Interesting Packaging

Saw a Japanese bento meal at Isetan packaged in a Chinese takeaway box and I just had to get it as I am a sucker for such things (as mentioned). I thought it was just the whole bento box just filled with food, however, upon opening it, I realised it was made up of 2 parts. The top, which also acted as a lid, held all the food that contained liquids. Under that was the rice and a piece of fried chicken, both of which were considerably dry. It was really cool packaging and I wondered where I can get my hands on some. 

Questionable Questions

I wrote about Eddie's wedding reception, the one he probably just did to please the elders, maybe introduce a few friends to Sunny, and him to her family and friends. Eddie is one person who has insisted on not having a Facebook account, and I think Sunny doesn't have one either (or I think she shut hers down). Anyway, I wrote about the day, and I posted a photo on my account for all to see.

A few months later, I meet up with a bunch of girls from that same class, and I told Angie I was expecting questions as no one else from our class was invited to the wedding reception. Not surprising, the conversation somehow gets close enough to mention that they 'noticed I posted something about his wedding' and from there it led to a whole load of questions - where it was held, was there a dinner, who he married, why the sudden rush, is she pregnant, (and most importantly) who was invited.

The honest truth is that he was married 5 months before the reception was held and there was definitely no rush with regards to the whole thing. In fact, the plan was either close to the day they signed their marriage certificate, or somewhere around the Lunar New Year period. I doubt this reception would happen if there was no pressure by elders. As he once told me, he'd rather not go through all the problems of bargaining for his wife at the gate and all that. So having a reception actually surprised me. Planning started long before he even signed the official documents as he asked about holding the reception where I was working. That was roughly 3 months before he registered his marriage. So I'm sorry that you were not involved in their plans, but you didn't have anything to offer that could help with the plan I guess.

Who he married is something you should ask him. I know her name, I can sort of recognise her, but I don't know her like a sister or a close friend. She's his wife, not mine. If I don't really know your husbands, would I really have to know his wife? From the questions, it's rather obvious that there's some dirt digging going on. Sorry I don't go digging into people's lives so that I could announce their secrets to the whole world. Plus, I keep secrets, and I have enough to blackmail some people.

Why they wanted a lunch reception, and not have a dinner one is up to them. As I mentioned, he wanted a fuss-free wedding. I guess this is as fuss-free as you can get while pleasing the elders. Not everyone wants some some crocodile tears when the ultra soppy thank you notes get read, or a Cirque Du Soleil performance for their reception, with only the photo of the whole table with the couple being the closest you'd get to meeting them. Some people actually prefer quieter, more personal and interactive receptions. Guess you would know if you knew him better?

Where he held it was partly my suggestion, and it helped with explaining why I was there. The excuse that I helped with the catering options and location made it easy to see why I was there, and also the only one in the class invited. They kept trying to find out who were invited, and I told them it was mostly family, colleagues and close friends. A questionable comment made by one of them then got me wondering about what thoughts went through their heads when they saw the posted photo.

"Oh.... I thought he would at least invite you to it"

A comment to which the rest somewhat agreed with. That got me even more curious as to what the group knew about the friendship between Eddie and this girl. I heard Eddie's side of the story, but what I wondered is if they have been keeping up with the badminton games. I got to meet Sunny in 2012, and heard that Adi spied him shopping with her a while before that. So if he was still playing badminton, wouldn't it be a bit odd if you didn't know about his girlfriend for over 2 years? Does say something doesn't it?

It also says something about you when you don't congratulate people when you find out they got married, then follow up by trying to grill information out of someone else.

From Head To Plate

After Saturday's oyster hunt, I pickled some of the oysters and today I gave them a try. As I mentioned, I was aiming to get it close to what I tasted, which was an oyster soaked in fried oyster chilli. I think I didn't put enough chillies into the pickling mix, or perhaps I need to use some other form of chilli or use some Szechuan pepper. Well, for now, it goes well with the omelette mom made, and it doesn't taste horrible.

