Tea Time at TWG

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Sha

Spent a few delightful hours at TWG last weekend for tea, desserts and awesome food. It was after watching Wicked, and it was really nice and relaxing to be just be there and enjoying good food and great company.

It wasn’t my first time at TWG, but it was the first time that we stayed for a really long time and indulged in quite a portion of the menu.

My favourite tea for the day was clearly the strawberry tea (but since when don’t I ever not like anything strawberry?)

Because the three of us were way too early for our dinner date with our other friends, we ordered some cakes to tide over the hunger pangs.

This was the Chocolate Fondant. That warm chocolate cake was too decadent for words, and paired with the scoop of Vanilla Bourbon Tea ice cream – it was simply divine.

This, on the other hand, was the Normandy Apple Tart. Excellent tart indeed, that goes very well with the scoop of Singapore Breakfast Tea ice cream by the side. There seems to be some kind of spice in the ice cream. Can’t be sure if it was cinnamon or star aniseed. But it was quite the flavour.

Later on, we ordered the Bolognaise lagsane to share. Totally forgot to snap a photo though.

When all of the dinner party arrived, we started ordering our main courses and here are some of the stuff we had (with the exception of my Smoked Scottish Salmon because sometimes some dishes are not photogenic):

Wagyu Burger

Foie Gras Terrine

Lamb Stew

To end it, I had a scoop of Chocolate Earl Grey ice cream:

Pretty great way to end a pleasant evening, don’t you think?

Just wanted to share my current favourite ring, a faux gold bird ring, and my best buy of the weekend, a replica magnet of Van Gogh’s Starry, Starry Night. I love it to bits!

Going Mediterranean at Pita Pan

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Sha

In keeping up with my new year’s resolution of eating healthy, I’ve been on a lookout for nice restaurants that are kind to the waistline and yet taste yummy.

We had brunch at Pita Pan yesterday, since we were at Marina Bay Sands to catch Wicked anyway. For a restaurant that specializes in vegetarian cuisine, and promising “a pocketful of health”, it sure does serve really great food. We were quite lost at what to order, so they recommended we try out the red shakshuka and the Mediterranean platter.

And so we did, with freshly squeezed apple juice by the side.

I know that this is just apple juice but let me just say that it was really good apple juice. Perhaps I’m biased because I really do like apple juice and quite particular about it.

Moving on to the main stars of the meal, this is the red shakshuka that I spoke of earlier.

It’s basically this hot plate dish that comes with a naan-like bread, and you just have to dip the bread in it. I really have no idea what was in it but it was absolutely yummy. Hard to believe that it was vegetarian!

And this was very worth the price – it was only $9.90!

The Mediterranean platter was just alright. It came with the same naan-like bread, but this time in tiny triangles and an assortment of dips/side dishes for you to pair with the bread.

Sorry didn’t manage to take the other side of the platter (because we were really starving), but it included things like falafel, peanut dips and other dips that we can’t really recognize.

Though the platter seems to offer a fair variety of this and that, I feel that the price of $24 was not really justified. Yes it’s delicious and all, but the red shakshuka stole the show, despite its price. I think it’s our personal favourite for now!

It was quite an enjoyable lunch, as the restaurant was hardly crowded in the early afternoon. Great venue for a casual date, topped with awesome food. Who says vegetarian food are not yummy?

Address:
Pita Pan (Marina Bay Sands)
The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands #01-87,
2 Bayfront Ave

Street Food in Bali

Posted on May 27, 2011 by Sha

The one thing about travelling with a food lover is that you’ll try many different kinds of food. This time round, I’ve ventured out of my comfort zone and strayed to trying street food – at the risk of an upset tummy (which did not happen, surprisingly!)

So yes, this blog post is all about street food in Bali.

We marvelled at how many tourists travel all the way to Bali only to have sandwiches or pasta. We wanted traditional / local food all the way – well we caved in on the very last day and had pancakes and pasta at Flapjacks. But let’s just go on with the real stars of this post first.

