Homecooking Updates!

As usual I meant to take pictures of food I prepared and then upload it here. Unfortunately, this habit prevails not. I was scanning through my pictures and found out that there are some pictures sitting there, totally unrepresented. It is, however, high time to fix that. 

I made this some months before. It was unplanned and I just used whatever we have in the refrigerator. So I whipped up a medley of vegetables sauteed in butter and a fried fish fillet. The fish fillet I had coated with a layer of corn flour and pan-fried it in a thin layer of oil. It was very crispy and still the meat was not dry. I enjoyed it because I had a healthy, quick meal the way I like it.

 

Next up, this was created in one of those days when I have a mega craving for sausages. I had dragged Soenke to the supermarket with me to hunt for sausages. In doing so, I also convinced him to have dinner, instead of his usual unhealthy option of skipping dinner to help lose weight. (IT DOESN'T WORK!) So, what do we have here? Arugula with balsamic vinegar, a dollop of instant mash potato (which I bought out of curiosity's sake. Have you had frozen mash potatoes before? I have!) and fresh spicy Italian sausages. 

They are rather unprocessed compared to the usual ones where the meat is all blended to one color and can sit in the fridge for ages. They have a very short expiry date. The meat is chunky and juicy. These guys were a total enjoyment. 

Baby portobello mushrooms overwhelmed by giant tomato chunks! I had made this previously and at that time I had made it very well. I got this from watching one of Jamie Oliver's cooking episodes. He calls it Mushroom Sarnie. Oh, and he used sun-dried tomatoes which are not my thing.

This time around I was too lazy to cut the tomatoes into small cubes. I also wanted to do a low fat version so I didn't coat the tomatoes with generous amounts of butter. Instead I dropped slices of butter on top and gave it a slosh of olive oil. I also missed out on using the Dijon mustard and thick bread slices. Yes, it was very different. However, I still enjoyed my meal simply because they are still a great combination!

Hey Soenke, do you still remember our debate on English mustard and Dijon mustard? Heh, need I remind you that I won that debate.. :)

Something Worth Waking up Early on Sunday morning for

It has been ages since I had dim sum! Dim sum is a cantonese term which literally translates to "dot the heart". I am not sure if it is because of its small portions per serving or because the origins of dim sum started off as a snack therefore it is something to lightly touch your spirits with.

Nonetheless, dim sum remains to be a challenge to make due to the small sizes and also the intricate balance of flavors in everyone of them. It is also not easy to find good dim sum. 

Me and Rui Chin decided earlier this week to try out Swee Choon's, after discussing about our love for dim sum and checking out the website. We chose Sunday and made it as breakfast since it is a custom that we grew up in. 

At around 9 something this morning, I found us a booth at Swee Choon. Tea is served in the traditional way of teapot and chinese tea cups. I chose for us "Tie Guan Yin". It means in English "Iron Goddess of Mercy". It is oolong tea that is semi-fermented, explaining why it has a slight twist of acidity in it. (My guess only). 

Starting off I ordered the portuguese egg tarts, while waiting for the rest to arrive. 

Delectable egg tart, moist, not too sweet, caramelized top and very fluffy, flaky pastry. Accompanied with a cup of tea. 

As the rest of the dim sum gang arrived, we gave our orders to the waiter. Everything looked so nice and worth a try!

 Check out the spread! We have deep fried carrot cake, BBQ pork puff, siew mai(pork dumplings), har gao(prawn dumplings), lo mai kai(chicken glutinous rice), egg tart, deep fried rice noodle cake, chee cheong fun(rice noodles with sauce)

 Si Chuan Oil Chilli Wanton

Xiao Long Bao(steamed bun) - It is not like bread/bun, although called so. Meat and gravy is wrapped inside and eaten with ginger vinegar. When you bite into them, you will need to drink the hearty gravy first. 

We dug into our meal, tasting different morsels of food. The carrot cake was nicely crunchy on the outside and flavorful. I really liked it a lot. The rest of the food is pretty good. The BBQ pork bun was shaped differently. And somehow it didn't have an edge to it. There were no cilantro inside. Something else was missing too. As for the xiao long bao, it was fair. Enough to satisfy cravings but not as good as some other places. 

At $38.00 for 4 persons with infinite refilling of tea, it is undeniable that we had a great breakfast. 

My Hair, My Terms!

A couple of weeks ago, I had come stomping home with a very bizarre expression on my face. Soenke even thought I had a mini accident or something along that line.

Frankly, I would say it was an accident. My hair of late had reached shoulder length. It doesn't take a superstar hairstylist to tell you that at this length, your hair is beyond control no matter what you do. It just curls or sticks out in odd direction on your shoulder. 

In this frustrating condition I was highly convinced that a trim would do me good. By the weekend, I was so desperate for a haircut. And also one that doesn't cost me a bomb for a quick trim. (The usual place that we go to was full and I had to make an appointment, which makes me feel more dejected.) So, I had the idea of popping by a hair saloon near our house. I was there once for a quick trim on the fringe and was quite okay with them. 

