a dash of nutmag!

Well, now that I don’t have to wake up at unearthly hours and try to beat the 7.40am sch bell, I say, I can sleep in a bit more… sigh.. i’m too used to sleeping late already.. BUT (one of) the most important thing is… I CAN ENJOY A NICE BREKKIE! Continue with my checking out of good, real good eating places, sit down and enjoy the morning, enjoy the beauty of … rest.. watch Singaporeans rush around as I stare out of the glass panel (eh.. if i’m not at some hawker lah haha)

So… I had the pleasure of going back to the good old Provence @ Holland Village.. for breakfast. I love this place.. A pleasant fusion of french and Japanese bakery. Unique creations, good place to chill over tea.

Mini French Cheese Bun & Scones at the back

OH THE CHEESE BUN IS GOOD STUFF!!!! It’s texture is very much like you know… giant fried sweet potato balls, it’s funny!! Chewy cheese inside and crisp outside, only thing it isn’t fried! Very different from usual cheese buns (which most is merely bread sprinkled with a lil cheese) This one is just nice chewy cheese-interior! There are many other things available here actually which are oh so good, next time i’ll picture them!! ", Good place to eat on weekends except that you must go at like 8am when it opens or else don’t think of finding a seat!

I went to starbucks the other day..

Blueberry (Low-fat)

Hm, I like the lightness of it, just that it’s slightly towards the cakey side… Not really like my fav at Cedele! Oh but i still like it! ", (Kath prefers it more tastey though! I think!) 

AHH.. I’m just like bombarding this place with food haha… well, haven’t blogged for a while.. need to free my camera space..

AND SO.. I was at Fish n co with Carol (and jerrold, ian, kath, andrew at the other far end :S) haha.. This was Sunday… had to whip out my camera since the lighting the glass house was excellent! I mean, lots of natural light (duh.. glass house haha), what more could I ask for?? hee hee..

Now, Seafood platter comes with salad, how cool is that! Haha.. but weird.. it has ikan bilis.. :S and mayo… not my fav of dressings.. sadly.. even the seating arrangements at Fish n co has changed!!! It’s been a long while! Rmb the days where we’d go every other week and there were like 10 of us at the same long table always! What were we thinking then?? Too much cash?? Hah..

Hmm.. good things must remain! OH SEE, that velvety lemon butter… even the rice is glowing! ",
This picture big big so you can see the goodness!! Hah

Oh that prawn… all eaten and shrivelled…

THe new manager is funny, in a nice way… we complained of unfresh prawns.. and the rest of our meal was interrupted (not a bad thing) by him asking us how we were doing… he was super nice to us, almost to a point of strangeness haha… Oh but, 5% discount in the end (right carol??) for the prawns.. Haha..

Oh.. Carol! "

Last Sunday, I reheated roast pork for dinner… Ehm.. it has been frozen for weeks.. since the last 2 posts ago, I roasted it (ahah…) Yikes.. but it was still good!! In fact I think the freezing process makes it more tender and in chinese I call the meat more ‘lan4′, easier to cut up and eat also haha!!

Pork Loin (as fatty as it can get)

Check out the two-tones!

This cut was funny I had to picture it! This is pork loin, as fatty as it can get. Fat in pork is good. tender. tasty. no denying! But know I know better to buy pork shoulder! It’s super fatty (not too much also lah!) so tasty! ", But can anyone explain better to me:why is there 2 distinct colours?? I figure the darker meat is is more fatty and more blood supplied to that area… Hence darker when cooked.. RIght/Wrong? Well, that part seemed more tender and tasty too! Haha! Anyone? Oh check out that thin swirl of fat between the two tones!

Signing off!!! Looking forward to another day… of eating!! (well, enjoying the good things given in this life!) :S

(photos undated @ 11pm - OH yes, i’m updating and switching over to use flickr.com… slightly annoyed with picasaweb cos the links don’t quite work well!!) ",

Kaye, if you ever will come here to read this, the yellow guy on the right, that’s you! Haha! Alcohol-legal now? Here’s to the good years in MGS, ACJC, and maybe not-as-good years in RJC! (Hah! But yea, thanks I remember how we’d made a pact to go to the same JC while we were in the MGS LT waiting for our science practicals to happen!)

Anyway, I went to this good ole Japanese shop (I can imagine those small street side stalls in Japan) at Cuppage plaza behind Centrepoint. Called Osho And in Chinese characters it reads: Jiao Zi - Wang Jiang It is really a gem hiding in a corner. Good food! What I really liked about it was that the look of it is nothing special, in fact cuppage plaza is pretty run down.. Well, it’s that kind of place you go pour your own water and set your own table, though it’s not very cheap.

