Tuesday, October 28, 2008,4:29 PM
haven been posting much these days coz was pretty busy....actually, i haven really posted much on my thoughts and feelings since the AIG saga, coz i was too busy coping with the saga....so the best i could do is post pics and write sum comments here and there....but once i get everyting on track again and everyting subsides, will start my random posts again...haha.
nway, in continuation to the prev post on Cuppage Terrace, we went bk there to try the wines in Wine Connection....wanted to open a bottle of rose wine, but there was only 2 of us, so we opted for a glass of house wine each instead (sidenote: she went bk to try the rose wine another day, and said she didnt really like it)....we both had the white, which was chardonnay for dat day....and when we found it freaking cheap at $5 per glass, we realised it was juz half a glass! oh well, wat do u expect with cheap wines....and we had a cheesecake to go with it....
see my HALF-filled glass of chardonnay glistering in the candle-light? :)
the cheesecake was an orea raspberry cheesecake....quite light and tart (from the raspberries), not too bad to go with white wine....dun tink it would be too gd with red wines, and prob much better with dessert wines...which i dunno whether they have...
went for dim sum on another day at Fortunate Restaurant @ International Building, coz i had an e-voucher which gives 30% off dim sum + free dessert of the day....on normal days, UOB cardmembers get 15% off...
heres my har gow which i greedily ate b4 remembering to take a pic of it....heh...each portion comes in 3s, and the har gow is not too bad, prawn is big and fresh, but i tink the skin is abit too sticky and slightly too thick for me...but other den dat, no complains...
another dim sum staple, siew mai! this too, is filled with prawns and a little meat....ok on a whole, nothing much to complain....definitely much better den the ones i had at Wan Dou Sek!
scallop and prawn dumplings. ok, i know i over-ordered on the prawn items, but i cant help it if they stare bk enticingly at me from the menu rite?? :) this is pretty much like the har gow in another shape, with a piece of small baby scallop on top.
ok, pan-fried carrot cake....was her order, but had to try abit of it in order to comment...tastes like normal chai tao kway we get at hawker centres, albeit in a nice rectangle shape, plain, and not too oily...
her chicken claws (although i dunno why sum places call it phoenix claws??), which i refused to touch...so no comments....but she said it was much much better den the one in Wan Dou Sek
wasn't satisfied yet, so ordered a portion of paper-wrapped chicken to try....but i didnt find this too satisfying....meat stuck to the paper, dun have the fragrant grilled-pandan smell other places have, and its pretty oily! and they gave the wing portion instead of the usual thigh!
had the try their durian fritters, simply becoz.....it sounds special loh!
1st bite was ok, subsequent bites was disappointing....durian was pungent, but not as sweet as i liked....batter was not too heavy, but gets oilier as u eat it (i dunno why)...overall, didnt really impress me, dun tink i will bother to order it again....
overall bill came up to less den $30 after discount (including tea, condiments, gst, service charge, etc), hua suan! :)
went to take a look at the newly revamped Cuppage Terrace @ Somerset, and came across this new Jap Coffeeshop at the head of a whole line of restaurants, cafes, and pubs called Kohi Ten (i tink), which is jap for "kopitiam" or coffeeshop.
prob coz its a new kid on the block, there werent many pple there, juz our table and another one. cafe style food, with mainly western+jap twist, pretty wide selection of drinks and some desserts.
we tried a Matcha Crepe, which is 2 pieces of very soft crepes wrapped ard 2 big scoops of green tea ice cream, with peach slices, nata de coco and azuki beans. well, not too bad a dessert, crepes are very soft, the ice cream has a distinctive, but not overpowering green tea flavour, the rest of the accompaniment are juz canned stuff i guess.
i oso tried their lollipop tea, coz it sounds interesting mah. it came in a teapot, with a tealight underneath to kp the tea warm, so cute lah! but the tea does have a little of the sweet candy taste within a green tea base. generally, abit ex, but not bad a place to chill out.
