7 Sept 2013
Rakuzen - A Jap dinner with mum!
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| My mum and I were already starving and I was on a verge of having stomach cramps due to excessive hunger. It was already 7+ and we still have not eaten our dinner! I seriously disliked the feeling of starvation but I still led my mum all the way from Suntec City to Millenia Walk, believing that there would be yummy food existing around that area. I was right! There were quite a couple of restaurants in there as well as hidden around the bends. My mums choose Rakuzen, which I had in mind since I had cravings for Japanese food. The place was rather quiet and dimly lit, so I felt my eyelids getting heavier every moment. I shake myself up, trying to enjoy the peaceful ambiance and the beautifully designed furnishing around me. |
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| My mum ordered the Tonkotsu Ramen which looked like an ordinary bowl of ramen. (Instant noodles would be more liked it.) How do you actually present a bowl of ramen to look more appetizing? Tough one I supposed. Despite the non-attractive presentation, the soup base was really superb! It was soothingly light and the umami flavor was irresistible. My mum really enjoyed her ramen but the greatest disappointment was that the Tonkotsu Ramen here had no Tonkotsu in it. Therefore, it was basically a plain bowl with only some vegetables to go with! |
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| As for me, I had a craving for sashimi but wanted something more filling. So I ended up picking the Sakura Chirashi Don - Mixed sashimi over japanese vinegared rice. Pardon me as I really could not tell if the sashimi were fresh all because I did not get a satisfying feel after consuming them. All I knew was that there were no traces of any fishy smell emitting from them. The prickled ginger slices were unusually good with mild pungentness. I guessed the pink sugar I left behind was sakura sugar as I did not like additional artificial sweetness in my don. On the whole, the price tag was something I should consider before stepping into any Japanese restaurant, which my mum would be oblivious to. |
2 Sept 2013
12 Cupcakes - Just another 3 of it
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| YAY! 3 more cupcakes tried from the variety of 12! Mocha, Cookies and Cream and Strawberry Chocolate. Typical girls would definitely go crazy over these lovely cupcakes. Although I felt the pinch over the price, I felt that the ingredients used were of decent to good quality. The flavoured cupcake bases were of constant denseness and richness and a generous dose of flavour infused cream was piped neatly on each of them. I was quite thankful that the colours were not too artificially vibrant as compared to other outlets which could have turn me off easily. Simple designs are usually alright for me as long as quality is there. |
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| Another shot of the trio of cupcakes! Luckily the buttercream did not smudge too badly yet! |
21 Aug 2013
A kelong kitchen at Batam
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| Hi! Let me start this post with a panoramic view of harbourfront centre jetty!These photos were taken by my newly bought Samsung WB800F camera from the electronic fair at Expo, a week before this trip (last month). Bye Sg, Hi Batam! |
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| I would prefer to directly go into my main point as I don't think I would want a 'travel' section in my blog. More pictures can be found in my facebook album here, which I had already change the settings to allow public viewing. By the way, this was the jetty to my kelong stay! |
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| After about a 15 mins rocky boat ride, the destination that came into view! I was like OMG....so cui r? |
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| Bye boat, see you tomorrow! |
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| Went to take a peep at my lodging and I went Omg again... |
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| The place was rather beautiful and I tried hard to enjoy the nature and the fresh constant gentle breeze as much as I could. |
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| My first time enjoying and swinging in a hammock! It was so uncomfortable and my butt hurts after that. I don't quite understand why everyone else enjoyed it. |
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| Another panoramic view. It looked like 2 parallel corridors but actually it was just a straight line! |
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| The orangey hue which was caused by the setting sun. Such a beautiful scenery that I stared at blankly for a long long time. |
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| This was actually my favorite shot! When the sun goes down, it looked so romantic that I almost melted down too! How I wished I had a girlfriend to spent the night with, admiring the vast blue sea and relishing a bbq dinner with her. The fire has already started, dinner soon! |
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| Time to introduce you the kitchen! No fancy stoves or good storage place. Lucky no hygiene check or els sure fail. You would not want to see the amount of houseflies hovering in here too. |
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| The red container - Where fresh food were stored, chilled by ice for up to 2 days only. |
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| Other ingredients... |
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| The auntie who did all the cooking for us. I kept dropping by the kitchen since I got bored staring at the sea. I really felt like helping her! At least I help to stir a bit and serve the dishes out! Does that counts? |
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| I am no minions from despicable me but I never say no to snacks! Banana for... |
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| Pisang Goreng which I tried frying them myself in the kitchen! All you need would be a simple flour batter and hot oil. I ate 5 pieces as they were just so addictive - Crispy, light batter, a bit oily and sourish (65%) sweet (35%) bananas! Sliced and fanned out for crispier texture! |
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| Went for a short fishing trip in a boat and I only caught a sea bream as they rest were caught by my friends. Thankfully I caught only 1 as I could not stand the sight of the snagged fishes struggling in agony with the hook piercing through their mouths. |
