Stuffed

I spent most of Saturday following a Twitter thread on a nasi kandar jaunt in Penang. I'm not sure if "epic" is the right word for it, but the 5 dudes had 11 (ELEVEN) meals in a single day. I don't know what time they started, but they stumbled back to their accommodation at about 1 AM, stuffed to overflowing with rice, curry, chicken and the all-important (so it seemed) bendi. I may not speak for everyone else following their escapade, but I felt relieved that it had ended, like I'd finished an ultra-race.

I am also now curious about similar food jaunts in Malaysia. Over a weekend, like those nutters, or a week or two? Sweet or savoury? By state or entire east/west/north/south regions? One type of food only? The specialty(s) of a particular ethnic group and state-by-state variations? Or districts? Meats? Vegan/vegan-friendly? Tambah cheese???

... Is there a published food history of Malaysia? Imagine wrestling all that history and culture onto a page. I imagine you'd need half a volume for nasi lemak alone.

For me, I'd do all things pulut. I don't even know where to start.

Breakfast oatmeal cookie: bleh

I made a breakfast cookie today. It was nice but not something I'd rave about. I suspect that's why the recipe and other similar recipes call for toppings like nut butters and jam and fruit and whatnot: it's to hide the fact that anything made with oatmeal and a scant (stingy, some might say) half tablespoon of honey (I still can't believe it, tbh) will be quite bland. And dry. But it filled the stomach and there are worse things to have for breakfast, so.

(I wound up drizzling honey on top of it because I don't have any nut butters.)

(I mean, one can't have nasi lemak or masala tosei every day, or else one would begin to resemble a masala tosei lemak.)

(Nor can one have toast because we have to throw off the shackles of colonialism starting with the little things.)

Pregnancy unexpected: Perioral dermatitis

Perioral dermatitis is a thing that can happen in pregnancy. It's an itchy red rash around your mouth area and it makes you look like a damn slob. Not everyone gets it, and treatment varies from antibiotics to dermatological medications. In my case, it appeared to have been triggered by spending some time in bright sunshine.

Anyway, I had Betnovate cream, which had been prescribed for dermatitis elsewhere (I actually do take care of myself, ok, but this was one of those mysterious things that can happen to you pre-pregnancy), and I figured it would help. Here's the thing:

DO NOT PUT BETNOVATE ON YOUR PERIORAL DERMATITIS. (It even says so on the contraindications!)

My itchy, red, unsightly rash became an itchy, red, unsightly weepy rash.

I have a master's in medical science and I did that.

Some frenzied Googling later, it looked like calendula and vitamin E would help (nothing could make the rash worse than it already was). Mothercare sells a calendula balm (in stick form); yes, it's meant for babies, and Watson's or Guardian sell a generic vitamin E cream.

And hurrah, they worked. The balm stopped the burning itchiness and dissipated the redness, and the cream prevented scarring. However, I still had to endure about 2 weeks of (bright pink) skin regrowth and flaking. Thankfully, that has all faded, and I now use the balm and cream on my other dermatitis, as the Betnovate doesn't seem to work anymore (and you're not supposed to use it for very long anyway), and this combo does.

PS: I am not a doctor. Your mileage may vary.

Time flying

Enfant Terrible was registering us for a race the other day and needed my personal details. He entered my IC number on the eletronic form, then paused.

"How old are you this year?" he said. 

Quick mental arithmetic done, I said, "36. Why?"

"I'm wondering if I'm supposed to enter you in the women's open or women's veteran category."

"Well, I think they take the age you're at as of 31 December in the last year."

"OK, women's open then."

"But think of how good my chances of podiuming will be if I'm in women's veteran!!"

"... next year lah."

It's gonna be great. The best!

Gorge

It rose when I saw an eatery staff blow his nose at the sink and wrestle to clear the impossibly long string of mucus that emerged. And he was the drinks guy.

Three years on and the memory still makes me gag. I hope that by sharing it I will exorcise it, and I apologize for the resulting mental image.

(At least he washed his hands properly after that?)

Old age things

I'm in my mid-30s now (?!) and that means I have to give some thought to things I would otherwise not have thought about 10 years ago.

Specifically: what I have for breakfast. Unlike the years in which I spent slogging at my master's degree,* I can't just toss back a coffee and a breakfast bar and call it good till lunch because my metabolism won't let me anymore.