Bali Street Food

It all started with FP asking me something about “peanut pancake” or “peanut martabak” and if they have it in Bali. I’ve seen this kueh (I suppose that’s what you call it) in Singapore and Malaysia, by a different name – but I’ve never encountered it in Indonesia.

We asked the cab driver if he knows about it and he brought us to one of the best street stalls that sell these “martabak kacang” or “terang bulan” as they call it.

Let’s just say that it is NOTHING like the other variations of this kueh that I’ve had, that I now swear are imitations.

Look at this photo:

Look at how thick it is! This one comes with cheese, and it was absolutely yummy and filling. At a dirt cheap price too! We could not finish the entire box, as yummy as it was!

The following day, we had our own driver. So once again, we asked if he knows any good stalls that sell these terang bulan. He brought us to the absolute best place in Denpasar. This time, we opted for a chocolate and cheese and it was heavenly!

Have I mentioned that in both varieties, they put a generous amount of condensed milk on top of all the other ingredients?

Normally the stalls selling terang bulan will also sell normal martabak (with chicken etc). So of course we tried them.

What we didn’t expect was how absolutely THICK and awesome the martabak in Indonesia was. You’d feel like you’ve been cheated and shortchanged by all the martabak sellers your whole life after having this life changing martabak. I am not exaggerating.

This was how THICK it was. Can you say awesome? I can. If you really want to know, it was already salivating as it was being made. Check this video out:

Another thing we tried from a random stall near Dreamland Beach was this rujak or rojak. This one is made up of various fruits, with gula bali (bali sugar) in the sauce. Costing us only 4000 rupiah, it was one of the yummiest rojak I ever had. Really spicy and it will leave you wanting more.

Of course one last street food, and perhaps my all-time favourite is grilled corn! The best grilled corn (with butter, chilli and a bit of salt) that I had in Bali was at Jimbaran Beach. All the ones I tried elsewhere while still in Bali were not as satisfactory. I get cravings for the corn just looking at this photo:

Actually we had one more kind of street food, Nasi Pedas (which translate to Spicy Rice) which I didnt take a photo of because we were already crazy starving and very tired that night. It’s basically nasi padang with dash of really spicy sambal. Interesting fact: it used to be called Nasi Setan (Devil Rice) because of the spiciness.

The next blog post will cover my other culinary adventures in Bali. Stay tuned for that!

Coca Cola for Breaking Fast?

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Sha

I broke fast at home yesterday, for the first time this year. It’s always nice to be breaking fast at home, even though it was just me and my grandma yesterday.

As always the radio was on before, during and after we broke fast. There was the evergreen arabic song that has been around for years and years – I bet nobody even knows the name of the song, lol. And then there was an advertisement.

The advertisement revolved around a short skit between a mother and her grown-up children. They were breaking fast (how apt!). So the son was going thru the process of breaking fast. He ate a date, and then guzzled down a cup of Coca Cola.

The feel of the whole ad is as if Coke is the only drink one should have when breaking fast.

I don’t know how I feel about this. I have nothing against Coke (my favourite is Vanilla Coke, which I can’t seem to find anywhere right now) – but I don’t think I’ve ever associated Coke as a beverage for breaking fast. Coke and any gassy drinks, that is. Simply because it will cause a major tummy upset.

In my household (and I believe in most households), we hardly break fast with gassy drinks. It’s always “mild” drinks like coffee, tea, syrup drinks, air kathira, bandung, soya bean, milk – anything but gassy, carbonated drinks.

Gassy drinks are often (if at all) consumed later on during the evening, when the tummy has been satiated and at no risk of acting up.

I don’t think it’s the right angle to market the product. I mean seriously, it just seems off. I’d rather hear about where to get the best air kathira during the fasting month because honestly, that’s more relevant and more interesting.

Come on Coca Cola, you are already too well-known to be stooping to such a niche market. Well since you are at it, I’d rather you do a promotion for Hari Raya. Gassy drinks and Hari Raya – now that makes sense!

