I wanna thank my mama, my papa…

Check this out, guys, my first blogging award! The kind and generous Lesley and Morgan passed this award to me:

Hee hee hee hee hee heee heeee~ I’m seriously blushing! Thanks, Lesley and Morgan! To be honest I’m not sure how this work…am I supposed to pass this award to others? In that case I would like to pass it to some really lovely people whom I am so thankful to have met through this blogging community:

— Jiaying: for her “Kreativ” use of her blog to touch on subjects not just on food but her little “insights” into life to get both my appetite and mind running!

— Pearl: Because she is the sweetest little angel I have ever “met” and she comes up with the most “Kreativ” and amazing and interesting posts!

— Kiki: Because she always has such “Kreativ” titles and her “Kreativ” dinners never fail to make me drool! Also, she reveals such a quirky, uplifting personality through her writing!

Of course I’d love to pass out this award to more people, but I’m limiting myself to three so there are more “Kreativ” bloggers left to pass around~

Well, I’m so glad to find that my black bean/pumpkin pancakes were met so positively by you guys! I really hope you guys try it out for yourselves though, because they truly are freaking amazing, and you can play around with it any way you want!

Just to prove my point, I made those pancakes for lunch yesterday again, but with a slight variation. This time I decided to go all savory. I pureed 1/2 cup pumpkin and 1/2 cup black beans together and mashed in a couple tablespoons of whole black beans like before, but this time, instead of the vanilla and cinnamon, I mixed in a few spoonfuls of coconut, garam marsala, and s&p. I originally wanted to add in curry powder, and went all the way to the grocery store to get it, only to come back buying everything else but the curry powder. I am such a scatterbrain sometimes!

After pan-frying the mixture, I topped the pancakes off with a slice of cheddar cheese and a sunny-side egg. Here’s the entire meal assembled:

Spicy black bean/pumpkin pancakes with cheese and egg, garlicky greens, and iced Orange Pekoe green tea.

This variation was really good, too! But how can it not? It is adorned with a perfect fried egg!

But…mid-bite, I just couldn’t resist adding a drizzle of maple syrup on top. I know I wanted this dish to be completely savory, but my sweet tooth begged for just a hint of sweetness and I reluctantly gladly obliged.

Mmm…Dense, chewy, with that chunks of whole beans mixed in for awesome play of texture…I loved the hint of coconut mixed in, and the garam marsala added a nice spicy kick to it. I was purring with pleasure with each bite….Puuuuurrrrrrr-fect!

Had youth group last night, so for I had to pack dinner to eat there. I had some raw carrots, chicken hotdogs, and two jam/ham/cheese toasts. And guess what? I finally discovered the secret to preventing the hotdogs from becoming wrinkly like an over-tanned 90-year-old beach bum! I just needed to bake those hotdogs twice. Here’s a picture of my successful, un-wrinkly hotdogs:

See? That’s the way I want my hotdogs. Plump and swollen like…

I had lunch out today with Liwen as we always do on Saturdays. Now I have to inform you that our lunches together are not just for social reasons. It’s an idea the ever-wise Liwen and Wengang suggested to challenge myself ED-wise by relegating my lunch choices to them. They will choose where to dine out, or the menu to cook at home. Because one of the ED habits I have is the need to control what and how I eat, this is a good exercise to wean me off from this obsession.

Today, Liwen chose a small local restaurant called 18 Chefs. It’s got quite a story; the owner and head chef is an ex-convict who went to study culinary arts in London after being released. He named his restaurant 18 because it’s the name of a well-known group of gang. Anyway, we actually met him! He fits the exact stereotype of an ex-convict: big, heavy-set, bald, sharp eyes, scars. This man cooked our food today, and even came out to ask if we were happy with our meals.

I ordered the 3-cheese omelette:

It came with fries and salad on the side, but I only ate the omelette. Try as I might, I just can’t bring myself to eat deep-fried foods yet.

This omelette was okay, but I was disappointed that it was so small. The insides were supposedly stuffed with mozzarella, feta, and Parmesan, but all I could detect was a whole lot of mozzarella and a teeny bite of feta. I have no idea where the Parmesan flew off to. So overall, I wasn’t so satisfied with this dish. I could have whipped up a much better omelette myself at home.

We also shared some garlic bread:

I ate two pieces of this! This is a huge feat for me because of a) I hate white, refined bread and b) Full-fat butter scares me. To be honest, I didn’t find these so tasty as well, but ate them just to challenge my ED fears.

Liwen ordered the cheese-baked pasta with minced beef:

Just your basic tomato-based sauce and beef with spaghetti, but baked with a layer of mozzarella cheese on top. Again, I could have made a better version myself in my kitchen.

Despite the rather disappointing lunch, Liwen and I had a great time talking. What I missed on the taste, I earned from our wonderful conversation together! I am so lucky to have a great, understanding friend like Liwen. She really treats me like a younger sister.

Oh, and I baked today! What is dense and brown and sticky?

Nope, not the stuff that comes out from the ass…It’s BROWNIES!~

I baked them this morning, and they were the richest, most chocolaty bars of sinful ecstasy ever.

Well, it’s the weekend, baby! Hope you guys all have a terrific one with fun activities and amazing eats! And here’s today’s question of the day: Do you prefer sweet or savory?

P.S. By the way, Lucky Taste Buds is having a BARNEY BUTTER giveaway! I've never tried this, and have always wanted to, so don't you go adding your name to the draw! Haha, just kidding~