Hot Star Large Chicken at Nex Shopping Mall

I must have been living under a rock as I have never heard of Hot Star Large Chicken until I saw it being featured in a Takashimaya Flyer. Apparently it is the big thing in Taiwan and now it is available in Singapore. After a friend told me Nex Shopping Mall has it, I decided to pop by and try it.

There were several flavors and I chose the original. You could also get chicken cubes, popcorn chicken and sweet potato fries and drinks.

After paying the cashier, you will have to wait for them to grill and deep fry the chicken pieces. Looking at the vat of oil, you know this is not an everyday snack or meal to have.

The freshly fried chicken waiting to be seasoned with flavors and spices. It is huge!

They will not cut into smaller pieces for you and it is served whole in a paper bag. I brought it home and put it on an oval plate. The chicken is partly breast meat with some bones and a bit of thigh. A bit too floury for me but not too bad.

The best chicken bits I had was still in Taiwan but sadly I could not remember the name of it though it could be found everywhere. It was only nice when it was hot and crispy.

Artisan Bread by Bakerzin, Serangoon Gardens

Chocolate Chip Muffin

I went to Serangoon Gardens Village recently and was quite enthralled by how much the area has changed. I used to go there every weekend growing up as my piano teacher lived there. Plus my maternal grandmother and various uncles and aunts used to live in the big house there before they sold the place many years back.

I remembered the old bus interchange in the gardens before it became just a bus stop and then with part of it converted into a parking lot. Some things remained the same while others had evolved. So the mini mall was finally built and with it came with several eateries such as Relish, Da Paolo Gastronomia, Udders and Bakerzin Artisan Bakery to name a few.

The breads and buns looked attractive and just slightly different from other bakeries. I was keen to try the muffin as it had a real proper muffin top. It could be quite hard to find a muffin with the huge overhang as most looked more like cupcakes in Singapore.

Taste-wise, it was average. The sides were slightly crispy and it was full of chocolate chips. The muffin was a bit crumbly and dry when kept for the next day. I guessed I still missed the muffins from Mmmuffins in Canada. That was still my ultimate muffin treat, especially the banana nut and butterscotch pecan. Yumz.

Marine Parade Baos

It has been so many years since I had the baos from the corner bao stall in the corner coffee shop in Marine Parade (near the old Republic cinema). I happened to be back in the area a few weeks ago and could not resist checking out the place and see if the place is still in existence. After all we are talking about over 20+ years since the last time I went to buy the baos on my own.

As I just had lunch over at the new 112 Katong (previously Katong Mall), I only bought a big bao and a char siew bao. These were the baos I grew up eating in my childhood years when I lived in Marine Parade. They were not pretty or tiny but they packed a punch in taste and portion. 

The big bao was juicy with the sauce coating the interior of the soft white doughy bun. My favorite part of the big meat bao was the gravy soaked bun. Somehow the marriage of the unami sauce and sweetish dough made the taste buds danced a merry tune. It was a very generous serving and was typical of the baos which used to be everywhere in the 1980s or earlier, unlike the baos I often had now from the stalls in the malls.

The char siew bao was equally good with well marinated meat. It was not fatty meat like some other outlets but the proportion of fatty bits and lean meat was just right. The thicker bun meant each mouthful had an even part of meat and bun.

I could not really recall the taste of the buns of my yesteryears but these were really good and fabulous for when I wanted a more decent serving of baos.

Grilled Cheese Roll and Adult Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Grilled Cheese Roll and Grilled Cheese with Onion Sandwich

I was on a mission to find the perfect macaroni and cheese recipe and along the way I found many versions of grilled cheese sandwiches and decided to whip up something quick, just so I could try them. I could be funny that way. I read. I saw. I made. All in the same day, but only because I already had those ingredients handy :p

Grilled Cheese Roll Recipe:
Ingredients:
1. bread slices
2. cheese slices
3. butter


Method:
1. Remove the crust from the bread and flatten bread.
2. Butter 1 side of the bread and place a slice of cheese on the unbuttered side.
3. Roll the bread and place on the pan seam side down.
4. The cheese will melt as it gets heated up and it will seal the seam. Slowly roll the bread to brown evenly. 

