Life is eating

是日已過，命亦隨減。
修行每天都得修行，吃喝每天也更得吃喝。
不吃喝的話，活不過十天，那就好好修行吃喝吧！玩樂例外？

為所欲為，有什麽就放什麼。這個我常煮。
有機番薯，紅腰豆，薑，龍眼乾，葡萄乾，紅棗，山楂，枸杞，atap，chia seed… 哦，十全。
不放糖的糖水。

吃飯咯。。
噢！我沒煮飯，只炒一鍋菜。
有機的菜花、豆腐、黑木耳，及茶花菇和竹笙。
吃菜咯。

在這，想吃什麽就得自己煮。

不用豆薯/沙葛（bangkuang），我冰橱還有有機的紫、橙、黄胡蘿蔔，豆腐，蛋。又有蟹肉。真夠料。午餐吃它8券。晚餐就吃6卷好了。

網絡曾流傳用微波爐的食物，吃了會致癌.. 

在馬來西亞，不是很多人用微波爐，我就沒用過，但在美國，幾乎每户人家都有微波爐。我第一次看相公用時，才知道它這麼方便。

前天炒了一大鍋有機的麵、胡蘿蔔、花椰菜、杏鮑菇、蛋，及素熱狗。
今天不用煮了，用微波爐两分鐘加熱就好。

可是不知那個家伙在網絡講它不好…
相公說那是不真實的，無知，不要什麽都信！
我有找谷哥，看了两個網頁，一個講不是致癌的因素https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/radiation-exposure/radiofrequency-radiation.html，一個講可能會https://thetruthaboutcancer.com/are-microwaves-safe/，順便跟你們分享。

要信誰啊？

什麼瓜？
買了两星期，今天才想到要吃它。
意大利麵瓜

刀子進去，拨不出，很硬哦！
這是要怎麼煮的呢？
哎喲，問谷哥去。

東方人的食物都是水煮、炒的，我還想拿來炒，原來這瓜適合用 oven 烤爐。
意大利麵瓜咯！西方人食物的烤法。

相公煮他的食物~雞肉，就是用烤爐。
對了，有人問我：你煮什麼給他吃？
他不吃我的食物；我不吃他的食物。他煮他的；我煮我的。
剛開始我是有試炒雞肉及煮肉骨茶，他給臉吃了。但接着，他就顯得很無奈的吃。明了嗎？我很 senang，不用愁煮什麼給他吃。

即然用烤爐，那還可以烤什麼？
我有杏鮑菇，曾在FB看過有人用烤的，說吃起來很像肉。
猴菇調味料好，就一起烤。

刮出一條條意大利麵

烤了的杏鮑菇，調味汁流出來，把它淋在意大利麵瓜…

西餐？
有點像吃西餐。

什麼意大利麵瓜，我亂來的。
Spaghetti squash 中文是意粉南瓜。
有點像冬粉，我加了有機的花椰菜、Bella蘑菇、蛋，及放一些九層塔，炒來吃。
像不像炒冬粉咧？

冰橱還有螃蟹肉，想到魚翅的煮法，我喜歡吃糊糊的湯，就煮麵線糊吧！

有機的喬麥麵、紫胡蘿蔔、木耳、蘑菇，及蟹肉，打一粒蛋花。

淋上蒜油和黑醋。我吃醋，一點點。

哇..好好吃！

會打麻將的人，是不是喜歡食胡？

相公問我，要什麼口味的冰淇淋？
我說，隨你喜歡。
他說，你有得選擇。
Coffee lah.

其實，來來去去就是 coffee 或 Chambord raspberry / chocolate。
我說，durian。Steve一定不要做！

這算是麻婆豆腐嗎？

不是？那就叫麻公豆腐咯！

通常我這人很 chin cai（隨便），一個人吃，平底鍋就直接當大盤，炒好就吃。

哎喲…燙到舌頭！豆腐還很燒。

少洗一個盤，省洗碗液又省水。

朋友，不要担心，我煮給朋友的食物，試味道都會另用湯匙碗碟… 我很注重衛生。

相公聞到很酸的味道。

沒錯，我在煮 asam laksa，這醬很酸。

太酸（或太咸），不合我口味，只好加一些糖。

少了一些材料，當然味道比不上在檳城街邊檔口賣的，身在美國，能吃到有一點像家鄉味的麵食，解一點念食瘾，就好咯！

從檳城帶回的醬料之一。

一點的生蒜，就滿嘴蒜味，幸好我一人在家，沒人靠近我。
吃滷麵就是要放生蒜，整碗 loh mee 的味道就提昇起來。
滷肉是朋友給的，很好味，就是因為有滷肉，讓我有機會聯想煮 loh mee。

要吃到見底，才能看到驚喜..

