Pineapple Tarts

What is it I like most about CNY? Feast and Binge time! It has to be me eating lotsa pineapple tarts and love letters. These are my all-time favourites. Last year we bought a bottle of pineapple tarts from The Hiding Place and just when we're deciding which ones to sample this year my neighbour came a knocking and we got a bottle of enomous looking round shaped pineapple tarts. We were told these tarts are pretty popular and our dear neighbour, trying them for the first time, decided we may like them too and, yes, they were right indeed. The first thought that came to mind was, 'what a massive sized tart!" But boy, I grinned after the first bite... the pastry melts in your mouth but as it's made so thin you immediately come in contact with the overly generous serving of pineapple jam that has a good balance of sweetness and sourness to it so every chew just got better and better. And because it's the size of a tennis ball all you need is one helping to keep one satisfied. Rating: 4.5/5

Le Cafe Confectionary & Pastry

264 Middle Road

Tel: 6337 2417

Resort World Sentosa

Last weekend I had the pleasure of a sneak preview of one of the two of our nation's newest addition, RWS (Resort World Sentosa). Here we go...

Hard Rock Hotel

The hotel launched a soft opening last weekend; staff and guests were invited to stay over for at special rates in exchange for their feedback post stay. I wasn't keen as non of the hotel's facility was ready and of course it was a definite no-no for Hubby as he already has clocked enough visits (7 days a week to be exact) to qualify for sentosa residency if there's ever one.

Hotel Reception

Hotel Lobby. The seats are uber cool and comfortable too.

The bar counter is conveniently located in the centre of the lobby so no one can miss it. There'll always be waiting staff around to take orders and if they do spot you they'll come up to you without you gesturing to them. Tried their mojito and it was quite refreshing for a Saturday afternoon.

In case you can't see the it clearly, this is the Rock Shop

Need I introduce this place? Go there if you have money to roll and maybe you'll end up on the prestige list to quality for free room nights at the Crawford Hotel.

Entrance to the casino. Come to mama... put money, win money? Pray hard lady luck is with you.

See the gantries? Due to tight security I was not able to get in for a quick tour. But do I want to pay $100? Hmm... not sure but unlikely

If you have the money to roll but averse to risk then go to the Galleria for some retail therapy. There's Cartier, Bvlgari, Chopard, Bally, Shanghai Tang, Swavroski, you name it they should it.

Universal Studio

(Verdict: It's worth the $70 entrance fee)

The Revenge of The Mummy

One of my favourites - Far Far Away Land

Another angle of Far Far Away Land

Magadascar

Ah ha! This one I like. This roller coaster is going to make your world go round...

What Is Your Race?

Hi, I'm Chinese-Chinese, what's yours?

Yes, that is the question that people should ask when meeting someone for the first time rather than what is your name. When the government announced end 2009 that children of mixed parentage are allowed to pick their choice of dominant race between the two, I was a little surprised by the new Act. Shortly after came the inclusion of double-barrel race.... but is it really necessary and is it that important? Not that I cannot appreciate the implication (I try to) but why complicate matters when all these while Father's race has always been the dominant one and I don't think we have that many unhappy folks out there or am I missing something here?

I do not deny that Singapore despite being a multi-racial country, pledge ourselves as one united nation regardless of race, language or religion... sadly racism exists. I think the government's move is to try to eliminate that issue but I doubt it will help much, rather, it is underscoring the subject of concern. Must we really segregate ourselves by race and is that the only way to identify each other? IMO, we cannot afford to have race separating us. In fact because of race, we are divided somewhat. We should be proud of who we are and not what we are.

Soon guessing the race of someone of mixed parentage is akin to picking Toto or 4D numbers as there will be many permutations. Let me think..... Chinese-Indian; Malay-Indian; Chinese-Malay; Javanese-Chinese; Indian-Malay and the list goes on. Oh, I think the other issue raised is that Eurasians are currently classified under Others for their race but with this new policy the issue is somewhat not totally ironed out, because on application forms under Race, it shows Chinese, Malay, Indian, Others and with many - I assume - choosing to go with the double-barrel race will still have to tick that choice. So, are we changing for the better or worse? And with this we surely live up to being a MULTI-racial society.

