Indian Food in Hong Kong 2008

Woodlands Indian Restaurant in Hong Kong

It was all my Mom's fault. She was vegetarian during the trip and insisted that i brought her to Woodlands an Indian restaurant that she found in the travel books we had borrowed from the library. We tried to find it the second day but to no avail. On the second attempt the third day, a nice security guard pointed us in the right direction. Apparently the restaurant had shifted. Thank goodness it was only to the next building so we didn't mind the walk.

South Indian Tali Set

I must have had something to eat earlier because i remember not wanting to have anything. Mom on the other hand ordered a Tali set.. it comes with rice, Indian bread (poori), papadums, 6 or 7 dhals and vegetable dishes, yogurt, pickle and payasum.

Poori is just a dough made with flour and water, rolled really thin and deep fried. As it fries, it magically puffs up and stays that way until its surface is broken with hungry fingers.

Payasum is vermicelli cooked in milk and sweetened with jaggery or cane sugar. Sometimes, fried cashews and raisins or sago balls are added for texture.

I was rolling my eyes the whole time because i could not substabtiate having Indian food in Hong Kong. It was all for my mom. I hope she knows that.

Kulfi

I could only think of having dessert to keep me sane. So I had Indian ice cream, better known as Kulfi. It was the traditional ice cream served in India when refrigeration was not yet invented. So its much harder than than the ice cream we know. It's super creamy and dense. The one i had was flavoured with pitachios and cardomons. Mmm. very Indian.. very nice. Made me a tad bit happier.

Hong Kong Trip 2008

Streets of Hong Kong

Was working late at the office and happened to be browsing through my photos when i found pictures of Hong Kong ! It had been a trip me and my mother had taken last year thanks to the generosity of the firm i'm interning at right now. And seriously there could be no better timing given that Mom is going to Hong Kong next week for an audit. Sigh .. i'm going to miss her..

Tarts Galore

I vaguely remember reaching Hong Kong somewhere in the evening and we were planning to go explore but ended up falling asleep with some Korean channel on TV running throughout the night. Oops demerit points for wasting electricity.

On the second day, we took a ride from the hotel and dropped off at Tsim Sa Tsui, a famous boulevard in Hong Kong. So we walked and walked aimlessly and it was a great feeling. Albeit the frosty drafts every now and then, it was winter, the shining sun over the bay area warmed our faces. It was wonderful and time for breakfast. As we walked, we came upon a streetside bakery with a myriad of tarts and buns. Yummy !

Mom had a cheesy twist whilst i had a milk tart.. i mean its the second thing i'm having in Hong Kong (i skipped the first cos i bought it at a 7Eleven store and it was something i could get back home.. the tummy wasn't as patient as i wanted it to be).. so anyways being the second thing i was getting, it had to be something i've never had and so that was it. Mommy's cheese twist was oozing with butter and cheese and it was DIVINE.. my tart was pretty good too.. a lighter version of an egg custard tart... i think we went back the last day to get some more goodies before heading back.

Hong Kong's Milk Tea

After breakfast, we took the train to see the Big Buddha. It was fun riding the train because they had blinkers that told you which stop you're approaching and which side of the train you should get down at.. i told Mom that Singapore should adopt that and wadya know .. the newer trains have these blinkers installed.. some gooner was one step ahead of me.. hmpf..

We stopped at the final train stop beside some shopping complex. This time it was lunch. I think we made a mistake by choosing something safe. We went to Food Republic .. i knew we should have had something more local. Anyways Mom had Indian food (rolling eyes here) and i had some creamy chicken macaroni.. bad.. but then i had milk tea and that was good.. my friend J has always divulged about the superior milk tea in Hong Kong and she's right.. it was excellent.. not too sweet .. not too bitter.. i could still taste the tea behind the creaminess of the milk...three ticks..

Big Buddha

We walked all the way up to see Big Buddha. Mom started panting at mid point and i kept telling her you can do it.. felt like i was back in Secondary school cheering the juniors during jogging sessions.. good days those were... Finally made it up and the view was spectacular. All the hills and mountains maybe .. don't know if they were big enough to be called that.. and lakes.. We read up about the history and his relics and felt totally at peace with the whole world.

What a wonderful first (technically second) day we had.

