Sorry I haven’t been able to post yesterday…I’ve been busy with my brand new MacBook! I’ve been wanting a MacBook for the longest time, after hearing about how MacBook is so much more convenient and user-friendly than PC, and especially since my laptop’s hard disk was going haywire these days. It just so happened that Singapore was holding a huge IT expo last week, where many technological gadgets were on sale with great promotional bundles!

Anyway, I finally got the MacBook I always wanted, except I was forced to get the better (and more expensive) version! When I reached there the model I wanted was all sold out, and there was only one model left, and it was the new 2.4 GHz aluminum MacBook. I took it as God’s sign that He wanted me to splurge a little bit more on the better one…because I’m just that precious to Him. So, I obeyed His obvious will. Who am I to ignore Divine wishes? Everyone, say hello to my new shiny friend!

Anyway, so far I’m really liking the Mac, though I’m still trying to get used to switching from PC. The only thing the Mac lacks, though, is Windows Live Writer! It’s such a pain to blog without this blogging software, and I can’t believe Apple is superior to PC in all areas except being blogger-friendly! It’s so messed up. Any Mac-users out there know of any good blogging software compatible to Mac? Please help! I need my blogging tools! Right now, I’m still using my old PC right now to blog 🙁

Anyway, now that I have my shiny new MacBook in front of me (which I can’t help smiling and fondling it with adoration all the time), I am seriously broke. Like, SGD$2,700 (US$1763) broke. How fitting that I’ve been writing about economical eating in the last few posts. Now I’ve got to take my own advice. So be ready to see a lot more “Mix-it-up” bowls and many more variations of barley, beans, pumpkin, etc.

I had another “Mix-it-up” bowl yesterday for lunch. Same steps as the day before, just a slight change in the components to create this:

Cheesy BBQ Pilaf

The base: 1 cup cooked pearl barley

The mix-ins: 1/4 cup black beans and 1/2 cup chopped roasted winter squash

The dressing: homemade BBQ sauce (a mixture of my homemade ketchup, soy sauce, fish sauce, maple syrup, black pepper)

The topping: tablespoonfuls of red and white cheddar cheese, green onion, soft-boiled egg

This bowl was freaking amazing, even better than the one I had before. I loved the sweet and bold kick of the homemade BBQ sauce, and how the runny yolk of the egg soaked into each grain!

And oh, the cheese! I just plopped them on top of the fresh-out-of-the-skillet ingredients, and they slowly melted by itself into ultra-gooeyness…

Heh heh, I couldn’t resist taking tons of pictures, even though I was drooling from all the wonderful smells…

I had dinner out with last night, as we were going to the IT expo together afterward. And guess what? I was the one to suggest dining out together myself. I even surprised myself, because I normally shy away from social and public dining, but I suddenly was just in the mood to really challenge myself that day.

They asked me where I wanted to dine, but I relegated the choice to them as I did not want to give ED any chance to worm his way into my decision. Truthfully, I was afraid I might chicken out and choose someplace familiar and safe.

We ended up going to out neighborhood Kopitiam (outdoor food stalls prevalent in Singapore and Malaysia), and chose this place called Piccolo, which sells pasta and pizza. I have a feeling they purposely chose this place because they knew I did not really care for Chinese food.

Anyway, this being Singapore and a Kopitiam, nary a dieter’s entree like salad in sight! I was actually relieved because that meant I had to choose something outside my comfort zone. No, really. I don’t know what was going on with me yesterday; I was in such a gung-ho spirit to fight ED. Hey, I’m not complaining. ED, bring it on!

Thus, to spit on ED’s face, this is what I ordered:
Crepes stuffed with chicken-spinach filling in creamy cheese sauce

Aren’t they cute delicious-looking things? I loved how they formed them into three little towers of cones.

The filling was a mixture of ground chicken, spinach, and mushrooms. The sauce around it was very rich and creamy, cheesy from the melted cheese inside and tangy from the tomato sauce. Very, very tasty, except it was not really a crepe, those liars. The wrapping was not your basic crepe, but really more like pasta. I think they used lasagna noodles. Oh well, it was still very good.

I actually finished them all! Even the cream sauce! I moped every bit of the uber-fattening cream sauce up with my refined white pasta. I even stole bites out of their dishes.

Ordered the Spaghetti di Mussels:

This was just okay. I don’t really like mussels and clams so much. They’re stinky and slimy. Anybody agree?
She ordered the Salmon-baked cheesy rice:
This was a dish of seasoned white rice, topped with chunks of pink salmon and finished off with lots of mozzarella cheese and baked till golden-brown. Very yummy, but I found it a bit too greasy…I wouldn’t be able to finish it, and neither did she.

After dinner we marched off to get us some great bargains at the IT expo, where I got my beautiful, shiny MacBook. It came with a great promotional bundle: Microsoft Office:Mac, keyboard cover, laptop case, notebook cooler pad, and a mouse. I totally burned a hole in my credit card last night, but I take this as my reward for being victorious against ED that night!

Following my own advice in economical eating, I cooked up a big batch of black beans this morning. I have another tip on leftovers: you can always use them up to create innovative omelets!

But! Today’s omelet was ultra-special…I decided that even if I’m going to have simple dishes, I’m going to jazz it up as much as I can! So I made a soufflé omelet with vegetarian curry-filling:

I separated two eggs, and whipped the egg whites until they formed firm, opaque peaks:

I whisked the egg yolks together with a tablespoon of water, seasoned it with salt and pepper, then folded them into the egg white cloud:

Then I just heated and oiled a skillet over medium-heat, and spread the puffy egg mixture over. Meanwhile, I made the curry filling, following the same recipe which I used to make the chicken-tomato curry, except I
substituted black beans, roasted eggplant, and pumpkin for the chicken. Oh, and a squirt of maple syrup at the end, just for fun. When the bottom of the omelet was done, I scooped in the filling over half the omelet, added 2 tablespoonfuls of cucumber-garlic cheese spread, and folded the other half over. Ladies and gentlemen, please applaud Soufflé-Omelet with Vegetarian Curry-Filling:
Isn’t this amazing? This was humongous, and I couldn’t believe I got so much out of only two eggs! All that air beaten into the egg whites really maximized its volume.

This method of omelet really kicked it up several notches. The egg is so incredibly fluffy and fat and thick and delicate! It was like eating protein pancakes!
The filling was awesome, too. Both sweet and spicy, with the added cool tang from the cheese.
A very odd and intricate combination of flavors and textures indeed, but the result was just phenomenal. I’ll definitely be trying another variation of this souffle-omelet sometime…Maybe a sweet version?

Hee hee hee! I’m just so giddy with excitement and pleasure over my new MacBook! This has been a good day. I spent the entire afternoon hunched over my new notebook, getting Mac tutorials online and just touching, touching, touching my lovely Macbook! Okay, how many times have I repeated that word “Macbook” in this entire post? No wonder the logo is an apple. This notebooks is like my Eve’s apple, beckoning and seducing me with its smooth, sleek screen and shiny finish…

Okay, sorry, I’ll stop. Another reason I’m so hyper right now is because I finally got my eating disorder series article posted at Not Another Omnivore’s blog! Please, check it out and let me know what you think! I’m very curious about your opinions and feedbacks.

Oh, and today’s question of the day has nothing to do with food: Mac or PC? For me, if Mac had its version of Windows Live Writer to rival PC, it would be just perfect.