29 Nov 2013
Artisan Boulangerie Co. - Bread and Savoury Fix
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| I wasn't born to be a bread lover, often avoiding bread during breakfast, not until I was attached to the bakery section of my internship place for 2 months with Lawrance. While learning to make bread, I felt the distance between me and bread being pulled slightly closer and I learnt to accept and appreciate bread now. Ryan, who taught us to make bread suggested that we try the kind-of-newly-opened Artisan Boulangerie Co., which is a bakery led by award winning French baker, Eran Mayer. The products are made by artisan techniques (from scratch by hand), can be said to be quite uncommon in Singapore. After work that day, we headed over to Orchard and took a shuttle bus to Great World City. |
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| The outlet had great lighting for photography which food bloggers like me would look for. After being amazed by the selections of bread and savoury products available, we spend quite some time on deciding the suitable lucky dough that would end up in our tummy. Thankfully the pretty staffs were really patient with us and I must compliment them for their great costumer service too! Ryan picked the Ciabatta, known literally as the slipper bread, topped with half a capsicum, cucumber slices and a pile of micro-greens. I guessed the bright red colour of the bell pepper and those greens were for colour contrast against the dull white-brown crust of the ciabatta. They act as a crunch as well as a value-adding element to the bread too. The large piece of flat oblong shape bread had a crisp exterior and a soft doughy, slightly chewy interior. |
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| My first target would definitely be the quiche as I just love savoury food. Due to limited choices, I ended up picking the Smoked Salmon & Dill Quiche. I was kind of surprised that my quiche came with salad with sweet-sour vinaigrette dressing that could cleanse my taste buds. I was thankful that the quiche was only lightly salted by the few small pieces of smoked salmon visible. It was slightly cheesy inside and I tried to eat as slow as possible to savour it. (I could have easily eaten 3 pieces of quiche!) The crust was slightly thick, resulting in the inner layer of the tart being raw (unbaked). I only noticed that halfway through my meal as this happens when I had too much free time to admire my food in details. |
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| My other friend had the Tuna Stuffed Focaccia. It was a rustic piece of 'figure of 8' loaf and I guessed he wanted something filling enough to be his dinner. Although the sesame seeds were sprinkled rather randomly and unevenly, the perfect golden brown crust was really crispy! The interior was also light and naturally flavorful, if you understand what I meant. It was sliced in half and stuffed generously with tuna. This loaf was so photogenic that I had problem choosing the best 'pose'. (Sorry, can't see the tuna filling from this angle.) |
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| Both Ryan and Lawrance added on coffee which emitted a lovely aroma. The barista did a great job creating such an impressive coffee art which I would not bare to destroy if I had a cup too. (I did not order as I did not want to risk having insomnia that night.) |
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| Last but not least, we shared the Cafe, Passionfruit and Cassis (black current) Eclairs (From bottom to top)! 3 lovely stripes of colours on each eclairs depicting the flavor it contained and only the Cafe (coffee) was easily guessed right. The choux pastry were towards the hard and dry side (more water than milk (if any) used in the recipe?) and baked into a crisp dark brown hollow case. Our favorite was the Cafe, light in flavor and not overly sweet. Passionfruit was fruity and tangy, same as the more unique Cassis. Overall, the ambiance was not bad, great for a chilling out session or a romantic hi tea meal with partner. I was also thankful that I was dining with patient people as it took me about 15 minutes to finish taking pictures! |
25 Nov 2013
Xing Xing Odeh Odeh Tapioca Cake - Handmade kuehs
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| YAY! I had a weekday off that day and I decided to take a walk around the CBD area in search for desserts or snacks to munch on while most people were busy at work. I specially went to try the popular Tian Tian Chicken Rice for lunch before the lunch crowd outbreak and it was really tasty! I noticed a queue of aunties at this ondeh-ondeh ; tapioca cake outlet and ended up buying a couple of those chewy munchies. |
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| Peering through the glass pane, I noticed that only 4 snacks were sold here. The ingredients used were mainly tapioca, shredded coconut, palm sugar and obviously glutinous rice flour. I spotted the uncle behind making more of these snacks by hand and I basically bought everything to try! You don't always have to indulge in cakes and pastries to gain satisfaction as these kuehs were also yummy in their own ways. |
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| My top favorite was the tapioca cake, coated generously with shredded coconut! It was the softest tapioca cake I have ever eaten and I could barely hold the pieces upright without breaking them. The kueh kosui was firmer and chewier and had a wonderful aroma and taste of gula melaka (palm sugar). I was also addicted to this kueh. The odeh odeh / lor mai qi (glutinous rice balls) were like irregular ping pong balls (not exactly round though) with thin extremely stretchy skin. They were soft but too sticky as they kept annoyingly sticking to my fingers. The amount of coconut / peanut fillings were so generous that I found the peanuts too compact, resulting in cluster formation. The worst was the Ubi Kayu which I stopped after a mere bite. It was like eating into pure tapioca flesh, only mildly sweetened by a thin layer of sugar on top. |
