Lifestyle overhaul.

And the temperature today soared above 20degrees. Strange indeed for August month, when winter chills are supposed to be wrapping the city and people still black and gloomy in winter wear. Today, I saw streets lined with shorts and singlets, slippers and stocking-less legs. Surprisingly, didn't catch sight of any overgrown legs or armpits. Big phew.

Ok.... so you know what this time of the year means. Time to whip out the wax and strip off the fuzz. Dig out that almost moldy bottle of fake tan and slap on after a cool shower. Time to dust off those runners and squeeze into those XS pair of 2XU (goddammit why the HELL do i listen to sales girls who insist on me buying the tiniest size when it is obvious that it only covers part of my dear ass), and hit the tarmac. Time to whittle off the weight, and time to give myself that annual "lifestyle overhaul".

Yep. It's time to bring on the healthy eats. Home made, store bought, potlucked. Whatever it is, i've got to start imposing self control and while I'm not going to count calories (and I swear I will try my hardest not to turn into a compulsive apple/celery muncher) I am going to make a concerted effort to be diligent about my diet. What diet you say? Liz all you do is eat! Your life revolves around eating, shopping for food, eating out, cooking, reading recipe books, heck, your favorite channel is Lifestyle Food so, hello, are you removing your first love from your daily ritual?

Erm. No. Actually I'm not... I can't give up food, because after 28 long years on this earth I have decided that I am one who lives to eat. I will never ever eat simply to live. Life is way too short and precious to go through it not tasting the fruits of one's labour. And by that, I mean rewarding through gratifying meals. So, I'm making a pact. A pact I'm hoping to keep to myself not just now, but through summer, next winter and in the years to come. I'm going to watch what I eat, and do my darnest to break cheeky eating habits (like sneaking in the odd chip or chocolate) and replace it with fresh fruit and veggie or water instead.

TARGET WEIGHT BY SUMMER: 52KG

Day one: 3 August 2011

Weight 56.5kg

Height 165cms

Size 8-10 varies depending on cut

Breakfast: Oats and honey

Naughty sneak: 3 x maltesers

Lunch: Banh Mi aka Vietnamese Pork Salad Roll on a wholemeal bun. Extra pate and extra chilli

Naughty drinks: 2 x skinny lattes (comes with mini choco meringues)

Naughty after gym: 1 x banana (frigging $2.33 can!?)

Dinner: Fried rice with capsicum peppers, minced pork, sausage

Naughty after dinner: Whole grain chips (handful)

Good: Bowl of cherries, lots of water

Workout: Run for 15mins on treadmill, ave speed 9.2km/hr, one hour Body Pump, walk to and from work

VERDICT? Ok, so I haven't been a complete angel today which is a pity. Have to do better tomorrow....Good night people. I am sleepy!!!

Ox Tail on the menu tonight!

A little bit of this and that - A first attempt at cooking the daunting Ox Tail

So for some time now I've had this ox tail craving - been longing for that delicious slippery texture of soft gelatine and fat, gelling together tiny bits of tail flesh and sucking up that delectable brown sticky liquid that comes together with a good ox tail stew.

My first time trying ox tail was a few years back, an Indonesian style soup. Memory fails me slightly and I can only remember that it was a rather chunky meal parcel that wraps a bone in the middle. Perhaps how it was prepared that first time wasn't the best, but it was an initial introduction to this finger-licking cut of meat.

My second and third time trying ox tail was at my friend's mom's house. My friend Amy is Taiwanese, and her parents moved to Melbourne over 20 years ago. Her mother still hasn't lost her sense of Asian cooking and whips up the most delicious ox tail stew ever! (Ok, so I can't really compare it with anything given that I don't have any prior experience with the stew). Today my local market (South Melbourne) was selling packs of ox tail at $9.99/kg and I thought, what the heck, let's just give it a go. So I picked it up, and grabbed a bunch of herbs and root veggies to cook together with it. My dear cousin in the UK has done a superb recipe of ox tail and his method marries French and Eurasian Portuguese. I looked through recipe and tempting as it sounds, I really wanted to eat my ox tail tonight, and not tomorrow as he had suggested. So I edited his recipe slightly, used my culinary instincts and have started the pot going with a recipe I've come up with which incorporates his French/Portuguese recipe with the flavours of the Taiwanese one. Fingers crossed it doesn't come out tasting confused and awful!

