TCC @ Keppel Bay

Our all time favourite - Beef Stew!

Yummy juicy chicken

Anyone would drool over those tomatoes!

The pizza was the only disappointment ... maybe it sat cooled for too long

When i have my teeth i'm gonna sink them into the steak!

Have always loved to go to Marina at Keppel Bay. It's scenic, has nice restaurants and not crowded! Once i had dinner with some colleagues at TCC at Clark Quay and was pleasantly surprised at their palatable servings. I thought TCC was famous for coffee but little did i know they had great foods too! So we're back to TCC, this time at Marina, a new haunt for my mom!

The beef stew was succulent and melts in the mouth. Nicely decorated with giant asparagus, the greens did a good job to complement the strong meat taste. And you don't get a prize for rightly guessing what i ordered :P The chicken came in a tasty sauce and grilled just to perfection! Hubby's beef steak burger was also a generous serving that left him totally satisfied. We had to give special mention to the baked potato side. Very soft and delicious, and totally won us over. The presentation also scored full marks with us! Overall the dishes looked as good as they tasted!

The next time you scratch your head wondering where to have a good meal, consider TCC :)

Cornflake Cookies

Karen happily whisking away

Fold in the flour bit by bit

Ta-Dah! ~ Golden brown cookies with crunchy cornflakes!

Karen even got me a heavenly bday cake! Made my day!

Karen came over for our first baking session together, and i must really thank her for this wonderful cornflake cookie recipe!

Just whisk sugar and butter until fluffy, fold in flour and egg, roll out balls onto the crushed cornflakes, send them into the oven and voila! there you have it! Crunchy cookies that melts in the mouth! Cannot stop at one, two or three!

It seems pretty easy to manage and the results are really good, so i will try to make these again on my own. Thank you Karen! And looking forward to more (free) baking classes from the guru!

CORN FLAKE COOKIES

Butter – 1 lb (16oz)
Flour – 1 lb (16oz)
Sugar – 0.5 lb (8oz)
Egg yolk – 4Salt – a little
Cornflakes (crushed - you can also whisk them in a blender) - one box or tray

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius
2. Whisk butter and sugar until white and fluffy
3. Fold in flour, salt, then add egg yolks (i used salted butter so didn't add salt)
4. Roll balls out of the batter, and then roll them onto the crushed cornflakes
5. Send to the oven and bake for ~20mins

A nice aroma will prompt you to check that it's ready and you can try poking it with a fork and it should come out clean. Cookie is not so hard so don't overbake it!

Enjoy! ~~

Consider This Gift

Clean sleek packaging

Comes with a handy bag that's sure to impress!

A couple friend from India came to visit and i was cracking my head what gift to send back with them. Usually i would get some signature food but as you know we can't bring Hainanese Chicken Rice across the customs.

Was wandering desperately in Takashimaya until i chance upon the Royce outlet at B1. Someone bought me Royce chocolates before and i was deeply awed by the packaging and found the chocs pretty yummy as well. At that time i was thinking my friend must have spent quite a bomb to get me this!

First of all, the name in itself is quite impressive right? Royce chocolates .. you might think the cocoa beans got pressed under golden Rolls Royce wheels to give you the heavenly taste. Secondly, its origin is Japan the country of meticulous packaging for even a rice grain. Thirdly, you can select from a range like milk chocolate (which is the sweetest) to dark chocolate (the bitter but most healthy) and also something in between. Finally, the price tag! A nicely packaged box of tantalizing chocolate thins for less than $20!

Do consider this gift option the next time you want something affordable and presentable. Afterall it's really not the cost but the sincerity that counts! :)

Doffins

Get cheery muffin cups to doll up your cakes! ~

Baking season is back again! After a long hiatus i've finally picked up the momentum to dabble my hands in flour and butter!

