Culinary Musings - Skinny Veg Pizza

Our recent change in diet made us experiment with food. At the beginning we were a little lost as we couldn’t reprogram our minds to think: these lovely vegetables are your whole meal! Enjoy! Actually, the typical meal has always been: meat + potatoes/rice/pasta + side salad. This is purely psychological… So now we buy products we never even used before but also, use the usual ingredients in a most unusual way. Here’s one!

Skinny Veg Pizza

I used the wraps/flatbread as a pizza base and topped it with tomato sauce, mushrooms, fresh tomatoes, carrots (Herve’s invention!), parmesan and herbs. You can add any other veg on the top, depending on your personal taste buds or what you have in your fridge! Too easy? Well, definitely easy, delicious and healthy! And quick, as the prep time was about 10 minutes and cooking, between 8-10!

Tomato sauce: tomato paste, pesto sauce, oregano, Italian herbs, oil of olive.

Cooking tip: as the wrap/flatbread is quite soft, you may place it on the aluminum paper instead of the oven grill directly.

Buon appetito!

Going Green…

It is amazing how popular culture and media can formulate our views and habits. No news, that’s common knowledge, right? Well, it is easier to go with the crowd, we eat and drink what we want, we buy and wear what’s trendy, we do what’s common and expected of us in our cultures… We have free will to make life choices that can change our future. Do we really?

Recently we changed our eating habits with Herve and eliminated meat from our diet. What the hell? You have been eating it all your life? Well, a little bit of information and observation (have to give credit to Fred for this), and you realize, wow, we are ones of those people following the mass and eating according to the media standards: fast food, meat, ham, burgers, chicken nuggets and wings, milk and yoghurts, eggs… Here’s a thing, that’s just great marketing that works pretty well, but there is little truth about what we really consume while eating those. Good quality meat is expensive so it must be a luxury; we all want to have it, why wouldn’t I eat a lovely steak with my friends? They say milk is healthy and high on calcium, prevents osteoporosis, really? Again, that’s just good PR…

Before the 20th century people cultivated land, lived more active lifestyles and ate plant based foods, there were no cancers, diabetes, heart and cholesterol diseases, metabolism-related illnesses, obesity, etc. Today, we are at a high risk of suffering from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, excess weight, and many others death causing heath problems. Why? Unhealthy shift of lifestyle choices: consuming animal based foods, often in excess, smoking, alcohol, high amount of calories intake vs. very low physical activity, increased use of mechanized transportation and a greater labor-saving technology at home, less physically demanding work, taking up less active recreational pursuits such as TV or computer games, living fast-paced lives that force us to rush forward without thinking of our health and lifestyle. Shall I continue? No need I think…

According to a 2006 report by the Livestock, Environment And Development Initiative, the livestock industry is one of the largest contributors to environmental degradation worldwide, and modern practices of raising animals for food contributes on a "massive scale" to air and water pollution, land degradation, climate change, and loss of biodiversity. Factory farming requires large areas of land and large quantities of feed, what leads to forest cutting and increased rate of species extinction. What is more, producing a certain quantity of food in meat requires much more water than producing the same amount of food in grain; it roughly takes 60, 108, 168, and 229 pounds of water to produce a pound of potatoes, wheat, corn and rice respectively; a pound of beef however, requires 12,000 gallons of water! Factory farming is also known for its cruel treatment of the animals… (more details: Wikipedia)

Using your link Ivano :)

So going green starts here, in our house, in our kitchen, with our family and friends. Do not let popular culture and society habits take control over your lifestyle choices, this is your life, your body and your future. If eliminating meats can have such enormous benefits to my health and the environment, we choose to go green!

Made in China 中國製造

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole, which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. “I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.”

The old woman smiled, “Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.”

One year older and richer!

Where there are new beginnings, there are also endings. New Year and new plans for the 2011 made us think and talk about the last year. We were in the swimming pool on a sunny Sunday afternoon, on the 2nd January and realizing, wow, we would never think we would be doing this in the middle of the winter time! As January is a month we know as snowy, cold, white and with minus temperatures! So here we are, in the pool and talking about the last year. I didn’t realize this until Herve asked me, but the last year was really full of changes and abundant in new wonderful experiences!

