20/10/15 | Cooking again, Law of Attraction

My attempt in making Jap food, Ochazuke, Salmon and Shimeji with butter sauce

If you're following me on Instagram or Facebook, you'll notice that I'm re-posting pictures on my blog. But whatever, I don't really have much pictures to upload anyway. If you've never heard of Ochazuke, you'll probably want to try it out. Pretty simple to make, the ingredients are readily available in supermarkets (rice crackers, salmon, instant jap seasoning powder which has seaweed, sesame seed and seasoning in it). You'll probably want to eat it with short-grained rice (yum yum). I also tried to re-create the grilled mushroom which I order almost every time when I patronize Sushi Zanmai. I failed miserably. It seems like I was missing some ingredient because it just didn't taste as good as the ones they make. I wonder if I'm missing something.... Maybe some mirin will help, will try next time. 

Ochazuke Recipe by Japanese Cooking 101

Shimeji Mushroom with Butter Recipe by Food52

I've actually been cooking a lot lately since I'm living out of home now. Plus, I'm cooking for two person so that makes things so much easier. I don't have to finish all the food by myself now *Tears of joy*. It's fun, I mean buying groceries, planning what to cook and actually cooking things. I'm trying to cook more traditional Chinese dishes lately. I've only cooked mostly easy oven baked stuff in the past. Though it does take up a lot of my time when I'm doing it. Time really flies! 

Since I'm on this topic, I want to talk more about it. LOL. So, right now, my daily schedule looks like this.

6.10am/6.30am - Wake up and get ready(/some times, prepare meals)

7.05am - Go out of the house, walk 500m to bus stop, take the bus

8.00am - Arrive near company, walk 500m to company

5.30pm - Finish work, exit company on the dot

6.40pm - Reach home, cook

7.00pm - (Some times, when I am in the mood) Jog/Pilates

8.00pm - In between 8 and 11, I'm always doing something. Non-stop. E.g. Wash clothes, shower, clean room, prepare for tomorrow's meal if possible, wash kitchen utensils, crocheting, hobby, games, etc.

11.00pm/11.30pm - Sleep

I used to be able to sleep for 8 hours per day but as of now, if I am lucky and don't have anything to do/don't want to do it, I can have a good 7 hours of sleep but usually that's not the case. Because for me, I need a few mins more after I lie down on the bed to truly sleep. But lately it's been easier, from 30 mins (transitioning from conscious to sleep) to 5 mins tops.

And then it gets worse when I have to go back to Malaysia for the weekends. In that case, my schedule looks like this.. 

5.30pm - Finish work, escape from company on the dot. 

6.30pm - Arrive at Kranji Station, buy some food to eat and queue for 170 bus

7.30pm - Finally able to get on the bus (YES, the bus queue is that long). Go to Woodlands Checkpoint, queue for passport check, queue again for bus, go to JB Custom, queue for passport check, queue again for bus to Larkin, buy bus ticket back Seremban. A lot of queuing. 

9.30pm-10.30pm - Bus from Larkin to Seremban (if we are lucky, we can get the early one, but it depends on our luck)

12am/2.30am - Arrive in Seremban. As you can see the time can vary a lot here because it depends on how efficient your bus driver is. Just last week, I experienced a really bad one. We bought the 10pm bus trip back, but the bus was 30 mins late, then the driver decided to wait at the bus station for 10 more mins, drove to the petrol station, stayed static there for another 15 mins (or perhaps longer), and then arrived at Seremban at 2.30am.................... Now you know how important it is to have a good bus driver which is on time and is able to drive efficiently. 

Imagine this happening for 5 weeks straight for me, because I'm been going back and forth for every weekend. Most of the time, I was lucky as there is always somebody fetching me from Larkin to Seremban or Larkin to Singapore. Therefore, skipping the need to queue up 3x. Like I said, it depends on luck. 

A quote which left a strong impression on me

I've been also having an emotional breakdown lately. I don't really want to talk about it since it's very personal. This quote gave me a really good reality slap. It tells me that I am in a deep shit because I allow that to happen. I always have the choice to confront that shit everyday or just bail the fuck out. Whatever that makes me happy. I know some times it's always easier said than done but the fact is that it really is that simple.

The quote above was actually quoted from Michael Losier, the writer of Law of Attraction. I was in a full-day seminar last Saturday. Honestly, I was quite skeptical about joining this seminar (plus it is also quite expensive but in the end, somebody sponsored me). Before I can say no, he signed me up. 

Once in a lifetime opportunity to take a selfie?

The 9am-5pm seminar didn't really felt like an 8 hours seminar. Because we had like 3 breaks in between. The seminar was interesting. Some of the things he said is quite obvious, but surprisingly, not many people are aware of it and does not know how to use it. I actually have three books related to something like this (The Secret, The Power, and The Magic by Rhonda Byrne). I've only managed to read a few pages of each book. LOL. You know why? Because the books seems so repetitive, so I lost my interest in continuing/finishing the books after awhile. Plus all three of them preaches almost the same thing. 

"You have to believe it, then it will happen. You have to have gratitude then everything you wish for will come true. You have to believe it. Believe it, that is the power. Think about achieving it, then you will. Blah blah blah..." Very repetitive, but I guess that's one of the point of the book. Fact, people have to hear your message seven times before they remember it. But in this case, I think it's more than 100 times.  

And now, we have two more books to add into that collection (thanks Michael). Well, I only skimmed through the books, but it looked quite interesting as it has exercises and training on how to apply LOA into our daily lives. At least, it's more interesting than just preaching for 200 pages (Sorry Rhonda, just my two cents). 

At Betty's Midwest Kitchen

I bet I have uploaded and talked about Betty's in my blog for like several times but still, they have the best mash potatoes ever. Dog food again, is a must when visiting Betty's. And as always, we ate until our stomach was on the verge of bursting. As for dessert, we bought the very awesome chocolate cake from Le Trianon (one of my favs also).
On another note, I've also visited Kesom for the first time finally! Surprisingly, it is just located near Betty's. I think it's just behind the block or something. It's quite tricky to find Kesom as the big signboards above the shop is "Blöck" instead of "Kesom". But now, you know. I'm loving Nasi Kerabu and Dagang more and more now.

There's still a few more things I want to rant blog about but I am lost in my train of thoughts. I know, the contents are getting more random. Well, ciao!