Healthy lifestyle and new hobby

This post has been sitting in my draft for quite some time because I want to finish my Bali post. I still have one or two more posts on Bali but I wanted to blog about what I have been up to lately. I was browsing the internet one day and randomly Googled cold pressed juice after seeing so many posts of cold presses juices in Instagram.

So, that's how I joined the healthy juice bandwagon. I'm not ashamed to admit that I started to do my own juicing because the color of the juice and the cute glass bottles. It is so cute and Instagram-worthy. But the icing on the cake, it is healthy.

This is my one week of juice supplies. I love pineapple, oranges, green apple, red apple and ginger in my juice. When I first started, I copied the juice recipes from Crazy Vegan Kitchen. I can't believe I didn't start this earlier because it is so easy. Basically, you just mix together fruits that you fancy or if you want a specific health benefits, you can search some recipes online. 

My recipes are varies based on what I have in my kitchen or what I can get from the supermarket or Sunday Market (Farmer Market). Sometimes it depends on my budget too because some fruits are crazy expensive.

Oranges, blueberries, apple and beetroot. I only bought beetroot once because I don't like the taste of it.

Leftover beetroot, apple and oranges. Sometimes I use grapefruits which is amazing for weight loss.

My favorite are pineapple, oranges and apples because it taste naturally sweet and refreshing.

This was my first ever juices. From left to right is dragon fruits+apples+oranges, carrot+oranges+ginger and pineapple+oranges+green apple.

This was recently when I was experimenting with other fruits such as blueberry, beet root and strawberry. The verdict, I prefer the cheap fruits one because 1) cheap 2) taste good 3) ingredient easily available.

Since I started juicing, I am suddenly very interested in glass bottles. I have at least 8 glass bottles in different sizes and I got them all at Super Save which is ridiculously cheap at RM2.80 each. Above is my loot sometimes ago and I spotted the cute cupcake case and icing nozzles which started my another hobby.

Which is baking!

The above was my first try. Taste wise it was good but a little too sweet but the icing was super sweet till I had to scrape it all off because eating the cupcake. It was Oreo and chocolate cupcake and the recipe is from CupcakeJemma. 

Before frosting. It looks rather ugly but really yummy. 

If you are a long time reader of my blog, you will know that this is not my first attempt in baking. I baked cupcake with my sister back in 2010 and it is a total failed attempt. You can read it here. This time I followed the recipe closely and with the visual aid from Youtube, I finally  made it. Hahahaha I make it sounds like a big achievement. 

It is to me anyway!

Seriously, I'm so happy that my cupcake is a success. Sigh, look at the things that excite me these day. This is what happened when you reach mid twenty. Since the cupcake is a big success, I feel like I'm up for another challenge.

Baking my own white bread loaf!

This recipe is from BakingMad which is my new favorite site. They have thousand of recipes for baking and desserts. I even made my own ice cream from the recipe there. 

The white bread loaf was alright. If I left the mixture to rise according to the recipe, I'm sure it will be soft and fluffy. But I was too excited to wait for 4 hours for the yeast to rise. Moral of the story, there is no shortcut in making bread. 

My loots from Jaya Grocer in KLIA 2 when I came back from my work trip last month. You can tell that I'm serious about baking when shopping for baking supply is on top of my priority now.

The pre mixed gluten free red velvet cupcake. It came out good but the taste is so bad. Not sure whether it has something to do with the gluten free or not but we don't like it.

I bake almost every weekend but of course not every attempts are success. 

Look at my failed Oreo and chocolate cupcake.

I used the same recipe but I didn't pay much attention in mixing the ingredients therefore the catastrophe. Lesson learnt, must pay attention next time.

Continue from my juicing experience, I also started to make overnight oats too. A small step to my healthy lifestyle.

The only downside to healthy eating is the cost of it. My loots above costs me more than RM150 and the fresh produce can only last me for a week. Why so expensive T___T

My overnight oat.

It is super easy to make. Literally less than 5 minutes. Just layer everything and toss it in the fridge, All ready to eat the next day. Ingredients are rolled oat, yogurt (preferable Greek yogurt), milk and fruits. Can use blueberry, strawberry, mango or even dried raisin. Then top it off with chia seeds. Only need to drizzle a bit of honey before consuming. 

I love the convenience and been having it most morning. It is more filling than smoothie for me. 

Hopefully this healthy eating thing will become my habit in the near future.

