Lobster paints...

Foto Friday: Clouds are shredded cotton wool...

2012-02-24T10:10:00.000+08:00

Have you ever wondered how soft and fluffy the clouds will feel like?

Yes, sometimes I think that they are simply shredded cotton wool floating in the air...

Travelogue: Taiwan Day 3 [Part 2/2] - Shifen Waterfall 十分瀑布 & Ruifang Food Street 瑞芳美食街

2012-02-21T10:10:00.000+08:00

If you need a recap or missed the previous posts on my Taiwan travelogue, you can read them at the following links alright?... :)

Day 1 @ Shida Night Market 師大路夜市 here
Day 2 [Part 1/3] @ Jiufen 九份 here
Day 2 [Part 2/3] @ Yehliu Geopark 野柳地质公园 here
Day 2 [Part 3/3] @ Keelung Night Market 基隆廟口夜市 here
Day 3 [Part 1/2] - Jiufen Old Street 九份老街 (九份舊街) here

21st July 2011: Taiwan Day 3 [Part 2/2] - Shifen Waterfall & Ruifang Food Street

And so we had lunch from Jiufen Old street and the weather had finally calmed down, we're off to our next destination! And in order to speed things up a little, we decided to hop on a taxi after we reached the nearest bus stop to our B&B at Jiufen and not before long...

We're on the railway train with snacks for the trip to Shifen Waterfall 十分大瀑布！

Approximately an hour's journey on the railway train but the train was pretty empty...

It's was seriously quite a tranquil ride with the scenic view along the way...

One of the stations we passed on our way to Shifen 十分 and guess what!

I knew how to read those three words! Buahaha! :D

Shifen Railway station 十分火车站

A rustic railway train station with old coal mine carriages parked on the unused tracks and no tall buildings in sight but instead, more greens and sceneries. Frankly speaking, it was a rather amazing experience with the transition from the hectic city of Singapore to Taipei to Jiufen and then on the third day, to the old and small Shifen town.

the sky lanterns 天灯 or also known as Kong Ming lanterns 孔明灯 in cute little charms! :)

The sky lantern charms are sold in most shops at Shifen town and it was probably the best memento to bring back with you from that place...

To Shifen Waterfall 十分大瀑布, here we go!

Our walking route between Shifen train station to Shifen waterfall...

The railway train track that runs in between the small Shifen Old street...

The better alternative to get to the Shifen Waterfall was to travel by taxi to somewhere nearby and followed by a 5 - 10 min walk but we thought we preferred to walk a little so that we get to see the place better. Besides, we took only 10 - 15 min (instead of the estimated 20 - 25 min by Google Maps) to cover on foot the distance that a taxi can take us! :D

Bend it like an old tree!

It was about the time when the Tanjong Pagar Railway station in Singapore is due to close and while everyone's exploring the railway tracks in Singapore, we did the same but in Taiwan! :D

Taiwan Coal Mine Museum 台灣礦業博物館

The place is closed when we passed by but I believe the museum is definitely part of the itinerary if you joined a tour group and they are taking you to Shifen...

passed by a resort somewhere half way on foot to see Shifen watefall...

I guess it'll be really nice to stay in one of their rooms for a night or something in the midst of all the nature and greens! Don't you think so? :D

Google maps suggested that we walk along the railway track but instincts told us otherwise and we decided to follow the main roads and play by ear thereafter...

And thank god the instincts were right!

We got ourselves closer to the waterfall on a safer route! :D

We arrived at the the suspension bridge, 觀瀑吊橋, shortly after!
The Shifen waterfall is so so so so so near now! YAY!!!

Towards the Shifen waterfall, we have beautiful sceneries on our left and the railway track on our right!

It was a long stretch of the suspension bridge and a rather old one too. It trembles every time the railway train passes by through the railway track beside it or even when you land a heavy foot on the bridge. Quite scary but fun actually... =P

The Spectacle Cave 眼镜洞

Can you make out the pair of glasses in the picture above? ;)

Most would probably have miss the Spectacle Cave if they are traveling on their own with no one to point it out to you since you've got to turn around while waiting towards Shifen waterfall to see it. Or so, that's was what happened to us, I was the only one who noticed the cave!

By the way, you can go to the link to check out the photos by others and see if you can make out the glasses... :D

The maple tree look a like...

Ok, we actually thought those were really maple leaves... Haha!

At the entrance to the Shifen Waterfall!

We can actually hear the gushing sounds of the water from here!

And here's presenting to you... The Niagara Falls of Taiwan, Shifen Waterfall 十分大瀑布!!!

This was probably the best I can manage since it was showering a little rain and I don't have my tripod with me to leave the shot on long exposures. But the waterfall, it's still amazing isn't it? :)

Taking turns trying to get pictures with the waterfall at the background to keep for memories of the wonderful place we managed to find through very thorough research on the web prior to the trip! ;)

Down stream the waterfall...

Upstream of the waterfall...

It's surely a very romantic place to have a date with your partner...

but i'm not sure about the mosquito bites after hanging around there! :P

a shot of the 3 of us together... Hehe... :D

Every time i look at these photos, I can't help but laugh...

Cousin was having her maltose candy and when she pulls it out of her mouth, a thread of the maltose candy was formed between her mouth and the lollipop... Hehe!

thankful for the shoes which accompanied us for the 7 days stay in Taiwan!

one last look and photo with the curtain of water from the waterfall from a higher deck before we left...

Telephone booth in a tree trunk (and infested with mosquitos) outside the entrance to Shifen waterfall... Frankly speaking, with the technology of mobile phones picking up so massively, it was rather amusing to me when I found out that the telephone is actually still working! Hehe... =X

Anyway, we didn't stayed too long in the vicinity of Shifen waterfall. We left as soon as we thought we have had absorbed enough of the scenic ambiance since it was still showering slightly and the sun is going down soon.

picking some maple leaves look-a-like on the way back to the railway station...

One of my favourite photos of the day exploring Shifen Waterfall...

Standing by the railway track with the train rushing pass, there was a gush of emotions as it reminds me of how life will pass by you as quickly as a passing train and it's a matter of whether if you know how to live your life to the fullest and cherish every little that you have.

Anyway, we weren't just standing there waiting and feeling emotional or waiting for Christmas...

We were actually waiting for the train to pass so that we can collect back the flattened coin which my cousin sort of risked her life to place it on the railway tracks for the motion and heat of the passing train to iron the coin out between the tracks and the wheels. Seems like it was a little over done! Hehe! =P

Anyway, we tried again later at Shifen's Old street and got a perfect one after that! :D

The suspension bridge and railway tracks near Shifen Waterfall...

By the time we got back to Shifen Old street, it was already dusk and the sun is setting already...

One of the reasons other than seeing the waterfall, we went all the way to the town of Shifen so that we can launch our own sky lanterns! There were countless of shops there selling the sky lanterns so assuming that they're going to charge the same for one sky lantern, we simply picked the store nearest to us! We picked a red lantern which symbolizes good fortune, paid and went on to write our wishes on our lantern... :D

that's us working on writing all our wishes on the sky lantern...

After a while... here's what we were wishing for on the 4 sides of the sky lanterns...

hmmm... Did we miss anything? Hehe...

And coincidentally, we bumped into 袁大哥, the guy who took us around to Yehliu Geopark and Keelung night market the day before, at the same store as where we were bought our sky lantern from. He was there as a guide to another Singaporean family and was about to bring them to let off some fireworks and sparklers! He very nicely invited us to join them and of course, the Singaporean family were also very nice to let us tag along! :)

The pathways at Shifen town were lighted by a row of sky lantern lamps!

Absolutely a beautiful sight... :)

Collecting stamps at the train station...

Before we go off set off the fireworks and fire crackers, we were introduced to the rubber stamps and were told that the stamps are located in every train station, may it be the railway stations or the Metro train stations.

So if you're going to travel to Taiwan, here's a little tip! Bring along some postcards with you everywhere you go while travelling around Taiwan so that you can collect the stamp prints of the different attractions in Taiwan!

The sweet lil girl of the Singaporean family we met...

She surely was worn out but she never once complained or wailed, she even smiled for the camera...Such a sweetie! :)

Jing'an Bridge 靜安橋

We moved over to the suspension bridge just nearby the railway station to set off the fireworks and fire crackers. It was away from the main Shifen Old street walkway and significantly darker there, definitely a good spot for those!

sis-in-law setting off the sparklers...

Sadly, I didn't have my tripod with me and failed to capture the fireworks. But nonetheless, we were really thankful for 袁大哥 to invite us and the Singaporean family for letting us go along and even let us light the fireworks and fire crackers even though they were the ones who paid for it!

So much for the fun we had with them, we almost forgot about our sky lantern and rushed off back to the store again! The entire row of stores were already closed and the people at the store we got our sky lantern from actually very nicely waited for us to go back!!! :D

preparing to light our sky lantern!...

a picture with all 4 sides of the lighted lantern before releasing it...

there it goes~ We hope our wishes will come true! :)

And with that, we rushed for the last train heading back to Ruifang station and unfortunately, by the time we arrived back at the train station at Ruifang, the food street was almost done for the day and there were very little stalls still left opened at that time! We were so hungry and had no choice but to settle with whatever food we can find... :(

We walked into their food street that looks like a typical wet market here in Singapore but only to find that most stalls are closed or the ones that are still opened have already taken their last orders. So we can only drop our heads and left the place and try and figure out what else we can get from along the roadside stalls for our dinner...

Glutinous rice sausage 龍鳳腿

We spotted a couple of stalls selling the Glutinous rice sausage and decided to give it a try. The ones from the stall in the 2nd photo was actually better but the elderly aunty at the 1st stall was so cute and prompted that she hope that we'll help promote for her stall for her. Thus, here we are. Hehe... :)

Grill & Fry stall...

We basically bought most of our food from this stall. All we need to do was to pick what we want and get them to either grill them or fry them for us! Pretty interesting concept with different choices of how you like whatever in whichever cooking method actually.

It's similar to what we had something similar on our 1st night in Taiwan at Shida Night Market but that was just 卤味, the braised version.

After grabbing food for our dinner, we also stopped by their supermarket nearby the railway station before hopping onto a cab and head back to our room at Jiufen...

Back in our room with the stuffs we got from the supermarket...

We intended to get some drinks to quench the thirst but we ended with more than what we needed again!

A typical "sin" we committed every night in Taiwan! Haha!!!...

Behind the smiles, this was what they really felt after our afternoon out at Shifen... Shagged max! LOL!

Here's our dinner spread for the day!

A closer look...

We had a handful of grilled stuffs like chicken butts, beancurd, pork and Taiwanese style fried chicken 鹹酥雞, the glutinous rice sauage and so on... And on second thoughts now, somehow our dinner didn't look too healthy isn't it? Hehe...

And with that, it brought us to the end of our 3rd day in Taiwan and also our last day exploring around Jiufen. And the next morning, we were bound to head back to the central areas in Taipei for the rest of our time in Taiwan.

Do stay tune for more posts of our remaining days exploring Taipei, Taiwan! :)

Wordless Wednesday: 捷记 Boneless Braised Duck

2012-02-15T10:10:00.000+08:00

捷记 Boneless Braised Duck
116 Upper Bukit Timah Road
Bukit Timah Market and Food Centre
Singapore 588172

Bedok 85 - Before they close for another upgrading renovation...

2012-02-13T10:10:00.000+08:00

Spicy lala...

Barbecued chicken wings...

Otak-otak

And so, Bedok 85 hawker centre, the popular spot for late dinners or suppers for most "east siders" in Singapore is due to close for yet another upgrading renovation works. The revamption works commences from 16th February 2012 and it's estimated that it'll stay closed for a big part of year 2012.

Unknowingly, I was drawn to that hawker centre last Friday night for a late dinner and it was quite upsetting to see most stalls already closed and removed. There was still a supper crowd even though what I had in the above photos is probably most of what was still left at the hawker centre...

Is there something that you'll miss from the Bedok 85 hawker centre while it remains closed for upgrading?

Where else will you go for supper while it remains closed for upgrading?

CP New Microwavable Meals - Absolutely Quick & Easy!

2012-02-06T10:10:00.000+08:00

The person who invented instant meals is definitely a genius and CP who made our favourites into quick and easy microwavable meals is terribly awesome!

No, you haven't read wrongly! CP has just recently released Thai Green Curry, Spaghetti or even Tom Yum soup in easy-to-prepare microwavable meals! And it does means that you can enjoy one of your favourite cuisine in the comfort of your home in just 3 minutes, absolutely hassle free!

All the three above are available at major supermarkets and convenient stores, the CP Spaghetti with Chicken Sauce and CP Chicken Green Curry with Rice will cost you $4.50 each and the CP Shrimp wonton in Tom Yum soup costs $3.30 each.

So, it was so easy to prepare and I was a little greedy last Sunday, I made all 3 of the them at one go. And I had my dinner ready in less than 10mins!

Chicken Green Curry with rice (front) and Shrimp wonton in Tomyum Soup (back)

That's the ultimate Thai cuisine combination isn't it? hehe... :D

Chicken Green Curry with rice

Frankly speaking, I've never thought that we're ever going to get green curry on instant! I mean, I really fancy my green curry and I know how much efforts it will required to prepare a good bowl of Thai green curry and to think that we can now enjoy it with a snap of our fingers!

In my opinion, aside from the fact that the portion looks a little small for me (probably enough for supper not dinner...), there's definitely room for improvements in terms of the flavours of the green curry and the preparation methods of the rice. But the idea was definitely a great one!

Shrimp wonton in Tomyum Soup

To tell you the truth, I'm a little fan of the CP shrimp wontons but I thought that the Tomyum soup was a tad too much on the sweet side. I was also expecting an ultra spicy bowl of Tomyum soup but do not get deceived by the blotch of red chilli oil in the bowl!

Their Shrimp wonton in Tomyum soup is probably my favourite among the three and I will say that a stock up of these in the freezer will make a great quick fix at home on an unexpected rainy day.

Spaghetti with Chicken Sauce

I topped the spaghetti off with some powdered cheese and mixed Italian herbs for additional flavours because I thought that the tomato pasta sauce was a little too sourish. And just like the Chicken Green curry with rice meal, I thought the preparation of the spaghetti should have been a little careful to ensure that every strand is properly cooked before packaging them.

But all in all, it was good and a stock up of these will definitely save the day when you're having hunger pangs in the middle of the night! Hehe...

Yup and that's the three different microwavable meals I had for you! Despite a little set backs here and there with those I have tried, I'm kinda looking forward to more choices CP will come up with in the future! Who won't like a quick and hassle free fix at home isn't it? :)

Foto Friday: My little chestnut, Kuri!

2012-02-03T10:10:00.000+08:00

Guess I haven't properly introduced my youngest boy at home now.
This bunny boy came home to me on my birthday last year as a gift from Deserved One. He is a pure breed Holland lop in chestnut brown colour thus his name, Kuri, which was suggested by a fellow foodie on Twitter, @Lovelylanvin and meaning chestnut in Japanese.

He was born 27th April 2011 and that also means, Kuri is turning 1 years old in approximately 3 months' time! Oh well, this boy is definitely too smart for a bunny and he has seriously brought some joy to the house with his random silly tricks!

