If You’re Looking For Daniel and Esther…
By daniel | July 24, 2008
You may be looking for this other lovely couple instead! (such gr8t names too…^^)
We wish you all the best for your upcoming wedding!
Topics: Others | No Comments »
Housewarming Party
By daniel | June 14, 2008
We had a housewarming party some months ago *ok ya, this post is seriously late*, and there’s seriously nothing more challenging than preparing canapes for - it’s a massive culinary logistical nightmare!
Anyway, here’s a sample of our tasting menu:
From L to R: Devilled Eggs or Salmon Tartare in Kueh Pie Tee shells, Bacon & Cheese Frittata, Swedish Meatballs, Tuna Potato Patties, Curried Chicken in Roti, Roast Beef with Mustard Cream on Toast
In addition, we had:
Clockwise from L: Vegetable crudites & crackers, Guacamole, Cream Cheese Dip, Pretzel Chips, Parsley Cream Dip, Mexican Salsa and Nachos
Here’s proof we didn’t buy the canapes. (OK, we bought the roast beef.)
For those with a sweet tooth we had Chocolate Truffles, and it was Mint & Ginger Punch and Sangria for drinks.
We’ll put up the recipes for them soon.
Topics: Personal | No Comments »
Souvenirs From Down Under
By daniel | May 7, 2008
Nope - Esther and I didn’t buy any fluffy koala or wombat soft toys; neither did we get a boomerang or the aboriginal instrument didgeridoo during our recent trip to Melbourne.
When we travel, we usually buy groceries and cooking ingredients that are either unavailable or hard to find in Singapore, such as the last time we went to San Francisco. This time we bought:
(Clockwise from top left): MasterFoods Pink Himalayan Salt, Woolworths Select Sumac, Heinz Peppered Steak and Spicy Salami, Bacon & Pasta canned soups, dried Porcini mushrooms, Kellogg’s Mini-Wheats, some strange bottle of wild hibiscus flowers soaked in syrup (it blossoms when you drop them in champagne or other fizzy drinks), Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Desserts Boysenberry Shortcake, and a packet of dried tortellini pasta with breadcrumb filling.
Topics: Ingredients, Travel | No Comments »
Melbourne: La Porchetta
By daniel | May 6, 2008
Whenever we’re in Melbourne, there’s one place my brother and I always hit for pizza and pasta. If you’ve ever been to La Porchetta’s, you’ll know it for its great value-for-money and down-to-earth Italian fare. When I was studying here, we used to go there almost every Friday weekend after church cell group (strangely enough I was at my slimmest then).
La Porchetta is now heavily franchised with some 100 locations throughout Australia, which should tell you something about its food.
Anyway, here are some pictures during our trip to the one near Victoria Market:
The gourmet Caprese pizza, layered with fresh bocconcini and sliced tomatoes baked unto a pizza crust (above). (Remember to ask for the free bread, which they make from leftover pizza dough.)
The more regular Original Porchetta pizza, with lean pork sausage topping.
The yummy-licious Tortellini with Chicken and Avocado.
David versus Tortellini Pollo Al Funghi (chicken and mushrooms, duh). There was no contest.
The Tortellini Al Funghi (with additional bacon!).
My sister-in-law tried to go up against this humungous Chicken Parmigiana (affectionately called Chicken Parma by the locals). She didn’t even finish half of it.
Topics: Italian, Restaurant, Travel | 1 Comment »
The Ultimate Melbourne Steak Sandwich
By estar | May 5, 2008
After an afternoon of trawling the shopping outlets at Bridge Road, we stumbled upon Richmond Hill & Larder Cafe, nestled among a row of retail shops. Just in time too, as I was about to collapse from hunger - shopping is an intensive workout! Spotting a glowing newspaper review in the cafe window, we quickly entered, hoping not to be disappointed.
I ordered the “Steak sandwich with roasted peppers, salsa verde, Heidi Tilsit cheese, horseradish aioli, wild rocket and polenta chips” (AUD$28.50) while Daniel restrained himself with the Soup of the Day, which happened to be corn soup.
The steak sandwich was one of the best I had ever tasted. Probably the best compliment I can give is that it was absolutely worth every penny of its exhorbitant price tag. The only thing drawback for me was the polenta fries. Nothing wrong with them, but I have never been able to appreciate the mushy texture of polenta. They didn’t go to waste though, as Daniel gladly hoovered them down, while enjoying his creamy corn soup.
A definite must-go if you’re ever in Melbourne.
(Daniel - The cafe is co-owned by Stephanie Alexander, one of Australia’s famous food authors and restauranteur.)
Topics: Cafe, Travel | No Comments »
Wake Up And Smell The Coffee!
By daniel | May 2, 2008
There’s just something about the smell of coffee that stimulates the senses. When my brother and I were studying in Melbourne some years ago, we loved its amazing cafe culture and enjoyed hanging out in an alfresco cafe enjoying a nice cuppa. So during our recent trip, we simply had to revisit that experience. Here’s a picture of us having our caffeine fix at Brunetti along Lygon Street (above). I used to go there every weekend with my university mates and church friends.
They have a great tiramisu as well. My sister-in-law Krystina ordered one:
It may not look impressive, but it tastes far better than it looks! Krystina has an extremely high standard for tiramisu and from the way she wolfed it down I daresay it got top marks from her.
