Revisit Georgraphy Class

Last November when I came back to Bangkok from Singapore, a Irish man came to my class. I didn't pay much attention to him more than I would to any first-timer to my class. At the end of the practice this man came and introduced himself as Grant. We chatted a little bit, and he invited me to teach at where he lived. "Muscat". Sure, I'll go. He had a look at my face and offered "it's in Oman." Great. Whatever. I'll go anywhere in the world. HAHA!

So that's how the story unfold. I had absolutely no clue where Oman, or Muscat was. Neither did many people I talked to. So, here it is, once and for all - it's neighboring Saudi Arabia and UAE. The next question is: what the heck am I going to do there? Well, my cooking skill is not yet Gordon Ramsey or Jamie Olivier famous, but I have Yoga. "To who?" Good question. According to Grant, he felt he had benefited much from Yoga. He's an old man (his own words), who wished to contribute something to the Yoga community in Muscat, however small. And that's what he does, aside from his full time job with the highway company, - to bring good Yoga teachers (*ahem*) to Muscat. "I've been to all the big and small yoga studios in Bangkok and you are the only person I approached." *AHEM*

We have been in talk through emails for a few months since. Adrian did not hesitate to make it clear that he's coming with me, and so he is. This is indeed a great opportunity - we probably would never think of visiting Oman if it's not for this offer. A well-traveled friend of ours, Bill, showed us beautiful pictures he took in Oman, and from what little we gathered, it's a jewel tucked in the middle east. How exciting! Think about this: 2 days of teaching, 5 days of sightseeing! WOOHOO!!

We'll be back to Bangkok for Songkran, on the 13th and 14th May, after which we fly to Kuala Lumpur to fulfill the promise I gave to my parents - I skipped Chinese New Year Reunion, and negotiated with my mother to go back in April during Thai New Year when Yoga Elements Studio will be closed. Apart from the two-day rest stop in between Muscat and KL, I'm going to be away from home for three weeks. That means time to clean out the fridge.

I had two eggs, some greens, a few connoisseur-grade French cheeses, some homemade condiments, and a piece of puff pastry sheet. Here's what I put together:

1. Pinto beans + Cheddar cheese + spring onions = Refried beans
2. Rocket leaves + cherry tomatoes + Feta cheese + lettuce + olive oil + balsamic vinegar = salad
3. Put together 1 + 2 + sunny-side up + Portobello mushroom = Vegetarian Big Breakfast

I thought the Portobello mushroom looks rather like a piece of steak

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For some reason unbeknown to me, the pastry didn't hold up the filling very well. A big chunk of the cheeses was lost during baking. Still good though.

Breakfast is not complete without something sweet in this house. I divided the puff pastry sheet into two for Sweet Baked Turnovers:

1. Homemade mulberry jam + "strong cheese" + almond
2. Dried figs + blue cheese

Bon Appetite!

Tahini Muffins with Mulberry

Nok Pinnada gave me a box of fresh mulberry, along with the beetroots and some lettuces. I wasn't sure what I could do with the mulberry besides eating them fresh. I was paranoid they will turn bad before I could eat them all. Therefore I immediately turned the mulberry into jam as soon as I got home. I had been waiting to do something with it since then. Now came the chance.

Here's a website for tahini. You'll find a brief write up on this sesame products and some recipes to go with it. I once made my own tahini: just grind up toasted white sesame seeds and add some oil. However it's such a pain to make because I don't have a food processor; it took considerable patient to grind them in batches after batches after batches with the grinder. When I eventually invest in a food processor, there going to be so many more homemade condiments: Nutella, peanut butter, tahini, and all kind of nuts spread. Until then, I digress.

Instead of using raisin as suggested on the website, I replace it with mulberry jam. When Adrian came home to the muffins, his first reaction was "they are blue". I was thinking black. I promised some students I would bring something yummy to them this Saturday if they come to my Yoga class. I was rather hesitant to pack the muffins, thinking if I should have baked something "sinful" with chocolate, or sweet and pleasant like strawberry, instead of the boring oatmeal, and tahini.

As I walked down to the apartment pier, waiting for the boat, I found a turtle sitting there next to one of the boat man. How interesting! It must have crawled up from the river. It was very curious and was sticking its head around its new place. Soon more residents came down and the turtle drew quite a commotion. Little did the turtle know what a day it made for us.

As the BTS approached Siam station, there was loud noises coming from nowhere. I didn't know what it's about since it was in Thai. Then I remembered the news announcement of "biggest rally by the red-shirts" over this weekend. When I got down from the BTS at Chitlom, I bumped into Pi Or. I thought she had just finished her practice. Turned out, she was going to come to my class but because of the protest in the area, the streets were blocked and all the major shopping malls were closed, including Central Chitlom, where we usually walked through to get to the studio. And she couldn't call to the studio, thinking it might have been closed. "Oh no. What am I going to so with the muffins?" that was my thought. I somehow persuaded her to come with me. We braved the sea of red-shirted people and their rally cars, reached at the studio little perturbed by the loud noises over the speakers along the street.

I was really touched and honored to have 15 students showed up at my class despite the uncertainties and havoc these protesters were causing in the city center. When I announced of the muffins that I brought, I kind of wondered if I should have told them the ingredients - too healthy? I was so relieved when the students told me that they liked it. The health conscious ones liked it that it's not too sweet and delicious enough to be an indulgence. The skeptics were surprised what a treat "healthy" ingredients can be. PHEW~

Ingredients:

Mulberry Jam

• Fresh mulberry
• Natural cane sugar
• Freshly squeeze lemon juice

1. Put mulberry into a pot and sprinkle enough sugar to cover the top. Cover the pan and let it sit overnight. The berries release juices overnight.
   
2. Bring the pot to simmer over medium heat. Taste and adjust with sugar and lemon juice. Let it simmer for another 10 minutes.
3. Remove and spoon over to storing jar. Cover and refrigerate till needed.

Tahini Muffins
(7 big muffins)

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup natural cane sugar
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup organic tahini
• 1/2 cup virgin coconut oil
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla essence
  
• 1 cup mulberry jam
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped

1. Preheat oven at 180C. Grease a muffin tray with virgin coconut oil.
   
2. Sift together oat, flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a big bowl. Set aside.
3. Whisk together milk, tahini, coconut oil, eggs and vanilla essence till well blended.
4. Pour tahini mixture into flour mixture. Fold to combine. Stir in mulberry jam and chopped pecans.
5. Spoon batter over muffin tray. Bake at 180C for 25 minutes.