mock meat.

okay i've been trying to write at least one post a day to 'stimulate my creative juices' and get me geared up for a less sedentary life (i will also pick up the pencil and return to sketching soon but after exams on friday- now the notes are a more imminent issue) and it's kind of cheating to be writing this post for wednesday on tuesday but im afraid i won't have anything interesting to say tomorrow so well here i am.

So anyway my mother has a big concern about me not getting enough proteins since i'm not eating any meat so she always makes sure to make some mock meat or tofu-incorporated dish for me, or (sneakily i must say) put in small prawns or minced meat with the vegetables so it's damn difficult to separate the meat to eat the veggies on it's own.

my dad has something against it (mock meat). It's not like swiss rolls or celery, which he totally doesn't hide his utter distaste for- he bears with it. I remember the time when it was mother's day and my elder sis (very unwisely) chose to make a reservation at a chinese vegetarian restaurant (for my sake apparently) and my dad just had to grin and bear the mock meat dishes. He make some fleeting comment about wanting to eat KFC after but i guess he was just joking. Or maybe not.

my sis adopts a similar approach- though more sympathetic.

today she said,

'mock meat, 加油!'

cause we have an inside joke about how mock meat is 'trying too hard' to taste like real meat and failing (somewhat) miserably.

I remember this conversation i had with Raymond (who, to my surprise, said he got inspired and decided to convert to vegetarianism because of me), about how mock meat just tastes different. He told me that some scientists are trying to simulate the kind of fibers present in meat, because currently the texture of mock meat is just too clump-like. If you tear meat it becomes shreds of thinner meat but if you rip mock meat it becomes, well, erm, smaller clumps of mock meat.

Then once randomly he told me he found the perfect mock meat that tastes exactly like real meat and invited me to try.

Trying hard, but not good enough. Try harder. haha.

i don't love mock meat neither do i hate it- it's just something i live with now, because i know whey protein is my only way out. whey protein- however you pronounce it. 'fey', 'huey', wayy',

whatever lah! Whey protein. amazing invention.

Ultimately whatever the reason for becoming vegetarian and the reasons against it-

i just don't believe in the argument that becoming vegetarian means you don't get a well-balanced diet. My rationale is that being non-vegetarian doesn't mean you necessarily get a well-balanced diet anyway (which of course i know is not a good or legitimate argument). It's just not a fair comparison-

i just feel like we should appreciate vegetables more, you know?

there's always those leftovers on the dinner plate, in our age of 'excess'-

and the approach is always : 'full liao is it?eat the meat, leave the rice and vegetables'

vegetables have lives-

like cows, ducks, chickens, prawns, fish

they are grown and tended to carefully by farmers,

and (i must say) the most incredible thing on the planet

because they're the only things that can produce their own food without eating others anyway

(with the exception of algae which i guess can be considered some form of vegetable)

mock meat is just an accompaniment to the veggie-lifestyle that makes it more rounded.

so maybe it's 'trying hard' is not good enough for others-

but it's good enough for me, for now, anyway.

----------------------

what a way to start the morning.

(so in the end i really got some inspiration- negative vibes actually)

i just had a super frustrating phone call with the TTSH staff. The problem is, originally my doctor only gave me 2 weeks of hospitalization leave and the next appointment to see him would be on the 23rd of august or something, which leaves the status of my foot uncovered and in 'limbo' technically for about 2-3 weeks. Cast off, or not? apparently not. Because when i pointed this out to the doctor, he got up sloppily and went to the counter to speak to the medical admin staff and later, came back with my mother, a 43 day hospitalization leave, and an appointment card with the date 30th July time 435pm.

no problem, really,

except my exam ends officially at 430pm.

which means by some magical or incredible-means-unknown-to-man, i have had my exam papers collected and given the green light to go, fly from kent ridge campus to TTSH, from whichever entrance, take the lift down to B1 and have already registered and taken my queue number in less than 5 minutes.

i explained this to the lady (young sounding, should not be much older than myself) and she was very emphatic but however unhelpful indeed. the next appointment date she could book me was at 18th of August- which i definitely do not want.

The reason for being unable to push me to a later slot i understand- i am the second last patient for that doctor for the day, and the clinic ends working hours at 5pm (government doctors have it easy, don't they? patients spend 50-60% of their total time at the hospital waiting, 10% at registration and collecting medication and making payment. doesn't take an A+ in math to figure out the actual consultation time. frmph), and i even remember the doctor leaving at 430pm on that day i went to see him. knocking off early eh? pft.

i just cannot put into words how disgruntled i am from/with the whole public hospital experience. I don't know if it's just TTSH, or public hospitals, or just this one time incident; it's unfair to just conclude that public hospitals suck i know, but when things are like this-

(sometimes) i just wish i were the son of some mogul and were at Mount Elizabeth instead.

yes one night in the most expensive room (with the golden wash basin it appears) there is cost-equivalent to a night's stay at raffles' hotel but, heh, you get quality care and facilities, who's complaining?

People who can't afford it,

of course.