Oomphatico's Surprise

SC made a surprise visit while I was at work and dropped off this box. Yum! I want! Hahahaha.
This brought to mind the cartoon girl used for Miss Clarity Cafe over in Purvis Street or of the numerous cutesy doodle girls.
This one is for the men though lamingtons popped into my head too. Lol.
Finally, what was inside the box ~ 2 cupcakes. So sweet of SC to bring them over. The cupcakes were of different flavors though I could not really discern them. One had blueberry or something berries in it. I did not really like the frosting as it was too buttery rich like those used in the cakes of the old neighborhood type of bakeries. The chocolate topping of the yellow cupcake was not very nice either. I think they just use low quality ingredients.

The location of the place. I have never dined there though I see it all the time when I am at Tanglin Mall. Somehow it never gives me the vibe that it serves good food. But the place sure is very pretty.

Thank you SC for such a lovely surprise gift. I do love the box.

Breakfast or Dinner?

Bacon. Check.

Toast with jam. Check.

Omelette with portobello mushrooms, onions and shredded cheddar cheese. Check.

So was it breakfast or dinner? This was supposed to be my breakfast but I decided to have something else instead and it became dinner instead. It was a simple meal and went well with a cup of coffee and juice.

I guessed I am not that particular about what I have at certain hours of the day. Well, except sushi and sashimi. I draw the line at ingesting raw fish in the morning, but otherwise I am pretty flexible about food.

I need to learn how to make a pretty looking omelette. Maybe it is my pan since I am using the square grill-pan to make the omelette. Somehow my egg tend to flow in all direction, making it hard to wrap the ingredients inside.

I do so love the grill pan that I use it for almost everything. Making grilled sandwiches, toasting the bread and frying bacon. The oil just collected at the bottom of the pan and it made me feel better that the food was not coated in oil when cooking.

Grilled Ribeye Steak Lunch

I was inspired to cook again after the magnificent lunch made by AN. Also I was home alone today and it was either eating out or making my own meal. Since I eat out almost everyday (for most meals), I decided to just cook. It was nice to be able to plan my meal and do the grocery shopping.

I bought yellow onion and baby portobello mushrooms which I sliced to be used for flavoring and topping for the steak. I found that I much preferred portobello mushrooms which gave a smoky and stronger taste than the usual button mushrooms. I also stopped eating/using canned mushrooms now.
I love my grill pan from Meyer. This is much smaller than my previous one from Tefal but it works just as well. I drizzled the pan with olive oil (though usually I don't do that since it is non-stick and the fat from the steak would prevent it from sticking but I just watched a tv program where the chef sprayed vegetable oil on the grill and then wiped it down to prevent the veal from sticking to it) before putting on the ribeye steak to grill. I left it on for maybe 3-5 mins for each side.

I cheated by buying a seasoned meat instead of doing it myself. It was surprisingly pretty good.

2 potatoes were boiled and then left to simmer in the pot before I peeled them and mashed them up. I added milk, butter and pepper to taste. No salt since it was salted butter.

Frozen sweet peas waiting to be boiled before I drained them and seasoned with some butter.

And voila ~ my late lunch of grilled ribeye steak with mushrooms, onions, mashed potatoes and peas with onion gravy (from a mix "Continental" ~ not very nice as you could tell it was not freshly made. Maybe it is the brand too.). I need to learn how to make gravy without drippings from a roast.

The steak was perfectly done. Medium well. Just a light pink in the center and not bloody at all. The meat was tender and tasted so good. I realized the cut really made a difference. Ribeye is expensive but well worth the money. I bought this cut for about $12 (around 220g to 240g I think) but it was a bit pricey also because it was already seasoned.

Add a glass of sweet wine and it was bliss. I picked this up at the supermarket too. Orange muscat and flora from Brown Brothers. It is a dessert wine so a glass is more than enough to savor after the meal.

What a nice way to spend the day at home.