I was there with my mom just earlier on. We had fantastic pan-fried Gyoza (think Guo Tie) with the also fantastic sauce to go with! yum! (: Must try it man! For 6 pieces, $4 is quite worth it, I must say! Also tried the roast pork ramen (Chasyu Ramen). Really good stuff! It comes with 4 large slices of pig that was rolled up before slicing. It’s like 7cm in diameter man! And the pork stock soup is worth slurping every bit. Usually when I eat at Jap places (almost anywhere), I refuse to drink the soup cos you can surely taste the Ajinomoto no matter what! No way am I going to get thirsty after eating man! But this one? It tastes so homemade and MSG-free, yet sufficiently tasty! Deserves Brownie points. (:

Overall, this place was filled with working people and I suspect it’s meant for that crowd cos it opens till 2 am. Go try it! (:  

Yesterday, for dinner, made another round of ang moh-type dinner!
1) Oven-roasted herbed potatoes
2) Stir-fry beef slices
3) Balsamic Salad

I learnt from Joel Koh some months ago over at Feli’s that you’ll never go wrong combining tomatoes with balsamic + basil leaves. (: And I’ve never forgotten such a great tip! Hah! Tks! Good stuff! But anyway, this time round, I find that it’s really useful to season your shallots and tomatoes (pulp removed) with lots of vinegar (distilled vinegar will do, but since I had tomatoes, I used balsamic) and salt. It kinda lightens the tang from the onions (especially for shallots) and at the same time bringing out its natural sweetness. (Something I vaguely remember on Jamie Oliver’s new series - jamie at home) Acid from the vinegar/lemon juice kinda ‘cooks’ things up?? Haha!! But you gotta leave them soaked in vinegar for a couple of hours before adding it to the rest of the greens and olive oil!

Prepared a really really weird dinner 2 days ago. While I was wanting to enjoy a nice western meal, something happened! Haha.. Nothing bad though! The menu:

1) Pan-grilled garlic salmon with grilled french beans

I was being lazy with washing up, hence grilled beans, too. Yea so they kinda shrivelled up. (: Haha. For the salmon, a bit of some random sauces and spices. A lot of chopped garlic. D: Mom have a habit of keeping loads of sauces/spices without using them so I use A, B, C on one day, and D, E, F on another! Haha.. It works well! Btw, for a quick one, its very convenient to get a bottle of Masterfoods garlic salt to rub into your meats/fish/vegs. Because it has a mixture of other things as well, it works well if used alone. I use it every single day to cook the veg. Safe time lah! But don’t get the McCormick one - it clogs easily.

2) Chye-po egg (??!)

My bro came home suddenly when dinner was almost ready so there wasn’t enough dishes for everyone. So, he asked for egg. Which totally didn’t go with salmon. Haha.. But our dinners are often like that. Try-to-be-herby-but-want-to-add-sesame-oil!

3)  Stir-fry Pak Choy

Just like the egg, a last minute add-on. ", 

See the orange liquid? Clearly, fish oils only. Didn’t add olive oil or anything.. Healthy?

All shrivelled up beans…

For today though, it was nice and all westernized! (:

1) Roasted Chicken breasts with vegetables

Ok, today I went to Giant IMM with my mom. And we got a bottle of balsamic vinegar and boy, I was looking forward to using it man! Hha! So.. here we go again! With lots of garlic! Onions too! I just crushed them in without peeling. Lazy. (My mom would have made noise cos it’s ‘dirty’. But she’s out for dinner tonight! Shh..) The veggies were par-boiled first though, then everything was tossed in olive oil, herbs (I used thyme), vinegar and the usuals… Sat in the oven for about 40 mins. So I managed to finish up my chem tutorial during that precious time!!!! Yea, that’s the way mag! Haha! But, that’s about all the work I did in a day. Wow, there’s still 3 tests next week. :/ Anyway, the balsamic vinegar can work quite well with onions, other than tomatoes, cos it gives a the already sweet onion added sweetness when it caramelizes. Hmm yea. 

Haha.. Dirty garlic..  

Well, in the morning I was told that there were some boiled potatoes in the pot and I had to do something about it. Eat it. Leave it. And so I found some stuff in the cupboard, plus some ham which was 4 days old, and getting somewhat… slimy..

Grilled Potatoes with Leftovers!

Method:

1. Cube the par-boiled potatoes.
2. Search your shelf for available seasonings. Mix in whatever you find: black pepper, garlic salt, dried herbs, olive oil, paprika to taste. Throw in any leftover ham from the fridge too!
3. Grill in the oven, about 20 minutes.
4. Throw in ALL the rest of the block of butter left from breakfast spreads! Serve! (: Haha! Yum!