Tropical Noodle

Here's a close up look of the Loving Hut tropical noodle latest edition.

The faux prawn is replaced with veggie meat. The spicy chilli is red hot and if you are a chilli lover you will appreciate it. It is especially noticeable if you are ordering the dry version, so if you are not good at eating chilli, just leave those small red chilli aside.

Enjoy the new tropical noodle and please pray for all the sea creatures that have to undergo torture at the trawler's nets. The best way to live is to spare other beings' lives.

Traditional Malay Vegan Dish - Mee Siam

Here we take to-go meal from Xing Hua again,

and this time it is Mee Siam !! Another traditional Malay favourite which uses thin noodle somewhat similar to Chinese bee hoon, but the gravy has peanuts in it.. some people prefer lots and lots of peanuts..

You don't have to sacrifice your taste to save the world, just be vegan !

Vegan Fried Oyster Pancake

Today we ordered some take away meals from Xing Hua Vegetarian Restaurant.

This is a fried beehoon meal with two side dishes. One of the side dish is the vegan fried oyster pancake. Many years ago, it used to be found along Tanjong Pagar Road, but this dish has been rarely seen in vegan version. There is no oyster used at all !! But it is simply delicious beyond description... You have to taste it if you are craving for a fried dish. It has roasted peanuts toppings and seaweed, mushroom and carrots fillings.

The other side dish is the tow-kee, or dry bean curd skin, sauted till it is silky soft and delicate, garnished with black wooden fungus mushroom.

Yummy.. If you like to try it, the stall is at Block 201D #01-1171 in Tampinese Street 21. They have branches in Middle Road, Fortune Center and at Bencoolen opposite Albert Complex.

Vegan Laksa

Vegan Laksa from Xing Hua Vegetarian to-go !

Here you see the rich thick gravy covering the "tow-pok" or fried tofu skin. It soaks up the taste and flavour, and it is vegan !

It is amazing that a vegetarian restaurant from China can adapt their cooking so well to the local taste and flavour. With rich curry and coconut mixed with spices, laksa is a year round favourite in this part of the world. The vegan version is just as spicy and hot, and having no animal ingredients in it is a great plus both for the consumer spiritually and for saving the planet !

Tofu with chai por

Introducing another simple home cooking idea. Steamed soft tofu with chai por, or preserved salted vegetables. Soak the preserved vegetables up to 20 minutes to make sure the preservatives are removed, and it will also be less salty to taste.

This easy meal forms a ready to eat side dish served with rice or noodle.

Good Photography Tips 2

If you are moving from a point and shoot camera to a higher end compact camera or DSLR camera, then you should be very familiar with the "Auto" shooting mode, or the Green mode as it is called sometimes.

In the Auto mode, everything is pre-arranged by the camera, all you need to do is point the camera and press the shutter button, hence it is called point-and-shoot.

In this mode, there is minimum control and minimum fuss. You just trust the camera to do the work for you, select the right focus, exposure etc. Most of the time it will do a proper job, but on occassions it will miss the mark.

The various scene modes commonly found in P & S cameras, such as night scene, portrait, sports, landscape etc are also special Auto modes. They assume that you are going to shoot the subject indicated and the camera will arrange certain parameters suitable for those conditions.

So if you are moving up to a better camera, it will also be time to explore other features of the camera by moving away from the "Auto" mode, such as using the Program Mode. The program mode is the bridge from complete Auto to the creative, or more manual modes.

Play around with the Program Mode, and learn to shoot in this mode, until you grow out of it, then you can explore the other more "advanced" modes such as Aperture-priority, Shutter-priority and full manual.

In the Program Mode, you can explore taking photos with different exposure values, by simply turning the dial, and you will find the exposure values are equivalent for the same scene. This means the photos should come out more or less the same brightness but each time you turn the dial, a different apperture and speed combination is used.

Buffet breakfast with Loving Hut - Vegan kaya bread

Here's a nice vegan breakfast idea !!

Call Loving Hut if you are holding a vegan buffet party and order the sumptious platter of toasted French bread with delicious vegan kaya.

And a cup of healthy green tea to go along with the bread would just be perfect..

A healthy life saving meal is a great way to start your day !