Amazing Fish Burritos by Chef AN

It was another wonderful time getting together with the girls (missing 2 girls), exactly a month after the last gathering. We try to have a meet-up at least once a month for all of us, just to catch up and gossip. Of course some of us also meet up on other days/weeks as and when. That required less co-ordination work than the monthly get-together. All of us made the effort to try to make it though sometimes it can be tough to get everyone together.

We don't really need an excuse to meet but it is nice to have a theme too :p So March is to celebrate AN's move to her new abode plus watching I Love Lucy dvds (our gift to her). I love how AN has done up the place and it is a very inviting home.

Our lunch ~ a simple meal of fish burritos and cucumber salad and lime mayonnaise + fries ~ made by AN. Home-cooked food is still the best :)

We had bubbly too ~ Zibibbo Rosa from Brown Brothers. My favorite brand of wine. A sparkling fruity pink wine with strawberries and watermelon. So good and refreshing on such a hot afternoon.

Fish burritos ~ tortilla with snapper fillet and cucumber salad and lime mayonnaise. Recipes from Bill Granger. I love the scent and taste of cilantro which was in both the fish and salad. It simply made the mouth water in anticipation.

After a very satisfying and tummy bursting lunch, we moved over to watch some episodes of I Love Lucy. One episode "Job Switching" got us commenting that some things never change in the role of men/women. Even though almost 50 years separated that episode and now, it is still quite universal that there are 2 types of persons when it comes to money ~ spender and the earner aka wife and husband. Hahahahaha.

It just happened that of the 4 mummies, all are stay-at-home moms, so I guess they (we) could really relate to what happened in that episode where the men thought it was easy to be a housewife and just cook and clean and wash and iron. It was funny.

Then it was dessert time. Home baked brownies using Bill Granger's recipe with a pot of floral fruity tea.
The brownie was sticky chewy with crispy edges. So delicious especially when served warm and paired with vanilla ice cream. It was so good that I had another helping.

Thank you AN for inviting us to your gorgeous new pad and for making a wonderful lunch.

One down...one more to go

After being busy with night classes for the last few months and burning my weekends, it is now exam time. I need to sit for 2 papers before I can start the process for my career switch into the financial sector.

I scheduled to sit for the first paper (supposedly easier one though a classmate failed it when he took it 2 days after the course ended) yesterday and I PASSED!

It was truly by the grace of God that I was able to remember what I had studied. It has just been soooooo many years since I last sat for anything.

Now it is on to the next and final paper. That is the most difficult one where only 2-3 out of 10 persons will pass. This is also the one where I have the most problems in understanding the subject matter.

After so many years of avoiding numbers, I now have to remember all the formulas and know when and where to apply them. I also need to know more in details of what the things in the balance sheet or P/L mean rather than the cursory understanding which I currently have.

Here's praying that I will be able to remember everything and pass the next exam.

Praise the Lord!

Souvenir from Winter Olympics 2010 - Vancouver, Canada

Nothing says how well a friend knows you than by the gift given to you. JC was back in town for a visit and he gave us a lanyard. Not just any ordinary lanyard but it is the Team Canada Hockey for the Winter Olympics 2010 lanyard.

We have been talking about making it back to Vancouver for the Games but it just never happened. Surprisingly Channel 5 showed the highlights 2-3 times a day for about 1-2 hours each time (even though the subsequent highlights were usually repeats).

Due to work matters, I could not attend the Great Canadian Breakfast (to watch and celebrate Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics 2010 that was to be shown live at a ballroom in the Raffles City Convention Centre) which was organized by the High Commission of Canada. But I did get to watch it when Channel 5 did a condensed version during one of the highlights.

For that 2 weeks plus, I was basically living and breathing the Winter Olympics via the internet and friends' updates and tv when I had some free time to watch. I always loved the Winter Olympics ever since I caught it on tv when it was held in Nagano, Japan in 1998. Winter was the time I got to watch my favorite games ~ Figure Skating and Hockey (NHL).