It was the first time I had to quit a job I really liked at EMC Cork; I moved to Singapore; I came to Asia, first time ever; in my new EMC job in Singapore I work on projects that include all Asia Pacific HR Teams so I get to know how things work in all Asia Pacific!; I started to co-lead our regional volunteer projects at work; I started dancing West Cost Swing, Hip Hop and Contemporary Dance; I learned how to play netball; I attended a Kali Majapahit outdoor Marital Arts outdoor workshop; I went to a Tahitan dance class; I became semi-vegetarian; I learned how to use the shotgun and short guns; I went to Muslim mosques and Hindu shrines; I tried totally new cuisine and variety of Asian foods; I got to know some great, creative and generous people here (and still miss those I left behind…); I can swim in the pool more less every day of the year as the weather here does not change much (apart from occasional monsoon showers); and finally, I set up a blog and started writing!

This last year brought some changes for the rest of my family too, as my mum moved to a new place, my brother relocated to Nanjing in China and got married there with his fiancée… Only my sis stayed put, still in Ireland and happy out...

With all changes came new experiences and I must admit that my whole life shifted to this totally new dimension last year! I started getting a different perspective on life, food, religion, spirituality, relationships, tolerance and how one chooses to live their lives! They often say that travelling broadens your mind; I would even say that getting to know other cultures and traditions influence and change your life in most unexpected ways. My last year’s experienced taught me that, at any stage of your life, you shouldn’t take things for granted and think you are the person you have always wanted to be, as your perceptions change constantly as we learn new skills, meet new people and grow from personal experiences. I hope you find some time to stop, that’s not easy in modern and fast-paced society, and reflect on all you learned last year, as we tend to think of problems and failures more than successes and happy moments… I think it’s quite rewarding to realize that there are so many of things that made our lives so interesting and colorful! Have another colorful year and thanks for reading…

New Year, New Beginning! Happy 2011!

It is almost natural for everyone to reflect on the finishing calendar year, no matter what culture one comes from and whether one celebrates it on a different date of the year. People look back and think of their personal and professional goals and how successful they were achieving them throughout the year. The New Year is a chance to work on those failed attempts and set up new goals, sort of like a New Beginning! We begin with a clean slot again what gives us hope that this time we might be more efficient and proactive, as we start from the scratch with new energy and motivation.

We are in Singapore for more 6 months now and our plans and goals shifted and took a new direction. This is not an excuse, don’t get me wrong, we just had to re-evaluate things and find new goals after moving… After all we are on the other side of the world, in a multi-cultural country where people think differently and again, we are in a minority… What stroke me that in Singapore there is a mix of various New Year beliefs and customs, traditions that come from entirely different Asian countries but they clashed together in this multi-cultural place and the boundaries between them seem a little blur to me. Some of the New Year’s traditions are similar in many countries, but there are few that are specific to a particular geography…

In Japan they have a whole week national holiday to celebrate the New Year! It is one of the major events in Japan. People start cleaning their houses many days before the festival as they believe it to be the best way to get rid off all the dirt of last year. Talking about starting with a clean slot, right? On a New Year’s Eve, people offer prayers at midnight; it is considered highly auspicious to listen to the chimes of a Temple bell. According to the Japanese religion, sound of the 108 chimes drives away all the sins and gives birth to new life. People of Japan usually eat noodles on New Year's Eve which symbolizes closeness and advance for a prosperous New Year. People celebrate the day with great zest and enthusiasm. It is time to be spent with the loved ones. Japanese carry forward celebrations up to January 3rd. They wear religious Kimono dress and visit shrines to pray for longevity and good health.

In Korea people also clean their houses and decorate houses with colorful lights. On the New Year’s Eve people clean their houses. In the evening, Koreans take a bath with hot water and put on new clothes, as a symbol of preparing for the New Beginning. As per the Korean belief, no body should sleep on that night otherwise the eyebrows would turn white. Lights of every room and kitchen are kept on all night. This is a special way to welcome the New Year with brightness and open eyes. Better not go to Korea for New Year’s without good all-night-party-plan, although my eyebrows are already quite fair, so I have no reason to worry!

