d i n n e r @ e s p l a n a d e

Strongbow apple cider @ Harry's Bar
Here's Ivan's latest rave... Zappel with a tinge of alcohol! Muahaha... =P Makes me miss the wonderfully cool smooth and refreshing Apfelwein that we tasted on our first trip to Germany, in Frankfurt mmmm... Oh, to his delight, this particular Harry's at CHIJMES is apparently some Liverpool fan territory...

Bailey's Irish Cream Hot Cake @ The Cookie Museum
Was reading how some online bloggers were going googoogaga over this dessert, couldn't help myself but splurge a bit and try it at The Cookie Museum at the Esplanade.. =P Really one opulent tai-tai place decked out in victorian... Sadly the whipped cream topping the hot cake slipped off just as I was taking this photo sigh... The cake itself is nothing much to comment about, but the sauce at the bottom is quite amazing, I actually requested for spoons to scoop up every bit of decadence hee... However Ivan found that it contains a bit too many flavours though, such that it overpowers the cake totally oh well...

Pomegranate Ruby Tea @ The Cookie Museum
To wrap up a night of sinful gastronomy, we had some sips of this light tea. It smells really fruity and refreshing, but it's a bit erm too light for my taste... Let him sample the lavender cookies there too, I simply love 'em! But be warned, it takes some getting used to eating something you usually associate with solely smelling... ;)

J B t r i p

Mozarella cheese-baked black pepper sauce chicken chop @ Yew's Cafe
Drove into JB for a day-trip with Ji Gu and Auntie Shah.. Initially we were afraid that our favourite roasted duck stall would be closed on Thursdays, but when we reached, to our horror, the entire coffee shop was undergoing demolishment works! And upon querying shopowners in the vicinity, the roast duck shopowner still hasn't found a new place yet. Woe to us.. =S So we moved on to another town, but on the way, we passed by this area with a bowling alley which Ji Gu has been thinking of trying but haven't got to it yet. So off we went into that shopping mall establishment that comprises mainly the bowling alley and this Bistro-restaurant, Yew's Cafe. Generally, prices are higher than the usual Malaysian fare, but considering the chic restaurant ambience and quality of western food, it's still quite a steal (after converting to SGD of course, and comparing with restaurants in Singapore).

Lamb Shank @ Yew's Cafe
My order was the chicken chop above, was quite a generous portion, albeit the sauce being slightly on the salty side. Lots of melted mozarella cheese with black pepper sauce and sausages on top mmm... Would never have tried mozarella with black pepper sauce as the sauce might overpower the cheese, but I just felt like having both that day, so why not just have the combination? ;) Auntie Shah had the Lamb Shank, which came with quite an impressive presentation. It was done in a stew sauce and was rather tender, although sadly the tulang-looking bone was devoid of bone marrow. Came with a serving of vegetables and mashed potatoes.

Ji Gu & his Tuna Spaghetti @ Yew's Cafe
Forgot to take a photo of this first dish that was served before devouring it. =P Was really not bad, having the right consistency, i.e. not too soggy nor dry, with enough sauce to go around, although the only gripe would be the rather miserable amount of tuna that came with it.

Auntie Shah & her Lamb Shank @ Yew's Cafe
That's Auntie Shah getting all prepared to dig into her succulent lamb shank... ;) I would say it's quite nice place to head to if you're in the mood for some western cuisine in JB and a pleasant air-conditioned dining environment.

Iced Lemon Tea & Curry Puffs & Goreng Pisang
Next we sent the car for servicing. We were told to return in 20 min however when we did, the mechanic was still not done, so we were chased off to have some tea first. Walked around the shophouses there, checked out some home contractors for fun, and finally got some Goreng Pisang and Curry Puffs from a roadside stall (the kind which is set up behind their own van). Only 1RM for 4 curry puffs! And with really crispy skin and tasty curry potato or sardine filling! What more can one ask for mmm.. It was quite a sweltering afternoon so we headed to a nearby coffee shop for some iced lemon tea and chendol too.

Lobster in 'Champion sauce' @ Jade Restaurant
Following that, we dropped by the kampong house and did a bit of cleaning up and had a wonderfully cold bath (no time to wash the car though sadly). Refreshed, we embarked on an hour-plus journey up to Pengarang for some seafood dinner! The previous time they were there with one of my cousins, they noticed that almost all the tables had ordered a plate of lobsters, so it's time to check 'em out! They come in three sizes and respective prices, and the waitress recommended their 'Champion sauce' that's of chicken broth base and has lots of wolfberry sweetness mmm... Mouthwatering huh? ;) Finger-licking goodness that was finished down to the last bits in their legs and all..