(It's weird because aren't you supposed to slow down as you age? Yet here I am suffering hunger pangs and on the verge of blacking out/brain death 1 hour after having breakfast.)

I've tried all the breads and spreads, and whatever grain the flour is made from, how many types of seeds they strew into the dough, or whether it's coconut or peanut spread or even lovely ol' butter, it's not enough. Adding protein (eggs) only goes so far (about 30 minutes more). For a privileged suburbanite like me, it's just sad.

You know what works though? Oatmeal. Instant is okay, but now I really enjoy overnight quick-cooking oats. Overnight oats are amazing because no one wants to have a hot breakfast in El Niño weather, no? So you stir water (or milk, if you're not lactose intolerant like me) into some oats the night before and then add the trimmings the next day (dried/fresh fruit, honey, brown sugar [not white because it causes breakouts**], milk powder, bacon). It looks like baby food but it doesn't stick to the pot but it sticks to your ribs, holding me till lunch, and I'm happy with that.

*Another sign of aging is thinking of things you did 10 years ago.

**Your mileage may vary.

Real-life heroes

(Today's success story: I remembered the password for this account!)

There's this girl I know. She's the busiest girl I've ever known. She works long hours and she volunteers almost every day of the week, even weekends! She blogs too, more regularly than "typical" working stiffs do. And she'll be up for a late night kopi o at whichever mamak stall you suggest (if you're friends, of course; she's not an idiot).

She's not a hustler, by the way, she just does the thing. She doesn't ask you or herself why she does it or should do it, as long as an underprivileged person or animal out there benefits from it somehow. She's the living embodiment of the saying "if you want something done, give it to a busy person".

I think she's the only person of her kind in the Klang Valley (some say Malaysia), and that's a pity. Being the person she is though, she'd laugh and tell you there are just as many people out there like her, only you haven't met them yet.

Some might say she needs a good person to love her, and then she'll calm down, but that's not what she's about. People who think that need to look at things differently. Why should you define yourself based on your relationships?

She makes me want to do more, and not just for myself (there's only so much you need to do for yourself if you're a relatively privileged middle class female from the suburbs anyway).

Don't worry; my friend is alive and healthy. She has no life-threatening conditions. She wears her helmet when she careens about happily on her bike when she has the time for it. Like I said, she's not an idiot.

I only got to know her late last year and feel like I have a lifetime of good deeds to catch up on. I just wanted to pay a little tribute to one of the best people I know, and it's nice to do that when the person is still alive.

(She doesn't know about this blog; if she did, she'd blush to the roots of her hair and start looking in a hundred directions at once while adamantly declaring she's not doing anything special. That just shows you how special she really is.)

Setia Alam Community Trail: A jaunt

Addresses are a funny thing in the Klang Valley. A new housing development might be nowhere near Kuala Lumpur, but the spin doctors will tell you that it's only 20 minutes away from KLCC (at 5 AM on a weekend maybe).

This is the case for mine and Enfant Terrible's neighborhood-to-be, where the developer is actually still building the roads (!) that lead in to it. Not that we're complaining, because we fancy that it'll be a nice, quiet place that attracts hobbit types like ourselves.

(One possible inconvenience is that no one seems to be able to agree on what district we're in. The land assessment fee is imposed by Kuala Selangor but the developer says our postcode will be that of Sungei Buloh, Shah Alam is just a turn-off away, and the ad promos say that it's a part of Greater KL, which is a whole other postcode. I think I'll hold off on the online shopping for the moment.)

Haze running: A training report

Against all good sense, Enfant Terrible and I went for a run last week. The API was a little over 100. The flat gray nothingness in the distance had lightened, but the hills we intended to run were still obscured by the haze.

Anyhoo, we figured that it would be as good a time as any to try the wet rag face mask idea, plus we were getting v v v v restless.

So, you get a multifunctional tubular headwear wrap thing like a Buff, wet it, slip one open end down over your head until the wrap is gathered around your neck, then pull the uppermost end of the tube over your mouth and nose. Don't use a soaking wet wrap because that's DIY waterboarding.

How was it? Well, it's more comfortable and snug than an N95 mask. But it can be uncomfortable for some, it can get quite warm, and you have to keep it damp (easy if you sweat like I do).

On the bright side, it keeps out the smell of smoky air, which was the whole point of the exercise.

One thing to note though, is that we went trail running, and I dare say the air is clearer amid the trees. If you intend to wear a wrap like this and go road running, then be prepared for many sideways looks and possibly the police coming up for a chat. Because who else but psychos and criminals would be out in such weather?

