Birthday Treat - Cambodia

Besides my usual day at the spa on my birthday, I decided to go away in my birthday month. The destination.....Cambodia!

This trip is 10 years overdue. I first booked to visit Siem Reap and Phnom Penh in May 2002. It was cancelled at the last minute as my grandmother was ill then. Despite always wanting to go see Angkor Wat, the trip never materialized.

So I finally decided to just do it end of last year. I asked around my friends to see who would be interested and found 2 friends who were equally keen.

And 10 years later, I will finally get to see Angkor Wat in all its glory this weekend. It will be a short trip as I am only covering Siem Reap. Maybe it is also good that I am going now instead of in 2002. It seemed like it is much more tourist-friendly and has more things and activities now.

We shall see. I am so excited to explore somewhere new and to soak in the culture and history of Cambodia.

2012 Birthday at The Fat Cat

I have heard a lot about The Fat Cat over at Jalan Riang and I always wanted to try, especially after I went to Jules Cafe which is just next door. The concept is similar to Bar Bar Black Sheep at Bukit Timah area where it served 3 types of cuisines - Indian, Thai and Western (French/Italian) - from 3 different stalls.

I decided to go with healthy as I had Indian food for 2 consecutive days and I really needed to stay off the rich gravy and fatty stuff. I ordered the baked sea bass with balsamic sauce and roasted potatoes and broccoli. I also had French Onion soup.

The soup was a light clear broth with slices of cooked onions and a slice of bread topped with cheese. It was so-so, not the best I had. The sea bass was fabulous. The meat was fresh, moist and sweet. It went very well with the buttery broccoli and roast potatoes.

I cheated on the diet (well with the super sweet tequila sunrise, I had cheated) and tried the butter prawn and butter chicken with garlic naan (pinched from friends' orders) and also had tastings of the duck red curry, rojan josh and basil chicken and tealeave salad. All pretty good.

I actually went to work in the morning instead of taking the whole day off. I had the afternoon off and spent it at the spa and hair salon. No birthday lunch with cousin as I was counting calories, plus I still could not chew much, so the food would be wasted if we went for our usual Japanese food.

After spending over 3 hours at the spa, I felt too kneaded and tired to do that. I don't think I want to do so much treatments in a day now - massage, steam bath, facial and then foot massage were too tiring at the end of it :p

I tried a new salon to perm my hair. The result was pretty good. The stylist did side parting for me, back to what I used to have when I was a teenager. It made quite a big difference. The curls were softer and he did inner texturizing of my hair so that it would not be too big at the bottom. So far most of my friends love it :)

A new look for the new year and birthday. Fantastic!

A Kilo A Week

The surgery was on Wednesday and it went well enough. The roots were curved which explained why it was not that possible to extract using conventional methods. The pain was extreme once the anaesthesia wore off and it took a while for the painkillers to kick in.

The wound was bleeding and it took 4 gauze change before I decided to just remove it and try to sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night to find my tongue pushed against the wound and swallowed a bit of the blood. But I found out the tongue and saliva were natural wound healer. It stopped the bleeding and created blood clot more effectively than the gauze. The human body is a wonderful work of God.

I also realized now why saliva can heal. I have read about using saliva to as a salve when getting paper cuts, that it is a natural healing agent. It did not occur to me that it is necessary until now, with my surgery. Saliva will help any wound in the gum to heal faster, plus it is also a natural antiseptic.

I am not in that much pain now, but that could be due to me taking the painkiller religiously every 6 hours. I did not want to let the pain set in at all.

The silver lining for this teeth stuff is that maybe I can finally lose some weight. The excess weight I have been carrying around for the last few years. As the gum is healing (still soft gooey), I am taking extra care not to have food at that area. So it has been a soft diet of yogurt and porridge and some other soft food. I can still chew but need to do so in small bites and very slowly.

So far I have lost 2 kgs since the first tooth pain in early January. I did not eat much during CNY and I am also doing calorie counting. Calorie counting really helps to create awareness of the food I am taking in. So hopefully I can continue with this weight loss. My goal is 1 kg a week.

