On an outing with XF

What a grin...

Mummy, Mummy, Mummy

 Ha, I call it Japanese kuei lapis :P 

 Only managed to take a photo of Mummy's crab pasta. Bravo, Mummy finished the whole plate!

Eating well and hoping we will be well :)

I kinda like those times that I get to have Sunday lunch with my parents. It was Mother's Day weekend and Mummy said not to fuss over it and just had a simple lunch at a nearby food court. Silly me thought   maybe we should 'venture' further :P My father suggested having some Western food and my mummy added we should have some healthy food. So, there we were, landed up at Cedele@Great World. Actually, it is kinda my favourite Cedele probably because of the space and variety in the menu. Surprisingly, we managed to get a table in less than five minutes without any reservation and considering it's Mother's Day weekend. As we were having our lunch, my father commented that I ate too fast. But I was never a fast eater, not amongst my friends. Hmm, but yes, indeed, it kind of struck me at that moment that maybe I was really eating too fast, it also kind of reminded me that I was going too fast in my life and that I needed to slow down, food for thought indeed. Just as we were about to make payment, we heard a lady shouting angrily at one of the staff at the restaurant outlet. Apparently, she felt that she was in a way being discriminated and not served at the payment counter. She was shouting so loudly that the whole restaurant could hear her. She must be really angry but her way of expressing her anger kind of shocked me a little. Is shouting the only way to express our anger and displeasure? How would you feel if you are being shouted at? Food for thought again. My mummy was commenting that the lady was really fierce and I was thinking that I could not even recall when my parents actually did shout at me. Maybe they never ever did and somehow, I am thankful for that. Well, we shopped a little after lunch and had our teh and kopi at Toastbox for our afternoon tea break. Ha, simple day but satisfying! 

Sichuan Dou Hua

 Two plates of keropok being served before our meal, a good variety! Yummy!

 Love the spiciness of this spicy pork belly with garlic! Our one and only spicy dish.

 Didi kept saying, "It gotta swirl." Well, it did occasionally :P

 I kind of like the tenderness of the beef, sizzled with lots of garlic, spring onion and Chinese parsley. My father said that too much of those seemed to have stripped the beef of its natural flavour. Hmm, I would not disagree though although this is my favourite dish for the evening.

Every one of us got a fortune cookie at the end of the meal and this is mine! Trying to make meaning of it.

It was a family dinner at Sichuan Dou Hua and I kind of expected to taste lots of spicy stuff but it seemed that my family members are not really into spicy stuff nowadays. Besides those mentioned above, we also had steamed fish, roasted duck, asparagus, seafood noodles, soup. Hmm, after the meal, I think we unanimously felt that when it comes to Cantonese cuisine, Hua Ting and Asia Grand can do a better job than Sichuan Dou Hua. But then again, we did not really get to try some of the traditional Sichuan dishes that they do serve so I guess not much generalisation could be made.   

XF & XW :)

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! 

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. 

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. 

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?

Love you, Mummy

 The cake came in a nicely wrapped box...

 Glad that Mummy enjoyed the cake :)

Well, wanted to try earl grey chocolate from Flor so bought a slice of it...hmm, near divine :)

Mummy dearest, I miss going to the wet market with you early in the morning last year...I miss how we would have breakfast and lunch together...I miss how we would spend our weekday afternoons doing grocery shopping at the supermarket before going for some afternoon tea...I miss telling you that I would cook dinner for us and I miss cooking for you. Although I have been busy at work the past months this year, you never fail to take good care of me like what you always do...your words of encouragement, your love, your care and your homecooked food. Many times, I am not sure if the two words "thank you" will ever be enough to show my appreciation and how blessed I am to be your daughter...

Dinner before Didi left for DG

Fish tail...according to the boss, the sauce over the fish was specially made by the chef. Fish was really fresh, the sauce would go very well with rice but I thought it would be perfect if the sauce would be a little less salty, maybe less fermented beans in it?

Foochow vegetarian dish...subtle flavour and good enough to eat it on its own, without rice.

Prawn rolls...enjoyed the natural sweetness of the prawns, very unique!

My third Yu Sheng for this Lunar New Year

I think Mummy and Didi enjoyed the cold crabs. Not a real fan of crabs myself but I thought the meat was sweet and I loved it dipped in plum sauce.

Would you consider a restaurant that has been around for almost 17 years to be able to serve nice food and will continue to do so in the next 17 years in this fast-changing society of ours? Challenging, isn't it? But I am sure Singapura Seafood Restaurant (Selegie Road) has its group of loyal diners all these years, especially so for cold crabs lovers. We were scouting for a place for dinner before Didi left for DG last Sunday and my father suggested this restaurant (not sure how he came to know about it though :P). The restaurant kinda still retained its 80s decor and it seemed to bring back fond memories of where my grandparents used to live and the two restaurants that are located at the void deck.

Lunar New Year

We kinda decorated a wall of the apartment...heh, guess who bought that big Chinese knot from China :P

Yusheng from Paradise Group for our reunion dinner at home...we love it but Didi and I kinda wished there were a few more slices of salmon :P

Peng cai ordered from Paradise Group...delicacies and more delicacies. We could not finish the whole big pot of it during our reunion dinner. We also ordered a roasted chicken. Erm, I thought I was craving for more vegetables for our reunion dinner :P

Mummy never fails to cook this dessert during CNY...love the gingko nuts! Maybe I should eat more to boost my memory :P

Resisting temptation

Didi is back in Singapore to spend Chinese New Year with us. He is now munching on some "Chicken in a Biskit" with a glass of chocolate milk while I am blogging. Ha, the biscuits looked so tempting and I could not help but took a couple from the box, goodness, real addictive! Used to like that but stopped myself from eating those as they could really be salty and sinful. But really could not resist temptation when I saw Didi eating them for supper :P The most horrible thing is, he told me that he has also bought a bag of Ruffles chips and he's always glad to share that with me too. Urgh! My determination to not eat those snacks and chips seemed to waver...With Chinese New Year round the corner, more temptation, oops!

Mummy's birthday!

Mummy dearest...you are always the most beautiful woman in my life :)

Hungry, hungry! I came from work, kinda tired but so comforting to be able to have a good meal with my family :)

Peking duck...I am not usually a fan of it but I would say it's a good starter to our meal :P

Vegetables with bamboo shoots and...erm, not sure what that sauce was but it was recommended by the staff so we give it a go. Good choice!

Fish was firm and tender too...as usual, we finished every bit of the fish, including the head. We were 'trained' to 'tackle' every bit of the fish :)

XF was craving for prawns...if only I knew how to prepare that sauce with lotsa garlic :P

I am so glad we decided to try their oxtail...so tender and the sauce, goodness, I kinda licked my plate clean! The nai bai was really crunchy and to me, a perfect complement to the main

Not many kinds of ingredients in the noodles but still flavourful...Mummy's favourite!

It's always lovely to celebrate birthdays together as a family, isn't it? We celebrated Mummy's birthday early January while Didi and XF were back home. We decided to have dinner at our family's favourite restaurant - Hua Ting. Well, you see, it never seems to disappoint, be it the quality of their food or their service. And at times, I think they are also able to surprise us with a couple of interesting and creative dishes which never fail to bring delight to our taste buds. One would realise that you don't really need condiments to complement dishes prepared at Hua Ting. I guess food prepared are naturally flavoured by the ingredients in each dish.