Food For Thought@SAM

Food for thought is a popular place to dine in, for affordable fusion food.

From their tagline "Good Food For A Good Cause", one can probably guess that they are a restaurant that support a course!

Well, they have several causes, and here is one of them that caught my attention:

I like the ambience of the Singapore Art Musuem Branch. It gives a very laidback feel, which is a good place to chill and catch up with friends on a lazy weekday afternoon. 

Food wise, there was nothing in the menu that was particularly special, but do take note that different outlet has their own set of menu.

The baby back ribs were well marinated, cooked to perfection. I dislike eating pork ribs due to bad experiences when the flesh gets stuck in between my teeth. One thing that made eating really pleasant was that more than just juicy and tender meat, the flesh from this baby ribs does not get stucked in between my teeth!

Linguine was flavourful, yet it wasn't too creamy that makes you cringe. The beef slices were not flavourful, more on the chewy side but my jaw does not ache from chewing it (:

Sadly, I did not try the pancakes. I will definitely be back there when I'm near the area! :D

Eating well

A few months back, I started eating healthily and preparing salads and all. I gotta say that I enjoyed it! My mum kept buying so much vegetables that I had to rush myself to finish them so that they won't go to waste if spoilt. However, I've stopped salads for quite some time as it becomes really time consuming - washing, cutting the vegetables, packing them in boxes (if I'm bringing them out). I'm gonna get the engine started again. When I eat salads, many people will say "wah trying to lose weight ah?" or "on diet ah?" It gets on my nerves. Yes, I'm not skinny. I do exercise and eat healthily, but I do not have a weight lost goal/plan in hand. If I do lose weight in the process, I'll be happy. If not, so be it. I'm not doing it for the sake of losing weight (although I've lost some weight and maintained it)

The reason why I started to eat healthily because I realised many times when I'm eating out, they are unhealthy stuff - Bak Chor Mee, Oyster Omelette, Char Kway Teow - which has no vegetables at all or maybe just a few pathetic puny pieces of spring onion as garnish. Even when I buy mixed vegetable rice, I'd be tempted and choose meat dishes. So, whenever I have the chance to eat at home, I'd try to incorporate lots of vegetables to compensate for whatever nutrients that I do not get when eating out. Basically, I wanted a balanced, wholesome meal. Not a diet that I scrimp on carbs and spam protein and stuff, torturing myself along the way. So here are some snippets of what I've done! They look good, tastes good and they ARE good.

Lettuce, Celery, Corn, Tuna (chunks in water). I like chunks in water cos it tastes lighter and chunks is easier to eat. If I'm using it as bread filling, I prefer the tuna mayo.

And whole kernel corn is my ultimate favourite. Open a packet/can of it, store it in air-tight container and you can basically use it for anything. I add them to my instant noodles too (:

Lolla Rossa - I love these but I can rarely get it from the wet market near my house. Only managed to get it from supermarkets. 

Hard Boiled Egg, Cucumber, Lettuce

Potato salad. My best recipe.

A lunchbox salad that I would bring to school

Topped with mock abalone slices

A frozen meat patty is not healthy at all. It is best to use fresh chicken breast. But then again, I hate the hassle. So I use patties. 

Purple cabbage is good because it lasts for very long when properly kept. One purple cabbage 

My salads usually have a main "character".. Any leafy vegetables or one particular vegetable in bigger portion than the rest. Then, depending on what I have in my fridge, I'll add in stuff like carrots, corn, cherry tomatoes, Japanese cucumber, almonds, raisins, cranberries, other fruits, chia seeds etc. These things are important cos it makes the salad interesting, such that you won't eat the same thing all the time!

I even add some beancurd, mushrooms, fish tofu, fish cake etc... Basically ANYTHING (as long as you don't deep fry them I suppose)

The salad dressing is important as well. As you can see, I love japanese salad dressing. The sesame sauce is my weakness. But, it is way too fattening. It is really not worth it to spend the effort to prepare salad, yet you destroy it with the fattening sauce. That said, I can't do without the sauce/dressing. Thus, I tried looking for those that has less fat content and also take note of the ingredients. Some better ones would be Caesar salad dressing, Italian dressing, Red Wine Vinaigrette, Balsamic Vinaigrette (can be oily too). Thousand island and those heavy,creamy stuff is a no no.

I'm sorry this is not the place that you get weight loss motivation or look at pictures of extreme transformation. I did lose weight but that was long ago, way before I started eating salad and it's not enough to motivate someone. HAHA. I'm not losing weight at all after I started my salad diet because I'm also eating crappy stuff for my other meals as usual. I snack on chips and chocolates all the time. I did not replace any meal with salads, but of course the salad makes me full so probably will have my meals drag for longer hours of smaller portion. It is mainly just a supplement. But, having salad often does make me feel good! Remember, the weighing scale is just numbers. You have much more substance than that. Look good, feel good! 

The Summer Break

This vacation is probably the final long one that I'll ever have. I would most likely be graduating next year and  I still have to idea what do I want to do. The only thing that I wish is to find a well-paying job so that I can pay off my study loans asap. 

During the study break before finals, I got bored and started writing a to-do list for my vacation. I penned down things like 'learn how to dive', 'learn how to surf''.

Along the way, things came, I got a part-time job and still giving tuition to several students. My timetable became loaded and 1.5 months of the vacation just flew passed. As much as I wanted to pursue things that I like, I had to earn money. I have barely a year to earn as much as I can before the loans haunt me and the interest kicks in. Studying have never been so stressful. It sucks to be not well-to-do in a developed country.  Yes, I know that the fact that I even have internet access, I should not be complaining but the twenty over thousand loan (or maybe even thirty after adding all those miscellaneous things) just kept surfacing in my mind. Assuming I managed to get a well-paying job that pays me 3k a month and that I can use one-third of it to pay off my loans every month, I would need 30 months to clear that 30k. It's just overwhelming. Of course, there are many out there who don't even have the means for basic education and I shouldn't be making noise about my situation. Shall talk about my job now.

My part-time job is pretty wonderful as I get to meet and speak to people from all walks of life. Just few days back, I visited neighbourhood without any expectation, just doing my job as per normal. I came across several flats that are old and run down. Some are 2 room flats. As I spoke to these residents, I peeked through the gates into their houses. Many of them were run down, dirty, messy. Just a mattress and maybe a table to dine on. No television and certainly no fancy gadgets like Wii or PS. I sympathized with them, yet at the same time, I felt so fortunate (and also shitty for whining about my first world problems). Many of them are not educated, some elderly can barely walk and I even saw handicapped children. Many of them were struggling to make ends meet and could barely have three meal. Some were telling me how difficult it was for them to look for a job because of the leg problem they have or that their vision is blur. It was saddening. I learnt to appreciate that I have clean house to live in, a nice bed and have access to three meals daily. And of course, having a job even though I am just a part-timer.