Showing posts with label poem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poem. Show all posts

Wednesday, 30 April 2014

Z for zucchini for #AtoZChallenge: zucchini bok choy stir-fry recipe

Zucchini, also known as courgette / 夏南瓜, is a summer squash. A funny poem about zucchini and summer entitled Attack of the Squash People by Marge Piercy goes:
"And thus the people every year
in the valley of humid July
did sacrifice themselves to the long green phallic god
and eat and eat and eat.
They're coming, they're on us,
the long striped gourds,
the silky babies, the hairy adolescents,
the lumpy vast adults like the trunks of green elephants.

Recite fifty zucchini recipes!
Zucchini tempura; creamed soup;
sauté with olive oil and cumin,
tomatoes, onion; frittata;
casserole of lamb; baked topped with cheese;
marinated; stuffed; stewed;
driven through the heart like a stake.

Get rid of old friends:
they too have gardens and full trunks.
Look for newcomers:
befriend them in the post office,
unload on them and run.
Stop tourists in the street.
Take truckloads to Boston.
Give to your Red Cross.
Beg on the highway:
please take my zucchini,
I have a crippled mother at home with heartburn.

Sneak out before dawn to drop them in other people's gardens,
in baby buggies at church doors.
Shot, smuggling zucchini into mailboxes, a federal offense.
With a suave reptilian glitter
you bask among your raspy fronds sudden and huge as alligators.
You give and give too much, like summer days limp with heat,
thunderstorms bursting their bags on our heads,
as we salt and freeze and pickle for the too little to come."

Zucchini contains useful amounts of folate / folic acid (24 μg/100 g), potassium (280 mg/100 g) and vitamin A (384 IU [115 μg]/100 g). 

While looking for star anise (for sea cucumber recipe) at Bishan NTUC Fairprice Finest, I came across yellow zucchini - products of Malaysia. Since it has been produced regionally, I asked myself, "why not try a new dish with zucchini?"

zucchini bok choy stir-fry recipe by ServicefromHeart

For #AtoZChallenge on 2014 April 30 Wed, I lovingly present a recipe of zucchini bok choy stir-fry.

zucchini bok choy stir-fry recipe by ServicefromHeart
 
Dear loves it, he describes zucchini as being slightly similar to aubergine / eggplant.

Servings: 2
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 7 minutes or until crispy tender

Ingredients:
♥ 1 zucchini (夏南瓜), washed & julienned
♥ 2 bok choy (小白菜), washed & cut
♥ 5 cherry tomatoes (樱桃番茄)
♥ 1 tbsp olive oil (橄榄油)
♥ 1 tbsp peanut butter (花生酱)
♥ 1 knob ginger (), minced
♥ 5 cloves garlic (蒜头), minced
♥ 1 tsp dried shrimp (虾米), minced
♥ 1 tsp DOM Bénédictine (法国廊酒)
♥ pepper (胡椒粉) to taste

Directions:
1. Wash & cut zucchini & bok choy.
2. Sautee ginger, garlic, dried shrimp with heated olive oil until fragrant.
3. Add zucchini, peanut butter, DOM, pepper.
4. Add bok choy & stir-fry until cooked.
5. Garnish with cherry tomatoes.

zucchini bok choy stir-fry recipe by ServicefromHeart



Tips:
♥ If you buy green color zucchini, Choose bright green color one with a max length of 25-30 cm. Larger ones may be bitter.
♥ May I also suggest an easy recipe of zucchini soup with meatballs?

zucchini bok choy stir-fry recipe by ServicefromHeart

Check also our other #5minutemeal recipes.


With love,
ServicefromHeart
20140430

Tuesday, 11 March 2014

Postcards from Parkview Square Singapore (百威广场, 新加坡)

Standing tall and firm along North Bridge Road in the Downtown of Singapore, Parkview Square - a commercial building designed by James Adams Design and DP Architects - houses offices and embassies.

Opposite to the Raffles Hospital (private), Parkview Square is referred to as 'Gotham City building' (of Batman) locally. The design is of the classic Art Deco style, which is characterized by rich colors, bold geometric shapes, and lavish ornamentation.


Travel Journal to art deco Parkview Square Singapore by ServicefromHeart

A friendly taxi driver uncle* shared with me in Chinese Mandarin, that he remembers the Parkview Square well because of the statues of bony men holding up heavy things. Can you see them in the picture above?

* We call men who are older than us 'uncle' in Singapore or Malaysia.

In his words, "they look very struggling, perhaps they represent Life." He finished in accepting yet optimistic tone, "We struggle in lives."

***

The lift from street level to the square level was locked. I took an escalator up without realizing that I would need to go down few steps of staircase. A Cantonese-accented lady in an elegant above-knee dress helped me to carry baby Ren and his pram down. I am grateful to my heroine of the day!

Travel Journal to Parkview Square Singapore by ServicefromHeart

At the plaza before entering the building, a signature crane sculpture is ready to fly towards the direction of Mainland China. The graceful golden crane - a symbol of wealth bringer - is supported by a pedestal with a Chinese poem that goes

黄鹤楼

故国旧有黄鹤楼
北望神州几千秋
黄鹤展翅飞万里
伟哉狮城见鹤楼

Yellow Crane Tower

In my old country once stood a Yellow Crane Tower
how many autumns have I gazed north, homewards?
A yellow crane spreads its wings to fly ten thousand miles
Alas! In the Lion City I see a Crane Tower!

This home-longing poem reminds us on a poem by Li Bai from the Tang Dynasty:

黄鹤楼送孟浩然之广陵

故人西辞黄鹤楼,烟花三月下扬州。
孤帆远影碧空尽,唯见长江天际流。


Sending Meng Haoran Off at Yellow Crane Tower to Yangzhou


My old friend bids farewell to me at Yellow Crane Tower,
he is going down to Yangzhou in the third month of spring misty blooms.
The image of his lonely sail fades into a jade-green void of sky;
now all I see is the mighty Yangztze River flowing to the horizon.
Note: Guanglin (广陵) is the classic name for Yangzhou (扬州).

Travel Journal to crane art deco Parkview Square Singapore by ServicefromHeart


Plato, Lincoln, Churchill, Sun Yat-Sen, Newton, Chopin, and Dali (standing tall in bronze statues) welcome everyone at the plaza. Physically dead yet spiritually alive in souls whom they have inspired over generations, I tried to introduce baby Ren to them but the noon sun was perhaps too strong for us.

Newton Travel Journal to Parkview Square Singapore by ServicefromHeart

Built at a cost of SGD$87.93 million and completed in 2002, rents of offices in Parkview Square (D07) cost tenants ~ SGD$8 psf (hence beyond  6 digits of monthly rents for a unit greater than 12,500 sqft / 1160 sqm) as of March 2014 (CommercialGuru). 

The interior of the lobby is also opulently decorated in the classic Art Deco style like a Western palace.

Travel Journal to art deco Parkview Square Singapore by ServicefromHeart

Perhaps one day we would be able to have a sip of coffee or wine at the Divine Wine Extraordinaire bar of Divine Society but now I am inspired to re-visit the Art Nouveau works by Mucha.

***

Address: 600, North Bridge Road, 188778 Singapore.



From Bugis MRT, the fastest way to reach Parkview Square is through walking the side of Raffles Hospital.

Other travel posts that I love:
♥ Leonard Ng's Yellow Crane Tower @ Rainy Blue Dawn
♥ Jotterboard's visit to the Divine Wine Extraordinaire bar of Divine Society @ Parkview Square
♥ our #travelxp posts