Got this special recipe from the domestic goddess - doffins or munut and since i like both muffins and donuts i absolutely had to give this a shot! Turned out pretty well so i can assure you this is definitely idiot proof ^_^

The texture is lighter than as a muffin and not so sweet (i put in less sugar) so you can actually eat the whole thing without feeling overdosed. The only mistake i made was to roll in the sugar topping right after i took the cakes out of the oven. Since they were still hot, the sugar melted quite immediately and the top layer of the cake became sweeter than the rest of the inside. The right way to do it is to roll in the topping after the cakes are cooled but warm. In that way, the sugar crystals would stay pretty on the top!

You gotta try this if you are also a DOFFIN fan! Have fun! :)

Prive Cafe @ Keppel Bay

My primary school friends having fun teasing my princess!

Had a gathering with some sisters at this Prive Cafe @ Keppel Bay and i absolutely have to recommend this place to you.

Keppel Bay is next to Vivo City, beside the Carribean condos, and after an enjoyable scenic drive past beautiful clear waters atop a bridge you arrive at a yatch clubhouse. You order a nice pot of tea and a yummy cake and while sipping leisurely and enjoying your lazy afternoon you watch the reflection from the sun-kissed pearly white bodies of the luxury boats.

I ordered the cheapest drink on the menu to enjoy all the other benefits - what else would you expect from a HDB tai tai?? ^_^

The best thing about this place is that it is NOT CROWDED. I am pleasantly surprised that we can still find such a nice cafe that is not crowded on a saturday afternoon. (Maybe it'll become crowded when all of you start flocking there after reading this post :P)

If you drive, watch out and turn into this teeny little road Keppel Bay Drive just before the Carribean condos. It is super easy to miss as it is so obsure! Make this your destination for your next friends' meet!

Dinner Fellowship @ SK

The natural divide between the ol* and the young hehe ^_^

We've started to make Tuesdays my cooking practice days too. The guinea pigs? My church brothers and sisters, whom so willingly come to be "slaughtered" haha.

Tonight we had the brothers gracing the event. I did a pumpkin with dried shrimp, salted fish bone with fatty meat, stew chicken with potato and fried kai lan. I'm very happy that they enjoyed the food and one of them even wants to 拜師學藝！Aiyoh 不敢當 leh!

It's great to have home fellowship where we share one another's joys and burdens, and finally laying it all down at Jesus' feet through prayer and petition. We thank the Lord for a warm cosy fellowship and we look forward to more such affairs!

Klub Sandwich

This is the 3rd time in a week i get homemade heavenly breakfast from hubby, YAY!

I attribute this to his schooling days in Taiwan. Being all alone as a young boy, he has to learn how to cook and feed himself. He also worked part time for food stalls and restaurants and managed to pick up praise worthy culinary competence here and there. Ta-Dah! Many years later i became the unexpected beneficiary of his then survival skill! ^_^

Frankly i can't tell what's in that sandwich but it does taste good! Calling it Klub Sandwich since it's prepared by hubby KUAN! *cold joke*

Smiley Breakfast

Hubby's Labor Day prezzie to me during breakfast time! Pan fried small tomatoes sprinkled with rosemary and black pepper, shredded ham and potatoes, wholemeal french toast, all assembled together in a funny smiley face!

Didn't know i get a treat on public holidays in addition to Mondays *hehe*

Delightful Breakfast!

It's an open secret who's the 一家之煮 in the family. Hubby took the effort to make me a sumptuous breakfast today! Shreds of chicken mayo mixed with lettuce strips embalmed between gardenia whole meal bread pressed just well in the sandwich maker! Visual-looking and finger-licking goodness! ~

I had to torture hubby with my half-past six dinners each monday but i get a wonderful treat once i open my eyes. Life is just SO unfair isn't it? ^_^

Monday Practice

It's Monday once again and the perfect timing to make a guinea pig out of my unfortunate husband ^_^

Dish: Sweet and Sour Prawn
Description: Small sized prawns fried with dried chilli and scallion simmered in mixture of chilli sauce and ketchup
Verdict: Sauce was nice with a little sweet taste while prawn had a nice chew, though it tasted like it was a little overcooked
Rating: 3 out of 5

Dish: Stir Fried Lady's Fingers
Description: Sliced fingers lightly fried with garlic and cut chilli with a dash of bean sauce

Verdict: Veg cooked just right retaining the good crunch; bean sauce gave it the saltiness while the chilli balanced up the whole dish. Color was just right too!

