Comfort Food

I was home on sick leave from a bad cold. But I still managed to whip up a meal for The Husband for dinner. I wasted half a bottle of white wine; it was good for cooking but not for drinking. Not all wines get better with age. So with that half bottle, I made White Wine Sutchi Fillet baked with tomatoes, fennel and olives, served with Spaghetti Aglio Olio.

I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome, especially since my taste buds were numbed by the flu bug. Initially I thought I had put too much wine because even after 10 minutes in the oven, the smell of alcohol was still very strong. By the time the fish was done, the sauce that was left was sweet and flavorful.

Jastronomic Adventure

JT offered to cook dinner. So after grabbing the essentials from the supermarket, we headed over to his place for a feast. I tried to help with the cooking but didn't know where to start but more than anything, I didn't want to get in the way of the chef. Personally, when I cook at home, I prefer to do everything myself because I have it all planned out in my head. So I took a backseat and prepared a simple salad instead.

It was a big meal of a salad, two side dishes and a main course of fish, prawns and chicken with pasta aglio olio. Amazingly, we polished off everything!




I thought my salad was pretty good too. The sharpness of the balsamic vinegar was balanced with the sweetness of the green apple slices. Light and refreshing! But, compliments to the head chef, anyway!

The Best Yet

One of my favourite chicken rice places would be Yet Con located at Purvis Street. I've only been there twice so far, but it is enough for me to highly recommend it. Everything about it is "old school"; the tiles, the tables and chairs, the old cashier man(dressed in his pyjama pants) and the abacus on his counter top.

We had dinner there last night, vastly different from my initial request to have something "soupy". We ordered chicken, sambal kang kong and Hainanese pork chop. The chicken meat was really good; it was fresh and not drenched in sauce. Of all the Hainanese pork chops, this one is the best I've had. The vegetable deserves some praise too! I meant to order white rice but they had sold out (honest!) so we had the chicken rice instead. I quite liked the onion bits hidden among the grains. The chilli, however, didn't do it for me. I found it a tad bit too salty and had no heat at all.

Good thing we were there relatively early. Ten minutes into ordering our food, a queue had formed at the door. This place is really popular. I think it offers what people are looking for: straighforward, authentic Hainanese chicken rice that is good because the business believes in preserving traditions. It is sad that there is high likelihood for the restaurant to disappear soon if no one continues the business. So do yourself a favour today.

And Cockle Shells...

Week 5.5

Ahh... they grow so quickly...

Fire Me Up!

The Husband and I indulged in a great Japanese meal recently at our favourite albeit expensive Japanese restaurant. Sun with Moon Japanese Dining is like a spa for our mouths and tummies. The food is every bit as good as it looks. Art on a plate, some might say. They serve an array of yummy dishes from salads to noodle and rice items. The salmon avocado salad we had was really good. The fish was half broiled and the dressing had a hint of wasabi in it. But they also have a good selection of sushi with half broiled toppings. This means fresh fish slices that are lightly browned with a blow torch.



Our must-have: Aburi Foie Gras Sushi - Half broiled goose liver sushi. I can't even begin describing the joy of how it tastes. It is one hell of a party in the mouth. I remember the first time we had it, we were blown away. The sashimi is also the best we've tasted so far; it is fresh and served at a nice cool temperature. Point of information: I only eat salmon sashimi because it generally has no smell and the texture is slightly springy, unless its old. I just don't like the taste of any other fish. A big thank you to The Husband who generously let me have all the salmon in the sashimi platter, as well as the extra piece of foie gras sushi. ***

It's a Sticky Date!

I love a good sticky date. I am referring to the dessert, sticky date pudding. Now, I don't suppose a sticky "date" will be a good thing. Anyway, I digress. We recently had the dessert at Marmalade Pantry and it was pretty good. Didn't exactly hit the spot but I was happy. So far, the best I have tasted is from BROTH, located at Duxton Hill.I think the latter serves up a plenty nice one. Or it could just be the whole romantic ambience that made it perfect. I am just dying to go back there (this is one of the many hints that I throw at The Husband)!

The Husband would take me to BROTH for dinner on our anniversaries. But we were more adventurous last year, besides the fact that it was our first anniversary as "Man and Wife" (cringe). My crave for the sticky date pudding has been insatiable since. I have found the recipe for this dessert and will try my hand at it sometime soon.

Sticky Date Pudding from Marmalade Pantry, Holland Village.

Mixed Rice, Filipino Style!

Such an adventure. JT suggested we try Filipino food and even called our colleague to check which floor and restaurant to go to at Lucky Plaza. When we got to the restaurant, which looks more like a cafeteria, we were greeted with a thousand pairs of eyes staring at us like we were aliens. Well, quoting Sting, that makes us legal aliens then. Still unsure of what we were doing, we ordered our dinner of beef, pork, vegetables and an omelet. It's just like "cai png" (loosely translated to dishes and rice in the Hokkien dialect), with some Thai and Malay influenced flavors. Interesting! Oh yes, there were three sauces that accompanied our meal. Unidentified soy based sauce, "banana" sauce and "multi purpose" sauce which tastes like rust, according to JT.

With Silverbells..

Week 4

I am most pleased at how my basil babies are growing. I have come to realise how much water a basil plant needs. I water all of them twice a day, and they sometimes still look like they could do with more. JT, are you jealous now?

How Does My Garden Grow?

