Open Kitchen Concept

First business trip of 2012

2012-01-30T23:10:00.000+08:00

I'd be going on a business trip for the next couple of weeks..

So it should be hard to update my blog..

Will update all on some of my experiences when I'm back.

In the meantime, do take care and "see" you again very soon!

Early CNY and 2012 Resolutions

2012-01-29T20:59:00.002+08:00

I like it better when Chinese New Year is in February. Chinese New Year at the end of January (23 and 24 Jan no less) is way too early..

It's... a little too SOON after Christmas and New Year and I haven't had time to think about my new year's resolutions. It has always been my personal tradition to do that as part during the Chinese New Year.

This year, since I caught a nasty flu bug during CNY.. and because CNY came upon us so early, I'm late.

Well, better late than never.

My resolutions this year are pretty simple.

1. Eat healthily

I always try to do a bit of exercise but when it comes to good food, I've always gone easy on myself.

But I realised that too much carbs weren't doing me any good and I was feeling more tired and putting on weight in spite of regular exercise due to my diet.

Since December, I've cut back on carbs and have lost about 3-4 kg since. But I do want to maintain this low carb diet for a longer period of time. Not only was I cutting back on carbs, but I was also eating more fruits, nuts and drinking more milk. And I have found myself more energetic and alert. Which is really good. So I shall continue eating healthily in 2012.

2. Change my lifestyle

This year, I want my lifestyle to be different

I maintain a very boring lifestyle - work long hours from Mondays to Fridays, sleep in on Saturdays and go to church/ cell group on Sundays.

I shall do something different in 2012. I haven't quite decided how. But I will most definitely do it.

3. Enjoy life a little more heartily

I think I miss out on the beautiful things in life too much.

This year, I want to take time to smell the flowers on my way to work, enjoy a different city and time alone when I go on business trips, go for a morning swim before work sometimes, have a cup of homemade tea latte on Saturday mornings.. and just do those small small things that makes life so much more beautiful and different.

Long Phung Vietnamese Restaurant

2012-01-28T08:18:00.000+08:00

My favourite bowl of Pho is from a particular shop in Paris.

To me, a good bowl of pho should have a tasty yet clear, light stock with perfectly cooked beef slices, crunchy beansprouts and silky smooth noodles.

It should come with a generous plate of herbs on the side, for you to add to the Pho as you pleased.

After drinking a spoonful of the soup, you should then add in the herbs before drinking another spoonful. Then, a squeeze of lime and then more soup. Then you can start eating.

Alas, it isn't easy to find a good bowl of pho in Singapore. There are a few places in Hong Kong where you can get good Vietnamese food. But even good pho is hard to find in Hong Kong. Much less Singapore.

The best bowl I've had so far is from Long Phung at Joo Chiat. It's an unassuming "coffee shop"-like eatery along Joo Chiat Road, amidst dodgy KTVs named "I Love You KTV" (or something similar). The place is packed during meal times, with locals as well as Vietnamese patrons.

The Vietnamese ice coffee is good, as is the fresh spring rolls, although I don't like the dipping sauce very much.

The pho is good - the soup is a little too sweet, the herbs came in the bowl, not beside it and the herbs given weren't generous enough. But the beef slices were tender and the soup had a really authentic "Vietnamese" taste to it. At about $6 a bowl, it really isn't too bad at all. I ordered the sliced beef pho and The Husband ordered the Special pho which also came with beef brisket, beef balls and an egg. I liked my order a lot more since eggs and pho don't go well together in my opinion.

You know a restaurant is worth visiting again when you start thinking about what you'd order in your next visit even before you finish your meal.

My next visit will be to try out the grilled pork noodles.. and yes, Long Phung will be a place I'd definitely visit again.

Do let me know if you know of other good Vietnamese restaurants in Singapore.

Long Phung Vietnamese Restaurant

159 Joo Chiat Road
Singapore 427436
Tel: +65 6344 2005

Reunion Dinner

2012-01-25T11:09:00.000+08:00

We always have reunion dinner at my mother's place. This is the time of the year when my mum goes all out to cook our family's dishes. For the Chinese, reunion dinner is usually held on the eve of the Chinese New Year, during which family members get together to have a meal together.

Each year, my mum will prepare the ingredients for hotpot. Hotpot is a must for our family's reunion dinner. She'd also make five-spice meat rolls, fried prawns, stewed pork with chestnuts and quail eggs, as well as fried tang-hoon (or glass noodles).

I usually contribute a dish to the reunion dinner. This year, my contribution is haemul pajeon, or Korean Seafood Pancake.

Reunion dinner is usually a good time to catch up and spend time with my family. Unfortunately, this year, I felt a little too sick from flu to really enjoy the dinner very much.

Avocado and Tomato Salad

2012-01-18T07:57:00.000+08:00

It's not easy to adopt a low carb diet in Singapore. Especially during breakfast.

Singapore's local breakfast fare of kaya toast, fried bee hoon, fried carrot cake, fishball noodles etc are mostly high in carb.

Since I started cutting back on carbs, I find myself having breakfast at home a lot more.

Here's a salad I made this week for breakfast.

It is a really simple salad - I cut up some tomatoes, avocado and added slices of fresh buffalo mozzarella. Then I added a few strips of fresh basil and season with sea salt and pepper.

It's nice to have a homemade breakfast before work on a weekday. And this doesn't take much time to make at all.

Popiah Party

2012-01-01T22:53:00.000+08:00

Popiah - the finished product.
Picture from here.

Once in a while, my mum would cook a whole pot of finely cut vegetables - turnips, cabbages, carrots with shallots, dried prawns and some meat.

All my siblings and I will then turn up for dinner and we'd have the pot of vegetable stew for dinner.

I call this our family "popiah party".

Popiah, or 薄餅 is the Chinese version of fresh spring roll. You put together some sweet dark sauce, finely ground peanuts, some chilli sauce, slices of hard boiled eggs, some prawns and a lot of stewed vegetables. Everything is wrapped in the popiah skin (or 薄餅皮), which is a soft, thin paper-like crepe from wheat flour.

My family loves this dish but it takes a lot of effort to make the vegetables since everything needs to be finely cut. The difficult part really is in the cutting because cooking this dish is pretty easy. Just stir fry the shallots, dried shrimps and meat and then throw in all the vegetables and cook on low heat.

We had a "popiah party" at home last night. I hope everyone had as good a New Year's Eve dinner as we did. Happy 2012!

Stewed vegetables - super sweet and juicy

Summary of 2011

2011-12-30T20:49:00.001+08:00

Since last year, I decided that I will write a summary of my year each December on my blog.

It's now time for a summary of my year again.

How time flies.

I started 2011 with a trip to London. That was my first business trip since I started working with the bank in April 2010. It was good to finally meet people I've been working with face-to-face. With the pound at an all time low, I also did a lot of shopping in London and had a really heavy luggage to drag back home. It didn't helped that I hurt my ankle just before leaving London, and pretty much limped my way onto the plane and back home to Singapore.

In March a terrible earthquake shook Japan, causing huge tsunamis to hit the Sendai region and North-eastern part of Japan really badly. The Husband and I visited Sendai and the Tohuku region around March/ April 2010, exactly one year before the earthquake and tsunami. We couldn't help thinking how fortunate we were - to have missed the terrible incident and visit those lovely places before the disaster.

We also made a big purchase decision in March that will move us to a faraway place (by Singapore standards, far away from where we currently stay) in 2014. Since then, I have been trying to read magazines and books on renovation and home decoration with the hope that I can be more discerning when it comes to home decoration in the future.

We also managed to visit Malacca over a long weekend for the first time in April. It's not common for Singaporeans to not have visited Malacca, so I was glad to have finally checked that box. We had the the most amazing tandoori chicken and naan in Malacca, so I supposed we'd definitely be visiting Malacca again sometime in the near future.

In May, I went for another business trip to London and New York. This was another good trip. I even managed to visit Oxford with a few colleagues over a weekend. After this business trip, there were some changes at work that resulted in me looking after a bigger team.. Suddenly, I got really busy and stressed out at work.

Around this time, The Husband decided to take a break from his hectic work life. He went home to Hong Kong for a few weeks to spend time with his family and also brought over a box of Alphonso Mangoes from Mustafa for them, which everyone loved. (These mangoes are delicious. I'd always be watching out for them around this time every year from now on.)

I took my block leave around the end of June to join him in Hong Kong. After we returned, The Husband started cooking and baking a lot of desserts in his spare time. I especially loved the many souffles he made, even though he declared most trials failures and the one that really did succeed according to him, I didn't get to eat.

Also around this time was the Singapore 2011 General Elections. I am never one to bother much about politics, but I went to one of the rallies near my place and I must say it was really rather exciting. The incumbent party in Singapore really need to work that much harder to win the hearts of younger Singaporeans!

In September, we took a short break to Bangkok. It rained almost everyday when we were there. After that, there were severe floods in Bangkok, so again, we were lucky to have had our holidays very much unspoiled.

After we came back, there was a piece of very bad news in the family - Someone had to cancel his wedding plans and got into quite a lot of personal debt as a result of prior commitments for the upcoming wedding. This incident affected me very much and I tried to help what I can.. though I also realised in retrospect that this incident is both a blessing in disguise and also an expensive lesson for that Someone. I still do hope and pray that he will recover from this incident and come out stronger.

The Husband took me on a relaxing break to a small and private resort in Batam to getaway from all the frustrations at home and stress at work, and we had a few quiet, relaxing days to ourselves.

My little niece also joined the family around this time. In the midst of all the frustrations, she really brought a lot of laughter and joy to the family.

November and December were busy months at work. I also moved to a new office location. Work got busier and busier and my hours got longer and longer. I had some good news at work in December and I guess that was a nice way to end a busy 2011 for me.

2012 will be another busy year, but there are lots of things for me to look forward to as well. I have learnt that as long as one is surrounded by love (people who love you and people you love), life will always have things for you to look forward to.

Happy New Year everyone!

Dorayaki

2011-12-26T19:04:00.000+08:00

The Nex mall is the biggest mall near our home, and we often go there for a movie. But I don't fancy the restaurants in Nex, so we seldom have our meals there.

There is something I really like to eat from Nex though, and that's the Dorayaki from Fiesta, located at B1 (Shokutsu 10).

Dorayaki (銅鑼焼き) is a kind of Japanese confectionery. It's the favourite snack of Doraemon, the robot cat from the future.

Dorayaki is made up of 2 sweet pancakes with a generous dollop of filling. The traditional filling is red bean paste, although you can find easily find other fillings like cheese and chocolate in dorayaki today.

At the Fiesta stall at Nex, they make the dorayaki on the spot, after you order. First, the pancakes are cooked on one side. Then, they are flipped over and then stamped with the Fiesta logo. Lastly, the filling was added to the centre of one of the pancakes and the the 2 slices of pancakes were sandwiched together.

The freshly made dorayaki is delicious - fragrant and hot on the outside, with cold filling. I like the red bean paste filling and green tea cream filling.

It's nice to stand there, watching the dorayaki being made

Christmas Dinner

2011-12-26T13:48:00.001+08:00

The star of the dinner

The beef was perfectly cooked

We had a wonderful dinner last night at D's house.

She made a great roast beef - 3 kg of beef, marinated with lots of herbs, roasted perfectly until pink in the centre. The roasted carrots and baby potatoes tasted so good I forgot all about my low-carb diet. To make the dish a little more festive, she made an apple relish to accompany the meat.

G brought her signature salad to dinner - thick slices of salmon sashimi with cold lettuce and a tangy Japanese sesame dressing.

We ended the meal with 2 desserts - The Husband's Mango Delight and Ugly Chocolate cake.

One of my favourite salad - sashimi with lettuce and sesame dressing

We got to have a really wonderful and peaceful meal at D's place, without the hussle and bustle of the Christmas crowd.

I think from now on, I'd always have Christmas dinner at home, either my own or a friend's home.

Christmas Potluck

2011-12-25T12:46:00.000+08:00

This year, there are some changes in our Cell Group.

I'm glad that everything turned out well and we are having a potluck Christmas dinner at one of our cell group member's house later.

We are bringing over Mango Delight and Ugly Chocolate Cake, both tried and tested recipes that The Husband has made before.

I'm a lucky girl - I just need to laze around and enjoy the wonderful smell coming out of my kitchen. And then take the photographs of the finished products.

Merry Christmas to all!

Mango Delight - a recipe by the famous HK Patisserie Tony Wong

The Ugly Chocolate Cake - is also a flourless cake..

It is really quite ugly isn't it?

Gado Gado

2011-12-18T21:23:00.000+08:00

Gado gado means "mix mix" and is an Indonesian mixed vegetable salad with peanut sauce.

I love to eat Indonesian food and am especially partial to gado gado. The last one I had in Batam was so delicious it made me crave for gado gado for quite a while after that.

Today, I made it for a potluck dinner with my extended family.

My version of gado gado contains all my favourite ingredients - blanced cabbages, long beans, bean sprouts, sliced boiled potatoes, baked tofu and hard boiled eggs.

I took an easy way out for the peanut sauce, using an instant mix-gravy mixture. I cooked the peanut mixture with water, lemongrass and a squeeze of lime juice.

Just before serving the gado gado, I topped the vegetables with bitter emping crackers and the spicy peanut sauce.

This is a very nice dish to bring to a potluck meal - I can prepare most of the ingredients way in advance and it doesn't need to be warmed up before serving. My family seemed to like it a lot, so I guess I'd be making this again sometime very soon.

Gado gado - without the emping crackers and peanut sauce.

I forgot to take pictures after adding those..

New York New York

2011-12-18T20:54:00.001+08:00

I've just realised I didn't manage to post about my trip to New York in May this year.

It was my first trip to New York - The city of Sex and The City.

The city felt new and distant to me, yet strangely familiar as well.

There are many corners about the city I feel I've seen before. May it is because I've seen so much of them on TV.

I had a weekend to roam about on my own, along with a camera on very low batteries.

So, I don't have too many pictures as a result - but enjoy!

The symbol of New York - or rather of the US

Central Park. I really enjoyed my very long walk there

Central Park - see the famous fountain? That's the one from Friends, I think

The famous Times Square - it's surprisingly small!

The 911 memorial site

Wall Street - where all the recent bout of financial troubles began

Broadway!

