Archive for Food

A Nifty Gadget for a Cooking Foodie

April 12, 2009 · Filed under Baking, Cooking, Food, Shopping

I adore browsing through food and recipe blogs and have bookmarked a gazillion, of which I probably will never find the time to actually try out all of the places and recipes. But it always feels good to know they’re there, safely and neatly put in a bookmark folder and categorized in case I ever suddenly have the urge, or extra cash, to re-create someone else’s edible masterpiece in my own kitchen.

Well, I have tried some out (including the now infamous brownie that I made for Jim’s birthday cake last year but have never ever found the exact recipe till today) and one big problem is getting the recipe from the screen of my laptop into the kitchen.

Strange problem? I’m sure it happens to many of us budding internet cooks and bakers.

For me, because I really try not to waste printer ink/paper and in my small bid to save the world, I tend to copy out the recipes into pieces of paper, and more often than not, scrap paper. Not only is it small, the hastility scribbled handwriting (due to impatient excitment to get cooking) makes it difficult to decipher, especially when one is juggling a measuring cup of flour in one hand, closing the fridge door with the other and trying to read what is the correct temperature to preheat the oven for.

So…you can imagine my excitment when I found this really useful kitchen tool from my favourite all-in-one browsing foodblog tastespotting.com.

Behold the Demy Kitchen Safe Touchscreen Recipe Reader!

(picture credit to Amazon.com)

New from Amazon (in fact, so new “This item has not yet been released.
You may pre-order it now and we will deliver it to you when it arrives.”) this nifty thing features a comfortable 7-inch sized touchscreen which is splash-resistant and a sturdy plastic exterior which can be cleaned with a damp cloth. It also comes pre-loaded with 250 so you can whisk it off (pun intended) to the kitchen and start straight-away. Or, simply plug it to your PC or laptop via a USB cable to upload all your bookmarked and saved recipes.  This little high-tech kitchen-helper stores up to 2500 recipes so you’ll have something new to make everyday for the next 7 years!

Sadly, like most other high-end counter-top appliances, this one too comes with a price. Retailing for USD$299.99 (about SGD$454.88), this price doesn’t even include shipping all the way to Singapore. With this same amount of money, I probably could buy a good set of knives and pots and pans – things I’d probably use more often!

But of course, if anyone would so kindly want to give this to me as a house-warming gift (you have about 2 years to save!), I’ll be more than happy to receive with a big fat smile and invite you for dinner!

(:

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For Love or For Money

July 13, 2008 · Filed under Food, Work

My parents have never been the pushy sorta people so I’ve pretty much done everything my way, to my liking and interest.
This would explain taking up CNM and Literature in University though I had absolutely no intentions of becoming a teacher. I initially wanted to just major in Literature, but decided to do a shared major with CNM just for practicality sake.

So now I’m in the magazine industry where the pay is notoriously low. I don’t know about SPH (but from what I heard it’s a whole lot better) but where I work, the starting pay for a writer is alarmingly pathetic.

So this is where the hard decision has to be made. With inflation increasing steadily, the value of money drops drops drops. If I don’t get the starting pay I requested (which isn’t much or unreasonable at all) I better prepare my mum that I’ll be packing lunch to work everyday (and praying for more media lunches), waking up incredibly early so I can take the bus and not the train to work and walking home if I miss my condo’s shuttle bus.

It’s not that I don’t mind the low starting pay. In all honesty, I think I might take up the job despite crappy pay (or “shit money” as some would call it). BUT, I have to be realistic. The work isn’t exactly easy, it’s time-consuming trying to do all the coordination, requires a lot of running around, drains your creative juices and causes panic attacks whenever the story has to go through the editor for approval. It’s the photo shoots that scare me the most. Sure I’ve been to these shoots and seen how things work, but there’s so much to learn! Angles, colour theme, lighting, props, styling, budgeting… it’s a mind-boggling task of trying to keep abreast of everything that’s going on! And this is only DURING the photo shoot… I haven’t even begun to talk about the before and after..

Granted, everything else I really enjoy, especially the writing part and meeting new people and of course, trying out a smörgåsbord of food. It’s pretty much my “dream job”.

BUT (yes, its another but) the practical side of me (and my parents) tell me that I have to think about the future and also whether the minuscule (ok I’m exaggerating here) pay warrants the amount of work I have to put in every month.

Sigh. I don’t know. Right now, I’m in the midst of a huge task which basically is a sort of interview-test, except its a full scale month-long one. If I “pass” this, then they would hire me I suppose. And then, I’ll wait and see the pay that they’re going to offer me.

