Ichiban Boshi and a date with Ugly

Miso Soup with Scallops, Enoki and Shitake Mushrooms

Met my good friend J on Saturday for a day out and maybe a movie. So off to PS i went and was kinda looking forward to it because it has been a long time since i went out.. sigh this internship is really hard work..

Anyhoo.. met her at PS and found out that all the seats to the movie were really bad ones so we decided on food.. mind you this was at about 3 in the afternoon.. we just shrugged it off as early dinner .. yar right... well i hadn't had lunch so food was a justifiable option for me...

On the third floor, i had to choose between Manhattan Fish Market and Ichiban Boshi...hmmm heavenly fried oysters or healthy Japanese food .. J kinda led me towards the healthy stuff...

Now when you go to a Sushi restaurant with a Sushi train, how can you not eat from the train !!!.. i mean where's the logic in that ???.. we got a seat that had no access to the train.. and i was like .. wot' the ?!? J was like ..oh you can order from the menu.. and i was like but where's the fun in that ... well J didn't want the sushi train.. she wanted to have a Premium Meal... hmm interesting selling tactic.. don't call it a set meal.. call it a premium meal and people will feel more important.. okay well i'm blabbering right now... lets get to the food

Salmon Sashimi

The food was good. There were so many sets.. oh sorry .. premium meals. I really wanted salmon sashimi and there was a set of salmon sashimi and scallops.. hmm i've tried the fake fried ones at another sushi restaurant and thought ... hmm i'd like to try the real ones with the egg and the shell....so my set was Salmon Sashimi, Chawanmushi, Miso soup with scallops, teriyaki chicken with rice and fruit. Oh boy that was a lot of food.. J helped a bit with the soup..

The Salmon Sashimi was acceptable.. firm, not very sweet.. dipped in the soy sauce with floating wasabi bits.. it was enough to satisfy me.. i've had far superior salmon at hotels thus the rating... the miso soup was good.. but it was tooo hot.. it came in that mini steamboat looking pot and it was boiling .. 100 Degrees Celsius when i scooped it with my spoon.. sigh.. i don't enjoy hot food. it just burns my tongue and renders my taste buds useless for the next few days.. i wasn't going to let that happen, so i blew and blew and blew and slurp.. yikes it was still hot .. but not hot enough to burn.. after i wiped a bit of tear, i tried the chawanmushi.. OMG !!!! it was so yummy.. SMOOTH is an understatement ..it was velvety and not too 'eggy' .. the piece of tori and crab stick was a nice anticipated 'surprise' no vermicelli just all the goodness of chawanmushi.. go try it ... it is worth all the cents..

Teriyaki Chicken with Rice

The teriyaki chicken rice was different. Most of the time teriyaki meat is grilled and slathered in teriyaki marinate that has a good balance between sweet and salty but sometimes veers towards the sweet side. This teriyaki chicken was bits fried in a batter and then stir fried with the teriyaki marinade.. caramelising the sugar and making it different .. it was very similar to something my tenant once made for me when i was studying down under.

After our meal, we decided walking was the only way the food was going to get digested. We walked all the way from PS to Tangs which really isn't that far.. on the way dropped by Taka to pick up my mom's watch and i wanted to get a Mac product. I walked in the store and a gay assistant walked out.. i think almost every Mac counter has one.. i have nothing against them .. heck i have a gay friend in Aussie but somehow in Singapore i get intimidated by them.. anyway the girl that served had no interest in serving and i lost my interest in buying .. to bad Mac you lost one customer because of that b!@# !

*Rolling eyes* we reached Tangs and J got herself a white T-shirt for her course in Switzerland.. jealous !!! but she's my best friend here and she deserves it .. so hoorah to J... then we went to Wheelock for dessert.. ooh the best part i say...

Mochamisu .. (Tiramisu Cheesecake with Mocha Ice Cream)

NYDC is a great place for desserts. I love reading the quirky comments in their menu. J went for a coffee rich dessert. Well i guess that was my fault, she was looking at the same thing i was looking at and she changed her selection. she's so sweet.... Mine was the Ebony Cake aka the Ugly Cake .. and the quirky comment was that it would be so chocolaty that they would have to peel us off the ceiling.. now how can you miss on that ... i just had to have it...

It came and it was humongous .. but being the greedy little person i am .. albeit J's few nibbles here and there i polished the plate clean ! It was to die for !!! The cake is served warm with a chocolate glaze that has a shimmer that would make the most shimmery eyeshadow blush..okay okay a bit of an exaggeration here.. but it was THAT good !!! each layer is soaked in syrup and then drizzled with Hershey's sauce and served with NYDC's home made ice cream .. i chose chocolate... i am going to stop here .. just go try this cake even if you are half the chocoholic i am !!!

behold The Ugly Cake

Life is a box of Chocolates .. NOT !!!

Box from Canele at Raffles City

The beauties inside.. Macarons

Was thinking about macarons and remembered the time when i rushed to City Hall to get HS a box of macarons because she's never tried one before. My pants were one quarter wet by the time i reached the cold basement of Raffles City. Standing in front of the elegent boxy showcase at Canele, i just wanted all the macaron flavours they had.. so i just started picking one by one and after sometime the lady stopped me saying i needed just one more to fill a box.. oohh.. a box... nice !!! but i had to pay for the box.. what the heck i thought to myself.. next time i wouldn't buy the box cos the butter cream stains it and i had no choice but to discard ... sobz

By the time i reached the office, there was about 15 mins of lunch left. So HS prepared her coffee while i 'briefed' her of the flavours.. starting from the top coffe, pistachio, rose, coffee, orange, yam (i think), hazelnut, rose, salty caramel, vanilla and rasberry... my favourite has to be the salty caramel.. sweet and salty ... is there a better balance in the world... sigh but most of whom i offered the macarons to found it too sweet .. hmph amatuers i thought to myself.. i shall just keep spreading the love of macarons no matter what..

Cuppycakes

Close up of the Carrotcake Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting

It was a lazy Sunday morning, we were all at our table reminiscing about each others past and looking at my mom's wedding saris.. oh god they're beautiful.. anyways mom began lunch and i remembered that i had a block of cream cheese in the refrigerator..hmmm was battling between making Red Velvet cupcakes or carrotcake ones ... eventually i chose Nigella's carrotcake cupcakes because it sounded real easy...

I had G to help me in the kitchen .. though he was more of a voyeur than participant .. so i started grating the carrot and it's so wierd that you don't really taste the carrot or courgettes for that matter in cakes that carry these ingredients.. just makes the whole thing sound healthier .. hahaha a little less guilt maybe.. then again the mound of cream cheese frosting might suggest otherwise.. hmmm.. wateva...so in went the brown sugar and i poured the oil in.. my bad honestly for not removing the lumps in the sugar first .. grumble grumble.. i had to pass the whole mixture through a sieve to get rid of the lumps.. then the eggs .. one after another and then the flour and the spices. I didn't have any walnuts at home .. so i put in some flaked almonds...

A buoquet of cupcakes

When it came to frosting the little jems, i remembered watching this video on you tube about mother's day cupcakes by a chef from the Culinary Institute of America and i wanted to try it out.. my tip was a bit too small but i think they worked out pretty alright .. i remember telling G my ideal job would be to get paid for doing this .. well anyway about the cupcakes ... wad do you think ?