Guess I got to get the recipe written down properly now.

Meals For Dolls

Adi wants to surprise her girlfriend with the current Hello Kitty series that McDonald's is putting up on offer but the thought of eating all those meals were turning her off. I told her she could donate the meal to charity now, but lucky for her, they have a new spicy burger on offer, and I'm liking it for now. It's also a plus that the fries can be changed to a cup of sweet corn, the one thing that mom won't say no to.

So one down, 5 dolls to go.

Test Kitchen 10

Everything for now seems to be inspired by Japan, and I'm sure this won't end for a while. This time it was because of testing some oysters at the Ikebukuro Station's Seibu food hall that I thought I would try to make something similar. The oyster that I tried tasted looked like a plain boiled oyster, but it tasted like it was soaked in the chilli sauce for Singapore-style fried oysters. Sadly, it was in a glass bottle and I didn't want to risk bringing it back to Singapore only to find a wet bag that smelled like something died in it. That was also why, from that instant I tasted the oyster, the thought of pickling the oysters we were going to pick was stuck in my head. 

I told dad and he thought we should try but asked me to look for a Japanese recipe. That was a big challenge. I found recipes for European-style pickled oysters, and oysters topped with Japanese pickles, but no Japanese-style pickled oysters recipe. In the end, I decided to take a few pointers from the European recipe and just flavoured it the way I thought it should be. Also, the pickling liquid was just the simple mixture that is used here for the pickled vegetables some stalls served with their chicken rice. 

Now it's a short wait of a day before I can know if the idea was good. Fingers crossed.  

Another Newbie

Today was another oyster hunt with the family and we another inductee into the group. This time it was my uncle Raymond, seen upfront and centre in the group photo. To think that this whole thing started with just me and my dad looking for any good fishing spots and I happen to find a nice sharp rock and knocked a few oysters out. Then uncle Dennis came along with Denise (the security guard along with Barkley) and Ian. Denise never really got down to any oyster collection, but she helped by watching our bags while enjoying the sea breeze with Barkley. 

After that hunt, my aunt Jeannie, cousin Criszean, and Adi got in on the action. Between hunts, dad and I managed to find another location and that became the hunt with the biggest group thus far. This is the fourth, with Criszean out of town, and Adi having to work. Seems like there might be more people coming into the group, but for now the hunting season, according to oyster experts, should stop as it's time for the oysters to go forth and multiply. 

Anyway, this hunt was a good one, with huge oysters and even some mussels on the side. There was an oil drum in the water and I didn't see anything on it. However, it turned just as my uncle was looking at it and all the mussels decided to show themselves off. Good thing they were just easy to pick off, unlike the last haul where we had to really dig them out. I decided to pair the mussels with some special seaweed we got from Japan that give an interesting crunch, with a slight saltiness to pair with the sweet mussel. 

As for the oysters, it was the usual oyster omelette request from my cousins, while I will take the huge  ones to pickle. 

Cheese Ramen Obsession

I came across the a current list of top instant noodles for 2014 and saw some rather familiar flavours. The one that got me interested was #6, the Paldo Cheese Ramen, it was unique, and looked rather hearty. Furthermore, I'm having a cheese ramen obsession at the moment and wondered if I could find that pack in our shops here. The first thought was to head to one of the stores selling Korean good as the noodles are from Korea, but I haven't exactly had the energy to move in the current heat. 

Lucky for me, I wanted to find some luncheon meat Angie recommended a few days ago at Sheng Siong and found myself a pack of Cheese Ramen at the same time. It's of a different brand, and it didn't have any spice as compared to the one reviewed on The Ramen Rater. It soup was rather hearty, and mom loved the noodles. So I guess it's still a good pick, but not close to what I was looking for. This one would be great with one of those Japanese soft-centered eggs though, and I would eat that every day.  