i successfully curbed temptation for 2day!
after lunch, nette left to meet her frenz, and i took a slow walk from marina sq back to cityhall mrt. passing by all the various shops, i told myself NOT to step in any of them. temptation 1 cleared!
went to raffles city with the intention of buying gelatin powder and other stuff to make Baileys Cheesecake, and i had to filter my eyes from all the other shops. walked into Marketplace with a basket, walked out of it with the same empty basket. temptation 2 cleared!
made my legs walked in a str8 route 2wards the mrt station and into the train without side-tracking. rmbered theres a Phoon Huat in Simei, so went there to get my gelatin, and passed by a couple of foodplaces and bakeries and lots of baking stuff in Phoon Huat, but i juz walked back to the MRT with 1 bottle of gelatin. temptation 3 cleared!
lastly, went to white sands ntuc to buy the last bits of ingredients for my cheesecake, and hovered ard the supermkt for awhile, before exiting with the stuff i need, no more no less. and took my feeder bus home. and dat marks the end of my temptation-controlling journey! haha.
on a sidenote, i tink my cheesecake failed. results will only be known 2nite. sigh.
and may i ask, wat fun is it to poach pple during times of adversity? esp when ur terms aren't exactly dat attractive/diff from mine in the 1st place? haiz. see no evil, HEAR no evil.
but i wun deny, the latest temptation is a teeny bit tempting. cousin ask mum to coax me into joining her fren at HSBC as an assistant insurance manager(wateva dat is), and supposedly pays a basic pay and dunno wat else lah. and i refused to listen, and mum said i was too stubborn and started nagging and nagging again.
but i tot every1 who knows me shld noe i m stubborn? lol.
Saturday, October 04, 2008,9:47 PM
went for bfast nearby after marketing for my lunch party at the Hougang Mkt. have been craving for wanton mee since i watched the tv show on it, so when i saw this wanton mee stall, esp with newpapaer articles and 好吃 signs decorating its signboard, i had to give it a try.
my bowl of dry wanton noodles. sadly, nothing very special. noodles r pretty springy and not soggy at least. usual toppings of char siew slices, veg and pork lard didnt impress much.
came with a bowl of wanton soup, consisting of 3 wantons. wanton skin was abit on the tough side, not like the usual smooth-till-slide-down-ur-throat kind. filling was juz sum marinated minced pork, couldnt taste any prawn in it. but the soup was quite MSG-laden, which made me feel thirsty after dat.
overall, average food in an average food ctr at average prices. they r supposedly famous for their mutton soup though.
Shun Lee Mutton Soup Wanton Mee
Blk 9 Hougang Ave 7 #01-29
went shik's hse for hari raya lunch again dis yr, our "tradition" since JC yr 2 i tink....every yr she and her family will cook the same few dishes and bake/buy the same types of cookies, but sumhow, its juz still as yummy every yr!
her very interesting blue colour syrup drink dat she serves every year, but i always forgot to ask her wat exactly is it!
our main carbo source, lontong rice!
and of coz, nto forgetting its yummier partner, lontong veg! Lemak lah!
ayam goreng, or fried chicken wings. crispy on the outside, tasty on the inside AND outside!
Potato Bergerdil, or fried potato cutlet/ball, another staple in Malay food. Soft in the inside, and not too dry, not too oily too.
curry chicken i tink, didnt eat this though. becoz.....becoz.....becoz.....i oso dunno why i forgot to eat this! and i tink it looks yummy from the pic! muz rmb to eat this next yr, if she cooks this again!
fried coconut flakes i tink, normally served as a 配菜 to the rice. didnt eat this too, dun really like coconut. but i tink i really shldnt be too choosy. heh.
sambal goreng! this is actually beef innards(lung,liver, heart)+beef cubes+prawns, stir-fried in sambal. not too spicy, abit sweet, and will be great with rice!!