So it was thrilling to know that the Canadian Hockey Team (Men) won the gold medal after a nail-biting game against the USA as it was an overtime win (it was the way it went into overtime which made it a very tense game). And that was truly the medal which mattered most to any Canadian. Hockey was THE game. It sure didn't hurt that Canada also set a record for getting the most number of gold medals (14) for the host country (I think it was also the most ever in any Winter Olympics ~ Norway and Soviet Union had 13 gold medals each which was the previous record for # of gold medals).

And now to get the lanyard with the printed signatures of the team was just awesome! A very nice souvenir indeed. Thank you JC :)

Team Roster for 2010 Winter Olympics

Goaltenders

1 Roberto Luongo (Montreal, Que / yay! also the goalie for the Vancouver Canucks ~ Go Louuuuuuu!)

29 Marc-Andre Fleury (Sorel, Que / Pittsburgh Penguins)

30 Martin Brodeur (Montreal, Que / New Jersey Devils)

Defence

2 Duncan Keith (Penticton, BC / Chicago Blackhawks)

6 Shea Weber (Sicamous, BC / Nashville Predators)

7 Brent Seabrook (Tsawwassen, BC / Chicago Blackhawks)

8 Drew Doughty (London, Ont / Los Angeles Kings)

20 Chris Pronger (Dryden, Ont / Philadelphia Flyers)

22 Dan Boyle (Ottawa, Ont / San Jose Sharks)

27 Scott Niedermayer (Cranbrook, BC / Anaheim Ducks)

Forwards

10 Brenden Morrow (Carlyle, Sask / Dallas Stars)

11 Patrick Marleau (Aneroid, Sask / San Jose Sharks)

12 Jarome Iginla (St. Albert, Alta / Calgary Flames)

15 Dany Heatley (Calgary, Alta / San Jose Sharks)

16 Jonathan Toews (Winnipeg, Man / Chicago Blackhawks)

18 Michael Richards (Kenora, Ont / Philadelphia Flyers)

19 Joe Thornton (St. Thomas, Ont / San Jose Sharks)

21 Eric Staal (Thunder Bay, Ont / Carolina Hurricanes)

24 Corey Perry (Peterborough, Ont / Anaheim Ducks)

37 Patrice Bergeron (Sillery, Que / Boston Bruins)

51 Ryan Getzlaf (Regina, Sask / Anaheim Ducks)

61 Rick Nash (Brampton, Ont / Columbus Blue Jackets)

87 Sidney Crosby (Cole Harbour, NS / Pittsburgh Penguins)

The Hookup (for your bags)

The Hookup - a hanger for your purse. Of course many must have heard of a purse hanger or own at least one or a few. I have two and they were courtesy of Elle magazine and Scholls. Maybe because they were "free", I always felt they were a bit flimsy and did not seem to be able to hold a heavy bag. Plus they were not that attractive at all.

Then I saw the version at The Hookup and I pretty much fell in love with it.
In a heart-shape design, it is not that small or big and you can clip it onto your bag and make it look like a bag charm or at least be part of the design of the bag. Twist it open, and voila! It becomes an "S" hook, and you can hang your bag and place it at the edge of the table or chair.

The Hookup can hold up to 30 lbs which is a very big selling point for me. Reading the specs of the various other purse hangers available in the market, they typically can hold between 15 and 20 lbs of dead weight. Seeing that I usually carry big bags which weigh a ton, I need one which is strong and secure.

It is finished in 2 colors - gold and platinum - which will go very well when attached to the bags. Plus it is about 40g, not too bad.
I am still thinking if I should get it as it is US$48 each. Add in shipping, it will be around US$62. Would you pay close to S$100 just for a bag hook? It does sound a bit extravagant, doesn't it? Plus, I just have to trust the specs that it can hold up to 30 lbs and the tip of the hook can really stay on the edge of the table and not slide off.

In the mean time, I will just survive on the old-fashioned way. Bag on chair or lap.

ETA: I just realized it is available in Singapore too. Now I just need to go check it out at the stores.