So, meet my boy, Kuri! :)

Thai Gold Food - Thai Chinese Cuisine

2012-01-26T10:10:00.000+08:00

I'm probably as "submerged" in the festive Lunar new year mood as anyone of you thus this shall just be a short and quick post! Yes, I'm somewhat back to sharing about food again! And if you're pretty sick and tired of steamboating since Lunar new year eve, how about some Thai food for a change! :D

Thai Gold Food

I have always heard that Sunshine Plaza is a popular place for cheap and good food like dimsum, wonton mee, Japanese food and Thai food. So far I've only managed to try only the wonton mee despite the countless of times I had been at Sunshine Plaza. And most recently, I've finally advanced on to trying out the Thai food there!

Kaeng keow wan moo/ kai/ nea (Green Curry with pork/ chicken/ beef) - $8/ $12/ $16

Pla mek sam ros (Stir-fried baby squid with pineapple sweet chilli sauce) - $10/ $15/ $20

Hot plate tofu with with assorted vegetables

Pad Ka na num hoi (Stir-fried kailan with oyster sauce salted fish - $7/ $10/ $16

Khao pad sap pa rod (Thai style pineapple fried rice) - $5/ $10/ $15

The dishes served in Thai Chinese cuisine style were seriously a huge contrast to how the place looked, in other words, too tasty for the price you're paying for them! So worth it especially when you're in town!

I really enjoyed their green curry despite the fact that it was so so so spicy in my opinion. I thought it's seriously more delish than those serve in Thai restaurants we have in malls here and if ever I'm craving for green curry next time, I'll definitely head over there to get the cravings fixed! :D

Thai Gold Food
91 Bencoolen Street, Sunshine Plaza
#01-14 (S) 189658
Tel: 6883 1575

Opening Hours: Daily 12.00pm - 1.00am, Fri - Sat 12.00pm - 3.00pm

Hello Dragon Year!

2012-01-23T10:10:00.000+08:00

Have a great celebration for all the fellow Chinese and a good long weekend break for the rest!
Enjoy the feasting, the quality time, the catch up with your family members too!
HAPPY NEW YEAR! HUAT AH! :D

Foto Friday: Sri Mariamman Temple @ Chinatown, Singapore

2012-01-20T09:00:00.000+08:00

Deserved One and me, we were in Chinatown last Sunday for some CNY shopping and we came across the Sri Mariammam Temple while trying to locate Sia Huat for some kitchen wares but only to realise they are not opened on Sundays!

Anyway, I've always walked pass a Hindu temple and wondered what the towering pyramid above the main entrance to the temple is supposed to symbolize. Can anyone enlighten me on that?

Travelogue: Taiwan Day 3 [Part 1/2] - Jiufen Old Street 九份老街 (九份舊街)

2012-01-17T09:00:00.000+08:00

If you need a recap or missed the previous posts on my Taiwan travelogue, you can read them at the following links alright?... :)

Day 1 @ Shida Night Market 師大路夜市 here
Day 2 [Part 1/3] @ Jiufen 九份 here
Day 2 [Part 2/3] @ Yehliu Geopark 野柳地质公园 here
Day 2 [Part 3/3] @ Keelung Night Market 基隆廟口夜市 here

21st July 2011: Taiwan Day 3 [Part 1/2] - Jiufen Old Street 九份老街 (九份舊街)

We had a great sleep and definitely a very good rest in our B&B room and we woke up all energized for another adventurous day in Taiwan but not until we have had our breakfast and a shopping session at Jiufen's Old Street 九份老街! :D

Washed up and off to our B&B's cafe for breakfast! Good morning Taiwan! :)

Sandwich with mashed sweet potatoes and fruits and a cup of milk tea!

Sounds like a simple and hearty breakfast, isn't it? And do you believe it? It's made personally every morning by the lady boss and daughter! This is what I really call home stay! :)

a closer look a the sandwich...

Ham, tomatoes and lettuce and that's about it for the sandwich but it just taste way better than any homemade sandwich I had before. I'm not sure if I am just contented by the fact that I'm so far away from home and still get to taste something as homely as this but I say, the sandwich was awesome! :)

Finished our breakfast and off we go to explore Jiufen Old Street!

the legendary and symbolic uneven flight of stone steps at Jiufen... :D

a rocking horse by the side of one of the tea houses...

Looking really rustic isn't it? :)

Ah Mei, one of the many tea houses located at Jiufen Old Street...

We were really wishing that we could sit around a tea house and enjoy an afternoon tea but apparently, the weather isn't exactly great in Jiufen and we had to scrap the idea off our itinerary.

looking back down the flight of steps, it was actually quite a tiring ascend!

a stray which was following us as we shopped the streets...

Happened to spot a ~~butcher~~ mobile butcher and the locals are buying fresh pork from the back of a lorry which was converted to make a mobile stall!

And here it is, exploring Jiufen Old street before the crowd floods in!... :)

maltose candy in all sorts of flavours!

Fortune telling with your blood type! Very interesting!

Owl lucky charms!

Different colours and the different charms attached is supposed to help you in different aspects in life! :)

totally loving the rustic look of the street!

of cos we love Taiwan! :D

very beautiful beads! :)

Went into a shop selling everything wooden from the timsum baskets to little brooms to chicken baskets...
Pretty good place to get some small items as souvenirs! :)

Spotted a very cute set of laughing buddhas in the same shop...

I will love to take them home with me but the price for just 1 of them is no joke at all! :(

spotted maltose candy again!

but it's in the shape of Spongbob and Patrick lollipops! Cute!!!

What do you hear in the seashell? :D

We started off exploring the street from the other direction cos it was nearer from our B&B's cafe...

Thus, we saw this after we're done walking down the entire length of the street! Hehe... :D

By the time we're done with shopping and exploring, it was almost lunch time!

We made a walk backwards and started our food hunt for lotsa and lotsa food!

1st stop, to quench the thirst...

Got our drinks served in cute little milk bottles and we're supposed to be sucking on them like little babies...

2nd stop, Jiufen's first BBQ stinky tofu stall!

Frankly speaking, we can smell the stinky tofu from at least 3 shops away!

Bringing on the stinky tofu!

The BBQ-ed version of the stinky tofu was that tad more stinky than the more common fried version! And apparently, it's really rather tough to get everyone and anyone to like the stinky tofu irregardless of how it was prepared.

Obviously, my cousin didn't like it!

But we don't mind it! Nom nom nom... :D

Sad to say, the weather is seriously very unpredictable as it can be in Jiufen. It was sunny when we decided to have some stinky tofu and the next moment, it started raining already! Thus we had no choice but to grab the rest of the food we wanted and make a run back to our room to enjoy all those food.

Stall selling Fried Prawn balls...

5 pieces for NT. 100 or 2 pieces for NT. 50!

Ah Po Yu Gen Yu Yuan 阿婆鱼羹鱼丸

Old school letter box and a straw hat. Seriously loving the rustic looks! :D

Our lunch spread! :D

Well it's not a lot but there's all we can manage to grab while trying to avoid the rain as much as we can... And so we had the fish ball soup 鱼羹汤 from Ah Po Yu Gen Yu Wan 阿婆鱼羹鱼丸 (NT. 40), wonton noodles from Jiufen Old Noodles Shop 九份老麵店 (NT. 45), pork sausages (approx. NT. 30 each), fried prawn balls (NT. 50 for 2) and last but not least, Lai Ah Po Taro Balls 賴阿婆芋圓 dessert (NT. 50).

That's us enjoying our lunch by the window with the scenic view in our room!

Found a Henry Cats & Friends store while we were heading down the hill to get to the nearest bus stop!

Anyway, it was really delightful that the weather has already calmed down by the time we're done with our lunch! We took the chance and left the comfort of our room for the next destination we're planning to explore the same afternoon! :D

Hehe... I won't disclose it for now but you surely won't want to miss it! So stay tuned alright? :)

p.s. You can now read Day 3's part 2/2 now here... :)

Kohii

2012-01-11T10:10:00.000+08:00

I guess I can say that it is not at all difficult to locate a salad or sandwich bar when you're in the CBD area at Raffles Place. But I would say, Kohii, a casual yet contemporary Tokyo style cafe and sandwich bar specializing in high quality coffee and homemade sandwiches and salads with ingredients imported from Japan, is definitely one of a kind.

Aside the above mentioned, pastries like muffins and cakes are also available at Kohii... :)

watching the staffs putting together our meal...

Daily Set Lunch - $10.00

includes soup of the day, sandwich, salad and freshly brewed coffee or tea...

The daily set lunch was introduced for the people with petite appetite or rather, it is definitely good for people like me who loves variety in my meal!

Left: Marinated Mushroom sandwich, Right: Teriyaki Chicken breast sandwich...

The full sandwich for the Marinated Mushroom sandwich and Teriyaki Chicken breast sandwich costs $10.50 and $9.50 respectively.

There's a good selection of choices in the menu and the stomachs of Ellena (CuisineParadise) and me could only managed to fit two choices. Frankly speaking, we both preferred the refreshing and flavourful Marinated Mushroom choice better as compared to the Teriyaki Chicken breast choice as we really thought it was really too tough and dry despite knowing it's chicken breast.

Assorted Seafood salad - $10.50

When it comes to seafood salad, you would normally get salad greens topped with prawns and crab meat only while at Kohii, the seafood salad is served with most of the typical Japanese seafood choices like the above mentioned, prawns and crab meat plus octopus chunks and scallops too.

It was really something I have yet to see anywhere else so far...

Anyway, all salads at Kohii are served with homemade dressings, Soy Vinaigrette, Goma or Miso at your choice. I personally prefer the Goma dressing which has a rich fragrant sesame flavour and I thought it went pretty well with the Assorted Seafood salad too.

And not that the Soy Vinaigrette or the Miso dressing is bad but in my opinion, the soy vinaigrette choice was a tad too sourish for me although I love vinaigrette dressings on my salad and the miso choice was a little too saltish.

Mixed Mushroom soup - $9.80

The Mixed Mushroom soup, a chef's recommendation on the menu, was no where near being too thick and creamy but it was a aromatic broth made with different types of mushrooms with a unique homely taste that you can never find anywhere else.

Like what I mentioned earlier, this soup is as one-of-a-kind as the cafe itself.

Left: Mango Momo, Right: Ichigo Nana

I'm a huge fan of milk but never a fan of milk related products like milkshakes or smoothies and these are probably the only ones that I will ever take since they have the milk replaced with vanilla to prepare the beverage. Ellena (CuisineParadise) and I thought the Mango Momo was really refreshing and taste really good with the combination of mango and peach blend in comparisons with the typical mango only smoothie.

Besides, there were probably more beverage choices on the menu than the sandwiches or salads combined together. And it's pretty interesting to find out that these drinks were actually named after the owner's daughters, Momo and Nana! :)

If you happen to be working in the proximity, you should never miss having a healthy yet hearty lunch here! Ok, or I should also say... You should never miss tea time too with Kohii! The places offers High Tea Specials (includes pastry and freshly brewed coffee or tea) at $7.90 from 2pm onwards or just $5.00 from 2 pm onwards every Friday! How much more awesome can that get? :D

Kohii
1 Shenton Way, One Shenton
#01-06 (S) 068803
Tel:6509 9639

Opening Hours: Mon - Fri 8.30am - 8.30pm, Sat 9.00am - 3.00pm (Closed on Sundays)

Website: https://www.facebook.com/kohii.asia

Soon Lee Porridge & Clementi Brothers Rojak

2012-01-06T10:10:00.000+08:00

Sometimes lavish dinners at a nicely air-conditioned restaurant just won't do for the unpredictable weathers here in Singapore lately. So those were the times when I would crave for something as simple as a good bowl of soup or porridge.

And all thanks to the foodie pals for the recommendations and directions, I satisfied my crave during a rainy evening at nowhere else but Clementi central the other day! :D

Stepping into the hawker centre, we took quite a while to locate the humble looking stall of Soon Lee Porridge as we were expecting a long queue or something along that line for a place so recommended when Deserved One was asking what we should have at Clementi Centre. When we finally found the stall and placed our orders, we realised that there isn't a physical queue but probably everyone sitting around the stall with empty tables were waiting for their porridge too. We were made to wait a good 15 minute before our porridge finally arrived.

The torment of waiting 15 minutes for our porridge was quickly forgotten upon the arrival of our orders!

My chicken porridge...

Deserved One's pork porridge...

On the first look, it does seems like both the choices were pretty much worth the amount of money paid until Deserved One decided to dig further into his bowl and we realised that there were so much more stuffs in his porridge as compared to mine!

I've yet to tried their fish porridge and so for now, the pork porridge has definitely won my heart!

Check out the pork liver!

Every piece is so thick and i love how it is left cooked on the outside, close to still raw on the insides! :D

I bet that's their "secret weapon", pork lard, for making their porridge so fragrant!

And so they say, a picture speaks a thousand words...

That's our verdict for the porridge, two completely cleaned out bowls in less 10 minutes! D

Irregardless of the pork, chicken or fish porridge you pick, the small portion will cost you $2.50 ($2.80 with egg) or $3.00 for a big portion which already includes an egg. And I guess I have a new found love apart from the peanut and pork porridge I had at Old Airport Road hawker centre, somewhere new serving food for me to crave for especially on a rainy and chilly day! Hehe...

Soon Lee Porridge
Blk 448 Clementi Ave 3,
Clementi 448 Market & Food Centre
#01-50, Singapore 120448

Operating hours: Mon - Fri 6.00am to 9.00pm, Sat 6.00am - 5.00pm (Closed on Sundays)

After cleaning out our bowl of porridges, we went off in search for the Clementi Brothers rojak stall that everyone were strongly recommending us to try! There was a queue but the wait for our turn wasn't that bad after all and the uncle served everyone in the queue warmly with a brilliant smile...Such nice tempers even though I bet he has been standing there since I don't know what time... Love the awesome service! :)

Somehow we are actually quite filled after devouring down our porridge but still greedy and dying to try the much recommended rojak, so we went for the smallest portion at $3.00 without further add ons.

Of course, there isn't abalones or foie gras in the rojak that made people want to queue for to get their rojak from them. Well, I will not comment on the portion but the the flavour and amount of the prawn paste used and the finely grinded peanuts were definitely worth the compliment! Somehow, it's definitely more fragrant in a way I cannot describe but the the rojak is definitely a perfect mix that will entice you!

Clementi Brothers Rojak
Blk 449 Clementi Ave 3,
See Lam Hern Coffeeshop,
#01-211, Singapore 120449

Yomenya Goemon

2012-01-02T10:10:00.000+08:00

Said to be the original Japanese pasta shop since 1976, Yomenya Goemon has outlets throughout Japan, Shanghai and now, Singapore. The place, serving spaghetti in Japanese flavours with chopsticks, not only re-invented the way to eat spaghetti but also, re-interpreted the idea of spaghetti in the minds of everyone. And with it located at the first few stores at Citylink Mall from Cityhall MRT station, the recent outlet there has definitely caught my attention!

Miso soup...

