Monday 13 July 2009

Healthy obsession

CH makes a face when I say I'm having mixed cereal (again) for breakfast. I wonder what he'll say if I tell him I'm having it for lunch too.

Everyday, I carry a thermal pot filled with piping hot gruel to my office. Before I go to bed each night, I pre-boil a cup of mixed grains in the cooker and let the mixture soak overnight. In the morning, I toss in some Japanese sweet potatoes and let the porridge simmer away. YK thinks it smells lovely but will not eat it under any circumstance.

It became a healthy obsession after my friend gave me a small bag of mixed grains. I got hooked, I went out and bought another bag from the Korean supermarket. It's certainly not cheap (almost $30 for 1kg) but there's brown rice, soy beans, black beans, black glutinous rice, barley, wheat and a whole lot of other grains in it.

As if not enough, I add barley, green beans, black-eye bean, rolled multi grains, raisins, pumpkin and sunflower seeds to the mixture. A bowl of thick gooey porridge is chockful of goodness.

My colleague thinks it is disgusting. It brings back memories of an improvished childhood where they were fed brown rice gruel instead of fragrant rice. The porridge made her gag and she would secretly empty the entire bowl into the bin below their flat.

While I didn't have to eat brown rice gruel in my childhood, mum made me finish a bowl of oatmeal porridge before I left for school every morning. Oh, how I hated it! But now I thank her for my strong bones.

It's strange how I'm beginning to embrace the food that I used to avoid. It's probably a sign of aging. I've acquired a taste for simpler things. On most days, I adopt a completely vegetarian diet. Sometimes I supplement my dinner with steamed or grilled fish.

For the boys, I make sure they eat a more balanced diet as it's important for their growth. If only I could make them eat a bowl of oatmeal porridge every now and then.

Based on sound medical and nutritional advice not to routinely eat the same foods every day, I should really adopt a more varied diet instead.

14 comments:

charlie hotel said...

For the record - I don't make the face at the idea of cereal for breakfast, only for lunch.

I have cold cereal for morning snack all the time.

Blur Ting said...

How about if I eat it for dinner too?

The Real Mother Hen said...

Mixed grains are popular now. Btw, I recently heard of a rice, a heirloom grain with a price tag of some US$200 for 30 pounds or something. I was shocked.

Petunia Lee said...

Wow... that's very expensive breakfast!! And it sure is healthy... but are you sure it's tasty?

Fresh Fry aka 福星 said...

hehehehe.....i is now reminded of the multi-grain meals i made when mom was away.

Blur Ting said...

MH - Woah! That's too expensive!

Blur Ting said...

Petunia - It's tasty. I like grains and nuts, so I never get bored. Sometimes I add dried blueberries to make it tastier and sweeter.

Blur Ting said...

Fry - Yup, I'll revert to Greenmax after this bag is done. That's the one you're eating right?

Fresh Fry aka 福星 said...

yup, Greenmax it is! also the one ST gave u. hehehe.....

oh, tat reminded me, i still have a cup's worth left in the fridge! LOL

auntielucia said...

Hi Blur: love the multi grain thingies... I eat it for lunch and occasionally for dinner too, adjusting the water consistency depending on the meal the gruel is meant for. I call it "100 precious porridge" or in Cantonese "bak po chook".

But where does one get steel cut oats?

Blur Ting said...

Auntie Lucia - I usually make a thick porridge but I must have made a mistake on describing the oat. I thought it's oats but upon closer inspection it is muesli made using 4 types of wholegrains (rolled barley, oats, triticale and wheat).

Amel said...

The women working at the library ALWAYS have a similar lunch at the office, you know? They'd put berries in the porridge, too...there are different types of porridges but usually they do eat oatmeal with berries or different kinds of nuts.

I myself can't eat it 'coz I'm more like an Indo-porridge girl...where the porridge is made of rice and you eat it with chicken and "cakue" (dunno what the name is in English) and chili sauce he he...

Blur Ting said...

Amel - Cakue is fried dough fritters. We have it here with porridge (savoury) too.

Amel said...

Fried dough fritters? Such a long name he he he...THX 4 letting me know! :-D

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