February 2017

Scott and I have been in a frenzy to manifest our hopes and aspirations over the last couple of weeks. I don't want to sound all looney and attribute this to the solar eclipse that happened in late February, but it really feels as though we've been given an energetic push to work on the fresh starts we have been trying to create for ourselves. We've gone into overdrive with our projects, to the point where the weekends are beginning to feel more exhausting than the weekdays – not that we're complaining!

We've gone to Mustafa in Little India on a Sunday night (wouldn't recommend this) to look at Kenwood dough mixers, tried to make 500 bagels (slight exaggeration), attempted to visit all the bakeries along Orchard Road, gone into Art Friend to look at plywood, and even gone to Chinatown to buy a new frying pan; which was distinctively not a wok.

Note to azn girls who may end up marrying a Westerner: keep a private savings account so that you will always have the financial autonomy to buy a wok. Gwai lo will not understand the importance of owning a wok. Taking it as an insult to your heritage, you will not have the patience to explain the value of a wok to gwai lo. (JK! Love u Scotty)

Some pictures from the last couple of weeks. Still brewing that kombucha. Scott's housemates definitely think we are weird now.

We tried to recreate the lamb doner kebab we had in Berlin. I think we did a fantastic job, but it just wasn't the same =(




We went to an organic-friendly farmers' market at Hotel Jen the weekend before last (25 Feb). And then the Social Market at Open Farm Community last weekend (5 Mar). I feel a bit self-conch writing about us going to these events because it feels very White Person with Money, but it was surprisingly not ‘whitewashed’ at all. It was nice to see local fishermen and farmers flaunting their stuff.

There was a cute chubby kid (in yellow) at the Hotel Jen market who was such a good salesman for Naked Greens, we couldn’t help but get insect repellent – made with cloves – from him. There’s another market happening this weekend (11 Mar) at Loewen Gardens that we’re hoping to check out – you should too!


One Saturday we had a really nice brunch for dinner at Amelia's place. We made bagels – first attempt and great success!


We've been quite disciplined about going to yoga once a week. We usually go for the 10am class on Saturdays at the Yogabar, a studio started by Dwi. I like the flow of her sequences and she's very good at adjusting our posture – especially helpful for Scott who is new to yoga. Scott's downward dog is so good now!

After a particularly sweaty class

One night we made tiny food at my cousin's house, which was so strange but really fun!





Inspired by all the shaping and rolling we did the night before, we decided to make sushi for dinner the next day.


We've had sushi night before so it was relatively fuss-free since we had most of the stuff already – sushi rice, bamboo mats, seaweed, miso.

We've also gone and bought more plants. Now we have herbs!

Kombucha

My sister gave us a 10-minute crash course in kombucha brewing a couple of weeks back and let us take home a SCOBY – symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast – each so that we could brew our own at home. If you’re unfamiliar with kombucha, it’s a probiotic-rich beverage that’s been consumed for centuries in China, Japan, Korea, and Russia. The first recorded use of kombucha dates back to 221 BC during the Tsin dynasty in China, where it was known as “The Elix of Immortality.”

It was used for thousands of years to help stimulate metabolism and maintain a healthy immune system. Today, kombucha is on the brink of taking over the avocado as the most “fashion” of all foods, as awareness grows about its ability to increase the effectiveness of natural detoxification processes and replenish vital organic acids and enzymes required by the body for optimal health.

Kombucha is made by fermenting sweetened tea with a SCOBY. In the video, the SCOBY is the whitish, pancake-like blob that Scott drops into the big jar. The fermentation process takes 7-12 days depending on temperature and strength of the SCOBY. It consumes over 90% of the sugar during fermentation, resulting in a low-sugar finished product that tastes very similar to apple cider vinegar.

One evening, we noticed brown streaks and splotches on our SCOBY and were fretting over whether it was mold. We decided to scoop it out of our jar in order to better assess it on a plate. Then I shoved Scott out of the way because his broad shoulders were blocking the light. Like, “MOVE, DUDE!” This shocked both of us because I am usually non-violent – except for the time I bit Scott’s bicep when I got bored while he was reading an article. Ie: he wasn’t giving me enough attention.

As expected, I was unable to draw any conclusions on my own, so Scott had to step in to make the call. He decided that our SCOBY wasn’t moldy. Phew! Putting it back into the jar was no longer an option after all our poking and prodding, so we decided to use it as a face mask. Scott was unsure. But as my mother always says, “anything you can eat, you can definitely put on your face.”