Despite the fusion of the different cuisine styles, the miso soups are still served in authentic Japanese way where you drink your miso soup straight from the bowl and probably use the chopsticks for the tofu and/ or kelp. But in our case, only the tofu.

Half & Half Set B - $20.00

Meat sauce spaghetti with mozzarella & eggplants (above) and Mentaiko, shrimps & Japanese herbs ao-shiso (below) served with soup, soft drinks or desserts

It was my first time eating there and the best way to try more of the different choices at one go was to take up their Half & Half set meals available throughout the day!

Both spaghetti were looks really simple, yet aromatic and saporous to taste. If I had to make a choice between the two, I prefer the Mentaiko, shrimps & Japanese herbs ao-shiso.

Pork & Crispy lotus roots with Japanese meat sauce spaghetti- $12.10

A little spicy and with a strong aroma spices & herbs combination in the meat sauce, Deserved One's choice of spaghetti reeks of flavours of the local cuisines. The spicy version of the spaghetti meat sauce with pork and lotus roots will definitely be good for people who doesn't really fancy cheese or strong Japanese flavours.

that's Deserved One while waiting for the food!...

I cannot exactly remember when was the last time I had a Japanese styled spaghetti and where but it sure was refreshing to the taste buds. It's like having the best of both worlds when you're craving for both the Western styled spaghetti and Japanese flavours at the same time!

Oh yeah, I'll definitely be back next time when I'm craving for both and cannot decide between Japanese or Western cuisines!

Yomenya Goemon
1 Raffles Link, Citylink Mall
#B1-63A, Singapore039393
Tel: 68845758

Operating hours: Mon - Sun 11.30am - 9.30pm (Last order: 9pm)

Website: http://www.n-rs.com.sg/ or Facebook page

In the last of 2011...

2011-12-31T23:42:00.001+08:00

I've decided to write it out in a blog post since it won't fit 140 characters on Twitter and it'll definitely look to lengthy on a Facebook status! So here goes...

2011 had been great for me. I've made new great friends, learnt new stuffs, pushed myself and excelled in more than one way. Basically I was just living my life the way I want it to be! :)

I thank my family for all the great spent time together and all the help rendered relentlessly when I need it!

I thank Deserved One for all his patience to my nonsense, all the love and his time given to me.

I thank the girlfriends & P-pearls for all the madness, KTV or shopping or feasting, and anything and everything to keep me sane.

I thank the colleagues for making the office so cheery everyday, for making OTs or overnight work so enjoyable.

I thank all the foodie friends/ tweeples for helping me get my year filled with so much food, all the food gatherings and tastings together! :)

I thank the readers for the constant support ever since and I sure hope I can bring yet another year of awesome writings to share!

Last but not least, I won't forget to thank stinkass f*cktards for all the stupid things they did to me for all their actions only helped to make me appear as a much better person than them.

Forget about looking out for my resolutions for the brand new year because I quit making resolutions. I'd rather live without regretting not completing any... :D

So cheers to the end of 2011...
Cheers to another great year ahead!

To 2012... and beyond! ~ :D

Shi Wai Tian 食唯天

2011-12-29T10:10:00.000+08:00

A tribute to the owners' grandmothers, stepping through the doors of Shi Wai Tian feels like you're stepping into a time machine and "teleport-ed" back to the days when sound tracks were played with gramophones and the timeless Coca Cola were still available in glass bottles here in Singapore.

Shi Wai Tian is a restaurant specializing in Malaysian zichar dishes from old recipes passed down from their grannies with simple and sleek interiors and decorated with items from the olden days. It was definitely comforting just being at the restaurant with friends sharing a table of food on a rainy evening! To me, it just feels like visiting my grandma's place when I was younger.

I spotted a banner outside the restaurant and it got me all excited...

Chao tar beehoon? As in burnt beehoon?! I'm really curious how it'll taste like!

Aloe Vera lime/ honey - $2.80 each

Braised peanuts for appetizers...

Shortly after a couple of munches on the braises pennuts, food was served!
We were unaware of what we'll be expecting for dinner as owner and the main man behind Shi Wai Tian, Ryan, decides to leave it as a surprise to us! And here's what was in store for us... :)

Claypot KL Bak Kut Teh 吉隆坡肉骨茶 - $6.50/ $12/ $18

The bak kut teh is a Chinese soup that is popularly served in Malaysia, Singapore and even Mainland China. There are two types of soup base to the bak kut teh served here in Singapore, the herbal soup base and the pepper soup base. The ones served at Shi Wai Tian is a claypot of herbal soup base, painstaking watched over and boiled by their head chef every morning, with generous servings of pork chunks and innards with vegetables, enokitake mushrooms and other stuffs.

And my favourite part of this dish got to be the pork chunks that were all slow-cooked till the flesh were soft yet tender and it separates from the bones with a light chew!

Chao Tar Beehoon 烧焦米粉 - $6/ $9/ $12

This was what I was all excited to taste after spotting the banner outside the restaurant. Apparently, the chao tar beehoon is a popular dish in JB, Malaysia but I'm quite doubtful if the plate of fried beehoon, that just seems to be accidentally overcooked, will be popular with the health conscious Singaporeans here.

Anyway, it was exactly how I expected it to be, a platter of burnt tasting fried seafood beehoon but actually it was rather fragrant with a squeeze of the lime provided.

Imperial Treasure Pot 一品锅 - $28

There's no specific ingredient for preparing the Imperial Treasure Pot. Or rather, it was said that you throw in the best you can find (e.g. abalone, sea cucumbers, scallops, roasted duck and so on...) and there you are, your own Imperial Treasure pot!

At Shi Wai Tian, the Imperial Treasure Pot was defined with prawns, scallops, fish, fish maw, mushrooms and broccoli stewed in a thick starchy broth.

Signature Tofu 招牌金花豆腐 - $10/ $15

A rather common dish of braised tofu but topped with deep fried enokitake mushrooms. It was quite a delightful combination of textures in one dish with the soft and smooth tofu with the crispy and chewy fried mushrooms!

Garlic Steamed Prawns 蒜蓉蒸虾 - $15/$22

The freshest catch will never need fanciful culinary skills to be prepared for serving and to me, steaming the prawns with garlic was indeed the best way to taste the freshness of the prawns.

As simple as it is, I really liked how the prawns were so tender and succulent after steaming with light enhancing flavours from the chopped garlic. And not forgetting all the effort for the presentation and how easy it is to extract the flesh of the prawns without much peelings required, I like this dish very much!

Nasi Pattaya - $6

You will probably know that the nasi pattaya is available in Shi Wai Tian only if you're a regular customer since it is not in the menu. If you're wondering, the nasi pattaya is rather similar with the Japanese omurice with Chinese-styled fried rice wrapped in an omelette!

Crispy Pork Ribs Drumlets - $4 each

It was the 1st time I was served pork ribs like these and after some understandings from Ryan and wife, the pork ribs drumlets were created because as a kid, Ryan will eat nothing but only chicken drumsticks! And in order to make sure that Ryan would have all types of food, his granny had to make everything look like a drumlet so that Ryan will have it. Such a nice granny!

Frankly speaking, it was surely quite a "masterpiece" and any kid will definitely be fooled! But aside from the crispy outer layer of the fried pork ribs, it tasted just like what we get in our typical Pork Ribs King.

Doesn't this reminds you of a game called Feeding Frenzy where "you" have to feast on smaller fishes to grow and the chain goes on... LOL!

3 Treasure Sea Cucumber wrap 荷包海参 - $20

Somehow, I love the sea cucumber ever since for it's jelly-like texture if it is well-prepared and I will say that the sea cucumbers we were served were really cooked to perfection. What I thought was a boo boo was the combination of the fillings in the sea cucumber wrap, it didn't actually help to enhance the texture or flavour of the sea cucumbers at all...

Claypot Tanghun Crab 砂煲冬粉螃蟹 - Seasonal

By the time the last dish arrives, we were already so filled with the 8 other dishes earlier on but the combination of the aroma drifting from the claypot and the crab looking so fat and juicy was really enticing and we found ourselves digging in eventually.

Indeed, there was nothing to regret trying to stuff ourselves further.

[From left] Ice Kachang - $2.80, Ice Ball - $1.80, Chendol - $2.80

Being a Malaysian zichar restaurant, a typical ice kachang or chendol dessert is definitely a must-have no matter how full you already are. Seriously, you should never miss their chendol served with gula melaka and sweetened condensed milk when you are dining there.

Their hotpot buffet is now back and available from 10pm to 12am daily!

Hotpot for supper sounds good to me actually and I might drop by when I'm thinking about supper next time when I am around the area! :D

All in all, I can say that the dishes served here are way more creative than most zichar stalls but I thought that since it's still a baby (at about 6 months now since their opening) in the market, there's definitely room to grow and improve on in every aspect... :)

食唯天 Shi Wei Tian
37/39 Joo Chiat Place
Tel: 6346 1338

Opening hours: Sun - Thu 11:30 am – 1:00 am, Fri - Sat 11.30 am – 3:00am

Website: https://www.facebook.com/shiweitianrestaurant

Travelogue: Taiwan Day 2 [Part 3/3] - Keelung Night Market 基隆廟口夜市

2011-12-27T10:10:00.000+08:00

If you need a recap or missed the previous posts on my Taiwan travelogue, you can read them at the following links... :)

Day 1 @ Shida Night Market 師大路夜市 here
Day 2 [Part 1/3] @ Jiufen 九份 here
Day 2 [Part 2/3] @ Yehliu Geopark 野柳地质公园 here

20th July 2011: Taiwan Day 2 [Part 3/3] - Keelung Night Market 基隆廟口夜市

After a wonderful and of course, fruitful trip to Yehliu Geopark, we headed for our last destination for the day. We actually wanted to drop by the Keelung Maritime Plaza too but after the under unforeseen circumstances of meeting the rain at Jiufen in the earlier part of the day and causing a delay in our itinerary, we had to give up the idea and proceed on to no where else but KEELUNG NIGHT MARKET 基隆廟口夜市 for the night!!! :D

Located about a 10 minutes walk away from the Keelung Railway station, the Keelung Night market 基隆廟口夜市 is a popular among locals or tourists alike for their wide selection of food available there! The night market runs along the lanes and alleys surrounding the Dianji Temple 奠濟宮 thus the Chinese name of the night market, 廟口夜市, meaning night market outside a temple.

arriving at Keelung Night market!

the famous food lane at Keelung Night market!

Upon seeing the distinctive and iconic rows of yellow lanterns hanging above, I suddenly felt the excitement gush all over my body! Trust me, every set of pictures of the Keelung Night market will definitely have something that looked like mine above and I have seen many of them in traveling documentaries or photos.

Yes, I knew it's going to be a street food galore there that night!

1st stop, Oyster omelet 蚵仔煎!

And we're actually sitted right in front of the the vendor's wok filled with fresh oysters and soaking in iced water! And all the time we were there, I was so tempted to ask the uncle if I can get just one more oyster off his entire wok there to eat! hehe! =X

That's our oyster omelet that cost us NT. 60!

The omelet with the left side covered with lots of oysters and drenched in a sweet and slightly spicy sauce. And their oyster omelet tastes so different from what we have here in Singapore!

The texture of the Taiwanese-styled oyster omelet was actually pretty gluey as compared to the burnt and slightly crispy omelets we have here! And together with the sweet sauce over the omelet, it taste less savory than our oyster omelets here all in all! However, I've really got to say that the oysters that they served us was really really fresh and I liked how it's a little more chewy after they are soaked in iced water before going on the plates! :D

2nd stop, QiPin Fried Chicken stall 7品黄金爆浆炸鸡

My sister-in-law simple loves her fried chicken butts 炸七里香 and we stopped by this stall and got ourselves some! By the way, this stall specializes in fried chicken parts like fried drumsticks, fried chicken wings, like fried chicken neck or what we had, the fried chicken butts and so much more!

Making the younger one try the fried chicken butts! Hehe! :D

The fried chicken butts cost us NT.50 for 3 sticks and it was quite an oily affair to try and finish all of them actually so much so that the cousin had a traumatizing first try on chicken butts! Oops!

3rd Stop, the shaved ice dessert stall!

Our 8 Treasure shaved ice for only NT.60!

We were actually dying for a iced cold drink to cool down after all the "exercising" at Yehliu Geopark and we chanced upon the dessert stall along the way and decided to have a bowl of shaved ice dessert to cool down instead!

Anyway, that bowl of 8 Treasures shaved ice we had costed us NT.60, which is approximately SGD$2.60 and more expensive on the average for a bowl of dessert here in Singapore. But I will still say that it is still considered cheap because there is so much varieties of the ingredients in the bowl and all of them in large quantities, the portion is really good for the three of us who were dying to cool down.

Cousin and sis-in-law with our dessert...

Can you now figure out how big the portion is? :)

4th stop, mini sausages!

sis-in-law demonstrating the locals' way of eating the sausages!

Yes and that's to pair every mouthful of your sausage with a small piece of garlic! All thanks to the taxi driver we met on the first night after we arrive at Taoyuan International Airport, we now know that it will actually make the sausages so much more delish than having the sausages just on its own! Everyone should try it!

5th stop, Pao Pao ice stall

after a long and chaotic wait, we managed to get our cup of lemon flavoured pao pao ice at only NT.10!

6th stop, spring roll with super random mix of fillings...

There were probably triple the number of different fillings we normally get from spring rolls here in SG! There were the typical slow-cooked radish, shredded carrots, cucumbers, eggs, char siew, shredded chicken, bean sprouts and so many other things! The best part is, it costed only NT. 30 if I didn't remember wrongly... That's almost the same price of the spring rolls here but more than triple the amount of fillings!

7th stop, baked potatoes with corns, bacons and turkey ham...

Sad to say that we're girls and our appetite isn't as big as any guy out there, we had to call it a day to our street food frenzy with the baked potato as the last item! Frankly speaking, if you love your potatoes and cheese, you'll never go wrong ordering something from this stall just near the main food street!

Spotted a stall along the food street selling these octopus tentacles and I wonder won't the humongous one on the right be ultra chewy like rubber after it is fried or barbecued? =S

Anyway, something common that we noticed at the night market is buttered crabs and glutinous rice! Too bad we had too much already before realizing that, we didn't manage to try any of those! I'll bear in mind to leave some stomach space for those during my next visit to Taiwan and Keelung Night market! :D

this sure reminds me of one of the Fun Fair booth here in SG!

But I really thought their idea of taping magnets to the back of the tortoises and letting the kids "fish" them is seriously quite cruel! Especially when there's times when the magnets would give way and the tortoise will experience a free fall, falling back into the water and hitting the base of the tub of water! That must have really hurt for them! :(

灯笼蛋塔 Lantern Egg tarts

Never judge a book by it's cover and seriously, never underestimate something looking as simple as this! I was a little reluctant to get these because it will cost us NT. 150 (approx. SGD$6.40) and that's about SGD$1.00 per egg and that sounded really expensive to me! But I was really thankful that the stall vendor managed to convinced us to get 1 box of 6 to try!

Look! Even CareBear is interested!

Within a short span of 10 minutes, the eggshells were completely cleaned out!

