Sunday, February 03, 2008,7:40 PM

after MIA-ing for awhile, am finally bk again!
didnt have anyting much to blog abt, luckily except for some spur-of-the-moment pics i took of stuff i fed myself with

went for a dessert break 2 fridays bk as i had alot of time to kill b4 my appt, and i was craving for cheesecake the day b4.
so since i was in plaza sing, i popped into the Secret Recipe cafe for cheesecake as alot of frenz were raving abt how nice their cheesecake was!
so this was wat i had:

cheesecake and coffee! i would rather pair cheesecake with tea, if not for the fact dat i was half sleeping dat day and i desperately needed coffee to wake me up a little.
so i ordered a raspberry cheesecake (which was frozen cream cheese blended with raspberries on a choc biscuit base) and a cup of brewed coffee.

ordered this flavour mainly coz i dun wanna try those usual boring flavours like american cheese, oreo cheese, strawberry or blueberry cheese, but yet i like the pairing of berries and cheese. so ta-dah! raspberry+cheese!
and honestly, it was really not bad! the cheese was creamy and solid but not overpowering, and the fact dat is was frozen instead of fridged suits my palates more coz its more wholesome. the raspberry coulis dat was blended with the cheese was sweet enough to partner the otherwise tasteless cheese, yet providing a slight tartness dat berries shld have. the base was more crumbly den cakey, which is not bad to provide a slight crunch among the cheese.
at $4.90 a piece, it isnt very expensive as most cafes charge ard dat price too. and they have alot of varieties, which means i wun get bored so easily!
but an impt note, DON'T order their brewed coffee! it sucks! really. ignoring the fact dat it is pretty thin for brewed coffee, the coffee have a very weird taste dat i cant put my tastebuds to. i was thinking its probably the coffee beans they use, if not the barista's method of brewing. wateva it is, it sucks. dun believe me? go try it for urself den. i would much rather have their smoothies or sodas or prob even tea instead.

was doing canvassing with a friend of mine on a weekday, but unfortunately, our 1st choice already had an AIA roadshow booth there, and our 2nd choice had a very bad crowd. and i guess we were both pretty bo-chap to work dat day, so we decided to go for lunch at bugis instead b4 going to temple to pray. after lunch, my friend treated me to dessert nearby as she did quite well this mth, so we went to this cantonese dessert shop called "Ji de chi" (translated as "remember to eat") along liang seah street, juz a few shops down the lane from Lai Lai Beef Noodle. it was featured in a food show on tv recently too!

as it was a hot afternoon, i had the usual yang zhi gan lu (mango with pomelo and sago).
and boy, it came with a huge serving of shaved ice (see below)!

but since it was a hot day, i didnt mind.
juz a short intro to this dessert for those who don't already know wat is it, its actually fresh mango blended with mango juice, to which fresh pomelo sacs and sumtimes pomelo juice and sago are added to it. after which, cubes of fresh mango are thrown in, and topped off with sum shaved ice to kp it cool.
so the little bits of pinkish thing u see below are the pomelo sacs, which are supposed to provide some sourness to the sweet mango, creating a nice contrast of flavours (apologies for the poor quality of the pics by my miserable 2-megapixel hp)

and after mixing in the ice with the mango, u get the pic below, mango dessert!
another reason i figured why they have to put ice, other den to kp it cool, is oso to water down the thick mango puree, so dat it becomes more drinkable and people wun get sticky throat and start looking everywhere for water after eating it.
however, there are varying tastes, some pple like more ice so dat it becomes more liquidified and "soupy", and prob less sweet too. some pple weill prob choose not to put any ice if they have their way, as they wanna taste the pureness of mango such dat it becomes sumting like mango cream, without the cream dat is.
personally, i need the ice. but i feel dat this stall gives a tiny bit too much of ice, such dat it is palatable, but at the expense of abit of richness of the mango. maybe i shld try asking the auntie to reduce abit of ice for me? heh. but as a whole, its not bad. and i like it that they have more varieties den the usual dessert shops too. price is juz a little bit higher, $3.50 for this yang zhi gan lu, and $2/$2.50 for the usual sesame/walnut/almond cream. as for the rest of the desserts they offer? go find out urself. :)

this is really random.
was grabbing a quick dinner at amoy food centre, but surprised that 80% of the stall were already closed! shrugz.
but luckily, i found this stall which has tv posters on it, and is selling noodles at very cheap prices!

it is run by an old cantonese couple, selling noodles like wanton mee, dumpling mee, chicken mee, hor fun, etc. and the smallest portion is only $2! (ok maybe i haven seen $2 noodles in an outside eating place for a long time, lol).
so i ordered the $2 portion coz i wasnt dat hungry, thinking dat it will prob be quite miserable. but surprisingly, its not! i forgot to take a pic to show u guys, so u juz have to go try it urself yeah? the amount of noodles is substantial for a female eater, but they give quite alot of ingredients for dat price, which includes a bunch of veg, 5/6 dumplings and quite a handful of charsiew! generally, its not a bad plate, juz dat i prefer it to be a little saltier, prob give me more soya sauce? heh. if u guys are ard that area and wan a cheap meal, can pop by this stall