Steamed Fish @ Jade Restaurant
They also had two types of fish swimming around in their tanks. If I didn't remember wrongly, we had the garoupa, steamed in Hong Kong style (whatever that means haha). Really fresh, and not the least bit lor gor (referring to being more tough and not easily broken apart). Lovely delicious seafood dinner that was worth the trip up! =) Sweet ending to a relaxing pigging-out trip in JB hee...

h i g h l a n d e r c o f f e e

Macadamia Coffee Latte @ Highlander Coffee
Met Soon at Highlander Coffee, which is a cafe that also offers Barista workshops situated along Kampong Bahru Road, for a chit chat before he flies back to Germany this Sunday. Got to know this place through his intro cos he works around there. They serve really good coffee at reasonable prices (i.e. less than Starbucks etc) and provide free wireless internet for surfing too. And best of all, they actually bother to do coffee art! =D Ain't that a pretty twin heart on my coffee? ;) Their beverages come served with a caramel cookie too, been eyeing this brand of cookies ever since I went a'hunting for the tea-time caramel cookies which I used to pig out on in Germany (good stuff for dumping into your drinks hee)! Might go get some myself when I'm not feeling too fat (or when temptation just takes over)...

So much has happened in the slightly-less-than-a-year that passed... So many things in life are so transient.. At least there are memories to hold on to, but sometimes mine seem to be fading... Really glad to get to catch up with him this round he's back, but somehow keep getting this nostalgic removed feeling, like a reminder that my life less than a year ago was so different from what it is now and probably in the future too...

g r a d u a t i o n m a s s

CSS had Graduation/Exam Mass on the last day of semester before the start of reading week. Had blessings, some song singing, video presentations, lots of hugging and photo-taking... Generally quite emo... Somehow this last day of sem seems even more significant to me as I won't even be going back to campus for exams anymore... Yes yes, I'll explain this for the umpteenth time and risk getting shot at again -- I've managed to cram enough modules in all the previous sems and chose all non-examinable modules for this sem hee.. Quite 先苦后甜 huh... But at least I've got the peace of mind that if anything screws up in the earlier sems I can always salvage it later on without having to delay graduation... Glad all that planning paid off, really have to give thanks to God for it!

Dinner was provided after mass, with more fellowship and laughter... Will so miss everyone, from those whom I've known ever since I first stepped into CSS in Yr1 to those whom I've only started to get to know in the past year.. But I suppose it doesn't just end there, there'll always be the many gatherings during the hols and can always go back for campus mass when I've got the time, and might meet some at church etc... Simply am at a loss of words to describe how much journeying and growing with this community has enriched me.. Love all you guys!

s e l f m a d e

Chocolate and Banana Ice Cream cake with Chocolate Ganache Glazing
Been trying my hand out at making Ice Cream cakes (mainly to make one for my darling's bday hee). Quite fun to try out different variations of ingredients and proportions, my first one was quite disastrous haha... You won't believe how much unhealthy stuff goes into each bit of it though, they'll so be my downfall sigh... =P

Instant noodles passing off as a pasta dish
Yes, horror of horrors, I'm actually missing the generic pasta meals I used to dish up in Germany. So cooked this for lunch one day, with instant noodles instead of pasta. Minus the fresh mushrooms too. Argh I miss the fresh mushrooms that I used to always have stock of in my fridge...

a n e w s e a s o n

Charmaine & I
A New Season -- NUSSO's concert at UCC on 14 March 2009. Kinda marks the end of my undergrad journey with NUSSO and the start of a new phase in my life... That's Charmaine, my desk partner for most of the pieces this concert, a really bubbly, earnest Yr1 gal who made all those crazy note-reading rehearsals bearable. ;)

My dad, me, Ivan, Ivan's dad and mum (from left to right)
Really appreciate family and friends for coming, despite most not actually having been musically-trained or that great a fan of classical music... =) Pretty photos huh, thanks to Ivan's wonderful DSLR lens haha...

Yao Guai, Moli, me and Michael Tan (from left to right)
Oops, pai seh, can't remember her actual name, but she even happily calls herself Yao Guai on facebook haha.. One jovial lady, who upon hearing that the really tall Bassoonist is a German exchange student, commented "Ah, no wonder so ugly.", when she's a German herself haha... Unfortunately didn't manage to take photos with Winnie & her bf, Sam and Isaac before they left though..