Of course, I have a fall-back plan. If the money is simply unacceptable, I’ll just carry on doing what I’ve been doing all this while, earn the little money while looking for a job in the meantime. Quite a win-win situation I guess.

We’ll just have to wait and see.

Anyway, anyone wants a $10 voucher to a new Japanese restaurant along River Valley Road? It’s called Hana Hana Japanese Restaurant and I was there for a tasting recently. The voucher, of which I have eight to give away, can be used with every $50 you spend at the restaurant.

Below are some of the menu items – hope it’s not too small!






Let me know if you want the voucher yeah? First come first serve!

(:

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Homemade Pancakes

July 8, 2008 · Filed under Food

I’ve been having this nagging craving for pancakes for the longest time. As a result, I kept bugging my mum, whenever we were in the supermarket, to buy those pre-made boxed pancake mix.

Unfortunately, my bugging never seemed to work due to the high price of these mixes which can easily cost about $6 per box.

So, today, I finally got down to making my own pancakes from scratch. I got some random recipe off from the internet (hooray for the internet!), assembled all the ingredients (it helps that my mum is an avid baker so there’s always flour and whatnot in the kitchen) and made the pancake batter.

It wasn’t that difficult and quite speedy. The only part that took quite a while was actually cooking the pancakes. Haha.


Preparing the pancake batter .


All mixed and done, ready for the hot pan.


The finished product drizzled with organic honey and strawberry jam from Cameron Highlands – picture courtesy of my brother and my neighbour’s DSLR.
(click to see the full-sized picture)

The recipe – copied from the internet onto a piece of junk paper (reduce, reuse, recycle!).
The recipe actually calls for all-purpose flour and baking powder but I used self-raising flour instead. I also substituted sunflower oil for the melted butter (lazy la). The amount of milk given in the recipe also seemed a bit too little as the batter was too thick. Think I added about a half cup more.

Looking forward to making the pancakes again, but this time I’ll probably add a tbsp of vanilla and other ingredients for more variety – mashed bananas, chocolate chips, blueberries, strawberries, raisins, walnuts…maybe even ham and cheese! Any other yummy suggestions?

(:

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Some things just never change…

June 29, 2008 · Filed under Dinner, Food, Friends, Personal Quirks

For example,
How Michele will be late and have to take a cab down to meet me.
How Gina will just let out a loud burp and an equally loud “excuse me”.
How the three of us will get lost.

Haha. Two days ago on Friday, I finally had a chance to meet up with michele and gina. Was so nice to be able to see them again. We were, sorta, “inseperable” in uni because we did a lot of similar modules, especially me and michele who only did 1 module that wasn’t the same, so people just assumed “if you want to find michele, just find gina or kat” etc. So it was kinda like a “reunion” of sorts. Haha.

Given that I’m supposed to be a food writer and never been to botak jones, they insisted that we have dinner there. The interesting thing is that none of us knew where exactly in ang mo kio the shop was. Haha. Our brilliant plan was just to meet at ang mo kio hub and find our way. Well. In the end we did. Haha. But that was after a few phone calls, a wrong bus ride and asking the bus uncle as well as a random stranger at the traffic light. Haha.

Since it was my first time at botak jones, I decided to get the fish and chips. The queue was long and tables mostly filled with people eating botak jones (plus a lot of raves about it from friends) so expectations were a little high. Unfortunately, despite my hunger, the fish and chips failed to impress. It was dry, hard and kinda tasteless. Thankfully the tartar sauce was nice (saved the day!), the fries were decent (thanks to the cajun spices) and the coleslaw was one-up from KFC’s. Michele’s cajun chicken was pretty good though, tender and flavourful. But otherwise, I think the quality and taste of the food wasn’t enough to justify its $6.50 price tag. I rather eat the western food at hougang central. Haha.

After eating, I (no surprises here) suggested dessert. Haha. You can’t blame me! I was totally unsatisfied with dinner! (Although, due to sheer hunger, I managed to finish all the fish) We decided to go back to ang mo kio hub but as you can guess, we had no idea how to. Haha. So we just walked to the nearest bus stop, whiled our time away while waiting for the bus by taking the usual silly shots, boarded the bus which (surprise surprise) took us one big round. Haha. But hey! We eventually got to our destination!

Dessert was at Anderson’s but the apple crumble kinda sucks and the scoops of ice cream are so tiny. Haha. Oh well. We left Anderson’s at 10:30pm with the intention of taking the bus home but me and michele just had so much to catch up on and talk about we ended up chatting for the next one and a half hours sitting down at some random staircase near the bus interchange. Haha. Some things never change. And I’m glad it didn’t.