18 Nov 2013
My Term 4 Plated Dessert Exam
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| My Term 4 has passed, and my exam that term was to create a plated dessert with 1 main component and 3 or more sub components. Total time taken was about 10 hours which was split into 2 days. The theme of my dessert is Fossil! Just a brief about my components below and I tried not to 'advertise' my own creation so much... |
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| Banoffee Ice cream (banana + toffee with digestive biscuits for extra crunch) coated with silky chocolate glaze, giving a gooey texture as the ice cream melted within. |
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| One of the criteria was to plate 4 plates of similar dessert and here's my picture of 2! |
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| My small choux filling was salted custard cream while my big choux was salted hazelnut ganache. |
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| My osmanthus Jelly which I loved so much! Beautiful yellowish transparency with the flower and petals encased within. Those mint leaves gave extra minty flavor as well as colour! |
14 Nov 2013
Hifumi - Celebrating a birthday
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| Meeting out and gathering as a group would happen less occasionally nowadays since each of us have our own lifestyle and work commitments to concentrate on. The only thing that would pull us together would be a special occasion such as a birthday or a public holiday like Christmas which would be approaching real soon! Anyway, we were still procrastinating on where should we have our dinner that day. I ended up recommending Hifumi since they have the concept of free flow appetizer when you ordered a main course. I just love the feel of Jap display... |
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| I love capturing simple images of minimalist objects such as this unique shape bowl containing my chawanmushi. I was utterly stunned by its silky smooth texture, although the bottom half felt kind of powdery. |
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| Among all the appetizers available, this was our favorite! Glazed with sugary sweetness, these sweet potato fries were so addictive that we shared a rather huge serving! |
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| Let me show you guys the 4 main courses which we ordered! Random tossing of unagi, salmon, prawns, egg, cucumber and roes! Just the colours itself was so attractive! |
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| Thick but slightly dry pork cutlet embedded among moist and fluffy eggs! My second time having this dish! My first visit can be found here! |
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| Swirly melted cheese fusing with Japanese curry rice! The surface definitely looked like it was torched (char parts spotted). |
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| Rather spicy curry chicken with vegetables fusion! Something which I would not have ordered... |
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| Happy birthday!!! So many people were staring at us while we took pictures as we were making a hell lot of noises (laughter) at a cafe. We were having fun among ourselves that those stares were oblivious to us, LOL! |
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| Posing with our printed polariod shots! The group shot was a tough one as we tried not to waste any films or els someone would be angry... |
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| Had many shots but these were the best 3! |
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| Cheers! |
12 Nov 2013
Launch of Ronald McDonald's Big Red Shoes bench!
On the 25th Oct 2013, McDonald has once again kicked off its annual McHappy Day fundraising with the launch of a travelling ''Ronald McDonald's Big Red Shoes bench'' at Dhoby Ghaut MRT station! As part of the McHappy day activities, McDonald will donate $1 per photo (instagram) with the hashtag #mchappydaysg, capped at 5000 entries, to RMHC. RMHC is an independent charity that had been running a ''home-away-from-home'' facility at National University Hospital (NUH) for families with children in intensive care. |
| I had a picture taken with Ronald McDonald's Big Red Shoes bench at Toa Payoh Bus Interchange! I know my dressing style is rather horribly mismatched and I looked like I am in a sleeping attire. After getting a stranger to snap this picture for me, I noticed that there were people queuing after me to take a picture with this pair of large shoes! Just pass it on! Remember to upload your photo to instagram with the hashtag #mchappydaysg ! |
Location of ''Ronald McDonald's Big Red Shoes'' bench
Dhoby Ghaut MRT station 26 Oct - 01 Nov
Harbourfront MRT station 02 Nov - 08 Nov
Toa Payoh Bus Interchange 09 Nov - 10 Nov
Boon Lay Bus Interchange 16 Nov - 22 Nov
On the 10th of Nov, I had the chance to attend a casual gathering with 7 other bloggers to witness the set
out of the event where about 500 staff volunteers from McDonald would hit the Singapore street to raise
awareness for RMHC by selling 'Ronald Smile' for S$2 each! Now for more pictures!