The Cone Of Happiness

It's not very often now that you hear the ringing of a bell that indicates the arrival of the ice cream vendor. They travel either in a small van or on a motorbike with a sidecar, stopping at the most centralised part among a few blocks of flats to ring in their business. Most sell a few choices of ice creams, blocks of ice cream they slice and place between wafers, and an assortment of flavours in a cold pot to be scoop out from and placed in a cone or slice of rainbow bread. 

After so many years of testing the flavours of the assorted pot, I've come to like a few flavours, one of which I have not been able to purchase any where else. The attap seed flavour, a pink ice cream, dotted with bits of attap seed, is light and not too sweet. Dad loves attap seed and I only managed to get him out to buy a cone by telling him to see if that flavour was available. Good thing the seller did and the big smile on dad's face as he brought the cone over just made him look like a kid in a candy store. 

I have to say though, today was the first one I've got that had huge attap seed lumps in it. 

My Little Monster

Barkley had gotten one of his new outfits dirty, and he needed a haircut, so I decided to try some of other new clothes on him. One of them was a Stitch outfit but it was a bit small around his ribs and needed some adjustment by mom. We managed to get him partially into it and he looked every bit like  the little alien Stitch is supposed to be. 

Can't wait till mom finishes the alterations. 

Ramen Madness

During the visit to the Cup Noodle Museum in Yokohama, Angie and I tried the mini ramen with pork and cheese. Surprisingly, the cheese melted and stuck to the noodles, making the noodles really tasty and fun to eat. The main noodles was another thing I wondered about. The soup base seemed really simple and I wondered if it was the original chicken flavoured instant noodles that started the whole instant noodle business in Japan. 

While shopping in Giant today, I was looking for the soba dipping sauce in the Japanese section and looked up to find the one and only pack of chicken ramen. The original chicken, or chikin, ramen. I was contemplating getting the pack to try and replicate that cheese ramen I had, but that pack had a hole in it and it looked as though it had been kicked about. Furthermore it was $10.10. Seriously? 

So now that I know it has been imported into Singapore, I shall go find a nicer-looking, and preferably, slightly cheaper pack to recreate some wonderful memories. Hopefully mom won't kill me with the amount of instant noodles I already have.

Test Kitchen 09

Mom decided to watch the whole recorded series of "Wok Stars" so she could delete it and get more space on the hard drive. After a few episodes, I found some interesting ideas from the contestants and decided to try something that was going on in my head. 

Inspiration hit when one guy made Kung Pao chicken, and one lady made shrimp paste chicken using hei ko instead of belacan. So somehow, I thought that making Kung Pao chicken using hey ko could possibly work. Somehow the flavours did blend well, but I think I have to change the order of cooking. It turned out a bit more watery than I wanted, and I think I needed more chilli. 

So this one is going back to the drawing board.

Barkley's Easter Egg

Dad and I were shopping in one of the pet stores during our last day in Japan when dad decided to give a squeeze to some egg-shaped toys. Of all things to make him decide to buy it, it was the squeak that sounded similar to the mice that roam our neighborhood grounds. Barkley love chasing those mice, and get really excited whenever he hears them squeaking at night. After someone said I pampered the dog too much and bought too much stuff for Barkley, dad insisted on getting this purple egg for him. 

So for an Easter special, Barkley has his own Easter egg hunt, a squeaky egg hunt. We make it squeak, and he hunts it down. 

Noodle Bin

As if I didn't have enough ramen while in Japan, I had to buy home a few packs of noodles to keep my obsession going while I'm home. It's definitely not enough to keep me going till the next trip to Japan, but it'll be better than not being able to try these unique noodles at all.

The yellow Yuzu noodles and the pink plum noodles were rather seasonal finds, and there was another pack of plum noodles hidden somewhere by my mom. The Natto ramen (light blue box) reminds me of my time in Ibaraki, the place where they are famous for the sticky fermented beans. Not really a fan of natto, but it can be alright in small quantities.

For the other 2 boxes, I just couldn't resist getting more noodles while shopping at the airport.