Transportation Woes

2011-12-17T21:30:00.001+08:00

A part of the MRT (Singapore subway) broke down the other day during peak hours, just when people were planning to head home from work. Some people were trapped in a dark train for about an hour. Others like me had to take a detour to get home.

Naturally, many people were frustrated, angry even with the company responsible - SMRT. Many people in Singapore rely heavily on the subway system to commute.

Singapore has the highest cost of cars in the world because of the Certificate of Entitlement (COE), which is something you need to own a car. This month, a COE for a small car (under 1600cc) costs about 52,000 SGD and a COE for a larger car (above 1600cc) costs about 72,000 SGD. We also have a rather high cost of car usage, with Electronic Road Pricing.

Taxis aren't particularly cheap as well, especially with the bewildering system of surcharges.

So, it's quite natural that people are upset when the MRT system breaks down.

I hold a different view however.

I think the MRT is actually the best public transport option we have. I think that our bus system is sadly and embarrassingly deficient for a small country like Singapore.

The Singapore bus system is made up of 2 main types of buses. Buses that bring you to the nearest MRT station, and buses that take the longest detour to get you to your destination.

The recent case of the bus driver who got lost proves how complex and roundabout our bus routes are.

There is a bus from where I live that I can take to work. It stops right outside the building where I work. However, from where I get on, it'd take 31 stops to reach my office.

If the bus takes 3 minutes between each stop, it'd take me 93 minutes to get to work. With some traffic, it takes me 30 minutes to drive to work. With the MRT, even with the need to change trains and take a long hike from the station, it doesnt take me more than 40 minutes to get to the office.

There is another bus I could take, if I choose to hike a little further up the road from where I live. Again, this bus takes 29 stops to drop me right outside my office. Estimated travel time based on 2 - 3 minutes per stop, ranges anywhere between 58 to 87 minutes.

So rather than focusing on focusing on the subway breakdown incident, I think we should really get the bus companies to explain why are bus routes in a small country like Singapore, so badly designed that we only have the MRT as our option to get to work, in a reasonable amount of time!

Sadly, the companies that own subway lines also own bus routes.. so for now, I just can't see what incentive they have to redirect us away from heavily relying on their more profitable channel of transportation.

I work downtown and I have problems finding many options to travel to work.

It would be so much more difficult if I work in a business or industrial park in the suburbs..

16 December

2011-12-16T23:17:00.000+08:00

How did 16 December turn up?

I looked at the calendar and got a real shock today. It's 16 December!

In another 15 days, we will hit 2012.

In precisely 2 months' time, I'd be another year older.

It's just too scary the way time flies. And the thing is, I spend all day looking at my calendar for what meetings I have to go to, I didn't actually notice the dates.

Things have been crazy at work - planning for next year, closing off this year, preparing for new things whilst also planning to do the same things I did next year better next year.

I've been really stressed out by work, which is something I don't like at all.

I'm taking Monday off from work, which means I get a long weekend off.

I'm really looking forward to sleeping in, going for a swim, having a cup of tea and basically doing anything but work. Hopefully, I'd not spend my time dwelling upon problems at work.

Breakfast at Food for Thought

2011-12-15T22:43:00.001+08:00

I've tried going to Food for Thought for breakfast on Sunday mornings for a few times now.

And we always ended up somewhere else because of the queue outside.

It was raining on Sunday and our church service ended earlier. So we decided to try Food for Thought again and this time, we managed to get seats outside. It was a cooling day for breakfast in alfresco style.

The food turned out to be quite good, although I read several reviews online about how the food isn't as good as it used to be.

I ordered the granola pancakes and although the pancakes were a tad too buttery for me, I thought they tasted pretty good, especially with the whipped cream and gula melaka (palm sugar) syrup. I liked the granola although I thought my homemade one was better (Hah!). Of course my low carb diet didn't work well that morning!

A friend of mine had the Full Works - which was a HUGE plate of everything you could think of for breakfast except pancakes and waffles. I loved the potato balls - they remind me of snacks my mum used to make when I was younger.

Food for Thought is a restaurant with a cause. I don't know what else they do,

but they make you pay $2 for iced water which they donate out.

I don't mind paying for iced water when restaurants promise to donate them out :)

My 2 gigantic pancakes

The Full Works

The Husband had Foccacia bread which looked and smelled quite good!

Food for Thought

8 Queen Street
Tel: +65 6338 9887
They have a complex system of when they take/ do not take reservations. See more here

Roasted Pumpkin with Rosemary

2011-12-13T07:54:00.000+08:00

It's a pity that The Husband does not fancy pumpkins.

I love eating pumpkins in all forms - roasted pumpkin soup, pumpkin in salads, stir-fried pumpkin with dried shrimps etc. The only thing I haven't really tried is pumpkin juice à la Harry Potter novels. (And to be honest, even I think pumpkin juice is a bit too much!)

In fact, if I weren't on a low carb diet, I would be happy with steamed Japanese pumpkin and steamed rice for lunch.

As it happens, I tried a bit of this roasted pumpkin with rosemary the other day in a restaurant and this is so simple and so good I just had to share it here with all.

If you are cracking your head for an idea of a dish to bring for a potluck dinner during this festive period - here is an idea for you. This will definitely be a dish I will have on my list as a dish to bring for a potluck gathering!

Roasted pumpkin with sprigs of rosemary and a sprinkling of sea salt

Kimchi Pancakes (Kimchijeon)

2011-12-12T22:22:00.000+08:00

After my last post on Korean Seafood Pancakes, I got a comment from Fry saying I should make a kimchi one.

And so I did.

There isn't a better way to use up my Internet kimchi then cook Kimchi Jigae (Kimchi Soup) and Kimchi Pancakes (Kimchijeon), really.

These pancakes are so simple to make - mix the batter like you would for Korean Seafood Pancakes, cut up the kimchi into small pieces and add to the batter. Add in some spring onions and meat, if desired.

Like the Korean Seafood Pancakes, cook the pancakes with an extra dose of patience, until crispy on both sides.

A Change of Habits

2011-11-29T06:56:00.000+08:00

I have put on weight since starting on my current job about 18 months ago.

It's quite shocking really and I have a few dresses that I can't wear anymore.

That's really saying something because I'm not someone who buys tightly fitted clothes. My dresses are well fitting but usually not tight.

And most of them I bought less than 18 months ago!

So... I really do have to go on a diet because I still want to wear some of those clothes! But I usually suck at diets. I love eating too much... *sheepish smile

For this diet to work, I think I have to be realistic and change my habits rather than just do things differently for a couple of weeks.

So these are just a few things I will be doing from now onwards:

1) Drink a glass of water or eat a fruit before lunch and dinner
2) Climb the steps on my way to work in the subway instead of taking the elevators
3) Stretch when watching TV
4) Cut down on all sweet drinks
5) Eat a lot less carbs (I'm so inspired by Ting and Petunia - I don't think I can do without carbs, but I'm trying to only take brown rice and wholemeal bread)

Hopefully these small steps help! I'd be updating all again with my progress...

Wimbly Lu's Waffles

2011-11-28T13:00:00.001+08:00

I have been forgetting to bring my camera along with me during the weekends, which means I don't have pretty photos to show of this new, quaint little place I've found. All photos in this post were taken with my iPhone.

This cafe is pretty near to our place, and a stone's throw away from our church.

I picked Wimbly Lu as a place for tea with a few friends because I couldn't bear driving into town for tea on a Saturday afternoon (the crowds!) and frankly, just couldn't think of any other place.

This place opened very recently - this month or last, I think!

You can't miss the cafe, with its signature red-and-white vintage Beetle outside!

This cafe specialises in chocolates and what I like about it is that it is really very homey - mismatch chairs, extremely old decking, beautiful-but-mismatch plates, red brick walls, glass ceilings that lets in lots of lights and lets you see the rain. It's the kind of place you know you can be comfortable in with a few good friends for the afternoon.

The drinks at Wimbly Lu were nothing to shout about. The desserts were all pretty good though.

The black-out cake my friend ordered looked dry but it was very moist and not-too-sweet. The slice of cake was a real tiny one though. The Husband was very put of by it as he believes that you should always cut 1/8th of the cake to serve. "You can charge more but you can't give less" - is something he strongly believes in.

The Husband ordered Eton Mess, something we have never seen in a menu in Singapore. I thought it would be overwhelmingly sweet but I must say it was really quite good. I'm really impressed with the meringue - crispy on the outside with a marshmellowy center, yet not too sweet at all! The meringue went perfectly well with the whipped cream and very tart raspberry sauce.

The Eton Mess was unexpectedly good

I ordered the waffles with homemade chocolate truffle ice-cream and chocolate sauce, based on recommendations from this blog. I have been having cravings for waffles of late and this was the ANSWER to my cravings. The waffle is pretty light and crispy, not unlike the ones you get at A&W in Batam, but slightly more substantial. The homemade ice-cream looked rather melted and unappetizing but it was surprisingly rich and good!

Good waffles - I'm so glad this place is near my home!

The homemade truffles at Wimbly Lu were good too. Not particularly pretty and refined looking but they tasted good, which is what is important at the end of the day. I tried a few flavours and my favourites are the dark chocolate and baileys truffles.

I like looking at the rain fall on the glass ceilings

They serve good-old root beer float too!

Wimbly Lu
Address: 15-2 Jalan Riang
Tel: +65 6289 1489

Korean Seafood Pancake

2011-11-27T21:50:00.001+08:00

Inspired by Dainty Bites, I decided to make some Korean pancakes for dinner tonight. I had some instant pancake mix which I bought from a Korean supermarket, so I didn't follow the reccomended Mark Bittman's recipe.

The pancakes turned out pretty well, I was very pleased with how crispy, yet chewy the pancakes were.

One thing I've learnt about Korean pancakes - it's important to cook them with lots and lots of patience.

I put the non-stick pan on high heat, pour in a couple of tablespoon of oil and when the oil is hot, turn the heat down to medium and ladle in the mixture.

And only when the bottom is nice and brown do I turn it over to the other side. Pressing the pancake down with the back of my spatula helps to make the other side of pancake nice and crispy as well. If the pan isn't oily enough, turn the heat up and add a little oil from around the sides of the pan. (Somehow though, the second side never turns out as pretty as the first side that heats the pan.)

Then keep doing the same for every single pancake. It's a true test of patience, I tell you!

I don't have a pretty picture of the pancake for some reason but

these were yummy enough for a compliment from my younger brother!

Happy Days, Simple Days

2011-11-21T22:20:00.002+08:00

Recently, work has been busy and stressful.

"Life shouldn't be so difficult." So says the optimist in me.

After careful considerations, I think the optimist is right.

I may face tough and difficult days now and then, but overall, I tend to have more happy days than tough ones.

Happy days usually do not require too much.

A well-baked cake, a warm sunny day, a great movie, meeting up with old friends, a stroll in the park after the rain, an encouraging comment on my blog, a facebook message from an old friend.

These are all things that can make my day brighter, happier.

小时候，幸福可以很简单。

长大后，简单可以很幸福。

A delicious glass of ice-blended watermelon with

lime can really make my day too!

Show Flats

2011-11-14T22:21:00.002+08:00

A beautiful shelf in the bathroom of the show flat

I like visiting show flats.

I find listening to the sales people pretty interesting.

Since I'm not really buying any apartment or house, I try not to waste too much of their time. But listening to what they have to say, even if I know it's biased because they are trying to sell, is interesting. Sometimes, they tell you of some rumours or developments in the housing market, sometimes change in government policies, sometimes it's what they say about the development of certain regions.. and sometimes, it's the things they have to say about a particular unit.

I listen and take everything with a pinch of salt, thinking one of these days, if I'm out of a job, I can probably try to be a real estate agent too!

Another reason why I like show flats is because I find that I can pick up really clever interior design ideas from show flats.

In recent years, apartments in Singapore have been shrinking.

I recently went to see a show flat of an apartment not too far from where our place is. The show flat is, like most show flat, very beautiful. I was very impressed with all the quality furnishings and the overall interior design. The apartment also felt pretty spacious so I was very amazed to learn that it was the show flat for a 650sqf apartment.

"But this apartment feels so spacious! And the toilets are huge!"

The salesman explained that that is because a lot of unnecessary space have been taken out of the apartment. "The kitchen is open concept, there is no unnecessary yard area and the developer has also taken out the bomb shelter and store room - spaces that are usually wasted in an apartment."

I also noted that as part of the design, the interior designer also knocked down the wall separating the living room and a room, replacing with a glass wall and a TV rack that can be flipped around so that you can watch TV from either the small room or the living room. What a brilliant idea!

The glass wall that separated the living room from a small room.

I like the fact that the TV can be flipped 180deg to face the other side

The small room is also separated by the corridor by a glass shelf

and sliding glass door so the whole house is full of light

I went away from the show flat rather impressed with this apartment.

However, on second thoughts..

If there are no storerooms, where do you store your stuff? In the room that is separated from the living room by a glass wall?

And where do you air your laundry if there is no yard space? In the living room?

The "unneccessary" spaces that he was referring to are all spaces that we use every day!

Looks like sales people can sometimes make the weaknesses of some apartments sound like strengths! Maybe I will not be a good real estate agent after all.

Sometimes, show flats make use of visuals to make spaces look bigger too!

Technically, there should be a glass door separating the balcony from the living room.

The lack of these doors also make the room look a lot bigger!

A Very Rainy Day

2011-11-13T21:10:00.001+08:00

It is a really rainy day today.

It feels as if the weather system that flooded Bangkok has moved down south to Singapore. The rain is coming down like it's being poured out of a huge bucket from the sky.

This is the perfect weather to read a favourite novel and laze around in bed.

Yet I didn't manage to do that today.

I tripped and fell during lunch on Friday, as I was crossing the road and I have been having a backache since.

When I was young, I always think that one will grow out of clumsiness as one ages. But it doesn't seem to have turn out that way for me at all. This is my third accident of the year - after spraining my ankle in London and bruising my legs badly in Bangkok by walking into a short divider in a restaurant.

The rain on my balcony

Sandaime-Bunji - Grilled Beef Tongue

2011-11-13T17:37:00.002+08:00

The best beef tongue I've ever had was in Sendai, at a restaurant called Rikyu at the Sendai JR Station.

