KV outing

This is an overdue post. I nearly clean forgotten about it. haha, here: Although it is a KV outing, it is more like a pig-out event. I don't even quite recall what I did with the veggies. Oh yes, we caught Metal Detroit City. It was disturbingly hilarious. Seeing L (from deathnote) transform himself into a double identity life-style-loving idiot and a death metal singer is disturbing. Hilarious, owell, it's Japanese, what's more to say?

Imperial Treasure. I was so hungry waiting for the two other veggies to arrive that I decided to order my food first, to feast on the wafting aroma.

Chilli sesame noodle. It is just plain noodles in chilli, sesame sauce. This way, you enjoy the noodles as it is. Yes, it is very spicy, but I like it!

Xiao long bao. The skin is thin and the bao is full of juice.

After the movie, we strolled to esplanade. There is a galore of dressy lamps on exhibit.

For dinner, minny and I went to the hawker by the side of esplanade. Of my numerous visit to esplanade, I never knew there was a hawker here. Gotta try.

We settled on BBQ and steamboat, $13 for the whole deal. It wasn't top quality, hell, it wasn't even up to the minimum standard. But we were so intrigued by it, we bought the set, just for the fun of it. =D We got a plate to choose from the selection of vegetables. So we heaped whatever there was onto the plate, as much as we could.

A plate of dubious seafood, and a plate of barely marinated meat.

I bought a plate of cockles omelette to share.

That's us!

Both BBQ and steamboat were so cute! haha. I never would have thought we could do it like this on the table. Brilliant!

Now that we were nicely fed, we attempted to walk from city hall to orchard, to exercise away some of the dinner. About 3 train stops away that is. It was a failed attempt by any means. Firstly, we don't know the way. We went about in different directions only to go back to our original start point. The last blow was when we had to ask a pair of tourists for direction. We gave up walking and took the train in the end.

For dessert, we came to GoodWoodPark hotel for their famous durian pastries! haha, the season has started, Previously, when I came with Zhiyan to buy the durian puffs, I chanced upon the other durian pastries. I was never aware that there were so many other durian pastries sitting there just for me. That was when I decided that I must return to try the rest. Yup, I'm back.

Durian crepe to share. Good old crepe with undiluted durian. Yummm.

I'm in my durian mood already.

End.

World Gourmet Summit 2009- Cassis

Being a Citibank Card holder, my mum received an invitation to "savour the finest flavours the world has to offer as Singapore once again hosts Asia's foremost gastronomic event- The World Gourmet Summit. From 19 April to 2 May, the stage is set to transform the city into an epicurean haven. With the spotlight on a dazzling cast of Michelin-rated chefs, some of the best wineries from around the world, celebrity chefs and master mixologists, gastronomic aficionados will be treated to gourmet pleasures that are truly a feast for the senses!"

And guess what, Chef Herve Boutin (one of my superior class chef) is also part of the masterchefs representing Le Cordon Bleu, Sydney, Australia. What a surprise! I've got an invitation to the event which Chef Herve, Arnaud Guerpillon (LCB, Mexico) and Olivier Oddos (LCB, Tokyo, Japan) will be demonstrating French cuisine and desserts, and sharing their expirience in the industry. Alas! I didn't make it! (oh, my chef herve!) Coincidentally, I had a wisdom tooth extraction prior to the event which I had already booked 2 weeks ago (therefore no changing of date). After which, I really had no mood (and energy) to go say hi to Chef Herve; plus I looked like crap, I can't even feel half my mouth.

I guess I would have to settle for something else. At my mum's recommendation, we booked a table, on a Saturday night, at Cassis (one of the participating restaurants in the World Gourmet Summit)

Arriving at 8pm (no thanks to my brother, he is the king of tardiness). The restaurant is huge. It has an open area for casual drinks, an open but shaded area for alfresco dining and an indoor dinning area.

Today we are dining French.

My brother and I chose the World Gourmet Summit Degustation 7 course meal, while my mum opted for a la carte.

The obligatory bread with butter. It's nice, served warmed and organic.

First course: House smoked salmon and Blinis cooked a la minute. Saumon fumé maison et son Blinis cuit a la minute. I quite like this dish. The salmon is fresh. Blinis is a little thick, though I do like the sweet salty fluffiness. Coupled with the tangyness from the lemon and creme fraiche, yummy! I have one off-comment though: don't give us such a carbo-heavy blinis (especially not at half-burger size) in the first course, it kind of kills off your appetite quickly.

Second course: Warm scallop emulsion sour green lime butter and seaweed caviar. Saint-Jacques juste tiede beurre de citron vert Acide de caviar d'algue. I like this one too. The raw scallops were very sweet itself, slightly salty and sour by the butter. I can't really taste the seaweed caviar though. Interestingly, I found the pickled fennel salad the best part of the dish. For something so humble, I found it fresh and exciting, it's like nothing I have tasted.