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| By 12.30, everyone were smiling happily, full of energy and prepared to set out to sell those 'Ronald Smiles'! Can you spot Ronald McDonald among the crowd? |
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| One really big happy family! |
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| How could you not spam some great shots with Ronald McDonald before setting off? |
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| This picture is so dam cute that I posted it! |
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| Bloggers turn to have a picture with Ronald McDonald! |
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| I bought a ''Ronald Smile'' for S$2 to store up some good karma points! OMG, why my hair style like army recruit?!? |
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| How could I resist not taking pictures of any food or drinks that appeared before my eyes! The sweet mango fizzy drink was really refreshing! Imagine the hardworking volunteers out there trying their best to sell as many ''Ronald Smiles'' as possible in the name of charity! |
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| I got to try the newly launched (not long ago) Banana Pie too! Some may say it tasted like goreng pisang (banana fritters) but I disagreed. I created a little mess while breaking the crisp shell apart, revealing the golden brown banana and the gooey 'sauce' encased within. The banana texture was more towards 'stewed' and more mushy as compared to goreng pisang which has a somewhat firmer bite. It was such a delicious snack to me since I loved the original apple pie too! |
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| Hey minion, stop giving me that face! Those banana pies were the bloggers' share! Haha, I think McDonald wanted to snatch all the bananas away from those minions! (Minion picture from google image) |
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| Kitson Choong (Chief Operation Officer) came to share with us more about the event as well as the initiative! He stressed the word 'family' many times and I knew he was someone who would cherish family and bonding really much. He also explained to us in details about the fundraising activities conducted and the operation of RMHC that has been running a ''home away from home'' facility (Ronald McDonald House). I felt that he was going to tear while explaining to us about children in the intensive care part... |
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| A picture with COO! |
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| Next, we had 2 of the volunteers who shared about their experience and why do they want to work at McDonald for over 10 years! I know it was not easy to work in a F&B industry and what kept them going was being part of the 'family' (the same thing COO had mentioned). |
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| Time to camwhore a bit with May (left) and Janet (omy blog club administrator ; right) |
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| Picture with Angela, May, Me, Kiahgek (left to right) I felt that I am quite bad with posing for photos and my poses were so not natural LOL!...Still more comfortable with taking pictures of food! |
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| Another picture with Angela, May, Me, Yuki, Kiahgek (left to right) I hoped McDonald could attain their desired amount for charity! |
Thank you Omy blog club and Janet for the invitation!
6 Nov 2013
Baking with friends!
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| This post was actually more than a month back and it was still under my draft session! It was quite a random thing as 3 other of my poly friends wanted to bake a rainbow muffin. All the 'mise en place' we had placed on the table for a little photo. |
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| Our rainbow muffin consisted of 5 colours and look at those lovely pastels. Luckily I told them to control from adding too much colours as it would look too artificial, unless natural coloring were used. |
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| We also made green tea cubcakes with green tea kit kats stuck into them. Our whipped cream actually failed, making our cupcakes looking under dressed. However, the green tea taste was still so awesome! |
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| Our mini plain vanilla cupcakes with a coffee chocolate bean. Our alcohol had evaporated in the oven.... Opps!!! |
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| Our rainbow cupcake! Too bad the 1st batch was too overflowing and the batter flooded out while in the oven, resulting in a rainbow smudging mess. This was the 2nd batch and I could only detect 3 colors?? Anyway, we had a really fun but tiring time and the pictures we took turned out quite unglam (so not posting them!). |