Here is my "A little bit of this and that Ox tail stew" recipe:

2kg Ox Tail pieces

2 sprigs of rosemary, rinsed or plucked straight from your veggie garden

Bay leaf, fresh

Whole peppercorns (you can put them in a muslin bag so it's easier to pick out)

Several garlic cloves

One large brown onion/several small brown onions

Tomato, quartered

Carrots, chopped roughly

Celery, chopped roughly

Vinegar - I used white wine vinegar rather than black vinegar

Dark Soy

A spoonful of honey

One cinnamon quail, several star anise - rinsed

Salt to season

Knob of butter for cooking

Method:

I incorporated my cousin's tips while cooking, but because his recipe calls for a true labour of love, I tweaked it slightly. Fingers crossed the result is good!

First heat up the knob of butter and caramelise it slightly - take good care not to burn the butter because then it'll be all bitter and yuck. When the butter has turned a rich golden shade, put in several pieces of ox tail and sear at high heat on all sides so nice and browned. Do this until all the pieces of ox tail are browned.

Next, drop in the onion, garlic and fry very lightly until just softened. Add the root veggies and toss until coated in the lovely golden butter and fragrant. Mm - nothing's gone wrong, yet!

Add the ox tail pieces back into the pot, lay on top of all the other ingredients and drizzle a few tablespoons of dark soy sauce over the ox tail pieces (I am sorry, Erwin, I couldn't help but add this!) and add water until meat and veggies are just covered. Stir slightly so soy mixes in with liquid.

Break the bay leaf in half, drop in - I find that breaking the bay leaf releases the flavour better than throwing the whole leaf in. I've read online that drying the bay leaf results in a stronger flavour, so perhaps I'll keep a few leaves aside to dry and use in pastas and other dishes. I also pulled the rosemary leaves off their stalks and dropped them in. Personally I like the flavour rosemary injects to meat because it takes away some of that meaty smell (I mean I know some people LOVE strong tasting and smelling meats but I for one am not a fan! somehow it almost feels as though their smell will pass to me when i am eating the meat. ECKS!)

Bring the water to a slow boil, and by this I mean really slow, mini bubbles. None of that churning bubbling cauldron type bubbles but slowly bubbling. I then placed my spices around the ox tail pieces, and positioned my quartered tomato strategically (yes I am anal when it comes to spreading my flavours out, cooking is NOT about throwing everything in haphazardly...)

And then now... I wait... :) See the WIP picture...

NOTE TO HOME CHEFS: Please keep watch over your ox tail every 1/2 hour to 45mins as you will notice a LOT of oil on the surface. Skim off as much as you can while retaining the beautiful brown sticky sauce beneath. That's where all the flavour is. The oil is really just bad fats that won't do you any good... Halfway through I added a tablespoon of beechworth honey (Local Victorian honey which is ooh la la yum) and a tablespoon of brown sugar. :) These additions gave it just a slight tinge of sweetness however if you prefer your dish all savoury then just leave it out!

5hours of light bubbling and my ox tail dish was done. The stock had reduced to a sweet sticky thick brown sauce, and the ox tails glistened with a mixture of oil and gelatin. I dressed the dish with a few coriander leaves, torn loosely and I wish words could describe the rich aroma that wafted around my little apartment but there are none. Unfortunately, when the dish was ready to be served, my guests and I were so hungry we whacked the entire lot of ox tail and I stupidly forgot to snap a picture for keepsakes. AHHHHH. Shall make this again next month and get a shot to update this post. Grrr. Silly me.

Verdict? Well, my guest who isn't an ox tail fan could not resist trying a piece and ended up taking an entire ox tail piece on his own! He was very impressed and his version of a compliment was asking me if there was any MSG because it tasted so yum! Alrighty, enough self indulgent praise but gotta say, I'm very proud of myself with this first attempt at Ox tail. :) WOOHOO!!! Yes, although it's not a "pure" recipe by any standards, it is a good recipe to introduce the uninitiated to the daunting thought of ox tail. Perhaps I should try an ox tongue recipe next?

Definitely making ox tail again. But maybe next time I'll put the camera right in front of my plate and take a damn picture!

Ahhh, to write freely once more!

I am up late doing some work, it's refreshing. I haven't done this in awhile and although I know it isn't the healthiest thing to do, I am enjoying it. Feeling alive and like my brain has been kickstarted into action once more. A real headbutting kick, if you ask me.

I stumbled across my old Multiply site (http://lizzee.multiply.com/journal) and was poring through some posts from way back. Wow. I had a lot of time, a lot of emotions and a lot of energy to sit there and almost religiously pen down my thoughts. It was amazing reading through some of them. I was young, happy, sad, trapped, free, lonely, scared... I was alive. I mean, I'm still alive now, but in a different way. I'd say I've grown and matured, picked up some valuable culinary skills and patience along the way. As the saying goes, wisdom comes with age and the wiser you become as the wrinkles go deeper.