To Eat Or Not To Eat

I made a cup noodle to commemorate my first trip to Japan and it is currently hanging on my wall in a big bubble of a bag. Question is, I don't know if I should open to eat it or not. Oh the agony!

Tourist Attraction

So I'm a sucker for instantly distinguishable design in my travel buys and I saw one of them while on a last minute spree at Narita airport. Dad and I considered getting some sake while on holiday but then couldn't find the same one when we went back to the store as it wasn't on the testing rack anymore. 

Lucky for me, I didn't weigh my bag down with bottles of alcohol yet and got to add this cute little find when I was looking for a plum wine. Better still, I got my plum wine just sitting right next to this. 

Japan Food Tasting

Came home this morning and got all the treats out in the evening for a tasting of all the food that would perish quickly. Mainly, it was the fish and rice rolls that dad and I tried the very first night we were in Japan. Mom saw it as part of a post I put up on the first night, and I already decided then that it's one of the items I would bring home for her to try. The rest of the testing consisted of sweets and rice crackers.

I'm not exactly sure what the ingredients are, but I'm quite sure that the fish was pickled as the rolls could last 2 days without refrigeration. However, I doubt it could last a day in the Singapore heat, and therefore the urgency to finish them. 

The rolls seemed quite expensive at the time we bought them, but after slicing them up and feeding 10 people, it was a rather good deal actually. Furthermore, you'd have to consider that you're getting about half a fish with each roll. More importantly, they're full of flavour, convenient and delicious!

Ramen Craze

It's the last day we're in Japan and I couldn't leave without having one last bowl of ramen. Even since we stepped onto Japanese soil, dad and I have had a bowl of ramen every night except for the 2 nights at Disneyland, and even then, we had udon and pasta. 

So after we did our final bit of shopping, we went to get ourselves a bowl of ramen from one of the shops close to the hotel. We ended up skipping 2 shops due to the lunch crowd and decided to look at what one of the smaller alleys might offer. Lucky for us, there was a shop that placed pictured of it's ramen at the door and that ramen looked awesome. Luckier still was that it was slightly larger and less crowded than other shops. In we went, and got ourselves some meal tickets. 

Dad and I ordered the same thing and I found some garlic and garlic press among the condiments they offered. After eating at a few stores, it seems that foreigners aren't big fans of garlic, but I am, and I love my food spicy. When the opportunity to play with my food came about I'd take it, and I definitely had a blast with this one. Don't get me wrong though, the ramen that originally came was really hearty and so good, dad was already halfway through his by the time I finished pressing my garlic. The addition of fresh garlic, chilli powder and chilli oil just made it AWESOME!

Can you tell I've got a noodle obsession?

First Taste Of Sea Urchin

Dad and I got down to covering Tsukiji Market and Kappabashi Kitchen Town today, the 2 spots we had to go on the last full day we had left in Japan. While on our visit to Tsukiji, dad and I got to try a few interesting things like coffee flavoured giant red beans, some seaweed that look like a greenish bunch of prawn eggs, fish milt and sea urchin. The one that dad and I have been wanting to try was the sea urchin as we've watched Andrew Zimmern raving about it all the time on Bizarre Foods America.

Once we got our first taste, it was clear why he had a love for that orangey reproductive organs. They packed a huge punch of flavour. Imagine a concentrate of crab roe and liver, all in one teaspoon size blob, exploding in your mouth and going right to your sinuses and brain. That, put on warm vingared rice, is just a simple yet super delicious pairing. 

We had it in 4 different ways. The first was with simmered fish milt. The fish milt was rather bland, but the creaminess of it went very well with the uni and made the uni shine. With scallop, there was a bit of an overdose of seafood flavours. Both flavours came out strong, and I needed a tea to  taste anything else after that. The third and fourth were the buns pictured below, both made to look like sea urchins, whole and open. One was a bun stuffed with uni paste, probably mixed with fish paste as it was light and didn't have much flavour. The open bun was filled with pure uni, and that was absolutely delicious.  The strong flavours of the uni is just balanced by the sweetness of the bun. If only they have frozen take home bags of that as well!

