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. 

Torch Toasting Marshmallows

I found my mini torch and decided to test out my marshmallow browning skills with it on mom's little flower marshmallows. My first attempt mainly caught on fire and turned into a crispy caramel charcoal fluff. Second flower had a better time, with a nice browning, but it didn't puff up enough and was still chewy. The third attempt, which toasted up quite well, still caught fire on a few petals, but it melted much better on the tongue. Still need a bit more practice on the marshmallows. Wonder if super mini marshmallows would toast better though.

Test Kitchen 07

After the shelled haul from yesterday's oyster hunt was devoured rather quickly, we had a few oysters and mussel still in their shells. I was thinking of making something else and the one thing that came to mind was the fried oyster cakes that are usually sold as UFOs. After doing a quick search for a recipe, dad shucked the oysters and I made the batter for our experiment. The first few UFOs came out looking like they were of screenshots of a UFO mid-explosion. Then finally we got the oil temperature and timing right, and we got the last few looking like they should. The batter was also quite good for batters mussels, and I'll probably test it out on some soft shell crabs soon.

Oyster Hunting Group

It started with just dad and myself hunting for fishing spots, then uncle Dennis and my cousin Ian came to join us on a low tide hunt for seafood. It then went on to oyster harvesting, which sure got a lot more of the family interested. This time, my aunt Jeannie wanted to come along, and so did my cousin Criszean, as well as Adi. Good thing is with Criszean coming along, there was another car for more hunters and so Denise and my mom came along for the ride as well. 

Seems like the group might be getting bigger by the number of people being added to the group's chat list. 

Thankful Donation Drive

I spotted a post by Photojojo regarding a donation drive they had that was as simple as posting a photo on any of the social media sites. All you had to do use their template to create an appreciative note to someone you love, put it on a picture and add a colored filter. Then simply post that photo on a social media site, tag them, and a dollar was donated towards a cause they believe in. And since it was Photojojo, the causes obviously had a photography base, another thing close to my heart. 

Tiny Helper

The weather has changed slightly, probably since the start of Spring. Although Singapore doesn't have the four seasons, there are slight changes in the weather that usually coincides with the same time that the seasons are supposed to change. The change this time has raised temperatures and winds have died down, leaving me feeling hot and sticky. 

Sleeping is a bit tough but I've got a tiny bit of help from a fan my mom had. It's old, but still running alright, and it's a good thing she didn't throw it away during the move. It's propped laptop cooling fan, which is sitting on a dry box cover. This is what happens when the room hasn't been properly configured. 

House Warming

Mom and I have been feeling a little under the weather and deciding what to eat have been tough. Seems all we wanted for the past week was something in hot soup. After the numerous steamboats we've had, we decided to get a bunch of ingredients and make our own instead. Even though it made the house really warm, the warmth in our stomachs made us all feel a lot better. Best thing about this was having mom's sambal belacan to accompany everything. 

BURP!

Hawker Practice

Mom has been asking me to cook the past few days, and her requests have been for rather local dishes: Fried Hokkien Mee, Fried Prawn Noodles, Chilli Crab. Somehow I feel like she's making me into a hawker with the requests.

The Hokkien mee was just a recreation of something my grandmother used to cook whenever she wanted to make a quick, one pot meal. It was just noodles fried with sliced fishcake, some vegetables and sliced chicken or pork. It was simple, quick and delicious. It's one of the dishes I've always had in my mind and have not had anything close as most shops tend to use starch to make a thick gravy. My grandmother didn't, and I think that was the biggest difference with her cooking and the hawkers.

The next day, my mom suggested I try making fried prawn noodles and that was a bit of a problem when I didn't have the stock to flavour the noodles. However, I managed to make a quick one using stock cubes, boiled with a bit of pork, and also partially cooking the seafood in it. Somehow that makeshift stock managed to make the noodles taste right but I think a proper stock would be much tastier.

The last one was the weirdest of the lot. We were having a steamboat buffet and they offered fried mantous. My mom saw the mantous and was saving a bit of stomach space to get a few in. I, on the other hand, wondered why they offered it when chilli crab is the dish it goes best with and that dish wasn't on offer. Mom also wished they did have some chilli crab. It so happened that they had all the ingredients needed to make the dish, just no proper way to cook it. Somehow, with a lot of patience and definitely a handful of madness, I managed to make a simple chilli prawn dish which was enough to satisfy. In the end, making her over indulge with the mantous.

