A New Addition: Digital Camera

Finally, I got myself a digicam!! Yahooooo! It was so hard to decide between Canon Ixus 55 and Canon Powershot A610/A620. I want the speciality of both in one camera. I would love to play with the functions but I want convenience and style at the same time.

After much deliberation and playing around with both cameras for more than half an hour or even more, I finally decided to get Ixus 55. Why?

Because I guess I value convenience more compared to functionality and quality. The big enough reason I'm getting one at this juncture is also because I'm going for a holiday with my family. Thus, I guess I would want one which can capture the whole travel and be compact enough to be able to bring it everywhere so that I can record every single event.

Meanwhile, Powershot A610/A620 is bulkier. Really. Quite a big drawback actually. Imagine when you are packing for a holiday, you have to pack the battery charger and extra rechargeable batteries. In the end, the whole package just grows and by then you might need to find a big bag to keep all those, which might weigh a ton.

However, it is more ergonomical for long period of shooting. I prefer the feel of it, where when you are holding the camera, you feel that you can take really good pictures. And of course the additional benefits of fun playing with those shutter speeds and aperture wideness. And of course, it has better specifications, such as optical zoom and length of focus.

Well... as life have it, we have to choose, right?

So I finally made up my mind on Ixus 55. Even though Ixus 55 seems somehow less superior compared to powershot A610 in terms of functions, I guess I have to compromise for convenience's sake.

Anyway, the picture quality is good! The only drawback is that there's less experimentation and stuff to play with. Well, I guess I can get one of those higher end digital SLR later after I've mastered the compact digicam. Heheeeee..:D

The Most Important Person

Today is a special day. And I finally did something to celebrate this day for the most important person in the world.

Just a word to the most important person:

Thank you for being there for me all the time through ups and downs in my life.
When I feel lonely, you are there to keep me company.
When I feel down, you are there to encourage me.
When I feel everything is going against me, you are there to keep me going strong.
When I feel sad, you are there to share my sorrows.
When I feel happy, you are there to share my joy.
When I accomplished something, you are there to share my success.

And most of the time, I might have taken you for granted. I'm so sorry for that..

I've promised to take good care of you. I will do everything I can to make you happy, to help you achieve your goals in life and to spur you on, just like how you have done to me.

As a token of appreciation, you will receive a gift! Exciting isn;t it? I'm now having a hard time deciding exactly which one you would like, but I'm sure you will like the one I choose for you. ;)

You must be tired by now, have a great rest and wake up refreshed! :D

Salt and Glutamate

Believe it or not, we do not need any added salt in our food at all. We do not even need any monosodium glutamate (MSG) added. We have heard that salt and MSG are flavour enhancers, in fact I would agree they do. They do have an effect of making the food more flavourful, more palatable and have a better mouthfeel. In short, foods taste better.

However, you must know that we can get both sodium and glutamate in natural foods, such as vegetables, fruits and meat. If we can get them from the food we eat, why do we need to add more of them into our diet? Furthermore we know that salt is one of the culprits that causes hypertension. Meanwhile, there has not been extensive scientific research done on the health effects by MSG.

GLUTAMATE

According to data from the seminar I attended yesterday, glutamate is naturally found in many foods such as foods high in protein, mushrooms and scallops.

We can get 140 mg of glutamate in per 100 g of fish, tomatoes and mushrooms. Surprisingly, walnuts has as high as 658 mg of glutamate per 100 g and Parmesan cheese - 1200 mg per 100g!

SODIUM

As for sodium, the most common is the table salt that we use for cooking. Processed foods has an abundant of it, while fresh foods has much lesser. Sodium is usually found in a bound form, where Na+ attaches itself to other elements or molecules.

Even baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) has sodium, so it means all bakery products already has lots of sodium even though there are no added salt. No wonder cornflakes are no longer really healthy even though we are made to believe so.

The preservative sodium benzoate used for preserving meat products such as sausages also has bound sodium. With more salt added to enhance flavour, you can figure how much sodium you get from just one sausage.

According to the data I get from the talk, one teaspoon of soy sauce has 340 mg of sodium; one teaspoon of MSG has 615 mg of sodium and even one tablespoon of chilli sauce has 200 mg of sodium!