this is the "killer" of them all, Sambal Sotong! dun tink its juz a simple dish of sotong stir-fried with sambal ah, the sambal is enough to hit u left right up down centre if u r not a power chilli eater ah! better have loads of water on standby sia! lucy i was experienced enough throughout the years, to juz take 1 small piece each time, juz to try. hahah.
of coz, wats Hari Raya without the traditional myriad of cookies? but the pics are still with SJ, so shall leave dat for another post.
another cold-stone-ice-cream-mix shop sprouted in Citylink Mall, opp 7-11 - Marvelous Creamery! its the 1st Sg franchise of an ice-cream deli in Japan of the same name, specialising in 100% Japan imported ice cream, freshly baked high quality premium waffles and light and fluffy whipped cream. and of coz not forgetting, the excitement of watching ur myriad of ice cream combinations being "chopped" and "tossed" ard on a 16 degrees C frosted marble top!
here are as many ice cream flavours i can capture on my small hp camera, and theres the staff scooping my strawberry cream!
u can either choose a combi from their 28 specially designed combis, or design ur own by choosing an ice cream flavour from their 9 flavours, selecting a mix item from their various categories like fruits, macaron, nuts, gelee, sauce and dolce(u r entitled to only 1 free mix item, subsequent items are 60 cents each), choose ur desired size, ur choice of either a paper cup, waffle cone/bowl(add $1) or choc waffle cone/bowl(add $1.50) and watch the staff "chop" ur ice cream up!
theres my strawberry cream ice cream with mango in a choc waffle bowl!
and after mixing, heres my finished product! my only grouch is dat the portion is too small! a small scoop of ice cream+a small cube of mango in a big waffle bowl!
but i tink next time i will try their combis instead, seems interesting, and more mix items for juz 60-90cents more expensive. i was quite dumb not to try it at 1st, lol.
went to try 长城粥 @ Chinatown, near Keong Saik St, @ the OH's recommendation. to summarize it all, i wasnt too impressed, so didnt take too many pics.
3 of us had a bowl of porridge each, 1 had century egg porridge, 1 had pork porridge and i had the mixed porridge, and we shared a claypot 姜葱田鸡 and a veg.
my bowl of 杂粥, which consists of 猪肝(pig liver)，炸猪肠(fried pig intestines)，鱿鱼(sotong)，猪肉片(pork slices)，猪肉丸(pork ball) and a pretty "gao"(thick) porridge. the ingredients are normal, nothing to rave abt, except dat the pig intestines tastes pretty bitter, urgh. the porridge is tasty enough, but oso nothing so fabulous. prices ain't very cheap too, cheapest bowl was $3.50. but they open till quite late, so it could be a place to go for a hot supper.
the claypot frog's legs was ok also, the sauce was quite salty, but goes well when mixed into the porridge. meat wasn't too tough. but i feel it was overpriced, $8 for a small portion(probably only 1 frog) and $16 for a big portion(prob only 2 frogs!).
and another complain, the service sux! when 1 of the staff was clearing our table, there was only 1 chair for 3 of us, so i asked him politely if he could get summore chairs for us, guess wat he replied? "椅子在里面，自己去拿!" wah kao!!! lucky it was a coffeshop environment, so i have to lower my expectations, if not i will be fuming man! and the worst thing, we had to pay GST in a coffeeshop!!! sigh.
see my HALF-filled glass of chardonnay glistering in the candle-light? :)
the cheesecake was an orea raspberry cheesecake....quite light and tart (from the raspberries), not too bad to go with white wine....dun tink it would be too gd with red wines, and prob much better with dessert wines...which i dunno whether they have...
heres my har gow which i greedily ate b4 remembering to take a pic of it....heh...each portion comes in 3s, and the har gow is not too bad, prawn is big and fresh, but i tink the skin is abit too sticky and slightly too thick for me...but other den dat, no complains...
another dim sum staple, siew mai! this too, is filled with prawns and a little meat....ok on a whole, nothing much to complain....definitely much better den the ones i had at Wan Dou Sek!