We normally get our egg tarts with the egg custard filled in a pastry tart but for these, the egg custards are actually filled in the egg shells and served! And I must say, the egg custards were so smooth that it felt like we're eating soy bean curd and I love it that it's not excessively sweet! If you're visiting the Keelung Night Market, this is one thing you must try and it sure will be a good dessert after all the food binge along the food street! Hehe... :D

We completed our little supper with a cup of fragrant tea from tea bags provided by our B&B!

Rounding up our awesome 2nd day in Taiwan with masks before allowing ourselves to drift in Dreamland! :)

I personally felt that the Keelung Night Market was indeed, one of the best night markets in Taiwan in terms of their street food! I'm sure there's no other night market (or maybe I haven't gotten the chance to visit all yet) that has such an elaborated food street with so much food choices!

Seriously loving the night market and it was definitely a great stop for us especially when we all tired and hungry from exploration Yeh Liu Geopark with Uncle Xu & wife!

I'll be back Keelung! :)

p.s. You can read Day 3, part 1/2 here now... :)

Cooking with YIFON Bottled Mushrooms & Chef Eric Teo PLUS 2012 calendars giveaway!

2011-12-22T10:10:00.000+08:00

You may be familiar with typical household brands like the Narcissus with canned mushrooms, canned stewed pork, lychee in can or Maling canned pork luncheon meat and now, Yit Hong Pte Ltd is proud to bring you a whole new range of pre-prepared and bottled mushrooms choices, halal-certified too, under their YIFON brand on top of their wide range of choices of canned products!

the ingredients we needed for the 3 items that we'll be learning to prepare that day...

I am so honoured to be invited by Jacqualine and Yit Hong Pte Ltd to a cookout session with Celebrity Chef Eric Teo and the brand new YIFON bottled mushrooms and some other products that their company carries! And so far, I have never been left in the kitchen alone and I was a little worried with what may become of what i was expected to prepare...

That was Chef Eric, very patiently sharing with us some cooking tips and showing us step by step of the procedure of how we're supposed to get the first dish done!

Anyone will probably know that it sure wasn't easy trying to prepare scallops but surprisingly, everything was made possible under the watchful eyes of Chef Eric! And I'm amazed that even someone as amateur in the kitchen as me can manage to whip up such a wonderful dish! Trust me, I can confidently say that I can remake this dish anytime and you're surely going to like it but that's provided that I have the YIFON spicy golden mushrooms! :D

And here you are, the end product of what I made!...

This easy to make yet stunning looking dish with the plating suggestion from Chef Eric only took us about 15 min to prepare! Doesn't it look like one of the courses from your fine dining experience? :D

And of course, the dish does tastes as good as how it looks with the XO sauce complimenting the scallops and a tinge of spiciness from the spicy golden mushrooms!

XO King Scallop with Spicy Golden Mushrooms & Crispy Rice Crackers (Serves 2)
Ingredients:
1 bottle YIFON Spicy Golden Mushrooms (170g), drained
6 pieces King scallops
6 pieces rice crackers, deep fried
1 tbsp XO sauce
1 stalk spring onion, sliced
1 piece red chilli, diced
1/4 tsp sesame oil

Method:
1. Heat up wok over medium to high heat with oil.
2. Pan-fry scallops for 30 secs on each side, add XO sauce and toss well.
3. Separately, mix YIFON Spicy Golden mushrooms with chilli and sesame oil.
4. Assemble YIFON Spicy Golden Mushrooms with scallops and rice crackers as shown, sprinkle with spring onions and serve.

After the first dish, which according to Chef Eric, was the most difficult dish that he is sharing with us during the session, it seems like the second and subsequent dish we are to prepare was easy peasy!

Aside from dicing the luncheon meat and adding into home-made fried rice, luncheon meat is typically just another sandwich filling for me. I have never ever thought of using luncheon meat on a bruchetta!

The bruchetta tasted similar to our typical comfort luncheon meat sandwich but with new zest of flavours with quail eggs, candied pineapples and cherry tomatoes. It's definitely easy to prepare and very presentable for your guests especially for occasions like Christmas party! :D

Pork Luncheon Meat Bruchetta (Serves 2)
Ingredients:
1 can Maling Pork Luncheon Meat
1 roll French Baguette, sliced
4 quail eggs, hard-boiled and halved
30g red cherry tomatoes, halved
30g shallot, sliced
20g Sweet basil leaves
30g Pineapples, diced

Method:
1. Slice Maling Pork Luncheon meat into 4" by 2". Pan-fry until both sides are crisp and brown. Set aside.
2. Toast sliced baguettes for 3 minutes.
3. Mix hard-boiled eggs, pineapples, tomatoes, sweet basil leaves, shallots and seasoning.
4. Top toasted baguette with luncheon meat and above mixture. Serve.

caught enjoying the bruchetta I made myself... hehe! :D

And finally, Chef Eric is showing us the last item we'll be preparing during the session with him.

Edunloaded and his sweet lil girl, Nicole...

I bet she's enjoying herself during the session with the easy to prepare dishes too!

Chef Eric showing us what he loves in his pizza...

and here's my pizza topped with YIFON assorted mushrooms, shaved ham, pineapples, tomatoes and shallots too before the showering a thick layer of cheese on top! Just the way I like it... :)

And my pizza baked and a layer of cheese already melted on top!
Frankly speaking, I have always had al fungi pizza but never thought of preparing home-made pizzas with mushrooms topping, let alone with assorted mushrooms! It was really refreshing to chew on the different textures of the different types of mushrooms, especially the golden mushrooms in the YIFON bottle!

Mini Ham and cheese pizza with assorted mushrooms (Serves 2)
Ingredients:
1 bottle YIFON Assorted mushrooms
2 pieces Pizza crust
3 tbsp Tomato sauce
10g red onions, diced
30g Turkey ham
20g Cheddar cheese
5g salad leaves
1/4 tsp Olive oil
1 pinch salt
1 pinch pepper

Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 180°, bake pizza crust for 3 minutes. The pizza crust should be golden brown, but soft in the center.
2. Spread tomato sauce evenly. Top with YIFON Assorted Mushrooms, salad leaves, ham and cheese.
3. Drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake for another 5 minutes then serve hot.

Look! Even the boss of Yit Hong Pte Ltd, Mr Ngo is enjoying himself during the cooking session too!

Time flies when you're having so much fun and our cooking session with Chef Eric reaches an end! I've really got to thank Chef Eric and everyone there that day for making the entire session so fun and the YIFON bottled mushrooms for making everything seems so easy in the kitchen! After the entire experience, I feel so much more confident even if I have to be left alone in the kitchen in future! :D

that's Chef Eric and me! :)

By the way! I have 20 copies of the Limited Edition 2012 calenders from Yit Hong Pte Ltd with recipes attached to give away! And to all you need to do is to...

Like Yit Hong Pte Ltd Facebook Page.
Like my post on their page!

The first 20 readers to leave a comment here with their email address will walk away with the limited edition 2012 calenders! And the first FOUR readers to leave a comment here on my blog post will get the autographed copies by Chef Eric! Simple as that! :D

And aside from that, if you like my post on Yit Hong Pte Ltd's page and if I manage to reach 100 likes before the rest of the bloggers, you might stand a chance to win with a Yit Hong hamper too! Awesome isn't it? What are you waiting for? :D

Vote for Singapore's favorite PERI-PERI flavour now!

2011-12-16T10:10:00.000+08:00

First, Singapore's in search of the our grass-root leaders in the General Elections then next, we had an election in search for Singapore's next president. And now, Nando's is in search for Singapore's favorite PERI-PERI flavour!

You might have already spotted a couple of hot chicks going around with Nando's mascot, Barcy and passing around some chicken in the four different flavours to help get the votes from everyone including people who didnt get the chance to dine in at Nando's...

Oops, sorry Barcy! We're not voting for you this time round!
But of course, we all still love you! :)

At Nando's there's so many different ways of how you want your flame-grilled chicken to be done! And doesn't it sound like how you want your beef steak done? hehe...

Anyway, there's four different flavours to pick from! There's Lemon & herb, Mild peri-peri flavour, Hot peri-peri flavour and last but not least, the extra hot peri-peri flavour!

The voting cards are conveniently available at any Nando's outlet for you to cast your votes!
Simply fill in your particulars and mark out your favorite flavour with a "X" and you're done!

Me, casting the votes from Deserved One and me!

Anyway, you can just quit guessing which flavour we love because you can find hints of which flavour we voted for in my review here! :D

Anyway, here's the catch and something you won't get if you're voting for the Singapore elections! Just kidding! =P

Vote for your favorite flavour now and stand a chance to be among the lucky 100 voters of the winning flavour to be invited to Singapore's First-Ever Nando's sizzling Peri-Peri Victory Party! You just need to keep the stub of your voting card (for reference and verification with the serial number on your voting card), and stay tune for the announcement of the results on 6th February 2012!

Yes, Nando's had very kindly increased the number of invites from 100 voters to 300 now to make the party even more peri-peri for each and everyone who is attending! WOW!

So what are you waiting for?! Head down to the nearest outlet now, enjoy a great food sharing time with your loved ones and cast your votes today!

For more infomation, please visit Nando's Facebook page! :)

FotoFriday: A beautiful night sky...

2011-12-09T10:10:00.000+08:00

It was one of those nights when i wished i had a bay window in my room to sit there and do nothing but get mesmerized by the beauty of Mother Nature... :)

Nando's & a peri-peri hot brand new Chickenland!

2011-12-08T10:10:00.000+08:00

I guess nothing beats sitting around the table with your loved ones on a beautiful weekend afternoon, sharing and catching up with the things you might have missed about them during the week over platters and platters of food. I mean, I really enjoy doing that actually and I think I have found the perfect place serving food on sharing platters and it's none other than the most peri-licious Chickenland, Nando's!

And guess what! They're moving into the heartlands in Singapore and there's one outlet just at Tampines Mall and it's so near home now! By the way, the other heartland outlet is at the brand new mall, I12 Katong! :D

I'm not sure if it's just me but I love the interiors of the place as compared to the other Nando's outlets. I'm in love with not only their typical wood and country theme but also the full length glass window at the Tampines Mall outlet, which allows the sunlight to shine in during the day and brighten up the restaurant.

If you're going to have lunch or tea there alone or in a small group of 4 or less, try asking for the tables near the glass windows and I bet you will agree with me! :D

The staffs were really enthusiastic about serving each and everyone in the restaurant and they were really attentive to what we need even without us asking. Fair enough, the promise was kept!

And *drum roll*... the food!

First up, the drinks!

Refresh Mint, Citrus Bliss, Crimson Cola, Madeira Red and Sparkling Apple - $4.90 each

My favourite has got to be the Refresh Mint drink. No doubt the drink is refreshing, it tasted a little like mojito but without the alcohol contents.

Wild Mushroom soup & bread - $6.50

The mushroom soup is a thick creamy broth of mushroom and chicken bits with a zest of peri-peri sauce. It was definitely a twist and a pleasant surprise for us and for once, we no longer need addition grounded pepper for our soup!

Petisco - $23.90

A sharing platter at the start of the meal and it was simply a platter of delight! This platter definitely looks like it's for people who cannot decide which they really prefer, so Nando's is giving you the best of everything on just one platter! There were chicken wings and chicken thigh chunks in mild peri peri flavour served with pita bread, creamy perinaise, peri hummus and olives! The mild peri peri flavour with a tinge of lemon and slightly spicy was really appetizing and perfect as a starter.

Chicken livers & Portuguese roll - $7.90

Something uncommon in most restaurants, the flame-seared chicken livers are served in rich mild peri-peri gravy goes really well with the Portuguese roll. However, if you're not a fan of intestinal parts, it is not advisable to get this as a starter for your meal.

Trying out the peri-peri sauces!

From right: Garlic peri peri, Hot peri peri and Extra hot peri peri...

We kinda liked the extra hot peri peri sauce actually. The flavour of the sauce is at its extreme, very spicy and very strong sourish lemon flavour, but it definitely stood out against the normal hot peri peri sauce. I would suggest the Garlic peri peri sauce for people who are not fond of the extra hot flavour.

Espetada - $24.90

served with coleslaw and peri potato salad (or any 2 sidelines of your choice)

One thing about the chicken at Nando's, every single piece of them served are so well marinated and prepared that every piece is so juicy and succulent and bursting with flavours of their peri peri sauce marination.

The flame-grilled chicken thigh chunks marinated with mild peri peri sauce and skewered with green pepper is one of my favourite dishes during our lunch that day! :D

Cataplana - $19.90

The cataplana reminds me of paella actually but just that it is served in traditional Portuguese copper dish! When the cataplana was served and the copper dished was opened, it was such a beautiful sight with all the different colours from the green and red peppers, carrots, brocolli, onions and zucchini!

Alas, something that is not peri peri hot at Nando's! Seriously, if you're not a fan of spicy food, the lemon & herb flavour is definitely your choice for your chicken at Nando's. The combination of the taste of lemon and herb was really refreshing.

Portuguese salad - $7.90

If you love your greens, you should go for this salad served with Portuguese vinaigrette.

I simply enjoy vinaigrette dressings on my salad! :D

four 1/4 chickens - $10.90 each

In order to help us decide which was our favourite peri peri flavour among the four different choices, we were served 1/4 chickens prepared in the different marination!

The preferences of the table of four of us clearly shown according to how much we ate from each piece!

I love my spicy food but I normally prefer it to not be extremely spicy and at the same time sweet, just like sambal chilli. And after tasting all the four different choices available at Nando's, surprisingly, the chicken in the extra hot peri peri sauce won my heart!

I would say that my vote goes out to the extra hot peri peri sauce as it is more distinctive in terms of flavour as compared to the three other sauces.

Some of the choices available for side dishes at Nando's...

Coleslaw, Peri 3 Bean salad, Mediterranean rice & Potato Lime leaves skewer - $3.85/$5.85 each

Something interesting and new to me is the Potato Lime leaves skewer and the Peri 3 bean salad! The coleslaw was also quite favorable in my opinion.

Last by not least, we ended our afternoon lunch at Nando's with desserts!

There were Natas, Caramel Cheesecake, Chocolate crunch roll and Lighten up chocolate cake on a platter (normally not served like this), ranging from $4.90 to $7.90. Although we're already very stuffed way before desserts were served, I can't stop myself digging in to this! Oh com'on! Who doesn't love desserts?

Anyway, my favourite has got to be the chocolate crunch roll (3 pieces for $5.90)! I love how the texture is like an entire piece of chocolate, soft and creamy, filled with crispy and crunchy little bits of biscuits. And the natas simply tasted like the pastry version of Portuguese egg tarts! Hehe... I love Portuguese egg tarts! :D

Deserved one and me enjoying our lunch by the full length glass window & the awesome afternoon sun! :)

I can't resist but I had to snap photos of this baby girl! She was actually looking through the menu very seriously and somewhat telling her parents what she wants for her lunch in her own gibberish methods! See! Even a baby girl loves and wants Nando's her own way! WOW!

Deserved One and me with Barcy!

Anyway, thank you Jemimah from Vibes Communication for the invitation and Nando's and all the floor staffs for hosting us! It was a wonderful afternoon and I'll definitely be back! :)

spotted Barcy is taking a break while we were enjoying our food!