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| Since this cute little fish was not confirmed to be edible and it was still alive, we quickly tossed it back into the sea to resume its life. |
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| Some of the simple yet delicious dishes I had for lunch and dinner! Flower crabs that were fresh but little meat. |
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| Gong Gong shellfish which I tried for the first time. |
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| Pulled the flesh out to savour and it was slimy! Ewwww, I really do not know how to appreciate such stuff. |
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| Curry chicken with potatoes. The curry was quite good I must say! |
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| Simple vegetable were crunchy and fresh. |
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| Fish fried to perfection! Slightly crispy exterior and super moist interior! |
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| Prawns in tomato sauce! |
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| Another fresh vegetable dish! |
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| Chicken drumlets and wings fried with sweet sauce resulting in a little charred surface. |
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| A shot with aunty! Thanks for allowing me to help although I am a visitor on holiday! |
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| Last but not least, a camwhore shot of myself in one of the many new shirts which I bought! |
15 Aug 2013
Creamier Ice Cream and Waffles - Unlink choice
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| Omg so busy recently that I have no time to blog! I just came back from a short (3 days) getaway trip to Batam during the National day holidays and am now flooded with 2 major projects from school. Anyway, let me change to a more chill topic of an ice cream dessert which I had with my friend. I brought my friend to this outlet which was just walking distance from his house and he did not even know this place existed! Since my previous visit I did not have a chance to try their home-made waffles, we decided to order it with 2 scopes of ice cream! It was rather crowded that day and we had to wait quite a while before 2 near-perfect round spheres of ice cream, balanced neatly on top 2 squares of in-between-crispy-and-fluffy waffles arrived. Was glad it came in 2 squares as it saved us the trouble of portioning. I picked the Sea Salt Gula Melaka which had a lovely palm sugar sweetness, enhanced by the saltiness of sea salt. My perfect combination of sweet-salty! My friend decided to go for the tropical fruity Mango Passion Sorbet. It was tangy, deliciously refreshing and it had an obvious fruit puree taste. I felt the mango was dominant while my friend actually thought the passion fruit was more overpowering. (Who's right?) The main agreement that we both had in unison was that these 2 scopes totally do not compliment well with each other, like the opposite polarity of North and South. |
31 Jul 2013
Tonkutsu King Four Seasons - Artificial beauty blossoming
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| The moment I stepped into Tonkutsu King Four Seasons, I almost went OMG aloud. I was awed and impressed with the effort involved to furnish the restaurant into so Japanese-like. Artificially beautiful cherry blossom hanging along the walls, round lanterns, wall paintings as well as the open kitchen concept made me felt like I was entering a ramen outlet in Japan. |
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| An urge to risk, I ordered the Japanese green tea cola to try as it was a rare beverage option in Singapore and it was my first time coming across one. Upon reading the label, I realised that the brand was from Tonkutsu King itself. Fizzy and tasting like an ordinary can of cola, except that the colour was more towards the darker tone of olive green. |
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| My friend's bowl of 'Autumn' arrived with colour so vibrant that it reminded me of the season's departing leaves. The bright warning colour was a mix of spices and meat cuddled into an orb, slowing diffusing its fieriness across the umami broth. A mouthful of soup was already too much for me to handle and I was thankful that this bowl was not my choice! Not to forget, there were free flow of hard boiled egg and marinated beansprouts (just like Ramen Keisuke Tori King) to bring down the heat. |
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| My 'Summer' arrived shortly after my friend's 'Autumn' and the colour contrast reassured me that I would not have to sweat over my meal. Unlike Autumn, Summer's broth was intensified by a lovely load of mushroomy bits which emitted an unforgettable earthly taste. I felt like I was eating a high class 'bak chor mee' (minced meat noodles) with springy and relatively medium-hard noodles. As for the char shu, it was towards the leaner side with minimal fats, posing a slight challenge for a lazy person like me to chew. On the whole, I would definitely be back to try out the other seasons! |
27 Jul 2013
My 1st Bread Showpiece 'Crash Site'
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| My very first bread showpiece I did in school 2 days ago! The decoration bread dough, also known as dead dough is definitely not edible. I came out with this concept of 'Crash Site' only on the spot without prior planning, and the crafting space was about palm size. |
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| I felt like I was back during my primary school days modelling clay into miniature figurines for art lessons. I really enjoy art and sculpturing, making the best out of the 2 hours and less given time to complete my masterpiece. Roof meshing, fallen pillar, collapsed brick wall, debris and a un-detonated missile (I know it doesn't looked like one). |
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| Another view of the meshing! It was really tricky to do those netting design due to the crumbly bread dough and interloping dough of about 4 mm in diameter. |
The recipe that I used:
Baking temperature about 170 degrees, Time about 1/2 hour.
400g Plain Flour
70g Rye Flour
30g Potato Starch
30g Salt
100g Soften Butter
Sugar Syrup:
80g Water
120g Sugar
Steps:
1) Mix all the ingredients together
2) Add soften butter
3) Add sugar syrup (not too hot)
4) Mix to form a smooth, firm dough (add more syrup if needed)
5) Let dough rest overnight in chiller
The next day, add some sugar syrup to soften dough, blend well and enjoy making your bread showpiece!