Even now, I can remember how springy yet juicy and succulent those slices of grilled beef tongue were. And how they went perfectly with the tororo and mugimeshi (rice mixed with barley) rice. And the clear oxtail soup was flavourful and went perfectly with the thin slices of leek. Yum yum!

So I was really happy to know there is a place in Singapore that serves grilled beef tongue Sendai-style.

Sandai-Bunji is opened by Abezen Shoten Co Ltd, a major Kamaboko (Fish Cake) manufacturer from the Miyagi Prefecture of Japan (of which Sendai is the capital of).

So it isn't surprising that the restaurant specialises in oden. However, oden AND beef tongue is a pretty odd combination.

We ordered a gyu-dan (beef tongue) set (about $26) and a lunch set of the day (on the day we were there - it was a stir-fried beef set at just $9). We also added a 3 piece oden set.

The best dish of the day was stir-fried beef. It was perfectly seasoned and tasted really good. At $9 instead of its usual $23, this was a steal.

The gyu-dan wasn't close to what we had in Sendai. But it wasn't bad. It was pretty well flavoured, I just thought it was a little too thin and slightly overcooked.

The oden had a clean clear broth which I immediately liked. However, I didn't fancy the 3 oden pieces we had.

Overall however, I would visit this piece again, for the familiar taste of Sendai.

Sandai Bunji

Millenia Walk (facing the Hotel Conrad Centennial)
9 Raffles Boulevard #01-14
6333-1516

Ng Ah Sio Bak Kut Teh

2011-11-12T23:34:00.000+08:00

Ng Ah Sio Bak Kut Teh (黄亚细肉骨茶) is one of the most famous Bak Kut Teh store in Singapore.

Bak Kut Teh literally translates to "meat bone tea". It is actually a soup dish that consist of meaty pork ribs cooked together for hours with garlic, herbs and spices.

Ng Ah Sio serve Singapore styled Bak Kut Teh, which is a clear and peppery version of this pork rib soup. Ng Ah Sio used to be run in a very traditional manner.

One of the reasons why this store got so famous was because they used to only open at selected hours and supposedly rejected Hong Kong's Chief Executive, Donald Tsang's request to visit during the afternoon simply because he requested to visit during their break. (To be fair, it's probably not his request but one of his assistant's request)

All my relatives from Hong Kong know this as the bak kut teh store that rejected the Chief Executive.

Nowadays, Ng Ah Sio is run in a modern, corporate manner, with much longer operating hours, a whole host of newer staff. Thankfully, the food remains as good as ever.

The soup base of Ng Ah Sio's Bak Kut Teh is peppery hot whilst the meat is fall-off-the-bone tender. I think bak kut teh goes best with some fried dough fritters, which you can use to dip in the soup to soak up the dough fritters before popping into your mouth, where you get a burst of hot soup and then the flavour of the fried dough fritters.

A true bak kut teh experience is never complete without the traditional chinese tea, which is what the "teh" (tea) in bak kut teh is all about. The slightly bitter Chinese tea cleanses your palate and washes down every thing just nicely.

This is one of my favourite places to bring friends from overseas to.

A bowl of peppery hot bak kut teh, with the taste of garlic in the background

Traditional Chinese tea, also called Kung-Fu tea, is a must to go with Bak Kut Teh

A Tourist in Singapore

2011-11-07T19:00:00.002+08:00

The Husband and I decided we'd go to the Titanic Exhibition at the Art Science Museum at Marina Bay Sands, based on Petunia's recommendation.

I felt like a tourist in Singapore because everywhere we went today were not familiar to me. We had lunch in a Japanese restaurant we have never visited at the Millenia Walk, then went to the museum which I've never been to. The Titanic Exhibition was an interesting one, but what was more interesting to me was the view outside - a view of Singapore's financial district and key landmarks from a totally new angle.

After the exhibition, we went for tea at the Marina Bay Shopping Centre (The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands). I was surprised to find an ice-skating ring and a mini-canal (like those you see in Venice) in the mall! I didn't know you find these things in Singapore!

On my way home, I decided that I should start 'exploring' Singapore a bit more. There are still lots of places in this small island I've yet to visit.

Chamomile Tea from Teapigs

2011-11-06T16:42:00.001+08:00

I am rather particular when it comes to tea.

Hence, we have a huge collection of tea leaves and bags at home.

We have pu-er tea that we bought from this very old shop in Kowloon City in Hong Kong. A very treasured box of white tea leaves from an ex-colleague of mine from China. Matcha and a whole lot of various green teas we picked up during our trips to Japan. A good but often neglected tin of oolong tea leaves from Taiwan.

For the more "western" type of teas, I like the No. 14 Tea from Harrods, French Earl Grey from Singapore's TWG and Tetley tea.

Apart from tea leaves and bags, we also have quite a bit of those stuff that you can't strictly call tea - yuzu jam for Yuzu tea, dried lemongrass for lemongrass tea and various types of dried flowers for floral tea.

Even with all those teas in my tea cupboard, I still often find myself replenishing the supplies for my top favourites.

Teapigs is a brand I discovered this year during my business trip to London. This company considers themselves "tea evangelists" and claim that they only sell teas of the highest quality. I have tried a number of their teas and I think their teas are pretty good. All there teas contain whole tea leafs.. and their floral teas whole flowers.

My favourite tea from Teapigs is their chamomile flowers. In the triangular tea bags (which they call tea temples), you can actually see whole flowers.

The tea is very fragrant. My colleague sitting next to me often comment on this tea whenever I make it, saying she can smell it distinctly from where she sits. The taste is also surprisingly sweet, with not one bit of bitter aftertaste.

This particular tea puts me in a very calm and relaxed mood after drinking, which is good.

I find myself asking friends or colleagues going to the UK to buy this for me, to replenish my tea cupboard. It's good to know that there is now a shop in Singapore at Takashimaya that stocks this particular brand as well.

I like the pretty looking flowers in the bag and the colour of the tea!

Hainanese Pork Chop

2011-11-06T13:52:00.000+08:00

Hainanese (Chinese from the Southern Chinese island known as the Hainan Island) people in Singapore are known for their ability to cook.

Hainanese chicken rice is famous all over the world and is something any non-vegetarian visitor to Singapore wouldn't and shouldn't miss.

One of my favourite Hainanese chicken rice store is from Tian Tian. The branch at Joo Chiat has better operating hours and is air-conditioned, making it my favourite place for chicken rice. Tian Tian also has another killer dish - Hainanese Pork Chop.

A thin slice of pork is tenderised, coated with breadcrumbs and then deep fried until golden and crispy. The savoury, sourish-sweet sauce on top comes with peas and onions and nicely coats the pork chop.

I don't usually like pork, but this is really tender, crispy, sour and sweet all at the same time and I just couldn't stop eating it.

Writing this post made me feel like paying Tian Tian another visit soon. Nom Nom!

Internet Kimchi

2011-11-05T22:25:00.001+08:00

I do my fair share of internet shopping - mostly books, beauty products, fun accessories and clothes..

I never thought that I'd buy food from online.

Well but I did.

I bought some kimchi from a shop on GMarket. I've always find it hard to get good quality kimchi. When I do, I find them a bit too pricey. A friend of mine had friends who tried out the kimchi ordered from online and recommended I try them.

So I went and ordered 1 kg of cabbage kimchi, some seasoned Korean pickles and kimchi dumplings (also known as mandu). Including the delivery, they cost $30.

We tried the pickles and kimchi tonight for dinner. They were crunchy and tasted good!

Now, I have lots of kimchi to make kimchi jigae (kimchi soup) and kimchi fried rice.

But then... 1 kg.. is really a lot for the 2 of us!

I really liked these seasoned pickles

Cabbage kimchi is my favourite. These ones are pretty good.

Rush Hour

2011-11-01T23:25:00.001+08:00

I've just moved to a new office at One Raffles Quay. One Raffles Quay is an office building located right at the edge of Raffles Place, near the new Marina Bay Financial Centre.

And this is the view that I see out of the window everyday.

Photo taken with iPhone...
Hm... it was a little gloomy when I took this picture, huh?

Beautiful, isn't it?

Sadly, that's about all I like about my new office.

Great views but getting to and from work, as well as having lunch, is erm... for lack of a better word, quite scary.

You see, Raffles Place is at the heart of the downtown business and financial district of Singapore. Throngs and throngs of people work in Raffles Place. Getting to work in the morning is like struggling your way through a somewhat aggressive and desperate crowd during the post-Christmas sales.

The walk from the subway station to One Raffles Quay is a pretty long one.. and every morning, I feel like I'm part of a march to war, with the loud clacking of high heels almost like a rhythmic march to the battle fields. I sometimes almost think that they will blasting military songs through the long tunnel I make my way through to work.

Lunch is an equally frantic affair. There are queues everyone and people seem to be jostling their ways out of the offices to invade into all the food courts and restaurants nearby. It reminds me sometimes of a documentary that I saw where a swamp of locusts landed on a field and ate up everything in its path. Sends a chill down my spine at times.

It's pretty much the same after work, except in a way, the crowd is a lot less scary in the evenings. Maybe it is because everyone is feeling fatigued and drained by work.. Maybe it's because I do leave rather late compared to your normal office worker. I'm not quite sure. But the trains are still rather crowded, although not fully packed. And everything seems less frantic than in the day.

In any case, I have to get used to the rush hour crowd now, there is no escape really.

Although a bit late, but I now really appreciate my previous office location at the Marina Square/ Suntec area - with all the shopping and restaurants nearby.. and a calmer, more amiable crowd in the weekdays.

Earl Grey Latte

2011-10-31T08:28:00.003+08:00

I have some French Earl Grey tea leaves from TWG at home. TWG Tea Company is a Singapore company selling premium tea leaves. The first time I came across ther shop, I was very surprised to learn that it is a Singapore company and not a British company.

I really love this tea because it's not only very fragrant, the leaves look pretty too! This fragrant variation of the classic Earl Grey tea has been infused with citrus fruits and has French blue cornflowers in it.

Pretty, isn't it?

I decided to make myself a cup of earl grey latte today. It's really easy to make - very similar to how I made Matcha Latte.

This would be a really nice drink to go with Earl Grey Tea bread, or a simple, quick-mix banana cake. Except it was a really hot day today so I made half a glass of this and added lots of ice to it for Iced Earl Grey Latte!

Beer Can Chicken

2011-10-30T22:19:00.004+08:00

The specialties from the restaurant at Tempat Senang in Batam are "Beer Can Chicken" and "Nasi Campur". I told The Husband I wanted Nasi Campur, since we were in Indonesia after all..

But the name "Beer Can Chicken" intrigued me. A simple search on google answered my questions. "Beer can chicken" or also called "Beer in the Butt Chicken", is basically chicken grilled with half a can of beef stuck in its butt. Now the chicken may look ridiculous over the grill or in the oven this way, but this method of cooking the chicken produces a really superbly tender, fall-off-the-bone chicken with crispy skin.

This is because whilst the chicken is dry roasted on the outside, the inside of the chicken is cooked, broiled almost with steamy beer. The fat of the chicken from the skin also drips off easily with the chicken cooked in a standing position. The yeast and malt in the beer also reacts with the chicken, making it extra tender and soft.

Ingredients
- 1 large chicken (about 1.2 - 1.5kg), washed and pat dry
- Half a can of beer
(Be sure to drink the other half whilst it's still cold)
- Seasoning - anything you like
(Fresh herbs, salt, pepper, etc. I used a spicy Indonesia BBQ mix this time around)
- A bit of softened butter
(I used the left over bit of my homemade sundried tomato butter)

What I did
1. Trim away excessively fat bits of the skin
2. Make small incisions in parts of the skin at the breast, back, thighs and slot in the softened butter. This little bit of butter helps to really crisp up the skin during the roasting process
3. Rub the seasoning in. Get it all over the chicken - outside and inside and under the skin where you can as well.
4. Let the marinate do the magic for at least a few hours, overnight if possible
5. Preheat oven at 225 deg C
6. Insert the chicken over the half can of beer and place in a baking tray
7. Turn the heat down to 180 deg C and place chicken on the lowest rack in the oven
8. Roast chicken for about 90 minutes, basting it with the drippings about halfway through the roasting process
9. If the top of the chicken gets a little too dark during the roasting process, cover it lightly with a small piece of aluminum foil

The chicken looks a bit ridiculous, with a can in its butt

Putting the tray on the lowest rack of the oven is necessary because

the chicken is quite tall, since it's in a standing position

After 90 minutes of roasting..
Oh my pictures don't do the chicken justice...

Another view of the chicken

Once the chicken is done, be careful as you are removing it from the oven as the beer is quite hot. You can eat the chicken by carving it whilst it's still standing.. but it's probably better (and safer) to lift it off the beer can into a separate tray.

This is one of the most tender roasted chicken I've ever cooked. Do give it a try and let me know how it turns out. If you don't want to use beer, Sprite works just fine too.

Hunt for the perfect Ayam Penyet

2011-10-29T18:31:00.002+08:00

Ayam Penyet is an Indonesian dish of fried chicken - heavily seasoned, lightly battered and then lightly smashed flat. "Ayam" means chicken and "penyet" translates to smashed - so Ayam Penyet means Smashed Chicken. Many also translates this dish to Fried Smashed Chicken.

It is usually served with fried tempeh (fermented soy product), fried tofu, a slice or two of cucumber and fiery chilli.

I've been craving for good Ayam Penyet recently.

During our trip to Batam, I was delighted to see Ayam Penyet Ria at Nagoya Hill Shopping Centre. Ayam Penyet Ria is a popular shop for Ayam Penyet in Singapore that I've never managed to visit.

But.. the Ayam Penyet was disappointing. The marinate wasn't tasty enough, it wasn't crispy enough.. the portion was terribly small and overall, it just wasn't enough to satisfy my cravings. Based on the reviews I've read on the restaurant, I'm not sure it's the same chain, actually.. So maybe I should go and try the real Ayam Penyet Ria in Singapore.

Disappointing Ayam Penyet in Batam

There are, however, a couple good Ayam Penyet places that I know about.

One is all the way across the other side of the island at Choa Chu Kang's Lot 1, highly recommended by Petunia. I seldom like food in shopping mall food courts, because I think that they are usually cooked without "heart". They may look alright but there is no real depth in flavour because they are mostly run in a franchise or chain-store manner.

