We have been traveling so much from last year and life has been so hectic, packing and repacking suitcases.

Quite naturally we miss our new home and enjoy eating at home.

This is just a simple gratin with tinned smoked oysters, takes just a moment to make and tastes wonderful.

What I like about oysters are that they are zinc bank, makes you sharp and focused.

Even Robert who doesn’t fancy oysters can eat it.

Will post the recipe on Nibble Dish soon :]

I am not much of a meat eater, but I love chicken.
Maybe because I was born in the year of Rooster (well, Chinese people like to call it a Phoenix, but I’m good with just the ordinary chuck).

Every since I was taught how to make roasts I have been making it like a mad person. I make it because it is so fun and so easy.
No wonder English people like to have roasts on Sundays, they really don’t have to do much!

We love food but all these lavish eating frenzy have started to (for a while now) show in our waists (but sadly for me and thankfully for Robert, never around the chest).
After a discussion, we have decided to go on a diet, yet again. But this time on a serious one because the scale showed the sign of horror number 5! I try my utmost best not to go anywhere beyond 50kg but this morning I was 100g away from that. If I had a pint of beer now that would be it!!! We must go on a diet! Christmas is coming! New Year is coming!! It’s the only time of the year you should skip the calorie counting!

Robert has lost nearly 20kg from Herbalife shakes so we decided to try that from today on. We have shakes instead of breakfast and lunch and have one meal for dinner. Sounds terrible, doesn’t it? I am not really into this because for one, I do not eat breakfast and for two, I believe the biggest meal of the day should be lunch, not dinner. My problem is, I do not have time to complain about any of these. We will be leaving for Japan in 4 days, and eating must start again! I need to lose 2, ideally 3kg in 4 days!!!

I thought I would toss about in hunger and anger but at 4:35 in the afternoon, I am quite alright!
This might work.

Since we can eat as usual for dinner, I am making a roast tonight. I learnt this recipe on some Japanese TV. It is bizarre, but you must believe me, it is GREAT.

You will need;

Whole chicken (neck must be chopped off)
A can of beer (bitter one is better but Robert is Dutch so I had to use Heineken :] )
Brussels sprouts
Half a lemon
Olive oil
5 cloves of garlic
Handful of Basil
1 Tablespoon of rosemary
Oregano orano herb of your choice
Black pepper and salt

I first boil some water and heat the can of beer. while that is being done I wash vegetables and clean the chicken. If your butcher is kind enough to leave the neck and guts, put it aside, do not throw it away. I place the sprouts and citrus on the heat resistant plate and start mushing the garlic, basil, rosemary, salt and olive oil together. I am quite generous with the amount of oil here because the beautiful oil that contains herb extract will be poured into the beer that will be roasted with the chicken. If you do any cooking at all, it is worthwhile having your own garden, even if you do not have a garden or balcony. I do not have neither but the herbs grow happily in the apartment. All they need is adequate sunlight and water.

I need you to be very careful here. Take the can of beer and open it in the clean sink. The beer will overflow and it is hot so be careful, ideally let your man do it. throw a quarter away, pour the beautiful oil I was talking about and place it in the centre of the plate. In the past I have massaged the chicken with the oil, but it does not work here. You are about to know why now.

Now, very, very carefully insert the bottom of the chicken onto the can. Do not laugh because it is good. Toss the remaining garlic and herbs onto sprouts, oregano and black pepper, put the neck or guts in if you have them, and in the shameful position, the chicken is roasted for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

I am sure her mother expected her to be cooked in a more dignified way, but you must be sure to really stick her butt into the can well so it will not tip over in the oven.

What happens is that the hot beer in the oven bubbles away (this is why you heat it first) and through the neck basks or coats the chicken (this is why you cut off the neck). The beer makes the skin crunchy while alcohol tenderises the meat. How smart. The reason why you should not massage the chicken with oil is because it defeats the whole purpose as the oil does not allow beer to get into the chicken.

While chicken is rocking, our sweet Scruffy offers himself…

We use a microwave oven so I try to stay as far as possible from it, because I have a great phobia for electromagnetic, but for this roast I like to watch the chicken sweat with beer.

And this is what you get!

Skin is crispy and the meat is unbelievably soft. And make sure you keep the left-over in the fridge (ideally breast) because it makes awesome sandwich the next day! Yum!

I love lazy, long Sundays.

For many years I was compelled to keep myself occupied and I rarely sat still.

Thankfully, I have learned to like it (I believe most mindsets can be engineered), and today I have successfully spent an hour by the pool, sipping orange juice on one side and apple juice on the other. What an achievement. Oh, I also tried to read and I felt asleep.

I have large weight fluctuations. People who have not seen me longer than 6 months will say either “Jesus you have put on weight!” or “My gosh you have lost so much weight!” But this has got to end because it is so taxing on one’s body (I range from 45-55Kg, optimum 47Kg). And I have risked myself getting rather huge in the process. The only reason I have not become morbid obese in the past was either break ups or over-working but let’s not go there. But now I am discovering the secrets behind maintaining weight. In short, eat slow and merry and think about what you are eating right now. They are easy things that everybody knows but sometimes we forget them. So I have come up with the reminder with five elements that I will stick to from now on.
As you know, your brain needs approximately 20 minutes to process repletion level. This is why your parents (hopefully) told you to eat slowly. They did not want you to eat fast and end up feeling sick. They were not evil after all huh? This is the key to the first element, Chew our food well and appreciate the taste of the food. When I weigh heavier than I wish, I tend to contemplate on what to eat next. Many of my on-the-chubby-side friends have similar symptoms. So, focus on the NOW.

