Low-carbing continues in the Tern household. Here are some further observations:

1. We gained additional culinary flexibility by buying a dinky little Zanussi oven.


2. But as we didn't really want an additional heat source competing with the air con in our open-plan kitchen/diner/living room, we rehomed the oven to the utility area, where he's struck up a good relationship with the washing machine.


3. Sarawak laksa (as I mentioned last time) is not the carbohydrate disaster you might expect (way better, say, than bread). So the quest for our favourite laksa continues. Our latest trial was the laksa from Mei Mei, our nearest foodcourt. Very tasty, and excellent value at MYR 6 for a big bowl. But probably the fishballs (which are likely to contain some sort of starch) make it less low-carb-friendly. (Incidentally, I continue to adore the foodiness of Malaysians. Talking to an acquaintance today, we mentioned Mei Mei's laksa, and she instantly identified it: "Oh, yes, that's the one with the fishballs." She also gave us a good tip for our next bowl...)


4. Bit by bit I'm gathering "sensible" recipes, ie, those that don't require weird or costly ingredients. I'm even getting used to the bizarrely enthusiastic tone of the recipe-writers (mostly American, it seems). These salmon patties, for example, were great -- easy, sustaining, and full of calcium. Of course, mine don't have the perfect shape of the ones in the internet picture. But they tasted just fine.


5. The really neat ingredient in these patties is almond flour (ground almonds to you and me). This binds the mixture together just like ordinary flour, but with a fraction of the carbs and a lot more nutritional punch.

6. You do need to eat out regularly, because otherwise the constant cooking, food preparation, and resultant washing up will drive you insane. As I said last time, there's just nothing low-carb that doesn't need preparation, it seems. OK, that's not entirely true, but you can't really live on chunks of cheese, or spoonfuls of peanut butter, or tuna straight out of the can. Needless to say, when we eat out, we take care to order things we don't/can't cook at home...





7. Bean curd skin is a wonderful product. Once soaked, it has a really great, chewy texture.


8. Cauliflower is every bit the low-carb rock star that the pundits make it out to be. Cauliflower mash is nice for sitting pan-fried chicken on, because it soaks up all the juices. And I invented a really cool thing that involves frying up cauliflower mash with a handful of oats and some eggs. It goes nicely crusty in the pan, and is even better with some grated cheese on top. The only small snag is that we can't always get cauliflower. In fact, vegetables in Kuching are an unpredictable thing altogether (we've learnt that you don't shop for vegetables on a Monday, for example, because the shelves are pretty bare).

9. Greek yogurt is another awesome thing for low-carb life. Much better than ordinary yogurt. But again, you can't always get it here. So when you see it, you stock up. And when you don't, you strain the ordinary stuff through kitchen paper overnight, so that you end up with your own Greek look-alike.

So... I wouldn't exactly say it's getting easier. We're still on a learning curve. But we are starting to workout ways to manage. Which is good, because the benefits are very attractive.