I know I will hit a plateau after a while, then I will need to step up on the exercises. But in the meantime, reducing calories is helping.

Not a great 2012

I don't think 2012 has gotten off to a great start for me. I think getting old is really the pits and it is also when the body starts to break down.

Earlier in January, I thought my filling came out of the tooth or something as there was a sharp sudden pain which did not go away. I could not sleep and panadol did not work. Finally went to see the dentist a few days later for emergency check up. Turned out it was a root canal problem, the nerve pain was common and painkiller would not work.

The dentist said my tooth was cracked (worn out teeth from grinding) and bacteria from food probably got down to the root canal and infected it. So he performed a root canal treatment to remove the infected area. Shocker! I was so not prepared at all. Then he set me the options of treatments to arrest the problem.

1. See the root canal specialist to remove the last root canal (usually 4 root canals in the molar, and the 4th one is microscopic) and to check if the tooth can be saved.

2. If tooth can be saved, then I can do a crowning and then get mouth guard to protect the other teeth from future chips and cracks.

3. If tooth cannot be saved, extraction is need. Then I have a choice to get a) implant, b) bridging or c) denture.

Denture is not recommended as it is uncomfortable and not suitable for my age as I am still young.

Bridging will affect the other 2 neighboring teeth and 3 crowns are needed.

Implant is the best recommended solution for long term care, plus I still need to get my grinding under control.

So I was scheduled to see the root canal specialist yesterday. When I was in there, it turned out the crack had fractured the tooth. The specialist told me I would need to remove the fractured bit so that he could assess the tooth and how deep the crack was.

After the removal (just 1/4 of the molar and it left quite a big gap), he thought the tooth could be saved. But my dentist would need to reduce the gum space via surgery so that the crown could fit over the section. However when my dentist saw the damage and did his assessment, he said it was best not to save the tooth. Reason being he would need to shave a considerable amount of gum and expose the bone. There would be a gap between teeth which would be hard to brush and bacteria would infect the area in the long run. Plus it would also affect the neighboring teeth and might affect the bone density. So he recommended to extract the tooth.

What a blow. I was stunned to hear that and could barely think. So I was shuttled off to another dentist who specialized in extraction and implant. I could never deal with pain and everyone could tell I was really nervous and scared and tense.

I really did not want to extract my tooth as it is relatively healthy. The dentist tried to extract, I could feel him pulling and tugging with all his might. Every time he pulled, I thought he managed to get it out or loose, but he did not. In the end, he said the roots are too deep in and he would need to do a surgery to remove it.

He said I could do it then or do it another day. I opted for another day as I was just not prepared for it.

Thank God for the topical anaesthesia and 3 injections that I did not really feel the pain when the fractured bit was extracted and when the tugging was done. I could not imagine what the pain would be like without anaesthesia.

But once the anaesthesia wore off, the pain was unbearable. A dull throbbing pain and ache. To make matter worse, I lost the strong painkiller I was given. I had to go back to the clinic to get more arcoxia. Luckily someone was still around when I called as it was after office hours by then. I managed to get the painkiller and spoke to my regular dentist.

We decided to do a temporary mouth guard too as the implant will take 4-9 months to complete and I want something to protect my other worn out teeth after the extraction. With a big hole (the molar is super big), chewing will be tough as I will likely be using only 1 side of teeth to eat as per what I am doing now.

So yes, my dental work is going to occupy at least half the year for me.

Bottomline: Wear a mouth guard. I sure did not expect this to happen and it is like the worst thing to happen to me now.

Besides teeth, I think my eyesight is also getting worse. It could be due to work where I looked at computer screen whole day or from my ipad. I just feel I cannot see as well now.

The warning sign came when I realized I cannot see the signboards when I drove at night. What a danger it was. Thank God I managed to make it home ok, but after making some wrong turns.

