Masak Masak Burger

After completing the Bento set, I decided to have a preview of my last Kracie boxed set to see what I was in for. From the Japanese instructions on the box, I knew I needed a microwave, and wondered what I was in for. While looking at the English instructions, I realised that the final products in the burger set might not be sweet like the rest, except for the mini drink. This savoury discovery got me excited and I soon found myself prying the box open.

After reading the instructions carefully, I started by making the flags for the burgers, stick on a label for the drink cup, and fold up the container for fries. The only thing that wasn't included in the set was the toothpick for the burgers, but I guess most homes would have them. With all the miss-en-place done, I started with creating the fries, which smelled and felt like mash potato. That already excited me over the prospects of how the end product would taste like. I continue on with mixing the patty and bun mixtures, followed by sending the 3 items into the microwave to "cook" and firm up.

The buns smelled a bit sweet, but the patty really smelled like a burger and my dad also got interested when he got a whiff of the items coming out of the microwave. The cheese was a bit of a problem as it was a bit tough to get a nice edge to it, but a little trimming does the job, and hiding the scraps in the burger was the final idea. What others don't see, they won't know.

What I really liked was the ketchup. It smelled like tomato soup, and tasted like french onion soup with a hint of tomatoes. Sweet and tart, similar to ketchup, yet you had to mix it up instead of just squeezing it out of a foil pack. I decided to put the burgers together, and pack the fries, before finishing up with the drink. The creation of fries was just cutting the potato patty into strips and stuffing it into the container. The burger was a little more complicated as you needed a steady hand for slicing the buns and patties without slanting too much. Furthermore, the burger patty was supposed to be sliced into 4 patties, but I had doubts about one piece and decided to make a double cheese burger, and a quarter pounder with cheese instead.

I definitely put a bit too much ketchup on the burgers, but it was easily rectified by letting it drip back into the mixing pot. Once I got the food done, I was left with mixing the drink and setting it up on a tray. Filled the drinks container with water and poured the powder in and the mixture then started to fizz and bubble up, which surprised me, and the fizz even lasted through a good stirring to mix the drink properly. Once done, I used the tupperware cover as my tray and fit it all on, making it seem like a set meal with some really huge fries and a super-sized drink.

 Now I'm itching to try the Takoyaki set.

 

Craving Satisfied

There are 2 really great ways to eat stingray, barbecued with a nice slathering of Sambal (or garlic butter for those who can't candle spice), or stewed in an Assam Pedas gravy. I was craving something tart and so the Assam Pedas was the way to go. I also asked dad to add some pineapple into the dish, which was something different. Guess I really wanted something tart. 

In the end, after 2 hours in the kitchen, the dish was finally done, and all I need now is some rice. 

Om Nom Nom....

So Fresh And So Clean

My former classmate's husband started a business, Eating-Crabs.com, to deliver fresh, cleaned crabs right to your doorstep last year, and the idea has since expanded to having a stall in the wet market, as well as an expanded list of seafood. I always wanted to check out the stall but didn't quite find the right time since the hours I am awake are always fluctuating.

2 days ago, they posted the promotion for fresh stingray, and since my hours seem to coordinate with Singapore time, I decided to take the opportunity to get my craving satisfied, and go have a look at their stall. When dad and I got there by 10am, the stall was already quite empty. They still had a nice selection of rather plump-looking flower crabs, clean mussels and clams. Sadly, all the mud crabs I was hoping to have a look at were all sold out, and I left with only the stingray that I booked.

The thing about stingray is that when it is not prepared right, or when it is not fresh, it stinks of ammonia. This pack of stingray didn't stink of ammonia, nor did it have any fishy smell. The pieces were all thick and meaty, not like the scrappy pieces that are usually packed and on sale. At $12 for one kilogram, it would be considered cheap, especially since you would pay that price for a sad piece of of stingray that would not be enough for one person. This amount would feed the three of us for at least 2 meals.

Seriously, if you crave sweet seafood, or want to have a big feast but can't be bothered with the cleaning and with carrying it all back from the market, let them deliver it right to your doorstep ready to be thrown into the cooking pot. More updates through their Facebook and Instagram accounts too.

Barkley Love Otak Otak

There's something about certain fish dishes that Barkley seems to like. He can be rather fussy, not liking the fish treats meant for dogs, but he likes the dried fish strips I used to love as a kid. It seems he likes the another one of my fishy childhood favourites, Otak Otak.