But the Ayam Penyet at this store in Foodfare is pretty good - crispy, flavourful fried chicken, albeit a tad too dry and wonderful, fiery chilli paste. The best part is the furry-looking stuff on top - some say they are fried shredded lemongrass and others say fried shredded coconut. Whatever they are, they are bursting with the flavour of spices and go very well with rice.

The furry stuff on top of the chicken is what I like most about this Ayam Penyet at Lot 1

Another place with great Ayam Penyat is Dju Dju Indonesian Food, at 304 Serangoon Avenue 2, #01-14. This is a stall in a local coffeeshop run by a whole group of aunties. They have also recently opened a store in Food Junction at the Nex shopping mall. The chicken is well seasoned and well fried, also a tad dry but the skin is so flavourful I tend to overlook this one small flaw. The chilli is extremely spicy yet oh-so-fragrant, with a hint of freshly squeezed lime. Apart from the Ayam Penyat, I also like the Mee Rebus and Otah in this store.

Ayam Penyet from Dju Dju

I'm still on the hunt for the #1 place for it in Singapore. Where is your favourite Ayam Penyet store located?

Spaghetti Goemon at Citylink

2011-10-28T22:54:00.000+08:00

Spaghetti Goemon, or Yomenya Goemon is now one of my favourite spaghetti place in town.

The pastas came in really generous servings.. and are all cooked perfectly al dente.

The Mediterranean Tomato Cream Soup Spaghetti is one of their best seller. And it is easy to see why. It was delicious - the soup is slightly tangy, not too creamy and the little dallop of Japanese mayonnaise worked like a charm to make the taste pop. The soup was so good I finished every last drop.

My favourite part of the noodles is that little dallop of Japanese mayonnaise

I've also tried the Fresh Nori, Shrimp and Clams spaghetti that is a soy-sauce and garlic based spaghetti. The Mentaiko, Shrimp and Japanese Herb Ao-Shiso spaghetti is also uniquely Japanese-styled and delicious.

I also love the radish salad - it was fresh, crisp and cold. I think it's a really simple Japanese-flavoured salad.. although I would very much prefer it without the bacon bits.

Apart from the radish salad and spaghetti, I never found space for desserts, so I don't know.. but they looked pretty good too.

If you have the chance to have lunch or dinner at Citylink Mall, or Marina Bay Link Mall, or the other places that Spaghetti Goemon seems to be all opening at, do give these noodles a try. I highly recommend the Mediterranean Tomato Cream Soup Spaghetti.

Spaghetti Goemon

1 Raffles Link
#B1-63A
Citylink Mall
Website: http://www.n-rs.com.sg/

What to do in Batam

2011-10-27T22:17:00.000+08:00

Whilst researching on what to do in Batam, I came across various blogs and travel forums with recommendations of what to do in Batam.

Here is a short summary for anyone who (like me) have not been to Batam before, summarised from various blogs and websites.

Note that shopping malls in Batam are not huge and they don't (according to me, anyway) contain many exciting shops. The 2 biggest malls are Nagoya Hill Shopping Centre (biggest mall in Batam, near many hotels and popular resorts) and Batam Mega Mall (opposite Batam Centre Ferry Terminal)

Things to do in Batam
- Eat A&W. This fastfood chain has closed down a while ago in Singapore. I especially like their root beer floats, curly fries and oh-so-yummy buttery waffles with ice-cream. Their fried chicken is pretty good too! A&W is still very popular in Indonesia and can be found at both Nagoya Hill and Mega Mall

My 3 favourite items from A&W are... root beer float...

Waffles with ice-cream and chocolate sauce..

And curly fries!

- Eat seafood. Seafood in Batam is apparently very cheap, if you don't fall into a tourist trap. Golden Prawn Seafood Restaurant (5 mins by taxi from Batam Center Ferry Terminal) and Harbour Bay Seafood Restaurant (15mins by taxi from Nagoya Hill) are popular places for seafood in Batam. I didn't try them this time around though

- Enjoy a massage. I tried massages at Tempat Senang and Isabella (At Nagoya Hills) and I found both really good. A 3 hour spa session at Tempat Senang is about 75SGD and a 3 hour session at Isabella costs about less than half of that. However, whilst I had a really good masseur at Isabella, The Husband didn't enjoy his at all

- Enjoy a cream bath. "Cream bath" is a traditional Indonesian hair treatment. The cream is applied over your entire hair and scalp with a gentle head massage. This is followed by either wrapping your head with a warm towel or placing the top of your head in a steamer, all to encourage blood circulation whilst allowing the cream to "soften" your hair. During this time, your neck, shoulders and upper arms are treated to a tension releasing and stress reducing massage. Christopher and Johnny Andrean are popular places for cream bath in Batam and both can be found at Nagoya Hills and Batam Mega Mall

- Buy JCo donuts. These popular donuts are a lot cheaper than Singapore and many Singaporeans pick up some on their way home after a trip in Batam

A cup of drink at JCo comes with a sugar coated donut.

The donuts are good!

- Buy something from the supermarkets. I love visiting supermarkets in any place I visit to buy some of their local snacks. Batam's supermarkets are good for kerupuk (crackers) and Indomie Mi Goreng (Indomie is a brand of instant noodles by Indofood. Mi Goreng just means fried noodles)

There are many kinds of kerupuk.. my favourite are these slightly

bitter ones called Emping Kerupuk

- Buy Mandi Lulur. This is a kind of traditional Indonesian scrub - supposedly used as a pre-wedding ritual for Javanese brides. You can get them for about 2SGD a bottle from supermarkets or pharmacists at both Nagoya Hill and Batam Mega Mall. I bought a bottle home and will update again after I try it out

- Eat Indonesian food. I didn't have very fantastic ones outside of Tempat Senang, but I supposed there should be some really yummy ones out there. The food at Tempat Senang was great, albeit really quite pricey.

The mi goreng (fried noodles) is good - there is a very unique taste about these noodles.

I wonder if it's the taste of MSG... Hmph..

- Try an avocado drink. I think they blend it with sugar and add chocolate sauce.. Not exactly super yummy.. but pretty unique, this drink is available everywhere in Batam.

Of course, you can also do what I spent most of my time in Batam doing - relax and watch time tick by..

What I did in Batam

2011-10-27T06:52:00.000+08:00

Here are pictures of what I did in Batam..

Had lots of massages..

Played pool..

Watched the clouds go by..

Lazed by the pool..

Took long walks..

Ate lots of Indonesian food..

Mee Goreng - very delicious.. with lots of MSG, I suppose..

Nasi goreng - fried rice

Fried beehoon

A HUGE tray of nasi campur - with a lot of stuff I like, esp the gado gado

The beef rendang wasn't as good.. but everything else was delicious!

Sipped coffee whilst reading..

And took long naps..

I've always dreamed about sleeping in a four-poster bed..

Relaxing Stay at Tempat Senang

2011-10-26T21:31:00.002+08:00

The Husband and I just returned from a 3 days 2 night stay at Batam.

Now, I've never really been on a leisure trip to Batam. My last trip (also my first visit) was as a volunteer to help build a house for a family as part of the Habitat for Humanity program.

Batam is a small island belonging to Indonesia, about an hour by ferry from Singapore. Although very near Singapore, this island never struck me as a place to visit for leisure. Say Batam and I think of a place where dirty old men go in search of cheap sex. Not exactly the kind of place I would like to visit.

But I have been feeling down of late and seeing that I have a few days off, The Husband suggested we go somewhere nearby for a short break. After considering various options, I decided to give Tempat Senang, a boutique resort in the middle of nowhere in Batam a try.

View of Tempat Senang from the golf club next door

Tempat Senang is situated pretty much in the middle of nowehere, 30 minutes by car from the largest shopping mall in Batam, Nagoya Hills. It is located next to a golf course and apart from that, I don't think there is very much else nearby.

The golf course was very pretty.. and very quiet..

maybe because it was a Tuesday when we were there..

The resort is built in a Balinese style - with stone paths and pools separating the various houses. The resort has 7 rooms - each with a different theme. We stayed in the Indonesia room, which I really liked.

View of the plunge pool

Everything about the resort is very Balinese

The room we stayed in - I love the lights!

The other rooms looked pretty good too!

We took their weekday promotion package for a 3 days 2 nights stay. At 580SGD, the package included a 3 hour spa for each of us, daily breakfast, transfers from the ferry terminal and a nice, spacious room. This place is rather expensive by Batam standards, and I didn't think the resort was that luxurious to have commanded a 5-star hotel price.. It was a beautiful place and had a really homely feel about it.. but I complained to The Husband about how pricey it was.

I loved the pathways all around the resort..

And the fishes..

And many plants and flowers..

The place is even more charming at night

But.... but......

It was a really nice place to relax in, away from all the city noises. We spent our 3 days watching a few DVDs... lying by the small plunge pool reading a book under the sun.. watching the clouds (and insects) drift by.. enjoying massages and herbal compresses.. playing pool.. listening to all kinds of insect noises... eating a lot.. and sleeping a lot.

I enjoyed my massage session at the spa a lot

I left Batam feeling refreshed.

So maybe... just maybe... I will return again someday.

View of the sky whilst I lazed by the pool

Tempat Senang

Indah Puri Sekupang
Batam, Indonesia
http://www.tempatsenang.com/

When the going gets tough..

2011-10-22T21:58:00.000+08:00

I haven't been blogging much lately simply because I haven't been in the right kind of mood.

I've been feeling thoroughly depressed.

It's not work - although work has been frustrating somewhat of late.

Someone in The Family is going through a heartbreakingly difficult time and it upsets me to see him and the rest of my family distressed.

This quote is dedicated to that Someone:

Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit
makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.
William Butler Yeats

Words that hit home

2011-10-12T21:51:00.002+08:00

When asked what surprised him most about humanity, someone said "Man".

"Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived."

The Dalai Lama said these words and I believe in a different God then him but these words hit home.

The trouble is - how to live every day as if it were my last?

If today is my last day,

I'd have a chat with all my childhood friends - to hear how they are, talk about our childhood dreams and laugh over our mistakes growing up.

I'd call up all my beloved colleagues, ask for their forgiveness for my impatience at work, encourage them to spend more time with their loved ones and share whatever I can with them.

I'd meet my dearest friends for tea, muse over our past experiences and tell them what I appreciate most about them.

I'd spend the most time with all my beloved ones, making sure they know how much I love them, and asking for their forgiveness on all the times I act like I don't.

Baked Portobello Mushrooms

2011-10-09T21:34:00.002+08:00

I've found another use, apart from using it on toasts and in roasted chicken, for my homemade sundried tomatoes butter - baked mushrooms!

I saw some beautiful mini portobello mushrooms at the supermarket yesterday, and couldn't resist buying a pack home.

These baked mushrooms are really easy to make. I chopped up 2 cloves of garlic, a bunch of coriander and mixed them with some of the sundried tomatoes butter. Then, I laid the mushrooms out on a ceramic baking tray, seasoned them generously with some sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Each mushroom gets a dollop of the garlic, coriander and butter.

The mushrooms are baked at 180 deg C for about 15 mins. When eating, be careful of the juices when you pick the mushrooms out. The juices from the mushroom, mixed with the spices are heavenly. Don't waste a single drop!

Baked mushrooms are really juicy.. slurp!

Kiam Chye Ark Soup

2011-10-09T20:58:00.003+08:00

I made this soup tonight for dinner, using the same recipe as the last time.

As I googled the internet for alternative recipes, I realised some people used roasted duck to make kiam chye ark soup (ie salted mustard cabbage duck soup). Some even used the bones/ leftovers from roasted duck. Such a good idea!

I'd definitely do that next time.

In the meantime - I think the current recipe I have is good enough and simmering it for 2.5 hours in a cast iron pot helped made the duck meat so soft, it was literally falling off the bones. Adding a splash of brandy in the last 5 minutes of boiling would really add a kick to this soup too! Since I didn't have any at home, I added some Chinese wine.

Before the 2.5 hours of boiling..

And after... yummy!

Alternative Mooncakes

2011-10-05T07:16:00.002+08:00

I've recently (and finally) finished all my mooncakes at home... "My mooncakes" are those that only I eat.

The Husband and I have very different tastes when it comes to mooncakes.

He likes the traditional type of mooncakes.

I like the new-fangled types. "Those aren't mooncakes" says The Husband.

And he is right. They aren't. But I like them anyway.

Like this Egg Custard Mooncake which is a little more like a custard tart.

And this lychee martini mooncake is my favourite this year. It comes with a cube of lychee martini white chocolate in the centre. Overall, it taste like more like a Japanese mochi then a mooncake.

Reading this article on the Best Mooncakes in Singapore, I wished I managed to try a lot more of these this year.

Oh well, next year then.

Eating Spaghetti with Chopsticks

2011-10-04T22:34:00.021+08:00

I had lunch with a couple of colleagues recently at this restaurant called Spaghetti Goemon. Spaghetti Goemon is a chain from Japan specialising in Japanese-styled pasta.

I was slightly amused that Spaghetti Goemon has this slogan - Eating Spaghetti with Chopsticks.

I didn't think eating spaghetti with chopsticks was anything special because in our house, we very often eat our pastas with chopsticks. (Having said that, the food at Spaghetti Goemon was pretty good! But that's for another post in the future.)

Back to spaghetti with chopsticks.

My mother-in-law likes to cook spaghetti with prawns, meat, garlic and Chinese celery.

This weekend, she was inspired to cook spaghetti with crayfish. This was really good - she fried quite a bit of garlic, then added the crayfish and other seafood. When the crayfish is almost done, she took them out and added the cooked spaghetti to the wok. Then, she seasoned the spaghetti with some salt and pepper and when everything is done, she added the seafood back to the wok, along with quite a bit of the pasta water and a generous sprinkling of chopped Chinese celery.

I really enjoyed this dish. It's as enjoyable as laksa spaghetti. Next on my to-cook list is cooking tom-yum spaghetti.

Green Mango Salad

2011-10-03T06:54:00.000+08:00

I love all the refreshing salads I got to eat on my recent trip to Bangkok.

Since I didn't know what to do with the lone green mango I had in the fridge, I decided to make my own version of green mango salad.

