Off to Chiang Mai

We're off to Chiang Mai for a short vacation today. Hope Ethan will be well behaved, especially on the plane and at bedtime.

The Love of My Life

The past nine months have just flown by in the twinkling of an eye, in your daily smiles, chuckles, and milestones. Very very soon, all too soon, you will be one year old, then two, then three, then five, and then all grown up. Happy 9 months birthday, my precious boy!

Food note: new foods that Ethan has sampled this month: kiwi, nectarine, lychee, soya beancurd aka tau hway (he loves this), beetroot, bread, pasta, cod, salmon, scallops, fresh button mushrooms, raisins.

Sandaime Bunji, Millenia Walk

This newish restaurant over at Millenia Walk specialises in gyutan (ox tongue) and oden (japanese fish cake). Despite the heavy presence of Japanese families, the food wasn't really anything to get excited about.

Gyutan-don set (SGD19.90) - the set also included one piece of oden, chawanmushi, sashimi and a whole bunch of other stuff. This was really filling but I concluded that I didn't like the taste nor the texture of gyutan - imagine standard beef flavour *100 in a quivery spongy form - and got a little queasy when eating it.

E's U-men set (SGD18.90) was equally filling and the noodles were much more to my taste, cooked in a light dashi broth. Even then, this was nothing to write home about. An interesting experience, but not one that we'll be in a hurry to repeat.

Sandaime Bunji
#01-14/15 Millenia Walk (facing Conrad Hotel)

Getting A Haircut

happiness! my first professional haircut in a salon!

mummee always makes me look like a girl.

and daddeee doesn't know how to cut hair properly.

Auntie, why are you waving that black thing in my face? Can I eat it?

hmmm this has gone on long enough. i think i will get out of this car now...

mummee, i don't like this! wahhhhhh!

This is not so bad afterall!

(but mummmee says, she prefers my previous hairstyle.

I say, what do girls know? we boys must look manly. )

Saveur - french food in a coffeeshop

It was a most unexpected and welcome surprise to discover French food of this quality and pricing in a rather dingy and run-down coffeeshop. Run by two earnest young chefs, Saveur's offerings were served in white chinaware, with proper cutlery (safico!) and plated beautifully. Most importantly, the food tasted good.

Angel hair pasta with konbu and dried ebi (SGD4). A delicate-tasting dish, the angel hair pasta had been sufficiently infused with the umami flavour of the konbu stock.

Chicken roulade stuffed with foie gras, served on basmati rice (SGD8.90). Frankly, there was hardly any foie gras in the roll and what little there was, was not rich or creamy enough for my taste. But I'm not complaining at this price! The chicken meat was tender and moist (due to the sous vide treatment) and the seasoning was done perfectly, although unfortunately the skin was not crispy. The rice was not too memorable, and in my personal opinion a dash of paprika would have done wonders to lift the entire dish.

The duck confit, at an unbelievable price of SGD8.90, was not bad - the meat was pretty moist and not over salted. But as with the chicken roulade, this suffered from a lack of crisping. Kudos to the pommes puree though, according to E, this was made from real potatoes and not that nasty reconstituted mash. However, I thought it was a little too heavy on the cream.

All in all, some rough edges, but a raw gem nonetheless. Make your way down before the hordes descend (in fact they already have! We went for an early lunch at 12 noon and only had to wait about 10 minuites).

Saveur
www.saveur.sg
Ali Baba Eating House, Stall no. 3
125 East Coast Road (Junction of Joo Chiat Road and East Coast Road)

Tiramisu

Dusting off the recipe books that had not been used for months, I made this reliable tiramisu dessert for an evening poolside party hosted by S and D. Easy-peasy and a real treat. Even if it was a lot less boozy and coffee-laced than I would have liked (ran out of kahlua).

Whipping cream: 300ml
Icing sugar: 60g
Mascarpone cheese: 250g
Sponge ladyfinger biscuits: approximately 12
Strong expresso coffee: (approximately 1 cup)
Brandy / Tia Maria (I used kahlua)
Cocoa powder for dusting

Mix the mascarpone cheese and sugar together well. Whisk the cream until it forms soft peaks; be very careful not to overwhisk (which leads to curdling and separation). Add the whisked cream to mascarpone cheese/icing sugar mixture. Dip the ladyfingers into the coffee + alcohol mixture and arrange in a container, alternating with the cream/mascarpone cheese/icing sugar mixture. Chill in fridge. Dust with cocoa powder just before serving.

Puff Time

This is fun! More puffs, mummeee!

Toast to fab cupcakes

Toast is a hidden gem that I was just recently introduced to by my friend Lucy. Tucked away in a nook of Ngee Ann City, near the office tower lifts, this chic cafe under the Marmalade Group seemed to be a well-kept secret among the ladies who lunch. Despite not having a sweet tooth, I was bowled over by this cupcake (Limonata, SGD4.50). Just the right mix of tartness and sweetness, wonderfully crumbly and moist at the same time. Yums. Just thinking about it makes me want to drool. I was secretly kicking myself for only having eaten the sticky date pudding and not trying the cupcakes at Marmalade Pantry.

Not quite so delectable was the Masala Chicken Wrap (about SGD12, I forgot to take down the price). It wasn't bad or anything, just not special enough to take note of. I was also expecting something a little more spicy.

Toast made my day for making me feel like a lady of leisure nibbling on a (not-so-dainty) cupcake! Next time, I'm going back for the Red Velvet cupcake .... or the Strawberries and Cream....or the Nutella.... or all of these....

Toast

Ngee Ann City (Takashimaya), #02-11

Vegan Burg

We decided to go healthy this week (and alas, fine dining options were out since the little boy was tagging along with us) and check out Vegan Burg. The concept of healthy vegetarian burgers piqued our interest since that seemed to be the ultimate oxymoron.

We had the Hawaiian Pineapple (pan-grilled pineapple slice, soya patty glazed with sweet plum sauce) and the Smokey BBQ (oven-baked patty of minced mushrooms, smokey BBQ sauce, lettuce, tomato and alfafa, organic rye bread): $10.85 for a set including seaweed fries and a drink. Reminding me more of sandwiches rather than burgers, these creations were decent but unspectacular, with the most memorable part being the sauces. Surprisingly for an outlet trumpeting the health benefits of its meals, the seaweed fries were crispy and not shy on the salt.

I liked the casual chillax ambience and decor, and that the burgers came in cute mess-tins (army boys will probably think this is a minus point). The little boy got his own mess-tin to eat his puffs off too :-) So is the food worth going back for? Probably not, I've had better "healthy food" elsewhere. So will we go back? Yes, for the ambience and the ease of touting a baby there.

VeganBurg

44 Jalan Eunos

www.veganburg.com

N.B. As I typed out this post, I suddenly got cravings for Onaka's wonderfully tasty and healthy dishes - their dumplings, thunder tea rice, salads, in fact just about everything, are simply delicious! Hmm, a visit back to my old workplace is in order.