He doesn't really go for fishcake, something we have quite often as it is dad's favourite, and neither does he like fish balls. Although they all use fish as a base, I'm not really sure what in the Otak Otak mixture he likes.

This dog is odd.

 

Cooking Tattoos

Saw an article about these temporary recipe tattoos and I love the whole idea of it. I hope they do go into production and start selling cool recipe sets. It also gives me an idea of what tattoo I might get should I ever get one. Hahaha!

Masak Masak Bento

Kracie set number 3 of my Masak Masak series. Following the sushi, I was having so much fun that I wanted to just keep going and completing all the boxed sets. The sweetness of the results, however, stopped me from going too fast as I didn't want to have to finish that amount of sweet stuff.

Today I decided to make the bento with the help of the English recipe on the website once again. This set had a lot more steps to it, and the individual items were rather cute. I really loved how the rice balls and chicken nuggets turned out. The broccoli, squid-like sausage, and omelette all seem to have too much water in them. Compared to the omelette in the sushi, this one seems to be very soft, and was melting into a blob as I tried to make it into a roll. The biggest fail with this was the spaghetti, which turned out to be more like linguine. This was another sweet set, but it was not as sweet as the sushi set. 

 

Chilli Crab Noodle Amped

So it was back to the stove with the idea I had for the Chilli Crab Noodles that I had a while back. I found the sauce a bit too overpowering for the noodles alone and thought that the addition of egg to it might do it good. Also, it was missing that little bit of eggy goodness in the mix. Therefore, after a bit of idea elimination, the "Maggi Goreng" idea came to mind, and the chilli crab noodle was thrown into a wok and fried with some egg. The vegetable was just to use up some leftovers. 

 Om Nom Nom...

Masak Masak Sushi

Ever since I made the mini donuts, I wanted to open another pack of the mini food sets but didn't seem to find the right mood to do so except for this laid back Sunday. So today's pick was the mini sushi set, and that's where I first saw the link to the product's website, and English recipe. Again, this set was really easy to make, but required a bit more patience than the donut recipe. The sushi looked quite life-like, but it did not taste one bit fishy. In fact, I ended up smelling like grape-flavoured bubble gum because that is what the "tuna" and "seaweed" was flavoured like. The "salmon eggs" were orange-flavoured, and I couldn't taste the "omelette" as the grape flavour took over my senses. There was even "soy sauce" which tasted more like maple syrup. 

I think these sets would have been a big hit with me during my childhood as it obviously is keeping me (and mom as she's laughing as I made the sushi) entertained right now. 

Soba So Good

Dad really loved the noodles ever since the trip to Japan and even bought a pack of soba from Daiso but never really knew what to pair it with since he didn't like eating cold soba. So when mom made her fish soup, I already had it paired with the soba in my head. Good thing was the leftover food from yesterday's dinner just fit into the whole bowl, but I was craving a few prawns as well. In the end, each of us had a big bowl of soba with fishcake, fried fish, veggies and prawns. Greedy dad had to have a second bowl of noodles though. 

Omnomnom....

Masak Masak Donut

I didn't feel like cooking up a storm the other day, yet I wanted to make something so I decided to open the Donut Making Kit and start a little masak masak session for myself. The instructions were all on the back of the box, and it was all in Japanese. So I ended up translating bits of it with the help of Google Translate, and figuring out the rest with all the illustrations. It was generally easy to do, and really fun to play with. The icings tasted really nice, but the donuts ended up a bit rubbery. I think the end products are definitely something for children. 

Then after all that translation, I found the website on another box and got the whole recipe in English instead. Whoopididoo!

Test Kitchen 11

I've been wanting to try something I saw on some Taiwanese show about interesting food from some other country. I can't really understand half the things the host and guest were saying, but I saw a dish that caught my eye and interest. It was lotus root stuffed with glutinous rice,  but what I didn't know was that it was a dessert, or at least the search results on the internet said so. Since glutinous rice isn't the best thing for my diet, and neither is sugar, I decided to try make a savoury version instead. 

I started by asking dad what he used in his Lo Mai Fan recipe, and then modified it a little, stuffed the rice in the lotus root as per recipe instructions, then boiled it in soup stock for added flavour. After stuffing 4 sections of lotus root, I still had some rice mixture left. Dad said there was some bamboo leaves in the pantry and I soon ended up with a few rice dumplings. 

