Live by Cooking, not by Instant Ramen or Frozen Food

Okay I am creating this blog here to further explaining some conversation that I have with friends off in twitter several days ago, one of the most fundamental things we need to survive and that is to EAT! Although actually we can survive just by water but then again no energies or other stuff you need for your bodies.

Anyways this is a long read so I do hope this will help. I do not quote that much from other site, this is just a personal experience I would like to share with you guys, and as disclaimer there might be something you find it disagree-able, but I don’t mind, please let me know, after all being disagree and agreeing with something sparks conversation no? Also most of these are a view for living alone a single.

okay lets begin.

As some of you might have known, I’ve started to live alone now. Living alone, shucks … since I have take care of everything including cooking, I used to have my sister to do the cooking but not anymore and with my spending habit on my… ahem… expensive hobbies, eating tends to be a bit of an issue. Often my fellow friend will mentioned instant noodles or frozen foods are way to go. I would somewhat disagree into that notion now, if you ever looked into their nutrition facts, you’ll surprise how much bad stuff they have that is a no go.

This only only 1/2 block, do the math and double the stuff!

As for instant noodles goes, it’ll be best to mix it with something healthier, if you Google for ‘Ramen Hacks’ you’ll find some site that will give you a good tip to make your Ramen more healthier. Since Ramen is not the topic here I’ll leave at that. I have not much comment on frozen food, they claim healthy and all that, but with healthier ones comes with more expensive frozen food, the cheap ones are not that healthy at all.

In any case, I cant agree more that sometimes good way to save is actually by cooking inside your own house, there’s nothing wrong with eating out with friends and family sometimes, but cooking yourself is still a best bet, unless if you don’t have enough spare time to cook then this would be a trouble, or if you are prioritizing something else than your body needs, you’ll have problem. and plus cooking by yourself tends to be healthier than eating outside, imagine all those grease and oil they are using on restaurants especially Chinese fast food ergh… and here’s an example

looks delicious? probably? but, its super greasy!

I’ve started my first week with this food, a mishmash of different kind of stuff, and I assure you its super greasy, price wise well only about $5 and check it out I can eat it 2x (the other half I put off for lunch). But then again, if I had to put up to that kind of greasy food. I worried about my body wellness.

Then on the next week here’s what I tried to make, a spaghetti with pre-made curry, which I just need to reheat the curry pack and pour it in, but ended up turned into something else hahaha… talk about mix-ed feelings on cooking turned into something else. I pretty much just cooked it random stuff whatever that is available on my fridge at that time.

Doesn’t look that bad right?

The next week I’ve decided try do cook something else. Went to store and looked around at that time I’ve found the Japanese curry block and this time I calculate their cost (approximation), unlike my previous spaghetti and pork bun.

  • 2 carrots, 2 potatoes, 3 broccoli crowns costs less than $3.00
  • 1 lbs of boneless chicken costs about $3.50
  • House Curry blocks costs about $4.00

now with all these ingredients bought I’ve spent total of about less than $15 in the end.

Went home and prepare everything and here’s what I’ve cooked.

Better looked Curry  (sorry bad photo >.<)

Not too bad right? and guess what? I’ve cook almost entire pot! which allows for another 5 to 6 servings. If you went out for a food you’ll spend at least $15 for 1 Japanese curry meal, by cooking at home you’ll spent less than $15 that will give you 5 to 6 Japanese curry meal. If you are resilient enough and don’t mind eating the same thing all over, then you’ll be good to go.

and the next couple weeks I went to groceries shopping and here’s what i got

  • box of tofu (some people don’t like this, I know, but heck they are good for your health :p) and they cost about $2.00
  • 1 lbs of ground pork costs about $2.50
  • 1 pack of hot dog sausages about $2.00, but only used about 4 sausages
  • mushrooms, veggies etc about $6.00 (more veggies this time)
  • Mabo Tofu sauce and a stir fry sauce costs about $6.00

this time I’ve cooked for 2 different dish and that costs me less than $20.

Mabo tofu with a some crushed red peppers & mushrooms

So the first one I’ve cooked Mabo Tofu with only 1/2 of the mentioned above ingredients, while the other half cooked for the second dish (I don’t know what i should call it though).