Week 3

I am growing myself a garden, or balcony, of basil. I love basil. I LOVE BASIL. I harvested seeds from the flowering basil and threw them in a pot of soil. They have been growing and look the cutest pot of basil I have ever seen. I will continue to document its growth right here. How fun!

One Step Closer

I think I am almost there. I can almost taste success. And I think one of the reasons why I could not achieve the flavor of Aglio Olio was because I used wheat based pasta. The noodle itself had a strong flavor which probably masked up the flavor of the garlic and olive oil. The Husband said it was a much better attempt, or that was what I interpreted. His request for a poached egg on top failed miserably because I haven't mastered the art of making it. However, I must applaud him for suggesting to have some crumbled roasted chestnuts sprinkled in the noodles.

In a Stew About Stew

Note to self: Use potatoes!

Quite Contrary

I have been trying to grow a green thumb of late. Actually it has been a while, just that I'm not particularly impressed myself. I started with basil plants (what else?) from the supermarket. I think I went through about 2 pots before I eventually decided that I need to re-pot them for it to actually perpetuate. So my third pot withered till there was 1 stem left and I re-potted it. It deserves a shot, I thought. And boy, did it grow with a vengeance!

From a single stem, it branched out with small yet sturdy and frangrant leaves. Not before long, it started to flower. 'Oh, how pretty!', I said to myself with a big smile. I also began to use the leaves in my cooking. By this time, the stem and branches have turned brown and woody. "It's diseased", JT said. But if its flowering, it can't be that bad right? WRONG. Apparently, for basil, it is a sign of premature ageing and dehydration. Thanks for the heads up, JT.

Fed up, I cut off all its branches, leaves and all. I put the twigs in a new pot of soil and watered it everyday. For fun. Water is the giver of life, right? Well well! What do you know!

Pork and Spoon

Finally got down to making dinner again! Served up a simple tomato salad, pork chops with pasta and a yoghurt dessert. Trust me when I say the pork chops smell look better than they taste. It's highly frustrating when the night before, as I marinade the meat, I think to myself, "Yes! This could be the defining moment for my quest to be Super Chef!", only to fall teeth first into blandness. Sigh. Oh well. I'll just have to keep trying!

I do take comfort in the result of the tomato salad and The Husband's request for a second serving of dessert. :)

If At First You Don't Succeed...

Tried my hand at aglio olio again. Was way more generous with my garlic this time but as pretty as it looks, it still didn't cut it. My mum reckons that the fault lies in the garlic I used, which I bought from the supermarket and it come in cloves. Apparently it isn't as robust as those that are sold as bulbs or bought from the wet market. I have since purchased a bag of them and will attempt aglio olio sometime soon. My apron is gathering dust as I type. Dust, anybody? Nobody?

Aglio Idio Olio

It was Sunday. I was home alone; The Husband had a full day of school. I felt a little more adventurous than most Sundays, plus I had fresh garlic at home. (Yes! I am complete!) Lunch choices at home are always limited. I hardly buy perishables because, well, they perish. Unless I know I am definitely making something, my occasional grocery shopping list typically consists of:

- Florida's Natural Orange and/or Grapefruit juice
- Canned tuna (soaked in olive oil and/or in mineral water only)
- Some sort of salad, like spinach or rocket
- Instant noodles
- Cereal Bars
- Some kind of fruit like bananas, grapefruit or green apples
- I think I just fell asleep

So yes, to have fresh garlic and chilli is indeed very rare. So I set out to make Aglio Olio Pasta con Tonno. English: Olive oil and Garlic Pasta with Tuna. Ok, I am very picky when it comes to tuna, as you might have deduced from my shopping list. I actually sort of hate it. I never ever have tuna sashimi or tuna sandwiches or tuna anything. Which you might have noticed, if you have been following, that it totally contradicts the 123 Sandwich. Basically, I will only eat tuna if I open a can of it myself. It's just one of my idiosyncratic random psycho neurosis obsessive compulsive behavior. Why? What's wrong? I think I am allowed to have a preference. Go ahead and think what you want. I don't care. Leave me alone.

A friend, JT is a huge fan of Aglio Olio pasta. He once told me he can eat it several times in a day. Talk about idiosyncratic random psycho neurosis obsessive compulsive behavior. Just kidding JT! So I sliced up some garlic and heat up the pan with olive oil, threw in the cooked pasta (wholemeal,no less) and breathed in the garlicky aroma in the kitchen. Added in the drained tuna, tossed in some black pepper, bottled herbs and a wee bit of "magic powder". Lastly, fresh spinach gently folded in to prevent over cooking and a sprinkling of my very own basil.

Lunch is served with an Alfred Hitchcock dvd on the side.

Ezzit so?

How long has it been? 3 months. Really? That long? Yes. Auntiead commented that I haven't been writing and I felt a little sad. I have been so swamped at work, leaving whatever free weekend time to laundry and housekeeping. Whoopee-do.

On the same note as laundry and housekeeping, a relative sent me a link to a website (www.ezziliving.com) recently to check out the clothes hanging systems available. It is most "hapz" (i.e. happening, refers to something that is totally rocking). I think I will consider installing something from them because I am currently using one of those foldable types and its not sturdy. We had already gone through one. It gave way one day after I hung out a batch of freshly washed laundry. Like totally broken, beyond repair, flat on the ground, type of gave way. So yes, perhaps this one that installs on the ceiling will be the answer to my panty hose. I mean woes.

Image taken from www.ezziliving.com.