The end results look quite alright, and it seems testers like the flavour. Guess this is a good test result. 

We Are One (Ole Ola)

It's another World Cup year and the official song has started making it's rounds, and the whistling bit is already stuck in my head! Samba time!

Potato Chips Testing 02

Saw a new flavour on sale today, and since dad has some potato chip fetish (which means he'll finish leftovers), I decided to get a pack to try. I tried the Tom Yum flavour, which is still one of the best, and on the top of my potato chip choices. This Flaming Spicy flavour, however, failed in both the flaming and spicy departments. I would say even Angie, who isn't very good with chilli, could probably finish the whole bag without even a sniffle (although she can't because she's allergic). Anyway, I'll think I'll stick to the Tom Yum one

Cutting Out Good Bits?

There are a few really good shows that will never be shown in Singapore due to the censorship laws, while some shows are shown with a lot of scenes cut out. The Ellen DeGeneres Show has seen some sections cut out, although I'm not sure exactly what for, but I do know that the parts about her wedding to Portia was not shown. Game of Thrones will definitely be one shows that will never make it on the local screens as it has too much nudity, incest, gore, and homosexuality. Now I see that they have played Scandal on Channel 5, and I wonder how much they would censor when it comes to season 2. Then again, I'm not sure it might even be aired. 

Guess it's good that not every country has sensitive censorship laws. 

Masak Masak

Adi was looking in the pantry for instant noodles when she dug out the 4 strange colourful boxes which I got from Japan. They are little boxed sets to create the food items pictured on them. As most know, I love food, and I love playing with food, and I love making food. So these boxed sets just first right into my kind of entertainment. 

A few years before, one of my friends posted photos of the burger she and her son made and it got me interested to know what it is all about. Looking around Singapore, I found a few of these boxed sets, but the prices were ridiculous. I got these on sale, the discount from the original price wasn't that great, but it was 3 times less compared to the prices I find here. Furthermore, it was at a price I WOULD pay for the little bit of fun these would provide. 

So now it's time to go back to my childhood and masak masak (cook cook) in my play kitchen. 

Coooooooookieeeeeee

My cousin went on a trip to New Zealand with his colleagues on a incentive trip and got my family this bag of chocolate chip cookies. The packaging is rather cute, and the cookies are close to Famous Amos cookies. Anything sweet doesn't stop dad, unlike me and mom, and I think the jar of it has dwindled down rather quickly because of him. They help when I feel like having a cookie, but they're too sweet for my tastes and I think I better make some sugarless stuff for snacking. 

Chilli Crab Pau

I love my fried buns, and the best thing to go with it is chilli crab as most Singaporeans know. Sin Mui Heng then comes up with a chilli crab bun which was simply genius. They didn't recommend deep frying the buns, but I did, and I loved it. I don't know what it tastes like as a steamed bun as I fried the whole pack, and it was worth every bit of hot oil. Crispy, chewy, and really tasty. Would have been superb if there was real crab meat instead of surimi bits, but when you're feeling lazy but craving a simple chilli crab bite, this hits the spot. 

Now I only have to bring a pack into Australia for that brother-in-law of mine to try. 

Making Balls Out Of Thosai

I asked dad to save me some thosai batter so that I could try out the takoyaki pan I got from Japan. I also had some of the potato mixture and made some Masala Thosai balls. I would say my first attempt was not too bad, although I definitely need to note down the fire settings. Have to try the proper mixture for takoyaki in my next attempt, as well as use the right picks. Using satay sticks are a bit of a chore!

Of Food And Family

My cousin, Joanne, who currently lives in Canada, came back for a course and the first gathering we had was a little unplanned, and wasn't catered for. Furthermore, everyone was so busy catching up, there wasn't even time for a tour of the house. 

After asking dad to make thosai, I thought that his whole pot of batter would feed the whole family and so another gathering was called. The plan was dad's thosai with mom 's curry, but we also planned for some other dishes to have with rice. So one last catch up a day before Joanne flies off to Shanghai, which also helped dad improve his thosai menu. 

Other than Plain, Masala and Egg Thosai, there's now a Cheese Thosai!

