Saturday Munchies 9 - Puri Chapati with Katsu Curry

Made Japanese Katsu Curry for lunch today. I finally had the opportunity to make puri. I was in love with puri when I ate at my North Indian classmate's house. Her deft hands created flat little wheat pancakes that magically inflate into cute little balls on top a nonstick electric pan.

I therefore asked my boss to help me buy puri flour, when he was at Mustafa (my classmate had told me that I could get the special flour there. I was flabbergasted when I saw the package of flour he passed to me.

"Isn't this chapati flour?"

No, no, no, his mother makes puri and chapati with this kind of Indian wheat flour. Sigh. =d

Well, while my curry was cooking away on the stove, I poured warm water, into a well of flour, salt and olive oil (could it be because I didn't use ghee???). But after resting for half an hour, my stupid pancakes didn't inflate. Instead they laid defeatedly on the pan, frumpy little blankets.

But my Katsu did turn out perfect, because for once, I resisted thoughts of salmonella and didn't leave the chicken frying till it's dead again. I took it out at about what I think is 80% cooked, and let the meat cook itself while resting on the sieve. This kept the meat nice and juicy inside the 'panko' (breadcrumb) pocket.

So what you see is clockwise from left: boiled brocoli (I reused the boiling liquid in the curry, no nutrients lost, very hausfrau, nicht wahr =d), cherry tomatoes, boiled egg (just barely hard boiled, so B1 had problems peeling. Left patterns all over my poor egg), brown rice, chapati, potato and carrot curry and Chicken Katsu.

No Brainer 1 - Who Owns a Volkswagen car

Clues
1. Sam and Timothy's girlfriends are friends.

2. Jonathan lives in the last house.
3. The Poodle owner lives two doors left from the Border Collie owner.
4. Gregory owns a Border Collie.
5. The Brandy drinker owns a Toyota.
6. Ivan lives two doors left from Gregory.
7. The Terrier owner lives on the left of the Border Collie owner.
8. The Soju drinker owns a Sheepdog.
9. The Whisky drinker lives next door to Jonathan.
10. The Brandy drinker lives two door left from the Mercedes owner.
11. Sam lives on the right side of the Kia Owner.
12. Jonathan is single.
13. The Soju drinker lives three doors right of the Martini drinker
14. The Daschund owner lives in the first house.
15. Timothy drives a BMW.
16. The Poodle owner lives on the right side of the Vodka drinker.
17. Neighbours next door to Sam are single.

Do the Quiz here but please clear your answers once you finished. Pls comment the owner's name. Answers will be posted on this Friday.

Incursion Trio Concert at Esplanade last week

I attended a concert by the Incursion Trio last Saturday at Esplanade. A trio would be three instruments; a violin, a piano and a cello. Was pretty good, especially since I loved Hadyn. We decided to move from our current seats because we wanted to see the violinist play (since we learn violin, duh), and then we regretted it... cos the violinist YiLi looked like he was constipated. 便溺 you know? Keeping grimacing as he danced his bow across the strings. We were definitely more impressed by the cellist. Very masterful. =d See what I mean about men and musical instruments??




Well definitely he still left a lasting impression on two out of three of us at least. We definitely practised our violins more, since then.

JAS Natsumatsuri [夏祭り] 2009

Didn't expect to go to the Natsumatsuri this year, after all B1 isn't feeling too well. Being a bitch of a F, made him go anyway. *wicked grin* The queues were terrifying...

Anyway, we had some fun. Food's terrible and scary expensive. Example, the salmon bento is like two sad pieces of cold fried salmon on top of rice. Full Stop. I should have made a bento as suggested by the JAS (well actually they said bring your own food). I had to wait 1hr at one particular stall and the food is only slightly ok... Surprisingly ugly ass local girls can look damn kawaii when they wear Japanese yukata and much makeup (read: fake eyelashes and glitter), but not always. B1 was rather traumatised by some, haha, served him right. Well, everyone can look better with Asahi beer. Cos Beer can set you free.

We didn't take part in the Bon Odori, but a lot of people did, super adorable (watch the video). They danced to Ponyo, and even Chan Mali Chan. I was definitely tempted when I saw them dance the summer dance that Crayon Shinchan and family did in the ending theme of one of the series.

The games were quite fun. I liked the yoyo ball game, which reminded me of the Bon Odori festival B1 and I attended in 1995, albeit separately, hehe, our paths hadn't crossed then). Check out my Black and Blue Balls! Hahahahhahaa.

I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti

I just finished "I loved, I lost, I made spaghetti" by Giulia Melucci. According to its eponymous website, it's supposed to be a "deliciously hilarious" read about the author's "fizzled romances and the mouth-watering recipes she used to seduce her men, smooth over the lumps, and console herself when the relationships flamed out."

Tell me, given the above premise, how the hell is it supposed to be hilarious? It's not even a little bit funny for one thing. While I can vouch that it is a fascinating read, the only reason why it is interesting is not because it is supposedly funny (not at all) but because it is like witnessing a road accident. You know the scene will be grisly, but you can't tear your eyes away from it. I flipped to the next page to see how poor Guilia is going to self-destruct her next relationship again.

It's like she relies way too much on her own intuition and emotion to determine the health of the relationship. She thinks she senses the end, she tries even harder to resusitate it, way more than what all the boyfriends do, and we don't even get to hear their side of the story. Methinks that she overthinks it and ends up driving the other party away (or even more, if her sensing is right). And on top of that, she gives too much every time, she tries too hard to be loved, as if she wants to somehow overcompensate for being a virgin for too long. That fact seemed to jar very much on her, which I don't understand why. What's wrong with remaining a virgin until you're 23? I mean, treat it like it's a precious gift, gal. And not as a stigma that you couldn't get a man to pop your cherry earlier.

She has way too low self-esteem to begin with, which obviously has not been helped much by the therapists she saw. As I continued reading, Guila herself admits that she is growing desperate to be in a relationship as she grows older. Especially in the case of Lachlan.
She tries to claw into Lachlan the moment she meets him, by dangling the fact that she is a publisher, when she learns that he is a unsuccessful writer. She tries too damn hard to get him recognised and accepted by literary agents, then she feels unappreciated for her efforts. She lets him leech on her, board him at her house for free, then becomes resentful when he eats pricey canned tuna? WTF. Girl, doesn't it cross your mind to not even put yourself in the situation in the first place? I mean you have been in quite a few bad (and long) relationships, you could at least learn something from them, other than your excellent recipes (should be I loved, I lost, I made Pasta/ I cook Italian). The best part is that she points out on hindsight that other people, like her mother, dislike her partners, while she likes to defend her relationships to friends by saying it is her fault when things go bad (so that she can do something about it, since it's her fault, you see). She is quite pathetic, and self-destructive. I feel very awful after I read the book.