Macarons

Vanilla Macaron with Chocolate Ganache

Yesterday, my brother's friend J came over to the house and talked about the cookies i had made for my brother's birthday.. at first i thought he was talking about white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies but the description all pointed to the infamous Macaron. I had made choclate macarons the last time and he wondered if i could make some more. Sure i said.. no problem.. there has been heaps of ground almonds sitting in the frigde waiting for an excuse to become macarons. This was the time.

Topless beauty

They can be done really fast. I had the recipe in french and translated it. So there was the tant pour tant, and eggs and italian meringue. I love the smooth glossy voluptuos meringue. Oh so luscious. After incorporating all the ingredients, the so called magma like concoction was ready for some heat action. According to Piere Herme, the macarons should start at a hot temperature and then turned down. I didn't do such things and left them at the recomended temperature of 170 degree celcius.

Oops something went wrong

Some of them came out cracked on the top and some beautiful and exactly the way they should be. I think it might have been the temperature because i found the perfect ones amongst the cracked ones so it can't be the batter right ? I guess i'll just have to experiment a few more times before nailing this cookie.

My first Sky High Cake

Sour-Cream Chocolate Cake
with Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate Peanut Butter Glaze

Before i begin, i would like to make a shout out to Deb from Smitten Kitchen for inspiring me to attempt my first triple layer cake. I was so inspired by Deb's Wedding cake that i just had to take it upon myself to do this. So once again Deb thank you.

After i read about the book Sky High Irresistible Triple Layer Cake in Deb's blog, i went straight to the library to borrow it. Flipping through it i was amazed at how they explained all the technicalities and the nature of many of the ingredients.

The weekend came and it was cake making time. The cake was fairly simple. It didn't have any butter so i really didn't need a mixer. It was more like a brownie cake because oil was added to the flour and sugar and then eggs were mixed in the end. The batter was too much though. My ordinary cake bowl was not big enough.I knew this just by looking at the ingredients. I had to use my mom's casserole dish to mix it.

I made the cake on Saturday and let it cool completely before beginning to frost it on
Sunday. The frosting was something that i would not have tried previously .. because it was a Peanut Butter frosting and i'm not really a huge fan of that.. but i thought what the heck.. i'm gonna do this...

Crumb coating the cake

The recipe called for 5 cups of confectioner's sugar but i reduced it to 4 cups because even though i have a super sweet tooth, my family prefers concoctions that are less sweet. The frosting was still sweet but bearable at least enough to get my famiy's sign of approval. So i did the crumb coat first and let it set in the refrigerator. I tried to thin it as much as possible because i had no idea how thick or thin the crumb coat should be. Then took it out and started frosting it proper. But this was a difficult frosting to work with. It wasn't smooth and had a lot of air pockets in it . Eventually i finished frosting it but if i could i would have worked on it a bit longer.

Peanut Butter Glaze

After the frosting, there was a glaze to put on the top. But as you can see bits of the crumb still came out. But given that this is my second attempt at frosting a cake, i just told myself that i'll get better. Now the chocolate was to be melted with some peanut butter and corn syrup. I put it all in a bowl and into the microwave. Took it out and it started to seize ! Arghhh but fear not i learnt young that adding oil to seized chocolate can save it and you can see that it worked.

When i sliced it, i was SO EXCITED with the three layers !!!

The Finale

The cake was tall and beautiful ! (to me anyway) The cake was moist and gooey not really crumbly. The frosting was definitely peanut buttery and the glaze was really the icing on the top.

Cuppycakes

The recipe was designed for 8 inch cake pans but i only had 6 inch ones. So i used some of the batter to make cupcakes and used the rest for the cake.

A Chinese Fare

Seafood Soup

It all began one night when mom and I were discussing dinner for Sat and Sun. Yup that's what we do.. plan something special or exotic for the weekend since i don't really get to see her much over the week. So this particular weekend, we wanted Chinese food. Now Mom usually suggests sweet and sour chicken or fish but i thought.. lets be adventurous and do something different.. so we decided black pepper chicken..

Chap Chye

So Sunday came and Mom started prepping for dinner. She did the soup first, then the chap chye and finally (not really the case of save the best for last) the black pepper chicken... the soup was good.. flavoursome with fresh fish, fishballs, Chinese cabbage, carrots and more. The chap chye equally delicious with so many different vegetables .. but mom didn't put in the baby corns that i so fondly remember from all the chap chyes i had in my childhood.. the black pepper chicken was horrible.. yuck.. it was pungent and sweet and yuck yuck yuck and it was all my fault... i suggested that mom use a prepackaged sauce and so we bought one from the supermarket... big mistake.. it was so bad.. none of us could stomach it.. mom had to wash.. literally wash the whole dish and quickly stir fry it again in soy sauce, ginger and dried chillies.. thank god for my mom's quick thinking the dish became more palatable.. i can't believe they still sell that stuff and people buy it.. eeewww .. some people out there have really weird standards.