Violin 2 gals
My violin 2 section for this year's concert! Ok, minus the handful of guys, which makes the Violin 1 guys really jealous haha... Really glad that the whole atmosphere within the orchestra has gotten so much friendlier and chummy after returning from Germany. Good job guys! Hope it'll persist... =) Sometimes music ain't all about technicalities, it's something human, something more intimate...

r a n d o m e a t s

Squid Ink Pasta with Smoked Salmon & Cream-based sauce @ Dome
Tried out Dome at Shaw House with Ivan, I must say service was quite impressive since I seem to remember that about them despite only blogging about this almost a month later. Quite cozy old-time decor, complete with my fav booth seat tables too. ;) First time having squid ink pasta without the pasta sauce being made of squid ink too. Doesn't seem much different from other pasta though, guess squid ink's not strong in flavour on its own anyway so the other tastes kinda overpower it. A generally nice combination which wasn't too jelak despite the cream-based sauce.

Deep-fried combo @ Dome
Typical deep-fried mix of calamari, chicken wings, prawns and potato wedges, served with 3 types of dip -- salsa, sour cream and chilli. The chilli one was surprisingly hot! The sour cream was unfortunately slightly bland, though it adds a refreshing dimension that's light on the palate when mixed with the other dips.

Mille-feuille @ Coffee Club
Which means thousand-layers in French, referring to the brownish bit peeking from behind the scoop of vanilla ice cream, adorned with raspberries and blueberries. Presentation was really sweet with a substantial amount of fruits and chocolate fudge blobs and a chocolate leaf, however it seemed to overshadow the actual protagonist of the dish. Which also sadly didn't perform up to expectations. The pastry was actually tough! We had some problems tearing it apart with our dessert forks. Oh well, at least the ambience at the outlet at Raffles City was really chill...

c u r r y f a v o u r

Ivan intro-ed me to Curry Favour that day (haha yes yes, my ubiquitous 'that day'). Somewhere around City Hall area.. Never knew it was linked to MoonRiver (though never been to either, despite having passed by both a couple of times).. Basically it's known for its Japanese curry. A typical dish has the usual sticky Jap rice and a tiny side of pickled ginger, and deep fried something, which in our case was fish and chicken (if my memory didn't fail me oops). Then it's served with this lovely amount of jap curry that comes in some contraption that looks almost like a genie lamp (yes, pardon me for my lack of vocab). Initially seemed like quite alot of curry, but cos it's not spicy yet rather tasty, don't be surprised that you'll be wondering where it all went before you notice it.. ;)

We had some crispy soft shell crab too.. Came with a wasabi mayo dip, remember having been served a similar at Cafe Cartel for theirs too.. Think it was a fair bit of crab mmm... Always had a soft spot for soft shell crab anyway hee.. Generally quite a nice dining experience I guess, with nice couches further in to lounge around too.. =)

v d a y

Had the sweetest ever Valentine's with my darl.. =P Really touched that he was putting so much effort into it and trying to keep the preparations hush hush so it'd be a surprise hee.. Can't stop gushing oops... That's my pretty light purple hydrangea set in its own quaint wicker basket -- my fav flower in my fav colour muahahaha.. The beauty of hydrangeas is in how a single stalk can naturally seem to be a bouquet on its own! =)

The pirate and his rum! Haha couldn't help myself but post this unglam photo of someone's alcoholic tendencies.. =P

Wasn't rum nor shandy.. Was actually Riesling! My gosh.. I'm no wine connoisseur but kinda liked them (a species of grape quite commonly grown in Germany) when I first tasted it in Germany.. Mmmm wine by the beach, with a soft sunset too.. How perfect can things get?

Perfecter! Pardon me, I simply had to coin that word.. Master chef's TLC work of art.. After much experimentation and sweat, voila! Pate and Avocada prawn salad which can't be described by any other word but heavenly... Would never had thought of making pate myself, especially not in Singapore hee.. But he apparently proved me wrong! And my my, that was one smooth salad, shan't further divulge his secret ingredients hee..

Simply had to fool around a bit with ice and fire as the sky turned dark... =P That was one really memorable Vday, couldn't have enjoyed it better, all thanks to my dearest!

d a i l y s c o o p

Waffle with Ameretto Ice Cream @ Daily Scoop
First heard of this ice cream parlor at Clementi Arcade along Sunset Way from the CSS people, so suddenly decided to look for it and give it a try after an afternoon at the career fair. Serves up a variety of homemade ice cream with some local flavours, such as Durian Durian (what else screams more 'Singaporean' than that?), and exotic ones such as Orange Tequila. Quite a number of flavours with liquer actually, how nice haha, though obviously the alcohol ain't that strong, can't imagine kids getting drunk in an ice cream, can you? ;) The ameretto's a almond liqeur, it came with mashmallow and chocolate bits too. The waffle was subtly crisp on the outside and soft inside, which is quite a well done version of the typical light Singaporean waffle in comparison to the heavier doughier Belgian waffle. Love both versions nonetheless.