A Peek into Food Photography

Posted on July 22, 2010 by Sha

I’ve always loved food photography. I believe an appealing photo of a dish is not easily attained, but I do try anyway every time I dine out – with my humble point-and-shoot camera. Nothing professional of course, but I try to capture the very essence of the colour and presentation of the dishes.

Now bring FP into the picture (pun seriously not intended), with his dedication, photography skills, creativity and all his truckload of photography gadgets and you’ll get food photos so wonderfully captured, you’d become hungry just by looking at the photos.

As some of you might have known, FP got into a terrible traffic accident almost 2 months back (saving this story for another post) and he’s still in recovery right now. Because he’s in a much, much better state than he had been when it first happened, we’ve been doing photoshoots – just to spur our creativity and also, just for the fun of it.

We started with our normal photoshoots, but we somehow ventured into taking photos of food. When I say “we”, I meant: he takes the photo, while I assist in other ways to get the shot, hehe. It certainly doesn’t hurt that we both love food; exotic beautiful food. With both our quirky minds at work, it didn’t take much to create masterpieces such as these:

Click to see his write up for this photo

This was the first food-related photo he took. We’ve both been craving for hot chocolate for quite awhile, so I bought some hot chocolate and pastries for us to munch on (also to take photos of) and we ended up with this. That is a yummy cinnamon scone, and it’s even yummier when dipped in the hot chocolate. Gosh, you have no idea

Click to see his write up for this photo

This was a plate of delicious Pad Thai from Magic Wok. We also had Belacan Fried Rice and Mango Salad that day, but the Pad Thai became the star of the day. I was the one holding the fork up, just so you know haha

Click to see his write up for this photo

This is truly one of my favourites. Okay, so I’m biased because salmon sashimi is one of my favourite foods. Just look at this one. So fresh, you can see the “pores” of the meat. Yum, looking at it makes me want to have it all over again. Anything with sushi and sashimi (sushimi for short), you can always count on me to enjoy it. We so gotta go to Japan one day!

Click to see his write up for this photo

Another of my favourites because 1) I love macaroons and 2) I love that we used fairy lights for this shoot to achieve the Bokeh effect. This was actually a test shot that turned out nice and lively. I like how the Bokeh colours turned out so nice and makes it look like a real party scene. Macaroons were from De Paolo Gastronomia. This quaint little shop provides the best picnic all-Italian food!

This little food project we’re doing has opened my eyes to the world of actual food photography beyond my little pink point-and-shoot camera. It’s not that easy, with all the lighting stuff and post production but it is so rewarding when he has attained such nice photos.

I may be getting my very own DSLR soon. No idea how to use it, but I’ll learn from the best

My bite of level 30 buffalo wings

Posted on March 13, 2010 by Sha

level 30 buffalo wings

This is a plate of half a dozen of level 30 buffalo wings.

Which may seem to be just another name of a dish to you, but let me tell you that it isn’t. This is super mad spicy chicken, that is almost lethal – I am not exaggerating.

You do know of course that I’ve tried buffalo wings levels 3 and 4 and those were by itself epic experiences already, even for a seasoned chili padi lover like me.

So if levels 3 and 4 were already so torturous (at that time), you can only imagine what level 30 would be like. 10 times the pain. 10 times the spiciness. Talk about torturous eating.

However this time round, when we went there, I only had the level 3 spicy wings (even though I wanted to try level 5 pretty badly). It was the boys who jumped straight to level 30, hohoho!

And how they suffered.

But, it was hard to resist temptation when it is right in front of you. I was curious to know what this coveted level 30 chicken tasted like. I just had to have it. But in an attempt not to kill myself (after seeing the pains the boys are experiencing), I only took one bite.

And this bite, my friends, is enough.

bite of level 30

Sorry for the quality of the photo, but it was pretty dark where we were seated and my hands were quite shaky from wanting to try the damn chicken.

So I finally placed this fairly regular sized bite of level 30 buffalo wings into my mouth and..