One rainy day

Rain rain go away come again another day

One rainy rainy day, the air was really cold and all i wanted to do was wrap myself up with a woolen blanky and cuddle my jack russell Josh. Thank goodness it was a Saturday and so i didn't have to go to work. I looked outside and the window sill had beautiful droplets of rain . I just had to take a picture. Then sitting by the window the occasional gust of wind carrying tiny droplets would glide across my face. It reminded me of winter in Australia and ironically it is winter now down under.

Bobbing Marshies

Now i naturally don't like hot drinks. Don't fancy coffee (even if it was cold), tea, milo, horlicks and the list goes on. But on a really cold day, i wouldn't mind the warmth of a cup of Hot Chocolate with tiny marshmallows. This then reminds me of my younger more naive days when mom would use cocoa in her recipes and it smelled oh so good. Good enough to make you put a teaspoon of powder in your mouth and then behold the smoke of brown powder that comes out with some gagging noises and a cringing face. Yup freakin cocoa powder doesn't taste like it smells. Sigh a lesson every child learns the hard way.

Ribbons of White

Well this greedy gal had two cups. I haven't tried making hot chocolate with cocoa powder yet. I just do it the most straight forward way i know and that is one cup of milk to a handful of chocolate (real chocolate and not drinking chocolate powder) Whisk away as the white liquid turns a soothing brown and pour into a lovely mug , Collin's glass or i prefer it in an old-fashioned glass. My first cup was with marshmallows. The marshies were too big and i had to submerge them in the hot liquid with my fingers every now and then to properly melt them. Note to self: To get tiny marshmallows or the cut the bigger ones into tiny pieces. My second cup (i had it only because i remembered we had whipped cream in the fridge) was with whipped cream. I liked em both. No favourites yet.

No more... sobz

Father's Day Brunch

Brunch at home

It's Father's Day today and me and mom started our prep for brunch. We decided the day before what we were going to have. So there were pancakes, apples and celery (Dad's fav), scrambled eggs, hash browns, tomatoes, cucumber, rocket leaves, pickled onions, cold cuts and its condiments.

I made the cold platter and pancakes whilst mom did the eggs, hash browns and apples.

Cold Platter

Cucumbers and tomatoes with cracked black pepper, then sprinkled Maldon salt on both. Laid the chicken ham, rocket leaves and placed the onions in the middle. We had Jalapenos as well but left that to the side for my bro whose more adventurous with his tolerance for heat. Either way Dad and bro really enjoyed the cold platter. The pickled onions go really well with the cold cuts and to top it up - some whole grained mustard. Yum. The morning-afternoon was spent with good food and good conversation.

Soup Course

Supper was prepared at home as well. Initially we thought of having an early dinner since it was Sunday but we were still reminded of brunch by our rumbling tummy (overworking because of all that we ate) that we decided to have supper instead. We had Cream of Mushroom with dinner rolls. Followed by panfried chicken legs with potato wedges and creamed spinach. For dessert we had brownie cake.

Main Course

I prepared the dinner rolls the night before so they were proving in the oven. Soup was done by 7pm and i started pre-heating the oven (without the rolls inside of course !) Marinated chicken marylands (deboned) were to be panfried and potato wedges baked in the oven. Mom started her creamed spinach and it was so quick and delicious.

The brownie cake from Polar Cakes was quite a disappointment. It was really hard even after bringing it to room temperature. And the cake was dry. It was too bad we didn't have ice-cream. But luckily Dad was too stuffed for dessert, so he had a tiny weeny slice and didn't complain.

Happy Father's Day Dad !

Weekend Pasta

Angel Hair Pasta with Anchovies and Pangritata

T'was the weekend and i was sitting at home pondering if i should just get a take-out for lunch or make it myself. Since i don't really get the opportunity to cook during the week, i thought i'd cook.

