Halloween Horrors

This would be the first Halloween since everyone from the neighbourhood has moved into the new blocks, and since there were a few foreigners in the building, we decided to get into the spirit of things. Dad and I found some cool decorations and ee wanted to get a giant skull but it was too big to stuff into our luggage. We decided to get something much smaller but packed a good punch as well. Once pressed, this doorbell will have a snake attacking your finger, followed by flashing red eyes and a scary voice saying "Welcome to the haunted house!" 

Wonder if there will be any daredevils coming around tonight. Mwuahahahahaaha!!

For The Love Of Nutella

I almost missed this book on the shelf at WHSmith as it was stuffed between two really big books, which was among a shelf full of colourful books. However, with its distinctive shape, colour and bold lettering, it was rather hard for any Nutella fan to miss it. Lucky for me I managed to get the last two books in the store, and I did not see any more books at other stores. Lucky because once the Nutella freak, Adi, walked into the house and spotted the corner of the book, she immediately zoomed in, opened the bag and started looking through it before I can even tell her it was supposed to be her Christmas present. 

So we finally looked through the book and the recipes look so good. Its a wonder how people can create the recipes when it is so much easier to just dip a spoon in and lick off that pure hazelnut-chocolate goodness. Then again, we have tried some really good recipes using Nutella and just ate the leftovers in the jar while waiting. Maybe that is the secret!

Time for some recipe testing!!

Gold Finds

I love looking in charity shops as I can find some really great pre-loved items, and I have been finding some really good things on my past trips. I first did it in the hopes of finding some clothes and I found some salt and pepper shaker sets for my collection instead. In Australia, dad and I found one that had loads of books and we found some really good reading material. This old book was found in Weymouth and it takes you back to the old days when sous vide machines were not heard of, and caviar was clearly the salted roe from a sturgeon. Best things about such old book are the recipes, the closest to an original one can get without resurrecting your great grandmother. 

Back To The Old Drawing Block

Taking inspiration from a few cooking shows and Oprah Winfrey about vision boards, I thought about getting the ideas in my head onto paper. There are times when you try to explain what you plan to do with ingredients but others can not understand or visualise your idea. This would be a problem when you have people who would help or join in on projects. I was trying to find my old sketch book to get an idea out of my head, but it has gone missing since the move. Good thing for me is that Giant had a pack of drawing blocks on sale. So now I just have to find the box of coloured pencils.

More Goodies From Japan

Met up with Angie earlier to do an exchange - I passed her my members card for a bag of goodies she brought back from Japan! It is her second trip to Japan within the year and I will not be surprised if she ends up there at the end of the year again. She went to a whole lot of different places in Japan this time and I think there was something from every area.

There was a pack of potato sticks my dad enjoyed while in Japan, a cute salt and pepper shaker set for my collection, and something that looks like a pair of breasts but I think they should be my favourite Japanese snack, the dango. There is also a cup noodle that looks like it might have come from the Tokyo Skytree gift shop but has lots of cartoons on it. A pack with takoyaki on it and I think it might be part of the masak masak range. She even lugged back a big box of spicy ramen!!

Now when to start trying all the food...hmm... (I know she would say "now now now!")

Canned Pasta - Peppa Pig

Dad loves his Heinz Spaghetti in Tomato Sauce and they disappeared from the shelves in Singapore last year. He got a good dose of it while on our last two overseas trips but I always preferred the hoops. However, after finding the other interesting choices like the Bolognese, Macaroni and Cheese, Spaghetti and Sausages, I started looking out for more interesting canned pasta.

This time I managed to find a range of cartoon-shaped pasta in tomato sauce, and today I decide to try one. I managed to pull out the Peppa Pig one first and decided to try find all the shapes listed on the side of the can. I think I managed to get them all and I ate each one of them before my dad got curious about what I was doing. The rest of the can ended up in his stomach when he found out what I was trying. 

Got to try my next four cans in secret. 

The Game Cheats

I play the solo games on the New Words With Friends and I often look up the dictionary for the meanings to some of the words that are played as they look suspiciously made up. Then today, I get two words that actually have no definition at all and yet it was played. Interesting to know that the just creates words for its own benefit. 

Anchovy Abundance

Went to Mustafa and while browsing the shelves for anything interesting, I found a whole shelf stacked with cans of anchovies that were going for a dollar each. Mom and I were wondering why they were so cheap and found out that it was close to their expiry date, which was a month away. Well it will not a problem when I can use them for a lot of dishes that I love. Time for some additional nutrients to my salads, pastas, pizzas and even stir-fries!

Om Nom Nom...

Inspiring Read

I had seen this book on our first trip to WHSmith and I came back to get it, and at the same time I got few other books as well. I enjoyed watching a few episodes of Heston's Fantastical Food and I loved the madness, creativity and all the failed experiments. More importantly, I liked how he uses a lot of modern techniques to create, and re-invent some really classic dishes. 

