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.

The O'Mearas

3 weeks ago I received a surprise email from Bob to share his joy on Bobby and Kate's wedding in late Summer. Emotions overcame the happiness and joy I share with Bob and Sue while I was viewing the photos. Bob was my first boss when I joined ATK and it was and still is one of the most enjoyable working relationship I've had; the chemistry we had was tremendous plus I was also close to his family. I still remember sending them pineapple tarts and love letters during CNY, and Megan (2nd daughter) used to love our local chocolate wafers so much that I actually sent her a few boxes of those too. Sounds a bit crazy huh? Oh yes, and I miss those annual Saint Patick's Day party @ The O'Meara's residence where all guests were decked out in shades of Green with lotsa food, booz, fun and laughter and it's always a tradition that no soul will leave the party skipping the pool. It was FUN, FUN, FUN :D

For the past 10 years we have been keeping in touch through occassional emails and yearly Christmas cards. Recently Bob sent me another reminder to visit him and Sue. The email reads, "when you are coming to the States to visit? We have saved the guestroom for you... Sue and I are not young anymore..." Another teary moment for me - no prize for guessing, I have shallow eyes. The last time I saw them was at my wedding so I'm definitely looking forward to seeing them again. Chicago, look out for my arrival (soon)!

Boomz! She SHINGZ-ed it again

A Decade of Togetherness

October 3rd, 1999, I embarked on a new journey of my life stories. It has been 10 years since and nothing much has changed maybe except for a few 'faint' laugh lines, frown lines, dilated pores and what have you. A colleague saw Hubby for the first time and commented that we don't look like married couple especially since I told her it's been a decade since we exchanged our wedding vows. Hmm... she said it's a compliment and so I took her word for it. Of course like all marriages there are up and down moments and the rule of thumb for me is to never give up trying to make the most out of the relationship and never stop trusting each other. Because when either of it fails then trouble bestows.

Before

Celebrated the special day at Angsana Bintan Resort. Ferry ride was comfortable, however, the weather was gloomy and rained shortly after we arrived at the resort. Thankfully the sun was out again an hour later and we made our way to the beach for some Vitamin D therapy. Since we were not planning for a romantic (and expensive) dinner by the South China Sea we were happy to feast on seafood BBQ by the beach, but it started pouring near dinner time so we had to make do with buffet at the resort's one and only cafe. To sum it up, the service far exceeds the meal. No need to elaborate I believe.

If there ever is a reason I need to head back to Bintan again it's definitely the spa that's luring us back. I've heard so much raving reviews of the award-winning spa that the pre-requisite for staying at Angsana is only if I could book my treatments and so I did. Plus, I managed to book the outdoor pavilion! Ooh la la. The masseur, Athi, was one of the best I've had; her strokes were firm and at the same time gentle enough for me. That coupled with the nice weather and by that I don't mean the sun, instead it was raining, so, imagine the sound of raindrops hitting against the cemented floor and the wind blowing against freshly scrubbed and well moisturized skin. I was quickly transported to dreamland, soundly asleep but not too deep to still be able to enjoy the experience. One session is definitely not enough so we headed back for an hour of Indian Head Massage the next day to loosen up the tense shoulders and give the tresses its much needed pampering treat. Again, it was a delighting experience.

Lunched Banyan Tree just before we headed home. Contrary to the negative reviews on TripAdvisor the food was pretty decent - good but not great. However, if there's one item I will advice against ordering that would be the beef burger. The patty was a letdown as it dry and hence tough and the only saving grace on the plate was none other than fries. Ask for alfresco dining and you won't regret it comes with a panoramic view of the South China Sea, a feast for the sight.

After

Quotes of wisdom and wit...

'Our marriage was many years ago but our celebration continues till this day' ~ Gene Perret

'Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing' ~ Goethe

'Love is blind, marriage is the eye-opener' ~ Pauline Thomason

'It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life' ~Rita Rudner

And this is for the husbands out there...

'Only two things are necessary to keep one's wife happy. One is to let her think she is having her own way, the the other, to let her have it' ~ Lyndon B. Johnson

Currently listening to... Wondergirls - Nobody