So after the teeth, I will need to make an appointment with an eye specialist to check if my eyes are ok. I am so not looking forward to it.

The optometrist I went to for my last prescription said I could not see sharply because of my aging eyes. I am not sure I buy that theory but since I could still see with my old pair of glasses, I ignored it. Until now.

More cost to follow.

I wonder what other problems will start to surface too. It is just so terrible....to know the body is kinda falling apart after 30. And I thought getting grey hair was the pits after 30 :(

MIA

I know I have been "MIA" or sporadic in posting now. Somehow time just gets away from me, plus my camera was not taking sharp images. I finally bought a new Canon Ixus 220 and it is fabulous. Pictures are sharper and the auto-detection is very useful.

Hopefully I can set aside more time to post at least once a week, if not more often. Until then...

Happy CNY - Year of the Dragon

Every CNY, we will have at least 3 home made yu-sheng for lo hei during the 15 days of celebration. This is one of them - Ai (in Chinese, meaning Love). It is quite apt, isn't it?

Besides celebrating the new year, heralding the year of the Dragon, it is also about family and love.

Happy Blessed 2012!

It is 2012. Another year has bite the dust, and a new one making its presence felt. I spent the last week of 2011, battling the common cold/flu that it does not become a full-blown case. It has not been fun.

For 2012, I want my life to be filled with plenty of  "love", "faith", "hope" and "dream".

Love - for family, friends, animals and all mankind
Faith - hold firm to it and increase it daily and to always listen to HIS voice
Hope - for a better and brighter tomorrow and believe that miracles happen
Dream - to continue dreaming as without any dreams, life will be dull

May 2012 be a terrific and blessed year...and the life journey continues to create wonders, inspirations and memories.

The House of Robert Timms, Orchard Shopping Centre

This was my first visit to The House of Robert Timms over at Orchard Shopping Centre and the food was still decent.

The mussels in white wine sauce was not that great due to the strong stench of the mussels. Not sure if they were not cleaned properly or it was the season catch. Not my favorite.

The pasta with asparagus and mushrooms was wholesome and toothsome. I liked it, especially for days when I want to have no meat.

I was craving for something more creamy and ordered the carbonara. It was really yummy with the cream sauce and mushroom and bacon. It was also heavy, so not an everyday affair.

The girls ended the meal with the sticky date pudding with ice cream. I did not try it as I was not really a fan of sticky date pudding. It looked good though.

Basilico, Regent Hotel - Restaurant Week 2011

One of my favorite Italian restaurants in Singapore is Basilico over at The Regent Singapore. It has been around for many years and is known for decent, fresh and good Italian food, helmed by Italian chefs. I was delighted to know it was one of the restaurants in Restaurant Week October 2011 and swiftly booked a slot for dinner.

I like this concept of a antipasti and dessert buffet with a choice of main course. There were around 9 items on the list and I had a hard time selecting what I would like to have.

I love the antipasti spread at Basilico. There were many types of cured meat from Italy, including parma ham, and the variety of honey to go with the numerous wheels of cheese. My favorite was the duck rillette with toast and the grilled vegetables and asparagus. The cheese went very well with the truffle honey too.

I chose the risotto with foie gras and truffle porcino for my main as I was avoiding seafood then. It was toothsome and the foie gras was gorgeous with the soft tender flesh wobbling. It brought out the flavor of the risotto very well.

TT had the Angus beef in red wine sauce and this was also very good. The meat was done nicely.

JK had the lamb chop which was superbly done. It was not too gamey tasting.

No dessert pictures but I love the gelato and the mini cakes and tarts. Wonderful service and dinner at Basilico.

L'Espresso, Goodwood Park Hotel

After the disappointing dinner at Gaia Ristorante and Bar, we went over to L'Espresso for some coffee and tea and desserts.

I like how the latte was served with a sugar stick to stir in the desired amount of sweetness and the presentation of the drink was quite pretty.

I had the hibiscus and rosehip tea which came in a beautiful pot and teacup and saucer. It also came with a sugar stick.