It must be real tiring to have to run the "elections" to find Singapore's favourite peri-peri flavour! Hehe! Anyway, look out for my next post to know more about the voting! :D

Sharing Meal for 6 - $98.80

In correspond to the "elections" for Singapore's favourite peri peri sauce, Nando's is now offering sharing meal for 2 or 4 or 6 persons priced from $38.80 to $98.80! So what are you waiting for? Visit the nearest Nando's outlet (Tampines Mall in my case) this weekends with your loved ones for a sharing good time! :D

Nando's
4, Tampines Central 5,
Tampines Mall, #01-46
(S) 529510
Tel: 6789 5052

Opening Hours: 10:00am - 10:00pm daily

Website: http://www.nandos.com.sg/ or Facebook Page

Travelogue: Taiwan Day 2 [Part 2/3] - Yehliu Geopark 野柳地质公园

2011-12-06T10:10:00.000+08:00

If you need a recap or missed the previous posts on my Taiwan travelogue, you can read them at the following links... :)

Day 1 @ Shida Night Market 師大路夜市 here
Day 2 [Part 1/3] @ Jiufen 九份 here

20th July 2011: Taiwan Day 2 [Part 2/3] - Yehliu Geopark 野柳地质公园

As I mentioned in my previous post, 许大哥, owner of the B&B Inn we were lodging at, helped us had some transportation arranged and we were sent out of Jiufen 九份, away from the gloomy and rainy weathers, passing Keelung 基隆 and finally to Wanli District 萬里 for none other than the Yehliu Geopark!

here's a little map to show the context of the location of Yehliu Geopark 野柳地质公园...

We travelled from Jiufen 九份 (bottom right), crossing Keelung 基隆 (middle) and finally arriving at Yehliu Geopark 野柳地质公园 (top left), located in Wanli District 萬里, after an approximately half hour car ride.

Just for NT. 50, which is approx. SGD$2.15 and you're in for a feast of scenery!

it was a long walk through a landscaped area... we're already starting to feel deceived some how...

Then we spotted something finally!

Us with the cute cartoon version of the famous Queen's head 女王頭 and a replica in the background...

It was said that the "neck area" of the original Queen's head 女王頭 is slowly thinning and the "head" will eventually fall off due to weathering thus their efforts to make a replica to remember that piece of natural rock formation that looks like the Queen's head!

and after about a 5 min walk, here's presenting to you... YEHLIU GEOPARK 野柳地质公园!

Mushroom Rocks

These mushroom rocks grouped on the wave-cut platform in Yehliu Geopark are formed with globe-shaped rocks on top while supported by thin stone pillars on the bottom. The Queen's head is actually the most famous mushroom rock in Yehliu Geopark.

There's some ocean erosion potholes on the surface of the wave-cut platforms in the foreground...

Yehliu Geopark! YAY!

Honeycombed weathering...

The uneven surfaces are usually caused by the differential erosion caused by weathering thus resulting in honeycombed-like holes on the surface of the rocks.

as beautiful as it is despite the gloom and the low lying dark clouds threatening to pour on us...
Anyway, that's the Marine Bird rock in the photo on bottom left... :D

Cousin & sis-in-law at the lalang field! Beautiful isn't it? :)

Considering the fact that the place is getting darker every minute and we're not familiar with the place at all, we're almost going to give up and leave thinking that we have already seen the entire Yehliu Geopark until we met a pair of locals who were having their usual evening exercise (barefooted like all the others exercising there) at the Geopark. They had very nicely decided to bring us around and showed us so much more and what we could have actually missed!

Taking off with the Uncle Xu & wife with new hopes to see more of Yehliu Geopark! :D

They even explained that at Yehliu Geopark, there's no limits to your imaginations. No one rock is the same to everyone, it's up to how your eyes sees them as. And so, our little journey of imagination begins!

Bean curd rock...

It takes two groups of concretions nearly being vertical to each other and under the erosion of seawater that makes the rocks develop into the shape of bean curd.

Weathering rings leaving a trail of beautiful patterns on the surface of the rock.

Isn't Mother Nature making everything so gorgeous? :)

Lovers Cave 情人洞

The "情" word is missing already due to weathering and now it reads "人洞", as in "man-hole"? hehe...

Anyway, the Lovers cave is a pair of sea caves located side by side along one side of the big cuesta. There was a story that goes that a couple had made decisions to commit suicide there as both their families had disapproved of their love. The girl fell asleep inside the cave and dreamed of a bird asking her to cherish her life; the girl told the boy about her dream and the boy listened with surprise since he himself dreamed of the same scene as the girl did. Later on, they gave up the idea of committing suicide and went home with hope.

it was as gloomy as it seems in this picture because there were the dark clouds threatening to pour rain on us and it was almost time the sun is due to set...

look at the beautiful lines created by Mother Nature...

and every time i look at this photo, it reminds me of a sand dune instead of Yehliu Geopark...hehe!

By the way, Uncle Xu & wife didn't only play guides to us, they even helped us take numerous photos so that we'll surely go home and never forget Yehliu... how sweet isn't it? :)

that's us standing on a piece of Ginger rock...

us on the side of the "Gueitou Mountain"...

for more sightseeing with Uncle Xu & wife which a big cuesta located furthest from the entrance...

A candid shot of us right after the previous shot...

As calm and cool as we looked in the previous shot, guess what's the panic all about! We're actually braving the sea cockroaches and managing such a brilliant smile and right after the picture was taken, you see us trying our best to get out of that spot and away from them as soon as we can!

it took Uncle Xu & wife quite a while to calm us down after the shock from all the sea cockroaches and the imagination journey continues... :)

spot a wild boar there?

Some says it looks like a horse but oh well, that's up to your own imagination yeah? :)

The Old Man's head and the beautiful sea view...

We all agreed that somehow it looked like an octopus head or even a skull!

three Old Men...can you see them? hehe!

that's us with the Old Man's head behind... :)

Amid the exploration with Uncle Xu & wife on the far back end of Yehliu Geopark, I turned around and noticed how beautiful it is... The steep flight of steps (can you figure out where? hehe...) reminds me of the Great Wall of China and all the weathered and sand coloured side of the "Gueitou Mountain" was really gorgeous. For a split second looking at this view, I thought i was somewhere else instead of Taiwan!

Wow a turtle! No, i mean a rock turtle! hehe...

And then something caught my eyes!...

It's a RAINBOW!!!

and a little cam-whoring session begins! hehe...

the 3 of us with the rainbow behind!...

I really love this photo of us at Yehliu Geopark, credits to Uncle Xu & wife! :)

a picture with Uncle Xu & wife for keep sake...

so that we'll always remember them, remember the gorgeous scenery and the awesome experience they gave us at Yehliu Geopark! :)

The rainbow and this is just only half i can manage to capture in the picture...

All I can say is that we're really lucky to be able to see such a perfect rainbow after the rain that day. Can you imagine a perfect arc from the horizon on the left to the right and a beautiful and distinct array of the seven different colours of the rainbow? Simply awesome...

Same view at where we started but it clearly looks like it's starting to get darker!

Heading back to the center area of the park to see more!

Yes, it was growing darker by the minute :D

an example of a sea groove in the park...
and they had bridges set up to connect the two pieces of land that had been separated due to erosion...

alas, a picture with the most famous mushroom rock formation in the entire park, the Queen's head!

As you can see, the "neck area" of the Queen's head rock is already thinning due to the wind erosion and due to break anytime soon. I'm not sure if I'll still get to see it and get another picture with it when I visit Taiwan and the park again! :(

I suppose this arch is supposed to be the Gorilla rock...
but somehow, it didn't really look like a gorilla to me from where i saw it... hehe!

This picture of the gorgeous sunset at Yehliu Geopark, as featured on my FotoFriday post here, has got to be one of my favourite photo of the entire trip!

as the sun sets, the fishermen gathers at the wave-cut platform of the park...

and another photo of the sunset, as featured on another FotoFriday post here...

a (what seems to me) weather station perched on top the big cuesta covered with wild lalang...

I don't know but this view just looks so dreamy to me, like a picture off the fairy tales. Don't you think so too? :)

more photos of my cousin, sis-in-law and me in the geopark credits to the efforts of the lovely couple! :)

another mushroom rock but don't you think this one looks like a of trophy? :)

Candle shaped rocks in front and can you spot a smiley face facing the sky in the background?

enough of fancy settings to the camera to capture the nicest pictures of the sunset there...

this is what the sunset really looked like to a naked eye. Still beautiful isn't it? :)

Here's a tip we learned from our driver, 袁大哥, who took us there and Uncle Xu & wife that Yehliu Geopark the ticketing booth and entrance opens till 6:00pm daily and as long as you get in there before that, you can stay on till anytime you want. BUT then again, it might get a little dangerous with the uneven rock surfaces, no safety railings along the platforms or the lightings when it gets darker. Please go with someone familiar with the place or a guide! :)

And as much said, if you can, visit the park with a guide between 6:00pm to 7:00pm to catch the awesome sunset like what we experienced there! :D

Yehliu Geopark 野柳地质公园
No.167-1, Kantung Rd.,
Yehliu Valley,Wanli District,
New Taipei City 20744, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Tel：886-2-24922016

Website: http://www.ylgeopark.org.tw/

So that's my little experience at Yehliu Geopark for you!

And when I am through researching for more information to share on this post, I really realised the real extent of how much more Uncle Xu & wife had actually shown us that day when we met them at the geopark! Or I can say, they have actually showed us whatever listed in the list of rock formations in Yehliu Geopark as shown on their website! As such, of cos all names and information is credited and extracted from Yehliu Geopark's website!

I feel so privileged for their hospitality and of course, I'm more than grateful that we had met them.

Somehow at the bottom of my heart, it's aching and missing them and the geopark... :(

p.s. You can now read part 3 of 3 for Day 2 here now! :)

2D1N Soju Bang - Korean Grill BBQ Buffet

2011-12-02T10:10:00.000+08:00

I had a random dinner meet up with part of my dearest P-pearls 2 weeks ago and we made a random decision to head down to Tanjong Pagar area for the Korean BBQ! I didn't had my camera with me, so please bear with the photos of iPhone quality only. Besides, I doubt I will want my camera there with all the oil splattering, grease and smoke!

Gogi gui or what we all know commonly known as Korean BBQ is probably one of my favourite type of food from the Korean cuisine. The Korean BBQ is usually a real meaty affair and at 2D1N Soju Bang, the meat choices takes up more than 50% of the food selection on the buffet spread!

There are choices of chicken, pork and beef and there were different meat types like pork belly, pork ribs, beef tenderloin, beef steak, chicken, there was 12 different types of meat in all and all marinated pretty well. And I thought that the marination of their meat was the only thing that will draw me back to the place.

Trying to make our own Korean styled fried noodles with whatever we can get off the buffet spread...

tada~ the end product! Looks appetizing isn't it? :D

By the way, we got a little sick and tired of having so much meat when we're almost at the end of our dinner and realised that we have yet to had any carbo to fill ourselves for the night thus we decided to stir-fry some noodles with whatever we can find!

We threw in garlic and bean paste as the base together with noodles, chicken and sausages that we can find off the buffet spread. Of cos, it was not just for fun and for wasting! We ate up every bit of our creation and of course, it was really good actually! :D

Sweet corn salad...

One of the things that I want to highlight aside from the meat selection has got to be their sweet corn salad! Their sweet corn salad comes with mayonaise and bits of lettuces and carrots and it was really interesting and quite (i can say) refreshing while you're having so much barbecued meat! I seriously never thought of having sweet corns as the "main star" of my salad before!

By the way, aside from the meat for BBQ that I mentioned earlier, there's also Korean side dishes, salads, soup and sauces available.

2/3 of the P-pearls...

that's Monkey and me...

and here's Ah vim and Acd Lun...

There are quite a number of Korean BBQ joints around Tanjong Pagar area actually and the 2D1N Soju Bang was the one that had acquired so much more attention than the rest.

The place is rather spacious but you can experience quite a long wait when you visit during meal hours. The food was not that bad after all in my opinion although the selection was rather small. But i won't blame the restaurant, what was provided was really what the Koreans will have for their BBQ session.

On a side note, the smell on your hair and clothes can get real nasty after dining in there. This place is definitely not advisable if you're planning to go somewhere else after your meal!

2D1N Soju Bang - Korean Grill BBQ Buffet
44/46 Tanjong Pagar Road
Tel: 6227 6033

Opening Hours:Monday - Sunday 11.30am - 2.30pm, 5.30pm - 3.00am

Wordless Wednesday: Hotpot Culture

2011-11-30T10:10:00.000+08:00

Hotpot Culture
6 Raffles Boulevard, Marina Square
#02-138D Singapore 039594
Telephone: 6333 9844

Operating Hours:
Sun - Thur: 11:30 am - 10:00 pm
Fri, Sat, Eves of & On PH: 11:30 am - 11:00 pm

Website: http://www.hotpotculture.com/ or Facebook page

Advertorial - Adorninglory

2011-11-28T12:00:00.000+08:00

Named via Haylee, the accessory creator's favourite word, glory, Adorninglory is a blog and at the same time, an online shop founded in July 2011. At Adorninglory, you can find each and every piece of creation, carefully hand-crafted by Haylee, is a distinct individual that reflects a part of Haylee's personality and there will be no duplicates sold. She hopes to inspire every one with her unique handmade crafts and accessories and she's even planning to venture into crafting home decor items too.

And so it says, if you get an item from Adorninglory, you'll never be afraid to bump into someone else along the streets wearing the same piece. This online shop is definitely perfect for people who loves to be different from the crowd, unique in fact.

So one of those days, I was asked to head down to town to receive the my necklace from no where else but Adorninglory!

Isn't it a sweet and pretty package?

Are you wondering what's inside? :)

tada~ Those waves from her latest collection!

Made up of the most basic material you can ever think of, the white cotton twine and of course, with a little magic from the delicate handicraft skills of Haylee, Those waves was created!

To my amazement, it was really so much more hardy than it looks from the pictures and yet so lightweight that you won't even feel it there when you're wearing it! And the best part, it's in the most basic white colour and it's simply the perfect match for anything (no pun intended) I have in my wardrobe at the moment! I totally adore the piece and wore it out the very next day after receiving it!

I'm sorry if you love this piece too but it has already found its rightful owner, which is me! hehe... :D

Christmas PROMOTIONS! 50% off any 2nd items!

Anyway, fret not!... There's many other creations in the same collection as my necklace and some are still available and waiting for someone to bring them home! And what's more! There's a Christmas promotion going on at Adoringlory right now! You can miss anything else in this world but not this! Visit http://adorninglory.wordpress.com/ now and grab your favourite creation by Haylee now before it is sold out!

Here's an early X'mas greeting to everyone, hohoho MERRY CHRISTMAS! :D

FotoFriday: Awaiting the arrival of the Prince on a handsome white horse...