Third course: Seared sea bass served with white asparagus and a beetroot sabayon. Bar Poeler avec asperges et un sabayon a la beterave fraiche. Hmm, how do I put this. If I am not Chinese, I would have liked this dish. The fish is fresh and crispy at the top, the best of the best pan-fried fish. Beetroot sabayon complements the fish well. I didn't know that cooked beetroot can taste like that, slightly woody. But since I am Chinese, whose father makes wonderful pan-fried fish on an almost daily basis, I must say I was terribly disappointed at the fish... Give me foie gras!

Fourth course: Homemade duck liver terrine with Morelos marmalade, Port jelly and Almond brioche. Notre terrine de foie gras et sa confiture de Cerise, Gelée de porto et sa Brioche. Oh, here's my foie gras. I like this! The foie gras terrine is fresh, such that it has that livery sweetness, none of the off-livery taste that canned ones usually has. Brioche is well done. Soft and buttery. Marmalade and jelly were both true to its flavour. As much as I like bread, stop giving us carbo-heavy stuff! I still would like to comfortably enjoy my steak.

Fifth course: Slow braised pork belly and prawn, crushed green peas and spices reduction sauce. Poitrine de Porc en cuisson lente et crevettes, petit pois écrasés et réduction d'épices en sauce. Hmm, also kind of disappointed at this dish. Mashed peas taste great, sweet and all. If I had a choice I wouldn't have glass prawn. I have this weird belief of mine that, if your prawns are fresh why glassify it? There's no point in that. Pork belly's skin is so thick that you can't even cut through with a table knife, biting it is already a problem. Sigh..We did air our views to the waitstaff, but we were told to take it as it is. Blahh... my uncle can make pork belly ten times better than this!

My mum's main course: Brasied beef cheeks and white asparagus with Bordeaux and chocolate sauce. Beef cheeks are nicely done but too salty. So salty that my mother attempted to exchange her cheeks for my steak.

Sixth course: Pan-seared beef tenderloin served with a delicate celery puree, Bordeaux and chocolate sauce. Filet de boeuf poelé, douce purée de céleri servi avec sa sauce au Bordeaux et chocolat noir. This dish is cute. Looks like a bull's eye on plate. I sort of like this dish. The celery puree is surprisingly hearty, I suspect they added potatoes, but it still retained a strong celery accent. Beef is cooked well, very medium like I asked. Sauce failed miserably. I couldn't taste the Bordeaux, not even chocolate. If I didn't know what sauce this is, I would have guessed it was a very salty brown sauce.

Seventh course: Strawberries- papaya soufflé baked to order, pear fruit sorbet. Soufflé a la fraise et a la papaye cuit à la minute servi avec un sorbet de poire. The sorbet was good, full of peary sweetness. Soufflé, c'est mal! (it's bad) It is toooo sweet. Not any fruity sweetness, it the bland sugar sweetness. Urghh. I didn't even finish.

Petite fours with English breakfast tea. Nothing impressive.

Overall, I give the restaurant 7 out of 10 for the savoury stuff. Pastry was not good except for the brioche. It would have been better if they could resize each dish to fit the degustation menu and not just take it out of the daily menu and chuck it in for degustation. There is a whole lot of room for improvement for the service. Service was really lousy compared to the food. In an establishment of their size and standard, I expect fine service, staff who know their menu, staff who can explain the dish. Wines too, I expect good recommendation of wines, wines that will suit our mood, wines that will compliment the dish. We did have 3 glasses of whites each. We gave the sommelier our preference and asked him to choose a wine for us. In the end, we got stale sour white wine. Sighh... So much for quality.


Cassis: 6/10

Oriole

Oriole makes good coffee: Chinese edition of Singapore's Straits Times. Mum and I went to try.

Raw sugar already placed on the table, not bad...

We lunched there. Greek salad. Disappointing. The dressing was so bland.

Garlic prawn spaghetti. Apart from the super spicyness, I thought it was pretty good.

ahh, dessert. Molten chocolate cake coupled with raspberry sauce. Good, I like!

Lastly, latte. In Singapore you can hardly find latte art. Oriole is probably one of the few places you can have beautiful coffee, both for the taste buds and for the senses. The latte was sweet without me even adding sugar. :)

End.

Sourdough

I have been experimenting with sourdough for the past month now and after the third try, I think I finally got the flavour right. :)

Taiwan gave me inspiration in the form of a cookbook I found in the enormous Eslite bookstore. Boulangerie Comme Chinois- super chef book series, details a day spent in a Japanese bakery from the Chef's point of view. After reading the book I had this overwhelming urge to go work for the bakery. In the book, each ingredient used is accounted for, why it is used, how you can use it. The process of making is also well detailed and explained, all from a chef's point of view. It takes passion to do this. And I respect (and yearn) that kind passion. Best of all, there are beautiful beautiful pictures of bread!

Thus, backed with this formidable book, I thought it was safe enough for me to try out the complex sourdough bread. True enough, it was.

