Singapore Arts, Beauty and Inspirations Male Blogger

21 Aug 2013

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!

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!

After about a 15 mins rocky boat ride, the destination that came into view! I was like OMG....so cui r?

Bye boat, see you tomorrow!

Went to take a peep at my lodging and I went Omg again...

The place was rather beautiful and I tried hard to enjoy the nature and the fresh constant
gentle breeze as much as I could.

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.

Another panoramic view. It looked like 2 parallel corridors but actually it was just a straight line!

The orangey hue which was caused by the setting sun. Such a beautiful scenery that I stared at blankly
for a long long time.

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!

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.

The red container - Where fresh food were stored, chilled by ice for up to 2 days only.

Other ingredients...

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?

I am no minions from despicable me but I never say no to snacks! Banana for...

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!

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.

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.

Some of the simple yet delicious dishes I had for lunch and dinner! Flower crabs that were fresh but little
meat.

Gong Gong shellfish which I tried for the first time.

Pulled the flesh out to savour and it was slimy! Ewwww, I really do not know how to appreciate such stuff.

Curry chicken with potatoes. The curry was quite good I must say!

Simple vegetable were crunchy and fresh.

Fish fried to perfection! Slightly crispy exterior and super moist interior!

Prawns in tomato sauce!

Another fresh vegetable dish!

Chicken drumlets and wings fried with sweet sauce resulting in a little charred surface.

A shot with aunty! Thanks for allowing me to help although I am a visitor on holiday!

Last but not least, a camwhore shot of myself in one of the many new shirts which I
bought!

15 Aug 2013

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

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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).

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!

25 Jul 2013

After being quite impressed by the 2 macaron flavors I had tried the first time round, I made up my mind to
be back to try out 2 more of Antoinette's flavors. Personally, I am not really a huge fan of macarons as I
felt that they were getting common, overrated and expensive. Being a sucker for floral related desserts, my
first pick was Violette, which was tainted a pleasant purple! I definitely made a bad move as by the time
I got home, the buttercream was already smudging out like some busted toothpaste. I was quite
disappointed with that piece as both the shell and buttercream taste were so faint and close to flavourless.
The Grand Cru on the other hand was better with its nuttiness that swept through my unprepared palate (it
was supposed to be chocolate), while the dark chocolate ganache was rich, sinful and slightly bitter. I don't
think I could afford such indulgence that often and would not be back anything soon.

19 Jul 2013

It was my first time attending an OMY Blog Club Event and trying out Domino's pizzas!
I was never a fan of pizzas in the first place, but I decided to taste how good a pizza can
actually be.

I was really nervous at first, seeing all the new faces and not knowing what to expect
from such an event. I settled myself around the middle of the long table and within
minutes, I started chatting with my new friends about topics revolved around blogging.
I realized there were many food bloggers around, all so eager to try out the new
pizzas available at Domino's!

Recognized to be the world leader in pizza delivery (free delievery!), Domino's pizza is getting really
popular due to its extensive menu of 28 specialty pizzas and 6 types of unique sauces! I was going to
salivate any moment just by thinking about the load of new pizzas. Obviously eat hard meant work hard
too, that's why I am posting this detailed post of my experience! The first pizza I tried was the chilli beef! It
was delightful to see small pieces of ground beef scattered around, mildly spicy and shiok!

What attracted me to the Parmagiana Chicken pizza were those wrinkled skin cherry tomatoes that
appeared to look like tarnished rubies over a rocky landscape of olives and chicken. The juices bursting
out from these tomatoes countered the dryness of the cheesy pizza.

I naturally love the earthy mushrooms which matched really well with those smoky pepperoni. The
landscape looked rather flat but actually the ingredients were well compact under the savory layer of cheese.

The Chickensaurus was quite overflowing with chunks of smoked chicken breast, chicken pepperoni as
well as mushrooms. It would be a rough one if you are not a meat lover as the meatiness sure was
overpowering!

The Smoky Meatilicious was yet another meat lovers ideal choice where ground beef and chicken sausage
laid before you. Minimal slices of greens would not stop you right?

This was something I did not try as the Napolitana Chicken pizza was too generous with its black olives.
It would be a like it or hate it thing as olives were definitely not fans of bloggers that day. Sadly, this
was the only pizza that was left untouched, except for a slice that went into an unknown person's stomach!

Last but not least, also a hot favorite among everyone was the the Alfredo Prawn pizza! Thin crust with a
layer of cheesy goodness, onions, red pepper, juicy pineapple and crunchy looking prawns! I took a slice
and left the prawn alone, wondering who would be the lucky one to have an extra prawn (I can't consume
due to shellfish allergy).

The chocolate lava cake which I did not try due to being afraid of acne outbreak. It was
really tempting to watch the other bloggers around me indulging in the gooey sinful
chocolate dessert!

Me enjoying my pizza slice!

Had snacks such as the garlic cheese onion rings, well seasoned roasted drumlets and
the tom yam chicken crunchies with spiciness too unbearable for me.

What bloggers usually do after eating? Camwhore! With gorgeous Janet from Omy,
who sacrificed her hair for a greater cause during the 'Hair for Hope event'. I was
wondering how she would look like with hair.

Posing with a giant menu! They should actually implement menu of this size so
that the pictures are clearer and easier for many people to read at the same time!