Pumpkin Bread Loaf

Ingredients:

150g mashed pumpkin

280g bread flour

4g yeast(3/4tsp)

3g salt

20g honey

30g milk

30g butter

50g egg(1egg)

Steam pumpkin for 10-15 mins(until soft) then mash with fork. 

Procedures:
1. Mix flour, yeast, salt, honey, egg, mashed pumpkin, and milk using chopstick
2. Add in butter. Knead the dough until the dough is elastic and smooth. You can do it by hand or electric mixer. I usually do it by hand, and it takes me about 10-20 mins to get an elastic dough. To check whether you dough is ready, you can pinch off a small piece of dough, then stretch the dough by approx. 3-5 cm, if the dough forms a thin membrane and stretches without breaking, then your dough is ready.
3. Leave the dough in a container and cover with cling wrap, let it rise up to double size. This depends on the temperature of your kitchen. If it's warm enough, then it will take short time (45-60 mins). It may go up to 2 hours. I learnt a new technique, by placing the dough inside a warm oven that was preheated for 2 mins at 100 celcius. It takes less than an hour for the dough rise. 

4. Punch the dough with your fist to get rid of the air. Then flatten the dough, and roll the dough, like rolling swiss roll cake. 

5. Grease a loaf pan with about 1/2 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Place the rolled dough in the pan and cover with cling wrap. Then let it rise for the second time. You may place it inside the warm oven again. This may take about 40 mins.
6. Set oven temperature to 200 degrees celcius. Bake the bread for 18 mins. 

7. Let it cold before you slice it. You may keep the bread in freezer to keep it fresh. Whenever u want to eat, take out few slices and let it rest to room temperature. Your bread will still remain soft like a fresh one. 

Health Benefits of Turmeric

People who have had gastric/heartburn before, would probably know that, gastric will usually hit us if we have stress or irregular eating time. About 2 months ago, I was hit with pretty bad heartburn. It was so bad that I had to give up eating hot/chili sauce. Red chili padi  happens to be my main dish for my lunch, and of course I have to stop eating it. Even my colleagues were surprised about it. Sometimes, they will tease me and ask whether I want some chili. Sure..., I can have some now! Haha...

The reason why I am writing now is to share with you a home remedy which has helped me with my gastric.  That's turmeric boiled in water. I got the information from my mom. Then, coincidentally, a colleague told me that her Indonesian maid likes to make the similar drink if any of her kids are sick. Her maid said that the drink can be used as antibiotic. This information really makes me curious about the real fact about turmeric. Of course, I won't simply believe what I have heard. So, I did some literature search about turmeric. Surprisingly, it is true that not only turmeric has a powerful antibiotic property, but also it has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties which would be helpful in several medical conditions. You may find more information about it from this website. Now, I see the connection between what I have heard from my mom and also from my colleague.

Here is the recipe:
a thumb size of turmeric root
7 cloves
2-3 cups of water

Procedure:
Peel the skin of turmeric root, then either cut into small pieces or smash it, then boil with water and cloves for about 10-15 minutes.

The turmeric boiled water is ready for you to consume. Just drink the water!
I had it for about 1 week, it eased my heartburn. Then I stopped, but, I guess it takes some times to cure my weak digestive system. After having a meal with chili, it came back again. So, I got another packet of turmeric roots from supermarket, and prepared similar drink. I had it for another week. It seems that it's getting so much better now. I start having chili again, and as far as for now, it's pretty ok.

By the way, besides the turmeric drink, I went to see a Chinese doctor at Ma Kuang Clementi branch. I believe the chinese medicine has helped me as well. But, I can tell you that, everytime after the turmeric drink, I could feel a direct relief for my heartburn.

P.S. If you have gastric/heartburn, please try to avoid chili, pepper, milk, glutinous rice, and all other kind of food that is hard to digest.

Second Day in Taiwan (27/4)

Before we left for Taipei, we had breakfast at the B&B cafe. The breakfast they provided was pretty healthy, and it tasted really nice. We had sandwich with fruits, and the drink is either tea, coffee or hot chocolate. It was raining, but luckily not heavy. 

We left Jiufen around 11 am, then took taxi to Ruifang station. Taxi cost is NT$200. The train is quite frequent from Ruifang to Taipei, and we were able to catch one at around 12 pm, and reached taipei before 1 pm.

Direction to the ticket counter at Ruifang:

As you enter the station, turn to your left, then left again, you will find the ticket counters are there.  

In Taipei, we stay at New Stay Inn. It is considered a budget hotel, but I personally experienced a very nice and comfortable stay when I was there. I forgot to take picture of the hotel, but if you go to their website, the pictures showing were similar to what I have seen there. The location is awesome, just by the side of Taipei Main Station. From the station, take direction towards the underground mall, then take exit z8, the hotel is located at the fifth floor of an old building. We booked our rooms by email and phone, and we were able to get better rate compared to online booking.