我承該我很無聊，一直貼照寫一些有的沒的…

也不知是為了自己要有存在感，還是真的要與親友分享樂趣？

也不知是為了自己要生活平衡，還是真的要與社群保持聯系?

也不知幾個人在看，費時拍照貼照更費時寫文，沒稿費，鼓勵給 like 或 comment 的人也不多。

我想，有些看 Facebook 的人都是無聊的，有時間就在 Facebook 遊，哈哈，我是在說我自己。我喜歡看那些寫他/她自己感想、情感、趣事、社論等的好文.. 讓我覺得無聊的生活有點激蕩。

所以說，寫好文是一種供獻、布施哦！你說對嗎？

不好意思，我的貼文不好，不僅不好，還要問世界上最無聊的謎題：

猜我要煮什麽？

Chinese New Year celebration

旺旺旺…年！

年初一早上，一定是素食。

我媽在時，雖然她不是真正的佛教，但她信觀世音，每月的初一、十五日持素至下午五點。

一大早年初一，她就準備素食菜給全家，要我們至少持素至中午。那時代的素食還不盛行，她就買罐頭素料，如素鮑魚、羅漢齋…

我的兄姐各自的家庭都跟隨她的傳承。

我也不例外。

炒絲瓜蘑菇九層塔，煎豆腐、素白帶魚。

吃着吃着… 配上絲絲的念親.. 味道。

對了，給紅包。我的洋相公也有傳承.. 

每年，他有給我紅包，我也回給他紅包。

Steve: I wanted to cook something for Chinese New Year, so chose a very traditional dessert - chocolate financiers! (Okay, so maybe it's a French petit-four, not a Chinese dessert, but no one has complained yet.) Cook's Illustrated and America's Test Kitchen recipes have never let me down.

"Mise en place" - everything out and ready to start mixing.

Dry ingredients ready.

After mixing the molten chocolate, butter, and espresso powder into the dry ingredients. Now, the batter sits for 20-30 minutes.

Time to fill the mini-muffin pan.

Fresh from the oven.

It's so hard to wait for them to cool before sampling. All should have a little dome in the middle, like in the upper right corner. I don't know what went wrong with some - I'll just have to keep making them until I get it right. :-)

Steve: I have no idea what the texture of a financier is supposed to be like. These turned out slightly crispy on the outside, like the edge of a brownie, and a little like fudge on the inside.

Steve 做了甜點，叫什麼 chocolate financiers，很甜，我不喜歡。

每次告訴他要減糖，他就不聽。

盆菜，近幾年馬來西亞流行新年吃盆菜。
好，就來做一做。噢不，是做二做。

這麼巧，各有两位朋友邀請我們去慶祝新年。

一家三點的因有某些素食者，所以我做一盆全素的。

另一家五點，我做一盆葷的。

除了两位 ang moh 及小弟弟在美國出生，我們都是馬來西亞人。
噢，還有两隻狗狗，是美國狗。
We had a wonderful Chinese New Year celebration dinner in Ling & David's house.

Happy Dog Year

今天才想到做一點年餅。

杏仁餅。
Almond butter cookies.

新的一年又來了，反省回想過往，也許我的言行，我無意中，不知有否曾讓人造成不舒服，若有，請原諒。

一個人的除夕火鍋。

父母還在時，我們的團圓飯是火鍋。所以我愛吃火鍋，感覺很温馨。

紫胡蘿蔔及藥材湯底，火鍋料有素有葷。

我生長在檳島，吃海鮮成長，魚蝦蟹很誘惑我的食慾。

明天大家一起又增多一年歲了，共賀。

恭祝你及家人 ~

身體健康 事事如意 吉祥！

Valentine's rolls

♡ Happy Valentine's Day ♡

我的早餐通常是麵包，自己烘的有機全麥麵包。

做慣了，很多材料就不用量了，麵粉也是 agar agar，用手感。

揉呀揉，玩一玩。揉麵團是可以減壓的，雖然我沒壓力。

Organic whole wheat with flax seed meal rolls.

