Old School Delights

 Ha, was really delighted to see everything so "old school", from the menu to the little wooden box at each table that contained games like "Happy Family", "Donkey" and little toys back then.

 "Do we write what we would like to order on this whiteboard?" asked Silly Me. Well, two advantages - forces one to practise writing and saves the environment. Love the idea :)

 Huge chalkboards surrounded the cafe with also little packs of tidbits, which we used to love munching on as kids, being sold at the counter.  

 Jars of childhood, jars of little joys

 My mummy used to buy a whole box of this kinda pencils when I was a little girl :)

 Not sure coz I was hungry but I thought the mee siam was nice and flavourful, felt like homecooked food.

Sticky chewy chocolate cake wasn't too sweet, it's kinda fluffy and moist too. I would say a wonderful slice of joy for the afternoon.

Headed to Upper Thomson Road to check out a place for Yoga with Ms Tan and chanced upon this cafe that brought back fond memories of childhood. What a smile I had on my face when I entered the cafe. Looking at every detail that decorated the whole cafe, I felt like a little girl, donned my school uniform and all ready to attend school. Those were the days, so simple, such bliss and so much fun. 

"All grown-ups were children first (but few remember it)" ~ The Little Prince  

Angelic Angeline

For those times that you have listened patiently (even when I ranted and vented)... 

For those times that you have been trying to answer all my questions, thinking so intensely about a possible answer (even though at times, there may be none or even though the most convenient way could just be to ignore)...

For those times that you have shared your thoughts and have also helped me to see other perspectives when looking at situations (even though I can be real stubborn and still be living in my own silly world)...

For those times that you have cared, loved and shown much concern as a colleague and as a friend regardless of who I am and what constitutes me... 

I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I know I am blessed to have you as a great colleague and friend. Happy Birthday, my dear gal :)

XF & XW :)

XW's grilled chicken

I was so tempted to prepare grilled chicken with our new oven, especially after XF's attempt to bake her chicken with lotsa herbs :P Thanks to Theresa, I managed to get some tips on the marinate for my grilled chicken. Always curious to find out what's going on in the kitchen of others :) Many times, cooking is also about trial and error. Mistakes and failures are part and parcel of this process of learning to cook. But I must say that I was really proud of my first attempt at grilled chicken! They came out of the oven beautiful and tasty too (Well, at least to me and my parents). What a little achievement for the day! Well done, silly gal!

XF's baked chicken...with lotsa herbs

That late night after our movie, we managed to grab some stuff at the supermarket to prepare baked chicken (heh, with lotsa herbs) for lunch the next day. It's XF's recipe, baked chicken...with lotsa herbs :P I decided to prepare some salad. Well, not exactly salsa I would say but it was an appetizer that I had tried at Asia Grand Restaurant. Hmm, a little bland though despite adding vinegar, lime, salt and sugar...what else could be missing? Not enough of those? Well, let's get back to XF's baked chicken...with lotsa herbs :P She added olive oil, salt, chopped garlic, lotsa rosemary and basil leaves. The same seasoning was added to the brown mushrooms and capsicum. All were brought into the oven. So, that was lunch for both of us - baked chicken...with lotsa herbs. Haha! 

Strangers' Reunion

A nice little cafe to spend a weekday afternoon. Not a coffee drinker myself, but somehow, I felt that the ice mocha was simply a glass of goodness and loved the bitterness that lingered in my mouth after sips of it. I seemed to have gained a new perspective of coffee that day. 

The Clan

 Bread seemed a little too hard for my liking

 Palate cleanser...real refreshing!

 Pan seared scallop with truffle asparagus

 Salmon mousse in a cone, how interesting! 

 Herb crusted mushroom escargot

Foie gras chawamushi with dehydrated mushroom... A little salty for us but very smooth and delicate 

 Miso soup with yuzu essence... Yuzu interestingly blended well with miso

Crispy barramundi with herbs salsa, squid ink garlic puree, basil oil; crustacean oil pasta

 Kurobuta pork jowl in pistachio puree with pickled zucchini & 64 degree egg yolk... But I kinda burst the egg yolk. I am falling in love with that crusted herbs on top, they seemed to work wonders. 

Green tea tiramisu and clan's signature chocolate fudge... tiramisu was nothing to scream about, in fact, we thought it was a little disappointing. Fudge was rich and wholesome though.