It was still too early for us to check in to our room, so, we just left our luggage at the reception, then proceed for our lunch at Din Tai Fung. 

You'll be able to find Din Tai Fung in few countries around the world, however, the one in Taiwan is the very first opened. We went to the restaurant at Daan district. It is the oldest Din Tai Fung. 

Appetizer (made from Seaweed)

Appetizer (Mushroom)

Xiao Long Bao

It's a must try. Some of my friends said that the pork inside that makes it different than the one in Singapore. 

Spinach

Not only the appearance of the vegetable looks so fresh, but also the taste was so delicious. 

Prawn Dumpling

Minced Pork Noodle

 

Pork Chop Fried Rice

Dan Dan Mian

Noodle with peanut sauce. It's slightly spicy.

Black Sesame Bun

 The black sesame filling is very rich and nice. From my point of view, this bun deserves the best dish of the day. As my knowledge about black sesame, it has a lot of health benefits in it. It is a good source of Vitamin B1 and calcium. There have been few scientific studies about the health benefits of black sesame seeds. You may click on this website to find out more about it.

Taro Dumpling

 The taro filling is very original, and it is very soft and creamy. I am not sure if we will be able to get the same quality of taro in Singapore. I rate the taro dumpling as the second best dish after the black sesame bun.

All of us were full after lunch at Din Tai Fung. If my stomach still had some space, I would have probably ordered second batch of black sesame bun. 

Our next destination was Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. After the delicious lunch, we decided to walk there, and it took us about 15 minutes. 

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall (國立中正紀念堂)

We spent about 1.5 hours taking pictures in front of the hall. Then, proceed to a sport hall nearby (opposite CKS memorial hall at Xinyi Road). Some of us were interested in getting new badminton rackets. I have done some research, which concludes that Yonex and Victor branded rackets are slightly cheaper in Taiwan. I got a Yonex Arcsaber FB. In total, we got 3 rakets from the shop. The owner was nice to give us more discount and also to agree to send our rackets to our hotel.

Actually, in Taiwan whenever you buy anything, you can ask if they can deliver directly to hotel. Most of shops have such service. 

Then, it's dinner time. Our last destination for the day was Gongguan area (near National Taiwan University).  First stop was Chen San Ding (陳三鼎) bubble tea. The famous one is their milk tea with tapioca pearl. The unique thing is the tapioca pearls. They cook it with brown sugar, and the taste of the brown sugar is pretty strong. Most of us ordered their specialty. However, after our heavy lunch and also knowing how much calorie a cup of bubble tea contains (close to 400 kcal which is roughly equal to 1.5 bowls of rice), I skipped the buble tea, instead, I ordered Xian Cao Hei Tang (grass jelly with brown sugar). I love its brown sugar fragrance, but, it's way too sweet for my taste bud. 

    

Picture was taken by Nicholas

When there is a popular and famous food, expect a long queue. Same thing happened here. But, the queue moved pretty fast. They even drew lines with chalk on the road to make people standing in line.   

Lan Jia Gua Bao 藍家割包 (Pork Bun)

This bun is really good. You can choose whether to have fatty or lean meat or their combination. We chose lean meat. 

After that, it was shopping time for the ladies. I wasn't sure what the guys were doing though. But, they claimed that they were mostly seated in KFC. Opsss.....

That's pretty much it for the day.

Body Composition Analysis

What I meant by body composition here is visceral/abdominal fat, muscle mass, body fat, body water, bone mass. From muscle mass and body fat data, our physique rating can then be obtained. In fact, there is a weighing machine which is able to give all those information. What we need to do is just to key in our age, and height, then step on the machine with our barefoot, after less than a minute, all the numbers will be given. I plan to find out how the formula works and I promise to post them here. Hopefully soon.

Below is the result for physique rating with its explanation that I copied from my health report done at the Health Outreach Clinic Pte Ltd:
Result    Physique Rating
1               Hidden Obese
2                   Obese
3                  Solidly-built
4               Under exercised
5                   Standard
6               Standard Muscular
7                    Thin
8               Thin and Muscular
9                 Very Muscular

It was some times in August last year (2012), when I had my body composition analyzed. My physique rating result was 4 (under exercised). I was extremely disappointed with such result. My fat percentage was 25.4, and muscle mass was 35.2 kg at that time. Abdominal fat rating was 3, which is at the lower side. BMI (Body Mass Index) was at the low side of normal range, therefore, nothing about loosing weight to improve the physique rating. After analyzing further, I concluded that I need to gain more muscle in order to improve the physique rating. I set that as my goal, which should be achieved by next year (August 2013).

