Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Another one of God's awesome creations.
Its just so darn gooood.
How could anyone not enjoy it? Tell me dar, tell me. Haha
Just before we frolick-ed, dar and i had Claypot Chicken Rice for dinner. I never use to fancy claypot chicken rice at all, not till just recently. I guess the taste kinda grows on you?
Zhao Ji is one of those claypot chicken rice stalls highly frequented by my family. The other stall being Margaret Drive's. Both are good but i personally prefer Margaret Drive's. Firstly, Margerat Drive's lets you add your own black sauce and oil, the portion is slightly bigger, and it is more fragrant. And yes, i love Lup Cheongs.
On Saturday, after my 4 hour proj mtg, i drove down to pick dar up for lunch. Thank god we didnt ride as it started raining cats and dogs shortly after.
We had sandwiches from Quiznos, located at the ground level of Far East Square. Find Trully's Coffee and you will find Quiznos.
The concept is pretty similar to Subway. 6 or 12 inch sandwiches with varying ingredients. The only difference, you dont get to choose what goes inside the sandwich. The ingredients for each sandwich is fixed on the menu. You can have add-ons of course, but at an extra cost. Unlike Subway, Quiznos only has 2 different types of bread for you to choose from. One being wholemeal and the other being the RoseMary Parmesan Cheese. Obviously we chose the latter. 
The bread is awesomeness. Smells and looks like the cheddar cheese scones. I found the quality of sandwiches here higher than Subways'. But i doubt any of their sandwiches are low in calories. Especially so when almost every one of them are laden with lots of gooey cheese and bacon. It gets pretty messy too!
Dar and me are sandwich fanatics. I love bread, he loves bacon, bacon + bread, an explosion in your mouth, really. Gave Soupelicious a try just last week. Its an FNB outlet located opposite Carrefour, Suntec. 
Due to poor lighting, the sandwich picture didnt turn out too well. But for every sandwich combo, you get a regular sized bowl of soup, a sandwich and drink. They have quite a variety of soups for you to choose from. But for their sandwich selection, i'd have to say otherwise. Selection is only limited to 4 different sandwiches, Tuna and Cheese, Chicken Ham, Streaky Beef, and Veggie sth.
They are indeed very generous with their soup serving. I could hardly finish my bowl of mushroom soup. That's the problem with cream-based soups, it can get pretty nauseating after a while. The sandwiches cames served with foccacia bread and chilled marcaroni and ham. The ingredients in the sandwiches are miserable. The foccacia bread wasnt any good either. Tasteless and barely toasted. It gets me wondering whether $11.50 for a sandwich combo is worth it after all. But without a doubt, their soups are value for money and i'd certainly be back for thir soups, only.
Lastly, pasta from Piccolo. Its an italian stall located in the heartlands. Prices were rather steep for a stall operating within a coffee shop. We had ours from the Kopitiam Coffeeshop at Rochor Center Block 1.
Brochures claimed that the eatery is helmed by an Italian Celebrity Chef but he was nowhere to be found at all. The stall was helmed by Filiponos instead. Service was generally okie but the taste department requires some serious improvement. Its so bad i tot Pasta Mania was better. Hahah
Alrightey, its time to prep for school. After which i'm off to the gym and then its WatchMen with dar in the evening.
Pray for me, no, pray with me, will you, that i'd get a seat and get to dine at The Line this Friday.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
I'd be turning "double 2" in just another 27 more days. Didnt i just turn 21 quite some time back? Extremely bizarre, how time flies.
So here goes, my birthday wishlist, not in order of any prefernece:
- A Nikon D60
- Apple iPhone
- An Ice-Cream Maker (I think dar's getting this for me, LOL)
- A 2 in 1 griller (An open BBQ cum Sandwich grill)
- Kitchen-Aid (In light pink pleassse)
- Blow Torch! (Gawd i want this so badly)
- I wouldnt mind the entire book collection of the "Twilight" series
- Pierre Herme's Chocolate Recipe Book
- Japanese Tapas Buffet at 7atenine! (I've been dying to try this)
- Or perhaps we could go French at Le Bistrot
- Coach Wallet (Dar knows which design)
- A nice big bag that fits everything including my DSLR
- Gym outfit ( A sports bra or tank is fine by me =D )
- Anything Leather
- Ang Baos!
Haha that's about it i guess.
Right now, i'm at TTSH's Starbucks and can i just say one thing?
Their Green Tea Frapp, is simply AWESOME.
Friday, February 27, 2009
My fingers still reek of garlic. They smell of durian too. But i'm still a happy girl because i got to spend the entire day doing what i do and love best, baking and cooking.
For tonights menu:
A menu with no starters but comes with 2 desserts. Haha. All these, baked and cooked with love for dar. It aint any special occasion or whatsoever, i just woke up this morning and thought i'd whip up something special for dar this evening. =D
My bad for the lack of pictures! My kitchen and HANDS were extremely dirty and i dint want to let the dishes go cold/melt (for the ice-cream) as it takes time to get a good shot.