Decided not to attend convocation two weeks back as I thought something seemed amiss without PY's presence. Would also love to have LW, HP and WP around but I guess all were busy and probably tired after a long day at work so all decided to give our convocation a miss that Wednesday. Well, nevertheless, still glad that I am still keeping in touch with PY, ha, one main reason could be our love for food at times. It's yet another of our lunch date. As Ember was fully booked that afternoon, PY efficiently sourced for another place for our lunch - The Clan. It kinda serves European cuisine with some Japanese influence. Nice quiet weekday afternoon, love it when most were at work (heh heh!) and I was enjoying a quiet and relaxing moment in a restaurant. 

First time in my life

Slept from about 6pm till about 9am the next day, skipping dinner... I could not believe I did this, or rather I could not believe I could sleep like this. I have never slept so long in my whole adult life. Goodness, is this considered a luxury, a telling sign of great exhaustion or just plain laziness? Woke up realising that it's the nation's birthday. It felt good to be able to slowly take my own sweet time to fix a simple breakie of cereals for myself, flipping through the pages of the newspapers and not having a schedule to attend to or follow. Could hear Kit Chan's "Home" playing in the background and thought about what home really means to me. Hmm, home is where you know there are people who love, care and worry about you. And you know that at some point in time, there will always be lovely people thinking of you at a part of this small island. Home is where you can be alone but not feel lonely. 

A lovely Monday

Brought Sunny Baby over to my very good friend's place. Ha, Baby dearie spent most of his time exploring every corner of the house, especially the spot where Dino and Doni were. Well, a pity they could not seem to get along well maybe coz Sunny Baby was such a stranger to both of them. I guess dogs guard their territory well. My very good friend bought curry fishhead for me again! Yummy! Spicy and delicious! Finished almost the whole plate of rice. As usual, dear Charlotte pestered me to stay longer and later into the night. Ha, my dear Charlotte, if I did not need to work the next day, I would surely stay over and play with you till late in the night. See ya soon dear :)   

Family Dinner - Asia Grand Restaurant

 Gonna try preparing this at home one of these days, simply refreshing and love the ingredients that had gone into preparing this appetizer

 Peking duck...wiped off very quickly! The meat was used for our e-fu noodles. 

 Bamboo clams were fresh and love the concoction of the sauce and generous serving of garlic.

 The XO sauce did the job.

Thin and crispy crust which seemed to melt the moment it's in your mouth, the filling wasn't too sweet too. A must-try dessert!

 Too much rich food these two weekends. Dinner last weekend before Didi headed back to DG was at Asia Grand Restaurant. Although a Teochew, I seem to favour more of Cantonese cuisine than Teochew cuisine. There is just this interesting variety to Cantonese cuisine as compared to Teochew cuisine. Anyway, I thought it was a good dinner that evening. 

Lovely gifts

You know, there are gifts in life which can never ever be bought...Count yourself blessed if you have ever received one such gift. I know I am blessed...thanks to those lovely people in my life.

Family dinner at Chui Huay Lim

 The bitterness of the tea at the beginning of the meal...a love-hate relationship 

 My favourite liver roll from the platter that we ordered...thin and crispy skin, with fresh and generous fillings

 A traditional Teochew dish that my father likes...braised conpoy with eight vegetarian treasures

 Looked plain when served but once eaten, we were full of praises for how well cooked and flavourful the bittergourd and the pork belly were 

 Not really a big fan of steamed promfret so I thought it was just a so-so for me

 Fried mee sua with seafood...a little too oily for me

We never fail to have a feast of traditional Teochew dishes whenever XF and Didi are back home. This time, we decided to head to Chui Huay Lim Teochew Restaurant which is housed within Teochew Chui Huay Lim Club at Keng Lee Road. It is a part of Jumbo Group and I remember it was also recommended by PY some time back. It was very crowded that Sunday evening and I thought it was a little too noisy for me, especially when I was already very much irritated by a bad headache. However, I was rather satisfied with the food, worthy of a second trip to try other traditional Teochew dishes. Oh yes, we were too full to try the traditional yam paste for dessert. 

Silence - A treasured gift

My surrounding was filled with cheers, lotsa shouting...or should I say noise? It was a joyous occasion and everyone around me seemed to be in a celebrative mood. However, I thought I was kind of oblivious to the surrounding. As I sat amidst the big crowd, I knew at that moment that I yearned so much for peace and quiet, I wanted so much to hear, to feel and to be immersed completely in silence. Maybe it comes with age...I seem to shun crowds more, at times, "detest" is the word. Could this be a phobia or just a psychological problem that needs to be overcome? Anyway, that Saturday, I found out a little more about myself...