I miss those two and it was really nice to see and hear how’s everyone doing. It’s also nice to be reminded of friends that you know will stick by you when you need a shoulder to lean on.

So now, I’ve been left with the task of making sure us three girls meet up on a regular basis.

Geez. Probably one of the hardest things to do!

(:

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Spanish Sensation

April 21, 2008 · Filed under Church, Food, Friends, Personal Quirks, Shopping · Tagged , , , , , ,

Saturday night was pretty fun and hot hot hot!

Us girls from the office were supposed to meet at 7.30pm at city hall but not so surprisingly, everyone was late, except, surprisingly, Lili. Haha. When I arrived at about 10minutes late, she was already there. Shiqi said she was “on the way”, Karen was still at the Esplanade after her rehearsals, Charmaine was on the way too and Tracy totally forgot we were meeting for dinner (despite being the one who set the timing, according to Lili).

After all the waiting and indecisions over dinner, I finally got to put something in my tummy at about 8.45pm at Cedele. Not very fantastic food actually. The focaccia was lovely but the chicken was crumbly and dry and my avocado was a measly 2 slices (as you can guess, I ordered the chicken and avocado sandwich). To make matters worse, the iced tea was left un-syruped but we, including Charmaine and Lili who also ordered drinks, were too lazy to walk over to the counter and get the syrup. Haha. How lazy could we get…

But all the time wasting and passing had a good thing come out of it – JY was about to cab down from Orchard to meet me! Yay!

Mel was fantastic during the dance. I’m not exactly being biased here, just ask anyone else. I think she was the most into the dance, most intense (you should have seen her killer expression!) and appeared to have the most passion for it too. But ok. Perhaps it helped that she does have Spanish blood and is ang mo. Haha. The other dancers were Japanese and locals, so I guess it seem relatively strange to see them doing such a forceful and sultry dance. And overall, kudos to all of them from the dance class!

Unfortunately, I had to leave early (it was already past 11pm) as I had church the next day. Also, it was my turn to teach Sunday School. The teaching went ok, despite my disrupting cough and Uncle Alex handing out Prize Giving photographs to the kids (which I got too! Sadly, it’s also my last…) which was really PRAISE GOD! No doubt I was nervous, especially about potentially teaching the kids wrong things about God and what the bible passage was saying, but thankfully all went well. I did stumble here and there because really, I’m not used to talking to small kids much less teaching them. I found it tough having to think of ways to phrase and structure my thoughts into a sentence that 3 primary 4 kids could understand. Well. One lesson down, 5 more to go!

JY came to church to meet me after class and it was fun just hanging around before we left for lunch with my family. Glad that we managed to drag my brother along too. Initially JY planned to treat everyone to Carl’s Junior but interestingly enough, my mum wanted Cafe Cartel. Haha. The menu has changed considerably since they first started, but more or less remains the same in terms of what sort of food they offer. Not too fantastic though, considering the prices, but not that bad or inedible either.

Since we were at Marina, we just had to stop by Gloria Jeans to pick up a cup of $2 coffee. Haha. So cheapo. But honestly, for a non-coffee drinker like me who would not pay $5 for a cup, this $2 gimmick really works. Then again, I’m sure it works for most bargain-hunting Singaporeans.

Oh and I also picked up a pair of shoes from Primavera! Bright and cheerful in yellow, perfect for spring!



Anyway, enough talk and on with the peektures!

Mel and her husband, Cuong


My (un)lucky draw stub.


Ladies dressed in an assortment of colours and polka dots!

Finally, after waiting for an hour, Mel’s performance starts…



(:

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Nippon Fare…

February 27, 2008 · Filed under Dinner, Food · Tagged , , , , , ,

Yes, again! Of late, I’ve been really feasting on nothing else but Japanese food. Which, no surprise here, is my absolute favourite world cuisine.

Had dinner with JY at VivoCity last night and we ended up at Shin Kushiya all thanks to him making the final decision (I can never ever ever decide what to eat. I want to eat too many things!) Glad to say, the quality of food hasn’t wavered too much since the last time I was there, for some dishes at least.

The highlights of the night was the beef tongue (a must order everytime I’m there), the tako fry as well as the thick and fresh salmon sashimi (you notice a trend here don’t you…JY never fails to order this for me whenever we’re having Japanese..). But the star of the night was the udon, served in a claypot. The claypot was a great idea since it kept the oh-so-delicious soup hot throughout the meal. The noodles were just the right chewiness and texture as well. Definitely a bowl (or claypot) of noodles to satisfy any udon-cravings.