Dar loved his maincourse. It was so good he whipped up every single bit of his most hated - button mushrooms. He dint even leave any for me to try! I'm glad he enjoyed the strawberry dessert as well~ The only blooper were the over-baked cream puffs BUT, the durian sure made up for it. =D
Now do i understand why chefs do not usually eat what they cook. Sometimes, the love for food and feasting aint the sole and only reason for a person wanting/aspiring to be a chef, its usually the desire for cooking, which is an art, really, and also the satisfaction that comes along with it, especially when your guests enjoy your creations.
But what i dont understand is how chefs and fatness go together. Cooking in the kitchen, standing on your 2 feet all day long, stressing over the menu and food presentation, all these are so physically exhausting! I feel so drained you know. It feels as though i burn more calories in the kitchen than at they gym. My appetite for food also diminishes as dealing with food all day is enough to whet kill my appetite. So, tell me, why do people associate getting fat with chefs? Does the size of a chef determine the quality of the food?
Could it have to do with all the sampling? ahah
Hmmmm...just some randomness on my part,
....and some food for thought
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Strange as it is but i've been craving for curry this week. All this while, i've never been a fan of Japanese Curry but that plate of Japanese Curry i had last Wednesday has got me craving and wondering when i'd get to have my Japanese Curry again.
The accompanying Pork Katsu was equally satisfying. =)
And if you hadnt known, i am a very HUGE fan of minced meat. In dialect, we call it "Ba Chor". So after school on Thursday, dar and i had HillStreet's BCM located at Crawford Lane. 
It doesnt really matter if they didnt give the extra ingredients like meatballs,fishcakes,mushrooms and what not because they sure gave a generous helping of minced meat! Oh, the chili was really good. Its not everyday that i ask for chili you know. Unless you can give me a better alternative to ketchup, then chili will have to suffice.
Shared a plate of fried golden mushrooms and fries ($4) from the western stall next door. 
BOO! The fries were served cold and the quantity miserable. Double BOO!
So how do couples actually go about deciding where and what to have for their meals? In my case, its really simple, dar always makes me decide. He's really smart you know, always taking the initiative to sms me the "what shall we eat today" question. I love food, and it never is easy to think of one definite place for a meal. Especially so when foodies like myself want to eat almost everything, this and that and that too. Haha. You know what i mean.
And as dar's "GPS" (i actually have to turn his helmet left or right if i want him to turn left or right respectively), i landed us both at Bedok Interchange's Food Center for dinner last friday. My cravings can be infectious, which is precisely what got dar craving for curry too. Having known this food center for its curry chicken noodles (its my grandma's fav), i tot i'd give this place a shot to see if there are any other stalls that sell curry chicken.
And yes, there was one!
Bought a loaf of soft bread, for dipping, from the bakery opposite. We had to top up 50cents for extra curry gravy. The chicken drumlets were very tender and the curry wasnt overly spicy and oily either. Not as good as grandma's but still worth a try. In fact, we'll be keeping a look out for better tasting curry chicken.
After that, we rode down to Geylang Lor 29 for my fav pork satay. 
I like them for their chunks of fat. They also add pineapple into their peanut sauce.
And i made another sandwich! This time, i sauteed the swiss cheese with the mushrooms. It was a delish gooey mess. Slap in some honey baked ham and an omelette and you're done.
Easy peasy breakfast.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
A 2 day school week + no work = lethargic me. Many people are extremely envious of the amount of free time i have because compared to them, they have hardly any at all! haha that's really eeevil. But oh well, having loads of free time can be pretty stressful too. One could die of boredom or insanity. Talking about "dying", i had a very close encounter with death yesterday.
I swear it was green man. The pedestrains from the opposite side of the road were crossing. I was just ONE STEP away from the main road when suddenly, a HUGE truck sped by. Obviously he beat the red light! And he was SPEEDING! And what i found disturbing was the driver didnt even HORN. He'd still be in the wrong but if he did horn, it'd warn me of his presence at the very least. I dare not imagine what kinda injuries i would sustain if i had dashed across the road, or, taken that one tiny step...
So drivers (including me of course, haha), please think twice before you decide to beat the red light. Your irresponsible actions may cost someone else's life.
On a happier note, i did alot of baking and cooking this week. Prepped a tiramisu for dar, baked a quiche and stir-fried a plate of bacon and ham aglio.
As i didnt have time, i made use of ready rolled shortcrust pastry for the quiche. The ingredients consisted of bacon, ham and button mushrooms. Sprinkled swiss cheese slices and oregano leaves on the surface.
For some reason, the top view of the quiche kinda reminded me of the scallop and prawns thin-crust pizza from PastaDeWaraku. 
And one things's for sure, i do not like Japanese style pizzas or pastas at all. They may look appetizing but seriously, dont you think they taste odd?
Dished out a bacon aglio for lunch just a few days back. 
This time, i experimented it with white wine. I think i'd prefer red wine for a more robust flavor. But, today's aglio was a little bit bland as i added too little salt. Haha, my bad. At least its better than dar's! Muahaha.
And after school last thursday, dar and i rode down to Commonwealth for some simple Cze Char. We shared a plate of buttered pork ribs and hotplate tofu with minced meat. 
