Getting in shape as a food writer

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Let's cut to the chase.  I'm not exactly the smallest girl in Asia, but I've always used the excuse as a food writer to justify my jiggly puff.

I'm not opposed to exercise.  I love sports and highly encourage people to stay active.  Diets are a completely different story.  The very idea of restricting myself from any major food group is only suited for times I'm feeling experimental and a touch masochistic.  To illustrate my stubbornness with a story: a few years ago, I developed an allergic reaction to something unknown.  At the allergist, I agreed to any allergy tests, except food tests.  "I'd rather not know unless it's going to kill me," I told her. Ignorance is bliss, folks. (PS. The allergist I saw in NYC, Dr. Deborah Weichenberg agreed--she also finds "food allergies" an overreaction by the American public, except in extreme cases)

Fitness trainer and entrepreneur, Alvin of Lifestyle Fitness has challenged me.  I asked him, how fit do you think a food critic can be fit after a month or two of training?
His response, "Give me two weeks."
Right.  Seriously, Alvin, let's be realistic.
"Give me two weeks," he continued, "and I guarantee you'll be 40% less of the size you are now."

40% smaller?  Fitter?  TWO WEEKS?

How is that possible without certain death?  How is that possible with the multiple food tastings or events that happen every week?  How about my aversion to diets?  I'm not so sure if this is a bigger challenge for me, or for him.  Even my dog has more will-power than me.

Alvin of Lifestyle Fitness

Lifestyle Fitness Singapore is located at Sheraton Towers

Alvin Tan is one of the leading trainers in vibration training in Asia, specializing in specific weight loss programs and injury rehabilitation.  The professionally certified fitness coach, therapist and nutritionist comes from 17 years of experience in the fitness industry.  Some of his clients include the directors of Singapore's biggest restaurant groups, people who are constantly surrounded by food.  ...and they're looking pretty fit.

Here goes nothing.

Look out for Part II in this Challenge

How High Quality Chocolate is Actually Produced

Part I of the Bali Experience: Organic Cocoa Farms and a Chocolate Factory
Special thanks to Conrad Bali for hosting.

photos by Gastronommy

Just after a beautiful Balinese sunrise, we're transported away from the sandy coast of Nusa Dua to Carang Sari, where hilly, lush tropical forest is spread and wild animals roam.  We're here to visit a chocolate factory, my hosts from Conrad tell us.  I'm not particularly thrilled given the early hour after a night of wedding guest festivities (another post on that later) and my general indifference towards chocolate.

Upon arrival, the other journalists and I tumble out of the vehicle, still drowsy after the one hour journey.  We snap out of lethargy soon after when a team of elephants casually stroll past us.  The chocolate factory owner, Toby Garritt, explains his wife oversees a guided elephant trek around the surrounding area.  In fact, these elephant tours are what led to the founding of POD Chocolate Factory.

Along his elephant trek three years ago, he discovered cocoa trees grew naturally in the area, but weren't being harvested for socioeconomic reasons.  Toby developed a system to make the harvesting process more efficient and sought to teach farmers how to produce high-quality coca beans.  The farms now yield double the produce and the local farmers earn much more per batch, and Toby now has beans to create Bali-original chocolates.

It all begins with a seed.

The origins of chocolate first begin with a plant... a flower to be exact.  The blossoms on a cocoa tree are small and fragile.  A singular raindrop could break it from the plant, forever being robbed of its chances to become so much more. *cue tiny violin*

This cocoa flower has made it to stage two.

The cocoa flowers that manage to make it to stage two begin its growth into a pod.  Using clever natural methods to deter pests, many of the pods make it to full ripeness.  Not unlike opening a coconut, the local farmer breaks the pod open with a machete to display its innards--layers of seeds bedded in muculent coating.  The texture reminds me of soursop fruit.  The seeds are edible, Toby says, so what is a food writer to do other than taste it?

Around the farm, bottles filled with natural substances lures and traps male pests, so they can't reproduce.

No two cocoa pods are the same.

Edible, but the flavors lack any resemblance to chocolate as we know it.

Inside the cocoa seed.

It turns out, the raw seed bears zero flavors that resemble chocolate.  I actually find the seeds quite palatable, with a likeness to mangosteen notes.  I would have been content to end my trek here with the colorful pods and sweet cocoa seeds, but alas the journey continues!