Thai New Year, also called as Songkran, is celebrated for three days from April 13 to April 15 every year on the Gregorian Calendar. Songkran falls on the hottest time of the year in Thailand. It comes from Sanskrit and means 'a move or change'. The date of Thai New Year was set according to the astrological calculations. Traditions play a very vital role in presenting a true picture of New Year celebrations in Thailand. Traditional activities are performed with serious dedication by the people of Thailand. A most common tradition of throwing water over one another is performed with fun by the people. It is conceived to bring good rains all year ahead. Thais also clean their houses thoroughly and do general preparations for the New Year celebrations. They dress up in new attires to welcome the New Year in a fresh manner. As a part of the New Years celebrations, people visit monasteries and shrines to offer prayers and gifts like rice, fruits, sweets and food for the monks. Following this is the custom to release birds from the cages or fish from the bowls. This is believed to bring good luck for the members of the family. Songkran celebrations are incomplete unless water is thrown on each other. People roam the streets with buckets of water and children play with water guns to drench people. Water is thrown to get rid off all the bad deeds and give a fresh welcome to the New Year. This reminds me of Polish ‘Dyngus Day’ which is a tradition of water throwing on Easter Monday; every person at certain part of their life in Poland got all wet for the Dyngus Day, after all we need to cultivate the traditions, right?

Cambodian New Year is celebrated for three days. According to the Gregorian Calendar, it falls on April 13th or 14th. New Year in Cambodia represents the end of the harvesting season. Everyday people visit temples to get blessings from monks and priests. People of Cambodia follow a tradition to sprinkle holy water on each others faces in the morning, on the chest at noon and on the feet in the evening. New Year in Cambodia is celebrated by performing various rituals and playing number of games. The three day New Year celebration include the following traditions: The first day of the New Year is called Moha Sangkran. It is believed that on this day God's angels come to earth to take care of its creation. To welcome these holy angels, people clean and light up their houses. Members of the family place an idol of Lord Buddha on an altar with flowers, candles, incense sticks, a bowl of scented water, eatables, drinks and shaped out banana leaves. On the second day of the New Year celebrations, people offer charity and alms to the poor. It is also considered good to present gifts to family members and relatives. On the third day of New Year celebrations people wash all the idols of Lord Buddha with scented water. It is said this ensures good rains all year long. Children pay respect to their elders by washing their feet and get blessings in return.

New Year celebration is a grand event of China. New Year festivities last for one month in China. Chinese New Year is also called the Spring Festival. It begins from the middle of the last month of the year and ends up in the first month of the New Year. Chinese New Year falls on a different date every year; in 2011 it starts on 3rd February. Lot of excitement can be seen in the last 15 days of New Year celebrations. Every day has a special importance to it. Chinese ritualize and celebrate each day in a customary manner, on specific days they offer prayers to their ancestors and gods, visit families, prepare sumptuous meals and ask for health and prosperity in the new upcoming year. To prepare for the New Year, Chinese clean their houses, repay any money they owe, get their hair cut, and buy new clothes. They also light up their houses and adorn it with signs of peace and luck. They use red color in all their decorations which is very considered auspicious.

In Singapore the calendar New Year is celebrated as well as the Lunar Chinese New Year. Hey, they get to party twice for the same occasion! People clean and decorate their houses with Chinese New Year’s ornaments in the last few days on the calendar New Year and they keep them until the Chinese New Year’s celebrations. On 31st December Singaporean families gather for a festive dinner, exchange small gifts and wait for the midnight countdown. In Singapore people also have a tradition of buying new clothes, new bed sheets; it’s an occasion to buy new kitchen appliances or furniture. These also symbolize new beginning, fresh new start. Shopping is one of the most popular retail-intensive countries in Asia, shopping malls are open every day and long hours which created a heavy shopping habit among Singaporeans. Shopping malls are usually among popular entertainment spots, which make every day look busy regardless of the day of the week or period of the year. Young Singaporeans meet their friends, cook together and await the magical midnight. In the commercial centre of Singapore there is massive fireworks display, as there is a ban on individual use of firecrackers; these were banned in 1972 after an explosion had killed several people. From 2003 the government allowed firecrackers back again during festive season but only under controlled assistance of the Singapore Armed Forces. Firecrackers are not allowed to be commercially sold, so we will be only able to see the ‘official fireworks’ in the Singapore Central District… The island of Singapore and especially the most popular spots still shine with sparkly Christmas decors now, but they will be taken down shortly after the calendar New Year and replaced with the Chinese New Year red ornaments.

