… and back to school.

Can’t believe it’s been a week since I’ve been back in Melbourne. In the last month, I have been in Singapore, removed 2 wisdom teeth, gone to Taipei, eat amazing vegetarian food, returned to Singapore, removed another 2 wisdom teeth, celebrated Chinese New Year with congee, and back to Melbourne with bruises on my face and neck, courtesy of the surgery. And stitches in my mouth that I have no dentist or time to remove. 😦

But I managed to find time to cook tteokbokki and some ridiculously fudgey brownies with Steph on Saturday. And watch lots and lots of Gilmore Girls. 😛 Tteokbokki is so easy to make, and stores really well. A package of rice sticks feeds 4-5, depending on your preference for dessert, which in our case, was damn high.

You will also need this sticky spicy sauce from the Asian grocer, of which I paid $4.65 for, and soon find out that I already have one in the fridge. 3 months away and so must cook tteokbokki another 10 times this year. I reckon this will make a great paste for fried rice or fuscramble too.

Tteokbokki

1/2 a package of rice sticks
3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 springs of spring onion, sliced
5 dried mushrooms, soaked and sliced
1 tbs chilli paste

Cover frozen rice sticks with hot water and let sit until slightly soften and separates.
Heat some oil in wok and fry garlic, then mushrooms for a minute. Add rice sticks and fry for a while, then chilli paste. Stir to coat everything, then a bowl of water to cover everything. Put lid on and let simmer until rice sticks have soften (pierce-able), add more water if necessary. When this is all ready, throw in spring onion and cook until just wilted. Sprinkle white sesame seeds and serve.

Hal’s Maple Chocolate Flax Brownies
(via La Dolche Vegan)

1/4c sugar
1/4c ground flax seeds (2 egg replacers)
1/2c maple syrup
1/4c oil
1/4c milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2c flour
1/4c cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4c walnuts, chopped
1/2c chocolate chips

[wet] Stir together sugar, ground flax seeds (2 “eggs”), maple syrup, oil, milk and vanilla. Let stand for 10 minutes.
[dry] Stir in flour, cocoa, salt and walnuts until “just mixed”.
Pour into 8×8″ baking pan, sprinkle top with chocolate chips, and bake for 20-25 minutes 175C, until toothpick comes out clean.
Cool before cutting into squares.

(I mixed about 1/4c chocolate chips into the batter, and baked for 25 minutes in my loaf pan. Try to eat it the next day if you can.)

LivingGreens

I got to the dental clinic this morning, just to find out that those stitches holding my gum together can’t be removed as my gums are still too swollen, I can hardly open my jaws to chew, and there will be far too much discomfort. So more medication and back to the clinic on Saturday. AND scheduled to have the other 2 teeth removed on the 31st when I return from Taipei, Taiwan.

Dropped by the office for lunch with my family and colleagues. More dining companions, more options! Living Greens is a 5 minutes walk from the office, but such a shame that I’ve only been here twice. The menu is extensive, with about 6 daily specials including sides and mains. This is another one of the “organic healthy-eating eastern-western” places like Onaka, but absolutely vegan! It boasts of being MSG, white sugar-free, low salt and oil, while cakes are GF.

Onaka

I love how every trip home brings about new experiences and people. I’ve spent almost all of my summer vacation drinking expensive soy flat whites (and sugary soy lattes from one of the 70 ****bucks on this island) playing Scrabble and doing crosswords that stump me at every pop culture clue. My new friend A, is adamant in kicking my Scrabble ass and the recent scoreboard looks something like this: Em-10, G-2, A-2. In A’s attempt to fulfill his new year resolution of eating healthier, we went to Onaka for dinner one weekday night.

Ling Zhi Vegetarian

I just got 2/4 wisdom teeth out on Thursday, and holy poo of the cute baby, cannot get the sound of the drill out of my head. They were all under the gum, with the top two being impacted, so had to be removed to prevent decay of the other surrounding molars in future. He had to split open the gums and saw the top tooth in half due to its awkward position. It was very very awful. And looking at these pictures of delicious food only serves as a reminder that I’ve had 3 meals of congee and 2 of oatmeal.

I’ve been yearning for some super tasty dim sum for a few months now, even though Vegie Hut in Box Hill does a pretty fine one, it still doesn’t come close to what I’ve had in Singapore and Hong Kong. I suspect that this might also have to do with the memories associated with the usual family Sunday yum cha, as with most food we eat anyway.

We had some half-off vouchers to use at any Tung Lok Group of restaurants, and so went to Ling Zhi (灵芝) Vegetarian to check out their dim sum. The selection was plentiful, and the ala-carte menu was also available to choose from. We started out with one of my favourites, Crispy Fried Yam Dumplings (芋饺) and it did not disappoint. The filling was warm and creamy, oozing out just slightly and was a delight against the crispy outer shell.

No self-deserving yum cha fanatic will skip this essential dish. I could eat Cheong Fun all day.