The raw seeds are then fermented naturally in the shade of wooden crates, covered by banana leaves.  I was apprehensive when Toby asked us to take a whiff into the box.  Fermented anything isn't known to be too kind on the senses, but with similar scents to plum wine, it seems cocoa seeds are an exception.

After the fermentation process, the seeds are laid out to dry under the equatorial sun.  Though edible, Toby doesn't recommend tasting them during this stage.  Once dry, the seeds are now beans and are transported to the POD Chocolate Factory, where most might say the real fun begins.

How High Quality Chocolate is Actually Produced.

The beans are then roasted, a process much like coffee bean roasting.  This is the stage where the cocoa flavors everyone knows and loves finally emerges.  At this point, we're encouraged to crack the beans open and try the chocolate nibs (yep, don't mind if I do).

When coffee beans are grounded, they become dry grinds.  Cocoa beans, however, have much higher fat content.  When ground up, the cocoa nibs become paste.  The paste is then put through a finer grinder, followed by the melanger.

The melanger

At this point, a good chocolatier wants an experienced pastry chef to step in.  The chocolate is poured over a marble surface, then tempered.  The movement, speed, and temperature is crucial in this process, as the crystal structure is being molded into a chocolate's most ideal state.

Toby demonstrates chocolate tempering

Conrad's Pastry Chef Semawan demonstrates part of the tempering process.

Tempering chocolate is crucial to producing high quality chocolate.  You might find that mass market chocolate crumbles rather than snaps, and when left out for long periods, the chocolate will 'bloom'--unpleasant white patches that form over its surface.

After this point, chocolate can be poured into molds for simply chocolate, or chefs like Conrad's Pastry Chef Semawan can craft cocoa-magic for dessert (more on these desserts later).

By the time we reached lunch hour, I had tasted each of POD Chocolate's various chocolate bars (white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, darker chocolate, peppermint chocolate, orange chocolate) and still wanted more.  I ended up purchasing a couple more bars to take home and share the chocolate love with friends in Singapore.  So much for being indifferent to chocolate.

Follow POD Chocolate Factory & Cafe on Facebook or visit www.pod-chocolate.com for more information.  Chocolate tours, elephant treks, spa retreats, and white water rafting is available.  Oh, and did I mention that they house two honey bears and various species of local wildlife for rehabilitation?  You can see these animals in their open air enclosures while you have a bite to eat at POD's cafe.

POD Chocolate Factory & Cafe
Jalan Tukad Ayung, Carang Sari
Bali, Indonesia 80353
Tel: +62 361 8370888

Honey Bear is camera shy.

New Singapore Heritage Menu at York Hotel

Treasured Flavours of Singapore at White Rose Café, York Hotel.
photos provided by Sixth Sense Communications

"I'm stuffed," I texted my Singaporean friend, "I just came from a media buffet serving Singapore classics."
He responded, "Oh, York Hotel?"

I was surprised how he guessed so easily.  But it turns out York Hotel has been well-known amongst Singaporeans for decades, particularly for their Penang Hawkers' Fare, a showcasing of 10 select hawkers visiting from Penang for an all-you-can-eat experience.

White Rose Cafe in York Hotel is now kicking off a new menu, highlighting 20 of Singapore's heritage dishes.  Led by Chef Charlie Tham, formerly of Soon Heng Restaurant, the menu's key items include Curry Fish Head, Crab Masala, Sambal King Prawn, Black Ink Sotong (squid), Chap Chye (vegetable stew), and Chicken Masala.  The dishes do require one day advance order however, to ensure freshness of the seafood ingredients required.

White Rose Café 
York Hotel, 21 Mount Elizabeth 
Singapore 228516 
Tel: +65 6830-1156

The World's Best Hawkers and Food Trucks in Singapore [Guest Post]

Article and photos by KF Seetoh, Founder of Makansutra and
World Street Food Congress Teaser

KF Seetoh (me) with partners Anthony Bourdain, James Oseland, Jean Georges Vongerichten at the New York press conference, along with Chef Anthony Ricco and Bryant Ng.

This June, a group of distinguished top minds of the culinary industry will gather in Singapore for a discourse on what we can do with the world’s most popular and endearing food culture..comfort street food. Among others, food and travel TV superstar Anthony Bourdain will regale his advocacy and views of this culture that has fed him with so many ideas and inspirations on life and food. Three Michelin star chef Jean George Vongerichten will also be at hand to show you what he did with his street food experience when he was working in SE Asia many years ago.