The durian crepe which was humongous. We sure didn't expect it to be two big pieces of crepe filled chock full of durian pulp and topped with ice cream and fruits. Then again, it had to justify the price tag too. This was most wonderful, especially if you like durian.

I must go back to L'Espresso again for the perennial popular afternoon tea some day.

Gaia Ristorante and Bar - Restaurant Week Dinner October 2011

I kept missing out on the previous Restaurant Weeks as I was either too late to book it or I was just too busy to make it. So I was pretty excited when I managed to fix 3 dates during the Restaurant Week in October 2011.

Gaia Ristorante and Bar at Goodwood Park Hotel caught my attention as it is connected to OSO Ristorante which is highly raved.

The ambience was invitingly romantic, with dim lighting and cozy booth corners lining one side of the room. Unfortunately, being Restaurant Week, I guessed they were trying to maximize the dining space so there were also tables set virtually back to back, making it quite awkward to have a lovely meal when you could hear the other diners' conversations.

The assortment of bread served was something different from the usual and I liked that.

The set dinner menu priced at $55++

SARDE IN SAOR

I couldn't say I particularly care for the deep fried sardine marinated in onion. Then again I was never a big fan of sardines so it was quite a biased opinion.

MERENDA DEL MAZZAROL

The taste of the panfried ham and ricotta cheese reminded me of spam.

PASTA COE E MOECHE

Finally, something which I didn't mind having. Soft shell crab with tagliatelle. The pasta was al dente, lightly coated with sauce and was quite tasty with the slight crunch of the soft shell crab.

BACCALA ALLA VICENTINA

I chose the cod as my main and I was underwhelmed by the blandness of the fish. Maybe it was the style of cooking from the northeastern side of Italy where the head chef (Moreno Martini) is from. The corn cake, or polenta as mentioned by the server, was totally dull and lacked much flavor.

TIRAMISU

The saving grace of the entire meal was the dessert. Not that it was supremely fantastic but after the few courses of utterly forgettable dishes, this was a highlight. It was slightly wet with the taste of coffee and liquor and made a decent ending to the meal.

To be fair to Gaia Ristorante and Bar, the food was fresh and nicely presented. It could just be that the method of cooking was not to my liking. Or it could be those dishes served for Restaurant Week were not their specialties. In any case, I did not particularly care for the food and doubt I would return in the near future. It was most disappointing as I had such high hope for it.

El Toro, Winsland Conservation House

Such a belated post...we dined there on 21 July 2011 after hearing good things about it. I have driven past it many times and always wondered if I should give it a try. The location is kinda in the middle of nowhere as it is at the Winsland Conservation House, where Dubliner's is. Not really in my radar since I am usually at the Mandarin Gallery to Wheelock stretch of Orchard.

We tried the appetizer plate (plato mixto) as it has a bit of everything - mini quesadillas, special bbq wings and jalepeno poppers with sour cream, salsa and cheese dip. I love the warm quesadillas with the crispy tortilla. The jalalepeno popper was a bit too rich as it was deep fried, not super spicy either if you like hot stuff. The bbq wings were very yummy too.

I liked the paella (porto rican paella) which was said to serve 2, but could probably serve 4 small eaters comfortably, especially if there were other dishes to share. It came with fish, spicy sausage and chicken. It was a bit wet-ish, so would suit those who like it moist. I prefer mine a bit drier. But it was much better overnight as I doggy-bagged it and had it the next day.

The waiter recommended this for dessert - chocolate chili cake with ice cream. Bad choice. We did not like it one bit. Chili and chocolate just did not go well together. It was a subtle heat which emanated a few seconds after the first bite. Very strange.

I would love to go back to El Toro again to try the other dishes on the menu.

Mooncakes from Mandarin Court and Marina Bay Sands 2011

After a few years of buying so many boxes of mooncakes, I finally stopped buying again until this year. I decided to get a box of low sugar white lotus paste mooncakes from Mandarin Court at Mandarin Orchard. I do love the box it came in, with the lattice screen over a cloth floral design set in a cushion olive bronze-y box. It just screamed quiet, understated luxe.