The misses, unfortunately, were the sticks of yakitori. Ironic too since Shin Kushiya are known for their sticks of grilled meats and vegetables. The foie gras came really cold and mushy with a slightly “pass-its-due-date” taste which was rather revolting. The grilled pork belly with mustard, black pepper chicken and bacon and scallops were nothing great. The scallops especially. If not for the bacon, the scallops were totally bland. I had to ask JY what I was eating!

Another down side of Shin Kushiya? Depending on what you order, the bill can come up to quite a hefty sum. For all the above dishes, plus two cups of hot green tea, the bill came up to a whopping $71. *GASP*. Way more than I expected. But, as is his usual generous self, JY paid for the bill. (:

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Stagnation Nation

February 22, 2008 · Filed under Dinner, Food, Personal Quirks, Shopping, Work · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

That’s pretty much what this blog of mine has become. I thought a new blog, a new place and a new name would keep me interested and going but alas, it is not to be.

Being lazy is not a particularly well-known trait of mine but trust me, I can be pretty lazy. But that’s because I choose to be (as is the case for most people). I mean, I’d be in the bus on my one and a half hour journey to work and I could think up things to write, how to write and even what anecdotes to include. The only problem, then, is the lack of discipline or plain interest to sit down and type out my thoughts. So basically, the reason for the lack of blog entries, is not exactly the lack of material, but rather, laziness!

Geez. Did I just explain myself? Or did I just try to sound convincing that laziness should be a trait that is forgivable and excusable? Hurhur.

Anyway, nothing much has been going on. Work has been same ol’ same ol’. Going for events, eating, tasting, bringing home freebies (mostly coffee lately…which doesn’t benefit me the non-coffee drinker…so it all goes to JY) and typing away endlessly. I’ve been slightly more busy lately though as we’re trying to wrap up the production of a food booklet that’s scheduled to be out in April. A lot of odds and ends that needs to be tied up and photo shoots to coordinate and items to borrow and return! I don’t believe I’ve ever been so busy at work. There was a day that I didn’t have time to eat lunch! That’s quite something, considering I’m usually the restless little one at work always bugging people to go for lunch!

Well, I suppose I should blog about how my Valentine’s Day went. Heh. I requested we don’t do anything lavish and waste money this year and insisted JY adhered to the “No Flowers!” policy. Don’t get me wrong. Flowers are a lovely thing to receive, especially if they come as a surprise like during my graduation, but after that what happens? These pretty things die and I’m heartbroken when I have to get rid of it. So, spare me!

JY wanted to bring me to Ashton’s to have western food but it was closed when we got to the Serangoon Garden outlet. Haha. So we tropped on over to Sushi Tei, not that I’m complaining of course. I thoroughly enjoyed my two plates of Aburi Sushi (seared salmon sushi topped with salmon roe) and plate of salmon sashimi. For dessert, black sesame and milk tea ice cream from haato, because Cafe Cartel was too crowded. Haha. All in all, a super duper night spent with JY. Oh! And of course, my Valentine’s Day gift of a chocolate pot from Chocolat Factory! How could I have missed that one out. (:

Nothing much coming up in the next few months except for some traveling: to Phuket (Hilton Hotel here I come!) if the press trip is confirmed, up the hills to Cameron highlands in June for church camp and, hopefully, flying off to Perth in July to enjoy the cold winter I will never get here in Singapore!

p/s: With regards to my previous³ post, I decided on a pair of skinny jeans (which JY bought. heh. yay!) from Miss Selfridge. It was an easy decision since it fit perfectly -Petite size 4. I didn’t get the chance to visit Miss Sixty though…

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Go before its too late!

January 31, 2008 · Filed under Food · Tagged , , , , ,

If you haven’t already been to Le Papillon, I suggest you go soon before this butterfly flaps its beautiful wings and flies away. Apparently, business hasn’t been going too well and they might fold up as they can’t struggle any longer due to poor finances and the rising food costs.

I suggest booking a table for two for the coming lovey dovey Valentine’s Day. It’ll make the perfect place with its unique location at the Red Dot Museum, soothing cream and wood decor, gorgeous butterfly motifs and of course, delicious food. I’ve read some mixed reviews but personally, I find the dishes to be pretty stunning, visually and taste-wise. It’s also best to let the chef take over and allow him to prepare your courses for the night.

Surf on over to www.le-papillon.com.sg for more details.

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Sun with Moon…Finally!