I was looking at Jaime's cookbook yesterday cos i wanted to make bread for Father's Day tomorrow. And i happen to chance upon the recipe on spaghetti and anchovies. Similar to the Ceaser Salad, i had the urge to use the anchovies sitting in a tiny container in the refrigerator.

I was super fast .. seriously. I boiled some water in a kettle (to save time). Poured the hot water into a deep saucepan. Added salt, a little oil and the angel hair pasta.. suffice for one hungry girl.

Pangritata

1 toasted bread, crushed
1 clove garlic, sliced
a good lug of olive oil
fresh thyme
salt and pepper to taste

For the Pangritata, Jaime called for breadcrumbs, which i couldn't be bothered to check if we had any. So i toasted a slice of bread till crispy and crushed it with my hands. Presto breadcrumbs.

In a hot pan, pour the olive oil. Fry the garlic and when fragrant add the breadcrumbs. Then add the thyme and taste for salt and pepper.

Pasta with Anchovies

Angel Hair Pasta (I prefer them)
A good lug of olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
6 anchovies
lemon juice
salt and pepper

Cook the pasta till al dente. In a frying pan, add the oil and garlic. Then add the anchovies and they will start to melt and disseminate into a thick paste. Add the lemon juice and then the pasta and coat the pasta in the sauce. Season with salt and pepper.

To serve

Place the pasta on a plate and sprinkle the Pangritata on top. Nice. (I would have prefered more anchovies though)

Soup Spoon

Mushroom soup in a Breadbowl

Lunch time, me and my colleagues A and S decided to go to Soup Spoon for lunch. Mainly because i wanted to go to Bugis to check out the prices of things at Four Leaves Bakery. Anyways, we waited in line and i was contemplating what soup to try.. minestrone .. too vegetable-ee, mushroom.. too common, tomato and pumpkin.. nah.. i think the other soup had beef so that was a straight up no and so i finally chose clam chowder.

The clam chowder was really thick and it was packed with ingredients. It was more of a chunky soup. There were potatoes, clams (of course), celery and much more. A had the same whilst S had mushroom soup in a bread bowl. Now who ever came up with that idea was a genius! (I'm guessing he/she is dead by now .. if not .. oops)

Bread and soup, perfect combination and after you're done less surface to clean. For those skilled eaters.. no cleaning at all.. ha. S's bread bowl soup was too much for one person but it only comes in one size. Therefore, unless you have a mammoth appetite, i suggest this dish better serves two.

By the way, the restaurant serves sandwiches and wraps too.

Breakfast Fit for a King

Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich

Sitting at home right now too sick to go to work today. Sigh. I feel so drained but Mom said i had to have breakfast. Walked into the pantry and saw the bright blue Skippy jar staring at me, looked around somemore and there were some bananas too. An Elvis sandwich perhaps...

So toasted my bread, spread my peanut butter and laid the sliced bananas for breakfast. Easy, breezy, beautiful breakfast!

High Tea Buffet at the Goodwood Park

Goodwood Park Hotel

Today i brought my Granny to the Goodwood for high tea. I prefer the Goodwood because it's all English. There's no Asian items, i mean i have nothing against Asian food but i can't justify Mee Goreng or Popiah for high tea. I had been to the high tea before and i really enjoyed their savoury section. A commendable selection of items i must say.

Anyways, i picked up my Granny late and so had to quickly call the restaurant to secure my reservation. Complimentary tea or coffee is served but i don't drink either. But this is high tea right.. i mean how can you have high tea without the tea ? And so i had Rose hip and Hibiscus whilst Mom had Earl Grey.

Granny

Granny came in her beautiful sari and started with the cold sandwiches. There were so many of them and in different shapes too. The rectangular one was egg, square was ham and mustard, triangle was tuna and roast beef and another square was cucumber. Other cold dishes were smoked salmon and salad, foie gras with candied oranges, smoked salmon canape with caviar, filled vol-au-vents, croissants with ham, prawns and beef, just to name a few.

Sandwiches and Canapes

We didn't have the beef items but the rest of them were really good. There was this particular item, crostini with cream cheese and dried tomatoes. Oh my god it was delicious ! Then there was the hot section with potato croquettes, some long-ish fried spring roll (they couldn't keep it all English i guess), panini with cheese and rocket (good !!) and pasta bake (really good!!). The panini was crisp with rocket and cheese and pasta bake had heaps vegetables and cheese which was really nice as opppsed to mouthfuls of filling pasta.