It even came with its own plastic forks, besides the ubiquitous plastic knife. I liked how each mooncake was individually packed which was so much more hygenic and fresh.

We also received a box of mooncakes from Marina Bay Sands. I loved the packaging, which looked like a Chinese lantern.

Untie the bow at the side, and slide out the tower of mooncakes.

Remove the cover and undo the ribbon and it swung open, revealing each moon cake in its own space. Taste-wise, I felt it was a bit too sweet.

Maybe it is age, but I much prefer the low-sugar mooncake from Mandarin Court.

Royal China, Raffles Hotel

I have passed by and seen Royal China at Raffles Hotel for several years but I never went in till this year. Ashley wanted to have dim sum for her birthday celebration and chose Royal China after reading positive reviews of it online. So off we went. It was so popular that it did either 2-3 seating on weekends, definitely not a place to linger after you finished your meal.

Royal China is from England and thus you can find aromatic crispy duck on the menu, done exactly like what it is in England, according to my Brit/others friends who have spent ages hunting and lamenting they could not find it in Singapore. Peking duck is not aromatic crispy duck. Good news to those who are still wondering where they can get their fill of aromatic crispy duck.

The first thing that struck us was the use of robin egg blue which was reminiscent of Tiffany & Co blue. The ambience could be noisy when crowded but it was not too bad as the carpeting did absorb some of the noise. The liberal use of robin egg blue and white was calming and had a modern feel, unlike the usual red and dark wood in other Chinese restaurants. Service was brisk, in order for diners to finish their meals in the 1 - 1.5 hour allocated.

Char Siew Siu - I could not remember if there was mango in there or it was purely just char siew.

Judging from this picture, it looked like it was purely just char siew (bbq pork). It was a bit sweet, moist and generously filled with the meat and encased in a light pastry which flaked as you bit into it. Very moreish. I liked it.

A specialty is the 7-layer steamed cake with salted egg yolk. This was not so good as it was a bit on the dry side.

Mushroom dumpling in a crystal skin which was average.

We also ordered the century egg congee which was pretty good. Another hit was the rice rolls in XO sauce.

More food - spareribs (I did not try but friends said it was not that great), siew mai was not too bad and the salted egg yolk custard bun with mango.

The salted egg yolk custard bun with mango was really good. It would be better if it was more runny. It could be the timing as we had the last seating and maybe the buns had been sitting out there for a while? My 2nd visit was the first seating and the buns were extremely good. The custard literally flowed out when I broke a piece off.

We did not order the aromatic crispy duck as it showed only half and 1 duck portion in the menu. Instead we ordered another specialty - crispy duck in a stew or something. This was a either you like or hate it dish. It was a bit mala (spicy) and came with strips of translucent noodles with pieces of the crispy duck in a vinegar sauce, similar to the pig's trotters dish sauce.

I did order the aromatic crispy duck (and they can do a quarter portion if you ask) on my second visit and it was very good. The difference between the aromatic crispy duck and peking duck is that the duck is fried to a crisp (a bit like duck confit). So you get both skin and crispy duck meat to be wrapped into a roll. With Peking duck, we usually only wrap the skin and not the meat. I like both versions.

Dessert - red bean pancake. This was good too. Crispy pancake with generous serving of red bean in it.

Despite the hit and miss nature of the food in Royal China, I still like it enough to want to go back again. If not for the dim sum, but for the aromatic crispy duck since you cannot really find it elsewhere in Singapore. There is a Chinese restaurant in Bangsar Village, KL which actually serves it too.

Open House @ Grand Park Orchard Hotel

There is a new restaurant in town and it is Open House at Grand Park Orchard Hotel at the junction of Orchard Road and Bideford Road, across from Paragon. Their "all you can eat" lunch buffet is a bit different from other places as it is not a place with a wide selection and where food is placed on chafing dishes.