What our New Year Eve will be like? It’s going to be a mix of our European customs, habits and food, but it an entirely new context. The Chinese New Year decorations are already up in our place, the food starts to smell nice; we are just awaiting our multi-cultural Singapore guests! We will have some nice home made food, Desperados, French cider, cheese and crepes; we will drink champagne and eat 12 grapes at midnight the Spanish style…

And what about those New Years resolutions? Well, I find it easy to come up with those, but as many of you, I am not great sticking up to my guns… So as this blog is a good way for me to officially declare my commitment, these are few changes I would like to see happening in my life next year:

I will eat healthy food
I will dance more than this year (including social dancing)
I will go out more with my friends, and my girlfriends!
I will learn more about fascinating Asian religious and cultural customs
I will start learning Mandarin
I will be a good role model for kids (in my volunteer work)
I will travel more than this year
I will update my blog more often… I promise!

I will update you on my progress on a regular basis, just to keep myself on my feet! And if any of you sees me doing the opposite, please kick my a**, I won’t hold it against you! So what about you, what are your New Year’s Resolutions? If there are any similarities between our lists, let me know, we could help each other out!

Well, will go back to cleaning our place and cooking, to cultivate the Asian New Year preparation rituals… I wish you joy, love and motivation to follow your dreams and achieve your goals, have a successful 2011 dear friends! See you next year!!!

Merry Christmas!

This Christmas was the first Christmas we spent without our families, away from our family homes and in tropics, with around 30° C temperature and in the midst of monsoon showers! It was the first Christmas of this kind and I must say, it was really different.

Singapore has been decorated with lights and very unusual and original Christmas trees; especially famous and vivid is the Orchard Road with amazing Christmas atmosphere! Most Singaporeans do not celebrate Christmas the most traditional way, as the majority of Singapore population is of Chinese origin, and therefore Buddhist. Christian population is close to 15%; similar number is for Islam and Atheists; Taoism is only about 8% and Hinduism 4%. Most of my colleagues and friends treat Christmas only as an occasion to visit family, friends or as a time off school or work. They all decorate their houses with trees and lights, exchange presents; it is very much of a more festive family weekend here with more elaborate food and gifts. For many it is also an occasion to get out of Singapore, as I noticed it is a habit for the locals to use any long weekend to travel and spend time in Bali, Phuket or Australia… Wherever a long weekend is approaching, I can see long queues at the Money Changers, as Singaporeans wait patiently for their turn to get foreign currency for their awaited weekends abroad…

Our Christmas was different to the traditional one, a mix between what we know, like and what we have here. On Christmas Eve we did last shopping and rushed home to start our Christmas weekend! It has been a tradition in my house to have ‘pieczonki’ for the Christmas Eve feast, so I took my time to peel and slice potatoes, beetroots, carrots, onions and garlic. For those not familiar with the dish, it is a pot of vegetables cooked in layers: pour some water to a medium size pot, place a layer of potatoes on the bottom, then onions with garlic, several slices of beetroot and carrots and then you go with potatoes and the rest again and again… Normally there is bacon and slices of sausage on the top of every pile to add some flavor to the dish, but as we do not eat meat these days, I added more garlic and onions for better aroma and cooked for about 30 mins! Yummy! I also grilled salmon in the oven; I seasoned it with spring onion, herbs and sprinkled with the fresh lemon and lime juice, wrapped it in the aluminum foil and grilled for about 20 mins. Easy, healthy and quick!