In any case once done, those two are separate into the ones I’ll put into freezer and the ones I’ll put on regular fridge, since I will be eating those two dish for two weeks.

okay so I’ve covered some dishes that I’ve cooked within 3 different weeks and add them out they’ll cost less than about $40. Now if its just dish you wont be full, so for that you’ll have to buy rice. With $20 you can get a 20 lbs decent Jasmine rice or about 15 lbs for those high quality good tasting Japanese/Korean rice. If you want healthier then by all means go for the brown rice, though i am no expert on that, cant say much about it.

Dish that I don’t know what to call

So in the end total approximation spending for almost a month worth of food is about $60. If we go back with a calculation for a decent meal for $15 a plate that’s only good for 4 meal but with cooking yourself at home you’ll save so much more. Wouldn’t you call this a saving?

There you have it, with these experiences I’ve beginning to like cooking. However it is wrong to say that I refuse to go out and eat. I will do so when hang out with friends and when I am not at home, but when I can go home and cook why not?

So for all the Otaku out there, don’t be lazy! start to cook! it’ll save some monies so you can spend them into something else.

and that is the fried rice I cooked 2 weeks ago

Thanks for reading ^_^/

How I spend the last 2 months of 2010

Looks like I haven’t wrote anything yet since the past two months,
well a lot of good things have happen and so does bad things too.
Hopefully this 2011 will bring up some good fortunes for everyone.

Mainly reasons of delay are struck of laziness and time, due to most of my time are spent into … ahem… gaming.

regardless I’ve finally muster up my motivation to write some more into the blog

there are some new games I’ve been delved within these two months into recently, I’ll add a short (as much as i can) of the thoughts and opinion about them too:

1. Sid Meier’s Civilization V (PC/Mac) – another great sequel to the Civilization series. I’ve found myself playing this quite greatly with friends. In Civilization, you’ll took in charge of Civilization with some of their famous people (eg. Napoleon, Gandhi, etc) and speciality and perks. You are to build your civilization to reach a various goals such as Domination, Utopia project, Space Race or UN elections. You build, expand, raise an army, defend and attack others civilization for the glory of your civilization. They’ve added the Policies which provide bonuses to civilization by giving more defensive bonus, cheaper building/unit cost, more battle experience, and many more. City-states are introduced in this game who can be a great allies, enemies and a greatly welcomed addition. In my honest opinion Civilization V is great for both beginners and expert alike.

Quite a battle going on in one map

2. Mushihimesama Futari (Xbox 360)
This is a famous shooter/’bullet hell’ game is made by the infamous shooter company ‘Cave’, was released back in 2006 on arcade machine and made its way to Xbox 360 release in 2007 with changes and improvements. Many Thanks to brightsuzaku,I am able to enjoy this game. This game is one of the several games that enjoys the privilege of being ‘region free’  and was welcomed greatly by many western enthusiast. Later on this also provide with the release of another great shooter game Espgaluda II to be released as ‘region free’. This game also recently being released into Japanese Xbox360 Platinum which retains its ‘region free’ at much cheaper price. I’ve found a very nice review and information of this game from racketboy forum, you can find them in the following link.

Player bullets in action, wait until you see purple bullets in your screen…

3. Another.Century.Episode R (PS3) – the fourth installment of the A.C.E series with many mecha from different anime/manga series. Rosters includes Code Geass, Banpresto Originals, Crossbone Gundam, Macross Frontier, Zeta Gundam, Gundam Seed Destiny, Full Metal Panic, Overman King Gainer, and many other more. One thing I have to say even though the game is filled with a lot of mechs and bits, the control is a little bit rough and took me sometime to understand how it worked.

Another Century Episode R Game Cover

4. Umineko no Naku Koro ni: Ougon Mousou Kyoku (PC)
07th expansion are well known for their release of the ‘When they cry’ Visual Novel series which include ‘Higurashi no naku Koro ni’ and ‘Umineko no naku Koro ni’, but this time they trying something else different… A fighting game. I might possible wrote another opinion and details about this game next time. The game is quite fun and many references to the actual  story of the visual/sound novel. I would highly suggest this game to those who loved and have been following the series to give this game a try.

