Back On My Feet Again

Been trying to track my nutritional habits since the beginning of the month - Type of food, serving-size, nutritional content & time of consumption. Managed to record the details in my planner diary up till the middle of the month. It was then I decided that I would just adopt(as much as possible) the first two weeks' eatting patterns; and record only those extra-ordinary meals for the rest of the month. Being able to review these meal-time records has helped me control my intake of unhealthy food somewhat. I'm aiming to limit my fried-food intake to one meal a week. More greens, fruits and nuts for phytonutrients, soluble fibre and good-fats to combat bad cholesterol.

Adding on to the 2-pronged-strategy for cholesterol-lowering is my return to running. Long-distance running training that is. I signed up for the 2008 Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon(SCSM) on the first day registration opened. Going for the full 42.125km run this time round. Unfortunately, this time I won't have the honour of accompanying Jo. She decided not to do the full marathon to avoid stressing her knees further. (She suffered an inflamation in her knee joint about a month b4 last year's 21km) Also, come August, she'll be having her hands full with her Masters in Counselling at NIE. It might require some effort for us to meet each other; let alone make time to train for long distances together. Still, I guess I'll see her; and some of my Cell-mates whom she's going for 10km with, at the finish-line.

With possibly (the final lap of) studies on the horizon too, this season I'm entering some crucial events in life's race. Must continuously thank God and honour those who gave - of themselves - so I could get back on my feet again.

You are what you Eat

The old adage never sounded this omnimous. Today, I was presented with lab results of my blood sample from two weeks before. The doctor's comments were all too familiar sounding: "Look fit and healthy... must watch what you eat..." "Can consider starting on medication... Have time on your side..." "Avoid anything finger-licking good". Yes, the fats.. er, facts are in: My cholesterol level remains High. For comparison, here are some figures from Singapore Heart Foundation:

My recent(June'08) blood lipid profile read:
HDL: 1.27 (49)
Total: 7.21 (278)
My LDL from Nov'05: 5.14 (199)

Generally speaking, LDL is "bad" cholesterol that can cause heart disease by clogging arteries. HDL is "good" cholesterol that "cleanses" arteries by transporting fat and LDL deposits back to the liver for breakdown. Read this for more insight on cholesterol.

My total cholesterol hasn't got any better since I first got it checked back in Aug'03 when the reading was 6.45 (249). I am genetically predisposed to having high cholesterol as my father and a number of my paternal relatives are. I recently learnt that cholesterol is actually produced within our bodies; and that high cholesterol levels are actually influenced more through the consumption of "bad" fats rather than by dietary cholesterol(foods such as eye yolks, seafood) alone. (Both Sat-fat and Trans-fat raise LDL levels, but Trans-fat apparently packs a second punch by reducing HDL!) My problem is possibly due to a diet containing too much saturated/trans fat; and perhaps a genetically overactive liver producing more LDL than average as well.

Though I've been generally conscious about my food choices all along, I guess it's about time to really start monitoring what, when and how much I eat. (O_o)*Knowing-look from the girlfriend comes to mind* Fish/bean/soy protein over lean meats when I can help it. Fruits, eaten whole for added fibre. High-fibre carbo alternatives wholemeal bread, oats, brown rice, beans, sweet potato. Fat-reduced dairy products. Avoid food high in saturated fat(deep-fried, milky, creamy, buttery stuff) and trans fat(hydrogenated oils, shortening). Scrutinise "Nutrition Facts" on the packaging before purchasing/consuming processed foods. Exercise regularly. (Research suggests regular aerobic activity increases HDL levels!)

Must remain motivated to this cholesterol-lowering cause; lest I leave my loved-ones prematurely.
Accept the fact. Fight the fats.