Test Kitchen 06

I bought some beef bones when I decided to try a recipe for stewed beef brisket and found that the pack had some rather nice pieces with a good amount of marrow in them. I bought a few more packs as I wanted to make some beef stock and got 4 pieces with some marrow in it. I've always wondered why people liked a roasted bone marrow dish and decided to try making it. 

As I wanted roasted garlic to go into my stock, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and roast them together. The garlic impart much flavour which gave the marrow its time to shine but it still felt like I was eating a glob of fat. I also had some bread and made some garlic toast to spread the marrow on, making a great combination as the garlic and parsley mixture cut the richness of the marrow. 

Guess now I know why it can be a restaurant dish. 

Easter Egg Caught

It was close to Easter during my grandmother's funeral and there were a lot of Easter-related items like hot-crossed buns, chocolate eggs and rabbit-shaped caked. One of the items we got during our time in England was the Ferrero Rocher giant chocolate egg which was just as good as the gold Ferrero Rocher foil-covered balls. I have been looking for this giant egg every easter since then and even recruited my grandfather to see if the stores in England still had them, hoping to bring one home after my trip there. Sadly, he didn't see any and I guess people who bought it the year before knew how good it was and emptied the shelves. 

I was looking at the Easter display in Cold Storage the other day and wondered if anyone would bring in the very same but only saw Cadbury and Lindt eggs on sale. Today seemed to be a lucky day as I needed some parsley for a kitchen experiment and Cold Storage was my best bet. I walked passed the Easter display and looked again with lots of hope and something caught my eye. As there were 2 undecided idiots blocking my view, I took a peek and realised it was a giant Kinder egg. That got me excited as well as I like my Kinder Bueno, but I had to move on as I was on a parsley mission. 

I walked to get a basket and found bunny ears and a nose for the car, then got a good discounted pack of baked beef pies, found some interesting wasabi sprouts, finally found my parsley and then I saw no one blocking my way to the shelf of giant eggs. I got there, stared at the Kinder egg and contemplated taking it as a consolation. Then the hanging sign swung and I saw a glimmer of gold, turned my head and a choir began singing in my head. There, right at the top of the shelf, blocked slightly by the swinging sign, was the giant Ferrero Rocher egg. MY Giant Ferrero Rocher Egg!!

I was so happy I nearly cleared the whole shelf, but decided to leave one for some other lucky soul. 

Hot Pot Trip Discussion

I wanted to meet up with Angie as I had a few questions for her about our trip to Japan, which could be a bit tough over text messaging and it would have been rather long and tedious. She had a plan and I needed to change a few things on the plan, and also she was a good sounding board on how I planned to execute it as she was at tour-guide level. 

I was craving again, and this time it was for steamboat even though I had hot pot last night. She also wanted steamboat, but was craving a bit of hot plate action as well. So easiest choice was Seoul Garden, and location was quite easy when cinema and eating location are housed in Bugis Junction. 

Angie started her day with a movie and met up with me at the restaurant. I'd have to say that Seoul Garden is another place that has been losing touch. It started out quite good, with good ingredients and a load of quality choices that go well in a soup or pan-fried. Now there's sushi to increase the rate at which you fill yourself up, and a plethora of vegetables has dwindled down to 4 platters and 2 bowls, one of which was romaine lettuce. If you wanted more vegetables, you'd find it stuffed with fish paste. 

Good thing about this is that it's a buffet and we get to choose what we cook, and how we liked it cooked. However, a visit to one of the places across the street would have been better, even without the air-conditioned comfort. 

Hot Pot Catch Up

Had a gathering this evening with a groups of girls from secondary school at the Chicken Hot Pot restaurant in Westgate. We had a chat on which of the many food outlets we wanted to eat at and it was  supposed to be at the Japanese collagen soup place. However, due to a little over-excitement and perhaps a bit of fuzzy-brain syndrome, a place for 5 of us was reserved at this place instead. We only realised the mistake when the food came and it looked good, so it didn't really matter. Great way to start a catch-up I guess.

The flavours for the 2 hotspots were quite good though. We got the set which included 2 hotspots, one with fish and one (obviously) with chicken. We opted for the chicken one to be a little spicy and a non spicy fish just so everyone could enjoy something just in case someone couldn't take the heat. The fish pot looked rather boring, but after digging into it, I found it really lovely with a salted vegetable and plum soup base. It tasted like my favourite steamed fish dish, just stewed instead of steamed. The chicken ended up tasting like Sze Chuan chicken, just with too little spice. 

