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Thursday, January 05, 2006

Food blues

What would you do when practically everybody’s been telling you that you look a little, er, chubbier (they’re just being nice, aren’t they) since the previous couple of months and you yourself knew it was useless to indulge yourself further in self-denial as the weighing scale would not fib on the fact that you have just gained 2kg in a short couple of weeks (and counting, you can feel it somehow) and that there must be a fair reason to the fresh stiffness you experienced every time you tried to button up your jeans? Alright, you know that I know you know the answer already (don’t mind me, this is the after-effect of one of my midnight blues), but here goes anyway: you go on a diet.

I was never one to be obsessed with my weight and all, but sincerely speaking, I myself am quite alarmed by my present eating pattern. I’ve always been a big eater since the dawning of days, but nothing quite prepared me for this sort of food rampage I am on ever since my arrival in this foreign land. My theoretical conviction concerning the root of this problem lays in the truth of me terribly missing local Malaysian food- more specifically, traditional Malay delicacies. And oh, let’s prod deeper and be more explicit about it, why not. I’m specifically talking about ikan bakar (preferably fresh-water ones) with kuah asam, telur ikan masak lemak, udang harimau masak merah, sayur pucuk paku, pucuk manis (dan segala pucuk lah) masak lemak/berlada, sayur rebung masak lemak, sambal belacan, tempoyak, cencaluk, and practically every kind of ulam that ever existed on this good earth, especially………. Haha, it’s no big secret, my dear family members will spill the beans (note the pun later on! Lol) in the comment box anyway… good ol’ petai.

Aha, I can see your face contorting with unreserved disgust already, but don’t be too hasty in passing bad judgment on their already moldy reputation. These fellas augment your appetite like no other, and I brush my teeth like, three times after eating them, so no harm done, really! I daresay that those who do not eat these yummy (even if a tad unusual) beans are missing out on one of the incredible wonders of life. Yes, they are that good. And oh, how could I simply forget to mention my all-time favourite breakfast meal, nasi lemak? My mouth happily watered just at the measly thought of it (and the picture of nasi lemak at the stall nearby our house my dad sent me yesterday did not help to lessen my cravings at all ;p) and don’t even get me started on other cultures’ dishes like briyani and chicken tandoori (super-duper yummy!) and char kuey tiaw (Planet Curry’s ones are the finest!), we might never finish this entry by dawn.

So the theory goes that I tried to make up for the lack of scrumptious halal food (note that it isn’t merely halal food I’m talking about) in this part of the world by scraping off every halal ones I could get my teeth on to the shameful extent of licking off pots and pans (don’t imagine the sight in a gross way). I drank a lot of juice, piled up on chocolate, chips, and cookies, and ate at least two platefuls of rice every night. Hunger pangs seemed to strike me all the time and the pain was double the ones I had had back in home. I noticed at some point that I wasn’t eating healthily and of proper quantity, but I secretly blamed it on the cold weather. Hehe. Moreover, green vegetables are extremely difficult to get hold of in this season and the closest thing we could get to bayam and sawi are… carrots and potatoes. I’m not really sure how these whole facts correlated with one another, but they relayed the same outcome- I was splendidly on my way to the realm of high blood pressure and diabetes and spare tyres. Helloo there.

Therefore, with great courage in hand, I set on a mission not too long ago (in fact, the day before yesterday) to prevent the swift increase of my cheeks’ circumferences and superfluous adipose tissues and blood pressure and so forth, which consists of tricky steps quite difficult to be accomplished for my part. Nevertheless, I will step forward without fear… (I know I sound soo fake).

Step 1: Eat one round of rice daily, instead of two, three and four (sorry abah, I can’t talk on spoonful terms yet)
Step 2: Do daily sit-ups
Step 3: Stop buying chocolate and chips
Step 4: Perform puasa sunat more often
Step 5: Do face exercise (hahaha, my father taught me this one)
Step 6: Eat more cereals with fibre and wholemeal bread
Step 7: Never forget to take my vitamins

Any more tips? =)


Waiting for mashrudka (public transport in the form of a van) to go home at 4.30pm from nearby the academy

18 comments:

Ikelah said...

telur ikan masak lemak yang tepi sungai tu teluribu gelama. we had our lunch at tepi sungai last week on our way to KL.... as usual telur ikan masak lemak, ikan bakar, keli goreng berlada, rebung masak lemak n not forgetting ulam.

ulam yang paling sedap ulam petai...the 'bean' ;)

nasi lemak yang sedap ada dua; nasi lemak kukus, yang momad makan this morning or nasi lemak zaman which we stopped on the way to KL four weeks ago

mak as usual, her breakfast nasi berlauk sambal belacan n gulai ikan aya masak lemak n me tumpang saje. still controling but taking more with lamb shank last week at lemon tree, char kuay teow special at PC, mee chalong at pak mat corner, mee goreng mamak at aliff or pak mat and nasi goreng usa at the beach.

yea... i m eating more then'usual', the 'usual' march to october.

got ur photos at yahoo.... great pics...most of the photos r well composed with good lighting and colour.

ok.... happy holiday n selamat berpuasa zulhijjah.

dith said...

Sorry Fi, I can't wait and be the last to comment lest it'll be all to stale and my advice for your diet would be rendered useless already! The fact is: I can't let a good entry goes uncommented can I,eh???

Anyway, my eyes were right when I said that you looked puffed up in the cheeks earlier on and thought that you were food bingeing.

