Out of curiosity, I bought the fresh dates which (the label says) are from Iraq. When I tasted one, I realized that I should have bought the red ones instead of the yellows. The yellow ones are very bitter and have almost no taste.

But the red ones? Hmm... not exactly yummy (daffodil's standard ) but I know why in the past the people who lived in the dessert talked so much about the fruit. It has gained its honorable place even in the holy books of many religions in the world.

If you have ever tasted a piece of fresh sugar cane, that's exactly the texture of this fruit. It has small fibre-like crunch. A bit floury which explains a lot why the fruit becomes very sweet when it is preserved. I ate one piece only and it felt like I ate an apple. There's that weird feeling of being full after having just one piece.

Oh, yeah. One more thing. The fresh ones are waaayyyyy more expensive!!!

It was just one of those days when I and my Dad daydreamt about how good those ol' days were. The conversation brought us to the topic about food. We mentioned about how shrimp salad that used to be a hit in one of the famous steak restaurants in Jakarta is no longer available.

When we were at the supermarket, I brought up the subject and decided to buy the ingredients for that shrimp salad we have longed for.

So, we bought 0.25 kg of shrimps with shell (around 18 pieces), two lemons and a medium size head of lettuce. Other ingredients such as French mustard, mayo, pepper, and eggs were ready in the fridge.

Firstly, I washed the shrimps and steamed them for three minutes. I took the shell away and sprinkle a pinch of pepper, salt and a few drops of lemon juice. I left them in the fridge, covered.

Then I separate the lettuce leaves and washed them under running water. I put the leaves in a bowl of iced water so the leaves became crispy.

For the sauce, I took a teaspoon of French mustard, a pinch of pepper, five tablespoons of mayo, a few drops of lemon juice and some castor sugar and mixed them together.

I boiled an egg and took the shell off before I sliced them thinly.

For the final preparation, the leaves were patted dry and cut as thinly as possible. They were then spread in a tall glass and put a little bit of the sauce. I put some more lettuce and topped with the sliced eggs and shrimps. I added some more sauce. It's ready to eat.

About two weeks ago, I watched a cooking show: Kylie Kwong: Magic of China. There, she told us about her hometown in The China Republic and her visit to a lotus farmer. I found out that to harvest the lotus root, one needs to do it manually: barefooted! It was very interesting because I've never learned about it before.

When Kylie cut the root into pieces, that's when I found out that I'd had the lotus root in a Sukiyaki dish. Crunchy, not exactly juicy. Have you tried bamboo shoot in a spring roll? That's a little bit similar in texture. Definitely giving a specific crunch to any dish.

When I saw the veggie in the supermarket, I decided to be adventurous. I bought the item and, after standing in front of it for five minutes, a mushroomy light soya sauce.

At home, I peeled the root, slice it thinly (0.5 cm) and washed the slices under running water. I mashed some garlic, sliced a thumb of ginger and sauteed them in a wok for 3 minutes until fragranced. I added the light soya sauce, a little bit of sugar, sesame seed oil, and oyster sauce. Then, came the sliced lotus root. Since we had some asparagus and ling zhi mushrooms, I put those too. I had a little taste, and it's ready. I cut up some red chillies and sprinkled those on top.

With fresh steamed rice? YUUUMMMMMM!!!!