A Southeast Asian (and n00b) camping guide to the Greenman Festival

Background
Enfant Terrible had gotten Settlers' Passes to the 2015 Greenman Festival. Meaning we'd camp at the Glanusk Estate, Wales, for SEVEN days. We watched as the vast, peaceful, green fields of the estate filled up over the week and were eventually overrun on day 3, when the General Camping horde arrived and put down stakes (hehe).

Bring all the food!
Festival food is always expensive, more so given the exchange rate when we were there (RM6.70 = £1.00... ouch), and the portions are always tiny. So, buy foods you can cook/heat quickly and that ideally don't require slicing/much seasoning.

We had baked beans, canned soup, powdered mash potatoes (which needed more salt), fruit, local bread, and ROBERTSON'S GOLDEN SHRED MARMALADE :3

Beauty. Image from here.

One of the best things about the Glanusk Estate Greenman Festival site (in addition to being astoundingly beautiful) is that it is a brisk 40-minute walk to Crickhowell town. The town has at least 2 grocers and excellent cafés (Courthouse Café, burger at eighteen). It is a very nice town with very nice people. Wales is full of nice people who call you "love" or "darlin'" if they don't know your name.

Extenuating circumstances

Enfant Terrible and I haven't gone running since last Thursday because of the haze. This year's might be the worst I've ever seen since 1996. I was still in secondary school then, and I remember how dim and smoky the field looked from my classroom.

So, we've been watching The Strain and Fear of the Walking Dead. What I've seen so far of FotWD is good. It's intense but less nerve-shredding than The Walking Dead, if that makes sense.

As I've read The Strain trilogy (the quality of which sadly declined from book 2 onwards), I have mixed feelings about the TV series. Sometimes it feels like the only things they kept from the books are the character names. Everyone, including The Master, looks different from how I imagined them (doesn't that always happen), and don't get me started on the new characters.

On the other hand, the series should be judged on its own merits because you don't compare apples to oranges. So, as a TV series, it's quite good, though some of the medical talk, which was probably expositioned for the benefit of a layman audience, did make me twitch.

Anyway, watching monster apocalypse productions during this weather is probably not the best idea. In both FotWD and The Strain, the powers-that-be are either hiding information from the public, or are somehow responsible for the events and are hiding information from the public.

If you've read The Strain trilogy, it's not difficult to imagine that our current (real-life) weather conditions are a literal smokescreen for something more ominous.

Maybe there's some serious terraforming shit happening at ground level. Maybe law enforcement outposts are quietly being put into place under the cover of smog for nefarious purposes. MAYBE the vampires ARE involved in this and are enjoying free rein right now in the diminished sunlight (we know that the older the bloodsucker, the more tolerant it is of sunlight... or is it the other way round?).

Maybe I have cabin fever.

Or MAYBE that is what they want me to think.

TMBT 2015: A race report of sorts

Introduction
Technically, only participants write a race report. Still, "race widow report" doesn't have the same ring to it, you know?

(I know "[hobby] widow(er)" sounds morbid, but it just indicates you've "lost" your spouse to their interest. You don't even need to be married; you qualify if you have a significant other!)

So, first: TMBT = The Most Beautiful Thing, referring to the Sabah landscape. TMBT can also stand for That Murderous Bloody Trail, or Terrible Muddy Ratched Trap, or Treacherously Mindbending Running Torture, and other more descriptive terms. I could go on.

TMBT distances this year were 12, 28, 50, and 100 km. The last 2 are ultra-marathon distances, which I'm sure need not be explained (they exceed marathon distances).

As you know, trail races are more difficult than road races because the terrain is uneven, and you might run into trees, get stung by bees, and/or fall into a river (I have not experienced the last). You'll definitely get dirty, especially if it rains/has rained.

Every year, it's as if TMBT organizers ask themselves what the most difficult route could be, and map that out. Naturally, hundreds of runners, if not a thousand or so (this year), sign up for it. Some even pay for a hotel package. All this for a route that can involve uphills of ~15k or more.

Trail running and haze

Today's haze was especially bad. We decided not to go for our run as a result.

The usual advice applies: Stay indoors when possible, keep doors and windows closed, and stay hydrated.

