Festive season and a sneak peek into teas

Happy Chinese New Year's Eve! More than anything, Chinese New Year seems to be more of a prominent marker that it is time for a brand new year. Sometimes January brings over the disappointments of 2011, well it did for me. I can't say February is going to fantastic and better but I cling on to hope. 

Yesterday's reunion dinner which was a Korean buffet kinda thing almost ended my life. I ate tons of rice and crispy pancakes with vegetables. Didn't eat any meat and the meat and seafood grill was all mixed together and I feel nauseous just looking at it.My cousins and I had a good time though and isn't that what reunion dinner's really all about? 

This is dinner I cooked today, all by myself! Mummy gave me a chance to whip up a family dinner for the brother, sister, herself and me. Daddy will only be back tomorrow. She bought fresh chicken meat from the market and I refused to cook it at first. Later on I gave it 'cos I felt bad that they might feel shortchanged eating my food. It was highly unethical of me to do so.... all I managed to do was pray for the chicken and feel utterly sorry for it's unethical death. 

First up was my own recipe of Japanese mushroom butter soup. This would definitely be better with miso but my sister doesn't like miso so I omitted it. It contains a French onion base stock, shitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, garlic, butter, wakame, white pepper and salt. 

Secondly, vegetables! Can't go wrong with these. Made a very simple house favorite, garlic shitake mushrooms with boiled Shanghai greens. 

The third dish was butter maple prawns! This is a more "me" recipe. Another invention by yours truly. There wasn't any trace or hint of sugar, yay! With the right ingredients and adequate knowledge, "healthy-fying" your cooking is as easy as ABC! This had simply butter, organic pure maple syrup, sea-salt, black pepper and dried oregano. 

Lastly, wolfberry chicken! I used to cook this all the time for myself in the past. It's my "secret" recipe though technically it doesn't belong to me, got it off a television show. However, I feel particularly attached to it because no one usually cooks food this way. It has only TWO ingredients and is cooked without any oil as seriously, chicken skin-on is fatty enough, over the right flame, it's oil juices can produce enough to cook with!

Everyone enjoyed it and I felt so accomplished. It took me about an hour to prepare all of it. It is important that the people around you love and appreciate you for who you are. I know my family finds it tough to as well and are not used to this "health-change" of mine. That doesn't give me any reason at all to give it up. I love myself, I love that I enjoy simple and pure flavors like boiled vegetables and steamed food. 

Moving on...................................

Some CHARACTERISTICS OF TEA that I have understood through self-testing.

• It is probably your best form of detox (tea without milk, little/no sugar)
• Most effective are green tea and black tea, straight up sugar-less
• Teas with caffeine are best taken 2 hours after your meal coupled with some walking to aid digestion
• Caffeine-free teas like rooibos red/green, chamomile, herbal blends are best taken ANYTIME!
• If you have a relatively fine digestive system, tea should help cleanse your body after every meal

These are some points I've realized that aid in my detox. Why detox everyday? Because we put food in (sometimes unhealthy), because we breathe in pollution and accumulate free radicals.... I am not saying that we ought to go on harsh cleansing diets or products. Rather, gentle detox with the help of teas, certain foods, natural vitamins and liquids will go a long way with your digestive system. After finishing half a bottle of Chlorophyll and quite a few bottles of pure aloe vera juice, I'm starting to reap the benefits. Hooray! 

Tomorrow there is more festive eating to come but I shall fret not because I do not binge eat now. The victory is already half-won! Fantastic!

xoxo. God bless.