Grand Public Thrones

I had to blog about at least once about the toilets in Japan and since I found one nice enough to take a picture of, today's post shall be it. This toilet, like the majority of them in Japan, are installed with bidet and washing functions. I'd say majority because out of the many public toilets I've been using, I've only encountered one squatting pan, and one without a washlet installed. 

Not only are the toilets installed with washing functions, some even have seat warming functions, and there were 2 that even had a button to air dry your privates. The water is even heated so you don't get a shocking blast of ice cold water. What I don't understand is why there isn't a bit of warm water at the taps to wash your hands. 

Big Results From Simple Contraption

I've been looking forward to today ever since Angie mentioned a Ramen Museum and I even thought about the cup noodle I wanted to make for myself. However, after going through the Momofuku Ando Instant Noodle Museum, there was one display that showed how sometimes simple things can be spectacular, just like a pack of instant noodles. (You'll learn more in the video at the museum)

We walked into the room and found shadows of trees just moving, making the viewer feel as though they're traveling through a forest. The simple thing about it was how it works. It's just a light, mounted on a track, with miniature trees "planted" along the track. As the light moved, the miniature set up created a moving shadow movie. It's amazing that something so simple can be so mesmerising. 

Something to keep in mind!

SMAP Izakaya For The Win!

There was so much going on today that I really didn't know what to choose as the photo of the day. We went on a tour where we had some time in a fishcake factory, to Owakudani famous for the black eggs (cooked in volcano water), got some good view of Mt Fuji that hid behind clouds mainly. It continued with an awesome hotdog with seaweed and egg mayo topping at Gotemba Premium Outlets shopping area before we headed back to Shinjuku. That gave me the opportunity to find Oiwake Dango to satisfy my dango obsession.

However, the highlight of the night was actually at the izakaya that Angie wanted to visit. It was set up by a SMAP fan, and the place was decorated with everything SMAP, played their music videos and even tuned into shows being broadcasted if they were guest. Even though I didn't understand a thing about what they were singing, except for the English bits in their new song, the place was rather cool, but the food made it awesome.

The dishes were simple, but they were so well done and well seasoned that we couldn't let a drop of anything go to waste. Angie chose the items as dad and I didn't understand anything in the Japanese menu. Turned out, we had a bacon and soft boiled egg salad, cheese tempura, gyoza soup, and a dish similar to clay pot rice.

The salad was not fussy, and the wafu dressing, mixed with the runny yolk created a very well balanced and creamy dressing that even dad couldn't let go. Next came the gyoza soup. It was really hearty, yet not too rich, intense with flavour yet light. It's strange that a soup can be described with such contrasts but it just went down like that and you could just drink the whole pot by yourself. The gyoza were also kept the firmness of the skins, and the filling weren't over seasoned. Cheese tempura really gave me ideas as it was so light and creamy inside, with an awesome crisp on the outside. I could have 10 sticks of those, but we had more coming and I needed to save space with such awesome food coming out of the kitchen. Finally, the last dish was the pot of rice topped with grilled fish and salmon roe. We had to keep it covered for a minute (there was a timer) and that probably let the rice crisp up at the sides while all the flavours soaked into the rice. Absolutely lovely

BURP!

Popcorn Madness

Dad and I head to DisneyLand again today for a day trip as he wanted to see everything which we couldn't in the dark. For me, it was more of a popcorn mission. I was looking for a certain popcorn container that I've seen some people carrying around. It looked like a plastic picnic basket and I thought I saw it in DisneySea, but still couldn't find it after searching all the popcorn carts. So today, I was in search of the container, check if there is a different special flavour available here, and try out the honey flavour they didn't have at DisneySea. 

