Singapore Arts, Beauty and Inspirations Male Blogger

6 Nov 2013

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.

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.

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!

Our mini plain vanilla cupcakes with a coffee chocolate bean. Our alcohol had evaporated in the oven....
Opps!!!

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!).

8 Oct 2013

The mere mention of the word Clarke Quay send many fond memories flashing back to me. The days when I was still serving my National Service (a year back), my dad used to bring the family over to Clarke Quay to dine. I love going to Clarke Quay Central not only because it houses my restaurants but also the mall itself is bright, vibrant and spacious. Window shopping leisurely in there made me feel so relax and carefree, unlike many other shopping malls which are so cramp and suffocating! Although my family patronize Tung Lok Signatures most frequently, we also did try many of the other food establishments in there! A family of foodies! Anyway, I decided to post about Coffee Club since it was one of my favorite place to chill, and partly due to this being a dessert blog. I went to dig out my Coffee Club pictures that I had neglected to blog about due to my laziness. (The 'Cravecraze' logo was actually my previous blog's name). Enjoy and carry on drooling over these lovely dessert pictures I had selected to post about!

To me, Clarke Quay would be a perfect chill out place over the weekends. One suitable location would be
the Coffee Club outlet. The bright chic setting as well as the huge variety from the menu attracted me to
chill in there.

The first dessert that came into my mind when I thought of Coffee Club was their popular Mud Pie. The
nutty one above which came in a massive slab could easily be shared among a group of friends. The gooey
sweetness from the caramel easily gave me a sugar rush while the button-size macadamia nuts provided a
crunch. I really love to sit close to the window to enjoy the partial view of Singapore River as well as to
'spy' on ants size people below.

Not wanting to have any desserts? You could get a glass of icy beverage to chill as well.

The menu have a whole range of different desserts to choose from! How about a walk along the Singapore
river after your meal, although I know the water ..erm...just a bit polluted... The night life around Singapore
River is always super happening too!

Boom! Guess which dessert this is? Any ideas?

Don't feel like having any complicated plated desserts? The typical Blueberry Bounce (cheesecake) would
definitely suit you. Cloyingly cheesy with blueberries!

Glorious presentation! I love breaking down/dismantling such plated dessert ; enjoy
the process as it really helped to slow down my eating pace, giving me a break from
all the hustle and bustle of the current stressful lifestyle. Relax, chill, enjoy!

Another example of a dessert that brought out the slowness in me!

Cheers!

29 Sept 2013

Being a hard core Matcha fan myself, needless to say, Maccha House naturally attracted my attention and
automatically registered in my 'must try' list. The name Maccha House made me fantasize a house of
entirely green/brown furnishing, scented with the aroma of matcha, decorated zen style with tons of matcha
food products! Before my imagination could get any wilder, here's a picture of my friend's Matcha and
Vanilla soft serve cone. (He already started licking his bi-coloured tower before I could snap a decent
shot.) Although the matcha taste was intense, the price was a bit unfriendly to his wallet.

As for me, I decided to try something unique and ended up picking Ice Matcha with brown
sugar syrup. I was quite shocked upon receiving my tall glass with a mess of cream that has
such a horrible texture and looking split. After stirring the cream for a brief moment, I took
a sip and immediately fell in love with my drink! A strong intensity with bitterness not too
unbearable for my taste buds. (My resistance to Matcha's bitterness could be a little high
though.) The brown sugar syrup only helped to sweeten the drink a little and imparting a
bit of malt candy flavor. I tried slowing down my drinking pace but to no avail and in no
time, the glass was empty with me trying to suck every last drop of the drink with my
straw. I would definitely be back for more in future!

7 Sept 2013

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.

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!

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

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.

Another shot of the trio of cupcakes! Luckily the buttercream did not smudge too
badly yet!

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.