Kitchen Trails - Banana Butter

This is so simple to make. And it's healthy and super yumms

2 ripe bananas, blitzed or thoroughly mashed

Juice of 1/4 lemon

Coconut palm sugar syrup 2 tbsp


Add all the ingredients in a small pot, and cook over small flame, stirring constantly. Cook for about 5 mins, and then turn off the flame and let cool.

Can be kept in the fridge for up to 1 week (if it even doesn't finish in that time, hehehe)

Kitchen Trails - Coconut Palm Sugar Syrup

This is syrup made with pure gula melaka (coconut palm sugar). You can find coconut palm sugar in the supermarket, though most of those has added fillers and cane sugar. I was lucky enough to get my supply of gula melaka in its pure form, with no adder filler, sugar, and whatnots. 

Gula Melaka has a much lower glycemic index, and is suitable even for some diabetics (please do talk to your doctor if you are diabetic and would like to try the gula melaka). It's not lower in calories than other sugars tho, diet watchers, do take note.

It has a smokey caramelised aroma, and it goes really well with coffee. I take my tea with it as well. And I use it in a lot of my baking.

In its solid form, it's not too hard, and will crumble if you pinch some of it between your fingers. I normally store mine in a air-tight container in the fridge. 

I buy my gula melaka by the kg, and it comes in about 3-4 cylindrical blocks per kg. 

To make the gula melaka syrup, I put one cylinder block into a small pot and add about 1/4 cup of water. Using a low flame, let the gula melaka melt, stirring occasionally with a spoon. Be careful, because it can bubble up and splatter, and boiling sugar can burn you!

Once all the gula melaka has melted, I use a fine metal strainer and strain it into a glass bottle and let cool on the counter. It will thicken further as it cools. Once it's cool, store in the fridge.

On how much water to add, it can be from a few tablespoons to 1/2 cup, depending on what the syrup is used for. If only very little water is added, do keep a constant eye when melting down the gula melaka, as it can get burnt when all the moisture evaporates.

Happy Well - A Good Cry Does Wonders

A Simple Reminder from Buddha Doodles

Sometimes a good, ugly cry does wonders for the soul. People can be mean not only by saying or doing nasty things. Callous attitude, or just by exclusion can be as toxic and hurtful as sticks, stones, and words. This happen to me this morning. And it always hurts more if it's done to me by someone I care about. The more I care about that person, the worse it affects me. I had always made excuses when this kind of callousness and exclusion happens to me and mine. Today's incident was a lesson long time coming. Lesson of letting go.

I had a good cry just now. The kind of ugly sobbing with the scrunched up face, snot bubbling out of the nostrils and running down into the mouth, the kind where it can actually cause a headache and leaves me looking puffy. I have not had a good sob in a long, long time. Too long. And it was therapeutic and cleansing.

I find it very hard to not let people, words, actions, and just about anything, affect me. I am learning to let go. It's almost impossible for me. I have to be mindful that I have to let go, and in being mindful of that, makes me think and ponder about it, and hence it becomes a cycle. I am learning to box that toxicity up, and STEP AWAY from it, and leave it behind in my mind. Know that it happened, not ignoring it, but leaving it behind in my life path. Something like, mentally picturing putting it in a box, closing it up, and putting it at the side of the road, and walking away, moving forward in my journey. This kinda works for me at the moment. I am still learning.