Warm Chocolate Brownie with Lychee Martini @ Daily Scoop
The brownie's nothing to rave about, denser than the one I tried at Four Leaves but not as dense as the one at Mrs Field's. Lychee Martini's lychee flavour was rather refreshing, though the martini bit was hardly there.
Having had my fill of waffles yesterday at Olive Cove at NUS (finally) and today, think it brings me to the end of my waffle binge, but think my hunt for brownies has but just begun oops... =P

t e a

Viennese Chocolate Shortbread (Marks&Spencers) and
Ipoh White Coffee and
Peanut Cookies (First Choice) (in background)
Been pigging out on meals like breakfast and tea.. Blame it on being deprived of CNY cookies for 1 year haha, even Germany gets the blame for my Kaya spread craving! Sipping on ipoh white coffee while nibbling on cookies -- that's my idea of a perfect tea mmhmm.. Btw both cookies were bought while on promotion (good time to buy CNY cookies right after CNY as prices are slashed yet they're still rather fresh).

Chicken Curry Puff (1A)
Yes, I'm nuts enough to hunt down this stall at Block 94 Bukit Merah View, behind Henderson Primary School, which I heard is the original before the whole franchise chain started. Have always loved this version of the crispy curry puff, ever since my mum first bought them from some franchise stall at Jurong West (where we used to live in at one point in time). Not so much cos of the flaky skin, but rather for the really moist fillings which somehow seem to have gravy and yet not have been absorbed by the skin. The sardine version's delicious too. Helps that this stall's rather near to my home too muahaha..

j a l a n k a y u

Tulang @ Jalan Kayu
My uncle's been bringing me to this place at Jalan Kayu that's 3 stalls (selling different stuff like Roti Prata stuff, Seafood Zi Char stuff, Satay, Nasi Padang etc) which combined forces, so customers can sit anywhere and yet order from any of them. This bone marrow dish (which is called Bone Steak on the menu) is really huge and worth it for 8 bucks! Plenty of bones, more than enough to go around the table of 5, and really lip-smacking sauce! Waaaay better than the one we had with my sis at Rowell hee... This is so gonna make her drool till she next flies back haha...

Tissue Thosai @ Jalan Kayu
This is humongous. Totally. Just look at the puny bowl of chickpea sauce in comparison. And I didn't even manage to squeeze in the entire length of it into the photo yet! Really thin and comes with 4 sauces to boot. My aunt and I just love the chickpea sauce (the one served in the bowl), and we all just ended up dipping some Thosai in the Tulang sauce too haha cos that sauce was that good.

Roti John with mutton and cheese @ Jalan Kayu
Somehow not as impressive as I was expecting. Found the bread a bit tough for my liking. Maybe I like stuff that's more crisp on the surface, though no idea whether that'd be authentic roti john hee.. Sauces came in generous amounts, but not so for the fillings.

Roti Prata Bomb @ Jalan Kayu
Was reading about this Prata Bomb thingy in some food blog somewhere, think the craze started in Malaysia but apparently hasn't really caught on in Singapore, as nobody else at the table had ever heard about it. It looked rather dismal when it arrived at the table, but was really not bad tastewise! Think the dough's slightly different, had some margarine and sugar in it too. Guess I'll try a Bomb again when I next see it in another prata stall's menu.

Sardine Murtabak @ Jalan Kayu
First time having fish in Murtabak haha.. Was quite a fresh change, though it was more moist than usual Murtabaks, dunno whether it's cos of the sardine, or their Murtabaks are generally of the wetter sort.

Beehoon Goreng Pattaya @ Jalan Kayu
This was good stuff! I generally love Pattayas, which is just whatever stir-fried carbo-dish wrapped in omelet. The egg was soft and moist enough, and the beehoon goreng had sufficient ingredients too.

q e d

quod erat demonstrandum
. . . q.e.d.

Latin for Which is the thing that was going to be proved, which means Thus it is proved.

Have always wondered what that q.e.d. thingy we used to write at the end of mathematical problems which required proving LHS=RHS meant. Remember asking our math teacher and he just jokingly said "Quite easily done." which we obviously didn't take seriously. And voila! Enlightenment appeared years later, randomly in a novel I was reading today!

r a n d o m f o o d

Grilled Turkey and Mushroom Sandwich @ Simply Bread
Was introduced to Simply Bread at Guthrie House.. It's quite a gem I think, or perhaps it's just the nostalgia washing over me as I gaze longingly at the assortment of Potato Breads, Ciabatta etc. Prices seem rather reasonable too, a loaf of bread typically goes for about 5 bucks plus, which is around the amount you would have to pay for a similar one after conversion from Euros to SGD. We ordered a Special of the Day, which was a grilled Turkey and Mushroom sandwich. It came with a coleslaw, which was nothing to rave about but could be better if it were slightly wetter to counter the dryness of the breads. The bread came with 'grill streaks' which seem rather authentic, and was quite nice, though it might have been sweet if we could choose the type of bread for our sandwich. The fillings were adequate, and the melted cheese was on the generous side, awesome...