I prefer to call the pork ribs pork chops. In fact, its one of the must order dish when you're here. Prices here are reasonably cheap and almost everything on the menu is tasty. 2 Chef's Eating Place, that's the name for you.
Just to side-track abit, Business Policy class is THAT boring. Lame, is how Faye describes it. This time, they spent 30 minutes debating over whether itunes was a strategy of diversification adopted by Apple. You know what, seriously, i don't really care. My simple minded brain just knows that itunes is a media-player application for consumers to download their music, organize their song files or listen to music.
Okie, back to the topic.
All you KPOs must be wondering how i celebrated v-day this year. Sorry to disappoint but i dont celebrate v-day. Its just another day to me but before you call me a spoiler/loser, i must clarify that i do not object to couples celebrating this very special day at all. =))
But, i did surprise dar with some gifts though. Haha.
Its a home made card! See the pink paper with hearts adorning it? 
That was purchased 1 month ago from an art shop at Wheelock. I found it really pretty. It was a must-buy and so, i conned myself into believing that i'd find a use for this for Valentine's day. Unsurprisingly, i brought it home and chucked it into my bookshelf, along with my other art stash. One day prior to Valentine's, i took it out, glued a sheet of aluminium foil at the back to give it some support, cut some letters out from an outdated issue of 8-Days, ransacked my room for markers and ribbons, and viola, a hand-made poster card with love!
Ignore the Lip-Gloss, and the sentence beside it, those were cut-outs from the Benefit Cosmetic magazine. Absolutely Random! haha and of course, if you look carefully, you might actually spot PONYO!
That's not all, dar also got a photoframe, with a picture of the both of us! 
The picture was cropped and printed using my 3in1 photo printer. Awesome. I must admit that the photoframe was a gift from Mervyn at our secret-pal gift exchange night last union camp. HAHA. Rather than let it collect dust, why not put it to good use right?
See! No money involved/spent at all. Unless someone's willing to pay me for my effort. =Pp
As for our v-day dinner, nope, we didnt dine at some fancy restaurant. This year, we dined at Margaret Drive's Open-Air and very Run-Down hawker center. Shared claypot chicken rice for 2. It was THAT good. Certainly worth every penny and the 45 mins wait. Haha.
OHH! I whipped up breakfast for dar on Valentine's morning too! It was an extremely oil-laden breakfast with 2 long Chipolata Chicken Sausages, 1 fried Sunny-Side up, a slice of Ham, 3 strips of Streaky Bacon and 2 pieces of toast with butter. Haha, that's one way to make your man fatter than you.
If you notice, i didnt call it a Valentine's Day Breakfast as i had no intention to whip him breakfast at all. Dar decided to drop by my place in the morning so i simply had to make do with whatever i had in the fridge. Yes, my fridge is well-stocked. Haha.
Two years ago, the breakfast i prepped for dar (this was specially made in view of v-day) had semi-cooked bratwurst, not round not square pancakes (haha!) and a perfect sunny side up which almost got me crying as it was my first attempt at frying eggs. Fast forward 2 years and im now a pro with eggs. I can seperate the whites from the yolks too!
=P
Saturday, February 7, 2009
It seems that i've been abandoning this blog for well, quite some time, but apparently, guilts' brought me back. So here i am, back once again, to rant my stuff.
Quite some time back. the family and dar made a trip down to the Marina Barrage. The breeze and the view, simply wonderful. In fact, its open-roof grass patch kinda reminds me of NTU.
And just one week ago, dar and i made a second trip down to the Barrage! Not for the view, not the breeze, not a picnic, nor for a kite-flying session, but, to have some ice-cream! No, let me correct that, its not SOME ice-cream, its ONE PINT of ice-cream.
Its also not just ONE PINT of ice-cream but one pint of D24 pungent smelling DURIAN ice-cream! And to think i consumed an entire pizza just 2 weeks ago. Thank god i don't have IPPT. Haha
OOH, i baked potato skins too. With mozerella and bacon pieces below.
I didnt like this potato and i found the process all too tiring. In fact, i ended up with 2 burns on my right hand. The one on my pinkie was pretty bad. The skin practically came off. Which got me wondering whether i was baking potato or human skins. Bah~
The FLU BUG got me this week. My nose was leaking real bad, and then came the sore throat and phlegmy cough which sounded like i could die from too much phlegm in my lungs. Skipped HRM on Tuesday, made an attempt to go to school on Thursday but left after CRM as i started feeling feverish halfway through class. But, with some baking therepy, the flu bug was gone by Friday. To cut the long story short, i baked a total of 4 pandan chiffon cakes while "recuperating" at home. =Pp
I quite like it! Mom was pretty impressed. Grandma found it too sweet (which aint anything new because she finds everything sweet) while dar's parents whipped it all up within one morning. The recipe called for a baking time of 45 minutes but the cakes came out 95% baked, so next time, i'm going for an hour. And, i would love to see if the usage of fresh coconut juice and pandan juice would enhance its taste significantly.
Alrightey, that's about it. I'm going to sleep hoping that my body clock wouldnt wake up at 8am like it always does. I'm tired, really. I just want to wake up at 10am, is that too much to ask for?