Warung Sudi Mampir

Satays are reserved for dinner or supper but I made an exeption last Saturday. Not for any satays but those from one of the acclaimed satay legends of the Lion City, Warung Sudi Mampir, who has since relocated from Haig Road Food Centre to Malay Village during the upgrading works. My lucky star is kind to me I thought. On a regular day folks have to wait at least half an hour to enjoy their satays but mine was all done in 10 mins, however, my excitment was short-lived and soon turned to disappointment. The gentleman (not sure if he's the owner) is very friendly so that's a plus but when I took the first bite of the satay I was speechless.... to say that it's over-rated is not exaggerating. Unlike most Malay satays who uses minced meat theirs is akin to the Chinese style which uses sliced meat, which is fine but the meat was tough and burnt. Don't get me wrong. I like my satays flavourful and slightly burnt but this is literally burnt. Read from another food blog that they use chicken breast meat so maybe that explains why; not that the mutton was any better. The tripe was equally unimpressively dry.

Ask me anytime and I'll tell you I prefer Malay satays over Chinese ones as I like the spices they use to marinade the meat and, for truly good satays I can easily wipe it out sans gravy. Their meat just tasted sweet, sweet and sweet. The gravy was reasonable although I would have preferred a finer texture. Oh, and not forgetting the rock hard ketupat...

So, the die die must try review from Makansutra, I did, and I won't go back again unless convinced otherwise.

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Finally finished round one of Christmas shopping and gift wrapping. I've always enjoyed gift wrapping but not when you have more than 10 items staring at you. Next year, I will ask for pre-made wrappers.

Hacienda

Since my last trip to Melbourne I have been introduced and hooked on Eggs Benedict. I would describe it as Ya Kun's half boiled egg but with a firmer white.

Much have been read and after getting countless positive review of Hacienda's die die must try star item on its menu, I headed down to Dempsey and sure enough it was treated to a hearty brunch that I polished every bit of the yolk sparkly clean - like how my sista puts it, "the italians don't need dishwasher going by their (good) habit of wiping up every drop of gravy on the plate." This cholesterol loaded dish is enough to make my day. I've not had better ones since TCC @ Melbourne and this is by far the closest. I was at White Rabbit last month and ordered the same item but was kinda disappointed.

Soon I will be heading down to PS Cafe and Hatched to sample their version of Eggs Benedict and I hope to be surprised. With the right egg-titude thou will find the perfect place for my sinful treat. Stay tuned.

I was beaming (together with the bright yellow yolk) when this was served. Together with a generous serving of Argula salad the dish is perfect.... except if they had provided better cutleries for the muffins. Don't get me wrong, it was nicely toasted and goes well with the eggs except it was a little challenging trying to cut the muffin and so I had to undress the dish to get to the bottom of it which is kinda messy. Nevertheless it's treat for S$13.50!

Another item worth mentioning is the mushroom soup with truffle oil. It was blended just right and you could still enjoy some mushroom bits that gives the soup an extra crunch. And of course the truffle oil did what it had to do; it added an extra punch with its aromatic flavour. For S$8.50 this starter will raise some eyebrows, or at least mine.

Jingle Belles (of RRA) Rock!

The party of the year took place on Friday, December 4th. This year the day started with RRAmazaing Race where we gathered at McCafe by Isetan Scotts. At 10:00 am all 3 teams with their respective clues in hand made our way to the various pit stops. Our first clue was cone shaped building where eclipse take place daily from 11:00 am to 11:30 pm, and we guessed it right, did you? Yes, it's Sun with Moon at Wheelock Place. That was a breeze but what awaits us was a 'simple' math sum to be solved. Thereafter the remaining clues led us to Wisma Atria in search of the Queen that was trapped in the golden cage; G's favourite Santarina in the Christmas tree outside Mr. Armani at Ion; and the roman centurion (AMEX) at Marriott Hotel. It was good fun, especially when we had to strike 3 egyptian poses outside Ion but nothing beats the cheerleading outside Marriot... sheer embarrassement... but in the name of fun ;D

After an hour of huff puff all teams had to make our way to The American Club for lunch. I reckon most of us were too tired from the cardio workout and hence our usually ravenous appetite had dwindled to just mere snacking. This is my lucky year as I won the 2nd prize of S$1,000 travel voucher! How timely as it would come in handy for our next vacation. As usual we had the gift exchange that has become a tradition of sorts. This year we were suppose to get the other party gag gifts and it turned out 17 of the 19 are nice gifts. Well, it's always easier to be nice than risk being offensive.

My nice gift from Yew Luang - a caricature of yours truly as the ultimate foodie. Love it!