scallop and prawn dumplings. ok, i know i over-ordered on the prawn items, but i cant help it if they stare bk enticingly at me from the menu rite?? :) this is pretty much like the har gow in another shape, with a piece of small baby scallop on top.
ok, pan-fried carrot cake....was her order, but had to try abit of it in order to comment...tastes like normal chai tao kway we get at hawker centres, albeit in a nice rectangle shape, plain, and not too oily...
her chicken claws (although i dunno why sum places call it phoenix claws??), which i refused to touch...so no comments....but she said it was much much better den the one in Wan Dou Sek
wasn't satisfied yet, so ordered a portion of paper-wrapped chicken to try....but i didnt find this too satisfying....meat stuck to the paper, dun have the fragrant grilled-pandan smell other places have, and its pretty oily! and they gave the wing portion instead of the usual thigh!
had the try their durian fritters, simply becoz.....it sounds special loh!
1st bite was ok, subsequent bites was disappointing....durian was pungent, but not as sweet as i liked....batter was not too heavy, but gets oilier as u eat it (i dunno why)...overall, didnt really impress me, dun tink i will bother to order it again....
my bowl of dry wanton noodles. sadly, nothing very special. noodles r pretty springy and not soggy at least. usual toppings of char siew slices, veg and pork lard didnt impress much.
came with a bowl of wanton soup, consisting of 3 wantons. wanton skin was abit on the tough side, not like the usual smooth-till-slide-down-ur-throat kind. filling was juz sum marinated minced pork, couldnt taste any prawn in it. but the soup was quite MSG-laden, which made me feel thirsty after dat.
her very interesting blue colour syrup drink dat she serves every year, but i always forgot to ask her wat exactly is it!
our main carbo source, lontong rice!
and of coz, nto forgetting its yummier partner, lontong veg! Lemak lah!
ayam goreng, or fried chicken wings. crispy on the outside, tasty on the inside AND outside!
Potato Bergerdil, or fried potato cutlet/ball, another staple in Malay food. Soft in the inside, and not too dry, not too oily too.
curry chicken i tink, didnt eat this though. becoz.....becoz.....becoz.....i oso dunno why i forgot to eat this! and i tink it looks yummy from the pic! muz rmb to eat this next yr, if she cooks this again!
fried coconut flakes i tink, normally served as a 配菜 to the rice. didnt eat this too, dun really like coconut. but i tink i really shldnt be too choosy. heh.
here are as many ice cream flavours i can capture on my small hp camera, and theres the staff scooping my strawberry cream!
u can either choose a combi from their 28 specially designed combis, or design ur own by choosing an ice cream flavour from their 9 flavours, selecting a mix item from their various categories like fruits, macaron, nuts, gelee, sauce and dolce(u r entitled to only 1 free mix item, subsequent items are 60 cents each), choose ur desired size, ur choice of either a paper cup, waffle cone/bowl(add $1) or choc waffle cone/bowl(add $1.50) and watch the staff "chop" ur ice cream up!
and after mixing, heres my finished product! my only grouch is dat the portion is too small! a small scoop of ice cream+a small cube of mango in a big waffle bowl! 
my bowl of 杂粥, which consists of 猪肝(pig liver)，炸猪肠(fried pig intestines)，鱿鱼(sotong)，猪肉片(pork slices)，猪肉丸(pork ball) and a pretty "gao"(thick) porridge. the ingredients are normal, nothing to rave abt, except dat the pig intestines tastes pretty bitter, urgh. the porridge is tasty enough, but oso nothing so fabulous. prices ain't very cheap too, cheapest bowl was $3.50. but they open till quite late, so it could be a place to go for a hot supper.
the claypot frog's legs was ok also, the sauce was quite salty, but goes well when mixed into the porridge. meat wasn't too tough. but i feel it was overpriced, $8 for a small portion(probably only 1 frog) and $16 for a big portion(prob only 2 frogs!).