2011-11-25T10:10:00.000+08:00

Probably about a month from now, my one and only dearest sister is due to wed!
And by then, she will be due to move out to her own place too. I'm so gonna miss her and her presence at home although both our work conditions are totally different, she always leave home before I wake and she is already in dreamland when I get home most of the time. And yeah, gonna miss sharing the queen size bed in our room with her! :(

But yeah, I definitely wish that she'll have a blissful marriage! So excited for the day to come for her prince to come fetch her with a handsome white horse... :)

Haagen Dazs Journey of Indulgence

2011-11-23T10:10:00.001+08:00

The lights are back up and all around town, the lights are shining like stars against the sky at night! Yes, the festive season is back! Christmas is here again!!!

And this year, I'm ushering in Christmas a little different all thanks to Charlene (missuschewy) for inviting Deserved One and I to join Mister Chewy and her after she had won tickets from a Facebook contest by Smith Leong of Waddup Events!

The Chewies with Deserved One and I at Haagen Dazs, Esplanade before the "Journey of Indulgence"...

All ready to board the bus and embark on our little journey!

on board an open-top bus and the journey begins!

The entire journey includes free flow of luscious Haagen-Dazs ice cream, champagne and gourmet chocolates. Oh and not forgetting a free flow of a feast for your eyes on all the Christmas lighting too when the bus brings you around town!

Deserved One and me... :D

There's only bound to be more good than bad when a Santarina appears...
And yes! She's giving out the 1st round of ice creams!

the ice creams came in two flavours, Coffee or Cookies & Chocolate...

YUMMEH! :D

To think about it, the last time I had Haagen-Dazs ice cream was......... Hehe never mind! I love the Cookies & Chocolate flavour, Deserved one enjoyed the Coffee flavour too!

look at how happy we are with the ice cream! hehe...

I love this photo too, thanks to the Chewies for the shot! :D

The sweet Chewies enjoying themselves too... :)

Right after the ice creams, it's time for Champagne! :D

Cheers to a merry Christmas and the awesome time on board! :D

Champagne and us! :D

The night won't be any prettier without you... :)

And another Santarina appeared again! And guess what?

She's giving out CHOCOLATES!

Deserved One and our chocolates... :)

Valrhona chocolates! ♥

Here's some photos of the Christmas lighting around town!

And before we knew it, amid all the ice cream, champagne and chocolates, an hour had flew passed and we arrived back at where we started off at the Esplanade!

a shot with the Santarinas who were with us on our little journey!

Got to really thank them for being so sweet the whole time and made the entire journey so enjoyable! :)

and not forgetting our free Polaroid shot with a 20% off voucher attached!
I can see myself in a Haagen-Dazs cafe again in the near future! Woohoo!

It was my first time on board the open-top tour buses in Singapore and touring town like I've never been in Singapore. I must say, it was my first time experiencing Christmas like this. It was a really amazing and indulgent journey with Haagen-Dazs and of cos, the friends and love ones!

Once again, thank you Charlene for inviting us to come along! :)

By the way, if you're interested to experience Christmas the same way too, from now to 4th Dec 2011 and limited to the first 800 customers only, all you have to do is to spend $50 at any Haagen-Dazs cafe and get an exclusive invite for 2 to "The Journey of Indulgence".

For more information, please refer here.

Travelogue: Taiwan Day 2 [Part 1/3] - Jiufen 九份

2011-11-21T10:10:00.000+08:00

If you have missed my travelogue post on my 1st night in Taiwan at Shida Night market 師大路夜市, you can back track and read it here before proceeding with my travelogue post on our Day 2 there! ;)

20th July 2011: Taiwan Day 2 [Part 1/3] - Jiufen 九份

We woke up to a beautiful morning in Taipei and we're all ready to set off to our first destination in our trip, Jiufen 九份. The room we had for the night was a spacious, clean and cosy room and no doubt, we had an awesome night sleep in our room with Taipei Easystay.

Look at the awesome smile on my cousin's face... proves it all? hehe... :D

That's us in our room having breakfast of the soya beancurd from 7-11 we bought the night before...

Anyway, here's more photos of our room [photo credits: Taipei Easystay]...

Our room, Type 7L, at Taipei Easystay costed us only NT. 1100 for a night, and like I said earlier, it was a spacious, clean and cosy room for the three of us. Although there isn't extra beds provided for having more than 2 persons in the room, their couch was so big and comfy and good enough as a bed for 1 person too!

The place is located in the heart of Taipei City on Section 1, Xinsheng North Rd 新生北路一段, approximately 10 minutes walk from the Zhongshan station 捷運中山站. If you're looking for a cheap yet decent lodging for your trip in Taipei, this is really the place to go for! :)

[photo credits: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/50037201]

And after we're done with checking out, we proceeded to the Taipei Train station to deposit our big luggages at the Taipei Railway Station Carry-on Baggage Center as it'll be a little inconvenient to carry big luggages to Jiufen 九份 where it's mostly steps and sloping roads. It cost us approximately NT. 200 for 3 luggages for 3 days (NT. 17/ luggage per day for the first 10 days and NT. 34 per day thereafter) and we're really thankful to be able to leave our bulky luggages behind while we whisk off to Jiufen 九份 for more fun fun fun! :D

Bought our train tickets (approx. NT. 100 per person to get to Ruifang station from Taipei Train station) and headed off to explore the Taipei Train station and Breeze Center 微風廣場, in search of brunch!

Curry Palace 咖哩皇宮

There were quite a wide variety of eateries and shops at the Breeze Center 微風廣場 but the Curry Palace 咖哩皇宮 caught our attention! The place is like a food court with 6 different stalls selling curry from different cuisine styles like Indian curry, Japanese curry or even curry from the European style.

Mt. Fuji Curry King 富士山咖哩王

We're definitely spoilt for choice there and not sure which stall to pick, thus we picked the first stall nearest to us, Mt. Fuji Curry King 富士山咖哩王. After noticing the big portions of the set meals from the trays carried away by other customers in front of us, we ordered two sets to share among the three of us.

Chicken with black pepper sauce on hot plate...

Pork cutlet with Japanese curry and omurice...

We all agreed that the food from Mt. Fuji Curry King 富士山咖哩王 was just normal to me. I thought that we should have taken the other stalls into consideration when we're choosing our food and the price we paid, approx. NT. 240 for each set meal, we definitely could have a better brunch than that despite on the big portions.

Cousin and me at Zeze Green Tea cafe...

Cousin and sis-in-law at the cafe too...

We still had a some time to spare before trying to catch a train at about 12pm so that we will not leave Taipei Station 臺北車站 and reach Ruifang Station 瑞芳車站 too early since the train ride was about one hour plus and the pick up from there to our hotel in Jiufen 九份 is at 2pm.

We stopped by Zeze Green Tea Cafe and tried a cup of their green tea ice blended. It was good but I thought I still love the green tea cream or latte from Starbucks here in Singapore! :D

And finally, at the train platform waiting for the right train to board! :D

Spotted a little girl who really resembles me when I am at her age! My long lost sister? LOL!

Waiting very patiently to board the right train to embark on our route to Jiufen 九份!

Taipei Railway Bento 台鐵便當

After watching most of the travel documentaries, it was said that Taiwan has really good railway bentos and we're really hoping to be able to try as many as we can. But sadly, the Taipei Railway Bento 台鐵便當 was the one and only one we manage to try!

The bento consists of a piece of pork ribs, two types of stir-fried vegetables, ikan bilis and preserved vegetables, an egg with rice and that cost us NT. 80. I thought it was a decent on-the-move meal and satisfying but a little disappointing after pinning so much expectations on the bento after watching the travel documentaries.

Anyway, if you're wondering, food and drinks are allowed on their railway and HSR trains! The best part is... the trains and platforms are still squeaking clean! That's really very amazing and nice isn't it? :D

baby traveling on the same train with milk rash... but still so cute!

And about 1 hour later... we reached Ruifang Station 瑞芳車站!

And spotted a food street 瑞芳美食街 just in front of the train station and it was really really crowded along the streets! It's like there's a Chingay Parade going on!

the carnival-liked funeral march...

It was like an endless chain of performers. There were musical bands, Chinese instruments, horses and flower cars. The more we looked on, the more it didn't look like a carnival after all and so I decided to ask a lady beside me and we finally got to know that it was actually a funeral march! =S

The lady also very nicely elaborated to us that the march had already lasted for an hour before we arrived and in the traditions in Ruifang 瑞芳, friends and families will engage and pay for each and every "performance" as a sign of showing their last respects for the deceased. The length of the march shows how well-off the family of the deceased is. The longer it is, the richer the deceased and the family.

It was something that we didn't really expect to see, definitely a one of a kind experience.

And after realising it's a funeral march, we decided not to mingle around longer in the hot sun and made a stop by at one of the supermarkets near the train station while waiting for our pick up to our hotel...

Look at the larger can of beer!

And can you imagine? The larger can of beer costs you only NT. 120 and it's almost as much as what we pay here in Singapore for the regular sized ones! That's really cheap!

Enjoying ourselves shopping in the supermarket... hehe!

And our transport arrived and after settling our check ins, we finally arrived at our room at Windsor B&B 九份溫莎堡老舍民宿 for our 2 nights stay in Jiufen 九份 and all I can say is that once we stepped into the place, we fell in love with it immediately!

It was a double storey room and it can actually fit up to 4 persons with a double bed on the 1st floor, another on the 2nd floor!

At the door of our room...

a family of 4 frogs greeted us!

When we 1st entered the room, the owner of the Bed & Breakfast Inn 民宿 explained that the room we had is decorated with a frog theme so we see lots of frogs all around. The frogs comes in figurines, soft toys and even paintings!

1st floor and just beside the door to our room, a sofa bed with tv and hot water dispenser...

there's also a small fridge on the lower floor...

a stairway up to the upper floor...

and the moment we arrived at the end of the steps, our jaws dropped...

a full glass panel window in front of the bed with an awesome view!

Imagine...You open your eyes in the morning and wake up to this awesome view?

at the back of the room was the showers and toilet...

more figurines and soft toys in front of the shower and toilet...

There's even comics and magazines provided if you're planning to spend a lazy afternoon in your room!

Couch and dressing table!

beautiful glass lamp on the dressing table...

view from the window on the upper floor. Simply awesome isn't it? :D

Looking at that smile, it's obvious we're very very contented with the room!

Cousin enjoying the view...

a small balcony area on the lower floor...

somewhere where you can sit and enjoy an afternoon tea and enjoy the view from your room...

us outside our room, done with exploring our room and all ready to head out!

no pun intended, it turned as dark as what you see and it started pouring...

Rain is something very common in Jiufen 九份 so don't get discouraged by the weather if you're planning to tour the place, just be prepared for the rain mentally and physically! :)

We took refuge in the B&B inn's cafe while waiting for the rain to cease before we could move on with the rest of the plans for the day. And seeing us a little helpless and moods dampened with the rainy weather conditions, the owners very nicely offered to help us arrange for transport so that we can get out of the rainy Jiufen 九份 as soon as possible. All we need to do is to sit around, enjoy the milk tea they made for us (FOR FREE!) and wait!

fogging on the mountains after the rain...

Kitty hates the rain too...

许大哥, the owner of the Windsor B&B...

许大哥 runs the B&B inn together with his wife and 2 children. He was also the one who picked us up from Ruifang station and the one who helped us with our bags!

And although we waited for our "rescue" for almost 1 hour before we were on our way out to continue our plans for the evening and night, we really appreciated the help of 许大哥 and his daughter. If not for them, we might have cancelled the plans and remained in our room for the rest of the day and missed a lot of stuffs that we finally managed to see in the end!

And... if you're interested to know what we did for the evening on our 2nd day at Jiufen, stay tune to the next post! :D

p.s. You can now read part 2 of 3 for Day 2 here now! :)

Potato Depot

2011-11-18T10:10:00.000+08:00

One of those days when we girls, sister and cousin plus Deserved One were out for a shopping trip to get our dresses for my sister's wedding, we were all tired and hungry from all the shopping and decided to have a break at the next best place and Potato Depot definitely caught our attentions... and I bet every other potato lover's attention!

We picked a couple of choices to share among the 5 of us and with potatoes so infamous for the amount of starch, sharing was the definitely the smartest move we made!

Signature P.D. Original meal - $7.90

sour cream, bacon with chives

When you're talking about baked potatoes, you'll never ever go wrong with topping it off with the classic combination sour cream, bacon bits and chives!

Signature Happy Salmon - $11.90

salmon, sour cream with capers

This was the most interesting one among the 4 different choices we picked. In fact, I don't think there are baked potatoes served anywhere else comes topped with smoked salmon and capers!

Anyway, I will say that the combination is really very innovative with the saltish flavours from the smoked salmon plus the sweet and sour flavours the sour cream and the baked potato itself.

Sausage meal - $8.90

chicken sausage with cheese

Nothing special with this choice, the sausage seems to be there on it's own and it didn't exactly compliment the taste of the cheese and potato. But it's good nonetheless if you love your potatoes and the sausages!

Classic chicken meal - $9.90

roasted chicken with cheese

As compared to the Sausage meal, the Classic chicken meal tasted a little better in my opinion. The chicken was diced into small chunks and the cheese was very well melted over. It's easy to pick up the chicken together with the cheese and potato in one bite. It was rather enjoyable to take it by big mouthfuls... :D

each meal comes with the above... soup, salad and drink!

Sis and cousins enjoying the pitstop and of cos, all that potato! :)

I kinda liked how they made their potatoes so soft and fluffy, not dried at all. Some might say that it's a little pricey to pay almost $10 or even more for a meal at the Potato Depot but I say, the meal is definitely filling and in fact, a complete meal with the veggie, soup and drink. Or rather, it's more like a well-balanced meal, you have your starch and carbo plus all the vitamins and fibre from the salad!

No doubt, it's simply the place for potato lovers and I guess I'm definitely going back for more potato affair soon! :D

Potato Depot
252 North Bridge Road, Raffles City Shopping Centre
#B1-78 (S)179103
Tel: 6336 6687

Opening hours: Sunday - Thursday 9am - 9.30pm, Friday & Saturday 9am - 10pm

Website: http://www.potatodepot.com/ or Facebook page

Serenity Spanish Bar & Restaurant

2011-11-15T10:10:00.000+08:00

I had been noticing this place for quite some time, especially the ambiance of the place, every time i walk pass the restaurant. But I never ever had the chance to dine in there yet till recently when the foodies decided to have dinner there together after one of our lunch gatherings! After we're all seated and I was really excited to taste the food we all ordered!

Patatas Bravas - $10.80

roasted potato with romesco sauce and Alioli sauce

There isn't anything special with the roasted potato and in fact it was a little too saltish in taste. We all agreed that it's way too pricey to pay $10.80 for this dish.

Calamares a la plancha - $15.80

the natural taste of freshly grilled squid in extra virgin olive oil

In contrary to the Patatas Bravas, even though the grilled squid costed us more than $5 more than the roasted potatoes, the squid was grilled in such a way that it's cooked but not over cooked. Every piece is still soft and with the light marination, you could actually taste the freshness of the squid.

Codillo de cerdo - $39.80

Baked crispy pork knuckle served with mashed potatoes and green salad

It was a little disappointing that the pork knuckle was a little too dry and hard that we had to ask for additional portions of sauce to go with the meat so that we can finish the pork knuckle.