Adult Grilled Cheese Sandwich Recipe
Ingredients:
1. bread slices
2. cheese slices
3. butter
4. onions


Method:
1. Slice onions and saute till caramelized. Set aside.
2. Butter 1 side of bread and place on pan. Add cheese on the unbuttered side and pile on the caramelized onions.
3. Grind black pepper over it and cover with another slice of bread, with buttered side up.
4. Flip over the sandwich when it turned a bit brown.
5. As it sizzles on the other side, flip over again to cook it further or till desired brownness. 

Grilled Gouda Sandwich

This is the regular grilled cheese sandwich with gouda cheese and multigrain bread. You could also make ham and cheese toasties with this method of grilling.

Day 2 of Siem Reap (24 Feb 2012) - Lunch and Tonle Sap

Since we finished early with the temple ruins, we had lunch at 11+am. Then again, considering we started our day at 5am (waking up at 4+am), it was not that early to have a hearty meal. Lunch was at Angkor Flower, a restaurant with aircon serving Khmer food. It was probably a tourist restaurant as the food would be considered pricey at around US$5 per dish. Across the restaurant was a river which the guide said was the King's swimming pool. Huge one.

I felt a bit strange to dine there and our guide and driver were left to their own devices (or settled their own meals). What is the protocol when you hire a guide and driver for the day? Do you also invite them to join in or would they feel awkward too? In the end we decided to just leave it and just go along with wherever the guide wanted to take us. We figured he would be earning some commission from bringing tourists to the various places. But most of the places he took us were not the typical tourist traps but more of finding beauty in the way of life and craftsmanship.

Our guide recommended the Amok (fish and chicken) which was my all time favorite food in Siem Reap. It was a light curry, similar to Thai green curry but a bit sweeter and cooked in coconut. This came served in a coconut which made presentation pretty. We also ordered seafood tom yam soup and fried rice. The tom yam soup was so-so and the fried rice was decent.

After lunch, we decided to visit Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, and home to a floating village. The homes were built on bamboo or something as they would float and go with the levels of the tides. These were different from the usual kelongs (houses on stilts) which were more common in Thailand and Malaysia. It was interesting to see the people travel across the lake in a small canoe. Every time the boat (ours and others) cruised by, I feared for the villagers paddling in the canoe as their craft would bob about in the wake of the waves.

There was even a floating church in the middle of the lake and school and a restaurant/market which was obviously for tourists. There was a mini exhibition there explaining the existence of the floating village and how the tides affect the lake and the different types of fishing cages and nets were available to the fishermen. There were also crocodiles being kept though I was not sure what were their purposes.

Day 2 of Siem Reap (24 Feb 2012) - Elephant and Leper King Terraces, Ta Prohm

After so many temples which seemed to look alike after a while, I was more than ready to just stop and rest for the day. We got to Elephant Terrace and the Leper King Terrace where the renmants of the carvings remained.  It was very dusty in Siem Reap and the soil was orangey-red. Interesting. We also saw elephants which were available for visitors to ride on to explore the ruins. I guessed elephants were still an important part of life in Cambodia.

We could probably have gone on to more temples like Bakheng where you could get an aerial view of the ruins (we didn't know that until the next day) but we were just so tired that we told our fantastic guide we just wanted to go to Ta Prohm and be done with the temples. We had already decided beforehand that it would be quite impossible to do everything and the two "must visit" places were Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm so we just focused on those.

At Ta Prohm (of Tomb Raider fame), we saw more tourists and Cambodian children and ladies trying to sell souvenirs and things to tourists. While I felt for them, it could get a bit annoying as you could hardly walk a step without them blocking your path.