Do you ever think you can escape from salt? No way. Anyway, our body needs salt, but research has shown that we only need 100 mg per day to function.

When we eat more salt, our poor body has to regulate the excess salt and can tolerate up to 2000 mg without adverse effects. But, why put our body through such abuse? We are killing ourselves softly, isn't it?

The Sense of Taste

Went to a seminar on food senses on saturday with my classmates. I was hoping I could learn something from there. However, the first talk was rather disappointing because it sounded more like an advertisement. The whole talk is just on marketing that product by the company who sponsored the talk, even though the professor did it subtly. Yah, to think that the speaker was a professor. Was feeling rather cheated by the end of the first talk.

So during the second talk, I wasn't really paying attention already. It was a cooking demonstration actually. Though the recipes sounds nice and smelled nice, but was rather put off by another advertising talk by the chef who was demonstrating.

Come to think of it, maybe because the ideas they are presenting is against what I believe in, and it was contrary to what I've learnt before this.

We get to taste the food that was cooked, but then it was cold by the time we get it, so it doesn't taste nice anymore. On my way out to get more fruits, I met another two of my classmates. Was so happy then, because haven't seen them for some time.

We stayed on, despite some other people leaving during the break. Luckily we did, because I felt I learnt far more from the last two talks. Instead of being contrary to my belief, it strengthen my belief of not needing any added salt in our food.

From the answer I get from the questions I asked the professor and one of the nutrition consultant, they further confirmed my belief that we do not need to add salt into our cooking and food.

Will update more on the significant things I've learnt from the seminar in the next post.

Creamy Tom Yam and Thai Green Curry

My good friends treated me to dinner at Thai Express, savouring super hot tom yam soup and fragrant green curry. The kangkung we had was also very nicely fried.

I was surprised the creamy and milky looking bowl of soup which looked more like a dessert with coconut milk, tasted exactly like tom yam soup, except that it is creamier. At first we even thought the waitress gave us the wrong order. However, it turned out to be really nice.

Never had that before and this was my first time tasting this. Of course it is a new discovery for me.

Some of you may think it is rather stupid, but to me, I am delighted to discover new things everyday. By consciously being aware of the new things that I've discovered everyday, I realised that I become more observant and sharpen my senses.

To my dear friends who treated me to the special dinner, was very touched and thanks so much! :D

DeepaRaya Holidays

Been missing in action for some time and now I'm back to deposit some thoughts and discoveries into my blog.

I've had a great time the past few days. And had enjoyed myself a lot too, stuffing myself with food which I've never tasted before and discovering new food.

My friend came to visit me and we went on window shopping round the island. Went to Suntec, Plaza Singapura, Bugis, West Mall, IKEA... I wonder how many shopping centres we can conquer in a day. I guess after a while window shopping gets boring too.

Back to the food we tasted:

1. Lamb Shank and Chicken Gordon Bleu

Kind of a bit too salty for my taste buds, but overall, it's a nice change. And to my horror, it is just microwaved frozen meal, from this chain of food restaurant famous for its cheese cake. To think that I've just spent a bomb on a microwaved meal... I guess I shall just stick to my home-cooked food. :P

2. Swedish Meatballs and fried chicky wings

Something novel which we tasted. And was rather impressed by the fact that the chicky wings there in this famous furniture shop at Queensway is so much bigger than the usual chicken wings you can find elsewhere.

The chicken wings were nicely fried and marinated. Even though the skin outside was quite brown, but the meat inside is still tender. To be able to fry to this perfection, the temperature of the oil and the duration of frying must have been researched thoroughly. Just wondering what would be the temperature and time used for frying...

Yum! We stuffed 6 chicky wings between us and had free flow of coffee... Imagine the fullness we felt after the food spree. Wahahaaa :D

Still in holiday mood, even though the public holidays are over. It feels kind of weird that I wasn't joining the crowd this time to head straight back home after work. Take three days of leave for nine days of holidays. Good bargain, right?

In fact I've looked forward to this long holiday and had even booked bus ticket home way in advance. But some changes in plan had flipped the 'balik kampung' plan 180 degrees. Things happen for a purpose I guess. At least I've experience how it is like to be 'left behind' during festive season for once.