The book is a lot less crazy but it has some really cool dishes. It gives a lot of inspiration, and makes me think that perhaps some ideas in my head are not all that crazy. The bonus is also getting to learn a few new techniques with the old equipment I have. Now all I need is to find some interesting wood chips to smoke with.

Saving It For A Special Occasion

Found this when we went to Morrisons and I had to bring home a bottle (or two) as my heart skipped a beat. This is not the same as the first Diet Coke with Lime that dad brought back about ten years back when he had to work in London. I then head to Perth and found myself a few more bottles, and that was about eight years ago. It then disappeared from the shelves and I had to make my own with fresh limes.

Now that I have only one bottle left because my Diet Coke addict (aka my mom) drank one within three days of seeing it, I am now saving this for something special.

Maybe when mom makes pork ribs....Mmmmm

Vampire Killer

I love my garlic and had to visit The Garlic Farm on the Isle Of Wight on the day we interred Grandpa's ashes. I started at the Heritage centre where you get to learn about the uses of garlic, how to grow them, and taste their products. That is also where I learnt that raw garlic is really hot, stings sharper than most chillies and is worse than a dollop of wasabi. 

Had to get some of their products and I decided to get some of the garlic I do not get in Singapore, as well as get a few to grow. Managed to get some smoked garlic, some purple garlic, and some of the biggest bulbs I have ever seen, the Elephant garlic. 

Think I do not have to worry about vampires for a while. Haha...

My First Blueberry Haul

Brought two Sunshine Blue plants home from Australia and was hoping that I would be able to grow them in the Singapore weather. One seems to be shrivelling away and is not doing too well, while the other has berries that have started to ripen. Fingers crossed that the plants survive and grow big enough to give me another haul of berries. 

Om Nom Nom...

Masterclass In A Book

Was browsing through WHSmith when I came across a few cookbooks on sale. There were quite a few to choose from and I had my eye on another book. After browsing through a few of them, I found this book quite interesting it covered basic techniques and recipes, and then graduated to the more complicated recipes. 

Now that I have it back at home, I find it even better than I thought it was. It is definitely good for people who have an interest in cooking but do not have someone to teach them techniques. As the cover says, for one to learn to love cooking. However, it is great for someone like me, who would like to learn the basics of a dish, try to do it, and perhaps put a twist into it.

I think this book will be used quite often. 

Using Birthday Privileges

The best time to head out to eat at The Connoisseur Concerto (TCC) is during your birthday month, which is October for me. Member privileges will be flying in from everywhere, and one of the best is still from TCC, where u get a fifty percent discount. Another good thing about TCC is that they change their menu often, yet leave their awesome dishes alone, and their menu differs slightly for certain outlets. 

We got Adi to join us for dinner tonight, partly because she loves the Baby Crayfish Salad, and also in appreciation for her help during the time we had to leave for England. I chose to head to the outlet in International Building as it is one of the 24-hour outlets, had the pasta I like, and was closest to our homes. We ended up getting 2 orders of the baby crayfish salad, Miso Beef Ball Skewers, Soft Shell Crab with Black Pepper Pasta, Soft Shell Crab with Spaghetti Aglio Olio, Seafood Aglio Olio, and Saucy Striploin Symphony. 

The black pepper pasta was a little sweet for my liking, but my dad enjoyed it for some reason, and he does not like pasta. He said it tasted a little like the fried black noodles you get for breakfast. Adi decided on the safer route and chose to have her soft shell crab with aglio olio pasta instead. One thing we know is that this outlet serves up good aglio olio, and has not disappointed us yet. Mom was too hungry and cut up her steak before I even had the chance to take a picture, but she enjoyed the steak here and they have not disappointed her either. The miso beef balls were softer and smoother than I expected, nothing chewy, stringy or sinewy. The light, sweet sauce they were coated in mixed well with the drizzle of miso dressing on them. They could do with a little charring though. 

Ended the meal with two desserts that have names I cannot recall. One is a frozen coffee dessert, while the other is chocolate hazelnut bars. Both interesting, but I would rather stick to the good old Dark Devotion. 

Om Nom Nom...

My Little Dinosaur

Barkley loves to help unpack as it means that we are not leaving him for some other country. Also, he knows that we usually bring back something for him when we return, and hopes he might find a new toy among our things. This time, we were unpacking the box we sent back from Australia, and found his dinosaur hoodie we got from Kmart. There's just something about Barkley's proportions that are a bit off. He either has a top that fits well that has a hood that is too small, or a hood that fits and the top is oversized. I think he is too skinny actually. 