I can handle this

Are you sick of my Phnom Penh post yet? Fret not, I have a lot more to come hahahha. And I'm still talking about my second day there after 3 blog posts. It was definitely an eye opening experience for me and of course I have a lot to talk about. But I'll save that for another post. Right now, I just want a break from my travel post and just jot down how I currently feel like.

I don't know how to describe my feeling but it is negative. This whole week I have been feeling down for no reason or for the slightest things ever. It doesn't help either that there is a lot of complains in my work place. Surrounded by people complaining everyday drained my spirit and energy quicker than anything else.

I really hope the mood swing is just PMS. The timing is about right. But then I really hope it come faster because I will go on an exciting trip this month end. I am really looking forward for the break plus it will be my first solo trip and I have been planning this for over a year. At least there is something to look forward to.

Before I pack my suitcase and enjoy myself, I have a big work event this whole week. Everyone in the company are involved and the upper management people are coming down for this too. So, it is quite a stressful week ahead but it is okay. I can handle this.

Current wish

Throwback to 2 months ago when the bestie was back 

I have been trying to cook a lot back in Feb/March. The inspiration came in when I was bore one day, so I was on Youtube watching random videos and ended up watching some cooking channels. Everything they did on camera seem so easy. Add in a tiny bit of salt for taste they said. I added mine, it was tasteless. Add a little more and it was too salty ='=

My current favorite dish to cook. Aglio olio seafood. So easy and quick to make. The only downside with pasta dish is the pasta itself takes quite some time to cook. But I can whip this up less than 10 minutes if minus the pasta cooking time.

I tried making mash potatoes the other day and dare I say, it was sooooo good and super easy too. Same goes to my roast chicken and baked fish. If you notice I only love making western dish. It is because it is easy, quick and almost fool proof. The chinese dish and others are quite hard, at least for a beginner like me and time consuming. 

Went to celebrate Sara birthday at the new cafe, Horisen One Cafe last week. Hoe was performing there too. There are so many new cafes popping out in Sibu lately that I can't even keep up with. Horisen One is good but it was hot as it is open air, thus no aircond. Which leads to mosquitoes ='=

Food wise, the price is okay but there are still room for improvement in their food.

Our side profile are definitely our best side. lololol

The day I've decided to cook birthday dinner for my mom

So, someone turned 47 27 over the weekend.

woot woot!

Happy birthday mummy!

Instead of our usual dining out to celebrate, this year I've decided to cook for all of us.

It was an impromptu decision. I was doing grocery shopping with my sister and we came to the frozen aisle where I spotted a whole chicken and remember a roast chicken recipe that I had been wanting to try.

Brother and sister were missing here because they're out of town.

Our spread for the night.

On the menu are roast chicken, grilled bacon satay, tofu and veggies soup, kangkong goreng which was not featured here, cincalok omelette and mash potatoes.

Everything were mixed and match.

The verdict for the dinner from my mom:

1) Roast chicken - Good

2) Tofu and veggies soup - Good

3) kangkong goreng - should have trimmed off more of the stems

4) cincalok omelette - too salty because too much cincalok

5) Grilled bacon stay - totally failed because it was very salty and not crispy

6) mash potatoes - Good

Oh well, at least I've tried and kinda falling in love with cooking.

My star dish of the night. We licked it clean. The skin didn't turned out the way I wanted it to be, crispy brown but it was really good.

I guess the key to a great roast chicken is the marinate and cooking time.

Will share the recipe next time if anyone keen.

Weekend in Bintulu

I went to Bintulu with the bf and his parents last weekend. It was rather an impromptu plan because I was supposed to go to Kuching with my family to visit my brother but my dad cancelled last minute.

It was a super early car ride as early as 4am. fml. I hate early morning car ride like this because it it 1) too early, literally at the break of the dawn. 2) too sleepy even though I'm not the one whom driving. Anyway, I slept for the whole 3 hours ride despite being grumpy due to the interrupted sleep.  

Kuching laksa at Bintulu for breakfast

After breakfast we went back to his sister's house to rest and I continued napping until noon. Best feeling ever to wake up with full energy.

A cheeky selfie with the cheeky monster

We hang around the house chitchatting for awhile when suddenly his mom blurted out "难怪你们会肥咯，你们家没有镜子" hahahahha 

She was actually looking for mirror because she wanted to check her hair out but couldn't find out and blurted that one out. 