Brown Rice Special

Here's what I worked with that serves 2persons:

• 1 cup * brown rice
  
• 6 circular slices * pineapple
• 7cm * fat sausage
• 2 * eggs
  

Artistic process:

1. Cook brown rice in pot
   with (+/-) 2 * cups H2O.
   Bring to boil in (+/-)15min and leave to simmer off the stove.
2. Slice sausage and dice pineapple slices. Pre-heat pan or wok.
3. Neglect pineapple slices temporarily.
   Distribute sausage slices on pan and stir-fry evenly till crisp(or
   according to personal preference of done-ness) Remove from pan.
   
4. Scramble eggs in pan.
   Remove and set aside.
5. Scoop brown rice from pot to pan(if large enough) or wok
   Stir fry for a while in medium-heat (not till rice gets dryer/browner)
   Toss in pineapples to the fry; distributing evenly over the rice.
   Continue to stir-fry just long enough for pineapple warm-up to and to mingle amongst rice.
   
6. Add sausage and egg.
   Stir the whole-lot till well-mixed.
7. Serve before guests start fighting over appetizer-scraps.

Some tips to enhance your artistic-experience:

• Have paper-towels or tissue handy at all times; unless you prefer extra "seasoning" in your masterpiece
• Stir-fry with flair by varying your skillet stir-strokes. Broad strokes reveal the chef's confidence whilst short quick ones signify his/her fine attention to detail.
• Wow your guests even more by tossing the whole stir-fry lot in the air with a flick of the pan-handling wrist, simultaneously executing a pirouette, and finally catching the art-work back safely in pan.
• In case of emergency, have the pizza-man's telephone number handy.
  Michelangelo's anyone?
  

Easy Dinner

Mom was eager to catch last episode of TV-serial this evening.
She asked if I would go buy us takeaway-dinner. I asked Dad and
he said. "Why not we cook something. There're things in the fridge and freezer right?"
I thought about it. Then remembered that we got a bottle of olive oil not long ago; and I had wanted to try cooking stuff with with it! Aha! I'll use the frozen fish, some tomatoes and whatever else I can find.

Fresh ingredients into the fry:
20mins later, my creation was ready to be served:
"Pan-fried Dory-fillet with Tomato-apple sauce"












Chef's comments:
-Fish was fragrant with olive oil and coarse black-pepper seasoning.. (now i think almost anything cooks nicely with olive oil (^^)
- Fried tomatoes were bursting with olive-oil enhanced juices
- Fried apples were tender and tasted like "apple-pie filling"
- Tomato-Apple sauce that resulted from frying the two ingredients was yummy! (^^)

Hope u're not feeling too hungry now.. :p

MOIF2: Give Thanks

MOIF2:"Give Thanks"
Meditations over Italian Food - 2 "Give Thanks"
This Week, the Boss "Alex" is back after spending a few weeks
back home in Italia.

So on Sat evening:
"Hello David, nice to see u here again!" he said as he toted his
document bag to the bar counter. He gave a warm smile that
i'd not seen often in the past months of work there.
Perhaps he was surprised to see me back at work again.
"Hi Boss!", I replied, smiling politely to convey my thanks.

Later tt evening:
The rest. was packed frm abt 7pm to 9pm..
Scurrying between Kitchen & Dining Area was the order of tt
night. I recall clearly the following:

Table2:
Asian-Caucasian family dining. 2 Adults, 2 Kids.
The caucasian father looked like Robin Williams wearing a crew-cut
with a physique made not for comedy, but for Rugby Union or WWE.
They intially sat themselves at a small square table which was only
as wide as the father's shoulder-width.
They thanked us when we suggested they shift to a bigger one.
Later, even that bigger table was filled to the edge with
a seafood casuola and 2 pizzas. Imagine the clutter and inconvenience
tt the small square table might have caused.
Their 2 kids thanked me for serving them water.