Birthday Dates From Dubai

Started unpacking as some items needed refrigeration and in the same bag was a nice box with a ribbon tied around it. I was looking at it upside down and could not remember when I bought it until I realised it was the box of dates my sister got me for my birthday. She had flown in from Perth to England, via Dubai, and had got these when she was disappointed with the salt and pepper set the airport had. It was quite interesting to find out that the dates had rather unique textures, and different degrees of sweetness. Good thing was they were not very sweet and the box did not last very long in our house. 

Om Nom Nom...

Someone Needs To Bring This Into Singapore

It has been a long time since I had a proper dessert on a flight and this one was worth all the desserts I have passed over. It might just be a special dessert for the year as it says it is in celebration of thirty years of non-stop flights between London and Singapore by Singapore Airlines. They should consider just keeping it for another thirty years!

This mango sorbet by Salcombe Dairy felt like I was eating a frozen mango rather than frozen sweetened mango-flavoured water. It was smooth, almost creamy, luscious, not too sweet, slightly tart - just like a mango had been smashed, stuffed into the tub and frozen. Absolutely heaven on a flight that was shaky as hell. 

Om Nom Nom....

Quick Trip To London

Had a few hours to spare after we got our bags dropped of at Heathrow Airport and we decided to head to London for a little walk. We still had our carry-on luggage and decided to take the train to one of the stations which had wheelchair access and ended up at Green Park station. 

We found ourselves next to the Ritz London and we saw a whole lot of really high-end stuff. The food around here seems to have strong French influences and most were either bakeries or cafes. The restaurants around the area just seemed too posh for the way we were dressed.

After a short walk and some pictures, dad and I had a quick dinner at Patisserie Valerie (very cool server) before we had to head back to Heathrow. We wanted to leave the area before rush hour started but we still had to rush into the train and some people had the same idea. Thank goodness for the frequency of trains, and that some people could only take the train heading to Uxbridge. 

Last Of The Italians

After packing most things in Grandpa's house, we had to get dinner and I thought we might try another Italian restaurant, Enzo, that I spotted while on our bus rides around town. It was a short walk away, and we got it just as it started to drizzle. 

At the table was a small bowl of olives, which dad and I just ate while we waited for our orders to be taken and arrive. We got the Duck Salad and Mussels that was listed on their specials board. Dad chose the Penne Amatriciana, while I asked for a Spaghetti Aglio Olio con Pepperoncino, and chose a Tiramisu for dessert. We were both really hungry and it was a good thing the food arrived just as we finished the olives. 

The salad was simply flavoured with shaved Parmesan and a lovely drizzle of balsamic vinegar, balancing the sweetness of the duck and the peppery Rocket. Dad was just looking forward to the pasta and mussels and I was lucky enough to get almost the whole salad to myself. The mussels soon came and dad was raving about the bread served with it. It must be mussel season around here, and so the mussels are all quite plump and sweet. The bread they served with it definitely tells you how good their pizzas will be. It was soft on the inside, with a really crisp shell, and it sopped up the lovely tomato-infused mussel sauce really well. Dad wanted to order another order of the bread but stopped himself as his pasta was brought to him. 

Their Amatriciana was absolutely perfect with enough sweetness and a slight zing from the tomato sauce, the richness and saltiness from the bacon, with that lovely touch of spice from chillies. It was so good, dad did not bother too much with the mussels after. My pasta was a little disappointing. The pasta lacked flavour, like someone forgot to salt the water, and the garlic did not cook long enough to give a nice fragrance to the whole dish. Good thing was I had the lovely mussel sauce which I used to add flavour to my pasta. 

Finally, we finished the dinner with their tiramisu, which was soft, smooth but a little too sweet. The ladyfingers were well-infused with coffee and liqueur, mascarpone was thick and creamy. I would say this would be second place when compared to the other tiramisu we have had during our stay here. 

Bit Of Fun In This Old Town

Everyone was talking about the Weymouth Beach Motorcross event for the past week, and even the guest house we were staying in was at full capacity for the weekend. There were some events along the esplanade yesterday afternoon, also a lot more motorbikes running around town, both livening up the usually quiet beach.

Dad and I were on our way to get the bus to the Weymouth Sealife Adventure Park but ended up watching a few races. It was quite fun and exciting, and there were a few close calls when as some bikes got stuck in sand, others trying to pass the stuck bikes, some falling at the bottom of a mound and almost being squashed by the bikes trying to fly past. There was sand being blown everywhere (still wondering if the child's ice cream had an extra crunch) and some bikes even started smoking after crashing. The atmosphere was a big difference from the rest of the week, very lively with supporters laughing at their friends who fell while racing, and the bikes were loud!

We did not stay for the rest of the races, but we managed to catch the happy winners walking off with their trophies when we took shelter from the bad weather at the Weymouth Pavilion.