I was curious about it, so I looked up "running in hazy conditions". All I found was a Singaporean running site. There was also a 2012 run report from the USA, where the writer and other like-minded psychos ran during smoky conditions that had reduced visibility to fog-like conditions and necessitated the use of headlamps.

However, I found nothing on being in the trees during a haze. I'm not sure I want to report on that first-hand, even though we're virtually haze ground zero. So far, my throat is a bit sore and I'm sniffly and bleary in the morning. Lethargy holds sway in the day, and not even cold showers relieve the lassitude.

Running these past few days has been very warm, humid, and generally uncomfortable. Even the energizing effects of exercise are dampened by the haze, where your skin feels sticky and dirty all the time. I can almost feel the dirt landing on me. Ironically, the post-run endorphins are superseded by the tendency toward crankiness.

Ice cream only fixes it for 5 minutes!

Right in front of me

This is what most people do when they start an exercise regimen: buy exercise gear they don't really need eat. It's natural, because you feel good about your effort and exercise makes you hungry. It's also silly to starve yourself when you want to lose weight, as that is counterproductive in the long-term.

Anyway, when we took up trail running, I was 100% unprepared for how much more I had to eat. Eating 6 small meals a day? A recipe for sadness. The same went for eating more protein/less carbs. I had to accept that you need the calories when you do 10-12 km trail runs a day. Enfant Terrible took to the idea with frenzied joy, though he usually eats more than I do anyway.

So, I've been eating almost triple (!) my usual servings of rice, and I'm still hungry between meals, but manageably so. I snack on fried dal and raisins and dried pineapple (I also eat these things while running). The only problem is breakfast. The hunger is actually painful after breakfast, come to think of it.

I've tried white bread and brown bread spread with peanut butter and topped with bananas, oatmeal, eggs, rice, noodles, and all that, and am ravenous and sad an hour later.

A few days ago, I finally realized what I'd been doing wrong. I'm still kicking myself for not thinking of it sooner. I should have doubled my breakfast servings. OBVIOUSLY.

How to do nothing in Kota Kinabalu: A 6-day account

Day 1
- Arrive from KL; register at TMBT counter; check-in to downtown hotel; chill until it's time for early dinner (Mad Ben: mussels in white wine with spaghetti [fab], lamb burrito + fries [best ever], thin-crust lamb pizza [excellent though small]); sleep.

Waiting to cross the bridge to the start point. Only 10 people per crossing!

BioZ vs. Mosi-Guard mosquito repellent

If you spend any amount of time (like 30 minutes or so) in the Malaysian outdoors, and I'm not talking about sprinting across the carpark through the pouring rain and inside the mall, you will usually need insect repellent.

Specifically, "outdoors" refers to any setting where there are trees, grass, shrubs, whatnot, i.e., flora, which is accompanied by the according fauna, i.e., flies, gnats, ants, MOSQUITOES. I have a (sensible) horror of getting bitten by mosquitoes because I could contract dengue. And I would probably need hospitalization. And I would shrink from the illness. As I weigh 50 kg (half of which is probably teeth and hair) and stand at 5 feet 4-ish inches in my bare feet, that would be a bad development.

Staying indoors isn't even a surefire way to avoid getting bitten.

Tip (if you didn't already know it): Mosquitoes will attack when you slow down/stop while running/exercising. Therefore, keep moving!

But people get tired, and have to stop anyway. Which is where roll-on mosquito repellent becomes a godsend. Apply it on all exposed skin, even your ears if you need to (I need to, but I don't!), and reapply when you stop. This has 2 benefits: it keeps you moving a bit so that mosquitoes don't land on you, and you refresh your anti-mosquito layer.

I stopped using the spray-on repellent because it stings like a fucker if it gets in your eyes. I also feel that with sprays, most of it gets in the air rather than on your skin, which is stupid.

Compared to its spray-on version, you have more control of where you apply the roll-on Mosi-guard to, but it's so thick and you have to reapply anyway if you sweat a lot (like me), so you don't feel like you're getting your money's worth.

Enfant Terrible says "you get what you pay for", but he also gobbled down the cheap Malay snacks we got a few weeks ago, so forget him. This is my idea of a lead up to saying that we tried the Bio Z mosquito repellent, and we're going to stick with it for the near future.

For one, it passed the taste test (er, heheh), and you'll never get any in your eyes (unless you're extraordinarily stupid) because it's solid. I like that it's in a pushup tube like a deodorant, so you can gauge the remaining amount. I'll probably have to get a new tube next month, which is reasonable, considering how much it costs.

