Well, here I am, at the beginning of the last week of my 30-day vegetarian diet. It’s a great experience and I’m doing great! I work out, I eat, just avoiding meat, seafood and eggs and …

… well, just about the only thing about being vegetarian is that I’m always hungry and need to eat all the time . So like every one or two hours, you’ll find me raiding the kitchen and munching on milk and Oreos (man, these are the best!), guacamole and chips, biscuits and whatever else I can get my hands on.

I’m not a snacker by any means so it’s really hard figuring out what to eat all the time. With everything I’m eating, you probably expect that my new best friend would be the fitness equipment at the gym . But most times, I just end up drinking lots and lots of tea and water to fill me up.

One day, I made ambrosia, sheer heaven!! A couple of times, I made huge pots of tongsui, or dessert soups - lotus seed soup with gingko nuts, three-bean soup, black glutinous rice porridge - and survived on those for a whole day.

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Many years, when I worked in the city, my colleagues and I would drive out for lunch to Ampang which is famous for their yeong tow foo, or stuffed tofu. Well, that was years ago and although Ampang Yong Tow Foo franchises and copycats have sprung up everywhere, I haven’t eaten any in a long time.

Recently I bought fresh yeong tow foo at the market. They are fresh and sold loose so I get to make my own selection. They’re usually sold at the grocery stores in prepacked trays but they cost a bit more and you don’t get to pick what you want.

I bought lots of different shaped fishballs at the market the other day. The big fried ones and the white comma-shaped ones are a hit with my kids. I only bought 3 stuffed chillies for myself .

The long dark brown ones are foo pay, or soy sheets wrapped around fish and meat paste. I like those too. And of course, I must have my hot chilly dipping sauce. We typically eat yeong tow foo on its own without rice or noodles, so this is absolutely a no-carb meal!

You might not find me driving into town to buy a Sony Vaio but I might for a taste of yong tow foo once in a while. In this case, I don’t even have to drive into the city, I can have them in the comfort of home.

If you have time, you can actually make your own fish paste at home for fish balls and to stuff the soy pockets yourself. Yeong tow foo is great for parties and potlucks because everyone loves ‘em, kids and adults. Just be sure you have different dipping sauces for kids (tomato sauce) and adults (chilly sauce).

Every weekend, when me and the kids go grocery shopping, we have to buy ’school food’. My kids don’t eat at the school canteen and frankly, I’ve never encouraged them to eat there either. If you ask me, canteen food has an even worse reputation than college cafeteria food !

I wish the schools would take the trouble to ensure the  food they serve the kids is healthy and it wouldn’t hurt either to make it taste a little better too. Well, maybe some of the kids find it tasty because most of it is junk food but it sure ain’t good for them, I tell ya.

Anyhow, my kids being picky eaters, we constantly have to source for different types of biscuits, cookies or pastries so they don’t end up eating the same old stuff day in, day out. We kinda go through cycles with different foods. Recently we started back with granola bars again after we sampled Special K at the Cold Storage.

Now we’re on to Nature Valley which is equally tasty and still only 90 calories per bar, and slightly cheaper too. They have several flavors - Roasted Almond, Oats ‘n Honey, Pecan Crunch, Vanilla Nut, Peanut Butter and a Variety Pack.

But so far, we’ve only tried the Apple Crisp which I’ve been buying over and over because the kids love it so much. And of course, I’m going to try my hand at homemade granola bars soon, so watch out for my post on that.

I love butter, period. I don’t care what the people with jobs in health care say, I’m not quitting butter in favor of margarine ! No way, Jose!

Once in a while, when I’m in a baguette buying frenzy, I will make my own garlic butter. I just peel a few cloves of garlic, pop them in the blender, mix with a few scoops of butter and I’m done. Of course, you can vary the amount of garlic depending on how strong a flavor you prefer.

I slap the garlic butter on halved baguette slices, pop them in my oven toaster and I’ve got a crunchy breakfast toast with my morning coffee. Oh and one more thing, remember not to kiss anyone afterwards or they’ll remember you for life !!!

My kids can never resist a McFlurry whenever we walk past McDonald’s. Tell me, which kid can?

I make my own version at home now because it’s just too easy to make. And for the price of a commercial one, I can make a whole tub and I get to eat it too, not just steal a mouthful here and there from my kids.

I call it the MomFlurry, my own registered trademark . I just grab a roll of Oreos and a tub of vanilla ice cream, any brand though we prefer Nestle because their vanilla is thick and creamy.

Crush a few Oreos and add to a bowl or cup of vanilla ice cream. Mix well and voila, your kids can have their MomFlurry whenever. No need to leave the house or head to the Outer Banks. My teens make their own, even better !