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31 Dec 2013

New Year Resolution for the Year 2014!


In about an hour plus time, it would be 2014 already! Omg so fast another brand New Year..

I want to thank my family members and all my friends who have been part of my life!.........(and so on)

Had experienced a full year in At-Sunrice Academy attaining pastry and bakery knowledge and skills, going
through a whole year of apprenticeship at SATS too. Basically my life is just school, work and going out with
friends for catching up sessions, eating yummy food and also made new friends from SATS as well as from 2
of the Omy blogclub events.

I should also state down my new year resolutions so that I could refer to them next year and keep in track
whether I had managed to fulfill them.

1) Work in a well known Japanese restaurant after graduating from At-Sunrice Academy (by March)
2) Perfect my knife skills
3) Learn as much as possible from my work place (not confirmed)
4) Pick up Japanese language (basic would do)
5) Improve my drawing skills and have a sketchbook filled with food sketches 
6) Blog more engaging posts 

Alright, 6 should be more than enough! Anyway...


Snacking on Sakura Matcha Kit Kat bars right now?? Yes, waffles coated with a layer of sakura matcha
chocolate! Loved the unique flora taste of sakura although it was just the flavoring.

29 Dec 2013

Menya Mushashi - All the way to the West


After this meal at Menya Mushashi which I ate with my friends at Westgate (a newly open mall beside
Jem), I somehow felt the pinch of spending so much on a bowl of ramen. A bowl of ramen from any
other restaurants could easily hit $15 to $20, more than enough to cover an entire day food expanses.
Perhaps I should stop trying so many different outlets and stick to the same few favorite ones to prevent
unwanted disappointment. Back to this bowl of Black Special Ramen Set which I ordered that included a
choice of side dish. I was once again greatly disappointed about almost every major components this bowl
contained. Murky looking broth that lacked flavor, only half a non-molten centre egg, average slice of
pork belly and a boring piece of fried bean curd skin. I was quite pissed off about the extremely low
amount of broth in my bowl too, not that I enjoyed it. The only thing I liked was the H-shaped noodles that
were supposed to 'collect' a bit of broth along its grooves, just like the spirals of fusilli pasta. Thick,
smooth, slightly chewy and I guessed mildly salted too.   

Dennis had the White Special Ramen Set that was the plainest among all. Simple thick broth with every
ingredients exactly the same as what I had described above.

Yong Xian tried the Red Special Ramen Set which looked more orangey than red and was mildly spicy. I
hoped they did not choose different types of ramen just for my photography sake or I would be so
touched LOL!

Our mediocre side dishes with the gyoza standing out because of its juicy meat fillings. The maki was too cloying due to its
tightly compressed rice. No more trying of new ramen outlets for me liao, unless I suffer a major crave! 

27 Dec 2013

Ramen Champion - Getting worse?


Before I begin typing this post, I was already questioning myself why the heck I choose to eat the same
bowl of ramen the third time? The first time I randomly tried (out of the other outlets), I fell for it. The
lovely thick and slightly flat noodles in the salty-savory broth with additional 3 huge spoonful of finely
chopped garlic was so addictive. The second time I ate, it was less satisfying but still delicious. This time, I
was utterly disappointed with this same type of ramen, but of far-fetched standard. The molten centred
eggs were still acceptable but not the broth. There was an obvious layer on the surface (definitely oil), and
the broth was rather bland and tasteless. What did I just paid for?  

My friend was searching for a bowl of ramen with spicy broth and the picture of Buta God Tonkotse
Ramen caught his attention. The flaring red broth from all that chili flakes or spices prevented me from
trying. He was thoroughly enjoying both his ramen, as well as the feeling of perspiring non-stop throughout
his meal. So not my meaning/sort of enjoyment.       

16 Dec 2013

Maccha House 抹茶館 - Back to the House


After my first round of 'house visit' to Maccha House 抹茶館 with my friend, I went
back again for some drinks to chill with mum! I just ordered an ordinary glass of matcha
with a really tiny scoop of green tea ice cream. I kept hoping the staff would be more
generous with the ice cream though. The drink itself was nothing special, only to satisfy
my craving for ice cold bitter matcha! 

My mum wanted something with azuki red beans and I got for her this drink. The first thing
she commented was why the cream looked like that?? (Looking split and ugly) Click the 'first
round' link above to have a clearer view of the cream. The drink was topped with 2 plain
chewy Japanese dumplings and a pile of sweet azuki beans that definitely did not impress
her, not one bit. My mum did not really enjoy her drink as she felt that it was too bitter and
not sweet enough for her liking. Furthermore, she was no fan of matcha products. This
shows that non-matcha fans would have a high chance of not liking this outlet due to the
bitter intensity.

10 Dec 2013

Chocolate showpiece that I did in class - Easter theme!


Just a quick update of what I did in class during my first week of term 5. Yes, finally
term 5 and I would be graduating in about 3 months time! We had to do a chocolate
showpiece in pairs and the grouping was auto assigned. Dam! Anyway, my friend
and I came up with this Easter theme design, sticking to the original colour of dark,
milk and white chocolate.

Our mistake in decorating the back as we should have just focused on the front!

My instagram picture which I had posted as I just love my hand-molded chicks! Super smooth finishing
too! 

7 Dec 2013

En Jap Grill and Bar Skewer Buffet - Grilled delicacies


To celebrate my Mum's birthday, I suggested treating her to a buffet. Despite being out of the way, I
picked En Jap Grill and Bar as the venue, which was located at UE Square. The place had a relaxing vibe
and the restaurant was conducive and easy for conversation. Picking a buffet meal to celebrate my mum's
birthday was quite a horrible choice as she hardly eat much! (My brother and I felt that we were wasting
our money...) It was my second visit and having the skewer buffet here, which made me experienced
enough to know what to order in plentiful or in minimum. Click here to read about my first visit!

The platter of fresh sashimi, average thickness, for 4 of us. (One time order only) There were no fishy smell
at all and I hoped I could have free flow of them!   

Salad with thinly sliced pork! I hoped they were more generous with the pork slices as we did not want to
order another serving of salad just for it.

Basically all the skewers were grilled on the spot and could be seen through the glass panel that
separates the diners and the cooks. I felt that the open concept kitchen definitely made the cooks more
stress! There were hits and misses and the quality were not exactly consistent. Our favourites were
obviously the grilled beef (not shown here), scallops and salmon skewers as they were simply delicious
with natural juices emitting from them.   

5 Dec 2013

Experiment : Choux with Salted Yolk Custard


Just a quick post of my choux pastry I did quite some time ago! I decided to experiment with salted egg
yolk to incorporate into my custard cream to mimic the all-time popular 'liu sa bao' found in Chinese
restaurants serving Dim Sum. Baked some really nice looking oblong shaped choux pastry to hold the
custard cream. 

The standard custard cream recipe with salted egg yolk! I actually bought 4 salted eggs but ended up using
only 2. You know why? 2 were bad, I dam 'sway' right? Visible bits of salted egg yolk in there. I should
have boiled the eggs before using the food processor to blend them into paste, prior to adding into my
custard cream. My bad.

My yummy looking eclairs with salted yolk custard cream! I may want to experiment and modify the recipe
next time when I have the time...