Every cart I went seem to sell the oval Mickey container (seen hanging in the picture) which I thought would be problematic to bring home. Then I gave up on the picnic container as we were nearing the end of our round in DisneyLand and happen to notice a collapsible container that was offered at the Pooh's honey popcorn cart. Great, just a flavour I wanted to try. So I got myself a container and now it was onto finish the next bits of my mission. 

I got to the cart with special flavours and found it was selling Soda Popcorn which I tried yesterday. It was just to sweet to have again after the Honey popcorn. After confirming that, I decided to just get the 2 flavours from here that I really like; Curry and Soy Sauce & Butter. I wished they'd sell packs of their popcorn too but I think I would need another bag to get my favourite flavours home - Black Pepper, Corn Potage, Curry, Soy Sauce & Butter, Soda. I missed out on Milk Tea in DisneySea but I had a feeling I would've liked it too!

Stone Cold Fruit

We made it to Disneyland yesterday evening and enjoyed testing some of the many flavored popcorn they offered, and caught the daily fireworks display. Today, we (well, Angie, dad and I), head to DisneySea and once again, we tried quite a few flavored popcorn, and mainly ate snacks from breakfast to lunch. 

Somewhere along the route, I noticed a lot of people having ice cream and was considering to get one for myself for something cold and sweet. Finally I see a cart near the Lost River Delta selling some but couldn't decide between the mickey shaped ice cream, and the frozen mango. On closer inspection, I realised that the frozen mango was indeed a frozen slice of mango and not mango ice cream. I had to get that!

When I got it, the staff even told me to be careful as it was a whole mango slice, and it was very hard. Seems like there might have been a few people who lost their teeth with this. Good thing me and dad practice on crab shells. After biting into it, you get a nice piece of mango to chew on once it defrosts in your mouth. Really simple and delicious dessert to cool down with. 

Refreshing Tarty Treat

It was another walk through a cherry tree lined trail and round a pond today, but the final destination was up to a beautiful garden on top of a hill. Before we could even start our walk, we already had 3 casualties who decided they didn't need to see any more flowers, but I guess they missed out on the best part at Kairaku-en. 

The trek from the hotel and round the lake was alright as we took it quite slowly. However, the uphill slope to the garden was still taxing on the knees, but dad and I still made it. The idea of having hot plum tea and dessert at the top also spurred me on. I was so excited to reach the top, I nearly bought the whole gift shop before we even went into the garden grounds. Good thing Angie told me before I paid for anything. 

Upon entering the garden, you could see a whole bunch of naked trees that just started to sprout leaves. Angie told us that it was more a plum plantation, and the plum flowering season just ended. The garden was still lovely even with the bare start. As we got deeper, the plants got greener and there was even really old Cherry trees that were in bloom, and the typical Japanese pines you see in drawings. 

As this place is known for it's plum, it's easy to see why they have the large amount of plum products on sale. We tried a few offerings and the plum ice cream is still on my mind. It was creamy, sweet and tart, and the best bits were the bits of plum you could chew on. If only they had take home packs!

Chasing Flowers To The North

Angie planned for a trip to Ibaraki, north from Tokyo for a night and I didn't know why until she mentioned Hitachi Seaside Park. It was a top ten spot for some list of beautiful photography spots in the world, or something on that range, and that already got me excited. At first I found an aquarium there I wanted to visit, but when Angie mentioned there was a Sakura festival, I decided to follow her to that instead. 

Sadly, we were too late for the festival at Heiwa-dori, but the trees were still there, and they were still beautiful. The lights were also in place to light them up perfectly when darkness set in. So after some shopping to kill time, we came back to the street for a night shot of the blossoming trees, and even did a few risky shots by running into the middle of the road for a quick snap. 

Mission Accomplished

The main aim of the trip was to see the Sakura blooms that happen during this time every year and our trip to Ueno park definitely fulfilled that straight away. Angie told my dad that the season was actually nearing the end, but it also depended on the location and climate of the area. As per Angie's suggested itinerary, I skipped all the towers and decided to stay longer at Ueno park to check out the zoo and the Natural Museum of History and Science. 