Moon Light Light

Every time I see a full moon, I recall a Cantonese poem my grandmother and mom would recite that eventually became a lullaby. What got it lodge deeper into my memory was the funny attempt to find out what the whole thing meant by translating it into English. So here is the childhood poem, with a (almost) literal translation (with help by Google Translate), on this night with a lovely full moon.

月光光，
Moon Light Light

照地堂，
Shine Ground Hall

年卅晚，
Year 30th Evening

摘檳榔，
Pick Betel Nut

檳榔香，
Betel Nut Fragrant

摘紫薑，
Pick Purple Ginger

紫薑辣，
Purple Ginger Spicy

買胡辣，
Pick Fu Spice

胡辣苦，
Fu Spice Bitter

買豬肚，
Buy Pig's Stomach

豬肚肥，
Pig's Stomach Fat

買牛皮，
Buy Cow Skin

牛皮薄，
Cow Skin Thin

買菱角，
Buy Water Caltrop

菱角尖，
Water Caltrop Sharp

買馬鞭,
Buy Horse Whip

馬鞭長,
Horse Whip Long

起屋樑,
Raise House Beams

屋樑高,
House Beams High

買張刀,
Buy A Knife

刀切菜，
Knife Cut Vegetables

買籮蓋,
Buy Basket Cover

籮蓋圓，
Basket Cover Round

買條船,
Buy A Boat

船浸底，
The Boat Capsized

浸親三個番鬼仔,
Drowned 3 Sailors

一個蒲頭，
One Floated Up

一個浸底,
One Sank Down

一個裡面屎坑底，
One Was In The Toilet

收钱来買油炒粿
Saving Money To Buy Oil Fried Cake

Trial And Error

Went to Sheng Siong and saw a rather small pack of pumpkin buns in the freezer. I remembered the fried ones we had in Tokyo and had the thought to fry these up. I love fried buns on their own, but they are also nice with some interesting filling like this pumpkin one. The feel of the crispy skin cracking as you bite into it, then cutting through a slightly denser layer of bread, and finally stopping when it reaches the soft velvety filling. 

Although it can be seen I wasn't watching my fire close enough, and there wasn't enough oil in the pan, the crisping of the outer layer was achieved and that was the important part. The pumpkin can be tasted, but I found it a little sweet, and it reminded me of kaya (coconut jam). I would say it would make a nice, hot, sinful dessert if I feel lazy. 

6 Years On

I did a post on the McGriddle when it first launched in Singapore as I happened to be at the outlet doing some work for my studies then. After 6 years, it's still on the menu, and I'm still loving this breakfast item (and loving the improvement in phone photo quality). I once used to love the breakfast at McDonalds but then grew tired of it when I could make better scrambled eggs, and I didn't really need the English Muffin or the piece of hash brown half the time. However, if I were to be called in to help eat the breakfast meals when some people are trying to complete collections, the McGriddle would still be one I could have a few of. It's like the salted caramel of breakfasts, Sweet maple syrup and savoury cheese and meat. 

It Was Soooooo Good!

Mom made my favourite chicken curry (without coconut milk), and dad made my favourite accompaniment for it, Roti Jala (bread net?). I don't actually recall when I first tried the lacy pancake, but the one that got stuck in my memory, with almost the exact same paring, was during my time in SHATec. 

The class was running the training restaurant that day and there weren't many reservations, so there was quite a bit of leftovers. We ended up each having a small taste of the day's menu, but the curry chicken had coconut milk in it (which is one of my favourites). That roti jala was soft, not too sticky or gummy, and was light enough to not overwhelm the diner when eaten with the rich chicken curry. Since then, I have loved the combination and would get it every opportunity I get. 

Today, dad was sneaking in and out of the pantry and I wondered what he was trying to do. I ask and find out that he was making roti jala. I then wondered how he made the lace design without the usual batter dispenser most people used, and found out he went all McGuyver and made his own by recycling a drink bottle. 

And after a long wait for all the pancakes to get made, I finally ate my fill of roti jala and chicken curry. 

Om Nom Nom.... BURP!

Drawing Board In My Head

Adi was looking for some instant noodles to store at work and I spotted this interesting pack of Pagoda's dry chilli crab noodles. First thought was how it matched up to the chilli crab pasta I made a while back. The packaging was simply 5 clear packed portions in a box with all the instructions. As I decided to share the pack with Adi, the box it came in was long discarded before I got home. 