Me and Yew Luang

After some much needed power nap I was all set for the evening. My pick this year is Velma Kelly from Chicago for the evening's theme, The Musical. Kudos to Ginger and Kenneth who make me look the part. This is my first time putting on a wig and it looked quite natural - some even thought I had my hair chopped! They are a brilliant team that I would recommend to anyone who needs a makeover, be it theme or formal parties.

Ginger, Me & Kenneth

Shirley (Sharpay Evans; High School Musical); Christina (Cats); Pam (Audrey Hepburn; Breakfast at Tiffany's)


Isn't Pam lovely? All heads turned when she made a grand entrance to the ballroom.

The Hollywood has Nicole Kidman while RRA has Raha Mustapha. Make a guess... "Cartier... Tiffany... Diamonds are a girl's best friend." It's M.O.U.L.I.N R.O.U.G.E, baby.

Gerard (Aladdin)

One of my favourite photo. Karen (Cats) & Yew Luang (Tracy Turnblad; Hairspray - best dressed award)

If you are wondering who is the Ang Moh guy? That's James aka Edward Spastic Hand (he left the scissors back home in the UK)

Lynn (Cats) and Guillaume (Billy Flynn - Chicago)

The party went well especially the charity auction that collected close to S$15K for The Children's Cancer Foundation. Glad the committee took our advice as it was the highlight of the evening. Angie would ditto that I'm sure ; ) However, I was disappointed with the evening's menu. It looked good on paper but nothing close to our expectation. The starter (foie gra, brioche, red wine poached pear) was edible but the consomme and my main of Cod tasted nothing but salt, it was quite a letdown.

Post party celebration

DIY Pasta Workshop

These days many budding entrepreneurs are proclaiming that they self taught in whatever skills/knowledge they have to impart to the audience and culinary skills is one of those. I've been scouting around for a cooking workshop for a while and finally decided to go Cookyn with Mervyn http://www.cookyn-with-mervyn.com/. The workshop is managed by a lovely couple, Mervyn (the chef cum host) and Amanda (the hostess) in an apartment conveniently located at Novena, it's the shophouses opposite Novena Church and is a stone's throw from the Novena MRT station so it's still easy to get there even if you don't drive.

Mervyn's workshop is very hands-on so be prepared to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty. Ours was a small group of 4 but we had just as much fun learning about the ingredients, kneading the dough, mashing the potatoes, etc. It's amazing how one simple dough made up on flour and eggs and be transformed into various types of pasta, all you need is a dash of passion, a good dose of patience and most importantly a strong pair of arms to get things going.

Chef preparing the ingredients

Putting my best hands forward for better makan to come

The semi finished product of mine and Hubby's. The 'massaged' dough was set aside for 30 mins to rest. Mervyn says it's ok to leave it outside if the room is airconditioned, otherwise it's better off resting in the fridge given our humid climate.

Ingredients for pasta sauce. The scallops from sashimi grade scallops from Green Grocer is worth trying.

Picking out thyme leaves

First encounter with electronic salt & pepper dispenser. Cool stuff!

The potato peeler preparing for Gnocchi and.....


..... let the party begin


Having fun with the pasta machine


Simple Potato Gnocchi with Gorgonzola cheese finished with sprinkles of spring onion

Ravioli (feta cheese and sundried tomato pesto) with brown butter sauce. Learnt that while making ravioli it's important to seal all ends tightly to prevent air pockets from forming or it might disintegrate while boiling.

Angel hair pasta with Lup Cheong and Curry leaves. An innovative recipe that's simple to prepare and good to eat. It's a sure winner for cheena in-laws if you want to introduce them to anh moh chiak ; )

Quick and easy Seafood Marinara pasta complete with a drizzle truffle oil. Oooh lala... this is comfort food for me.

After sampling 4 pasta variations we downed a substantial serving each of the Strawberry and Rubhard Crumble. For those who are not familiar with Rhubarb it looks just like celery except it's maroon in colour and very important to note that only the stem is edible, the leaves are POISONOUS. The dessert wasn't to my liking as it was slightly sour - may taste better if more sugar was used - but as usual the crumble is always enjoyable.



It was a light-hearted session and not only did we end the day filled to the brim but alsoa good exchange of food ideas and shopping finds (for the ladies). Meanwhile, I'll continue to practice and perfect my pasta making skills and look out for more cookyn parties to attend.