Crema de Mariscos (left) - $10.80 and Sopa Catalunya (right) - $14.80

Although The Spanish are famous for their classic Gazpacho, a kind of chilled tomato soup, we ordered 2 different type of soups but both of them hot instead. The Crema de Mariscos is a seafood cream soup with mussels, prawn, dory and squid rings while the Sopa Catalunya is a clear soup base with pork, beef, chicken and butter beans.

I personally prefer the seafood cream soup but both the soups, sapor and comes with generous portions of seafood or meat respectively.

Paella Valenciana - $43 for 2/ $86 for 4

saffron, chicken, Spanish chorizo, tiger prawns, squid, half shell mussels and rice

To me, paella is probably the Spanish version of what we Chinese have as claypot rice. The Paella Valenciana is one of their signature dish in the restaurant and you've got to love the colours on the platter, the burnt rice on the around the sides of the wok and yet, every other grain of rice is moist and bursting with fragrance and flavours of all the seafood and meat used in the same platter.

Arroz Negro - $43 for 2/ $86 for 4

squid ink, squid, tiger prawns, capsicum and rice

Their Arroz Negro or commonly known as the Black squid ink paella uses much lesser ingredients as compared to the Paella Valenciana but equally enticing. I would say that I prefer the black squid ink paella where every grain of the bomba rice (a short grain rice type that absorbs 3 times it's volume in broth and still remains distinctive in shape but sticky in texture after cooking) bursts with flavours of the black squid ink when chewed on.

All in all, the dinner there was good but a little pricey and I can really say that both the paella were definitely worth the half hour wait and I'll definitely be heading back for more of their paella!

Serenity Spanish Bar & Restaurant
No.1 Harbourfront Walk, VivoCity
#01-98/99 Singapore 098585
Tel : 6376 8185

Opening Hours: Sun to Thu 11am - 11pm, Fri & Sat 11am -12am

Website: http://www.serenity.com.sg/ or Facebook page

FotoFriday: Your listening ear...

2011-11-11T10:10:00.000+08:00

Do you remember when you're still a little kid? The days when you would have a little bicker with your fellow classmates or siblings, you tried to relate it to your parents but no one probably understood what you're trying to say?

And then, all you can do is to hug your teddy at night and whisper into its ear so that your parents won't catch you still awake. Then imagine your teddy would understand everything you said and even give you a hug after everything?

Yes, that's truly a good listening ear isn't it?... :)

Best of Ghim Moh Food Centre for just (less than) $10!

2011-11-08T10:00:00.000+08:00

I ever wrote "Best of Old Airport Road Hawker Centre for just $10!" and this time, the foodies and I decided to conquer another hawker centre with just $10 from each of us! Or rather, using the same concept as what we did at Old Airport Road Hawker centre, we actually spent less than $10 each!

Here's what we had for a table of 5 people!

Chwee Kueh

from Ghim Moh Chwee Kueh #01-31
[Opening Hours: Daily 6.15am – 7pm]

The chwee kueh was the 1st item that I have chosen to dig into and I kind of regretted it. The preserved radish (chye poh) toppings were way too saltish and the kueh, soft and fluffy indeed, tasted a little weird with a strong pork lard flavour. It was more than disappointment!

Appam

from Heaven’s Indian Curry #01-15
[Opening Hours: Daily 6am – 2pm]

It was my 1st time having appam and I thought I might rule it over roti prata in future! Served with a choice of with egg or without, the appam was thin and crispy all around and thick and fluffy in the middle. The texture of the middle part does remind me of the steamed sponge cake we get in dimsum places.

Putu Mayam

from Heaven’s Indian Curry #01-15
[Opening Hours: Daily 6am – 2pm]

Putu Mayam is still one of my favourite breakfast choice up till now and the ones that I usually get normally are not served with the fine and powdery type of orange sugar but the big and chunky ones. I really liked the fine and powdery type because even if you end up dipping too much on to the vermicelli-like noodles, it still won't be too sweet as compared to the big chunky ones.

Thosai

from Heaven’s Indian Curry #01-15
[Opening Hours: Daily 6am – 2pm]

I haven't had thosai for the longest time ever and I always remember the sauces for the thosai that I used to have on Sunday brunches with my family (probably about 10 years ago and no pun intended) was a saltish and watery type. The sauces that were served today with the plain thosai from Heaven’s Indian Curry was a thick and sweet concoction. I thought it was really good too! :)

Char kway teow

from Guan Kee Fried Kway Teow #01-12

[Opening Hours: 9.30am – 2.30pm (Closed on Mon and Fri)]

I didn't had a strong impression of the char kway teow we had but all I can seriously remember is that the char kway teow we had from Guan Kee Fried Kway Teow was definitely very much not as greasy than the ones we normally get.

Beef hor fun

from Teck Hin Fried Hor Fun #01-44

[Opening Hours: 10am – 3pm, 5pm – 8.30pm (Closed on Mon)]

The Teck Hin Fried Hor Fun stall actually specializes in only hor fun and they served other choices like seafood hor fun, sliced fish hor fun and so on.

I didn't manage to try this dish due to religious reasons that I don't take beef but according to the others who were there together that day, they all agreed the beef slices were tender and the gravy was thick and flavourful especially with the fragrant taste of the wok hei.

Roast Duck, Roast pork and Char Siew

from Jiu Jiang Shao La #01-45
[Opening Hours: 11am – 7.30pm (Closed on Wed)]

Growing up with family members specializing in roast ducks and other roast meats, I could more or less tell the difference between a good platter or roasted items and a not so good one.

Although many people had recommended this roast meat stall, I thought the char siew was the best among the 3 items we had. I thought the roasted meat and sauce were just normal and there isn't much to rave about, especially when a small platter like this was actually quite pricey.

Taro cakes

from Rong Yuan Cooked Food Stall #01-19

I am quite a sucker for taro cakes actually and I don't mind and don't have a preference on taro cakes, may it be the steamed or the fried version. Yes, as long as it's a cake made from yam, I'd love it.

The taro cakes from Rong Yuan Cooked Food stall is more of a soft and mushy type without chunks of yam inside and there were very little shrimp bits too. But what really caught my eyes is that the taro cakes were served with peanuts and ikan bilis and that's something new to me!

Fried Carrot cake

from Lian He Carrot Cake #01-30

I wasn't aware that the fried carrot cakes from Lian He Carrot Cake actually uses 100% vegetable oil to prepare their carrot cakes and it was pretty significant in terms of taste that the carrot cakes are less greasy. But rest assure, it was tasted as good as what we normally get! Anyway, the soft carrot cake chunks were all also nicely coated with the dark soya sauce. It tasted just fine!

Yong Tau foo

from Hakka Yong Tau Foo #01-14

[Opening Hours: 7.30am – 3pm (Closed on Mon)]

I am not too sure if I am already a convert and eating very healthily lately but I really thought the entire platter of the yong tau foo in a soupless version from Hakka Yong Tau Foo was actually pretty saltish. And not forgetting the fact that most of the food items, especially the fried ones and including the vegetables that are supposed to be fresh and juicy were pretty dry.

I've got to agree with Ellena and what she mentioned on her post that it was quite a disappointment after hearing so much about this place and perhaps, the soup version will be a better choice after all.

Bobo cha cha (iced)

from Golden Swallow Dessert #01-53

Bobo cha cha (hot)
from Golden Swallow Dessert #01-53

You might ask if the 2 bowls are just the same but I must say, they tasted totally different!

The iced version of the bobo cha cha appears to be a little less sweet and fragrant as compared to the hot bowl, probably because of the water from the melting ice. So, if you love your bobo cha cha with a thick and fragrant coconut milk based soup, the hot version is definitely the one to go for!

foodies group shot at Ghim Moh Food centre... :)

It must have been one hell of a gathering with most of the people coming back to join us for this gathering! But if I really have to compare, I think on the overall, in terms of food choices and the taste of the food, i still prefer the food we had from Old Airport Road hawker centre as compared to what we had at Ghim Moh food centre.

Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre
Blk 20 Ghim Moh Road

Wild Honey (Revisited)

2011-11-05T10:00:00.000+08:00

Prior to my 1st visit there to Wild Honey, I've been thinking about the scrambled egg from my New York breakfast the other time. As much as the brunch served there at Wild Honey are considered pricey, all the scrambled eggs, egg benedicts and omelettes are still desirable inevitably!

The girlfriends and I decided to pamper ourselves to some nice brunch during our short meetup the other time!

Lyn's Californian breakfast

A simple yet a very hearty breakfast with scrambled eggs with mushrooms, capsicums, tofu and herbs served on ciabatta!

Xin & Cher's Tunisian breakfast

The Tunisian breakfast looks the most appealing on their menu in my opinion and I'm sure it's eye-catching to many others too!

My Santa Fe breakfast

It was a pretty new item on the menu when we met for our brunch there and I must say, I never regretted picking this choice! I'm totally in love with the tortilla with salsa, cheese and a sunny side up, topped with parsley and corns and not forgetting the pan-seared potatoes! The combination was simply awesome with a splash of lime juice!

I seriously would have rolled up the tortilla with every thing inside and have it as a wrap if not for the fact that my girlfriends and the other girls seated near us are all so demure! I don't want to appear like a hungry monster... :(

Us with our food! :)

Enjoying the meet up and our brunch at Wild Honey...

that's us in our typical toilet shot! hehe...

Are you thinking about Wild Honey-ing this weekends already? :D

Wild Honey
333A Orchard Road, Mandarin Gallery
#03-02 Singapore 238897
Tel: 6235 3900

Opening hours:Monday - Friday 9.00am - 10.30pmSaturday & Sun 8.00am - 10.30pm

Website: http://www.wildhoney.com.sg

Wordless Wednesday: Tampopo

2011-11-02T10:00:00.000+08:00

Tampopo (Liang Court)
177 River Valley Road, Liang Court Shopping Centre
#01-23/24 Singapore 179030
Tel: 6338 3186

Website: http://www.cfc.com.sg/

Travelogue: Taiwan Day 1 - Shida Night Market 師大路夜市

2011-10-31T10:10:00.000+08:00

It has been quite some time since I had a holiday that lasted a week long and I must say, I was really excited when the day and time finally arrived for me to board my flight! Where I was headed off to, it's a common destination these days but also a very desired destination, the place is none other than, TAIWAN!!!

It was a really exciting trip where my cousin, sis-in-law and me were on the trip all by ourselves, no tour guides, no prior bookings for much during our week-long visit there other than the flights and hotels. The trip was mainly in Taipei where we covered places like Jiufen, Keelung and many parts of Taipei.

Anyway, I'm going to do my travelogues for Taiwan as illustrative as possible for the benefits of everyone. So here goes... :D

19th July 2011: Taiwan Day 1 - 師大路夜市 Shida Night Market

And the day for us to fly off finally arrived! We were so glad we managed to survive the torturous countdown to the trip, we practically bounced our way to the airport with butterflies in our stomach, looking forward to all the awesome time and fun we're going to have in Taiwan!

Boarding our flight with Tiger Airways via the old school method from the Budget Terminal...

That calm looks and easy smile is seriously a faux, those two there are super excited actually!

My travel companions this time, sis-in-law and cousin, and me...

3 girls, unsure of what lies ahead for us in Taiwan but off we go! Girl POWER!

Flying into the dark...

We had quite a torturous flight actually, considering the fact that there wasn't in-flight entertainments and the people on the roll in front of us were a bunch of rowdy boys who hardly can keep their volumes down. We flew way pass dinner time and food wasn't provided as part of our flight, thus we're basically hungry for almost 2/3 of the time on board.

We had to make mental notes to remind ourselves to pack more snacks or sweets and entertainment when we're traveling home at the end of the holiday!

And after much of a whirlwind from landing at the airport, to getting to our lodging for the night, to getting checked in and dumping our luggages in our room (yes, we're really too hungry to put them down nicely) and finally flagging down a cab to take us out again...We arrived at Shida Night Market 師大路夜市 in search of food!

Credits: Google Maps

Shida Night Market 師大路夜市 is a popular night market in the southern part of Taipei. Located in the Daan district 大安區, near Guting MRT station 捷運古亭站 and between two biggest universities in Taiwan, namely Shida 師大 (National Taiwan Normal University) and Taida 台大 (National Taiwan University), the night market is always packed with a younger group of people.

Tuesday night, there's a little crowd but I'm glad it's not packed! :D

here kitty kitty~

Mu Ding Japanese-style ice shaving store 木町日式冰店
台北市大安區龍泉街50號
Tel: 02-33651680
Opening hours: Daily 11.30am - 11.30pm

We were so hungry that we decided to stop at the 1st place that is still open and it's none other than Mu Ding Japanese-style ice shaving store 木町日式冰店! The eatery specializes in shaved ice desserts, desserts and Japanese don.

Ordered our food and trying to wait as patiently as possible for it to arrive!

Oyaku don 親子丼 - NT$100

The Oyaku don was actually pretty normal in our opinion, it actually didn't appeal to us as much as the Cheese Tonkatsu don we ordered together.

Cheese Tonkatsu don 乳酪豬排丼 - NT$120

See the cheese oozing out?!

The cheese tonkatsu was actually almost 2 inches thick and it's made up of 3 slices of pork with the cheese sandwiched in between! The tonkatsu was seriously an awesome combination of crispy breaded crust wrapped around the juicy and tender pork slices and with the cheese that compliments the whole thing so well. Just trying to describe how it actually tasted like makes myself drool already!

Free flow of iced red tea for all customers dining in! Awesome much? :)

It was rather late by the time we get to Shida Night Market 師大路夜市 and by the time we're done with our dinner, most of the shops are already closing. But our short visit there, we thought that even though there's quite a wide selection of the ladies clothes and accessories there, the prices are relatively more expensive than the other night markets we went to.

And since there's no where much to shop anymore, we embarked on our debut visit to their 7-11 stores there and it eventually became a nightly affair while we are there in Taipei! The 7-11 stores here in Singapore are seriously nowhere comparable to those in Taiwan! LOL!

We were really amused at the stuffs they sell in 7-11 stores there!

grabbing drinks to quench our thirst through the night...

one of the many sections of the carton drinks available in the 7-11 store there...

Colourful isn't it? Makes you want to get all of them? hehe...

After having a torturous flight to Taiwan fighting hunger, we decided to pamper ourselves with some supper!

Deng Long Lu Wei 灯笼卤味

There's just so many stuffs to choose from! We can't stop filling our basket!

Uncle helping us to braise and pack the items we picked...

A big bag of assorted braised items - NT$240

Since we're spoiled for choice at the stall, inevitably we ended up with more than what we actually intend to get! There were items like pig intestines, sausages, quail eggs, vegetables, beancurds, mushrooms and many more. And can you believe it? A big bag of the braised items that it's almost the size of 3/4 of a football at approximately SGD$10 only!

The only loots from Shida Night Market 師大路夜市, or rather supper from there! Hehe...

Uni-President Yam milk/ Papaya milk/ Banana milk - NT$30 each

We all love the papaya milk and it's a must have when you visit Taiwan! If you're a fan of milk, I'm serious when I say that you shouldn't miss this!