Desserts

The dessert section...mmm... there were scones, bread and butter pudding, apple tart, matcha and white chocolate tart , chocolate mousse cake. What we had on the plate were, strawberry tart, eclair, custard cup (i call it that because i have no idea what it was), blueberry cake and lemon meringue tart. The lemon meringue was different in that the base was filled with frangipani and then finished with a dollop of lemon curd and a swirl of meringue, perfectly torched to brown the edges.

Creme Brulee

Mom simply adored the Creme Brulee. The custard was good and i like the tiny vanilla seeds that settled at the bottom. However, the sugar didn't impress me. I felt it was too coarse. I could still see and eat the sugar grains. Not good in my book. I reckon finer sugar should have been used so that when torched there is layer of burnt sugar without the texture of grains. Mom couldn't care less and was helping herself to heaps of them. She reckons its the best she's had so far in Singapore at least. I actually preferred the ones Mom made for dinner once. Weird.

Opera Cake

The Opera Cake was okay. I found the butter cream a bit too much to handle. Maybe it was Italian butter cream because it left a film in my mouth after finishing it which i didn't really like. But i am always amazed by layers in cakes and the perfect cuts where the layers don't run into each other when they're sliced.

Chocolate Ice Cream

The ice cream though limited in selection, there's only vanilla and chocolate, is excellent. The vanilla ice cream is bespeckled with tiny vanilla seeds and tastes oh so divine and pure. Pure because it tastes like really good home made vanilla ice cream. The chocolate ice cream at the Goodwood is always special. It's smooth creamy and laden with chocolate flakes. Can you see the flakes in the picture. The ice cream is kept in these metal canisters and so they're not really rock hard but really soft. Too bad to all those who like their ice-cream solid. So anways, my scoop gave in to the heat real fast and so i could see the flakes swimming arond in my cup. Really really yummy stuff people.

English Afternoon Tea
Goodwood Park Hotel
L'Espresso
2-5pm Mon-Thurs
2.30-5pm Fri - Sun and Public Holidays

Cost : S$33 ++ (price as of June 2009)

Ceaser Salad

A different Ceaser Salad

I had got some romaine leaves last Friday with the intention of making ceaser salad as the week before i had got some anchovies. I had got the recipe whilst watching Jaime on TV in Australia. I haven't combed through his books yet but i'm guessing the recipe should be there somewhere.

I didn't have chicken, bread or croutons. Jaime's recipe called for baking chicken legs over a bed of torn bread so that the juices from the roast would be soaked up by the bread. Anyway i did it with what i had. Into a bowl i through in the romaine lettuce (washed and dried of course), some tomatoes (usually not in Ceaser's), mom had made lamb that day so i tore a few pieces of that into the bowl and that's all the items i wanted in my salad.

Now the salad dressing. In a pestle and mortar, i put in a whole clove of crushed garlic (my mistake .. the correct amount was half a clove. i had the taste of garlic in my mouth the whole afternoon..sigh) Then i added six anchovies and mushed them all together. Then one heaped tablespoon of yogurt (the actual recipe called for creme fraiche) and 1 part white wine vinegar and 3 parts olive oil. Salt and pepper and mushed it all up. Taste test and it was yummy!!!

Poured it over the leaves and tossed it around. I didn't have parmesan or all the trimmings the recipe called for and yet the salad was really good. So with the trimming it would have been out of this world i reckon !

Mexican Fiesta for my bro

Nachos my style

This year i decided on a Mexican theme for my bro's birthday. One because its easy to prepare and two because we've never had it. So over the next few days i went about listing the things i wanted to do...

Nachos for Starters/Snacks
Guacamole and Salsa for dips
Tacos and Burritos for dinner
Birthday cake for dessert

Honesty i was amazed at how effortless it was. I did have a few hiccups which i perfectly resolved (some of them anyway). Most of the time is spent cutting up and preparing the ingredients, which can be done and stored ahead of time.

For the nachos, i made some homemade salsa which was uber good according to G and some guacamole which was bad (because of the avocado). I squeezed the top of the avo and it was soft so i thought it would be ripe enough. Came home, split the avo open and to my horror it was not ripe .. i couldn't mush it.. sigh.. i had to resort to a ricer but needless to say it was bad.. when i do it again with RIPE avos i'll blog about it then.