Holy shit. It was like having a mini bon fire inside your mouth. The spicy taste of the chicken creeps on to you slowly, and when it finally has you around its dried chili hell, it’s too late for anything. The heat and spiciness totally engulfs you.

Totally, totally. It left me speechless. And I was so close to tears, but I couldn’t cry because compared to what the two guys were going thru (3 whole chicken wings each), my little suffering was close to nothingness.

It is something that I will not try again (and I think everyone who went on this trip will agree with me on this), but I will continue trying the other levels from where I left off. But never level 30 again. One bite is sufficient, thank you very much.

FP got thru the entire ordeal pretty well, just an upset and unstable tummy the next day, but Kawan E’s brother had it real bad

But they are both rewarded with certificates of accomplishment! This is FP’s cert, hehehe. We haven’t gotten round to laminating it!

level 30 certificate

Yes we will come back again, but not ever for level 30. I am so looking forward to level 5 though!

Fig & Olive – A Mediterranean Delight

Posted on February 14, 2010 by Sha

I finally went to Fig & Olive a few weeks back, after years of wanting to try it out.

There’s always a small fear that the something new that you are trying out will not be to your liking, and so I deferred trying out this restaurant for the longest time.

But I’m glad I finally came around. Now I wish I had tried it long ago!

maghribi chicken

This was FP’s Maghribi Chicken with yellow rice (this is not the exact name – i only remember the Maghribi part) It was delicious, tho I only had a bite off it. Yummy Yummy!

We also ordered a smoked salmon salad (also not exact name. the exact name is deep blue something). Interesting how the smoked salmon here is not salty like the one at coffee club.

smoked salmon salad

Also interesting to note was that there were figs AND olives in the salad! Ah how apt! I found it so amusing – we were eating figs and olives at figs and olives. okay, nevermind.

Too bad I dont eat figs. Not like that anyway.

This salad was delicious too, with little or no dressing. Healthy and yummy, whats not to like?

seafood marinara

And this was my marinara (who has pasta at a Mediterranean restaurant? only me.)

What I liked about it: the generous servings of seafood inside the marina, which made it a delight to have.

What I don’t like about it: it was too tomato-ey. ease up on the tomato sauce pple! i’d rather have it spicy than tomato-ey, even tho tomatoes are one of my favourite vegetable-fruit.

Just that I eat my tomatoes RAW.

Also, I don’t like it that this dish isn’t really photogenic like the other two, lol.

There was a dessert in the menu that I wanted to try. Something called Apricot Turkish Delight. As some of you may know, I’m a big fan of Turkish Delight – the candy and confection from Turkey (lol). I almost hyperventilate when I tried REAL Turkish Delight that my boss brought back from Turkey.

So back to topic. I wanted to try it because I thought its turkish delight mashed up with apricot, mixed with ice cream. But the waitress told us it was apricot + ice cream (or something like that). So I didn’t try it.

Mainly because we were still unsure of the quality of the food. Now that we know that it is absolutely yummy, I’m going back there to try the Apricot Turkish Delight.

Fig and Olive is a wonderful restaurant which I will recommend to everyone to try. Go to the one at Vivocity in the evening, pick out the seats outside facing the sea

twenty six

Posted on October 10, 2009 by Sha

Yesterday I turned 26. This was how I spent my day

I took leave for yesterday, just as I do every year on my birthday. As much as I have been accused (gasp!) of being a workaholic, I simply wouldn’t do it on my special day. This has been my practice since I started my work life, after graduation.

So anyway let’s continue with our story.

thomas sabo charm club

FP presented me with this box (okay previously it was in a longish paper holder thingy), and inside it was this:

thomas sabo charm bracelet

A lovely charm bracelet from Thomas Sabo! He has chosen three charms for me: a pink flower, a shooting star and a witch.

Why a witch? Because I like Harry Potter, apparently.

Why a shooting star and a pink flower? Because they just look nice

Fair enough, hehe.