Rating: 4 out of 5

Dish: Stir Fry Celery with Anchovies

Description: An ad hoc creation because i couldn't think of what to go with the veg and then i remembered the little fishes!

Verdict: Veg was very very crunchy and the anchovies gave it a great taste! The anchovies could be fried to be more frangrant and crispy though. Taste is good but the overall presentation looked bland

Rating: 3 out of 5

Dish: Sambal Brinjal

Description: Sliced brinjal with garlic and scallion with spicy sambal sauce to add the zest!
Verdict: Tastes way better than it looks. Brinjal was a little overcooked and looks so BLACK ^_^ But the softness and sambal made it yummy

Rating: 2 out of 5

Tracy GAMBATE! ~

Delicious Chicken Rice @ Chinatown

Fried brinjal - crispy and tasty! Something new!

Went to visit my mum and she brought us out for dinner at this chicken rice restaurant at chinatown, along the street beside CK department store.

When the dishes were served, my eyes brightened with delight. Afterall, what would you expect to have at a chicken rice eating place? But they have many other side dishes that really spiced up the entire meal.

The chicken was tender and fragrant. We also ordered fried tofu, wu xiang springroll and this new dish - fried brinjal. My taste buds tantalized with every bite and i was already planning my next visit!

The bill came up to be $20+ for 4 persons. A must try for chicken lovers! :)

Ministry of Food

Softee ice-cream with red bean served with balls of yam and sweet potato

Definitely for macha lovers! Comes with fruits to lessen your calorie guilt!

A friend suggested to meet at Ministry of Food at Suntec for our tai tai gathering. It must have been ages since i stepped foot on that territory. Thought that MOF is a new food joint but friends said it has been there for some time already.

It's a really really really nice place. Japanese restaurant with lots of desserts that would make you drool on the menu. Totally spoilt for choice, and you'll be delighted at the friendly price tags too :)

Try out this place the next time you want to hang out with friends. You would enjoy a nice leisurely afternoon with visually good looking desserts served with giant portions. Downside: mind the calories!!

Royal Copenhagen Tea Lounge

Royal Copenhagen crockery are all hand painted

Chocolate brownie .. soooooo sweet!

Danish butter cake: thought i should order something "local", but too sweeet

Hot chocolate in a nicely painted cup

Happy baby not sure of what's happening

Have always taken a peek into this tea lounge on Taka Level 2 and seems like a atas kind of place to me. Arranged to meet up with Karen to experience a taste of being a tai-tai sipping fragrant hot tea with tasty hot scones on a lazy leisure afternoon hehe.

Indeed the place is full of tai-tais!! Fashionly dressed with set-toh hair and bling bling stones on the ears, neck and fingers! There were many ladies bringing their babies, probably on maternity just like me.

We ordered cakes but they were too sweet for my liking. First time i left >70% of the cakes untouched ^_^ Maybe the food is better. I shall try it next time.

Verdict: come to this place in the afternoons because it's quite empty and quiet. You get a feast on your eyes on all the beautiful people and babies too. Good place to chill out with friends or just come alone to unwind or read your fav book.

Cooking on Mondays

Apple soup - tastes very refreshing and i love to eat the apple!

Hubby loves bean sprouts!

Of course there's ALWAYS my fav chic :)

Pork rib with bean paste ... i'm getting quite good at this already ^_^

Steamed pomfret with salted veg - tasty and nutritious!

Eric is off on Monday, thus i usually will cook when the whole family comes together to eat (haha whole family = eric + me + maid). It's a good time for me to practice my so so culinary skills, and also to explore new recipes because hubby aka guinea pig is here! Woahaha ~~~

I'll always plan for a chicken, fish, meat, veg and soup. For soup, my guru neighbour taught me this apple soup. Initially i was quite puzzled: huh fruits can also cook soup meh?? But after adding some herbs, it did turn out very refreshing! It's very nutritious too!