Ingredients
1 green mango, shredded
1 garlic, minced1 small shallot, sliced finely
1 tsp of Thai chilli flakes (These are quite spicy, so add according to taste)
2 tsp of lime juice
Fish sauce to taste
A handful of peanuts and cashew nuts, toasted well
1 tbsp of dried shrimps, washed and fried with a little oil

What I did
1. Mix the mango, garlic, shallot, lime juice and chilli flakes together
2. Add some fish sauce to taste
3. Mix in the dried shrimps and nuts just before serving

Enjoy!

I really liked those green mango snacks you get to buy along the streets

of Bangkok. You can eat them with some sticky, fishy sauce or pink sugar.

Yummy!

Green Mango Salad with salted crabs - from the streets of Bangkok. Yummy!

Easy 3 Minutes Salad

2011-10-02T21:52:00.001+08:00

This is one variation of my 3-minutes salad.

This is really really easy to make and extremely hard to go wrong.

All you need for this salad are:
- A large bowl of baby spinach
- A handful of raisins
- Some toasted sesame seeds
- A sprinkling of Japanese seaweed mixed seasoning (the kind you add to Japanese rice to make onigiri - mine is a mix of seaweed, bonito flakes and sesame seeds)
- Japanese sesame dressing

Mixed everything together and you get an appetizing, refreshing salad!

The Japanese seasoning mix - It comes well seasoned

so you don't have to add any salt or seasoning to the salad

This salad can be made in different ways but with the same combination of Japanese seasoning and sesame seeds. For example, you can use:

- Rocket Leaves or Butterhead Lettuce

- Dried Cranberries instead of raisins

- Balsamic vinegar dressing instead of Japanese sesame dressing

You can also add some raw salmon slices to dress up this salad.. or go fruity with some canned peaches and cherry tomatoes.

Whatever the combination, it shouldn't take you a lot more than 3 minutes to put this salad together.

Homemade Matcha Latte

2011-09-24T11:08:00.001+08:00

The little cup doesn't really compliment

the matcha latte's pale green colour too well..

Matcha latte is a nice breakfast drink.

I can't remember where I learnt this from (another blog, I think), but it's really easy to make your own matcha latte at home.

All you need to do is to add 1 - 1.5 teaspoon of matcha powder and some sugar (optional) to a cup of milk in a saucepan. Stir the mixture well and turn off the heat when you see some small bubbles.

Then, transfer to a French Press and push plunger down a few times to foam the latte.

And that's really all there is to make a cup of really yummy matcha latte.

The matcha latte looks better in a glass

Homemade Shanghainese Wantons

2011-09-19T22:00:00.004+08:00

When we have homemade wantons at home, it could only mean one thing - The Mother-in-law is staying with us!

She arrived last Friday, with lots of different goodies from Hong Kong.. including fresh wanton skin from the market near her home!

These are different, she insist. These are apparently Shanghainese wantons and indeed, they look and taste very different then the Cantonese ones.

The way to make the filling and wrap them is pretty similar. It's the wanton skin that differentiates the 2 types of wanton.

The skin of the Shanghainese wanton is thicker and paler in colour. The Cantonese wanton skin is yellow from the egg yolks used and usually have an alkaline taste to it. This is due the alkaline water added to make the texture of the skin springy.

I like both types of wantons - Shanghainese, or Cantonese. And I'm lucky The Mother-in-law likes making them.. because whilst they are very yummy... they are a lot of work.

See this post on how to make them at home.

The wantons go very well with this brand of chilli from Hong Kong - Koon Yick Wah Kee chilli sauce. This chilli sauce is slightly spicy and quite sour. Very suitable with piping hot wantons!

Lavana Spa, Bangkok

2011-09-18T21:45:00.001+08:00

I decided to try Lavana Spa after reading about it on DreamersLoft. It is a pretty large spa place and I liked the place immediately because it looked very clean and smelled great.

The Husband and I opted for a 90 mins oil massage and they had a promotion of a free 60 mins facial. It was a first for The Husband - he found the facial experience pretty interesting. I think "all these hot and cold things" were his comments.

In any case, I found the entire massage experience at Lavana Spa pretty good. Maybe it was because we went in the morning when they weren't as busy, so the place was fairly quiet and I really enjoyed the 90 mins of massage.

We were also served a free simple American breakfast of toast, scrambled eggs and ham after our massage. I think the spa offers free breakfast for all massages before 1pm to encourage more people to book a morning slot

I especially liked the chocolate mousse thing that we were served at the reception area after our treatments.

Lavana Bangkok Spa

No.4 Soi Sukhumvit 12 Sukhumvit Road
Klongtoey, Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110
Tel : +66 (0) 2 2294510-12
Opening Hours : 09:00 am - 02:00 am
http://www.lavanabangkok.com/index.html

Honey Roasted Sunflower Seeds

2011-09-18T12:20:00.001+08:00

I had a pack of organic sunflower seeds lying around for a while now.

Inspired by a snack we had on the plane back from Bangkok, I decided to make some honey roasted sunflower seeds.

Like homemade granola, this is really something very easy to do - I just mixed the seeds with some canola oil and honey and then season with a sprinkling of sea salt. Then the mixture is spread out on a piece of Silpat and baked at 150 deg C for about 20 - 30 mins.

After it's cooled down, transfer to an air tight glass container and it makes for a good snack to munch on whilst watching TV.

This picture is taken outdoors in the middle of a sunny day

- hence the "glaring look".. I don't like it much.

I've found that food pictures are best taken outdoors

around 10-11am or 2-3pm on a cloudy day..

Greyhound Cafe, Bangkok

2011-09-17T13:07:00.000+08:00

We arranged to meet up with P, an ex-colleague from Thailand when we were in Bangkok.

P suggested we meet at the Greyhound Cafe in Central Chidlom.

I though the Greyhound Cafe felt very similar to the PS Cafe chain in Singapore, except with a more interesting menu.

The food was pretty good.. My favourite of what we tried was a dish called "Complicated Noodles" - which was really a stack of fresh lettuce with some flat pieces of flat rice noodles, minced pork and coriander. You wrap everything with the lettuce before eating. A bit messy but it was quite fun to eat.

We also had the fresh lasagna salad and mini chicken wings, both of which was okay but nothing too special.

I especially liked the drinks we had. The Husband had a Thai milk tea granita which was delicious but you had to be patient with it as you need it to melt a little before drinking. I had a green concoction of green grapes, green apple and mint sauce. It was a really refreshing drink!

The desserts were pretty decent as well. The Mixed Berry Layer Cake had very soft, fluffy fresh cream and I thought the Nutella Banana Tart was very well made - a nice crunchy crust with yummy chocolate and fresh bananas.

It's a cafe I would definitely visit again, especially after an afternoon of shopping!

Greyhound Cafe

Central Chidlom, 4th floor
Bangkok

Coconut Custard from Mont Nom Sod

2011-09-15T07:27:00.001+08:00

Just before we left Bangkok, we went to MBK Shopping Centre (also called Mahboonkrong) to buy some "kaya" for my parents.

My parents visited Bangkok a couple of weeks back and raved about the "kaya" from a shop on the second level.

They couldn't tell me which shop it was though so after combing the entire second floor, we came to the conclusion that the "kaya" they wanted had to be from Mont Nom Sod (Milk and Bread Shop).

Kaya is coconut jam that is made from coconut milk, eggs and sugar. I've always considered it to be a specialty from Singapore, so it is really strange to be looking for "kaya" to buy home from Bangkok.

Mont Nom Sod is a small shop that specialises in selling bread with all kinds of spread and milk in all kinds of drinks..

The "kaya", or coconut custard, as it is called at Mont Nom Sod is freshly made and last only 3 days.. so I only brought home 2 little bottles.

I had it for breakfast today and it was really quite delicious - sweet, but not too sweet.. with a tinge of pandan and coconut... a very nice, wobbly texture.

It went very well with a slice of fluffy white toast.

Yum!

Baan Khanitha & Gallery

2011-09-14T21:30:00.004+08:00

Baan Khanitha is a restaurant just a stone's throw away from Somerset Park Suanplu. The Husband read somewhere that it is a pretty good restaurant so we decided to have our first lunch in Bangkok there.

The restaurant was quiet (only 3 tables during lunch) and looked both expensive and pretentious. I braced myself for disappointment as I sat down.

Happily, it turned out that I was wrong.

The restaurant was indeed quite expensive and food came in small portions.. but everything tasted very good!

For starters, we were served a platter of bits and pieces with wild betel leaves - bits of lime, bits of dried squid and dried prawns, bits of chopped lime, onions and chilli. The waiter said we were to put a bit of everything on a leaf and then top it with the sweet sauce in the centre and wrap it up.

"Be careful the chilli padi," he said.

And so we avoided the chilli. The strange mixture was pretty good and tasted really refreshing! I liked the bits of chopped lime that came with the skin and all.

Then the food we ordered started coming.

The tomyum soup was delicious - it came with 2 fat river prawns (also called "big headed prawns" in Hong Kong). These are the right type of prawns to use in tom yum.. as all the fat from the prawns would seep out into the soup, giving it a richer seafood taste.

The grilled duck and lychee with curry sauce was also very good. The sauce was quite sweet and more peanut-like than curry-like, but I thought it went very well with the juicy duck meat and plain rice. I didn't think the lychees added anything to the dish though.

I also liked the crispy prawn cakes - especially the plum sauce and pickled cucumbers and onions that came with it.

My favourite part of the meal though was the rice. Which is really strange because we only had plain, steamed rice. But it was fluffy, yet every grain was separate and distinct. The Husband and I asked for second helpings of the plain rice..

The fresh mango with sticky rice and coconut ice-cream was also delicious. The sticky rice came with crunchy bits on top.. and the coconut ice-cream had pieces of dried coconut and some jelly, jackfruit-like bits inside. The combination of the cold ice-cream with bits, soft sweet mango and sticky, crunchy glutinous rice was heavenly!

I still liked food from along the streets in Bangkok but this is a restaurant I would definitely be visiting for very refined, quality Thai food.

We never made it into the gallery part of the place but I understand it is an art gallery..

Baan Khanitha & Gallery

69 South Sathorn Rd (intersection of South Sathorn Rd and Suanplu Rd)
Sathorn, Bangkok
Click here for the website

Somerset Park Suanplu

2011-09-14T08:21:00.000+08:00

Somerset Park Suanplu is a great service apartment to stay at in Bangkok.

The apartment is very spacious and clean. The staff are all extremely friendly. The location is pretty central - there are a few really good restaurants and massage places nearby, it's possible to walk to a sky train station, or else just a short taxi ride to major shopping centres.

It's also very quiet and there is a beautiful garden just in front of the apartment to take a short stroll after breakfast.

Breakfast isn't great though and I would rather walk out and have a bowl of noodles by the street than have the breakfast in the hotel. It's not that it's bad... just very typical, boring hotel breakfast fare.

We booked the hotel from an online travel website only to find out that if you book direct from the Somerset Service Apartments website, you'd get a better deal due to their guaranteed best rates offer.

After I expressed my disappointment, the apartment upgraded us to a slightly bigger apartment and had some flowers for us when we arrived!

The best part of my stay was that it was really quite quiet and I was able to get all the uninterrupted rest that I needed over the weekend.

Our apartment came with a living room

A small but well equipped kitchen

And a spacious bedroom...

The roses in the room were beautiful

I also really liked the garden just outside the hotel lobby

Love the pretty lotus flower

Greenery and water just makes me feel relaxed..

Short Getaway to Bangkok

2011-09-13T21:44:00.000+08:00

I was really needing a break last Friday.

However, when I got to the airport, I was thinking to myself that maybe it wasn't the best of ideas to be going to a busy city like Bangkok when all I needed was some rest and relax.

It turned out to be a restful and relaxing trip though.

We stayed in a really nice and quiet service apartment, took went for a couple of nice long massages, took long naps everyday and watched a couple of movies I should have caught last year at the theatres.

It also drizzled on and off the whole time we were in Bangkok so the weather was nice and cool.. So cool in fact, I caught a bit of a cold.

And then of course, there was the food! A couple of the best restaurants we visited this time were also just a few minutes walk away from the apartment too.. so we didn't have to really travel a lot.

I didn't regret going for my break in Bangkok at all. In fact, I think that I will probably go for a longer trip next time!

I will be posting more about my trip over the next few days.

In the meantime, enjoy these pictures!

View from the plane. Beautiful padi fields!

Nearer to Bangkok..

Great food in Bangkok

Tom yum soup - I can never seem to get enough of this soup..

I loved to snack on these green mangoes - you can eat them with

a bit of the sticky, fishy, spicy sweet sauce or some flavoured sugar.

These can be found all over Bangkok - at the supermarkets or along the streets

Of course, those massage sessions really helped me to relax

And those sweet desserts helped as well!

It was drizzling for most part of the time we were in Bangkok..

but when it wasn't raining, a nice stroll

around the apartment was really nice and relaxing

Fresh Carrot Juice

2011-09-12T19:43:00.000+08:00

This is probably the healthiest sweet drink you can find - fresh carrot juice.

Carrots are an excellent source of vitamin A, a good source of potassium, and contain vitamins C & B6, copper, folic acid,thiamine and magnesium. The high level of beta-carotene gives carrots their distinctive orange colour. Beta-carotene is a strong antioxidant, so carrots are really really good for you and your skin. (As with everything in life though, moderation is key. Consume too much and you'd turn into a carroty shade as well)

When juicing carrots, it's better to use big, older carrots than those soft, young ones. I've found that the bigger, older carrots tend to make sweeter carrot juice.

In fact, the bigger ones are also better for soups and in stir-fry, so I find myself buying young carrots only very occasionally, when I use them raw in salads.

Have a good week ahead.

Craving for Thai Food

2011-09-07T22:05:00.000+08:00

A pot of tom yum soup I've made recently.

It's good but doesn't taste like the "real thing"

I have been craving Thai food recently and I guess there is no better way to satisfy the cravings by booking a trip to Bangkok.

It's been a while since I've been to Bangkok. Hm.. come to think of it... I've not been there since I started this blog!

I'm really looking forward to this trip.

See you all very soon!

MasterChef Australia and Caesar Salad Dressing

2011-09-06T07:19:00.002+08:00

I've been watching every episode of MasterChef Australia Season 2 on cable TV (Star World Channel).

It is an extremely long TV game show series but I must say it is really quite enjoyable.

Firstly, the participants are pretty nice people and they actually seem to quite like each other (compare this with MasterChef US and you'd know what I mean).

Secondly, I've found myself learning so much about cooking from the series, particularly from the "Masterclass" episodes.

