TWG Macaron

It must have been the longest break for me! I have been shuttling between Singapore and London since Jan... and perhaps a short (and hoepfully, sweet) post will bring back my momentum.

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I finally get to TWG @ION Orchard last night - enjoyed a pot of their famous Samovar Night tea and an easily forgetable dessert. Then went home with the highly-raved TWG macarons... see, how pretty the box! At S$2 each, these are far cheaper than what I'd paid for Pierre Herme in London's Selfridges. These macarons are soft & chewy. In fact too soft, I think, to give any contrast in the crispy shell & soft fillings. However, the unique tea infusion wins me over. I enjoy the delicate tea aroma & flavour that is so beautiful, though I have to admit that macaron is not for me -too sweet for my standard.

Before i go, gotta share this quote from Manoj Murjani, TWG Owner: "At TWG you're not just buying tea, you're buying into the experience of the brand that promotes the lifestyle that is evocative of luxury."

Why not, if you can afford the luxury!

TWG Tea Salon & Boutique
ION Shopping Mall
2 Orchard Turn
#02-21 Singapore 238801
Tel: 6735 1837 Fax: 6736 1837
Opening hour: Mon to Sun - 10am to 10pm

Eating at Home

Despite the high cost of living in London, there's actually things that we cheaper than we have back home. Like flowers - these are sold like groceries in the supermarket... each bunch cost about £3-6, depending on the variety.

I was so happy to receive them from my little Sheen - of course he does not have the financial means to buy the flowers, but he was the one pick it out and told daddy to pay when both of them were making their way home after his school.

The little one tried to surprise me when i came home from work... blindfolded me before leading me to the kitchen where the flowers where "hidden".

That's not the point of this post, but these are little pleasures in life that make parenting a sweet journey!

After dinner last evening, we strolled to the nearby supermarket, and saw this Tesco Finest* Meal Deal for Two which only cost us £10. Pretty good deal - we can pick 1 Main, 1 Side, 1 Dessert & 1 Drink and the drink includes wine :-)

May I present the dinner menu:

That's what we have:

The portion may not look big, but it is really substantial - we didn't manage to finish our plate, and so the dessert was kept as snack for Sheen's school next day!

The food is fresh, and honestly, as good as what we get from some restaurants. I got everything heated and served on the table within 20min!

This is going to be a perfect choice for us as the dusk getting earlier and temperature dips faster than you say cold. Like the squirrel stocking up the accorns for winter, I see us stocking up these ready meals hahaha!

Tokyo Banana

Last night my kind sister nudged and reminded that I have long neglected my blog. Haha, lest I know there's at least 1 person in this whole wide world interested in what I write.

With most things being packed up for the shift, I hardly bake these days. Not that I have the time anyway. I remembered that I had quite a few things that were baked early this year, but never been blogged so I took few min to go thru my folder. And the very first photo I saw was this yummy banana cake which my buddy D brought back from Tokyo.

D told me this is a very popular souvenir in Japan - many people lug this home for their friends and relatives.

Each piece is shaped to look like the banana, and individually sealed, which is convenient for the modern urban people like us but a no-no to the environment. Haiz, but who is complaining!

Beneathe the wrapping is a ultra light chiffon (or is it sponge?) cake with banana cream filling.

The banana cream is delicious, a mysterious yumminess... The scientist in me wondered if it is made with real banana or just flavouring simply becos real banana will turn black in few minutes. To find the answer, I involuntarily reach out for another one, devouring after another, in my feeble attempt to reach a conclusion.

Soon enough the box is empty, and I am even thinking of ordering some on line and have then shipped to Singapore... hahaha, but the shipping cost is exorbitant!

D suggested that I made my own version which I think I would need years of research... but thanks for even thinking that I have the skills and knowledge to replicate this airy yummy stuff in my humble kitchen!

Thanks D for the "discovery" in Tokyo, and be sure I will send you a box if I succeed.

Novice Bread Cutter

Am playing with my bread cutter to make some sandwiches for Sheen.

The bread cutter is rather big... much bigger than my Gardenia loaf!


Quite interesting, the bread combines to form a puzzle, which Sheen enjoys.