I'm tired too though, my eyes are weary and my insect bitten hand tingles with the sting of a waterlogged wrist. I really should sleep, but then I felt I owed myself two minutes just to go online and give a RANDOM SHOUT. Is there any purpose to this post? No. Am I trying to communicate a key message? Definitely not. So why am I even bothering to waste time on it? Because this blog is mine, and I can do whatever I want whenever I want. *so there Mr Blogspot*

Right... I think sleep has caught up on me, and it's time to wave a big nighty-o to the world. Le yawn.

Liz'z Healthy Orange and Poppy Seed Muffins!

Wow, I have not written an entry for over a month. Thanks to my dumb camera being unable to transfer pictures for awhile (Sorry V!) I've been so lazy to try doing it again.

Just an update: I have been cooking some lovely dishes and I tend to cook/ bake on instinct rather than by recipes... Well, most of the recipes are researched and compiled in my head, and then voila - I personalise them to my preference so in that sense, I think they still can be considered mostly mine. :) Having said this, seeing that it's been so long and I've cooked plenty, I thought best to start uploading some of these recipes so that when I'm old and forgetful, I can still log on and see just how I did them.

For today, I'll do a quickie post about my very healthy Orange and Poppy Seed Muffins. I did a fair bit of research online for this muffin. It's really my favourite flavour. The sweet and tangy orange is complemented perfectly by the mild nuttiness of the poppyseeds. Oh, how I love poppyseeds! Am thinking of smuggling a bag home to Singapore at the end of the year... Wonder if I'll get arrested at customs!?

I saw a fantastic healthy recipe on the Australian Institute of Sport and decided to tweak it to suit my own taste. My results probably taste nothing like what the AIS proposed in their recipe, and I daresay it might taste heaps better! (Hello, using butter is always a sure winner over something as yuck as margarine!)

Lizzee's Healthy Orange & Poppyseed Muffins

1 cup self-raising flour (sifted)

1½ cups wholemeal flour (sifted)

½ teaspoon of baking powder

½ cup Natvia

2 tablespoons poppyseeds

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 cup (250 ml) skim milk

½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1 egg

1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind

I preheated the oven to 180°C (350°F). Then, I lightly greased a 12-hole nonstick muffin pan with some unsalted butter. I next sifted the two flours and baking powder together in a large bowl. The sugar and poppyseeds are stirred in after this, and I use the stirring spoon to create a well in the centre.

In a small bowl, whisk unsalted butter, milk, orange juice, egg and orange rind together then add to flour mixture. Gently stir the mixture until all ingredients are combined but take care not to over mix.

Spoon mixture into the muffin pan and bake for 20 - 25 mins/ until the muffins are springy when you touch them.

Let cool for a couple of minutes, and then enjoy muffins warm. I kept mine in the fridge for about 3 days and they still tasted great!

note: if you prefer not to use wholemeal flour, substitute with self-raising flour and omit baking powder

How to Cook the Perfect Roast Pork

Why do i love pork so? I really am not sure - some people say that the meat has an odd smell, or a porky taste but not to me. I adore pork. In fact, if someone asked me what meat I would keep eating if I had to choose just one, I'd say, give me some ribs, belly, neck or loin anytime! mmm.. It could be my Peranakan in me showing. There are countless recipes in Asia and in the Peranakan culture that use pork in cooking... Babi Pongteh, Kiam Chye Soup with Pork Ribs, Ngoh Hiang.... hell, we even substitute chicken with pork ribs for our Buah Kerluak, and let me tell you, is my mother's Babi Buah Kerluak a mean dish or what?!

Anyway, it's been awhile since I cooked up some nice Asian pork dish, but I was craving the juicy flavours of piggyoinkers, so I decided to google some recipes and create the perfect roast pork ever! I've tried slow roasting pork belly strips in the oven before, but it didn't turn out just as I wanted so this time I thought, just go for it, roast is one of the simplest dishes so even if it does have a slim possibility to mess up, chances are, it wouldn't!

I tried Jamie Oliver's pork belly recipe and it turned out perfect. I didn't quite do it just how Jamie described (I'm not one who likes to take "measured" steps in cooking, I prefer to be instinctive, more of a challenge) and decided to give it an Asian spin while keeping the Western herb flavouring, and it was the best home roasted pork belly I've ever had! Didn't quite take many pictures of the before, but I do hope you enjoy my after pictures!