January 25, 2008 · Filed under Dinner, Food · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sorry for the lack of posts the past few weeks. I’m still trying to figure out how to use WordPress, especially how to put up pictures without having to first upload them elsewhere and then linking it here. Sigh. Oh how I miss the idiot-proof and straightforward interface of blogger. Geez. I think I might just switch back…

Anyhow, despite me being the  writer for the food pages, I regretfully never had the chance to try Sun with Moon Japanese Dining and Cafe. But all thanks to JY’s generosity, I finally got to taste their much-raved about dishes last night. JY and I both ordered one of their specialty kamameshi. This traditional steamed seasoned rice pot comes in a heated metal bowl and a wooden cover. And of course, that novelty timer (which looks just like those you use when you play boardgames) which tells you when its time to lift up the wooden cover and smell its delicious aroma.

Before that, we selected an appetizer each. JY went for the recommended traditional Sun with Moon tofu. Served with bonito flakes, spring onions, one unidentified Japanese condiment and a little bowl of soya dipping sauce, the tofu was cold, smooth and bland; until of course you added the sauce. Definitely delicious but JY felt it wasn’t worth the $8.50 (if I remember correctly). Being the die-hard sashimi lover, I ordered the maguro, avocado and cucumber roll topped with shredded spring onions. Quite unique as it was wrapped in rice paper rather than the usual nori. Unfortunately, I thought the cucumbers were cut a little too big and the rice paper rolls a little too chewy. Made for less-than-fully-satisfied-whole-piece-in-the-mouth-at-one-go-eating-pleasure. Heh.

JY had the chicken assortment kamameshi while I decided on the yakiniku kamameshi. Knowing how much I adored the fatty yet silky goodness of foie gras, JY kept coaxing me to get the beef + foie gras kamameshi. Too bad I wasn’t in the mood for that kind of sinful overindulgence (and high price tag). Didn’t really matter too much actually, as my yakiniku turned out delicious. I have to say that it was more like the glorified version of yoshinoya’s beef bowl but with (of course) higher grade beef slices, fluffier rice, tastier sauce, and chestnuts, fat edamame beans and pickles. Absolutely delectable. If I could, I would have stomached the entire bowl of rice. I did have a little taste of JY’s rice (which he offered me after hearing me rave about my toothsome grains of rice) and sadly, it wasn’t as good as mine. I think it was most probably because it lacked the sauce that accompanied the yakiniku. Nonetheless, the chicken “sausage” in his bowl was yummy.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to try the famed Tofu cheesecake (for reasons I shan’t be too proud to disclose of here) but JY gave it two thumbs up. Oh well. It gives me a jolly good reason to go back! Heeheehee. (:

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Two Overindulgent Greedy Pigs.

January 9, 2008 · Filed under Food · Tagged , , , , ,

Yesterday I finally got the chance to meet up with Adrian for his dinner treat from yours truly. So what if it was a really last minute thing (I sms-ed him at around 2:30pm yesterday) and I had to go to VivoCity to pick up some stuff for my photo shoot. We had a great time catching up, cooking our own dinner and just being plain overindulgent.

After picking up my pre-packed salad, Caesar salad dressing and oatmeal & raisin cookies for JY’s niece (all organic and expensive, mind you) Adrian met me in the supermarket and we headed off to find dinner. Actually, we made a few distracted pit-stops before dinner. (Fashion is more important than food you know. Haha!) The diversions included Zara (because the huge SALE banner was red and screaming in our faces), Pull & Bear (where Adrian picked up his favourite tshirt the last time) and walking all the way back to River Island to check out, what else, but the SALE. But just to make it clear, it was Adrian who wanted to go into all the shops. Haha. Not me hor!

Deciding where to have dinner was done in the typical we-have-no-idea-where-to-eat-lets-just-walk-around-and-around-until-someone-
decides. Hurhurhur. Ended up at “Tajimaya Yakiniku/Shabuya”, a relatively new Japanese restaurant at VivoCity. Pretty unique as it is split into two sides, one offering Yakiniku (Japanese grilled meats) and the other Shabu Shabu (Japanese hot pot). Settled for the Yakiniku side since Adrian wanted to try Wagyu *coughswaku* for the first time.

Besides Wagyu, the restaurant offers mostly premium cuts such as Kurobuta pork. All the meats were good, but the Wagyu was definitely the star with its intense marbling of fat which rendered the meat juicy and tender.

After going through a plate each of Wagyu Karubi, Wagyu Rosu, Australian beef tongue, Kurobuta jowl, Kurobuta collar and a plate of assorted veggies, we unanimously decided to go for dessert – Häagen-Dazs no less. Here, again being undeniaby greedy, we settled for not one but two desserts. Ha!

I suppose this is what happens when you put a 2 month interval in-between such meet-ups. I should and would have taken pictures too but I’m just too lazy to lug around my rather-dinosaurish digicam and my hp camera is equally dinosaurish……

(:

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