You Are What You Eat Meme

I feel bad as I have been dilly dallying over this meme ever since Glutton Rabbit from Pearl of the Orient tagged me for it - excuses was the festive season plus the lack of photos. Okay, new year resolution is not to procrastinate and "Just Do It", so here is my meme.

In this meme, you need to list down ten of your favourite foods. Sounds easy but it ain't as I find it hard to narrow down my likes to just ten since I am a real fickle gal and love everything in sight. Using what I have cooked and blogged about the past year, I came up with this list. Now some bits may overlap itself.

1. Salmon

I love salmon in any form and will not get sick of eating it. I love the buttery thick salmon sashimi slices especially when they are super fresh dipped in soya sauce and smeared with a smidgeon of wasabi for that extra kick. Then there is the pan fried salmon just done right until the pink flesh flakes off nicely when they are cooked with a crisp skin. Even the salmon head is my favourite as it tastes great when you put some teriyaki sauce over it and grill it.

2. Japanese Food

For me, Japanese food is a bit more than just the usual sashimi, tempura and sushi dishes. I love their home cooked dishes which I often replicate at home whether it is oden, Japanese curry, teriyaki salmon or chicken, oyako don and etc. Besides Japanese food, I collect Japanese plates and bowls as my favourite is their blue and white patterns.


Yoshinoya's Gyu Don sprinkled with lots of shichimi

3. Chocolate

I will be kidding if I did not put this on my top ten list but I love all kinds of chocolates whether they are luxury versions or just plain candy bars you can get from the newsagents. I recently discovered Royce chocolates ever since Isetan opened a counter and they are really fantastic stuff. Try those almond chocolates and you will be in heaven. Other brands which I love are Leonidas - their white chocolate pralines with the whole hazelnut i.e. Manon Cafe is my absolute favourite, Godiva (I discovered them when I went to the USA) and Thorntons from England. They can't be bought here but I love their Viennese Truffles with the creamy centers. Oh, another childhood indulgence of mine is Cote D'Or - I love the Bouchees which come individually wrapped.

Besides the high end chocolates, my favourite chocolate bar snack is the Cadbury Flake - makes me want to sit in a bath tub enjoying my Flake, Galaxy's Minstrels - perfect for cinema trips, Cadbury's Wispa which is now discontinued, Aero - I love anything with bubbles in them, it is also Splashie Boy's absolute favourite chocolate, 3 Musketeers - an essential buy whenever I am in the USA, Terry's Orange Chocolate - you whack it to break them into segments and Cherry Ripe - always a must whenever anyone goes to Australia.



Top Left: Leonidas Manon Cafe, Top Right: Cherry Ripe
Bottom Left: Cadbury Flake, Bottom Right: Aero Mint Bar

4. Mushrooms

Another must in my diet are mushrooms and they always seem to sneak into my grocery basket whether they are just plain button ones, fresh shitake ones, portobellos, japanese enoki ones, honshimeji and etc. When I was in university, my signature dish was Stir Fried Chicken with Chinese mushrooms on top of egg noodles. I used to bring back bags of the dried chinese mushrooms to prepare this for my friends who loved it.

5. Mango and Pineapple

I generally love fruits of all kinds but ask me to pick specific ones and I will narrow it down to mangoes and pineapple which I love to eat all the time. The great thing is we get these fruits all year round so I don't run out of supplies of them.


Honey Mangoes from the Bangsar Pasar Malam

6. Noodles of all kinds

I am a noodle gal and they make great light lunches or dinners most of the time for me. Whether they are fried or boiled, noodles are always my first choice. I tend to prefer eating beehoon (or what some of you know as vermicelli), loh shee fun (rat's tails in Cantonese) and kuay teow. Somehow I don't have a strong liking for the yellow mee they use in cooking Hokkien Noodles. My first preference is always noodles with soup unless it's an extremely hot day. I love to drink the soup whether it is just clear soup or laksa and will finish it up that my friends often laugh at me for making sure the bowl is clean for them to clear up.

7. Street foods

I am sure you all should know that I am love street stalls from all my walkabouts, whether it is the pasar malam (Malay for night markets) and the festive stalls like the Ramadan bazaars and Deepavali stalls. Must go visit Petaling Street soon to check out the Chinese New Year stalls.

8. Pies

Splashie Boy and I love pies of all kinds but somehow his absolute favourite is Shepherd's Pie. Not sure why but I guess because it combines all the favourite bits like mash potatoes and minced lamb.

Shepherd's Pie with Cheesy Leek Topping

9. Sandwiches

Another must have are sandwiches for me, whether they are bought from outside or made by myself. There is something comforting about bread and I love all kinds.


Dunkin' Donuts Egg Croissant Sandwich

10. Ais Kacang (Air Batu Campur)

My all time favourite dessert whenever I feel the heat coming on is Ais Kacang and I love it as plain as possible - only with a dash of gula melaka syrup and evaporated milk. It must also have lots of fine ice so they melt in my mouth straight away.


Ais Kacang from PJ's Medan Selera

11. Marmite

I confess a liking for this even though Splashie Boy does not like it's smell as it reminds me of my childhood days. My mother always kept a bottle of Marmite in case of emergencies as it was great with toast or just as a quick soup. Nowadays I cook it with chicken drizzling it to make a sticky black sauce that smells divine only to me.


Marmite Chicken

*Update - Someone just pointed out to me I have eleven items on my favourite list. Typical of me, I can't even count early in the morning! Actually I just realised I have twelve items as I listed mangoes and pineapples on one bit - see how crazy I am, I managed to sneak in two more items I love in a top ten list!