Another coffee place we particularly enjoyed was at Cafe Pronto, during a break between shopping along Bridge Road (a shopping haven for young fashionistas). Krystina couldn’t resist the chocolate cake in the display, which turned out to be both heavenly as well big enough to feed the four of us (below).
I guess the only thing I wasn’t happy about was that the price of coffee has gone up drastically - from AUD$2 to AUD$3 per cup - since we were last there ten years ago (ok it’s been that long). Guess some things do change, and not for the better.
Thankfully, the coffee remained just as good.
Topics: Coffee, Desserts, Travel | No Comments »
This Is What I Call A Steak
By daniel | April 3, 2008
Yup, Esther ordered this whopping hunk of meat known as Mega Cut Natural Prime Rib from Hogsbreath Cafe (we went to the outlet in Dandenong, Australia). Extremely tender and flavourful, this ranks as THE CHOICE for carnivores (compare the size of the meat to the corn-cob). Thanks to cousin Richie for picking up the tab!
Now to head to the Hogsbreath at CHIJMES in Singapore to see if the quality’s the same. Anybody wanna join us?
Topics: Restaurant, Travel, Western | 3 Comments »
Melbourne: Pancake Parlour
By daniel | April 1, 2008
Esther and I just came back from a family trip to Melbourne - together with my Mom, my brother David and his wife Krystina - where we visited some of our relatives living there. On a trip like this, of course we had to squeeze in some serious eating time! And since David, Krystina and I lived in Melbourne for a while (they studied in Monash University while I was at RMIT), so we wanted to hit some of our old eating places that we missed dearly.
So the first thing we did the morning we arrived in Melbourne, after checking into our small hotel of course, was to hit Pancake Parlour in Melbourne’s city centre (airplane food really sucks).
Above: A Tabriz crepe (whose side salad Esther duly ignored and I demolished) and apple cider.
Below: A gut-busting Canadian pancake set with the works, with pancakes, bacon, sunny side-up eggs, and grilled pineapple and bananas. My doctor will not be pleased (but my belly was!).
Special mention goes to the utterly delicious Bavarian Apple pancakes (pictured below), served with spiced apples, a glob of cream and dusted with cinnamon. Yummy!
Ahhhh Pancake Parlour. You can always depend on them for great pancakes.
A satisfying way to start the 5-day eating trip. Errr, I mean, visiting trip.
Topics: Travel | No Comments »
Chili Crab for Valentine’s Day!
By daniel | February 16, 2008
Aiyoh, Esther and I are already married.
There’s no real need to look all prim and proper to impress one another like on a first date, so Esther and I choose to eat chili crab - with our hands, no less - for Valentine’s Day. Which we, for practical reasons of course, celebrated on the 16th of February, so we wouldn’t have to pay obscene prices and fight with other lovey-dovey starry-eyed couples for personal space.
We chose to have our crustacean fix at the quaint Hua Yu Wee Seafood Restaurant along Upper East Coast Road. We were glad we got there early (about 6pm), as it got pretty crowded fast for a Saturday evening and the carpark was pretty much full by the time we left (about 7.30pm).
Back to the chili crab.
We’ve not been impressed by many of the other chili crab places we’ve been to, so we were kinda hoping that Hua Yu Wee would pleasantly surprise us.
The gravy here had a great spicy kick to it, and was fantastic with fried mantou (bread). Thankfully, it didn’t have that artificial ketchup taste that ruins many a chili crab dish. This was not exactly the best we’ve tasted, but it was still pretty darn good. Too bad about the crab itself though. Although fresh, the meat wasn’t as sweet as we hoped - I guess this was down to its large size.
Our shelled friend came up to some 1.3 kg, and at $38 per kilo, it wasn’t very cheap.
We also had the Beancurd with Spinach ($15), but this was more of a by-the-way-we-better-order-something-else kind of dish than anything else. Interestingly, it had a heck of a lot more mushrooms than spinach.
Our bill came up to about $75, so I guess I got away with a cheapskate V-Day dinner! ^^
After our “romantic” meal, we decided to stroll down to Ice Cream Gallery at Eastwood Centre where we can douse our chili-stung lips with some cold ice cream.
I picked the Gula Melaka with Red Bean, which was delightfully scented with the dark smoky sweetness of the palm sugar. Esther indulged in her favourite - Strawberry Cheesecake studded with pieces of biscuit base.
A great way to round off a chili crab meal.
Hua Yu Wee Seafood Restaurant is located at 462 Upper East Coast Road Singapore 466508. Tel: 62411709/64429313. Reservations recommended.
Ice Cream Gallery is at 20 Eastwood Road, #01-13 Eastwood Centre Singapore 486442. Their main branch is at 491 River Valley Road, #01-20 Valley Point Singapore 248371.
Topics: Chinese, Restaurant, Seafood | 1 Comment »
Spice and Everything Nice!
By daniel | January 29, 2008
Here’s a look at the spice and herb rack Esther and I have at home.
We’ve even got a bottle of McCormick’s Gourmet Collection Chipotle Chile Pepper that we bought during our honeymoon in San Francisco. It’s just not available here in Singapore - if you know of where we can get these, please let us know! We fell in love with Mexican food during our trip and got the fiery hot chile powder to spice some recipes up at home.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking. People buy souvenirs during overseas trips… we raid supermarkets instead!
Topics: Home, Ingredients, Personal | No Comments »