Beatrice vs. Battle conversation scene

5. 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors (999)  (Nintendo DS) – developed by Chunsoft and published by Aksysgame.  You are trapped in a sinking ship and tries hard to find an escape before given the time and you have 9 hours to do so. You found yourself along with the other 8 members trapped in the same ship and work together to escape. Ultimately you too have to find a door marked with number 9 which will lead you to the final escape. This game is perfect for those who crave for visual novel like stories. The game features much simpler puzzle than Professor Layton, however this game is quite heavy on the scripts and storyline which I think mind-blowing-ly amazing. There have been many reviews and comments that justify how good this game is.

9 Characters that is introduced in this game

6. Ghost Trick (Nintendo DS) – once I’ve beaten 999, i’ve quickly acquire Ghost Trick. You play as a recently deceased character who tried to find out about his/her past while saving several lives on the way. In order to do so you’ll posses/manipulate things to create path, solving murders, obstructing criminals and even talk to the dead. Ghost Trick was done by the same team that produced Gyakuten/Ace series previously. As I’ve mentioned earlier characters in this game are quirky, amusing and very likeable with full of personality. Ghost Trick is indeed a game that must not be missed in.

Cabanela is one of many of the interesting character in this game

Well… thats quite a lot of list of the games that i’ve been playing, now that hopefully give me enough excuse why I havent update my blog so much lately hahaha :D . There are more games that I am currently playing including Fable 3, League of Legends, King’s Bounty series, Mount & Blade: Warband, Romance of Three Kingdom XI, and… yeah… many more.

I have planned for more shoot for some figurine shoot but that perhaps have to wait for a little bit until I’ve got my schedule straighten.

Until the next post then.

Mega(Rock)man trading Figures

I wasn’t really much into trading figure, most of the time I’ve only do a trading figure on a whim and resulted with numerous random characters smack dabbed into my shelves. However this time it is a moment to be a little bit different.

I went to the usual acquaintance figurine shop and found out of the Chozokei Tamashii Rockman which immediately caught my attention.

the box cover

I don’t generally collect trading figures that much due to their flimsy-ness and unreliable design. However somehow I caught my eye into this one, and decided perhaps I would and should collect them all. In a side note, this is not the 1st trading figure i have collected completely. I have completed the Kotobukiya Tales of Phantasia figurine.

In any case, To my surprise I think the trading figure is quite sturdy and decent and I’ve pretty much purchased them one by one and so far i’ve accumulated over 6 pack. A box set of them comes in a dozen, which means i’ve bought about 1/2 of the box set already T__T.

While I realize this is not a good method. I do hope i’ve obtain most of them considering there are over 11 figures and 1 bonus item included. I’ve obtained 6 figures and 1 bonus items which leaves me with another 5 figures to go.

The box w/ pictures of obtainable figures

As pictured above, the box consist one of characters, they are 2x of original Mega(Rock)man, AirMan, CutterMan, Roll, X, Blues/Protoman, Zero (original), Zero (Rockman Zero), 2x of Bass/Forte and a random cellphone strap of the ‘Energy’ Capsule.

I’ve managed to took some 2 pictures of the kit and hopefully it does show the quality of the work. First of is X from Mega(Rock)man X

X in action

in my honest opinion, this figurine is sturdy and the paint job is not too bad. Not to mention they used shiny metallic blue which adds awesomeness to this figure.

I found his expression is rather strange, however i can dismiss and forgiving for trading figure.

Rear Shot for X

and with that said the 2nd box opened, I’ve obtained Zero from the Mega(Rock)man Zero series.

Zero from the future

Although I would love to have the original Zero to have him paired up with X, but this Zero worked out for me hehe.

The figure turned out pretty decent, and I liked the way it is. The only issue i have is with the sword which is very bendable and might look bad if it is viewed from side views.

Zero’s rear shot

Expression wise is well and good. I really liked his expression far better than X’s.

I would love to go over other figures but I have yet to open nor take their pictures them. Lets see… I’ve obtained Blues/Protoman, Roll, Airman and Bass/Forte along with the Energy Capsule strap ^^v, which means if i am to make an all out cast, I will still need missing the original Mega(Rock)man, CutterMan and Original Zero

Here are some other shots of these two figures.

Zero’s side shot, bending sword leh… ~.~

X’s side shot

Thank you for reading and I’ll be working on the other figures, which calls for part 2 somewhere in future ^.^)ノ

Mega(Rock)man X & Mega(Rock)man Zero