Sheen is rearranging the car, elephant, whale and dog!

Goldilocks Polvoron

It is a filippino specialty - a cross between the shortbread and sugee cookie. And very very sweet. Not a surprise cos we know filippino has sweet tooth. But it is sooo great, my sensitive tooth withheld the ache so that I can savour the Polvoron in pleasure!

Apart from the sweetness, it is also high in Fat (41.5%) and Carbs (46.2%). I wanted my mum to try this but of not the one from goldlilocks cos the sugar level will kill her (no thanks to diabetes). Found the recipe now... just need to go out to get the sugar replacement.

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Polvoron

Recipe from here

Ingredients
1 cup plain flour
1 1/2 cup full cream powder milk (like Nido)
1/2 cup sugar ( preferable very fine sugar)
1 cup melted butter or half marg. half butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup roasted pinipig (an immature glutinous rice - read more about pinipig here )

Preparation

1. Roast the flour in a wok (slow heat to avoid burning) Roast flour until it is slightly brown. Take it off the heat



2. Mix milk, sugar, pinipig, salt and melted butter with the flour. Bind them together.



3. Try your molder : Mold one and if it is still too loose, add more butter to it. make sure that you could pick up the polvoron without it crumbling straight away



4. Wrap them with papel de hapon.

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If you visit Philippines, you can easily get it from the mall. The local told me Goldilocks is the best brand. Since I had no time to go shopping, I buy these from the airport, presumably at a premium :-(

I want more homemade dumpling!

The dumpling festival is long over... but I am still savouring the bak chang that my colleagues have given me.

They all know that I love the homemade dumpling or "chang"; every year, they will bring me those that their mum or mother-in-law have made. And I will freeze all the extra and steam 1 every day.

This year though we no longer work in the same office, they have not stopped brining me the chang! I am grateful for their kind gesture. THANK YOU!

PS: see the pic above and you know why I love homemade chang - they are bursting with so much "liao" (condiments) rather than glutinous rice!!!

PPS: how can teach me how to make my own dumpling? I will be eternally grateful to you!

I have been looking forward to Jun 2009...

I have never been a great fan of June. I rather every month is a May cos I get to enjoy at least 2 holidays, May Day and Vesak Day, not to mentioned yours truly's birthday! Financially May is also THE month cos most companies pay out their dividends in May too!!!

But this June is special.


Agh?



Yeah, the Mei Chin Road Market is going to reopen this Jun after a long long closure (2 years???) for upgrading.



There are many markets being upgraded by our gar-ment so if 1 close, I just go to another one lor. But this Mei Chin Market was like a cold turkey for my family and I. We made weekly pilrimmage to this market for our chicken rice!!!



Some may suggest other "better" chicken rice, but seriously, i can live with Sin Kee for the rest of my live... There are 1001 ways to qualify what is BEST. To us it is a combination of many factors like parking, environment, service, plus more. And this store has a special place in my family!!!


If you are still not convinced, dun bother to hop there to try... cos we will selfishly like to have the quiet place to ourselves!!!







Sin Kee Famous Chicken Rice & Fish Porridge/新記馳名雞飯魚生粥, Mei Chin Road Market & Cooked Food Centre #02-89G, Block 159, Mei Chin Road

Eggless Chocolate Bundt Cake

Sheen did well for his chinese spelling yesterday. He proudly told me that he got 100%, sharing the honour with 1 other girl only. For his award, he requested to bake a chocolate cake that night, which I gladly agreed.

While we were mixing, he kept lapping up the batter drips, and told me sheepishly to keep some batter for him.

With a child who loves cake batter, I was more than pleased to have some eggless chocolate cake recipe.


Sheen's little feet in the background:

I finally see what lazy baker I am - I should have changed the cake board to give a cleaner look...

Just abit on the photography. Both pictures are "unphotoshop"; the first one was taken at night, the 2nd one in the morning. The sun rise very early this summer - I took the 2nd picture at 7.45am, and you can see the room already flooded with natural light!

Caffe Pralet

Finally I set my foot into Cafe Pralet, an extension of the culinary school Creative Culinaire.



The first time, it was a weekday afternoon, so the place was quiet and serene. Perfect for a lazy afternoon tea.