I started with cultivating the yeast. I put a bunch of organic sultanas into honey, molasses water to ferment for a week. It is said that there are natural yeast pollen found on the skin of the grapes (it has to be organic grapes, I don't think yeast can survive the thick coat of insecticide/herbicide on normal grapes). Therefore submerging them into sugary water will waken and encourage the dormant pollens to eat and multiply. The sign to watch out for is bulbous and floating sultanas. It tells you that your yeast is growing well. By the end of the week, all sultanas should look like they are almost bursting and be as close to the top of the water line as possible. Think of balloons.

Next, I drained off the liquid and ate the fermented sultanas. They tastes like sweet red wine, nice. The brownish mixture now holds yeast babies. I added 100% flour (relative to the weight of the mixture) and 48% water to make a firm dough and left it to rise for 16 hours. Repeat the process for about 2 to 3 times. My dough looked quite monstrous by now, too gigantic for domestic use. Therefore, I threw some away.... because I know the next step requires me to add 200% flour and 96% water to renew the dough. (my orecious organic flour!) This time, I let it ferment for 3 hours. Repeat this process 2 to 3 times, my dough was ready for use.

The first bread I made was traditional french bread, using the starter dough as substitute for the yeast required in the recipe. The first batch was okay, the dough did rise (Wheew, my yeast babies turned out fine) though the bread didn't have the distinct sourdough flavour that I was looking for.

Second batch, raisin bread was too sour. I left it to ferment overnight in the fridge, adding a little of my fermented-red-wine-tasting grapes into the dough. I guess I overdid it.

The third batch, onion bacon bread and olive bread, was perfect. :) Maybe it was the flavour of the starter dough maturing, maybe I did the recipe right, the breads tasted closer to the ones I had in sydney. I'm so happy! Next is to get the thin outer crisp and the tender inner softness of the bread right. Though it tastes good, my breads are way too hard for Asian teeth or even any teeth I reckon. ._.

End.

Inblushingbloom

Hi there! Apart from baking, I have been busy setting up an online fashion store. My mum has been bugging me to do it ever since I stepped onto the sunny shores of Singapore. After many deliberations (gotta shake off miss lazy and miss procrastination), I've decided to give it a go. It will be a good opportunity to develop my entrepreneurial skills, and to earn some extra cash ofcourse. :D

The photoshoot for the opening batch of wearable items is finally concluded! Next up is the grueling photo-editing stage. Almost done with that too~ haha! I'm kind of proud of myself. ._.

Inblushingbloom.com will feature labels from my mum's company, ranging from chic and trendy to 9-5 office gear. Designed by the company, made by the company, sold by me!

The website should be up and running by the end of April. And there will be a promotion marking the opening of Inblushingbloom.com. Opening sale! Please support!

Detox in Perak

I survived without food for 3 days. Okay, I did cheat a little with tuna sandwich and fries but hey, I was really really hungry.

My mum signed the both of us up for a detox camp held in Perak. Lodging and meals provided. Breakfast: Fermented 1 day old juice with supplements. Lunch: Same juice with another shot of supplements. Dinner... you get the idea. As torturous as it sounds, it was bearable. The activities organised were bad though. It completely deviates from what I imagined how a detox camp should be. I thought there would be soft exercises like yoga, and island activities, boating, trekking, spa to keep us busy, to keep our minds from straying to food. Instead, we were kept in a small conference room for most parts, to be pelted with endless adverts about the company's product and speeches informing us of the numerous ways you can die if you do not detox using the company's product. That was unbearable.

Therefore, I stayed in my room and read the books I brought with me. The Road by Cormac McCarthy, upon Aileen's strong recommendation, and my bread book which I bought in Taiwan. Okay. Reading the bread book was a real test on my endurance, feasting on the delicious looking bread pictures and all. But the real breaking point was The Road. The hunger and despair that is so keenly depicted by the author was just too much for the hungry me who is starting to be afraid that I would become like one of those mindless hungry freaks who'd eat anything. I ordered room service. ._.

The only extra-curricular activity that enticed me to participate in- A visit to the Orang Asli.

Took a speed boat to the island.

We came to a rather modern village, fully equipped with TV and radio. I was surprised. Compared to what I see here, Orang Asli pictures taken more than ten years back by Uncle Kim were happier, friendlier, purer. I kind of expected them to still be the same people. Too bad about the astro satellite.

End.

Zoo

A clique event to the zoo.


Zoo are for kids. Zoo are for families with kids. Zoo are for tourists. Zoo are for 20 year-olds like us who never really did grow up.

Zoo was fun. We watched and marveled at the animals, laughed at some. We lunched by the elephants,trying to overcome that reserve that comes with age and periods of absence. I was glad that we could still hang-out like that.

Walking from Primate Kingdom to Reptile Garden, we saw the bengal white tiger that mauled and killed a suicidal man, a flashing hamadryas baboon, a thirsty green parrot and the proboscis monkeys aka penis-nose monkeys.

End.