Seize the day

You are and will be thought of and missed :) Carpe Diem...Happy Holiday!

I am on strike

Resources...half done; setting of paper...half done; reading up for planning...half done; moving house...half done! Hmm, I guess many halves would add up to form a few wholes. I am leaving for my holiday trip soon and when I am back home again, I would probably have a quarter of my holiday left. Given my knowledge of fractions, I believe a few wholes would not be equal to a quarter. Are you confused? Well, I hope that I am not. I was really really not in the mood to do any work today, seemed to have enough of it for the past four days. Maybe my mind really needed a good rest, heh, maybe my mind was really on strike. Sitting at a corner of the cafe and enjoying those lazy moments...wondering how long that strike was gonna last... 

Father's birthday

 Ha, both my parents 'seriously at work' at Teochew Dynasty while their silly daughter was busy clicking away :P 

 Fried fish skin...This must be my favourite! Loved the crispiness of it and they were served hot...yummy! 

 I told my father that to me, authenticity of Teochew cuisine depended very much on the braised duck and tau kwa served. I have mixed feelings about what's served at Teochew Dynasty...loved the freshness and flavour of the tau kwa but was a little disappointed with the duck...it was not as tender as I would expect it to be although the gravy was flavourful. 

 Beef with kailan...the slices of beef were so very tender, good recommendation!

 Their signature, Teochew stir fry mee poh...Maybe not so salty was a plus point but I think I still prefer my mushroom minced pork mee poh served in hawker centres :P

Promfret was too big for three of us so the restaurant manager suggested having soon hock steamed in the Teochew way...hmm, fish was fresh but something seemed lacking in the soup. It did not really make me crave for more spoonfuls of it. Were there plums in there? I don't seem to see any.

I suggested Chui Huay Lim Teochew Cuisine but my father suggested Teochew Dynasty, saying that we should go Chui Huay Lim when XF and Didi are back home next month. Well, the birthday boy's wish is my command. Teochew Dynasty is a newly opened restaurant at Midview City. There weren't many diners when we went for dinner yesterday maybe coz it was a weekday. The restaurant manager was rather friendly, erm, but I thought it was kinda over friendly for me...sometimes, I just wish to enjoy my meal in peace :P Hmm, food was reasonably priced but I was sharing with my father that that traditional Teochew flavour seemed to be lacking in the dishes. I wouldn't really know how to describe that but I thought I wasn't really impressed by the dishes that I have tried, maybe the authenticity wasn't really there?

Back at Bonheur again

 Their signature but not my love...not really a fan of balsamic I guess. Nevertheless, I believe that there are ardent fans of this cake.

Our greatest love that afternoon...it has to be enjoyed bit by bit...no rush, no hurry. Well, I would say that's the art of enjoying green tea mousse at Bonheur.

We felt we needed some cakes for the hot and lazy afternoon so I brought PY to Bonheur Patisserie. We wanted to go Kki cafe for some afternoon tea but realised that it's closed on Mondays. Anyway, I thought we had a good time at Bonheur. Nice cold yuzu drink with our Strawberry Balsamic and Green Tea Mousse...and a good chat over drinks and cakes. I love afternoon tea on a weekday!! Erm, sorry that you have to hear me say this umpteen times but I really could not help it and I just know that I need to express my strong feelings about it. Silly gal :P 

Oyster pancake

It had been such a long time since I last ate this - oyster pancake. Wanted to have some soyabean curd with PY at Maxwell Market but ended up eating an oily oyster pancake. It was sold at $2 each and I thought it's quite expensive. But I wonder if our generation or even the younger generation actually know about this traditional pancake. Well, I would say that there weren't not many oysters in the pancake but the ingredients were still as great as ever...the Chinese celery really brought much fragrance and crunchiness to the filling, love it! I felt so very sinful after eating one of it but the beautiful thing was it brought back nice memories :) 

Otto Ristorante

 A good place for business lunch, a good Italian meal with your family or a romantic night out...maybe in the evening.

 Focaccia bread was flavourful especially with those onions on it. The sweetness of the cranberries in the cranberry bread brought much delight to the start of the meal.

 Cauliflower with some melted cheese on top (kinda forgotten the name :P)

 Warm asparagus salad with soft boiled egg and dried beef...We thought of and missed the soft boiled egg at Jaan.

 Arugula quarotti with blue swimmer crab and comfit pachino tomato...I thought it was a little salty, thank goodness both of us shared the portion.

 Vicenza style baked cod with soft polenta...the waiter was kinda 'warning' us that not all would like the taste of this dish. Well, we were adventurous enough and went ahead to try. After tasting it, we kinda wondered why some people didn't like the taste of it. Except for not knowing what kinda ingredients went into preparing that dish, I thought I was fine with the taste...very interestingly different.

We thought nothing much of lemon marinated strawberries when we read the menu. However, the magic came when we ate the strawberries with the almond biscotti. What wonderous dessert one could have when you have lemon with strawberries...some kinda magic from the least expected.

If you were to ask me what's authentic Italian food, I'm not quite sure if I would be able to answer you. Well, read about Otto serving authentic Italian cuisine and it was also suggested by PY for our weekday lunch. Ha, yup, finally met up. It was supposed to be a monthly affair but we concluded that it would be great if we could find time to meet up once every two months. Oops, I sure hope it would not be reduced to once every six months...once a year...once every two years :P Ha, maybe let's not think too far ahead and just enjoy those present moments spent savouring good food. Well, PY has kinda already decided where our next weekday lunch appointment will be. Trust her to be that efficient :) 

Tiong Bahru Bakery...French?

Just beside The Orange Thimble, we discovered another cafe cum French bakery, Tiong Bahru Bakery by Gontran Cherrier. The smell of freshly baked bread was so wonderfully alluring when we stepped in. They had quite interesting baguettes, savoury ones included. But by the time we went to the bakery, there wasn't quite a great variety left. I believed most were snapped up, ha, including the lemon tart that Snoop wanted to try. We bought a number of croissants and two other buns which I had forgotten the names. Loved the one with herbs and spices, very good on its own although it was suggested to us that we could stuff some smoked salmon in between the bun. Realised that I have forgotten to take photographs of the bread! ...Oh well, but I know I really hope to be back there again. 

The Orange Thimble...where art meets cafe

Finally...we met for tea. Gosh, I really could not remember the last time we met for tea. Would busyness be considered as an excuse or a reason where good friends meeting up for tea is concerned? :P Snoop and I chose The Orange Thimble as the cafe for us to catch up a little on a weekday afternoon. Oh boy, simply love afternoon tea on a weekday, simply love it when there's peace and quiet on a weekday...hmm, do I have an issue with noise on weekdays? Heh...anyway, there weren't many people at The Orange Thimble when we popped by that Thursday afternoon. Well, we did not really stay long in that cafe as there are two other items on our agenda: Tiong Bahru Bakery and shopping.