Chocolate Souffle @ Bakerzin
Went to Bakerzin for more Molten Chocolate Cake before the promotion ends hee... Got to try their Chocolate Souffle at long last too! We were initially hesitant about the portions as it looked quite puny in the photo in the menu, but we had pleasant surprise when we were served with this rather gigantic souffle and a scoop of capuccino ice cream to boot! Was quite heavenly, with a slightly crunchy crust and light warm insides. Though I would still choose the Molten Choc Cake over it anyday! =P

Ivan and I about to pig out on ice cream at Icekimo's! It's tucked into this row of shophouses at Sin Ming Ave (or is it Road?) somewhere around Upper Thompson, would never have found it or chanced upon it if not for him knowing about it and bringing me there. More homemade ice cream goodness! (There's more than Island Creamery now woohoo..)

Blueberry cheesecake, Teh Tarik and Nutella ice cream in chocolate waffle @ Icekimo
We tried the blueberry cheesecake, teh tarik and nutella. Blueberry cheesecake was nice, albeit not exactly a very local flavour. ;) The teh tarik didn't seem to have as strong a flavour of tea as what I remember of its counterpart at Island Creamery. Think I still prefer more swirls of nutella that Island Creamery does to theirs too... The ice cream seemed to melt at a slower rate at least. =) Was generally very satisfying though!

s o p h i a c n y

Sophia & family and my mum flew back from Shanghai for the Chinese New Year celebrations! They were here for about 2 weeks, and just flew off again yesterday, how time flies... Mum's taking another flight out a few days later though. That's Sophia on her cute Trunki luggage which can be pulled around with her on it!

Went to a coffee shop at Rowell for mouth-watering prata etc indian food.. That's her dipping paper Thosai into one of the various dips. Had a really sumptuous dinner there -- paper prata (simply love the thinness of it!), prata with egg, mee goreng, bee hoon goreng, mutton soup (a disappointment), Tulang (aka bone marrow, mmmm bliss). Andy would've ordered even more if not for our limited stomach space I think, blame it on deprivation of Singaporean food hee..

First time I get served Milo Dino topped with a lychee! We also had Teh Cino, Indian Chendol (erm dunno what exactly is so 'indian' about it though) and Mango Lassi.

After one of our trips to Sentosa, we headed to Ben & Jerry's for our ice cream fix! Sophia being offered her scoop of Chocolate Sinfulness while she terrorizes the B&J cow... Quite a good offer going on now -- free scoop of some new flavour of sorbet (can't remember the name, but think it had bananas and mango in it if I'm not wrong) with every 2 other scoops ordered. So totally pigged out on 3 scoops with a chocolate waffle! Until my mum almost got a brainfreeze from it haha...

And more ice cream! At People's Park Centre's hawker centre, Soya Bean ice cream from Mr Bean (or is it Jollibean? gosh they're sprouting all different outlets all over the island). My mum's quite crazy about it, it's really quite interesting -- rather light, with a soya bean aftertaste.

q u i c h e e t c

Spinach, Ham & Mushroom Quiche
Been wanting to try my hand at cooking up a quiche ever since the period when I was in Germany, but never had the chance to. So finally got to do it when Ivan and I decided to have a cookout at his place! =D Turned out really well, surprisingly quite easy actually. The filling was light enough, not too cheesy for his mum's taste I hope. ;) The crust, which we bought on sale from the Cold Storage at Guthrie House (shortbread crust, not quiche crust actually), unexpectedly tasted of A&W Rootbeer! Haha... Was somehow inexplicably quite addictive though oops..

Minestrone Soup
Ivan was having a craving for some Minestrone Soup (or at least to cook some), so that's some really adapted version of it, without any beans other than baked beans (cos we both hate 'em haha). Think it would've been delicious if not for the cherry tomatoes which made the taste kinda sharp (couldn't find any nice red tomatoes at the supermarket somehow).

Chapalang omelet thingy
Had some leftover ingredients from the quiche, so I attempted to make an omelet out of them, in the style of some japanese dish I remember indulging in at Waraku which was basically really sinful due to the copious amounts of mayonnaise and cheese.