So finally feeling up for some dry-style instant noodles, I made 2 packs and added some leftover hotdogs. The seasoning consisted of some powder, oil and spice paste which tasted quite similar to chilli crab sauce when mixed. The noodles took a few minutes longer than normal to cook, and didn't get soft or gummy after mixing the paste through. Taste-wise, it's close to a chilli crab noodle, slightly gingery flavour and I was satisfied. 

I now have another idea of what to do with it and I think it would definitely make it awesome. Back to the drawing board in my head!

Mom's Indulgence

Mom found an affinity for frozen prata and I think it started when the supposedly 24-hour shop below the block of flats could never be consistent with their prata sales. Even at the same time, they would have prata being sold one day, while another day it's only the stuff they have left on the shelves, and on some days, there isn't any as no one knows how to make it. 

She then found a pack of frozen prata and realised that it just took her 5 minutes to prepare enough for her to have a good meal. What she loves is dipping a crispy, flaky piece of prata into the runny yolk of a sunny-side egg. So not surprising she went out to get a pack of her favourite prata when she made some curry chicken. 

Om Nom Nom...

Where Can I Get A Plate Of That?

Reading the headline of this article, I first had the thought about how stupid this person is. However, as I gave it a bit more thought, I started to wonder where I could go have a plate of that extra spicy fried rice. Sadly, he can't remember the name of the shop and so I can't really find it. Now I'll just have to settle for my mom's fried rice, which is also spicy, but I've never had it burn my mouth for over an hour.

Picks From The Sea

Went to the beach yesterday to see if we could get some goodies from the sea. I saw some oysters but it doesn't have as much oysters as where we usually hunt. This area was where my grandfather and dad used to go for prawns. It probably still is a good hunting ground as there were a lot of people there during the weekend with nets and buckets. However, the weather these days have been pushing the prawns into hiding. The crabs don't seem to care though. They were out and about, and this time, Adi and my dad caught these 3. 

Dad's Thosai And Accompaniments

Dad made more thosai because he wanted to try out the masala recipe he got. I also asked him to make the coconut chutney the shops usually served with theirs. So today's breakfast was masala thosai with coconut chutney, idly chilli and extra hot roti prata curry. Somehow the combination is just a perfect blend of sweet, salty, tart and spicy.

Nom Nom Nom....

Sweet Treats From Canada

My cousin Joanne flew in from Canada yesterday and dropped in for her first visit of Westlake Mansions and the Tan Watchtower at the 35th floor. The one thing that is always welcome from Canada are maple syrups or products made using maple syrup. Since cookies are easier and less heavy to transport, she brought back a few boxes of these Maple syrup biscuit sandwiches that the family loves. They're actually very sweet, but it's nice as a after dinner dessert. One definitely would be enough, but sometimes your sweet tooth can handle a second one. 

Taking Hotdog To Another Level

The hotdogs from Ikea are a simple, cheap, and usually quick meal on the go for many of us. I prefer eating them in the comfort of my own home so I don;t have to worry about making a mess with all the sauces I put over it. Mom also wanted to bring hers home to have with some wasabi-mayo, which was also a thought I had.

At home, I suddenly had the memory of the hotdog I had in Japan, one lines with seaweed and topped with egg-mayo. Not too keen on making an egg-mayo mixture, I opted to take the wasabi seaweed to line my hotdog, and topped with with wasabi- mayo instead. 

It was one explosive hotdog and definitely a great way to clear the blockage in my sinuses!

Personal Thosai Maker

Dad has been talking about making Thosai while he was working in Indonesia for years, and finally he made some for us to try. It's a bit fluffier than what we usually get, and probably far from making a rocket thosai, but it's nice just to get to eat it when ever I want. Now I need to get a recipe for the coconut chutney they usually serve with thosai. 

Get in ma belleeeh!

Mind Your Own Business

There are a some people I know who should get the 3 no-evil monkeys treatment. They should learn to stop looking for trouble, listening for trouble, and talking themselves into trouble.

Their problem is actually not the world as they think. No one is out to make them angry, yet they get angry at these people for the littlest things. If you don't give a damn about what everyone does, nothing anyone does would make you angry. So we all just can't ignore what everyone does, but do you have to care what the farmer in Nigeria did to the lion when it tried to eat his cow?