Just few weeks back (March 2013), I happened to see a health marketing company which were having a roadshow to promote their nutritional product, and thing that caught my attention was definitely not the product, but they were helping customer to do a free check for body composition. Guess what? My weight is still the same, but I have gained 2.5 kg of muscle mass and loose some fat. The fat percentage is showing at 20.1, with the abdominal fat rate at 2. Physique rating is now at 7 (Thin). I am satisfied with the outcome! I could probably improve a little more to be at 8 (Thin and Muscular), but definitely not at 9.  

Some tips to start a healthy life style:

•  For people with high BMI, daily calories intake should be reduced and working out should be put on your busy schedule. I won't elaborate further about working out for now, because the first move to do is to reduce the total daily calories intake. To be able to do so, knowing calorie content in every single food that is taken everyday is a must. Some food may have label that show such information. This website is a good resource.
• For people with normal BMI, I suggest to have a body composition analyzed to know whether you are healthy or not. Skinny doesn't mean healthy. There could be some unhealthy fat being stored in the body without us knowing. Some people may look skinny from outside, but they could have excess fat in their belly. In USNEWS, it has been reported that people who have excess fat in their belly may have higher risk of dying from heart attack.  

Diet Plan

Monday:
7:30-9:00 Breakfast --> Oat + a cup of skim milk
12:00-1:00 Lunch --> one fist of rice, Chicken breast, vegetable
3:30-4:00 Tea time --> 2 slices of bread with kaya
6:30-7:30 Work out, running 4 km with interval (slow 1 min, fast 1 min) plus push up, sit up or swimming for 40 minutes
7:30-8:30 Dinner-->a fist of rice with vegetable and fish

Tuesday:
7:30-9:00 Breakfast --> Skim milk + cereal +almond
12:00-1:00 Lunch --> 2 homemade burger / sandwiches (contains lettuce, tomato, a slice of cheese, and patty)
3:30-4:00 Tea Time -->a slice of chiffon cake
7:30-9:00 Yoga
9:00-10:00 A cup of Milo made with evaporated Milk (not condensed milk) and no sugar/Milo Si kosong

Wednesday:

7:30-9:00 Breakfast --> Oatmeal

12:00-1:00 Lunch -->noodle or bihun soup

3:30-4:00 Tea Time -->banana muffin

6:30-7:30 Badminton/Jogging/Swimming/Power Yoga

7:30-8:30 Dinner --> a bowl of chicken/fish noodle soup

Thursday:

7:30-9:00 Breakfast --> Skim milk + oat

12:00-1:00 Lunch --> sandwich

3:30-4:00 Tea Time --> a small handful of mixed nuts

6:30-7:30 Gym

7:30-8:00 Dinner --> rice with chicken breast and vegetable

Friday:

7:30-9:00 Breakfast --> 1 cup of Skim milk + 3/4 cup of cereal

12:00-1:00 Lunch --> a fist of rice with vegetable and small portion of meat

3:30-4:00 Tea Time --> muffin/chiffon cake

6:30-7:30 Dinner --> A bowl of Oatmeal

Saturday:

7:00-8:00 Running 7-10 km plus push up, sit up

8:00-9:00 Breakfast --> Omelette with one slice of wholemeal bread, 1/2 cup of orange juice

12:00-1:00 Lunch --> a fist of rice with vegetable and small portion of meat

4:30-7:30 Badminton

7:30-8:00 Dinner --> A fist of rice with fish fillet and vegetable

Sunday:
7:30-9:00 Breakfast --> one scramble egg with 2 slices of toasted bread +1/2 cup of orange juice
12:00-1:30 Lunch --> a fist rice with a lot of vegetable, and a little bit of meat
6:30-8:00 Dinner --> Outing (No fried food)

a fist of rice = the amount of rice should be the same size as your one hand fist.

Recipes:

OatMeal
3-4 tablespoons of rolled oat cooked in a cup of water. If you need some taste, after the oat is boiled, you may add a sachet of milo or hot cereal.

Vegetable --
Fried Kailan
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Kailan

Fried long beans:
1 tablespoon of oil
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Long beans

Fried noodles:
Blender 4 cloves of garlic, 6 cloves of scallion, 1 teaspoon of dried shrimp
1 tablespoon of olive oil
cabbage
10 whole chilli padi
salt, pepper
spaghetti noodles, boiled

1.Heat oil, then fry the garlic mixture till fragrant
2.Add cabbage and chili padi, stir fry till half cooked, then add in the boiled spaghetti noodles, fry, add salt, pepper

Omelette:
2 eggs
2 cloves of garlic
1 slice of cheese
salt
pepper
1.5 teaspoon of olive oil