Anyway, I guess the unique thing about this place is the little squeeze pack of shrimp paste that was given in the set to be squeezed into the boiling soup. It didn't taste like anything was added to it and it cooked like mash shrimp as well. It's nice, but nothing that big a deal. However, 2 hot pots didn't have enough ingredients for 5 and we got some extra ingredients out of the fridge. 

Overall, it was alright but nothing special, and I would rather head to one of the buffet hotspots places in Bugis as it came up to $18.60 per person. 

The Quacking Dead

I was trying to get info on my computer just now and I suddenly heard quacking coming from the kitchen. I knew dad was making roast duck, but I also knew that the duck was already long dead. I tried hard and really thought about what was making that sound but just couldn't figure it out and had to go in to the kitchen and find out. What I saw made me laugh my head off when I realise he was using a bicycle pump to separate the skin from the flesh of the duck. As he did so, the sounds made by the pump was similar to a duck quacking and I asked dad:

"The duck is already dead, why are you trying to make it quack?"

I just had to. 

Junky Craving

Had a craving for pizza and I didn't really want to order a whole pizza, or drive all the way to Sunset way to get a special order in. Mom, on the other hand, seem to be on a frozen prata binge and keeps frying prata to eat with curry, whatever dip ia available, or even a fried egg. I made use of her prata madness to satisfy my craving by making an ultimate junk food dish - fried prata topped with cheese and hotdogs. Fold them in half and I've got a cheesy, oily wrap full of processed crap. 

Sometimes one just have to fall of the wagon. 

Testing His Limits

Made some pasta yesterday and with the seafood my mom defrosted, I took the opportunity to use the squid ink I bought a few days back. I wasn't too sure what to do with it, to make a really black version of a spicy aglio olio, or a blackened arrabiata. So I made a mix of both, an aglio olio with chopped tomatoes with a load of seafood. I made it for my mom and I, so the spice level was just slightly too spicy for mom, yet not really as spicy as I would like. 

Today, as I was eating a leftover bowl of the pasta, I got Brayden joining me, wanting a taste of whatever I was eating. I decided to find a piece of pasta that wasn't covered in too much sauce for him to try. Obviously the little bit would still be spicy and I expected him to spit it out, but seems like this little boy loves his spicy stuff (he already enjoyed a piece of raw onion once). He ate the noodle, and started rubbing his face when the spice hit him, and strangely enough, wanted more. He would eat the noodle, rub his face and then come back for more. Seems like I found a new pasta friend. 

As you can see, he continues to play with the leftovers and ends up painting his face with squid ink. How it didn't burn his face, I still don't know. 

Test Kitchen 05

Found some beef brisket the other day at Giant and decided to get some tripe, ox tail and tendon to make some beef noodle soup. After looking for a recipe, I decided to try one that seems close to what I was looking for. After putting all the ingredients in a pot, it didn't look quite like what I was expiating at all, and mom said it was too salty. Decided to half the liquids and add in more water, and I decided to add some coriander to the pot to freshen it up. The meat and tendon turned out rather nice and didn't get too salty, and the gravy was much better after the salt reduction. Guess I'll have to try another version, or just reduce the amount of soy sauce in the recipe. 

Think I've to go with my own instincts with recipe these days, just like Remy in Ratatouille.

Simplest Things

Woke up today and didn't know what to eat. Mom suggested fried rice and I felt like having some junk like spam and thus an order of spam fried rice was put in. In a few minutes, out came a bowl of piping hot spam fried rice with chilli padi. It's simple, delicious, and definitely comfort food. 

Om Nom Nom!

Early Morning Dinner

Sent Adi home and since mom wanted to get stuff from NTUC, we head to big 24-hour branch in Clementi and got her drink supplies among other things. As I was getting a bit hungry, and it was time for my dinner, we went to the coffee shop just behind NTUC for some Mee Rebus which I haven't had for a long while. 

There's something about the rich beef and peanut gravy, mixed with with the tartness of the fresh lime juice, and the kick from the sliced green chilli. It doesn't feel disgustingly starchy and has the right balance to satisfy and perk you up at the same time. The only problem with this is the lack of ingredients as it's usually just noodles, bean sprouts and an egg. Just not enough meat and vegetables, but that's what good about buying this from a stall that sells cooked food as well. 