The intent is to start a conversation on the three factors that need be addressed for a fragile but well loved street food culture - to preserve, professioanlise and identify new possibilities in the industry. The World Street Food Congress with this Dialogue conference component will happen from 31th May to 9th June.

Mee Pok Ta (fishball noodles), the dish I miss most when travelling abroad

We will also be inviting up to 40 of some of the world’s best street food masters from across 10 countries including food trucks from USA, kaki lima stands from Indonesia, hawkers from India, Malaysia and Thailand. This is for the food festival aspect- The World Street Food Jamboree. Seemingly simple task (safe for the jet lag zipping from one country to another selecting them) you might say. But just what are the criteria, besides simply to choose “top hawkers”. We have to bear in mind these few, among others, factors.

• Authenticity of Food - the dish has to be unique to their country or it must be created with flavours and concept special to that land

• Consistency in operation - they have to be able to deliver that same quality no matter where they are and be able to tweak methodology with “lesser” ingredients (eg. they can use chicken sourced from most places). Their knowledge of food handling, hygiene and safety is introduced in their daily routine.

• Knowledge of their food heritage - they have an idea of how their food came about and what it means to their nation’s food culture at large. They understand variations. Even if they created something new, it is still withing that same spirit of the dish/cuisine.

• Ability to scale - they are able to scale up to bigger operations when required and are very versatile in approach.

• Willingness to share and expand - they should be confident of their recipe and know the value in sharing operation methods to aid expansion and facilitate partnership plans.

• Quality – is expected.

In the colonial days, it was the British who asked an Indian hawker to recreate the ubiquitous curry puff, leading to a Singapore-variation we eat today.

So, with all these concerns borne in mind when choosing the 40 or so top hawkers worldwide--just who do we have in mind to represent team Singapore? Or more importantly, as quality is very subjective: What are the range of dishes being selected for the World Street Food Jamboree (the food festival component of the World Street Food Congress)? We bear in mind the unique as well as the mass appeal popular range.

• Chicken Rice - compulsory, as it has become so big a part of our food culture and everyone is an expert on this dish
• Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodles - a truly unique born and bred Singapore dish created by the Hokkiens a few decades ago.
• The British Indian Curry Puff - the flat and bigger triangular flaky crusty curry puffs made with curried potatoes and mutton or chicken that is truly a local invention , created by chance. It was once a “sarabat” stall favourite with teh tarek.
• Mee Pok Tah - or fish ball noodle. While it is common in China, this version comes with sambal, that reeks of our SE Asian heritage and sometimes splashed with black vinegar. It is not even easily found in our northern neigbours.
• Hainanese and Nonya Pork Satay with pineapple sauce -While satay has Indonesian roots, this version is truly unique. It was the Hainanese who captured this Nonya recipe and jazzed it up with a dollop of pineapple sauce with the peanut dip. Even the marinate for the skewers are different from the Indonesian version.

We’ll be finalising our shortlist of top street food vendors around the world for the World Street Food Jamboree soon. Keep up to date at www.makansuta.com/wsfcongress.  Read more about my travels around the world in search of these food vendors.

Abacus Beads [Recipe]

Amy Van and Chris Tan have been so kind as to allow Gastronommy to publish some of the recipes from their book, Chinese Heritage Cooking, for you to try out at home. The fourth recipe to be presented will be the classic Abacus Beads. (For previous recipes, see Steamed Radish Cake, Sweet and Sour Pork, and Chinese Steamed Whole Fish.) 

Abacus Beads
Serves 6–8

Also known as suan pan zi in Chinese, these dimpled doppelgängers for the clacking beads in a Chinese abacus are an emblematic Hakka specialty. Originally prepared at Chinese New Year for both family meals and offerings, but now enjoyed all year round, these abacus beads have a unique fudgy-soft-chewy texture from the combination of mashed taro and tapioca starch. When buying taro, make sure it is very fresh and firm as old or poor-quality taro may make the beads mealy or fragile in texture. Mature taro that is already quite starchy will need less added starch—perhaps half the mashed taro's weight in tapioca starch, instead of two-thirds.
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Pizza App For your Pizza Cravings

Good news for pizza addicts, like myself.  This recently launched app, Pizza Compass finds nearby pizzerias, lending ratings, reviews and travel distance.  To download the 99c app, visit iTunes for the Pizza Compass.