Liz's Perfect Roast Pork Recipe - Adapted from Jamie Oliver's Recipe

Serves two very hungry tummies or leftovers can be kept overnight to bring into office

Prep Time: 10mins, Cooking Time: 2.5hours

Half a kg of Pork Belly - needs to have a good layer of fat in between the skin and flesh but not TOO much if you're attempting to be slightly angelic (face it, pork belly anything is prob not the healthiest of dinner choices though!)

Salt and Pepper to season

Five Spice Powder

Fresh Thyme

Organic Potatoes

Garlic

First and most importantly, one must crank up the oven and preheat to at least 220degrees. I'm using a Celsius temp measurement, not a Fahrenheit, fyi.

Mine was set at 250degrees preheat, and it was roaring hot by the time my meat was seasoned.

To season the meat, score the skin with a sharpened knife in criss-crosses, not too deep that you split the flesh, just enough that you're able to separate the incisions to massage the seasoning in. I learnt that having a knife sharpener is very important because my knife wasn't in the best shape and that made it a tiny bit difficult to score the skin. Also, another trick that I'd like to mention is to have the pork meat more chilled than thawed. Makes the process a lot easier and less frustrating as the skin can be quite tough to slice through.

In another bowl, mix together 3 parts salt, one part white pepper and one part five spice powder and toss it around. When the seasoning sort of looks all a greyish colour, start pulling apart the tears in the skin and rub the seasoning into the grooves.

Relish this part and enjoy the massaging. It's an odd relaxing calmness when you're massaging the seasoning into the flesh. I suppose, if you're like me and thinking about the "after" while you're at the "before", the anticipation really starts building up here. I also dusted some seasoning on the underside of the belly slab and then placed the piece skin side up into a roasting pan. Reduce heat and roast at 220degrees for half an hour. If you're a nosy parker like me, you'll probably be peeking in through the oven window and you'll notice the skin starting to puff up and look like pork crackling (you know, the snack kind you can get in American supermarkets).

Turn the heat down to 180degrees and roast for another hour. After this, your tummy is very likely to be rumbling pretty loudly and your kitchen is starting to have that beautiful roasted meat aroma wafting through the air. Quickly, take it out of the oven, give the golden skin a light baste with the fat that has oozed to the bottom of the pan and remove to a separate plate. Arrange your potatoes (i sliced mine) and garlic slices with the thyme on the bottom of the roasting pan, and rest the pork belly on top of all of this. Place back into the oven set at 180degrees still, and let roast for a final hour. By this time, the aromas will be almost orgasmic and I guarantee that if you weren't hungry before, you'd pretty much be drooling when you lift your pan out of the oven and lustfully gaze upon this sweet piece of pork.

I let my pork belly and potatoes rest while I made a side serve of simple aglio e olio pasta (an extremely basic olive oil and dried chili pasta) and kept my roast tray covered with some foil to seal in the juices. I've really tried to go healthy, so we had some really yummy wholemeal pasta from South Melbourne market. It's really the best, and the texture is firm and al dente every time we cook it. Yuuuuuum!

And so yes, there you have it! A super simple and really hearty satisfying dish for when you're craving some roast.

Until my next post! X

To Kyneton we go!

Off, off and AWAY!

I am so psyched about my upcoming weekend, which starts tonight really. Why do I love my weekends so much here in Melbourne? Because of the choices of things to do on the weekend.

This weekend, I'm off to Kyneton as I've been invited by my dear friend Amy to visit her extremely old home in the country. I'm bringing my little fluffball along, some bottles of wine, popcorn for DVDs, and a stomach of guts (a birdie told me Amy has a creepy porcelain headed Victorian era doll sitting by her bed with... get this, it's HEAD tilted on one side).

What is to be planned? Definitely a visit to Pizza Verde for some of my favourite simple fare, trips to the spa where the yummytummy flab comes into play, and of course, chill out sessions with my girl + pooch watching DVDs and running down a dirt lane in the forest mimicking a scene from True Blood.

On Sunday, we shall head to Daylesford for some fresh produce, antique shopping and basically breathing in fresh, unpolluted country air. The last time (and the first!) I was at Daylesford was in 2007 at the dawn of Winter, and I'm wondering if anything has changed since then. I'm hoping nothing has, and that it remains untouched and as idyllic as I remember.

Well, it's one more night to go before this roadie begins. Perhaps I should bring my laptop there so I can update some posts! Had a couple of cooking adventures in The Capri and just haven't gotten around to posting them up.

Until my next post! x

Ribs on the menu tonight!

I've been a little laid back when it comes to updating my little cooking blog! What with Chelle & Mac down in town (Ok, so Mac's not really counted because I hardly saw the dude during his trip!), I was pretty busy with meet-ups, runs around the Gardens and a Camberwell market visit.