For a long time we hadn't eaten bean sprout with salted fish. The first time i cooked this it was such a big flop: the sprouts turned out very soggy, i think i cooked it too long :( This time was better, and the taste of the salted fish was really fragrant! i must put in more spring onion next time as the dish would look better :) YAY!

I must say i'm getting quite an expert preparing the chicken wings and bean paste pork ribs. Have been doing this for quite a while so at least now i have something in my drawer in case anyone does a surprise visit haha.

Ok friends, visit me on Mondays. You'll get to do a good deed becoming my guinea pig. Cheers! :)

Vittles @ Sembawang Part II

Free flow of popcorn ... great draw for me as always!

Pan fried dory fish ... melts in your mouth!!

Hubby enjoying huge portion of chicken in BBQ sauce

Here's the sleepy baby :)

I love the weekend! We all take a break and get to indulge in some couple time :) We went to Vittles last sunday as i was craving for some popcorn. As always, the food was great, there wasn't a crowd, and there was enough space to fit in the stroller.

Not a fish lover, i ordered a pan-fried dory because fish is good for breastmilk, or so i was told ^_^ It must be one of the tastiest fish dish i have ever eaten! You must try that the next time, no regrets definitely! Hubby had chicken which was also nice, but i find the chicken skin quite thick and oily.

Baby was super cooperative and just snoozed away the whole time we were gorging ourselves. What a wonderful day!

If you're out wanting to look for good western food, try Vittles 369 Sembawang Road! Cheers! ~

Feast @ Seng Kang

Ta-Da! ~ Feasting begins! ~

Yummy cold tofu with pork floss ... an all time favourite!

Just learnt how to cook prawns ... it came out just right! YAY! ~

My favourite .. how can a meal be complete without CHICKEN??


Pork in bean sauce ... tasty yum yum! ~

Broccoli with scallop ... we need the greens!

It was a great pleasure to have (ex) colleagues over for a CNY home feast :) i was really excited planning the menu and doing the actual cooking.

This is not the first time i've cooked for about 10 persons, but i'm really happy with the result this time, cos the presentation of the foods looked great and they tasted good too! Credits to my super neigbour who gave me great coaching and cooking tips!

Of course, the highlight of the day was catching up with my friends. Great to know Kev and Jen are doing well in their new jobs and PC is still the happy super mom with 3 kids and a full time job! Cheers also to Cass and Mitch, my forever domestic kakis whom inspired me much about improving my cooking skills!

Certainly looking forward to more gatherings. Cheers to parties, parties and more parties!

Happy CNY!!

Lo Hei at our place! Cheers! ~~

It's Chinese New Year again! I've so thankful that charis came in Nov so by now my confinement is over and i can feast to my heart's content!

We had steamboat at our place this year and as usual with my family and my uncle. It's really a great joy to spend time with the family and i thank God for each of them! We just placed baby in the cot beside the dining while we ate drank and make merry. She wailed after a while as if feeling left out!

Looking forward to next CNY when charis would be one and she would then be joining us in the reunion dinner! YAY! ~~~

CNY Cookies!

Pineapple tarts ... there's a special mold for the crust

Short cut method, just roll the "tarts" into a ball (pineapple filling inside)

Wowo! We were at Cass' place yesterday and she taught us how to make CNY cookies! There were two styles of pineapple tarts and also peanut cookies! The recipe is so easy and Cass made everything look so simple! i'm inspired to try them on my own soon!

They taste as good as they look! Hubby loves them and i'm excited to share them with my friends! They'll be proud of me and raise my domestic index! Woahaha ~~~

New Year Meal

Pork ribs in bean paste sauce; most yummy dish of all

Stew chicken wings in black sauce; kinda my 拿手好菜

清炒豆苗; hubby's fav

Blessed New Year to all!! As the saying goes time flies and indeed, looking back i feel so much older this year because i now have a husband, a baby, and a few more wrinkles on my face!

To usher in the new year, i cooked dinner for our family (aka my husband and maid only; i can't bear to torture my mom and my brother yet!!) Didn't taste bad so i guess that should kinda set a nice precedence for the rest of the year!

My new year resolution: be a good wife, a better cook, and a great mother :)