Then we went to Ion Orchard for Swenson’s ice cream buffet! Kawan L, Kawan E & Kawan C were initially supposed to join us. But they didn’t

So anyway it was just FP and myself, having access to all the ice cream one could have!

swensons ice cream buffet menu

So for my first combination, I took – banana split, frosted chocolate malt and strawberry flavoured ice cream, with strawberries and marshmallow for topping! I really do love fresh strawberries and marshmallows. In fact, I am a marshmallow – just ask FP.

ice cream

His first bowl of ice cream, on the other hand, looks like this:

swensons ice cream

It consisted of sticky chewy chocolate, cookies and cream and butterscotch flavoured ice cream with chocolate malt balls, marshmallow (copy!), lychees and chocolate sticks as toppings. yum yum

For my second round, I chose very fruity selections. Actually, I’ve always preferred fruity ice cream flavours as compared to rich and creamy ones – so this was pure heaven to me.

fruity ice cream selection

This concoction comprises: mango-peach, rock melon and calamansi flavoured ice cream, topped with strawberries (again), lychees and longans. A very refreshing concoction – just as how I intended it The mango-peach flavoured scoop was extremely delightful and exceptionally refreshing, whereas the rock melon one was simply divine. I love!

FP’s next bowl:

ice cream bowl

Such a vast difference in how the ice cream and toppings are presented, lol. My bowls look way, way better I can be a food arranger on top of a food photographer next time, lol.

This bowl holds a scoop of black sesame, chocolate and strawberry flavoured ice cream each apart from the atap seeds, he also poured marshmallow sauce over the three flavours.

By this time we were both so bloated and pretty sick of ice cream. Actually in between bites of ice creams, we ordered fries and deep-fried mushroom, so that we won’t feel so overwhelmed with ice cream. It kinda worked.

deep fried mushrooms

I didn’t know this photo was taken until I was going through my camera just now. Looks like FP too can be a food photographer. /run

Then of course there was the episode of many many children singing Happy Birthday to me. I will not go too much into that, but of course he did plan for it. We’ll keep it at that

But it was very sweet, thank you FP

And finally, the birthday cake:

birthday cake

This was my chocolate truffle cake from The Royals

Small and sweet, just like me. hahahaha!

Candle was blown and wishes were made (though not entirely because I was being egged on to blow the candle) and that’s the end of my day.

It was a special day with sweet surprises. I love it, and thank you FP for the wonderful day.

And thank you all of you who wished me in Facebook (flooded my wall), twitter, via SMS (these had the nicest bday msges I’ve received), by phone (love ya Kavz!) and in person (xoxo FP).

It was really nice being remembered and loved on a special day like your birthday, so thank you.

Here’s to number twenty six, and let’s live it to the fullest. And then feel emo again when number twenty seven comes along.

Air Kathirah + Chendol = New Drink?

Posted on August 30, 2009 by Sha

One of the things I look forward to during each fasting month is Air Kathirah.

To drink it when breaking fast is like pure heaven. Not only is it sweet, but it is also thirst quenching after such a long day.

For the uninitiated, air kathirah is a like a milk beverage that is sweet and yummy. There are these ingredients in it that I don’t quite know what they are – probably sago seeds? These sago seeds are equivalent to the pearls in bubble tea, just 1/100 the size of a pearl. I’ve tried looking for a photo of this drink but to no avail.

I can’t believe nobody has taken a photo of Air Kathirah. Maybe I will, haha.

But anyways, Air Kathirah is the best thing ever.

So my story about Air Kathirah today adds on to my long history of bimbo tales.

So there I was with FP walking through the Pasar Malam looking for food, drinks and possibly Malay or Indo DVDs. But my main mission was of course to find my beloved Air Kathirah. It has become a personal custom for me to have it every Ramadhan. So we searched and searched.

First there was this stall that sold Air Kathirah in so many flavours that a bubble tea shop will cringe in shame. Blueberry Kathirah, Strawberry Kathirah and so on. I was like.. “WOW, interesting but NO. I must have the original”.

So we walked on.

Then directly across from where I was standing, I saw a sign saying AIR KATHIRAH + CHENDOL.