Well now that I had my dinner, I'd probably enjoy a good sleep, if the stupid mosquitoes would leave me alone. 

Finishing Touches

Today I finally found a recipe for the chocolate covering for the cake pop experiment and decided to give them a coating before they dry out too much. Also, the moulded cake has set enough to be handled a bit more roughly. I don't know why, but lately, I seem to be hitting some crap recipes online, and it happened with the chocolate. Somehow there was just too much chocolate and not enough butter for it to be runny enough to coat without getting it stuck in blobs. Ended up having to wing it with adding a little butter at a time until I got the consistency I needed. Finally, throw the moulded cake in, swirl around, tap off excess and let them harden in the cold wind coming through my kitchen. 

Oh yes, I got a natural cold kitchen right now!

Potato Crisps With A Punch

I felt like munching something and dug through a bag of snacks I bought the other day. Found the smaller pack of potato crisps and realised that it was a flavour I haven't tried. I'm not exactly sure what flavour it is supposed to be, but judging by the Thai words on it, I guessed it was tom yum. From the photo on the pack, possibly tom yum goong. Well, I like the flavour I think it's supposed to be and loved it even more after having my first bite. Sweet, salty, tart and with just a slight hint of spiciness. Now I wish there was a bigger bag!

Indian Rice Vermicelli Pancakes

As usual, I had my fill of local food and had to write about it. What better way to document my life than to take a pic of yummy food when my like revolves around it? So today's picture if of putu mayam. Putu mayam, also known as string hoppers or iddiyappam, are quite tasteless like rice vermicelli, and can be eaten as an accompaniment to curries, or as a dessert. Over here, it's usually served as a dessert with grated coconut and powdered red sugar.

We were once talking about my late grandmother loving huat kuehs (chinese steamed cupcakes), getuk ubi (mashed tapioca dessert), and putu mayam (string hoppers) and we realised that she probably loved the red sugar that is found in or with these 3 desserts. During this discussion, my aunt asked if putu mayam was the Indian bee hoon that we would sometimes buy for the 7th month prayer's offerings. I guess it does look like a serving of rice vermicelli made into a flat pancake, and the ingredients are similar. 

Piqued Curiosity

Had the TV on while I was blogging when the trailer for this movie came on, and it got me wondering if it would be as good as the Fast & Furious movies. Also how far it would go as Electronic Arts had come up with so many versions of the Need For Speed game. Here's the trailer; part of which I saw on TV to promoting it's cinema release this week.

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Cutting My Own Hair

I've grown up never having step foot in a barber or salon to get my hair done as my mom has always been my hairdresser. I've got my hair wash, cut and permed by her, and soon she taught me how to help her with perming her hair. I realised I'm crap at curling bunches of hair around the perming sticks and disliked the smell of perming solution.

Then finally mom got too tired of perming her hair and decided she just wanted to get it cut, but needed help with cutting the back as it's the hardest to get straight on your own. So I started to get used to cutting her hair, and 2 weeks back, she asked me to give her a haircut. I was rather sick of her usual layered look and decided to give her a cut with no proper look in mind. I just knew I wanted it no too short, yet short enough that all she had to do was run her hands through and not look crazy. More importantly, she could do without all the stupid little clips she used to hold up errant locks.

I then got a bit frustrated with my long hair and decided to get it cut. However, I knew I didn't want the bob I'm always sporting, and couldn't really tell what I wanted. So mom told me to go try cutting my own hair and see what came out of it. I decided today that I would get down to it and just went into the bathroom, scissors in hand, and chopped a load off. Finally, I managed to get something I was alright with just as my arm was getting too tired and my aim was getting crap.

So my first attempt, which needs a second trimming, was rather good if I should say so myself.

Words That Make A Song

Heard John Legend's "All Of Me" on the radio recently and found the song quite nice with sweet lyrics that are a rarity these days. It is this kind of songs, where the lyrics catch you instead of the beat, and the song stays with you longer than any club anthem would. The official video from VEVO can't be played here, so I'm putting up the chorus instead:

 Cause all of me
Loves all of you
Love your curves and all your edges
All your perfect imperfections
Give your all to me
I'll give my all to you
You're my end and my beginning
Even when I lose I'm winning
Cause I give you all of me
And you give me all of you

Test Kitchen 04

Mom bought some beef knuckle the other day when a craving hit and realised that it was a very odd cut with some that were nice and tender, while other bits were really very tough. So I told her we should use it for a stew or curry and decided to get dad to find a beef curry recipe to try out.

