went to the supermarket to get the stuff.

I boiled 3 eggs, cut the celery, chopped up the ham. There’s actually more celery and ham here as I wanted to have some salad for lunch as well. So, Devil’s Egg for both breakfast (1 egg), lunch (1 egg) and a snack (1 egg). The worst thing is feeling hungry in between meals as at the moment, I’m still not use to not having any carbohydrates in my system.

The egg yolks from the hard boiled egg. Oh yeah, one thing I noticed was that the egg white did not have a perfect round hole for me to put the egg yolk in later. Any ideas on how to make the perfect egg? Oh yeah, Granny mentioned to boil eggs with some salt so that the shell doesn’t crack. Good idea.

I mashed up the egg yolk with some dill, Dijon mustard, pepper, chopped celery and bits of ham. Then, I realised I forgot to get one important ingredient : MAYONNAISE! It ended up so dry that it was pretty hard to get them to put it back into the egg white. Having said that, I will not post up the picture of the finished product. Looks too terrible.

I also packed the leftover celery and ham for lunch later. Also added in some cucumbers (about 1 cup) and will be bringing along some pork pate. Pate is just about the only stuff that I will eat that has liver in it. Will be eating the pate by covering the cucumber with it. Cannot eat bread so it’s either lettuce, celery or cucumber that will ate as the base for the meal.

All in all, I seem to have covered quite a fair bit but there’s still not enough protein to make me fill full. Never mind. Let’s see how it goes tomorrow. Will probably still eat something at the cafeteria in terms of meat but not so much to feel full. Must also remember to eat my supplements as well.

It’s now the 4th day into the Atkin’s Diet and so far so good. It’s not that bad once you know how to do it and my cousins have also been on it with great results. But, since one is eating less food, one should also supplement the diet with multivitamins, Omega3, blah blah blah. More info at the Atkins’ site. This is a good article on what to expect when starting Atkins for the very 1st time, especially when one experiences fatigue or light-headedness. If you’re wondering whether I bought the book, I didn’t. I spend a lot of time reading the articles available online and believe me, there are a lot of information there. Takes awhile to know what to eat and how to do the diet properly but eventually you’ll get there. Best is to consult the doctor but bear in mind that not all doctors like the idea of eating less carbohydrate. This article and this one is informative when it comes to discussing with your doctor. It is mentioned, though, that the Induction phase is not good for vegetarians.

Do I feel better? Yes. I feel less tired and more energized. I get better sleep. The other perk is that I will lighter (wanted to say that out!). Oh yeah, also important to read this article.

My other plan for tomorrow : put my food in the furthest fridge in the workplace so that I end up walking to get to my food. That would roughly be about 80-100 m to and fro from my table. Now to be discipline about it and stick to the plan.