Before starting our Christmas Eve dinner we exchanged wishes for the New Year, without the consecrated wafer unfortunately (it’s ‘oplatek’ in Polish; it’s what is shared during mass, a white thin wafer that symbolizes bread sharing), my mum sent it to us in post, but Singapore Post is apparently very strict on what’s coming in to the country, even via post… After dinner we opened presents, as in Poland we do presents on Christmas Eve, we had a lot of chocolate, the regular Polish-Chritmas-sugar-overdose; we watched a movie and went to sleep before midnight. On 25th December we visited our friends. We had dinner and several drinks; it was nice to see how Singaporeans decorate their house and what they do during Christmas. I had a really good time, although I must admit that Christmas without family is less of a festive occasion, I hope next year we will be lucky to spend it with our folks! Merry Christmas dear Singapore, friends and our loyal blog readers :)

Gunshooting!

Last weekend we booked clay shooting at the Singapore Gunshooting Club. It was a totally new experience to us, especially to me, because I had no experience whatsoever with handling a shotgun! Herve and Simoon, who went with us, play computer games and go to arcades sometimes, so I was the only total layman...

We took a taxi from our place, as the shooting club was on the western side of the island, with very poor public transport connection. The taxi driver wasn’t sure where the club was, so he used his GPS. When we got close, the GPS took us away from the road so we found ourselves in the middle of the field! For a moment we weren’t sure the driver wasn’t some serial killer trying to take us in the unknown area and do ‘you know what’… But soon we reached an asphalt road and we reached the club, in the middle of nowhere…

We had the safety introduction first and we moved to the shooting stations. Got the guns, loaded and the shooting started! Man, that baby weighed 3kg, my right arm hurt for several days after that! We had 25 cartridge shots each. Clay target shooting involves shooters attempting to break clay targets flung into the air at high speed from a variety of angles. Herve got most of them, Simon got a lot and I broke about 4 or 5… Well, we booked for another session, this time with baretta pistols, so I will have a chance to get some more practice!!! Bring it on baby!

Weekend in Kuala Lumpur

My brother Marcin and his wife Dorota visited us for over 2 weeks; they currently live in Nanjing, China. As a part of their holiday we planned to go to KL for a long weekend. I was curious about it, as it was my first time leaving Singapore and visiting a different Asian country. My knowledge about Malaysia was limited to: it’s quite conservative, as it is a Muslim country, they prepare their meat differently, you probably heard of Halal food, and that it’s different to Singapore. Well, from the very first hours in Malaysia, I could feel it was a different world…

When we arrived in KL the queue time to the passport control was longer than the flight… The lady who checked my passport and examined in detail every single page of it and asked if I entered Singapore at all, as there was no chop (Asian word for a stamp!) stating I ever crossed a boarder to Singapore. I was shocked, as I didn’t even know if I was supposed to have a stamp, I travelled a lot in Europe and actually they do not these any more… She started questioning me, as she knew I came from a Singapore flight, and her voice sounded as if she was interrogating me, like I was some illegal immigrant or something… I didn’t feel very comfortable; after all I had been in a holiday mood just starting my long weekend. To prove her I live and work in Singapore I showed her my Singaporean Employment Pass card, which she examined suspiciously, showed it to her nearby colleague speaking Malay, put a Malaysian chop on the first page of my passport and returned my both documents. When I opened my passport I realized that on the same first page where she put her stamp, there was a Singapore chop! Well, maybe she missed the first time she looked at it… I wasn’t really sure… Nice welcome in KL…

After passport control we went for a taxi to get to our B&B. But, as we approached the taxi stand, we only learned that to get a taxi ride we need… a ticket! So, we went back to the main airport building and purchased a ticket from a special taxi ticket counter. We went back then to a taxi stand, with all our bags, and finally took off to KL. When we entered the city we noticed that it’s pretty busy, noisy and dirty… After Singapore our standards became very high, as it’s very very clean, so KL stroke us as poorer than our ‘new hometown’. We found our B&B, refreshed a little and went out for lunch to a nearby restaurant and coffee and cake in Starbucks just across the road from our B&B. The rest of the day we spent in Chinatown, wandering in the local markets and discovering this part of the city. The first and lasting impression was very similar to the one we had in the morning, Chinatown was also dirty and poor… The hygiene standards were bad, the buildings looked old and you could feel the city didn’t get any financial support from the government for a long long time. Even the shops and stand around Chinatown didn’t project high standard of their products… In one of the jewelry stores we saw a security guy, who didn’t wear any uniform, but he had a machine gun! Was this just a culture shock or it’s just me?