As we walked to the park, the trees that greeted you were all in shades from white to a light pink. We spotted a few that were a dark pink in colour but didn't know if they were the cherry blossoms or some other species. As we were there around 7.45 am and the zoo only opened at 9.30am, dad and I decided to talk a walk down and around the lake.

The lake was beautiful surrounded by the cherry trees in full bloom, and the small temple in the middle of the lake just made for a very nice photo opportunity. Absolutely great choice to come here, and it was good we came here before the crowds started having picnics under the trees.

First TIme To Japan

Angie saw a flight deal to Tokyo just after our trip to the UK and I took the opportunity to take a trip there as well. After some indecisive people decided to go, we needed one more person to pair everyone up (as rooms for 2 were significantly cheaper than singles or triples) and dad ended up as the last addition to the party of 6. 

It is also dad's first trip there and we were both excited about the food, culture, flowers and the weather. He didn't have much things planned for himself and was up for all the things I've told him about, especially Disneyland. After passing immigration in Narita, we had to take another long trip (but not as long as the plane trip) down to Ikebukuro, where our main stay in Japan would be. 

We managed to get a train about 15 minutes after getting past immigration, and the wait was actually for the cleaning of the cabins and the direction change of the train seats. It was rather cool seeing a man that looked older than dad just glide through the cabin, releasing the seat and just spinning them around like he was dancing with them. The ride on the N'EX (Narita Express) was so smooth, you can easily fall asleep. However, the very first Sakura sighting left dad and me wide awake staring into the beauty that is Japan. 

Blossoming Singapore

Adi, dad and I were on a "fishing expedition" around the northern part of Singapore when we decided to check out a jetty at Sembawang Park. Dad's old fishing ground used to be somewhere close by and we could just see the jetty from the area. So parked the car and checked out the rest of the area to see if we could possibly organise a fishing and family picnic. What we found were trees with pink blooms all over, just like the Japanese Sakura that dad and I will be leaving to see tomorrow. I guess we can call these our local version. 

Lactose Intolerant Cheese Lover

The one thing I head to Pasar Bella for is to get a fill of awesome cheese from The Cheese Ark. From the first time I stepped into the little nook, I've never left empty handed. The ladies (and I think there was a guy once) there are always patient, chatty and really helpful. I absolutely love that they would just dig out a piece of cheese to try when you ask about it, and even if you don't like it, they don't show any disappointment. With that note, it also helps them introduce something that you most likely can't resist. 

This time around, they introduced me to a really cool truffle replacement. The cheese, Belper Knolle, looks like a little truffle, and you're supposed to use it sparingly as well. It tasted spicy and salty, like a mix of black pepper and parmesan. The first taste just sent me thoughts of using it on an aglio olio, or just plain buttered pasta. 

Note the amount of cheese dad and I ended up getting. To think I've got a bit of a lactose intolerance, but if I ever get into problems, the cheese are well worth it!

My Kind Of Motto

The recent rise in the adaptations of the "Keep Calm and Carry On" motto has seen some really funny and smart ones, while some adaptations just sound stupid. In fact, there are so many of them, they were getting a bit irritating. This one I saw today while walking at Pasar Bella caught my eye, not only because it was so bright, but also because it could definitely be my motto. I think it is also clever that they put it in a food market. 

Test Kitchen 08

I was looking through one of the "2 ingredient recipe" lists for the Nutella mug cake Adi and I made in Jakarta and remembered attempting this banana and oatmeal recipe once. However, I used instant oats the last time and it came out too soft and didn't hold up well enough. This time, I got the right oats and since little Brayden likes banana, I made a batch of it with a dark chocolate Hershey Kiss in the centre. They turned out much better, and held onto their shape, but I think they could be much crispier. Next time I shall spray some oil onto the cookies and see if that helps.