So I went there. As I sat down, the hair stylist started to tell me how bad my locks are and he can "help" me by applying some treatment on my hair. Like it's a favor and it doesn't cost me a dime. Well, wrong. Upon his insisting pushing of this product, I asked him how much it costs. $90 was the answer. Well, well, no wonder he was so insistent upon it. Not only that, he started to sell me their membership card. Oh boy, I was feeling very uncomfortable and unhappy. 

WHAT HORRIFYING LIES! Crap hair huh.. I have never had anyone tell me that I have bad/damaged hair. True, they were a bit limp due to lack of care but damaged it is not. That explains the reason why I stomped home. I was very, very annoyed. 

This experience somehow led me to want to prove that he is a big fat liar. I switched hair products. 

New shampoo and conditioner and hair mask! I became rather self conscious about my hair and consciously found myself at Mustafa's shampoo section, staring and wondering for a while.

I am very determined that I will not be pressured into wasting my money by horrible, pushy people who target poor helpless women who have been brainwashed to want to look good. To prove it to myself, I spent around $40 only for these 3 items. Plus factor: I can use it many, many times! My hair is now more voluminous, thanks to the new shampoo and conditioner. 

I have yet to try the hair mask. Since it is from Schwarzkopf I have no doubt it will work well, especially when I am also a Schwarzkopf :) Look out people, I will have shiny hair! So shiny you may need shades. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Roar to blind consumerism!!  

Dining Cheque Book

Talk about luck! Once again I chanced upon Women's Weekly's (Singapore) annual dining cheque book! It comes with the purchase of the magazine. All vouchers in the listed restaurants allow you for 1-for-1 dining. 

What a great deal! I spent $3.90 on the magazine, get to read the magazine and get 50% off my food! As we all know, restaurants these days, will cost you more than $3.90.. Heee!

I have already kicked off the celebrations by having dinner with Hui Ying at Ginza Bairin. We both had the Special Fillet Katsudon. And we walked out full and happy with just paying $15.90. ;) More ka-ching for dessert!

 

The Best Music You've Never Heard (1)

I found a book in the library yesterday which I find very interesting. It is entitled "The best music you've never heard". The book is a Rough Guide. Well, never say never. 

So today's first artist to discover is David Ackles. The recommended playlist is as follows:
Down River
The Road to Cairo
His Name is Andrew
Be My Friend
The Grave of God
Candy Man
Another Friday Night
One Night Stand
Waiting for the Moving Van
Montana Song

He has a very deep voice. Perhaps melodious to some. After a quick review of Montana Song, Down River and The Road to Cairo, I find his songs rather melancholic. Definitely will give the rest of the songs a shot. 

A Day Out (without Soenke)

Today is the second day for me without Soenke by my side. I could proudly say I am doing okay as I did not get emotionally unstable, which happened before. 

Definitely great to have the support of my friends as they swooped in to check on me and to accompany me a bit. I sure hope they enjoy my company as much as I do theirs! Hahaha..

The day started in the late afternoon as I spent the morning in bed reading "The invisible gorilla" which was due yesterday. (That said, I paid $0.45 for the 3 books which I returned 1 day late) And after Hui Ying confirmed with the doctor that she is fine despite having strange insect bites, we decided to meet up. 

The initial plan was to watch Julia Roberts' Eat, Pray, Love but we canceled it since she had to stop by the doc's and we wouldn't be able to make it for the 3:45pm slot. We met at Esplanade as I had to return my overdue books. I borrowed 3 more books. Since its the Esplanade library, I could only get books related to arts and music. Let's see if I could expand my very limited knowledge in that field. Or at least attempt to. 

We combed through the new link way between Esplanade, Raffles City and Suntec. There we had a little break. I bought caramel milk tea with mini bubbles at Eskimo. Yummy. Honestly these days any milk tea shop can beat the hell out of Sweet Talk! This usage of better tea changes everything in the taste. I could drink endless cups of 'em!

We mistook our way and went around in a circle to finally end up at Suntec City. There we rummaged through shops while chatting and stopped by ARTSingapore 2010. Very artsy. Haha who doesn't love to look at pretty and colorful things? But there are some pieces that simply makes u wonder "what is that?". That's art for you! All items there (or most of them) are by galleries and are for sale. A guy said he will let us have 10%. What a joke. (Without sarcasm,  since we simply do not have such money).

After surveying the shops I have decided what I want for my autumn/winter jacket for Beijing this coming November! It is fairly easy. I have noticed many Parisians wearing it last winter and liked it a lot. Since its a classic design (or updated classic design) I would like to have one too!

I find this jacket very nice. On the shop's site they called it a military jacket. I don't know much about jackets but I find it nice. And I can change the buttons if I want to too!

After Rui Chin arrived at Suntec, we went to Food Republic for dinner. I had thunder tea rice! After a long time of not having it, it was really good! In my opinion, Food Republic food courts are the best! As for dessert, we headed to Haagen Dazs. Nice people we are, we decided to vote for the guy we harassed during our buying of ice cream as the Champion server (or whatever it was called).

 

 We all love taking pictures! 

The night did not end until we hit Charles & Keith for a perusal of boots. Unfortunately the boots which I tried on did not fit me or that I could even wear it entirely due to the calf area. What can I say but blame the design of the boots. I mean I think I have nice legs most days. :)