He was looking through some books and I didn't realise that he didn't find one he liked until I saw my sister commenting on something he posted on Facebook. Apparently he found it on his phone and instead of bookmarking it, he apparently posted the recipe he wanted to try. So since he already got a recipe and we had all the ingredients at home, it was time to make some Beef Sukka.

Well it's basically half done right now as it needs to boil down and dry up, but it will probably taste better the next day like most curries do anyway.

Test Kitchen 03

After getting the cookie scoop, along with the rest of Bake It Yourself, I decided to try making cupcakes to use up a Nutella buttercream I made earlier when testing out the Nutella dream cookies. Also to top them off with some moulded sugar decorations.

I looked for a recipe which would use coconut flour so it would be easier on my blood sugar levels and managed to find one that was diabetic-friendly. Furthermore, I had a sugar-free maple syrup! So I went off baking the cupcakes, which were true to their name - fluffy! Only thing was that the sugar-free syrup seem to have lost all trace of sweetness and I ended up having fluffy, dark chocolate cupcakes. Great for my pairing with the Nutella buttercream and sugar decoration I guess.

Today, I got Adi over to mould the decoration and help with frosting the cupcakes, as well as make some cake pops. The cake pops ended up a bit too soft and needed a bit more time in the fridge, so we managed to only get weirdly frosted square cupcakes with tiny baking-themed sugar decor.

Bought The Whole Store

Dad and I were looking for an ice cream scoop, or cookie scoop, as we wanted to try making cupcakes. After searching around for one, I finally found that Bake It Yourself had it in their stock, and it was priced affordably at $9.90 instead of $20. 

Going around, and up and down, the store, I found more and more things inspiring me, and fit some ideas I had for a while. Soon I was grabbing cake pop moulds, sugar paste moulds and fondant. Not only was everything so cute, they were nicely priced and I hope this store doesn't have to raise its prices. 

Oh, and when I couldn't find the cookie scoop, they were nice enough to run up to their storeroom to get some and stock up the shelves right away. Now that's awesome service!

Over The Top Japan

Lately I've been looking up websites while contemplating what are the more important things I should do during the first trip to Japan. I think Angie has covered the most important ones like Mount Fuji and Tokyo Disneyland, and I've added the super touristy Tsukiji market to my list, along with a few places to eat.

Looking through all the things about Japan, I would say that "weird" would be a bit of an unfair and slightly mean description of the things they have there. I think "over the top" would be better as they're obviously very dignified and spirited about their culture, and are always striving to make things better and more interesting. It's like one of the suggestions I found while looking through TimeOut's list and couldn't help but giggle at the thought of Angie and the rest going for it - the karaoke session in a jacuzzi.

However, I feel this OTT quality is good when it comes to the food scene when they are always trying to "up their game" and come up with new twists to good old dishes, or simply creating one store which sells every kind of yakitori from all over Japan. Makes it easier for me!

Getting so excited!!

Test Kitchen 02

My aunt have been bugging us to make tiramisu as she wanted to know how much it would cost, and how much work it would require. After buying the ingredients about a week ago, we finally set a date and time and got down to layering the dessert this afternoon. Before this, she also mentioned that someone made a caramel banana dessert she wanted to try and I suggested we make it different and with localised flavours.

We started with making the tiramisu, and after all the coffee extraction, egg beating and layering, we got the dessert in the fridge within an hour. We then started on the caramel banana dessert using a gula melaka caramel, and coconut cream. It was relatively easy, just biscuit crumbs and butter, topped with caramel bananas, and topped that with a layer of whipped coconut cream. Done within another hour. We had a bit more biscuit base left and decided to finish up my lemon curd from my last experiment. So last dessert was just as easy, layer of biscuit, lemon curd and green-tinted, whipped coconut cream with toasted coconut for a little pizazz!

3 hours, 3 desserts!

Easter Egg Hunt

Dad and I were hunting for an ice cream scoop for a cupcake mission we intend to start on someday and ended up going to a few stored to look for them. We ended up at Cold Storage and found that they are stocking chocolate eggs in preparation for Easter. Looking at all the eggs, I was looking for 2 in particular; a giant Ferrero Rocher egg and mini Kinder Bueno eggs. I had these 2 when we were in England for Grandma's funeral and have not found anything close. 