The recipes look very good and I find myself picking up useful tips along the way, like scoring the skin of duck before roasting, how to make lava chocolate cake ahead of time, etc.

All the recipes from the classes are also available online, and I'm sure I will be using quite a few of them soon.

This is one that The Husband used recently - Caesar Salad Dressing by Donna Hay.

Ingredients
1 egg
2 anchovies
1/2 tsp Wostershire sauce
1 tsp of lemon juice
3/4 cup grape seed oil
salt to season

Mix all dressing ingredients together in blender until smooth. We have found that it's also good to add in some finely grated garlic and dijon mustard.. but it's important to add these slowly and taste along the way.

Now that I know this dressing works, next time, I'd try adding all the works to this salad - soft boiled eggs and honey-roasted bacon.

Caesar salad with homemade dressing

Open Kitchen Concept Design - Part 2

2011-09-05T22:02:00.001+08:00

As promised previously..

Here are some kitchen pictures and sites I really like. Enjoy!

I like the white beams and the lamps in this kitchen. And the chairs are just so cute..

Source

The natural lighting of this kitchen is great! I like the combination of country styled furnishings with pretty lights and designer chairs.

Source

This kitchen is so sleek and cool looking, it's hard to believe it's an Ikea kitchen. BTW, this picture comes from a really nice blog called Solid Frog - a blog with beautiful pictures of beautiful homes.

Source

Spacious and simple. Nothing to dislike about this kitchen, except I'd be scared to cook in it... for fear of messing it up!

Source

And lastly... for a whole lot more of kitchen pictures and ideas, see this and this. These pages are sources of inspiration.

Red Apple with Yakult

2011-09-05T19:39:00.000+08:00

Another nice thing to do with those yummy New Zealand apples - Juice some and mix with a bottle of Yakult.

If you juice apples that have come straight out of the fridge, this drink will be nice and cold even without any ice.

Enjoy the week ahead.

Easy Apple Spice Cake

2011-09-04T21:43:00.004+08:00

The Husband found some really delicious New Zealand apples at the supermarket near our place.

So I decided to use some of those apples to make an apple cake for a potluck with my family today.

Every major festival, my extended family would gather at my uncle's place for a potluck session. Today's potluck was to celebrate the the Mid Autumn Festival.

The Chinese celebrate the Mid Autumn Festival, also called Mooncake Festival on the 15th day of the eighth Chinese lunar month when the moon is at its fullest and brightest. This year's Mid-Autumn Festival falls on 12 Sep, so we are celebrating it in advance.

As with every potluck, there is too much food to go around so I was initially disappointed that this apple cake wasn't flying off the table. But then my grandma and aunt, both great cooks, gave me a thumbs up for the cake... and everyone who ate it seemed to like it.

The brother-in-law was also very quick to suggest that he would packed home the rest of the cake.. so I think this turned out to be a pretty good recipe, after all.

And it is a really easy recipe too. The original recipe is from marthastewart.com

Ingredients
Dry ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Wet ingredients
1 3/4 cups sugar (original recipe says 2 cups)
3 large eggs
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil (I use canola oil)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Others
3 cups apples, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup chopped nuts, pecans or walnuts (optional, I used macadamia nuts)

What I did
1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C
2. Sift all the dry ingredients together
3. Cream the wet ingredients together using the paddle attachment of the electric mixer until the mixture turns lemon yellow
4. Gradually add the sifted dry ingredients to the mixture, mixing at medium speed
5. Gently mix in the apples and nuts.
6. Pour the mixture into a 9 inch cake pan, or a 12 cup Bundt pan (Spray the pan and lightly dust with some flour before pouring the mixture in). I added some blueberries on top today, as I had some extra blueberries at home.
7. Bake for 90 mins (The original recipe says 75 - 90 mins but I've found that the cake cooks only at about 90 mins. If the top gets too brown, cover the pan with an aluminium foil in the last 20 - 15 mins of baking)

This cake is wonderful when served warm, ideally with some good vanilla ice-cream. I had it warm and after it cooled down and I definitely think warm is much better.

Sundried Tomato Butter

2011-09-04T13:59:00.000+08:00

I read this post from Dainty Bites last night about sundried tomato butter and remembered the very yummy rum-and-raisin butter I had at Strictly Pancakes.

Since I had a very nice load of bread for lunch today, I decided to make a batch of flavoured butter myself.

This sundried tomato butter is pretty easy to make - I set aside some unsalted butter until it is soft then mixed it with some chopped sundried tomatoes, freshly cracked black pepper, a pinch of dried herbs and sea salt and then put it all in a pretty little bowl.

Then I threw it back into the fridge and after about an hour, it is nice and cold and ready for use.

I had it with some warm bread for lunch today.. I'd use it to make roasted chicken next time.

Easy Almond Granola

2011-09-03T19:11:00.002+08:00

Homemade granola is super easy and it is also healthy to boot.

You can't really go too wrong so as long as you use some common sense - I don't think measuring out stuff is some important.

For this granola, I added some quick cooking oats to traditional rolled oats and I found that the granola came out crunchier.

Ingredients
- Quick cooking oats and rolled oats (about 1:4)
- A couple of tablespoon of canola oil
- A good bit of honey diluted with a few tablespoons of water
- 1 tsp of cinnamon powder
- A handful of almonds

What I did
1. Mix the oats well with cinnamon powder and almonds
2. Mix the oil and honey water together and pour over mixture. What is important here is you get the oats to be all very lightly moisten with the liquid/ oil mixture
3. Spread the mixture over Silpat and bake for about 30 - 40 minutes at 160 deg C, or until the oats are a gold-brownish colour
4. As the granola cools, it will turn crisp. After it cools completely, store in an airtight container and it should last for about a month

Iced Green Tea with Lemongrass

2011-09-03T18:42:00.000+08:00

Iced Green Tea with Lemongrass is great thirst quencher

Lemongrass is pretty amazing.

It is supposed to be able to help with relieving cough and nasal congestion. The Thais use lemongrass as a natural detoxifier. Lemon grass helps to cut down uric acid, cholesterol, excess fats and other toxins in the body while stimulating digestion, blood circulation.

It is known for its calming effect that relieves insomnia or stress.

It contains antibacterial and antifungal properties, and can even to used as a mild, all-natural insect repellant.

I like using fresh lemongrass when cooking Thai or Peranakan dishes (like Tom Yum Soup and Prawns in Pineapple Gravy). I also like using fresh lemongrass to make drinks.

Iced lemongrass green tea is pretty easy to make.

Directions
1. Boil some water with a few stalks of bruised lemongrass
- Cut the lemongrass into 5cm pieces and bruise with the back of a knife
- You can add 3 - 4 stalks for every litre of water, depending on how strong you want the drink to be
- Boil for about 20 mins
2. Let the lemongrass water cool
3. In the meantime, put some green tea leaves on a strainer and pour hot water over it
- This is to clean the tea leaves.
4. Put the tea leaves into the lemongrass water and let it steep for at least 12 hours
- I usually bottle the mixture in an airtight bottle and leave it overnight in the fridge

Strain the tea leaves and you are ready to serve this drink. Add honey before serving if you like sweet drinks. I like it without any syrup or honey - it's healthier this way.

Steeping the tea in cold water overnight makes the tea taste different.

This way of making tea is also sometimes called "cold brewed tea" and yields sweeter cold tea, without the bitter aftertaste of iced tea made by cooling down tea brewed with hot water. This is because iced tea made this way has less tannins, which means less astringency.

I sometimes use just normal room temperature water instead of hot water in Step 3 as using hot water can make the tea a little more bitter.

Another benefit of making iced tea the "cold brewed" way is that the tea remains clear, unlike normal tea, which turns cloudy after you cool it down with ice.

A Country in Debt

2011-08-30T18:09:00.002+08:00

If you are a Singaporean and read Mandarin.. this article from a magazine in Hong Kong would be interesting for you.

Singapore has low foreign debt..

Is our debt low because the Singapore government borrows from it's citizens.. compulsorily through CPF?

Or is our tax high because CPF (compulsory savings for working Singaporeans) is money most of us are unlikely to ever get back in our life time?

Whatever you think, this is an interesting read.

負債大國新加坡 (2011年08月25日)

2014 Expectations

2011-08-29T22:50:00.004+08:00

It is likely that we'd be moving in 2014.

Now that is a long time away.. so I say "likely" because I don't think we are very sure yet.

It's a move to somewhere rather far (for Singapore) from where we are staying now.. so it's going to be a pretty big move.

I'm quite excited.

The packing and moving part scares me a little... and the thought of having to live on almost the other side of Singapore doesn't excite me too much. My family moved to this part of Singapore when I was about 10 and I feel like I've always been staying here. I know the roads and shops well.. and everything is familiar. Right now, that part of Singapore just looks too inconvenient to me.

It's strange to feel this reluctance about moving because I'm actually usually quite open to relocation. It didn't take me too long to buy in to the idea of moving to China a few years ago.. and it was the same when it came to moving back to Singapore. And I'm always opened to move to other countries..

Somehow though I feel that where we are now is the place to be in Singapore. It's strange.. but the feeling of reluctance is real.

Oh well, you never know how life turns out to be so let's see. 2014 is still quite some time away so that means we have lots of time to decide.

And in the meantime, I can look around and learn practical renovation and house decoration tips.

Hopefully our bathroom will look like this..

Drink Up

2011-08-29T09:00:00.000+08:00

Some of my colleagues jokingly call me a camel because I don't drink a lot of water.

Sometimes things get so busy at work that I forget to get myself a glass of water and don't drink anything for an entire day.

It's a really bad habit of course.

Happily I do like drinking water.. especially when it's freshened up with a slice of lemon and some fresh mint, like I did today.

We all know water is good for us.. but I think this website called "Dumb Little Man" has a really good article on water. The article puts forth very good reasons for drinking water - did you know that drinking water can help with weight loss, headaches and gives you more energy? Sounds like I really do need to drink up!

Simple Baked Chicken Leg

2011-08-28T20:58:00.002+08:00

When I'm not sure what to cook for dinner, I usually end up baking chicken.

Tonight's baked chicken was seasoned with sea salt, sweet soy sauce, white pepper and honey. And I baked it with some whole garlic, shallots and lemongrass. Baking it at about 190 deg C for 60 minutes makes it crispy on the outside, yet soft and tender inside.

It's nice to do a variation now and then of roasted/ baked chicken, although I have to say that my favourite is any baked chicken with herbs (like this chicken with lemon-myrtle and rosemary).

Hot Soup, Cold Drinks

2011-08-28T07:27:00.000+08:00

The weather has been really hot recently, and then these couple of days, it started raining and then drizzling a lot.

On days when the weather is uncomfortable, I think food can really help brighten up the day!

I love a bowl of hot soup on a rainy day. The Husband made my favourite golden fish soup recently. Even though that was just a couple of weeks ago, I was craving it again today.

But icy cold drinks taste great to me on all kinds of days in Singapore, whether hot or wet. Today, I made an iced pu'er tea with fresh lime juice. It was really yummy too... and it's healthy too unlike most iced drinks out there.

Today is a good start to a long weekend - I'm off work until Tuesday. It's a nice break because I have been feeling tired and frustrated at work recently.

A Noisy Quiet Holiday

2011-08-09T21:11:00.001+08:00

Today is Singapore's 46th birthday and hence a public holiday.

My family had plans for the day - we wanted to have a pot luck party at my mum's place and she'd make my favourite popiah (fresh spring roll).

Sadly, my mum had a bad fall in her bathroom on Sunday night and is now hospitalised and kept under observations. Thankfully, she seems to be improving - she definitely looks a lot better today compared to yesterday and should be discharged tomorrow.

So we ended up staying at home for most parts of today.. to rest and have a quiet day.

But our neighbours are having the big party we originally wanted to have. The party started this afternoon and there are yelling and crying children next door since this afternoon. It's pretty amazing to me how children can make that much noise. :)

Still, The Husband and I managed to have a good rest today and I found time to cook this baked balsamic chicken for dinner tonight.

Happy Cookies from Cookies Quartet

2011-08-06T18:51:00.000+08:00

Cookies are happy food to me.

And Cookies Quartet is one of my favourite places in the world for delicious, delicate cookies. Cookies Quartet is based in Hong Kong and is located at Kowloon City.

They sell a variety of flavours - my favourites are Hazelnut Pepper Cookies, Devil Chocolate Cookies and Blueberry Cookies.

They are also very famous for their palmiers. Palmiers, also called "Butterfly puffs" in Cantonese are made from puff pastry, similar to the dough used for croissant, but without the yeast. These are buttery, super light and crispy. The sugar/ honey layer on top of the palmier is sweet yet not too sweet. These are pretty dangerous snacks because it is really hard to stop eating them once you start.

Get a box of the cookies or palmiers the next time you travel to Hong Kong!

Cookies Quartet

Add: G/F, 9A Lion Rock Road, Kowloon City
Tel: +852-2382 2817

National Orchid Garden

2011-08-05T22:16:00.001+08:00

The National Orchid Garden at the Singapore Botanic Gardens is a pretty little garden with lots of different kinds of orchids.

I love the bright cheery colours of the orchids, especially the purple ones.

I'd let the pictures do the talking for this post.

Enjoy!

I love the bright purple coloured orchids

Everything with Fries

2011-08-04T23:16:00.000+08:00

Everything with Fries is a restaurant owned by the people who own Awfully Chocolate. The food is pretty good - I like the tandoori chicken sandwich I had very much.

But the restaurant's main star is fries and I must say their fries is delicious. I like the thinner shoe-string version better. The fries come in a variety of flavours - original, curry, salt and vinegar, sour-cream and onion, plus garlic and herbs.

I really liked the original flavoured fries - they were slightly spicy, slightly salty and I could hardly stop eating them.

This restaurant has a number of branches - I visited the one at Holland Village.

Original flavoured shoe string fries

Everything with Fries

Add: 40 Lorong Mambong, Holland Village
Tel: +65 6463 3741

Shopping for Flowers

2011-08-03T22:57:00.000+08:00

I love shopping.. for all kinds of things but shopping for flowers is different from shopping for other things. You are, after all, buying home something that has a life of its own. And so you will have to like how it looks.. and think about whether you are able to take good care of it.

World Farm is my favourite place for buying flowers.