All images from The Hookup.

Kit Kats - Tea or Coffee

I must confess. I always liked to read about the snacks Hsueh recommended in Urban every Friday. I kinda filed away the information in my head and when I happened to see the stuff, I would want to try them.

So when I saw the Royal Milk Tea from Kit Kat at the supermarket at Isetan Scotts, I just could not resist it. Then I saw the other Kit Kat featuring milk coffee, I had to get that too.

It probably helped that the packaging was so pretty too. I tried them and I was a bit disappointed. It was nice, but just too sweet for me. I guess I do not really have a sweet tooth even though I do like desserts.

The royal milk tea and milk coffee kit kats were coated with white chocolate flavored with the tea and coffee. The white chocolate was probably what made it too sweet for my liking. I often preferred my desserts to be chocolate and the darker (bittersweet) the better.

The royal milk tea was reminiscent of the actual english breakfast tea with milk and sugar. You could taste the subtle aftertaste of the tea. For the milk coffee, it had a very light aroma of milky white coffee.

Borders Bistro Dinner

It has been years since I last went to Borders Bistro for a meal. The last few times I was there, it was just for the iced lemon tea which was very good. I liked that the tea was not from a mix (I absolutely abhorred those and always asked if it was brewed on the premise) and was lemony with the sugar syrup served on its own.

So I decided to try it again since I had the promotion voucher of 20% off (additional 10% with Borders card). We ordered the baked portobello mushroom which was smothered with cheese and chopped tomatoes. That was good. Then again, anything with cheese and mushrooms were usually smashing.

I was quite surprised by how good the prawn pasta (forgot the actual name of the dish) turned out. The prawns were fresh and crunchy and sweet. The linguine (you could choose your pasta) was al dente, and the sauce was a light white wine with chopped chilies. Very yummy if you do like spicy pasta and prawns.
After the wonderful pasta, the fish and chips was a bit of a letdown. It was still good but just not as good as the pasta. Maybe I tried it after it had been sitting there for a while so it was no longer piping hot and crispy. The fries were good though.

I would not mind going back there again just for the prawn pasta. That was quite a keeper for me.

Grandma's Nasi Lemak

Sometimes when I wanted some peace and quiet during lunch, I would head to Grandma's at Orchard Parade Hotel. The food has been pretty decent the few times I was there and it was usually not so busy after 1.30pm.

I decided to try the nasi lemak. The rice was fragrant with just a light delicate scent of coconut. It was a good foil against the curried chicken which was quite a big portion. It came with half a hard boiled egg, a side of achar and sambal.

I also like Grandma's for a teh tarik fix. It was not too sweet and the tea was similar to those served at the sarabat stall.

Le Tanglin Boulangerie Cafe ~ Baked Potato

This was the baked potato I mentioned in my previous post. I guessed I just never expected the broccoli and cheese to be just a slice of processed cheese with bits of broccoli and green onions sprinkled over it. Maybe it should be called "Where in the potato is the broccoli?"

It would certainly be the first and last time for me to order the baked potato. I would just need to try the ham and cheese toasties to see if it was still good. If that was bad, it would definitely not be my first choice to dine there again.

Wild Cherry Tree from L'Occitane

I absolutely love this new limited edition collection from L'Occitane ~ Wild Cherry Tree. Somehow the scent is lighter and sweeter than the other Cherry Blossom or Japanese Cherry Blossom collections.

The Wild Cherry Tree collection is only available in selected items such as the candle, room fragrance and diffuser. JK got these for me as a birthday gift. Actually JK paid the balance after I utilized my voucher :p Thanks :)

Spinelli's Lunch

I had a pretty good lunch at Spinelli's. Chicken stew with 3 slices of toast to mop up the gravy. The chicken pieces were tender and the stew was full of potatoes, carrots and onions. Very nice. I loved how the toast were sprinkled with herbs which made it all the more fragrant. The only gripe with the stew was the need to check it was fully heated up. I guessed the stew was frozen and probably transported from the central kitchen to be served to customers, so sometimes the center part was still cold.