It was quite humbling to see the ruins being engulfed by some trees and knowing these have been around for centuries and that life goes on. Time will pass and soon everything will be history.

Can you spot the apsara dancer hidden within the roots of the tree in the bottom left picture? The guide pointed that out to us and I used the zoom function to capture the image. Otherwise most would have missed it.

Day 2 of Siem Reap (24 Feb 2012) - Baphuon and Phimeanakas

Still on Day 2 of the Siem Reap exploration of the temple ruins. After Bayon, we moved across to visit Baphuon with another steep climb to the top. There was a structure which looked like a "sleeping Buddha" at the top.

We walked past trees so old they wrapped or were part of the ruins. The remains of the Royal Palace in Phimeanakas which was a laterite and sandstone pyramid temple where the king used to worship. The grounds were extensive and the ancient pools were huge.

Siem Reap - Day 2 (24 Feb 12) - Bayon

Bayon is another site with carving of faces. After a while, it all looked the same to me. We spent only an hour or less at Bayon. Like Angkor Wat, many of the statues were destroyed or plundered during wars or invasion. Jewels encrusted on the statues were removed.

Siem Reap - Day 2 (24 Feb 12) - Angkor Wat

The reason to visit Siem Reap - Angkor Wat.

I was told I must go for the sunrise so we dragged ourselves out of bed at 4am (luckily Cambodia was 1 hour behind Singapore, so it was 5am in Singapore) so that we could meet our driver and guide at 5am. We arrived around 530am and it was still in total darkness.

Luckily there were other people with torch lights so we could see the ground better and followed the others. It took a while and slowly we saw the sun peeking out and bathed Angkor Wat in shades of orange, purple and pink.

Angkor Wat was a huge compound and some areas were being restored. Since 2009, they added wooden boards over existing steps and railings so that it made navigation easier for visitors. It was amazing how the people then were able to build something so complex, with beautiful intricate carvings on the pillars and columns.

We only spent about 2 hours or so at Angkor Wat and it got hot once the sun was up.

Siem Reap - Day 1 (23 Feb 12)

It has been tiring, trying to sort out the pictures. We arrived in the late afternoon on Thursday and were met by the hotel driver. It was HOT once we got out of the plane. There was no aerobridge, so we walked on the tarmac and waited under the hot sun as the long line of passengers slowly inched into the immigration building.

We booked La Niche D'Angkor, a local boutique hotel just off the central area of Siem Reap. I do prefer boutique hotels when traveling in the region as I find it more cozy and personalized. Plus it also helps their economy when you go local.

As friends have told me to head to FCC Angkor for a drink and to catch the sunset, it was quite a mad rush for us to check in and unpack and go to FCC.

FCC Angkor is set in a colonial style building, similar to Singapore's Raffles Hotel in the old days. Open air with ceiling fans rotating lazily to cool the air. We got a table on the terrace with a view (hotel helped us made the reservations), so we could see the river just in front and the other guests having a drink on the ground level. We did see the sunset but it was nothing spectacular.

Drinks were cheap during Happy Hour at 50% off (US$2.75 after discount). I had the caipirinha and it was strong. Nice!

We shared the salt and pepper calamari - tiny squids but pretty decent, crunchy and tasty.

I had the Cambodian Tasting Plate - steamed fish curry (fish amok), pork and prawn spring rolls, banana blossom and chicken salad, stir fried beef with toasted rice, pork brochettes (satay) with pickled vegetables.

I love the fish curry and beef, not so much on the salad, brochettes and spring roll.

The others ordered the hot and spicy prawn udon (came with fishballs in tomyam broth) and tandoori salmon which was accompanied with long beans and roasted potatoes. Both were equally good.

It was our most expensive meal in Siem Reap at around US$60, including tips as there was no service charge or tax, but it was also the best in terms of food quality and service and presentation. I guessed you pay for what you get. Otherwise food is generally cheap to tourists from wealthier countries.

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.