The second one is closely linked to the first one. Our brain seems to be satisfied more quickly when it hits a certain blood sugar level and gives the signal that the fat gut needs no more food. Chewing well helps increase the level quicker, and we want to make sure we have some glucose and protein in the meal.

Water is said to be the beauty potion. I believe this is so true because I see so many living examples in my family and friends. We can kill two birds with one stone in our third element by having a glass of water before our meal so our skin is more supple and we feel full with less food. When we feel hungry, it is often because we are thirsty, and not because we are actually hungry.

I love the fourth element. Eat lots of bulky vegetables that are low in calories! I love making soups with loads of celeries, bean sprouts, asparagus, mushrooms, carrots, and any vegetable I have in the fridge. I just chuck them into the pot on the heat till they are soft and add water and organic bouillon (vegetable stock cubes) and salt and pepper. It is wonderfully easy and hearty.

Last but not least, I think this applies not only to diet but to our lives. Have balance in life and lead a stress free life. Stress. Oh stress. This evil friend gives me an insatiable appetite. It is not always easy for me to think positively and stress less but I try to solve rather than dwell and let things go. We love to have meals with friends, talking and laughing… It also helps to eat slow.

I hope Scruffy is going to follow these as well.

I really don’t think I can have more salmon meow… zzzzzzz…

This was rather a long introduction, but anyway, I love lazy and long Sundays. I try to be stoic on what I eat during the week and let myself go during the weekend (this is why it needs to be LONG).

In order for a meal to satisfy my tummy yet not to consume whole day preparing, I keep a close relationship with pastas. They are always in my stock shelf. I have a lot of repertoire of pasta, but sometimes, it’s just got to be tuna.

To me the word tuna has a Pavlovian effect. Tuna, reminiscence. Tuna, uni-days. Tuna, the good old days! I am sure I am not the only one here. I think many students depend on this mighty can! Let’s just make sure they are Dolphin free Okay?

I have mentioned I am not a big fan of mayonnaise before but this is an exception. Kewpie mayonnaise. I have to elaborate on this some other time, but let me just tell you this; it is GREAT.

I think the picture is quite self-explanatory, start cooking the pasta (the most important thing is to let loads of water boil to FULL and chuck a good handful of rock salt.) and mix the tuna and onion if you fancy. We love the harshness of the onion but I find many people are not into this. Still onion adds great texture to the dish so try soaking thinly sliced onion in a cup of water for a few minutes. It drains the stinging taste from it. Or you can also do a minute in the microwave.

Once the pasta is cooked, mix them together, and add the key ingredient, the Kewpie mayonnaise. Toss parsley of your choice and grab a good movie and doze off… Bliss!

For tonight I have decided to cook the beautiful Northern African dish; Tajine.

Although I have probably never cooked it ‘the right way’ because I do not use shoulder lamb meat or tajine pot, it has earned quite a positive response from friends.

I love long-cooking dishes, especially when the cooker or oven do most of the job.

So here’s what I put in tonight’s dish.

1 Lamb Cubes, any pieces, better if it’s mixed pieces like fatty bits and bony bits
2 Celery
3 Onion
4 Lemon (not in the picture)
5 Cumin
6 Turmeric
7 Coriander Leaves
8 Black Pepper
9 Olive Oil

In our tiny service apartment, I have one induction cooker. Still I whoop out some good dishes.

But this does mean that I must plan my cooking ahead because I can’t be cooking spaghetti and sauce at the same time.

So first I have combined 5-9 together in a bowl. Then I tossed the meats into the bowl but realised 5 lamb chops and 300g of cubes don’t fit in a tiny bowl so I chucked them into a plastic bag and let them marinade. *in a traditional recipe, they do not tell you to marinade or put turmeric. I like to put anything that tenderises the meat. This means, and this is important, NO SALT. Salt sweats out the jus from meat and as a consequence, you get dry, chewy meat. You might as well eat a jerky if you’re looking for that.

Then I transfer the meats into the biggest pan I could find. On that I squeezed a lemon juice, and chucked the lemon in there as well.

After this you are entitled to 3 hours of freedom, while the meat cooks away in low heat. You don’t need to worry about lamb sticking onto the pan or overcooking. The fat from the lamb melts into the lemon juice and that combination somehow tenderises the meats wonderfully.

After about 2 hours I put a handful of raisins and start frying the onions and celery in another pot (deep fry them if you dare. much better taste) and toss them in and let it cook for another 45 minutes.

What you get in the end is a wonderful soft meat that fall off the bones and crispy vegetable.

You can have it with steamed rice cooked with raisins and drizzle yogurt (sour the better) on it or baguette or any bread. Whatever you have on the side, you cannot forget a nice red wine. For us, choice of the day is Alice White. Since I met this wine in Westin LAX, I am addicted to this reasonable, heart-warming, semi-rich wine.

This is surely not for you if you are trying to lose weight, but it is a great in-bed meal. I like to have it with fingers, make sure you do not have french nail, turmeric will stain it yellow! I should have put a chilli or two to balance the taste out more. I am sure this won’t be the last time I make this.

I am certain I put at least 1.5kg of lamb, I can’t believe everything is gone…