I really enjoyed looking at all the beautiful plants they have at World Farm. For some reason, they grow them very well - the hibiscus, for example, have large beautiful leaves with HUGE flowers. Ms Flamenco used to be one of those beautiful hibiscus plant.. In my balcony now though, she is skinny, with smaller leaves and smaller flowers.

I haven't had too much time lately for gardening, so I decided to bring home just a few new plants.

A mini orchid my sister-in-law brought home.

I like it so much!

My Favourite Things

2011-07-26T22:25:00.002+08:00

Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad

----------------------------------------------------------------

I'm in a bad mood today all day because of frustrations at work. But this song is right - thinking about things I like helps!

What are some of your favourite things?

I have lots.. some of it includes.. chocolate lava cake, a cup of hot floral tea, a good book, a breezy evening, a pair of comfy and pretty new shoes, the sound of waves, cheery flowers in the garden and freshly baked cakes..

A freshly baked soufflé by The Husband

Lan Fong Yuen in Tsim Sha Tsui

2011-07-25T22:23:00.002+08:00

I always like shops that bring you back into childhood days. Lan Fong Yuen (蘭芳園) is definitely a shop like that.

For one, the shop itself looks like it comes from the past.. Even this outlet in a spanking new mall at Tsim Sha Tsui. (The original shop is at Central)

The shop is famous for "Lou Ting" (撈丁), which means "Stirred Instant Noodles" (撈出前一丁). 出前一丁 is a famous instant noodles brand in Hong Kong, manufactured by Nissin. The instant noodles are boiled, drained and then tossed with some sauce. It is then topped with chicken or pork, eggs and a ginger scallion mix.

"Stirred Instant Noodles" reminds me of the instant noodles dishes my sister and I used to make when we were much younger. Back then, instant noodles are our "specialty" and we would always add a fried egg or sausage in our noodles. Our "brand of choice" back then was not Nissin but Myojo.

Lan Fong Yuen is also famous for their milk tea. Some say they serve the best in HK but I never order milk tea at Lan Fong Yuen.

I like my milk tea with bread from Kam Hua. Instead, I'd order 7-Up with Salty Lemon (檸七). Salty lemon is preserved lemon and it is salty and sour, making it perfect with iced-cold, sweet 7-Up. This drink reminds me of how I used to insist having salt in my 7-Up as a kid!

Lan Fong Yuen also sell boxes of homemade salty lemon so you can bring them home to make this excellent beverage!

Salty lemon with 7-Up

Lou-Ding - with braised chicken wings, fried eggs and vegetables.

The ginger scallion mix is most delicious

Lan Fong Yuen (蘭芳園)

36-44 Nathan Road
Shop 26, LG, Chung King Mansion (Woodhouse)
Tsim Sha Tsui

Top 10 buys from Singapore - Part 3

2011-07-24T13:43:00.000+08:00

Continued from Part 2

6. Hai's Mee Siam Paste
Mee Siam is actually a noodle dish made with rice vermicelli in a spicy, sweet and sour light gravy. It is often served with eggs, beansprouts and dried beancurd.

Hai's Mee Siam Paste is my favourite. They can be found at most large supermarkets. I like their laksa paste as well but their mee siam paste is the best.

7. Orchids
The national flower is Ms Vanda Joaqium, a type of orchid, of course.

If you can bring home some fresh orchids (you can buy them at the airport), it's great. But if you are looking for something a little more lasting, I think that Risis' gold plated orchids make beautiful gifts.

8. Flip Flops
Maybe it is the casual way Singaporeans like to dress.. maybe it's the hot weather.. In any case, flip flips are the preferred footwear for many Singaporeans.

I seldom wear flip flops myself.. but when I do, I wear Ripples flip flops, of course.. And of course, these are 100% designed in Singapore!

9. Pandan Chiffon Cake
Pandan is a tropical plant used widely in Southeast Asian cuisine. The leaves are green and fragrant and also strangely a natural repellent for cockroaches.

But don't be mistaken, pandan chiffon cake is delicious! They dry out pretty quickly so it's best to buy them at the airport before you leave Singapore. Bangawan Solo, a popular bakery chain store, has outlets in Terminal 1, 2 and 3 of the Changi Airport.

10. Yu Sheng packs
Yu Sheng, also known as Lo Hei (or Prosperity Toss)is a Chinese-style raw fish salad. It usually consists of strips of raw fish (most commonly salmon), mixed with shredded vegetables and a variety of sauces, condiments and even crackers.

Around the Chinese New Year season (from January to February), supermarkets all around Singapore begin to sell packs of the ingredients you would need for Yu Sheng. You only need to shred some cucumber, carrots and add some raw salmon slices to enjoy Yu Sheng at home.

Homemade Yu Sheng - My parents don't eat raw fish so we usually add abalone instead.

We like adding shredded carrots, radishes and cucumber to this salad.

The rest of the ingredients come from the Yu Sheng pack.

Top off the salad with the crackers, sauce and peanuts from the Yu Sheng pack

and the salad is ready for tossing!

A Little Blue Surprise

2011-07-24T12:56:00.001+08:00

I haven't been tending to my plants too much recently.

Some of them are doing pretty well.. some not so well.

It's just been too hot to stay long outside these days. That's my excuse anyway.

So it was lovely to get a little surprise in my balcony today. I have this plant in a pot I don't remember much about - the plant flowered today and the flowers are a lovely blue!

The blue surprise in my balcony

Ciders are best for hot days like today! The Cider Pit
(382 Joo Chiat Road) is a good place for ciders and artisan beers
This pear cider is very nice!

Top 10 buys from Singapore - Part 2

2011-07-21T23:06:00.003+08:00

Thank you to those who responded to my question on what are the top buys from Singapore.

The top 10 buys in my list are very similar - mostly food items as well.

Whether you are buying a small souvenir for friends or a really nice gift from Singapore - I hope this list will be useful to you.

1) Bak Kwa, or Barbequed Pork
Bak Kwa, or barbequed pork, is somewhat similar to beef jerky. It is thin slices of barbequed pork that is a little salty, rather sweet, somewhat dried but yet juicy and coated with honey and oil. It is in short, yummy.

These are very popular around the Chinese New Year period, and their prices and the queue for them really go up during the festive season. The best place to get these are from Lim Chee Guan - the old store is located in Chinatown but they have a branch right smack in the centre of town, in Ion at Orchard Road.

2) Kaya, or Coconut Jam
Kaya is coconut jam that is made from coconut milk, eggs and sugar. It can either come in a greenish colour (flavoured with pandan, a fragrant type of leaves used in many South east asian bakes) or brown colour (flavoured with palm sugar).

The most popular kaya amongst tourists will be Ya-kun. Ya-kun is a chain store selling traditional coffee and kaya toasts. Their outlets can be found everywhere - from the airport to most shopping malls. I don't like buying their jam for my friends though - they have a short shelf life and expire all too soon. If I have to, I'd buy the mini bottles from Ya-kun.

My preferred choice for friends would be kaya from Glory Food. These can be found in most large supermarkets.

3) Prima Taste
Prima Taste is a Singapore brand that produces ready-to-cook pastes and premixes. I find that their "Complete Sauce Kits" make wonderful gifts. When I was living in Beijing, I love to use their Laksa kit and Chicken Rice kit to whip up food that really taste as good as those you'd find in Singapore.

They also sell very good pre-mix and noodles. The Sister-in-law love their latest product - Laksa La-mian. This is packaged like a single pack of instant noodles and taste almost like a really good bowl of laksa!

4) Purple Gold
If you are looking for a really nice gift, I think purple gold is a great idea. Purple gold is pioneered in Singapore and is an alloy made of 80% gold and 20% other metal components... and it is of course, purple. It is more expensive than your normal yellow or white gold and is usually used in small parts of an accessory (e.g. a flower or butterfly). It can be found in local jewellery stores like Lee Hwa and Goldheart.

5) Singapore Shawl
This is another item that can make a good gift from Singapore.

Shawls are pretty common everywhere but this Singapore brand makes really delicate shawls with designs of the National Flower of Singapore. Personally, I like their simpler shawls with bits of Swarovski Crystal or little embroidered flowers.

These shawls are not really cheap but they do make special gifts for mothers, sisters, aunties or girlfriends.

To be continued in next post..

My version of homemade fried laksa, made with store-bought laksa paste

Top 10 buys from Singapore - Part 1

2011-07-19T21:50:00.000+08:00

I have family and friends who sometimes travel to Singapore.

And sometimes, I fly to where they are to visit them.

Very often, I try to buy them a nice souvenir from Singapore..

But it is very hard to think of something special to get.

Well, I decided I'd compile a list here on my blog so that others like me can have more ideas about what to get from Singapore for their friends.

Do you have any ideas you'd like to share?

Sometimes, I feel like buying Singapore food over for my friends

Busy busy busy

2011-07-14T22:02:00.001+08:00

I've been busy busy busy.

Has it only been 2 weeks since I got back to work from my block leave?

It feels like it was 2 months ago.

The next 2 days though will be interesting though - I'd be participating in a volunteer program where I'd be helping to build some houses!

Bet I'd be looking forward to icy desserts after a day of hard work! :)

What's wrong with the photos?

2011-07-12T23:14:00.001+08:00

Notice something about these pictures?

One of them is not right...

Let me know what you think.. and I'd share what's the problem..

Updated on 13 July:

Well.. firstly these photos are all taken by me and no.. I wasn't in a production for Harry Potter.. The third photo is the problematic one because firstly the trolley says it belongs to Times Square and secondly the Hogwarts Express is in the middle of Times Square in HK.

There was actually a display of Harry Potter related props at Times Square - from a small section of Diagon Ally to the Hogwarts Express.

And then of course, there was Dobby.

I'm so looking forward to Sunday, when I'd finally be able to catch the finale of the movie series.

Genki Sushi in HK

2011-07-12T23:02:00.001+08:00

There are 2 things I think they do in better in Hong Kong. (Not that we do everything else better here but these are the 2 things I think there is little debate required)

The first being the bus system. Singapore buses are infrequent and makes far too many stops. Quite a pain to travel on and most of us would take the subway anytime.
It takes an hour and a half for me to travel from my place to my grandma's place on a weekend and really, Singapore is far too small to warrant such travel time.

Hong Kong bus network is excellent - short waiting times during peak hours and most have very well designed routes.

The second is Genki Sushi. Genki Sushi HK serves fresh sushi and offers a vast menu, with seasonal specials.

The one in Singapore, if Genki sushi is still here in Singapore at all really isn't that good.

Each time I go Hong Kong, I'd frequent the Genki sushi near where we stay. Unfortunately, it is wildly popular with the residents in the estate and sometimes the queues are just too ridiculous.

I managed to have a meal there last trip and after a few photos, I kind of forgot about photo taking! So as you can see, the food is really quite delicious.

Ugly Flourless Cake

2011-07-11T21:08:00.000+08:00

This cake is called the Ugly Cake.

It also has no flour so it is not only ugly, but flourless.

The Brother-in-law loves this cake though and after eating one at our place, he politely asked if he could pack home a slice.

My mother says it's like eating a piece of soft chocolate, which is I think by far the closest description to what eating this cake feels like.

This is of course another bake by The Husband and I think it's by far his personal favourite. I have no favourites. So far, I've enjoyed every single cake and dessert.

Souffle Au Fromage

2011-07-10T13:01:00.001+08:00

We bought a delicious souffle-like cheesecake from a Japanese fair sometime back and it was super light and delicious but also rather pricey.

The Husband made a similar cake yesterday.

He got his recipe from this cookbook by a famous Japanese pastry chef. This cake is made very much the way you would make a souffle - by beating egg whites to a soft peak and then adding in cheese. Unlike a souffle, it is baked in a water-bath for a rather long time (about 70 mins), so the cake doesn't raise very much but yet has a souffle-like texture.

A similar recipe I'd like to try would be this. The cake in this recipe looks very much like those you'd find in Japanese cake shops.

The cake didn't look very impressive but oh it was really very good - it was airy light with a hint of cheese, eggs and lemon. This is a truly melt in your mouth type of cake.

I had 2 big slices and briefly considered going for a third.

With such frequent bakes happening in our kitchen, I'm getting lots of opportunities to practice my photo taking skills of food!

The Singapore Botanic Gardens

2011-07-07T22:23:00.003+08:00

During my block leave last week, I went to the Botanical Gardens to have lunch with some friends at the Halia Restaurant (Halia is Malay word for Ginger).

I haven't been to the botanical gardens for many years, so I decided to visit it again one evening for a stroll with The Husband.

The Singapore Botanical Gardens is a really nice garden to visit... but it is really too hot to take a stroll in the gardens at any time other than early morning or evening.

Come along for a stroll with me here, in the comfort of your home.. or wherever it is you are reading this from.

The garden is really rather big - we only covered a part of it that day

Swan Lake - a couple of swans and lots of turtles. Should have been called Turtle Lake

The famous 5 dollar tree. This tree appears on the Singapore 5 dollar note.

I really like the long branch of this tree

The Singapore flower - Vanda Ms Joaqium

These flowers are grown in an area built like a little maze.

It's really quite pretty!

The sky was beautiful that day

I like the fiery shade of this flower

Last picture I took before heading off to dinner. I'd be back soon again!

Dragons, Weapons and....

2011-07-04T21:37:00.003+08:00

A few colleagues and I went over to a fellow colleague's apartment about 2 Sundays back.

I was MOST impressed with this bachelor's apartment.

Not because he lived in a really lovely condo with a balcony right when you walk into his apartment.

And not because of the dragons he kept at his place.

Figurine dragons, that is.. He had really impressive looking ones with 3 heads and multiple wings. I really liked them but they weren't the most impressive creatures around.

The number of weapons and uniforms he had in his apartment was probably one of the largest private collection I've come across.

And I dare say even some museums (ahem, I won't say which ones) probably do not have as many in their collection. He really had A LOT of weapons.. and A LOT A LOT of uniforms. All kinds of military uniforms really - from second world war ones to Singapore's own SAF ones to Japanese samurai ones. The collection he has was really quite jaw dropping.

But even those wasn't what impressed me the most.

What impressed me the most were the number of pots this guy had.

And the number of baking trays.

These were top quality cast iron pots.. and a really interesting and wide collection of baking trays..

(Did I even think I had a lot of baking trays? I'd never feel guilty over my collection again.. even if I haven't used half of the trays I have.)

