我的工作包括寫文章、翻譯很長篇的報告、給很長的影片寫轉譯字幕，若希望維持風格就最好是工作時間沒有其他瑣碎事阻斷我的注意力。這時候就必須先處理好吃的。每逢必須一整天留在家裡趕稿，那麼中午之前炒好一大盤炒麵就是最佳選擇。當然，首要條件是你必須是蠻喜歡吃麵的，你才能接受兩餐都是吃同一盤炒麵。
炒麵其實是蠻容易的，而且是什麼類型的麵條都可以炒。除了香港人說的「炒麵餅」或者大馬人說的「生麵」，我有把握炒得好吃的就有雲吞麵、全蛋麵、意麵，當然還有大馬人最愛的Maggie Mee and Indo Mee。
炒麵好吃有幾個步驟。首先，煮麵的時候切忌將麵餅丟入一鍋冷水中。水一定要煮開了才放麵餅，而不是放在一起蓋上鍋蓋等冷水和麵餅燒開。麵條差不多鬆開了就撈起來風乾，若要麵條彈牙就可以過冷河再風乾。有芽菜固然是最好，不然的話用青菜也可以切成絲一起炒麵，太大片青菜在一堆麵條中其實蠻難炒的。切開的魚蛋或魚片或肉碎就是蠻合適的蛋白質來源。
若想吃雞蛋，最好是另外再煎。我之前炒麵差不多上碟之前喜歡打一顆雞蛋一起拌炒，後來發現雞蛋比較容易破壞乾炒麵的爽口口感，於是開始另外煎蛋了。
很快炒一炒就有省錢又好吃的兩餐，剩餘的時間都是可以專心工作的時間了，這是很值得養成的習慣。如果工作沒兩下又要出門買便當，幾小時之後又出去買小吃，其實還蠻容易分心的。所以炒麵絕對是我趕稿日子的首選。
My work includes article writing, translation of very long report, transcribing long videos into subtitles of another language. To make sure I am not distracted by miscellaneous matters, I need to maintain my concentration throughout the working hours.
Your meal is what you need to first handle, when you have a long-working-day plan. For me, preparing a big plate of fried noodles is my best choice.
For one to be eating noodles for two consecutive meals, the first condition is that you love eating noodles.
Preparing your own fried noodles is really simple. And you can fry any type of noodles. Besides Malaysians’ Sang Mee, I am confident to fry Wantan Mee, egg noodles and Yee Mee. Of course, I also love Malaysians’ favourite Maggie Mee and Indo Mee.
There are several steps to fry noodles. The first reminder is this: do not put the dry noodles into the pot of cold water. You only insert the noodles when the water is boiled; you don’t turn on the fire to heat up the cold water with noodles.
Take out the noodles when it is loosening up. Leave the noodles air-dry. Rinse with cold water before air-drying, if you want your noodles to be chewy. Bean sprouts is the best for fried noodles. Thin cut slices of vegetable are also good. It is usually difficult to fry big vegetable leaves with noodles.
Cut fish ball or fish cake or minced pork is a good source of protein. Craving for an egg for more protein? Fry the egg separately. I learnt the lesson in my previous versions of fried noodles: the egg mixing with noodles could easily spoil the texture of your noodles.
Have a quick fry with a low cost and you’ll have a plate of noodles for two meals. And for the rest of the day, you can focus solely on your work. This is a good habit to have.
Imagine buying a lunch box at noon, and visiting another nearby coffee shop at 3 or 4pm for afternoon tea and snack. This causes a lot of distraction during a busy day. Which explains why I always opt for fried noodles when I need to rush some work.