Cooking Barley Drink 101

Now before I begin my post and before you start laughing at the title (hehe), let me first begin with my own story.
When I first started out a food blog, I was more interested in the photography and writing part about it rather than the eating part. I don't eat much for you to consider me a true food blogger; in fact, some even compared the way I eat to a bird
"She eats like a bird" (I pick at my food and eat them piece by piece or bite by bite!)
The amount I eat; like Nic said, 'Some children can do better'
Hence the name Pickyeater came to my mind~
So true for my description; and it's no exaggeration.
Believe it or not (well, you'd better believe anyway), the list of things I don't eat is much much longer than the things I do eat.
My mummy had a hard time even since before I was born as I refused to take a lot of things during her pregnancy and after I was born, I still continued my pickyeats.

Now, is there any wonder why I chose the name PickyEater for myself?:)

To the question, "Why you blog about food then?"
Well, as it goes, I love writing and blogging just happened to be a way for me to 'talk' to the world. Besides food, I have a long list of other blogs in which you can experience for yourself my style of writing (some may be very sarcastic!:p)

Food photography was really attractive; even when I don't take those stuffs I snap pics of, because, well, I find it appreciative of the efforts put into the making part of it and, I have to admit, most of the cooking are tastefully done to attract the consumers.

Also, as I may mention, as I go along the way of being a food blogger or some of you say Flogger, I start to become more and more interested in the prospect of trying out new food joints/restaurants just to provide my review (if you can see, I am really rather honest and can be brutal about my review due to my fussy and picky way of eating) but that's just being myself in writing.

At the same time, the fun of getting know other floggers and knowing that all are in the same friendly circle, I became more and more enthusiastic about this activity!~
It was really warm to see that people are so friendly towards each other when they only communicate through cyberspace.
I also started looking forward to those comments as it made me feel that you're all out there to share your opinions and jokes!~
I have all of you nice floggers to thank for - I do not want to mention names as I do not want to miss out on any and that'd be really embarassing! Suffice to say that you guys who have been visiting my blog regularly; you know who you are!~:)

That being said, I am still not a flexible eater :p and still stick to my picky eats but I'm glad that you're all still around to show your support...ALL the time!~
I look forward to floggers' gatherings (if you don't mind having someone who may make special request from the menu recommended - remember, I have a love for fish and seafood and veggie:)

Oh ya, did I mention I can't cook either? I am a brat, yeah, and I know it...well, can't say I didn't enjoy being one when Mummy dearest told me to stay away from the kitchen:)
Inspired by all the cooking around me (floggers), I took interest in recipes.
I still don't cook a lot nor do I bake (unless you want to see me in the headlines - burning the house down), but I took the liberty of trying out some simple cooking (if you even consider that cooking!)

(I'm guessing by now most of you must be heaving a sigh of relief, "she's finally getting to the point")

Barley drink is always my favorite drink; and I love eating the barley grains!~
In some countries in the west, barley was actually the staple diet for their people. Well, it's no wonder since barley is a type of wheat anyway.

Now I know for some of you (or even ALL of you for that fact), have already known how to cook barley and will even tell me that it's as easy as ABC.
No, don't give me that, if I knew, I wouldn't be so proud blogging about my first attempt now:p

Over the weekend, when I was at home and with Dear's help, we took out the barley and of course the pot, sugar and stuffs - prepared to cook our very first barley!

Step 1: Put an estimated amount of barley grains into the pot

Erm, estimated amount - which is equals to how much in ml/mg?
I just poured whatever is remaining or an estimated one cup as I've always seen Mummy done
(It's easier to do Fourier transforms and Differentiation than to work the 'estimated amount' out!~)

Step 2: Are we supposed to wash the barley first?

I thought we do that with rice, right?
So we did, wash the barley grains under the running tap of water
(Now, that's too much like washing rice! I said, rinse, rinse only dear!)


Step 3: Put an estimated amount of water (again, I just filled the water to a safe level - not too high so that it doesn't overflow!)

Step 4: Put the pot on the stove and turn on to medium burning (which we later adjusted to low)

I don't think we're supposed to leave the lid on...

It's finally on the stove...we're cooking it, we're cooking it (such an excitement!~)



Step 5: Where's the sugar?

Ohhh, our newly bought rock sugar...is this right?
Anyway, what's the difference between sugar and rock sugar?
They're both sugar, right?

Step 6: Take a few chunks of rock sugar (estimation again!) and drop it into the boiling water

Leave it to cook for several minutes (or until the sugar melts or dispersed into the water)

Step 7: Turn off the stove and leave it for a few minutes.

Step 8: Take your cup, queue up and voila, ready to serve!!~


My very first cup of my own cooked barley!!

It tasted sweeter and nicer than usual!!
Hmmm.....did I put too much sugar? (it can lead to diabetes)
There's too little barley grains? How much do I need to put next round?

Hahaha...whatever, I've successfully cooked my own barley drink without burning down the kitchen!~
I knew we could conquer it...after all, what could be so hard right?
Next round, I will prepare all my test tubes and measuring jar to measure the right amount and that'd do the trick, right?:)

Oooooohhhhh, I just love barley - drink and grains!
Why don't they have the grains when we buy them from outside? *puzzled*
Hehe, because the grains actually suck the moisture and this could result in only the grains and the barley juice will be gone in no time if they were to maintain the grains inside the pot.

YEAYYYY...my first barley drink!~
(I am so lame, you guys (FBB, etc)
are all baking cakes, souffle and all and I've only learnt to cook barley juice...yearrrrghhh, pathetic girl!
But hey, it's still a baby step, right?:)

**Hope I didn't bore you with this post! **