OK! So enough excuses already. :) Today is a pretty exciting day for me, my flaming hot sofa from Frogs Sofa arrives. Right, the delivery guy has another 8 mins to go before 2pm, and I'm really hoping he shows up soon because I do want to go for a quick run before I come home to enjoy my new couch! It's the FIRST very big purchase I've made for myself apart from holidays and plane tickets, so I'm quite proud to have done this all on my own. A great leap from the liz of yonder days who was intent on partying harder than anyone else I knew.

On the menu for my "break-in" sofa night is good o' American style BBQ Crock Pot ribs.

I googled several recipes, and put together one of my own:

American Style Barbecue Crock Pot Pork Ribs

1 kg of American style Pork Ribs (with bone)

2 Small brown onions, quartered

4 Cloves of Garlic, roughly chopped into large pieces

Salt & Pepper for seasoning

Prep: Something Mom taught me since young, scald the pork ribs with boiling hot water until the outer flesh turns slightly opaque and changes from pink to gray. This helps to get rid of the "porky" smell and at the same time, kills any surface bacteria. Saute and onions and garlic lightly in a tbl of oil until fragrant. Add the pork and fill with water; bring to a boil over medium heat. Let the pork boil with the onion and garlic water for about 45mins-1hour. Add some salt & pepper for flavouring.

BBQ Sauce:

1/3 Cup of Apple Cider Vinegar

1/4 Cup of brown sugar

3 Tbl Honey

3 Boiled, Skinned and Pitted cooking tomatoes

1 tsp Hot Chili Sauce

Recipes online all called for Tomato Sauce but seeing that I had three cooking tomatoes in the fridge, I decided to boil them, dip them in chilled water, and skin/pit them. I mashed them up with a fork and added them to a saucepan over heat, slowly stirring in hot water to dilute the thick pulp. When the tomato had turned to an almost paste-like consistency, I added the vinegar, brown sugar and honey.

**CAUTION** Do not stand too close and breathe in the fumes (I know because I did by accident!) as vinegar gives off a pungent tartness that shoots up the nostrils, burning them right inside so you feel almost as though you've been poked by an invisible sharp finger. Ok... So i exaggerate a little!

Stir mixture until all ingredients are dissolved and bring to a slight boil. I let my sauce thicken and look nearly like it was going to burn (for that smokey taste) before adding some hot water. I simmered it for about an hour, until the sharp acidity of the vinegar had evaporated away, and all that was left was a sweet, slightly tart, thickened brownish sauce (with slight goo from the tomato). Finger lickin' good!

(above) Pot of smokey deep rust coloured home-made BBQ sauce

(above) Sauce should be slightly sweet & just the tiniest bit tangy, add more chili if you prefer spicy

I then transferred the ribs into my crockpot, poured the sauce over, added some MORE onions (yum!) to sweeten, and have now put it on auto mode. My ex-director/ good friend El gave me a mini slow cooker and it only has two modes - auto and high. And now the waiting begins...

3pm - I started the crock pot and then went for a run around the Tan. Did some exercise and while I was still warm, decided to work on my veggies. This was about 4.45pm when I started...

I had some organic potatoes that I bought from the Farmer's Market a few weeks ago - they were very petite and delicate flavoured. No need for overwhelming herbs or flavouring. After cutting them into quarters and arranging on a bake pan, I drizzled some Villa Varapodi Olive Oil from Rose Creek Estate and sprinkled a light dusting of sea salt. This olive oil was the third harvest batch and is considered premium Sola Polpa - I was told that the oil is not pressed but extracted in small batches using an ancient method. Not too sure what this ancient method is though... ANYWAY, it tastes friking good. I had bought a First Harvest batch which is not for cooking, but dipping with bread and that is super amazing Olive Oil. Yum.... Back to my potatoes though...

I popped them into a pre-heated oven with a heat of 170C for 15mins and scattered several garlic slices over the potato quarters. After this was done, I then tossed in some broccoli florets and sprinkled some lo-fat fetta over. Another light dusting of sea salt, and a dash of oil and back into the oven at 170C for 10mins.

PINGGGGG!!! Oven went off, veggies are done. Switched the crock pot off, mmmmMMmMmM! Pork was literally falling off the bone, the sauce had thickened to a deep reddish rusty brown and the aroma! If only I could capture the aroma that wafted from my little pot. Sat down with a beer, some hearty American BBQ ribs, roast potatoes and veggies - so satisfying on a cold winter's night. Now, onto enjoy my brand new flaming red sofa! Woohoooooooo! I love Life!

(above) Ribs just about done - the onions were so soft and added a touch of sweetness to the BBQ sauce.

Until my next post! X