2nd visit on a Saturday afternoon. There were 2 big groups... so you can imagine the noise level in a carpet-less, curtain-less confined space!!!



Ambience apart, the food is really good. In 2 trips, we tried Low Calorie Laksa (on both occasions - I love it!), Herb Grill Pork Chop with Black Pepper Sauce, Chicken and Sausage baked rice, summer strawberry and country apple cake.



Laksa is as "lemak" as those you get in the 5 star hotel. The menu says half the coconut milk is replaced with milk. I do not know who much truth in it but I marvel that the right level of richness despite not having the element of coconut milk. Having said my friend thought it was too rich.


Pork Chop is a tad too tough for me though the seasoning, and the sauce were flavourful!



Baked rice is pretty standard fare.



The winner is the cakes...it shouldn't surprise anyone afterall this is the chef Judy Koh's forte, ya?



The apple cake is so good.... it got me wander to the school next door to see if they teach this. The apple is so fresh and crunchy that willhave you thinking you are eating the apple whole!



Summer Strwberry is layers of featherlight sponge cake with starwberry mousse. I only wished she uses Korean strawberry which is a sweeter variant.

My take: Go during off-peak hours so that you can enjoy the excellent pastries in peace. The caffe also provide free wifi so you know where to go where Starbucks is full house!

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Cafe Pralet by Creative Culinaire
Eng Hoon Mansion #01-03/04
17 Eng Hoon Street,
Singapore 169767
Tel: 63241663

my comfort food...

I usually make a conscientious effort to avoid or reduce the usage of eggs in my bake. But today.... After seeing a cooking demo (by the wok promotor at a department store), I couldn't get the aromatic custard out of my head.

I lied on bed, tossed and turned, urned and tossed. Past 1am, I succumbed. Got out of the bed, and wandered into the kitchen.

I knew I had to make this tonight. The humble kaya.

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Traditional Kaya (Coconut Jam)

3 Eggs
200ml coconut milk (I use Kara for convenience)
5 tbsp sugar ( i used brown sugar)
Juice from pounded pandan leaves (I omit)

1. Mix egg and sugar together, stir/beat until the sugar dissolved.


2. Add coconut milk and mix well.


3. Heat up the non-stick pot on low heat. Add 3 tbsp (in addition to the 5 tbsp) of sugar to the pot. When the sugar start to brown, stir slightly and pour in the coconut mixture. Continue stirring (important) until it thickens.


4. The custard will thicken further when it cool, so if you like it to be more spreadable, off the fire when it is just begining to thick. I can't put an exact the timing... trial and error lor.


5. When done, off fire and leave it to cool. Store cooled kaya in a clean jar - will keep well in room temperature for 1 week (mine never last beyond that so I am not sure if 1 week is the absolute shelf life). This custard is not difficult to prepare, so it make sense to make small batches so that the family can enjoy fresh, addditive/preservative-free kaya all week long!!!

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When the kaya was ready, I rummaged my freezer for bread. I must have slapped on about half of this portion on a sitting.

The warm kaya warmed my stomach and my heart, bringing me back to the childhood days where my mum will make her own kaya. All her 5 kids were so gluttony that we all ate the kaya right out of the hot pot... that she was left with nothing to bottle...

Now you see why I was sleepless at 3am

Chocolates that we LOVE...

These chocolate from Royce are so good that I can't stop raving about it!

My taste test for the 3 types :

White Chocolate: very creamy, not overly sweet. They have dusted the choc generously with cheese powder! You can't miss this if you love milk and cheese.

My colleague who regularly buys Godiva White Choc says this is as good as Godiva, but without the hefty price tag!

Bitter Chocolate: Certainly for the adults cos it is bitter as it should. Suits me cos I get toothache for sweet things.

Champagne: Oscar Wilde said "only those who lack imagination cannot find a good reason for drinking champagne". I do not need one here. Well, for the price that you are paying, just don't expect to have Dom Perignon!

Gone in 60 seconds!

The other one is from Hokkaiddo - Corn Chocolate. Maybe because it is so difficult to come by, maybe it's the special milk taste. It is so good that I have to ask J to hide it somewhere to stop e from eating!