I finished the meal with iced chocolate drink and a slice of the strawberry cheese tart. The iced chocolate was decadently rich and yummy as usual.

The strawberry cheese tart was quite average to me. I loved the huge sweet strawberries but the cheese tart was not really fantastic. It was similar to the Japanese cheesecake, not too cheesy and yet not fluffy light either. It was just not quite there.

Birthday Presents

Here are the presents which the girls gave me for 2010. I love them all! So what did I get?

~ Nightie (babydoll)

~ TBS African Spa Wisdom set (body butter, scrub, hand/feet cream, sial in a pouch)

~ TBS White Musk candle and travel size lotion and shower gel

~ Benefit lust dusters in punk royalty (purple) and moon doggie (light green)

~ Anna Sui Secret Wish fragrance

~ Notebook with the most adorable pen and cover "Good Girls Go to Heaven, Bad Girls Go Everywhere" by Mae West

~ The Balm "Two Timer" mascara for lengthening and volumizing

~ TWG "Happy Birthday" tea in the prettiest tin which will keep the tea leaves fresh for 2 years. Fruity berries with vanilla. Smells so good.

~ A beauty set with cute packaging of tweezers, nail file and apple phone charm

The babydoll nightie. So sheer and sexy :p Love the sequins on the undies.

The gifts are exactly what I would like. Perfume, makeup and cute practical things. The girls know me so well :) Thank you and here's to many more years of friendship.

Belated Birthday Celebration @ Prive Bakery Cafe

I thought it will be nice to just have a relaxing place to have brunch/lunch for my belated birthday celebration with the girls this year. It certainly is different from the usual since it is on CNY and everyone is busy with the visiting. It is a nice change to be able to choose a non-Asian restaurant too.

As I am in the mood for a waterfront location, Prive sounds like a good bet. The weather was good, not too sunny or hot. Plus it was not so crowded that day.

Birthday presents from the girls. Love every single one of them :) Thank you!
And the cute little notebook with the pen which came with it.
Cappuccino was yummy. Strong and I could take it with just 1 stick of sugar. They did a heart shape art on it.
The blue swimmer crab and prawn wrap which was very nice.
It looked like an appetizer portion but according to DW who ordered it, it was very filling. We tried some and it was so good. Creamy with real crabmeat in it.
Eggs Benedict. Seriously, it seemed like every cafe-restaurant would have this on its menu now. LG said the version from Choupinette was better because of the sauce.
The highly recommended LA Burger which garnered lots of "oohs" and "ahhhs". It was medium wagyu patty with monterey jack, fried egg, aioli, avocado, bacon, lettuce and tomato. The fries were soooo good too. We also ordered a side of fries with truffle oil to share. Comparing the two types of fries, I much prefer the regular fries which were already so tasty on its own.
A close up of the burger patty with the droolicious avocado and meaty patty. The burger was juicy and fell apart when I tried to slice it in half since I was sharing that.
Eggs Royale which was with smoked salmon instead of the bacon/ham. This was nice.
I loved how the yolk just oozed out.
The boring looking organic mushroom linguine with parma ham. Looks are definitely deceiving for this dish. Made with white wine, mushroom liquer, garlic and mycofarm mushrooms, this tasted heavenly on the tastebuds.

We were so full that we did not finish the entire burger. So SL made an open-faced burger with the leftover of rocket leaves, fried egg and bun with the fries for CL who came late.
Dessert - banana macadamia crumble with vanilla ice cream. This was quite good. Crunchy crispy bits with warm bananas underneath and topped with icy cool vanilla ice cream.

Surprisingly all the dishes we ordered were excellent. I did not remember it as being that great the last time I was there late at night. Maybe it was the company which made it all the more delicious.

AN went again the next day and thought the food was not that great then. So maybe it depends on the chef or the quality is just not consistent at all?

Location

Prive Bakery Cafe

Keppel Bay Marina