The next day we got up early, as we wanted to go up the famous Petronas Towers. I heard from my colleagues that people start queuing for tickets since very early morning, so we were there after 7am. The ticket shop opened at 9am, and we were lucky enough to get tickets for 11am the same day! We had a Malay breakfast, famous Nasi Lemak, and came back for the tour. The view from the 86th floor of the Petronas Towers was fantastic, although the weather that day wasn’t the best. Then we went to the bridge connecting both towers. I must say that it was worth waiting all morning for those views!

In the afternoon we went to a National Mosque of Kuala Lumpur. We all got purple gowns covering us from head to toes, the Muslim way, and we went in, bare foot. When we got to the main point of the mosque we started chatting with a very nice gentleman who was there to give information to tourists like us. He sat down with us for about 30 min and spoke about Islam and some of its rules. Well, I have always perceived myself as a tolerant person, especially when it comes to nationalities, customs and religion, but I couldn’t agree with the traditions and boundaries of Muslim life he told us about. Well, it’s totally different to my Western understanding of life and society, but it was nice to learn more about the Malay lifestyle! We went for dinner to our next-door Moroccan restaurant, in the spirit of discovery, and I must say we all really enjoyed the food…

On Sunday we went to the Batu Caves with one of the most famous Hindu shrine outside of India, up in the mountain cave. But before we got there, we had another ‘culture-shock-experience’ in KL, riding a bus! We took a bus from our street to get to the bus interchange station first. There was a bus driver, and a ticket man. They waited till there was a good bunch of people on the bus and started selling tickets when the bus was full. When the bus took off he sat down on the bus stairs, yes, the ones we used to enter the bus, and stayed there with the bus door was open throughout the whole ride! We were shocked to see this, as he could have easily fallen off the bus at any time and hurt himself! The ticket man was encouraging people in the street to get on the bus, so several times we took more passengers just in the middle of the street! The bus also hit a man who was just crossing the street! That was just unbelievable! We switched the busses on the bus interchange station and we waited again till the bus got full before it could take off. The ticket man was shouting around: ‘Batu Caves! Batu Caves!’, trying to get more customers on the bus. When we finally took off we could see more of the city’s parts, not too different from the city centre… When we arrived at the Batu Caves we saw the world’s tallest statue of Murugan, a Hindu deity, outside of the caves. Batu Caves serves as a pilgrimage site for not only Malaysian Hindus, but Hindus worldwide from countries such as India, Australia and Singapore.

One other thing that stroke us was a sense of fashion in KL. For men, it’s pretty much similar to the Western standards, but most women wear black gowns showing only their eyes. Some other show also their faces, but tourist women are somehow a subject of interest for local men and women alike, as they do look different. Although both, myself and Dorota, we wore more conservative clothes there, we still felt we were looked at constantly…



In the afternoon we went back to the airport, as our KL weekend was coming to an end. There were no major surprises on the KL side this time, but when we arrived in Singapore, we learned we couldn’t purchase alcohol in duty free, as all Malaysia flight passengers are not allowed to buy liquors, according to the local law! I wondered, although Singapore and Malaysia are neighbors and close trade partners, there are still things like this where you can feel there is tension between those two countries! Singapore was formerly part of Malaysia but was separated in 1965 due to political differences and racial tension, so even as a foreigner who might not be aware of the historical background, one can experience some of this tension while travelling!

The weekend in KL was a great learning experience for all of us. It is incredible how different 2 neighboring countries could be. I saw differences between certain European countries before, but never to such a big extent as between Singapore and Malaysia... I am glad I experienced KL, but I was definitely happy to be back in Singapore where I can drink water from the tap, wear what I like and enjoy clean city with safe public transport…