If you must, it probably also emits less carbon emissions as it's from (gasp!) Singapore, whereas MosiGuard is made in the UK.

Briefly:

Safety: Both are DEET-free, therefore kid-safe.
Active ingredient(s): Mosi-guard, Citrodiol/lemon eucalyptus oil; Bio Z, lemongrass oil and citronella oil.
Taste: Mosi-guard tastes bad (Bio Z does not) and you (I) always accidentally smear some on your (my) drinking hose (but I don't with Bio Z).
Price: Mosi-guard, ~RM28; Bio Z, ~RM7.90.

DIY: Intentional deodoration

Leaving aside the idea that "commercial" deodorants contain harmful and potentially carcinogenic chemicals,* making your own deodorant is cost-effective and, it must be admitted, self-pleasing.

The active ingredient is baking soda,** as it absorbs odors. In excess amounts, it can also cause skin irritation. Fortunately, you can use reduce the amount stated most recipes without adverse effects.

The moisture absorber is cornstarch (or cornflour) or arrowroot powder. The latter is more popular because it's "non-GMO", but what else do you really know about the arrowroot or its cultivation processes? If you can only find cornstarch, use it. Maybe try and support a local producer if you can.

The third ingredient is coconut oil, touted for its antibacterial properties. You can buy it in bulk and not feel the pinch so much as compared to, say, jojoba oil, and it smells nice. No, it won't go rancid in the deodorant. I used Country Farm Organics coconut oil because that was all I found in the supermarket.

You don't need that much of everything, and given the price, I don't see the point of getting 1 kg of "true" organic coconut oil from the health food shop.

Anyway, beeswax (from Beauty360degrees) is what gives you a solid deo stick. I read an evaluation of oil to beeswax ratios that concluded that the best ratio is 3 parts oil to 1 part beeswax. This is actually too soft for our weather and this purpose (and including the powdery components), so I'm going to remelt the original batch and increase the beeswax to a 2:1 ratio.

This is the recipe I used: Homemade Summer Deodorant. The weather described seems closest to ours, but as with all experiments, optimization must take place before you obtain the desired results. I actually halved the amounts, and I still have a lot of the first batch waiting for its day in the sun (so to speak) in a reused mustard jar!

Speaking of desired results, this stuff works. In detail, I used less than the stated amount of baking soda, and preliminary tests indicate this can be increased somewhat. Pouring it into the twistup containers was fiddly (pipettes needed), but given the small amounts of everything used, the batch I made cost about RM2.50. So yes, it's worth the effort and time (which wasn't a lot anyway), and it's a keeper.

*There are chemicals in everything! Why target just deodorant?
**A chemical.

Aging gracefully

A sure sign of maturity is when you're just quietly unpleasant during PMS week, and not a raging scream monster.

Inadvertent deodoration

Guys, I did a salt and honey scrub yesterday morning. It still feels subversive taking kitchen ingredients into the bathroom, even though I've been using grapeseed oil for about 2 (?) years now.

Anyway, it's a 1:1 combination of salt and honey, and you can add a bit of oil* to make it more spreadable. Oil makes the floor slippery though. The salt can be coarse or fine, sea or table, and the honey can be raw, organic, organic and raw, or pasteurized.

I doubt most people care about these details though. I think it's entirely up to you if you're fine with having premium ingredients wash down the drain instead of, I don't know, eating them.** But you know, you're washing it off pretty quickly, so it doesn't make sense (to me anyway) to use the fancy stuff.

For me, a finer salt + runnier honey = nicer scrub.

Besides the exfoliation, the scrub actually left a faint honey scent after being washed off! Other than that, the major, unexpected, effect appears to be this: complete absence of sweaty smells for about 24 hours on a warm and humid day.

Lesson: Salt-honey scrubs dull your sense of smell. Probably. Or it has something to do with the anti-bacterial activity of honey. Maybe both!

*You probably won't need to moisturize if you do this.
**Salt and honey is actually a good marinade/basting solution for roasts and whatnot. But you knew that.

Quick exercise move

I realized yesterday I hadn't done butt clenches in a while. As the name suggests, you clench your butt to the count of 5, release, and repeat. The article I picked it up from suggested doing it every hour when you're in the office (10 reps, then 20 quick clenches) or when your car comes to a halt when you're stuck in traffic. Either way, it makes you feel worked out, so thumbs up from me!