This time, I did find something interesting enough to buy and try. They were Ferrero Eggs, the darker ones are pure chocolate while the gold ones were hazelnut - or so the package said. After opening them to try, I found the chocolate ones to be dark chocolate coated wafer eggs, encasing chocolate ganache. The gold ones were milk chocolate coated wafer eggs with a hazelnut ganache centre. 

Imagine the dark chocolate and normal Ferrero Rocher without the nuts and sprinkles. Yummy, but not as yummy as the giant Ferrero Rocher egg which I will still be hunting for!

Week Of Birthdays

I was just thinking the other day that the first week of March will be full of birthday celebrations if everyone I knew threw a party for themselves. My grandfather would have his on the 1st, my cousin's daughter on the 2nd, Airol on the 4th, Ai Li would have her's today. Thank goodness that birthday parties aren't really a big thing once we're done with our 21st. Most of us tend to leave the country now to get away from any birthday surprises and having the birthday song sung by everyone in the village. 

The one thing that could possibly be good for anyone celebrating their birthday these days might be the cupcake trend. One could choose a birthday cake big enough for one, therefore not having to force everyone else to from the same big cake, with the same flavor that might not be to everyone's liking. Another way is to choose a few different flavours, blow out a candle on our favourite flavour, and let everyone else decide what they would like to eat. With most cupcakes being about 4 mouthfuls, these go down without making one feel full of buttercream. 

Now I feel like trying to make my own cupcakes, but first, I'll just eat a few on behalf of the birthdays these week. Oom Nom Nom!

Inducting A New Member

Babysitting day today and we decided to let Brayden try his hand at feeding himself to get this hand-eye coordination working better. I was showing him a bottle of Nutella and mom asked where my pack of Nutella Go was as it would be easier for him to handle a little stick rather than mess up a whole bottle with a spoon. So we opened it and let him taste a little bit of Nutella, then showed him what to do with each stick. After messing with his first stick, mom and I managed to leave on stick and some Nutella for him to play with. He did do a good job with dipping and licking off the Nutella, and finally took a bite of the biscuit. Midway through, he was laughing like a maniac in his chair. Think he was in Nutella heaven! Finally when he finished the last biscuit, he started with his spoon and in a huge mess.

I think I just made a new Nutella fan. Hahaha!!

Attention Seeker

We brought Adi over to our place tonight as I wanted to pass her the Nutella cupcake I got. She was so tired, she ended up sleeping before I could even get the cupcake out to try. So she ended up sleeping over at our place for the night. However, midway through her nap, she shuffles about in the couch and Barkley took the opportunity to get a scratch from her. It ended up with Adi's hand hanging from the couch, wiggling her fingers once in a while to scratch Barkley's stomach. However, Barkley was not satisfied and would wiggle to ensure he got some action from her fingers when she dozed off again. 

Attention whore!

Childhood Favourites 06

Ever since I got a taste of Nutella, the taste was etched into my tastebuds, my mind and my heart. Mom never bought a jar like the one in the picture, but she did let us have the single portions that came with their own plastic palette knives. All we had to do was lift the foil lid, mix the nutty chocolate paste around to make sure the oil was evenly spread, and start slathering it onto our tongues. Pure bliss!

Now it's in bottles and we're using butter knives!

LIstening Pleasure

Just heard this version of "Stay", originally sung by Rihanna, whom I find has a irritatingly nasal voice. This cover , done by 30 Seconds To Mars is waaaaaaaay better, at least to my ears.

Enjoy

Thirty Seconds To Mars - Stay (Rihanna) in the Live Lounge

Oyster Hunting

It would have been Ah Kong's 91 today, and I think he would have enjoyed the oyster hunt we had today. After having a taste of the oysters we picked yesterday, dad and I decided to get the right tools and go in prepared. We asked if Uncle Dennis and my cousin Criszean would like to come along, but in the end, Criszean couldn't make it, but Ian and Denise could. 

So the 5 of us went, and 4 of us hunted while Denise sat guarding the drinks and enjoyed the wind. After chipping off a few small ones, I managed to get a huge one and that got us going with the hunt for bigger oysters. In the end, we managed a huge haul, with some really huge that were as big as our palms. 

After getting the yummy oysters out, we decided to make our very own version of mild oyster omelette, with a side of spicy oysters to top it off.