Also, if you don't go around telling everyone things you're not sure about, people won't get angry with you. You're not a news reporter, and no one likes a gossip monger. Even details about your own family that you're not sure about isn't something you should be telling others about. It's like some people think I'm a chef, and they might tell people I'm a chef. It's not a big deal until people want to hire me thinking I'm a chef. I don't understand why it's so hard to just say "I don't know". Is it so important to appear like you know everything about everyone? How about the moment when people find out that you don't even have a clue what you're talking about?

In the end, if you don't give so much attention to what others are doing, then their problems don't become yours. If you just mind your own business, you wouldn't be digging your own grave by giving wrong information.

Taking Old Favourites To New Levels

As mentioned before, putu piring is one of my childhood favourites and today I found something that brought them to a whole new level. Originally, there were just gula melaka, coconut (cooked in red sugar) and peanuts for filling choices. Recently, chocolate was added to the short list of fillings. The short list was decimated today when I found a list of 12 fillings at this little stall; Cempedak, Banana, Cheese, Jackfruit, Curry, Red Bean, Peanut, Pineapple, Durian, Kaya, Chocolate & Gula Melaka. 

I chose the Cempedak, Cheese, Curry, Jackfruit, Pineapple, Kaya and Gula Melaka. I would say that curry is my savory favourite. It's like eating curry and rice in a two-bite pancake. The cheese came up a nice second. As for the sweet one, the kaya was really nice oozing out, but it was really too sweet, and so were the rest of the fruity fillings. The gula melaka is still my favourite, up with chocolate as a second. 

Roasting Chestnuts Attempt 2

One of my first ten testers for my huge oven was a batch of huge chestnuts. It was around Christmas and I found the recipe through the internet. I followed the recipe and I ended up with a few chestnuts that exploded even before it was halfway through the cooking time. Seems like I have a super oven or I missed doing something. 

Looking through more recipes, I found that piercing the chestnuts help with reducing explosions. Also, learning more about my oven helped with adjusting the temperature. So after all the piercing and temperature reduction, I only had 2 chestnuts exploding on me. 

Seems like I need to do another test with even lower temperatures. Good thing I have ever eager squirrels in my family. 

Be Cheap, Save Your Mind

Was scrolling through my feed on FB and saw this post uploaded by one of my old classmates. While reading the headline of the article, I kept wondering why a need for such articles written in the first place. If you cannot trust what is being served, then don't order it. If you're so concerned about the originality of a product, head to the actual store, and not some dodgy-named store, selling it at a cheaper rate, and then stare at the product wondering if it's the real deal. As you read the article, a point made was that Wagyu actually translates to Japanese beef. If that's the case, how about just heading to Japan and eating beef?

Wagyu is probably the best beef if you intend to eat it raw (very Japanese) or just with a quick sear on the pan before popping straight into your mouth (somewhat Japanese). The amount of fat would make it tasty and there won't be much chewing needed. Personally, if I wanted a steak, or was craving meat, I would be looking for something to chew on, with flavorful juices that are squeezed out through chewing. I don't want to slice my steak and have the piece just disappear on my tongue. So that might make me cheap, but at least I won't waste my braincells wondering if the steak I ordered really came from a Japanese cow, or just a fat one from Malaysia. 

They used to call gout a "rich man's disease". I'm sure at this rate, mental breakdown's could be called "wanna-be rich man's disease".

Funny Vandalism

Walking out to the carpark today, I spotted this unusual sign on the wall at the lift landing. Somehow it put a smile on my face, and almost got me laughing. Most times, when it comes to vandalism, you see scribbling of vulgar words, illegible tags, and weird drawings. This one was simple, and really cute actually. It's still vandalism, but then it makes the world a happier place. 

Stressful Internet

There have been a few people on Facebook that have "disappeared" occasionally for their own reasons and then, all of a sudden, they decide that they should make a come back. Some come back with a stage name, and some create new accounts to hide their real identity. Some even create the second account before they disable their first. I really don't understand these people.

If you find that you can't handle what happens on the social media site, how about just deleting everything and not coming back? There are options to block people you dislike, hide stuff from people you don't trust, and even the option not to follow the ones that post too much crap. There's always the button called "unfriend", which should be used for people you don't actually know. The whole site gives you options on how you want it to work for you and yet some people have to "take themselves away from the internet". 

Seriously, if you need to get away, don't come back. You'll end up having to get away again. Plus if you need to "get away", starting a new account before you leave isn't exactly getting away.