l a k s a p e s t o

Laksa Pesto Pasta
Doesn't that just look like a beauty? Haha... Ok I admit I think I'm going nuts, but I finally tried this fusion dish I've been dying to cook! =P Fell in love with pesto sauces in Germany, and restaurants boasting fusion cooking in Singapore have been using local herbs like the (in)famous laksa leaves you see all ground up on the noodles... Supposed to use egg pasta but happened to have egg noodles at home so they came in handy. ;) Supposed to have prawns too, but I spotted these rib-eye steaks on offer in the supermarket so that was our meat for the meal. Adapted from a recipe I googled online, and it turned out really well!! My dad totally loved it! Haha.. I guess it's still dependent on whether you're a fan of laksa though.

Been meeting up with friends, trying to watching the stuff I've been hoarding (yes, I procrastinate entertainment gosh), catching up with my reading, playing some music at home... Sometimes it feels like I'm rushing to do all I've been wanting to before my last weeks of freedom's up.. Sometimes can't believe that I'm going to work for good next week already. Not a vacation job, not an internship, but a proper full-time job.. Argh can't help but feel a 'lil old...

j o y s o f c o o k i n g

Hainanese Pork Chop
Been trying some new recipes and perfecting some others, now that I have a few weeks left before I start work... Teriyaki sauce is surprisingly easy to make, with most ingredients readily available in most Singaporean kitchens! Also tried making some inside-out californian maki, which can be quite messy hee... The above's largely following my mum's recipe for Hainanese Pork Chop -- it's as yummy as it looks! =D Used the artificial vinegar the previous time, but found it a bit too sharp for my liking so had to add lots of sugar, but used the jap rice vinegar from my sushi making this time and it's so much better!

Gingerbread Cupcake @ Auntie Shahz
Been baking with Auntie Shah too, forgot to take a photo of the yummy oatmeal cheesecake we made before finishing it off argh! Just made some gingerbread cupcakes last week too, it's oh-so-delicious with the aroma of ginger and nutmeg and cinnamon, with a tinge of ginger that's not overpowering at all (yes, coming from someone who usually detests eating ginger). Some like it cold, but think I still prefer it warm, as the insides are nicely warm and moist yet the crust has a slight crunch to it mmm...

s a p p o r o r a m e n b i s h a m o n

Salmon Sashimi Rice @ Sapporo Ramen Bishamon
Tried this little ramen restaurant at Raffles City basement, somehow I guess in some extent due to the layout of that area of restaurants (cramped side-by-side with most of their tables outside along the corridor instead of within the contained restaurant premises itself), it seems to give one a fight-or-flight kind of feeling during the meal. Perhaps it's all planned for, given the lunch crowd that area would draw from offices around, hmm... The salmon sashimi was not bad, no fishy taste or smell to it at all, rice was slightly sweet (to Ivan's delight haha) and strewn with Ebiko bits (to my delight muahaha). The bento-bowl it came in seemed rather small. Comes with a tiny clump of preserved ginger (which we both can't stand oops) and a bowl of miso soup too. And that's about all to that dish though.

Special Miso Ramen @ Sapporo Ramen Bishamon
The portion's not too bad, with quite a bit of ramen (but of course), quite a sizeable slice of pork, and yippee, some bamboo shoots too! The soup's unfortunately nothing much though, would rather opt for the soups at the restaurants in Liang Court anyday... =P

d e l i g h t & d e l i c i o u s

Full Moon Burger @ Delight 'N' Delicious
Tried this western food stall with a rather interesting menu, located in a coffee shop at Jalan Membina (which is really quite near my place muahaha). This burger comes in a Full Moon serving of 2 x 150g patty and a Half Moon version. Patties are quite juicy and drizzled with melted mozarella mmhmm... Only thing is that the bread and veggies come separately (burger's too large to stay together, or simply a matter of presentation?) so could get kinda messy trying to eat it together hee...

Paprika Chicken @ Delight 'N' Delicious
Chicken with spices and mozarella melted over it. Didn't find it that exciting, but that is one yummy albeit rather buttery mashed potato... Could almost square up to Popeye's mashed potato, though it would lose a few points in the sauce department...

Proscuitto di Parma Pasta @ Delight 'N' Delicious
Ingredients of the usual ham and mushrooms, but what I really like about this pasta is the creamy tomato sauce. Found their rendition of the sauce slightly too runny though...

Chargrilled Ribeye Steak @ Delight 'N' Delicious
Woot! Look at all that blood!! That's what I call medium rare. And steak for $13.80! Only slight let-down is that some bits of it were unfortunately a bit tough hmm...

Hot Chocolate Brownie @ Delight 'N' Delicious
Nice warm brownie that wasn't too dry nor too heavy, and comes with quite a sizeable scoop of vanilla ice cream on it too! Quite impressed that they even put in effort to do some art with streaks of jam and chocolate fudge, thumbs up for this $4.50 dessert! Generally not too bad a place for some western food near home, they even have a discount card that give you some free food with a certain number of stamps collected hee, only gripe would be the level of noise in the usual coffee shop setting, but oh well, that's what you get for a relatively economical bill for that quality and quantity of food at the end of the meal!