A selfie at the beach

The usual evening activity everytime I'm in Bintulu is to go to the beach. Nothing has changed though. 

There are the reflexology path located at the playground and we were eager to try that one out. Fml super painful to walk on the uneven stone surface bare foot. Haih, I'm really not healthy as I thought I am.

We got woken up as early as 7.30am the next day for church service. Having less than 5 hours of sleep, I remained grumpy for the second day. Furthermore, I was woken up by the monster pulling my hair wtf. 

We joined his family for church service, I use the term joined loosely because if not forced, both of us won't be going. We slept around 2am the night before and I got woken up by a child. Lack of sleep + woken up rudely = not a good way to start the day.

I was so sleepy during the mass that I didn't catch what the priest was trying to deliver. To be honest, I don't like being forced for church service because I know my heart won't be in it and I will not pay attention. That's why I only go to church on my own term, when I know I'm ready to focus rather than trying to fight my sleepiness. 

Bare face because no time to get ready

We were supposed to go back to Sibu in the afternoon but 5 mins before getting in the car, someone suggested that we go fruit picking in the orchard and barbeque at night. I wanted to go home for dinner with my family because my bro will fly back to his uni the next day (monday) but what to do. I don't want to be wet blanket for everyone.

Jungle trekking in style

I have no appropriate outfit and extra top so I just went like that. The orchard was located on a hill and it was tiring. 

Face almost as red as my shoes wtf

Can you spot the fruits on this tree? There are more than 20 fruits there.

Trip back home is another day of waking up at the crack of dawn. We left Bintulu at 4am and it was pouring rain. But I had good 3 hours of sleep and only waking up when they reached my house at 7.30am. 

I took my shower and dashed to work afterward. Still made it on time for work #achievementunlock

So that's how I spent my last weekend,

Thai Food | Sushi Tie | Baba & Siam

I'm still on the look out for a nice and authentic Thai food in my hometown but to no avail. The tomyam doesn't taste the same and I miss it so much. There was once I have this crazy idea to just go back to Bangkok to have their food once again for a weekend. Since I still couldn't find one that meet the standard, I try to create one. Well, with my domestic skill, you should have know the result without me telling you.

 Found this awesome cube at my local supermarket which ease up my Thai food craving

The ingredients to recreate the taste. It was close but did not hit home.

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I always love breakfast but often find myself torn between looking good for work or feeling energized to start the day ahead. I admit that I'm vain so yeah, I spent most time in the morning making myself look good and only sip a cup of milk tea before rushing out for work.

Most of the time, I just ate hard boiled egg since it is super easy to boil. Takes only 1 minute to put the water and egg in the pot. Can do make up or drying hair while waiting for it to boil.

But on weekend, I love to treat myself well. Scrambled egg, bananas and smoke bacon and of course my tea.

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I have this weird craving thing which goes like I will crave for certain food this week, another food next week and the circle will just goes round. The usual craves are sushi, spaghetti, pizzas and tomyam.

 First time trying ramen at Sushi Tie. 

And these are my usual spread at Sushi Tie

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On Labor Day is actually is my sister birthday, so as usual, we went out for celebration. Location this time is Baba & Siam Cafe. I used to frequent this cafe a lot last year until they closed down their branch at downtown. Since then, I kinda forget about this place until recently.

The food was a disappointment to all of us. They used to have great food but now everything just mediocre. However, their service still up to par. It is a great place for hang out but not to dine, I guess.

My sister's cake

This is the true scene when we were out dining, everyone were on their phones except my mom. #truestory.

Failed Carbonara

So, I attempted to make creamy carbonara today. I had all of my ingredients ready except bacon because there's no supermarket that sell one in Sibu or it's me whom do not search enough.

I typed in "how to make creamy carbonara" in Youtube and found one that look simple enough.

Boiled, whisked, mixed and everything is ready.

Pfffttt, it's a lie. They lied or again, it's me whom can't cook at all. I refused to believe the latter.

I prepared everything as instructed.

Cooking cream, checked.

Egg, checked.

Parmesan cheese, checked.

Pepper, checked.

In the end, my so called carbonara is tasteless. 

Thank God I bought a ready made sauce.

Heated it up and poured it over my tasteless carbonara. 

I wonder when will I ever master the art of cooking. 

Numerous tries and I still failed.

Even my bf can cook better than me.