Clover, the Good-luck Carebear...

We were all tired from the flight and sleepy from the dinner and supper and we had such a great rest in our lodging for the night! I will tell you more about the room we stayed at for the night before we proceeded on with our Taipei trip in the next post! :D

By the way, you should really look forward to the other posts that is coming soon where our main agenda for the trip were to see as much as we can, sight-seeing was our priority while we try to balance our every day there with shopping and food too! :D

p.s. You can read Day 2 post here now! :)

Foto Friday: and they'll keep fishing into the night...

2011-10-28T10:30:00.000+08:00

Yet another sunset shot that I managed to catch during my visit to Yeh Liu Geopark in Keelung, Taiwan. Although the sun is setting, the Geopark is closed for the day but the locals and avid fishers starts to flock in. And yes, they'll keep fishing into the night...

Ramen Champion - Ikkousha & Menya Iroha

2011-10-26T10:10:00.000+08:00

The Ultimate Ramen Champion 2011 event in Singapore had been running since June this year. The 6 best ramen chefs from Japan are battling it out and in order to find out the real champion in the fairest method, the only way is to get everyone to taste the ramen and vote for their favourite!

The ramen chefs contesting in this year's championship are namely:

Gantetsu [Website: http://www.gantetu.co.jp/] from Sapporo
Taishoken [Website: http://www.tai-sho-ken.com/] from Tokyo
Menya Iroha [Website: http://www.menya-iroha.com/] from Toyama
Tetsu from Tokyo
Bario from Tokyo
Ikkousha [Website: http://www.ikkousha.com/] from Hakata

Since there was only the 2 of us, we only managed to try the ramen from 2 out of the 6 different stores during our visit!

Ikkousha [Website: http://www.ikkousha.com/]

Ikkousha specializes in broth prepared from carefully selected ingredients like pork bones, pork, wheat and soy sauce. Anyway, the chef in charge of the Ikkousha counter happened to notice me taking a photo and smiled for me! Hehe...

Hakata Ajitama ramen - $13.00 (Regular)
served with straight noodles, black fungus, cha shu, egg and green onions...

It's my first visit to Ramen Champion and initially, I seriously didn't know which store I should start off with but the awesome aroma from the bowl of a fellow customer purchase from the store caught my attention. Thus, I picked the Hakata Ajitama ramen from Ikkousha!

Oh well, I will say that I made the choice without regrets! The pork broth was one of the best I have tasted so far, so fragrant and flavourful but it is a little saltish in my opinion. The cha shu was a little on the fatty side but I guess I'm not picking on that, I'd rather have a juicy and tender piece than a tough and dry one. And not forgetting my favourite part of all the ramen I had, the ni-tamago! The seasoned egg was a little too well-cooked in my opinion, I really love to have it a little runny on the yolks like the ones I had at Marutama Ramen previously!

Menya Iroha [Website: http://www.menya-iroha.com/]

The winner for the competition for both year 2009 and 2010, Menya Iroha specializes in two types of ramen, the black shoyu ramen and the traditional miso with chilli mara ramen.

Ajitama ramen - $12.50 (Regular)

served with curly noodles, cha shu, bamboo shoot, egg, seaweed & leek...

As much as I like the ramen and broth from Ikkousha, I will say that the black shoyu ramen should not be missed too! I guess Deserved One really made a right choice taking a pick on Menya Iroha!

It's something new to me and before I tried this, I cannot imagine ramen without the standard shio broth, shoyu broth or miso broth! The black shoyu broth is actually a little more aromatic in terms of smell and taste as compared to the normal shoyu broth we usually have!
And like I used to say, Deserved One always get the best example of the ni-tamago! If you like the runny type of the seasoned eggs, you should really try the ones from them!

Inside the place...

We had an early dinner that day and the place isn't packed at all! :)

I really love this massive gate that is standing out of no where in the place!

It makes you feel like you're really eating ramen beside a train station in Japan before catching a train!

I want to go back again soon to try the ramen and their broth from other stores at Ramen Champion too! And I will make sure that I try all 6 of them before I cast a vote with my favourite choice! Hehe...

So, have you been there and tried the ramen from the 6 different stores there? Which is your favourite? And have you voted for your favourite ramen already? :D

Ramen Champion
201 Victoria Street, Iluma @ Bugis
#04-08/09/10, Singapore 188607
Tel: 6238 1011

Opening Hours: Daily 11:30 am to 10:30 pm

Website: http://www.ramenchampion.com.sg/ or Facebook page

Travelogue: Malacca - Day 2

2011-10-24T10:10:00.000+08:00

Here's a continuation of my travelogue post to Malacca in the middle of this year. If you have missed the post on Day 1, you can read it here before continuing with this post! :)

26th June 2011: Malacca Day 2

We all had a great night rest, especially after a satisfying supper the night before and woke up to a complimentary breakfast provided at the cafe at the hotel.

Straits Cafe

The selection was a little small but there was at least the western breakfast with toasts and omelette or scrambled eggs or there was Asian cuisines with fried mee goreng, nasi lemak and so on. The food isn't exactly that fantastic, but it's good enough for a simple complimentary breakfast provided by the hotel in my opinion.

sis and future brother-in-law to be during breakfast...

that's the wife of my eldest uncle smiling back at the camera...

they were enjoying a cuppa while waiting for the transport to arrive after breakfast...

the hotel lobby...

While waiting for the transport to come pick us up to bring us around a bit more before we embark on our way back to Singapore, here's some random shots... :D

youngest aunt checking her emails on her iPad...

Do you know which is my foot? :D

Seems like these people didn't had a good night sleep after all

but still forcing a smile for the photo... Haha!

that's daddy and mummy... :)

and that's my sis catching some forty winks while waiting... hehe!

the long corridor outside our hotel...

It was gloomy and actually, it started to rain as we are checking out and leaving the hotel!

And when by the time the rain is gone, unknowingly, we arrived back at Jonker Walk as a start to where we left off during our heritage tour around Malacca on Day 1.

Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, the Temple of Bright Clouds

Being the oldest traditional Chinese temple in Malaysia, the Cheng Hoon Teng temple is yet another popular tourist spot in Malacca. And the place is not only popular for people who are interested to come by and offer some incense but also to come and check out the beautiful architect of the temple! If you're interested in the history and more of the temple, you can go here!

Here are some photos while we are looking around and offering our licenses... :)

And when we're done at Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, we had a short shopping session along the streets at Jonker walk to grab some local goodies like tambun and the water chestnut biscuits to bring home!

very pretty Nyonya beaded shoes there!

look at the giant sized clogs!

and here's some mini sized fridge magnet ones...

another temple along the street...

And yes! We finally found a shop selling freshly baked goodies!
Can you imagine how enticing the smell of the freshly baked biscuits was? hehe! :D

oh look at the freshly baked water chestnut biscuits, don't they just make you drool?

Pooh Keon Enterprise

This shop sells quite a wide variety of local goodies such as tambun biscuits, water chestnut biscuits, pineapple tarts, pineapple rolls and many others. I really appreciate that the tambun biscuits and water chestnut biscuits that we bough to bring home was fresh stocks that they baked earlier the same morning! All of them still tasted very good even the next morning after we got back to Singapore!

And when we're done, we left Jonker walk for the last time and headed to our next destination...

Poh San Teng Temple or also known as the San Bao Temple...

Located at the foot of Bukit Cina, Malacca, the burial grounds for many deceased Chinese traders, the temple was initiated by the Chinese Kapitans of Malacca as a place to pray for the souls of the Chinese traders who were in Malacca for business in the past. Bukit Cina is also the largest Chinese cemetery outside mainland China now!

Inside the temple and if you are to make comparisons with the Cheng Hoon Teng temple we visited earlier, this temple was so much more simpler in terms of the architectural aspects.

A small sculpture of Zheng He in the temple...

Some might say that the temple was built and dedicated to Admiral Zheng He but as much as I have read and researched, that might not be the case. The temple was just another graveyard temple to pray for the deceased soul.

The well just beside the Poh San Teng temple, the King's Well or also known as Hong Li Poh's well, was dug under the command by Sultan Mansur Shah, purportedly for his consort, the Princess Hang Li Poh.

And for many times, the well had been a main source of attack when the Portugese or the Dutch were trying to overthrow the Sultan of Malacca and take over Malacca. Thus, when the Dutch finally won Malacca over, they realised that the well is the main source of water at Bukit Cina and gave orders to fence up the well and protect it to prevent sabotages in future.

Now, the well is no longer supplying water for the area around Bukit Cina in Malacca but has it been transformed into a wishing well.

And here's one thing you really have to see when you're at the temple!

There's a kettle with water from the well and a yellow cup for demonstrations on the table in the temple. Did you notice that the water can fill way over the brim of the cup? You can try using the water you get off the taps at home but you probably won't be able to achieve as much height as what we managed to get on the photo on the right!

Anyway, because of the higher amounts of mineral in the water that they get from the well at the back of the temple that caused the water to have a greater density than the water we normally get.

And the water's so dense that even if we tipped the cup upside down with a towel over, it doesn't pours through the towel at all!

A smaller well as compared to the King's well, at the back of the temple...

This is now the main source of water for the temple and it is caged up to prevent tourists or visitors from littering into well so that they can maintain the quality of the water that they are drawing from the well via mechanical means now.

And with that, that was the end of the continuation of the heritage tour in Malacca and we were whisked off onto the road back to Muar, Malaysia for the rest of the trip and we started with lunch 1st!

Ting Ting Restaurant

Batu 3, Jalan Bakri

84000 Muar, Johore

Omelette with mixed vegetables

Braised sea cucumber with pork

Roasted duck

Bitter gourd and pork ribs in black bean stew

fried prawns

Teochew styled steamed fish

Braised fried tofu with minced pork

In my opinion, the lunch at Ting Ting restaurant was actually the best meal we had during our trip as compared to the Restoran Amboi Nyonya Food or Restoran Enliven Delight.

And I have read a couple of reviews that says that the place served really cheap and good food and they are actually famous for their sliced fish beehoon in claypot that cost only RM12.00 for a very big portion! Maybe you should really go try it! Maur in Malaysia is not that far from Singapore after all! :D

After filling our stomachs at lunch, our next destination was yet another stop to grab more local goodies to bring home! Yes, we love all those tambun biscuits and water chestnut biscuits! Hehe...

Yong Sheng Gift Shop

They do have quite wide range of local goodies available for you to just pick up off the shelves. And what's more, all of them are packed in real nice packages that definitely look perfect for a homecoming gift for your family or friends back home!

Anyway, the Yong Sheng Gift shop specializes in properly hampers for all sorts of occasions too and if you're interested, you can check it out here!

Looking around and filling our baskets

caught my youngest uncle pinching some samples sneakily!

But in fact, the samples are there for you to try their products before deciding to buy! Don't have to be sneaky... :D

And when we're done, we dropped by the San Cai Temple in Muar to offer our incenses. The old temple is a popular stop for most tourists and locals alike.

Brother giving the stray a little scratch and look at how the dog is enjoying and smiling! :)

The San Cai Temple is actually located by the river mouth of the Muar river and just by the side of the river mouth, you can actually see all the fishing boats parking along the side with the parking slots determined by simple wooden structures!

It was the durian season at the time of our trip and thus, our next stop and also the last stop for our 2D1N getaway in Malaysia has got to be a visit to the durian nursery for some durian feast!

Can you spot the durian fruits on the trees? Beware! Don't let them drop on your head!

The durian nursery that we visited was a pretty interesting place, they actually had a honey farm incorporated in the nursery. You can have an educational session with the bees and honey production process before having your durian feast!

the bees were encouraged to build their hives in the tree logs of fallen trees from the nursery...

a cross section of one of the tree logs! The bees are working very hard inside, can you spot any? :D

One of the logs are built with a box on top so that honey can be extracted easily during demonstrations...

bees queuing for their turn to get back into the hive...

after collecting the pollen from the flowers of the durian trees!

tall durian trees accompanied by bee hives in the tree logs propped up against the trees!

bees busy collecting back the honey from the floor that we accidentally wasted...

Sorry bees! We didn't do it on purpose! :(

And not before long, it's time for the durian feast! Woohoo!!!

Looking at the damage and the remains left on the table (most already cleared), you should have guessed how fresh the durians were and how much we enjoyed them! :D

On the way out, leaving the nursery and honey farm...

that's my uncle with a durian that has fallen and another still hanging on the tree!

And with that, and not forgetting a quick dinner somewhere in Johore too, we ended our short 2D1N getaway to Malacca.

As much as the entire trip was a very educational one, where we see and learned about the history and heritage of Malacca, it was also a very enjoyable and relaxing getaway filled with lots of food and fun especially when it's time spent with the family!

I had been receiving enquiries about my trip to Malacca and so on. If you will like to go on a similar trip as mine, you can write to me and I can get the family friend who arranged our itinerary and trip to arrange yours too! :)

Now that I am done with my Malacca travelogues, you can now look forward to my Taipei, Taiwan travelogues that will come by really soon! I'm so excited that I'm finally going to start sharing about my trip to Taiwan in July this year, so stay tune right? :)

Warong M. Nasir Indonesian Food

2011-10-20T10:00:00.000+08:00

This was one of the few times when Deserved One and me totally have no idea about what we want to have for our dinner around Orchard or central area in Singapore. It's like most of the cafes or restaurant around Orchard area are just branches of what we can get off most of the other places in Singapore.

We wanted to have something a little bit more uncommon and decided to explore the shophouses along Killiney Road to see if there's some alternatives to what we can have for dinner and decided to stop at the first eatery at the row of shophouses and try the place out.

Warong M. Nasir Indonesian Food

The first place at the row of Killiney Road when we walk towards there from Somerset was this eatery serving Indonesian cuisine. There was a queue and the fragrance of the curry from inside the stall was seriously very enticing and we decided to have our dinner there.

They have another branch at Circular Road but this was our first time eating at Warong M. Nasir.

The place, tugged in one of the shophouses along Killiney Road with rustic decorations and dim orange lighting, was a really great place to dine at. It didn't felt like you're just a street away from the bustling Orchard Road. I totally love the ambiance of the place.

A simple stall concept where you order your dishes...

or generally everything else to make up your nasi padang meal...

Here's what Deserved One and I ordered for our dinner there...

Curry chicken

Curry mixed vegetables

Fried eggs

The smell of the curry, chilli and spices were so enticing that we ended up picking curry dishes for 2 out of 3 that we had.

Aside from selling authentic Indonesian cuisine, what caught my attention was the pop art drawings that were hung up on the walls for sales!

Deserved One and me after our dinner and happy to fish out more places to try in future!...

On the total for the 3 dishes, rice for each of us and drinks costs $20. In overall, the food tastes pretty authentically Indonesian to me. And I guess most Indonesians love their food with stronger flavours, the dishes we had tasted a little too saltish to Deserved One and me.

Anyway, there were quite a number of eateries and bistro cafes along the row of shophouses along Killiney Road, I'm looking forward to heading there again soon to try and check out the other places!

Warong M. Nasir Indonesian Food
69 Killiney Road, Singapore 239526
Tel: 6734 6228

Opening Hours: Daily: 11.30 am – 9.30 pm