Table 3:
Indian family of 5.
Very appreciate of us joining 2 small squares to make a bigger
table for them. Even more appreciative when their order was served.
A humorous occurance:
I happen to pass-by their table. With water jug in hand,
I turn to see if they needed a refill. My next glance saw
the father "air-lifting" a slice of Prosciutto e Funghi pizza over
from the plate in the middle; towards his son's.
In mid-air, a misbehaving bulb of mushroom
did a Parachut e Funghi straight INTO the father's glass.
Tt dive would have beaten the Chinese to the Gold in Athens.
The father and his family were visibly amused and thanked
me for offering to change the poo.. er, glass of water.

Kitchen:
Skipping through the swing-doors with plates of leftovers,
I proceed to help swipe remnants and morsels off the plates
into the bin; before handing them over to the new dishwashing
lady. I'm afraid i don't know her name yet so
i just say, "Thank you, Aunty!"
As she smiled and thanked me, I realised how much a word
of appreciation could lift one's spirit despite a stuffy working environment
and an almost endless stream of dirty dishes.

Closing time:
The night was tiring but most of the customers were
really nice people. None of the sort spoken of in the earlier
post:
http://weirong.blogspot.com/2004/12/meditations-over-italian-food.html
We had Spagetthi Bolognese for supper.. (Phew, no clams at last!)
I slung my bag over a tired back and said my good-byes.
Boss, in a seeming good mood, replied,
"Thank you, David! Really good to see you around again! Ciao~"
No, he wasn't drunk, but sincere - like a friend giving thanks.

Meditations over Italian Food

Meditations over Italian Food
Waiter's Woes

Most of you all already know that myself, Zhiwei and Eunice are working in an Italian restaurant. So, this is just a little sharing space for the 3 of us to let you know the on-goings of our evenings spent there. (By the way, Daniel & Mandy once worked there for 2 weeks quite a while back.)

Al Forno East Coast is a nice little(medium) restaurant located on a nice little stretch of nice restaurants along nice and quiet East Coast Rd. So much so that you'd expect nice Italian food to be served to you once you step into our nice dining environment.

The boss is an Italian expatriate we know as Alex. The pizza chef we call Rado used to play for Tampines Rovers in the S-League. The 2 main chefs in the kitchen are Uncle Alvin(a S'porean) and Gigi, an Italian expat too{not Gigi Leung(HK actress with e cute smile)}. They are generally nice people.

The working environment there is nice too. The boss and the chefs are very friendly towards the staff; I would say even, openly affectionate towards the female staff. Hugs and all. The girls (except Eunice) seem cool with tt. The staff help each other out; so everything's nice.

Everything's nice(at least to me). Really!
Up to this point.
(You were waiting for this next part, weren't you?)

The customers are the ones who make or break our nice little $7/hr effort every evening. MOST of them are nice...
SOME of them friendly and appreciative....

The REST... make me feel that:

1. The nice A-Maths teacher who made me stand in the parade square for my unsubmitted tutorial was a nice lady who cared for me.
2. The friendly Platoon Sergeant who yelled expletives to me & my fellow recruit-peers was trying his best to introduce us to Army-speak in the friendliest manner he knew.
3. The nice Vongole(clams) that we cook, is(are) thankful to be dead already b4 being served in a bowl before these customers(the REST). If served live, they would die of pity for the waiter/ess waitering the table. Those that make it through the sympathy stage eventually try to drown themselves in the white wine sauce when they run out of tears to shed for us. Even after being chewed and swallowed, I suspect that they(the clams) long to be excreted(in collaboration with nicely expensive laxative a.k.a. dessert) from the filthy disgestive system that energise these people who do a nice job of appreciating service staff as one would appreciate his pet dog pooping on the sofa. It follows that the calms are probably grateful to Al Forno for providing nice, soft toilet paper that accompanies them from one filthy dark hole into another nicer, clearer porcelain bowl as well.

So, back to the main point:
So far, everything is nice, working at Al Forno East Coast.

"Thank you for dining with us!"
Period.

P/S: Pardon the graphic depictions abt the clams. Hope u had your dinner already :)