9Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Food is well, one of the three basic necessities that human being require to practically live. The other two are, water and oxygen (air).

I can't live without good food. I've practically grew up in a family where we spare no expense in serving up the best food there is to offer and where everyone knows how to appreciate food and not just gobble them down in a sitting, something like wine appreciation. It's like, going clubbing, most of us just down glass after glass of champagne and go tipsy, we don't even care about the history of the wine or champagne, we just want to get high, am i right?

Sometimes, learning about the food you eat just enhance the whole experience. Go and find out more of the process of how certain food is made, the varieties and the history behind it and you'll learn more about them and well, you can boast to your friends next time at the dinner table, like, oh you know that kay chap right? .... etc etc. Or maybe after you find out how meat is processed, you'll never have another piece of meat again and go vegetarian. Yay!

So, ok, the first thing you'll picture good food to be, would be perhaps, gourmet selections like caviar, foie gras, truffles and don't be surprised, cheese. Haha. Or perhaps, in the local flavour, shark's fin, abalone and so on and so forth. Well, to me, good food doesn't have to restrict itself to such a smattering of choices. I would die if i were to pay thousands to have caviar and foie gras everyday. Wait a minute, i don't even LIKE foie gras, it taste's like some bland over rated ham. Ok ok, shoot me, all of you goose-liver fanatics. It's more of my own taste and preferences.

My grandmother lives the life. She's got everything she wants and need but peculiar her still goes to the wet market in the wee hours of dawn to get her groceries and she's the queen of bargain. I used to gape my jaws when i accompanied her to the market once. She and the grocer were haggling like there was no tomorrow, over a couple of cents. Well, value for money and my grandmother is picky about the quality of food, just like any particular Singaporean, Kiasu la.

Every Sunday, my family would go to my grandmother's and she would serve up the best local fare and sometimes odd foreign dishes. Once my uncle brought back caviar from Europe that costed a couple of thousands of smackeroos and i was like biting into fish eggs that costs $50 per spoonful. Ouch! But, it's a delicacy and I know how to appreciate it. My brother on the other hand, is like a vacuum machine, he gobbles up everything, the value doesn't matter. Haha. But you know amazingly, he knows how to appreciate goose liver. I can't. So, it's fair.

In terms of local fare, i'm totally in love with Laksa and Katong Laksa is like my all-time favourite, any friend of mine will know. You can always bribe or please me with a bowl of katong laksa, with huge chunks of prawns, but mai hum please =D Prawn Mee too! There's a shope at Balestier that my Dad once took me too and they sold one of the best prawn noodles and they had the DA XIA, big prawns version and i really love it to bits. There's another one i know at Lavender which is always yummy! As you can see, i love prawns alot. I really do and well, it's cousin too, lobster, but as you notice, i totally abhor hum. One of my friends said, if i didn't eat my laksa with hum, i wasn't eating laksa, i couldn't be bothered. Haha!

So, what i'm trying to say is that I love seafood. I can die without having my daily dose of prawn and sotong and i'm addicted to raw salmon, and that's why i'm addicted to sushi too. You have to give it to the Japanese for introducing this delicacy to the world. At least 8 out of 10 of my friends are pro-sushi lovers, if not, Japanese food lovers.

Sad to say though, the standards set in most japanese dining establishments in Singapore cater to the more local taste. Who would accept some cucumber and corn sushi in Japan? It's uncalled for and a disgrace to Japanese honour.

But, back to the point, i love seafood, wait i said that before right? Oh nevermind, what's wrong with saying it again. Ok, moving on... erm... oh, i don't like oysters, clams and all those shelly blahs. I just don't know why. My mom,dad and brother are fans of shellfish. I can't understand why. Everytime they gorge down on live oysters, i just pray i don't puke on them, maybe i was adopted into the family. I'm so weird.

Being someone who appreciates food, i'm a very fussy one. Seriously. If i don't like what i see, i'll just shove it away. I try alot of new delicacies but it takes some persuasion and convinving before i do try them out, it's a hard task introducing food to me. Just like what i said, oysters. Impossible, and amazingly, i can eat escargot. Doesn't make any sense, i guess its all just a matter of preference.

I don't like durian. I'm 1/4 Japanese and 3/4 mongolian what! I'm not local. Shoot me for not being patriotistic enough! But wait wait, i love chiken rice! Haha =X

You know what, i guess my 38.7 degree fever know isn't giving me any chance to talk any sense. I wanted to start a sensible topic on food appreciation and the difference perceptions people see with regards to food but i ended telling a grandmother story. Heh.

But well, just to cut it to the point. Like i said, i'm a fuss yeater. I appreciate food but sometimes, ok ok, ALL THE TIME, i waste food just because i don't like this or that of the food or like KFC, i don't like this part of the chicken so i don't eat.

I'm very guilty with the fact that i have so many choices of food that i become very spoilt with the selection of food. When i eat beef, i only eat american grade a beef or none. That's it.

You know, when my uncle bought hundreds of dollars worth of wagyu beef, he hid it well in his fridge to prevent anyone from taking them and the very next day, the maid just happened to chance upon the beef and just mix them with normal beef and served them for dinner. My uncle almost cried.

And my mom. she lves organic apples. She bought a few expensive apples and she set it aside from all the otehr apples and my maid just mix them up too. My poor mother spent the whole night sorting her apples out. Haha.

So, beef is still beef, apples are still apples. The hired help come from countries where food is scarce and to them food is food. There is no good food, so-so food or bad food, as long as it's edible, they just vacuum everything down, similiar to my brother, only that his is turned on to the max. Don't say i'm being mean, he said so himself!

I'm trying to stop being a picky-eater because yes, people keep on saying, we waste alot of our food each single day and i'll try to eat my KFC chicken to the bone the next time. I will try to stop over-ordering, that's a habit that i have, my mom does that too, my dad is always complaining how we always buy too much and then don't finish it. Well, he has the right to nag now i guess. And whatmore, eating a huge variety of food will give you a more balanced diet and of course, in turn, provie you with a healthier life style. Imagine that. eat different types of food constantly and you'll be healthy! It really works, fussy eater are usually malnourished.

But please, don't go overboard, when you drop your food on the floor, PLEASE DISPOSE of them. I do drop my candies on the floor once in a while and i'll just give it a huff-puff and i'll start chwing them but please don't do that to food like chicken meat. it's gross. A little common sense please!

So, i don't want to bore you with my boring entry, let me conclude, learn how to appreciate your food, get a little history of the food your eating, general knowledge you know and try to taste more of the world. You get to taste more and you'll get healthier from variety and, never waste food, it's a sin to do that. God gave us food when we need it it. It's a necessity, it is not a luxury. Accept food with grace =) (no, i'm not christian...)

Btw, you know what? Suddenly, my friend, Derek popped into my mind again. He's like always in my mind, i'm very irritated by him, i feel like flushing him down my brain, no not because he is CHAO-DA BLACK, but of the sentence he said. We have to learn to walk the talk. Now, everytime, I make new resolutions, self-promises or create tasks, i always think about that. I cannot delude myself, all say and no action is the worst thing you can do. Most politicians are like that. So, when i just said that i'll try to finish to finish my KFC chicken i'll walk the talk and i'll do it. Ok. maybe doesn't make any sense to you but i'll just blog it down anyway, hopefully someone will understand.

THE END. Please rate and comment on my rubbish entry when you're free! THANK YOU! Bye =)
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