And so we went to Carpenter & Cook

Entrance to a cosy hangout space

Colourful, patterned tiles against cement screed flooring + sewing machine base

Enamel cups and glass saucers that my grandparents would still have. 

Was that plate melamine? I forgot. 

Weighing scales from past eras where things didn't break down so easily 

Passionfruit meringue...and the green table (you're still on my mind)

Over the weekend, we needed a break from home (yes, that happens when you work from home) and so decided to check out the cafe Carpenter & Cook. It's pretty far from our place, but it was well worth the trip. Step past the lovely frontage, and inside, it's such a cute little cafe! Love the interior filled with vintage pieces, old weighing scales, mismatched furniture and fabric bunting hanging from the ceiling. 

It's got a great vibe, and the cafe was filled with youngish, trendy people. Since we had a heavy lunch, we had a cappuccino each (hello, enamel cups) and shared dessert. It was certainly good to see that business was brisk there on a weekend. Although that also meant that we couldn't stay longer than we had wanted to. I left quite reluctantly. 

I like too that although it was located near the busy roads at Upper Bukit Timah, it's tucked away on a quiet stretch of old shops. Accessible, yet not that accessible. I bet if we were to live much nearer to the cafe, it would be a nice place to just relax on a weekday afternoon (that too happens when you work from home), and listen to music from Ingrid Michaelson and, heck, even Bobby McFerrin or the Beatles. That'd make it all complete. 

For the past few years, I've been getting my vintage styling fix from the Australian magazine Inside Out, so it's been heartening to see it catching on here. And, of course, the greenie in me approves totally; why throw out stuff that are so good and getting harder to find? 

Needless to say, going to such spaces like Carpenter & Cook got me itching to do something to my apartment again. Had a very strong urge to cart home the green table. I couldn't get enough of the distressed look and texture, and the antique sewing machine base. 

I'm still thinking about the table...

Looking beyond "Good for you"

Just the other day, I was feeling peckish in between writing paragraphs, and I found this small packet of  dried cranberries that's been sitting on the kitchen counter for a while. I think it was given by a friend. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, so something like this tends to get overlooked pretty long. 

So, why did this make it here? A weight of 28.4g, and total carbohydrates of 23g of which 18g are sugars, and dietary fibre of 2g. Okay, we're not getting a breakdown of how much of that are natural sugars or not – sugar is by the way second on the ingredients list – so it's really hard to tell. 

This all looks pretty questionable to me; can anyone explain it to me?

But this is why when I buy something new, I tend to spend quite a bit of time comparing the nutritional info. If you'd like to do the same, I suggest looking at the far right column, which usually indicates the nutritional breakdown per 100g. It's less confusing that way than to look at the amount per serving, which by the way is highly unrepresentative of most people's serving sizes. If you have a thing for potato chips, have a look at the serving size on the bags – who eats 8 to 10 chips and stop there? I hardly do. 

The more I looked at the ingredients and nutritional info on the packaging, I found that, over time, the I naturally moved away from processed and packaged foods. These days, I head straight down to the fresh foods section. As consumers, we really should always, always look beyond any simple claims like "Good for you", "Natural" and, get this, "No chelosterol"– and go straight down to the tiny, and sometimes, confusing numbers on the back of the packaging. 

Good morning, green thing

Some time ago, I started reading about green smoothies. Green smoothies are pretty popular among the raw food community, who blend smoothies several times a day. I did also entertain the idea of going raw,  butI felt it was too big a commitment for me. I wasn't (and, maybe, won't be) ready. My diet may be quite heavily plant-based, but I also love meat and seafood on those not-so-often occasions when I indulge!

Anyway, I've been making green smoothies for quite a while, so I thought I'd pen this down. If anything, I thought it'd be a great way get some of my necessary daily servings of plants. Basically, all you need to do is blend raw vegetables with fruit. Easy! What you see below is a shot of the things that go into my typical green smoothie. Some greens, a banana usually (make the smoothie, um, smoother than fruits like apples), two pieces of dates and water. If I go for apples, I usually add a bit of honey to the mix. Just a tiny amount, less than half a teaspoon.

I go for organic vegetables for my smoothies, and non-organic vegetables for cooking since they are still pretty expensive. No particular reason, just that I feel better about it. A $2.30 pack of organic vegetables is usually enough for 5 smoothies, so that's fine by me.

If you want a lift to your green smoothie, try adding in cacao powder sometimes! Recently, I bought a pack of organic raw cacao powder, and it makes my smoothies a lot more yummy. It feels almost decadent.

Something I learned along the way is that it's important to rotate your vegetables. Avoid using the same type of vegetables longer than a week to be on the safe side. That's because certain vegetables contain high amounts of oxalates, which can lead to calcium oxalate crystals in the body. Yup, kidney stones. I avoid spinach in particularly because it's got one of the highest oxalate content. Cooked or otherwise, spinach is not something you should eat too often. Hmm, did Popeye have kidney stones? I wonder.

Okay, I've also found out that kailan (aka Chinese broccoli) is high in oxalates too, so it's not recommended either. So go for bok choy and chye sim. Another thing that some people caution about is to avoid too much contact of your green smoothies with the teeth. I prefer to be on the side of caution, so I drink up with a straw.

Green smoothies are recommended on an empty stomach, so I take it first them in the morning. I love them! They are great wake-me-up food in the morning as I get started on my work. And, really, they taste better than you'd think. Try to get a 40:60 ratio for vegetables and fruit, and you won't go wrong.

Here's to good health!

Got your own green smoothie recipes? Share them here. 

Foodie, I am

I would say there are few better ways to start a blog than with food. So hello there. Welcome to ink and glasses. It's my little blog, where I go to write after, yes, hours of writing for work every single weekday and then some. Call me crazy, but ummm yeah. 

What you see below are pictures of real, good food perfect for the weekend. Chilli crabs and cereal prawns. Yummy flavours that I think Jamie Oliver would approve – plus, they look mighty photogenic, don't they? 

I decided to start this blog as a place to share my thoughts and the things I love: food, design, green living, healthy choices (okay, these two above are not exactly healthy), photography – not in that particular order. If you love these things too, come drop by from time to time.