Hey be careful with that pressure and glucose raising diet you've been embracing a couple of mths thus far. Why don't you go on a salad and sandwich diet? They're easy to prepare (even for a not-made-for-kitchen-lass like you!)and drink lots of clear H20 and low-fat milk.

Honestly, I can never envisage for the life of me, you being in this 'weighty' issue. You have forever been in the group of lucky people who'd splurge but never put on an inch. I believe you've also been more sedentery as it's so cold to exercise, no?

Insyallah Fi, you just eat healthy and burn more of those adipose tissue and you'll be fine. Don't want you to end up like the 'babushka' of Russia!

As for the endless list of traditonal delicacies you've jotted, don't you fret. Come July and August, our kitchen is all yours to experiment with your 'dormant' cooking skills!

LONG LIVE PETAI!!!

dith said...

p.c. that photo is beautiful. Again, nice composition!

Ikelah said...

sejak bila dah cakap pasal composition... ;)

Anonymous said...

hello there,

soalan. how does one do face exercise aside from smiling?

for diet tips, one of my friends whom always gain weight faster than anyone of us does this. she eats everything in small portions? half a slice of cake etc, rather than not eating at all. it helps.

to comfort yourself, blame it on the environment ha ha, we love to blame it being in western countries makes one gain weight easily :P

-rafthah-

tenkostar said...

tips....i know..u stare at those delicious food pics (like the one ur dad sent or the pizza i sent you or if you want some more can be emailed...) and then imagined u had eaten them all...wait..imagine Azleen at home has eaten all of them for you......


haha. ok. NOT.



to reduce my food intake normally drank lotsa water beforehand. when u feel full, u tend to eat less. agaknya lah.

and the best thing u can do in a hostel is clear off / minimise the stock of junk food in the room~!!!! really. kalau terpaksa member nilik sebelah ade. hehe. thats how my instant noodle boycott works. :-)

haha..u know what..i put on weight as well at college. funny thing considering the inversely proportional relationship with my food intake. why ah??

p/s: ikelah, my dad loves that zaman nasi lemak as well. and i'm still wondering why....ahaha. nyway pat mat corner kat mane??

pp/s:just remembered..ifos has been loving petai since what..darjah 5/6? remembered some vague memories of nasi bungkus ur mom sent or something..

been meaning to ask: what does p/s stands for anyway?

ave fun you:-) enjoy ur hols!

ifos said...

Thannks all for the tips. hehe... anonymous, you wouldn't WANT to look at the face exercise thingy, lest you would die from laughing so hard. It involves a lot of muscle-pulling and lip-twitching and and even some eyebrow action. haha. Azleen- I've already cut the junk food supply in my room. Tadi pegi supermarket I bought not even one bar of chocolate! Hurrah! Although I have to admit, the temptation was VERY strong, consumed quite a bit of my Jedi force... hehe. Pak Mat Corner very near my house, overlooking the sea. And p/s stands for 'postscript'. Enjoy your hols. too =)

Mama Pongkey said...

*faints*

Pleeeaasseee this entry and the replies is a huge huge torture for me...

*stomach rumbles*

What about that famous Pahang breakfast: glutinous rice with sardines??? Yumm...

But what I really miss the most is sayur kulat + belimbing besi (small, green and round) masak lemak. Oh God.

InsyaAllah must start planning menu for Raya next week. Are you making anything special ifos & sarah?

What about the lucky people in Malaysia? Masak apa untuk Raya?

(Saje nak torture diri sendiri heheh).

Anonymous said...

I read the whole thing + the comments and the only words that are stuck in my head are those mentions of food! I don't even want to imagine when will be the time I MUST diet...

this entry's consuming some of my own jedi force.

I've yet to find my own petai clique... everyone here hates it *sedey*

Ikelah said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

And I have no Jedi force left in me...all consumed with age...so how?

Ikelah said...

selamat hari raya. salam pada kak sarah n take care.

Mama Pongkey said...

Crimson, I loooovvveee petai. Strangely enough in Chinatown they label it as 'sator'. Thai ke? DrRoza help!

Anonymous said...

Dah cukup lah tips tu. Just remember to strictly adhere to them. Sekali sekala (on Raya, Birthdays etc) tak apa.

Believe me it works. I'm a living proof...;)

Selamat Hari Raya to you. Semoga semangat pengorbanan sentiasa tersemat di dada.

Anonymous said...

Muahaha, for me, staying at home makes certain parts of my body "kembang". ^^; Or so my mother says. I especially get chubby around the face (double chins, OMG) and you-know-what down there. But the scale hasn't reflected that at all, I've pretty much stayed the same weight all last year, until now. Which kind of concludes that I mostly just need to exercise. Le sigh.

So yeah, more exercise (besides sit-ups, which I could only do ... oh, less than 10 in a row >< ) would do good in your list. And I probably need to eat less ayam. But I like my ayam...! =(

Ah, and yes -- I'm not exactly an ulam fan. At all. But I get what you mean, my mother loves those kacang botol and whatnot. I'd do fine with carrots and potatoes, haha.

All the best, and oooh, the picture is postcard-perfect! The sky looks awesome there. :O

Anonymous said...

Assalamualaikum..
Well.. puasa memang boleh lose weight.. but make sure your #1 nawaitu is right! ;) Good luck in losing those extra pounds (that is, if it's really true. You look just fine to me)

ifos said...

Thanks to everyone... Crimsonskye and Kenakelayan- we can set up our petai clique together ;) And we'll try to lure Aneesah over to the wonder of Ulam World... heheh. Ayumi, my main aim is not to lose weight, but all these unneccessary fat around my waist and cheeks ;p

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