Instead there are 5 stations where you can place your order and the chef will cook the dish and deliver to your table. The only sections where you take what you like are the salad bar and dessert counter.

The greens were crisp and fresh with a variety of dressings. I love the shaved parmesan cheese, and also took 2 macarons as I could not resist them. Unfortunately the macarons were not fantastic, too chewy like biscuits.

There were 4 items at the dim sum station and we ordered them all - har gow (Shrimp dumpling), siew mai, glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaves and char siew bun.

All were pretty good, maybe because they were steamed or prepared only after you placed your order. The har gow was quite big with plenty of prawns. The char siew bun was also yummy with a decent ratio of meat and dough. The glutinous rice was steamed perfectly, tasty and soft. Same for the siew mai.

At the roast meat counter, you could get roast pork belly (also pretty good with crackling skin and a thin layer of fat), char siew (so-so), soya chicken (decent but not fantastic) and roast duck (not very nice). I like the sauces which came with them.

Another winner was the pizza station. Again there were 4 items on the menu. We chose two. The teriyaki chicken pizza was a popular item and it was surprisingly tasty. Maybe it helped that they made the pizza on the spot, including the rolling and stretching of the dough like prata, and then putting the toppings before popping them into a electric grill oven shaped like a wood-fire stove oven.

The other pizza we chose was with parma ham and cheese and topped with rocket leaves. Simple and yet delicious. I love the thin crust. Crispy.

Other stations were claypot and noodles. We tried the bak kut teh, lap cheong claypot rice and chicken mushroom claypot rice. They were not very good at all. Quite a disappointment. There were also assam fish claypot and beef claypot which we did not try.

The noodles choices include beef noodles (pho), wanton noodles, laksa and others which I do not remember. I had a taste of the pho and it was not memorable either.

I would go back there again just for the salad, pizza, dim sum and roast pork belly. The desserts were not fantastic, quite average. Some cakes (chocolate, cheesecake, tarts), local kuehs, petit fours, 2 ice cream flavors and a local soup dessert plus fruits.

Darcis Macarons

I am absolutely in love with Darcis' macarons. The few macarons I have tried - some were awful, some were overly sweet, some were nondescript and some were seemingly pretty good - but all paled after I tried the macarons from Darcis.

Well I have not been to Paris, so I have yet to try the most famous macarons of all - Laduree or even Pierre Herme or Fauchon.

Darcis had a tiny booth at the basement of Takashimaya in February this year and I decided to buy a box of 5 to try.

Kudos to the patient SA manning the booth. She was young (probably a temp or part timer), yet she was knowledgeable about Darcis' products to make recommendations when I told her I prefer something not so sweet. She also took the initiative to ask what type of flavors I like and was able to categorize the macarons accordingly.

In the end I settle for these 5 - Strawberry Poppy, Passion Chocolate, Nougat, Praline and Lemon.

She was also kind enough to write the names of the macarons for me so that I would know which flavor I was eating. Don't you just love the look of the ganache peeping out of the shells? I love how none of the macarons looked the same, it showed how they are all individually made and not churned out by a machine.

Verdict: I love how the shells are airy and chewy and a bit crispy at the first bite. Then you experience the subtle mingling of the flavors in the creamy and smooth ganache filling. This was the first time I could actually taste each individual flavor before they are swirled together.

The SA said nougat is not a common flavor to be found in macaron and highly recommended it to try. I thought it was alright. I think I veer towards the citrusy flavor as I like how the tartness of the lemon or strawberry actually made a good foil against the sweetness of the shells.

I also like the passion chocolate as one can never go wrong with smooth dark chocolate, especially when it is coupled with the tang of the passion fruit.

The SA also suggested I go to the store at Marina Bay Sands where they also serve desserts like waffles and other goodies. See, she did make an excellent SA.

I need to find time to head down to MBS for tea some day. I just hope it is not crowded and is still an undiscovered gem.