Happily, all the pots and trays were not just for decoration but very much used by their owner. This colleague of mine loves cooking and he can really cook very well too, if I may add.

He made a beautiful roasted beef with herbs and red wine, vegetables in a delicious white sauce and a special sort of dumpling made of fresh baguette crumbs.

For starters, we had a simple but yummy prawns in spicy sesame oil. And for dessert, we had a very nice sour cream cake with peach slices.

He has generously shared his recipes with me, so I'd be making some of these soon and will share those on my blog.

For now, enjoy the pictures from this very impressive apartment.

A colourful dragon with 3 heads

Another one with many heads.. I liked the colour of this dragon..

Just a few of the weapons on display - all with the

appropriate licenses when he shipped them to Singapore

This reminds me of the Last Samurai.

I'm intrigued by the different coloured feet.. :P

The amazing collection of baking trays.. Some I really like too!

I had a great big urge to rush off to do some shopping after seeing these

The most impressive collection of cast iron pots.

This photo doesn't show all the pots he had!

Delicious roast beef swimming in red wine

Very interesting and filling dumplings

I hate cauliflower but this white sauce made even cauliflower nice! Pretty amazing

The roast beef sliced - see how he pushed in bits of garlic into the meat?

These garlic tasted good!

My lovely dinner at N's place.

End of a Nearly Perfect Week

2011-07-03T21:56:00.004+08:00

I had a nearly perfect week.

One week off work.

6 working days to be very precise.

6 days of not thinking about work (well, I did a little.. but just very little... not more than 10 minutes, I hope..).

I feel really refreshed now... like I've got my "gumption" back.

It was almost perfect.

I went to HK for a few days and did all the things I wanted to do there.. Then I came back and met a few blogger friends for lunch.. went swimming a couple of times.. read a lot of magazines.. had my facial.. went shopping on a weekday.. had lots of great desserts at home.. watched lots of TV.. went for a stroll at the botanical gardens.. took naps.. had some beers.. played some computer games..

Basically, I didn't achieve very much this week, which was exactly what I wanted.

But I also fell sick mid-week and have been coughing since then. So that affected my week a little.

Still, it had been a good break and now, I feel I'm ready to charge!

Of course, I know I'd be swamped at work over the next week and I'd feel like I never had this break.. but at least I feel good for now.. :)

Molten Chocolate Cake

2011-07-03T13:30:00.001+08:00

The Husband baked this today.

This has been on my to-bake list since forever.. and I've not done it.. The Husband spoke about this yesterday and I got to eat it for tea this afternoon.

I'm such a procrastinator!

This cake really yummy - it has a really rich chocolate taste. The centre is not as molten in that it didn't flow right out.. but it was lava-like enough... somewhat like very soft egg yolk.

I should challenge The Husband to make souffle next!

He used his own recipe for this cake. The one I wanted to bake was the Big Melt-down recipe from Kitchen Tigress.

More Homemade Desserts

2011-07-03T10:37:00.001+08:00

The Husband is on a roll.

He made quite a number of desserts yesterday.

The strawberry dessert is a variation of the mango one he made earlier in the week. The egg pudding is nice - I love the bottle that it was made in.

The coconut cookies are really nice too. These are made by shaping each cookie by hand.

At this rate, I can forget about my diet.

Layered strawberry dessert. This is not as sweet as
the mango one but that's why I like it!

Strawberry mousse

Egg Pudding

Coconut cookies

These are shaped by hand

Patisserie Tony Wong

2011-07-02T17:20:00.005+08:00

Kowloon City is an old part of Hong Kong where the old Kai Tak airport used to be. It is home to lots of old shops in Hong Kong, including lots of places I like - like really good Thai restaurants, Big Wife Beef Noodles (best beef noodles), really good fruit stalls, a very traditional and nice dim sum restaurant, a good tea shop.. and now this...

Patisserie Tony Wong.

This place has given me another reason to like Kowloon City.

Tony Wong is a famous pastry chef in Hong Kong. I've seen him in action on some cooking show before - he may be boring but he can sure bake and create all kinds of wonderful looking pastries.

I liked everything I saw in his shop but I only had the stomach for 1, so I chose a very pretty looking raspberry choux pastry.

The shop doesn't have any seats but if you want to eat your pastry right there, they'd give you a nice little tray and you can stand at a little bar by the counter to polish up when you ordered.

A little awkward, really.. but I couldn't care less that day. I took my camera out and snapped away at the pastry, before eating it reluctantly. It looked so pretty I couldn't bear to take my first bite!

The raspberry part was fantastic - the raspberry went very well with the sweet jelly-like thing that was piped into the middle of each fruit. The pastry was a little tough for my liking but it was filled with a really nice vanilla creme.

Doesn't this look pretty?

I liked the jelly-like thing in the middle of the raspberry

and the vanilla jam in the middle of the choux pastry

I will be going back again to try more cakes, that's for sure.

The house specialty is the rose-like cake - It is beautiful and would make a lovely gift, I think.

Patisserie Tony Wong

Add: 74 Fok Lo Tsun Road, Kowloon City
Tel: (852) 2382 6639

Yung Kee Restaurant in Hong Kong

2011-07-01T23:29:00.003+08:00

I'm not quite sure why I haven't blogged about Yung Kee Restaurant before. This is such a famous restaurant that almost everyone I know who've been to Hong Kong has visited this store.

Yung Kee is famous for its roasted goose. Roasted goose is not a dish you can find in Singapore - roasted chicken and duck are extremely common in Singapore. But roasted goose.. I don't believe it is available in Singapore at all.

I am not a great fan of roasted goose, although I must say the one at Yung Kee taste pretty good. The fat content of goose is higher than poultry and most other game birds, hence it taste crispy, juicy but yet chewy after roasting.

Apart from the roasted goose, all other dishes we ordered that day were good.

The char siew (or barbequed pork) was excellent even to me - someone who doesn't fancy pork. This was The Husband's favourite dish that night.

The wanton (dumpling) soup was also good - their wantons are made very delicately, into small bitesize pieces. They resemble tiny goldfish and are called "goldfish wantons". We also had sweet and sour pork, vegetables with 3 kinds of eggs and fried squid. Every dish had a fan and my whole family enjoyed our dinner a lot.

My favourite dish of the night had to be the starter - century eggs with pickled ginger. The century eggs at Yung Kee is especially good and it is a must-eat item. The owner of the restaurant deliberately picks century eggs that have been preserved for a certain number of days to ensure that every century egg you eat at Yung Kee has a soft-centre (think soft boiled eggs).

So if you ever visit Yung Kee - remember to order the century eggs and the roasted goose, if nothing else. I would also highly recommend the char siew and wanton soup.

P/S: Do also drop me a note to tell me if you can find a place in Singapore selling char siew of similar quality. The Husband has been searching for a place with good char siew for a while now..

The top 4 dishes at Yung Kee

Yung Kee Restaurant

Add: 32-40 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2522 1624

Gobi Dessert, not Gobi Desert

2011-07-01T11:49:00.000+08:00

Ting recommended this place and Petunia said she has been there 5 time since.

How could I not visit this place?

So The Husband and I decided to skip lunch yesterday and go straight for desserts.

The menu is pretty limited but everything looked good. I wanted to try the souffle and creme brulee as well, but in the end I opted for Black Forest Torte. The Husband chose the Passion Mango Crepe Stack.

I quite liked the Black Forest Torte. The vanilla ice-cream was very good - strong in vanilla taste and silky smooth. The cake was pretty nice. The chocolate layer was interesting - it's baked but tasted like it was too light to be cake. I found out later that it is actually baked mousse. The baked mousse and creme anglaise give the dessert an interesting light texture. Personally, I felt a little more contrast in texture would have made this dessert a lot more memorable.

Unfortunately, I didn't quite like the Passion Mango Crepe Stack. The crepes were nice and thin but they were layered with meringue that was overly sweet (as all meringues are) and passion fruit cream that was overly sour. The the middle of the dessert was some mixed berry compote which I quite liked. The sorbet was also very good, so the dessert wasn't that bad after all. But it wouldn't be something I'd order again.

As I left the shop, I asked myself if I would come back.

Hm.. at $9 - $12 a dessert, Gobi Cakes isn't exactly cheap. But it is a nice place to hang out for tea or desserts after dinner.. and they serve freshly baked souffle, which I love, so I guess I'd be going back again to try a couple more desserts before deciding if I like the place.

Gobi Cakes

Add: 350 Joo Chiat Road, Singapore 427598
Tel: 6345 2127

Mango Delight Dessert

2011-06-30T10:06:00.001+08:00

This is the other dessert The Husband made yesterday.

There are 3 layers in this dessert - vanilla panna cotta at the bottom, mango cubes in the middle and mango mousse on the top.

My favourite is the panna cotta layer - silky smooth with real vanilla beans.

Yummy!

Chocolate Almond Cookies

2011-06-29T21:12:00.000+08:00

I had a girls day out today with some of my fellow blogger friends.

The Husband was at home and he mentioned that he'd be making some desserts.

One of them was a batch of these chocolate almond cookies. These look so delicate and classy. I liked how the silvers of sliced almonds contrast against the dark brown colour of the cookies. They taste pretty good too - crispy and not too sweet.

The Husband refuses to share his recipe so I'd just have to be contented with eating them. These would go great with a cup of cappuccino.

Duck Shing Ho Coconut Egg Rolls

2011-06-29T19:58:00.001+08:00

These egg rolls are hard to get.

Really.

You either order them in advance (I hear the queue is about 2 weeks) or queue up for them from 9 am in the morning.

Dubbed by many as the "Best Egg Rolls" in Hong Kong, these egg rolls from Duck Shin Ho (德成號) are popular with both tourists and locals. A popular TV artiste and food critic in Hong Kong highly recommends this place and once said that she can finish an entire tin at one go whilst watching TV.

The Sister-in-law bought us a box last weekend. Duck Shing Ho sells 3 flavours - Original, butter and coconut. The coconut flavour is the most popular and is the flavour she got for us.

These egg rolls look very different from the Singapore/ Malaysia ones which are very crispy and thin. These are a lot thicker and hence more substantial. Crispy yet flaky, these aren't too sweet and taste very eggy, with a hint of coconut milk. The egg flavour is strong yet not too over powering. And it is not at all oily. I can understand why these egg rolls are so popular.

I won't say that these are the best egg rolls I've ever had (Sorry, I still prefer the ones my grandma made when I was young) but these are yummy and make great souvenirs for family and friends when visiting Hong Kong. See below for address and store hours.

德成號 Duck Shing Ho

北角渣華道64號地下
G/F., 64 Java Raod, North Point
Tel: (+852) 2570 5529/2571 5049
Opening Hours: Mon to Sat 930am to 700pm

Block leave

2011-06-28T22:21:00.000+08:00

I'm on block leave for the week.

In Singapore banks, block leave is mandated by the Central Bank. For some banks, it's mandatory to take at least 2 continuous weeks off every year. For the bank I work for, it's 1 week.

Thank God for the Monetary Authority of Singapore for this policy because this one week is so precious to me. During this one week, I'm not allowed to go in to work, log in from home, or basically do anything about work.

Which is a good thing because I have been feeling burnt out recently.

I have a million things I want to do this week.. which I know will end up spoiling my week off. So, I'm just going to take things slowly this week.. enjoy doing some of the things I like.

Like enjoying a soft cream in the mall on a weekday

Homemade Rice Dumplings

2011-06-23T22:10:00.001+08:00

No one makes rice dumplings like my grandmother and my mum.

My grandmother's rice dumplings are out of this world... And my mum's the best in the world.

According to me, of course.

Some may feel that my mum's dumplings can be a bit too bland (she is very conservative with her salt) or that the meat is not fatty enough and hence too dry.

But I still think the world of her rice dumplings anyway.

Firstly because she does it out of love - it's a lot of work and she uses her rest day to make them for us.

Plus it has that familiar smell and taste to it I really like.

In our family, rice dumplings must contain chestnuts, mushrooms, pork and pounded dried shrimps. The filling is the same, but we'd have 2 kinds of dumplings - one with just plain glutinous rice and another with glutinous rice and red beans. The latter is my favourite - yum!

But it is a lot of hard work to make them though.

Due to work commitments and other reasons, we are late in making these rice dumplings this year.. but.. better late than never!

What goes inside the bak zhang

Late Nights and Take-Home Dinner

2011-06-17T00:21:00.001+08:00

I have been feeling most unhealthy recently.

Since I came back from my business trip, I have been working rather long hours, eating dinner at late hours and not doing any exercise at all.

I feel tired, pale and flabby.

Not a good feeling.

Happily, this situation should end by next Friday and I'd be flying to Hong Kong for the weekend and then taking the rest of the following week off.

My plans for that week will be to go swimming, hit the gym and meet up with friends for high-tea. All very very healthy things to do.

In the meantime though, I'd have to stick to my take-home dinners. Mostly, the food hasn't been that bad. Tonight's dinner was hot and spicy noodles from Asian Kitchen and it is pretty good.

The noodles were cold and clumpy by the time I got home

but the hot and spicy soup was very good

Sugar Sweet Alphonso Mangoes

2011-06-15T21:57:00.000+08:00

I remember reading from The Travelling Hungryboy about these and when we saw some at Mustafa in Little India, we brought a box of 12 home. These were pretty small, inspite of the "King Size" label on the front of the box.

These Alphonso mangoes from India are the sweetest mangoes I've eaten.

They don't look very good, I must say. But the flesh looked promising once you cut them open. And they were so sweet and so juicy... and also milky.. you couldn't stop eating them. Which is a good thing because they do ripen very quickly

These are by far the best mangoes I've ever had.

I'd be going by again to buy a box of Jumbo ones (9 instead of 12 in a box). Both kinds cost about S$20 a box. Apparently these are in season in April and May so if I don't hurry, I'd have to wait til next year.

Colourful M&Ms

2011-06-15T21:26:00.000+08:00

This is one of my favourite buys from New York - a bag of M&Ms!

In fact, I always buy some of these different coloured M&Ms whenever I travel to the US.

In the US, you can even go online and customise your own M&Ms. You can select from 20+ colours and print your own messages on these M&Ms.

Cool huh?

I got hooked the first time I saw these about 10 years ago.

I always like pink ones. What colour would you like your M&Ms in?