So I pointed the sign to FP, to which he says, “Chendol sounds good! Let’s go!”

Now here’s where things get complicated all because of Air Kathirah.

When I saw the sign, I honestly thought that it meant that Chendol is mixed with Air Kathirah and therefore a new drink has been created. That was my logic because that is truly the literal meaning of the sign. (I’m a simple girl, you know?)

FP on the other hand, caught the real meaning of the sign – which simply says that they sold both Air Kathirah and Chendol at the stall. Not mixed. They just have both available.

So bearing these opposing thoughts in mind, let me tell you what happened when we got to the stall.

So this is the conversation that occurred between me and the stall aunty:

Me: Can I have one kathirah, and one kathirah + chendol

Aunty: Ok, one kathirah, one chendol

Me: No, one kathirah, one Kathirah + Chendol! (thinking why doesn’t she understand when she has a sign saying kathirah + chendol up! At these moment FP was nudging me saying stuff. I ignored him)

Aunty: (begins putting one packet of Kathirah in a plastic bag)

Me: Um, can I have that in a cup? (to which FP nudged me again saying, “Nevermind.. we can just drink from the plastic”)

Aunty: Sorry we don’t have any more cups. (she then takes one packet Chendol and put it in the plastic also)

Me: Oh ok.. (notices that the Chendol does not seem to be mixed with kathirah) Aunty, is this already mixed with Kathirah?

At this point of time, the aunty did look annoyed. She looked incredibly tired and did I tell you that we can break fast at any minute? And still she had to deal with nonsense from a certain innocent bimbo.

Aunty: We don’t have mixed ones. It’s either Kathirah or Chendol. No mixed! So you still want or don’t want??

Me: Oh (blush blush) yes yes ok

Aunty: So with Chendol or no Chendol?

Me: With. So one Kathirah one Chendol.

After which, FP laughed at me nonstop. But to my defense:

a) The sign was misleading
b) Prior to this stall, I saw air kathirah in so many flavours
c) Who knows, air kathirah mixed with chendol might be yummy after all!

So perhaps we should try mixing eh, Kawan E?

I Love Sour Sally

Posted on July 31, 2009 by Sha

sour sally with mochi and longans

My little slice of heaven – Sour Sally yogurt with plenty of mochi and longans as toppings.

A spoonful of it can make your troubles fade away just like that. Before you know it, you’ve finished a large cup of it, problems forgotten.

Isn’t it amazing how something so simple can make one feel so happy?

Despite having 2 big cups of it with plenty of wonderful toppings during my second trip to Jakarta, I found myself craving for it again. But too bad it isn’t found in Singapore.

But come to thing of it, perhaps it is a good thing that it isn’t found here.

Too much of a good thing can turn out to be an overkill. Right now, because it is out of my reach – it will always be a novelty. A simple pleasure that will make me happy. Oh I’m easily pleased with simple pleasures, don’t you know?

Besides, any nice brand that comes to Singapore will ultimately be ruined by stupid Singaporeans.

Speaking of which, do you know that Dunkin Donuts is back in Singapore? It’s at Ion Orchard. When I wanted to get it, I found a long, long queue at the shop. I changed my mind right there, and made my way home. Killjoy. Whee!

Seriously man, this is why I said Singaporeans will just kill the mood of something novel and new. It’s just donuts. I understand you miss Dunkin Donuts and that’s why you even bother to be in the queue. But at the end of the day, it is just DONUTS. And donut shops are everywhere.

But this is not a post to rant about Singaporeans. That can be in another post, trust me.

So anyway, this is how the design of a large Sour Sally cup looks like:

Sour Sally

Sour Sally Drawing

Cute and cheery, isn’t it? Exactly how I like my stuff. I wanted to keep the cup (I collect rubbish, remember?) but I accidentally threw it away. Pfft.

Can someone get me some Sour Sally already? With strawberry and melon mochi and longans please. No nuts or raisins.

.: asylum for the sane :.

where rainbows end.

Category Archives: Foodie Doodie

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twenty six

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