As for the Nachos, got my chips and salsa from the supermarket and all i had to do was the cheese. I hate the grated-cheese-over-the-nachos-and-bake-till-it-melts-and-then-hardens-again version.. i like my cheese gooey all the way through so i melted my cheese with a little bit of cream which i then drizzled generously over the nachos.

Salsa

The salsa.. really simple ingredient and that is what Mexican food is to me.. fresh and natural. First i chopped some red onions and steeped it in lime juice. Then in another bowl, I added chopped tomatoes (without the seeds), some chopped cilantro and some chopped garlic.
Then i added the onions and the juice they were steeped in. Salt and pepper for seasoning an that's all !!!

Hard Shells or Soft Shells

You are either a hard shell person or soft shell and i am most defenitely soft.. i don't even like my subway toasted because i like soft and soggy bread. Anyways, since the family hasn't had either before, i got equal numbers for each. Accompaniments to Tacos/Burritos were seasoned lamb (the seasoning comes in the taco kit), taco sauce, sour cream, grated cheese, lettuce leaves, chopped tomatoes, sliced onions and re-fried beans (they were like dried baked beans so nothing extraordinary).

I have since found out that my family prefers burritos to tacos. All the burritos were gone and no one wanted a second taco.

After the cake my bro had to leave to meet his friends but he really enjoyed himself and i for once was not tired after a dinner party.

Hummus

All done in a blender

Before i went to uni, there was this place in Arab Street that we always went to for a late night meal or some seesha... i think the place is still there.. haven't checked recently though. The restaurant was called Cafe LeClaire (i think). It was a Middle Eastern cafe with Turkish kebabs, Moroccan lamb stews and Hummus. I love Hummus. I love anything that's creamy so naturally Hummus would fall into that category.

For those who are still wondering what Hummus is, it's a Middle Eastern (Arabic to be more precise) dip made from cooked chickpeas, tahini (sesame paste), olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and salt.

It can be eaten with flatbreads, chips or i just eat it with my fingers. Yum!

All prepared and ready for storage.

I really don't know how long it can be kept in the fridge for because in my house it doesn't really last for more than three days. So i guess it can stay for about a week maybe.

Hummus recipe from the Straits Times

300 g chickpeas, soaked, cooked and drained or use tinned chickpeas
1/2 tsp salt
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of tahini
4 Tbs lemon juice
4 Tbs water

Blend everything in a blender till smooth. Add more lemon juice or salt according to taste.

Scoop into a bowl and drizzle olive oil over it. Garnish with some corriander or sumac for colour.

For a spicier hummus, add some finely chopped red chilli or some cayenne pepper.

Recipe makes about 2 cups.


Tahini

Tahini is available in most supermarkets so i suggest you can just buy them off the shelve. But for those who are more adventurous here's the recipe.

2 cups sesame seeds
1/2 cup olive oil

Preheat the oven to 180 Degrees Celsius. Toast the sesame seeds for 5-10 mins, moving around frequently with a wooden spoon. Do not allow them to brown. Cool for 20 mins.

Put the seeds into a blender and add oil.

Blend for around 2 mins. It should be thick yet pourable.

Add more oil and blend again if necessary.

Leftover tahini can be stored for up to three months in the refrigerator in a tightly closed container.

Makes about 1 cup.

Macarons from Paris

Rose Macaron with Raspberry Chips

Last Friday, i had called G out for grocery shopping. He told me R was in back in Singapore from Paris and that he had got me something. I knew they were Macarons. They just had to be! Me and Paris equals Macarons or other goodies i talk about but no one in my family understands.. sigh..

Once we got home, he gave me the box. Hmm this was new. I had never seen Macarons in a box. No i mean packaged this way. Inside were cute little macarons without the usual buttercream.
They were really good and all the time i was munching on them i kept thinking .. this is from France... it's crossed the seas just to get to me... gave some to G (reluctantly) but i think he didn't or should i say couldn't appreciate their value .. pft what does he know ?

For those who have tried to make macarons and cried in agony over no feet or no shape or too sweet would understand the delicate balance a macaron requires. I sadly have not achieved the delicate balance yet. My macarons look good (better than the ones you see in this package) shiny smooth top.. frilly feet but their too sweet. Sigh.. i shall continue this experiment and get it right sometime.

Eat me .. Eat me

These macarons were crisp on the outside and moist on the inside. They were not too sweet but still i couldn't have more that five or so. Their shells though were lumpy and so that didn't score points with me. But their taste made up for it.

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 ?