應節，做♡形的，給我的情人。

祝大家有情有愛，情人節快樂 ♡

Vietnamese New Year Event

 

去看看越南人的新年團慶，跟華人的，是有一些不同。

我認得..桔，還有冬瓜條，其它就不知是什麼。
Mandarin oranges represent Luck.

我有問小女孩的媽媽，讓我拍照。

Cute girl

The altar is non-denominational, as religious leaders from several denominations helped lead the event, which was held in the gymnasium of a Catholic high school.  The gold flag with red stripes is the old flag of South Vietnam.

儀式開始~大家起立播唱美國國歌。

接着播唱越南國歌，一半時播放中斷，男司儀臨急應變，自己領導大家清唱。

Flag Ceremony & National Anthems

我猜這是像華人的民間傳統的祭拜。
我問了一位越南朋友，她說是老子（道教）的祭拜儀式。
果然沒猜錯。
Traditional ceremony for the New Year.

A local kung fu school preparing for the lion dance.

 舞獅。

No New Year's celebration is complete without a Lion Dance.

跪拜

The lions paying their respects before beginning to dance.

我以爲這是財神。
越南朋友說是，灶神。
A guy made up as the Kitchen God. Not a Santa Claus.

大人物派黄包
Lucky Money Giveaway. There were not enough kids for all the yellow packets, so the adults started lining up, too.

Later, everyone enjoyed a buffet. 

兒童玩棋
Chess. Each player pays 1 ticket to play. The winner of each game gets 20 tickets, but there is a 15 minute time limit on each game.  They had both western chess and Chinese chess (xiangqi), but it looked like no one tried playing xiangqi.

倉鼠進洞

Hamster roulette. Players place their tickets on top of the little houses. When the hamster is released in the middle, whichever house it runs into wins, and the players with a ticket on that house win more tickets.  

給小孩賭？

Game or gambling? Each game requires the player to pay in tickets.  In this game, the person representing the house shakes a container with three dice, and the winning player wins another ticket.

Game prizes. Players can redeem the tickets they won for prizes.

行動前的貪念

貪心，有大有小。
有時很小到我自己沒有察覺，被人打擊了，才感到很羞恥。

我在試吃品，好吃。
走了一圈倒回時，還想再吃。走向前要，那位給的人說：你吃了，留給别人。
我很不好意思掉頭走開。

感謝那人打擊我的貪，謹慎警惕自己以後要覺察行動前的貪念，須即刻熄滅。

Maple Sugar Festival

We just discovered this year that there is an annual Maple Sugar Festival in St. Louis at Rockwoods Reservation, one of the sites run by the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Parking was limited on-site, so we took school buses from a local school parking lot to the venue. 

After a short bus ride, we arrive.  There are already several hundred people. 

There was a raffle.

People got hands-on experience tapping maple trees.  Here, a girl is drilling a hole in the sample tree to insert a spile, a small spout that directs sap from the tree into a collection bucket.

After the hole is drilled, the spile is gently tapped into the tree.  The hook on the bottom is to hang the collection bucket.

Carrying sap from the trees to the camp the old fashioned way!

At this station, guests were able to taste raw tree sap.  Since sap is mostly water, there is almost no noticeable taste at this stage.  To collect sap, nighttime temperatures have to be below freezing, but must rise above freezing during the day.

This is a more modern collection system.  Tubes run between trees with taps.  The tubes go into the shack on the left, which has a large container to collect sap.  This is much easier than checking and emptying individual buckets of sap on every tree.

After the maple sap is collected, the water content has to be reduced to concentrate the sugar and flavor.

Sap is mostly water, containing only about 3 percent sugar, so it is placed in an evaporator to remove water until the syrup is about 67 percent sugar.  It takes 40 gallons of sap from sugar maple trees to yield just 1 gallon of maple syrup.

Several stations with maple-related treats were set up around the site.  This one was serving kettle corn made with maple sugar.

This station was giving out little pancakes, covered with real maple syrup.

This treat, called "Sugar on Snow", was made by taking maple syrup that had been cooked to an almost candy consistency, then dropping it into shaved ice.  

The mix could then be taken out and eaten using toothpicks. 

Information booths were set up around the site where visitors could chat with knowledgeable people about maple trees, tree identification, tapping and making syrup, or just general information.  One booth even had information about "backyard tapping", for tapping trees and making maple syrup at home.

Samples to identify different types of trees. 

A small tent was set up where a band played.  Bales of hay were spread around for people to sit and relax.

Inside the cabin, several craft stations were set up for the kids.