Phoneless, Sleepful, and Basically a Lesson on Refrigeration

Yesterday and today, I left my phone at home when I went to work. Both happened so similarly. Yesterday, I basically forgot my office keys at home, because I'm just used to leaving the keys in my work pants, but it is the start of the week, and I probably haven't gotten used to the working routine. So upon reaching the office (which fortunately is only 5-7 minutes away), I turned around to get my keys. Then when I got my keys, I somehow left my phone on the table. Today, I wore shorts to work, but I was supposed to bring my work pants along in my bag for emergencies, so I also forgot my keys and pants at home. When I went back to take my key and pants, I left my phone there.

I'm seriously getting too old.

I'm getting enough quality sleep (with me being disciplined with sleeping early enough), and my body really cranks so much more better. I even managed to go tho the gym today, albeit in the evening.

Okay, now for the main article of today:

Refrigerating Products in Malaysia

I think most of us has grown to use the fridge to keep everything to the point that we think that anything in the fridge can last forever (for the freezer it probably is true, but still). There are some products that really shouldn't go into the fridge, so save some space inside for things that actually matter, and save some trouble too:

1. Peanut butter and other spreads with a high fat content (but not cheese and dairy products). It spreads better at room temperature, and the high fat content and the preservatives of most commercialised spreads keep it safe outside the fridge.

2. Preserves, but not jams and marmalades. Preserves have been cooked down with enough sugar to render them quite hardy. Jams and marmalades are more pure and have a higher moisture content that would be better in the fridge after opening.

3. Hot Sauces and mustard. Most sauces (chilli and tabasco especially) are usually pasteurised and the acidity keeps them from spoiling. For ketchup, read the label for instructions, not all are made equal.

4. Potatoes and tomatoes. Potatoes change form in the fridge, and the starch changes to sugar, and not in a nice way. Tomatoes become mushy and the taste changes, and is better off left outside to ripen more (tomatoes in Malaysia tend to be bought under-ripened).

5. Bananas. In the fridge they turn mushy inside, and the skin turns an unsightly black.

6. Citrus fruits. Left outside, they ripen just like tomatoes, and they also dry up in the fridge and the skin becomes hard due to the dehydration effect.

There's a lot more, but you probably can Google for the information.

As for freezing, do not freeze huge chunks of meat just like that (it makes defrosting slow and troublesome). When buying meat, remove as much moisture from the meat with a clean dry cloth, then cut into the portions that you will be cooking them in. Wrap the individual portions with cling wrap and you are done. If the portion is huge (like a huge batch of chicken pieces), lay cling wrap on a flat surface and spread the meat in a way that it forms a single layer. After that cling wrap the top, using your fingers to press into small cavities and valleys in between each piece. You can then roll the cling wrapped layer into a roll and freeze.

Done.

I seriously need to stop eating canned food, especially canned tuna. It's just so expensive and technically troublesome to purchase, cook and eat fresh fish.