Best chocolate cake (so far)

I have been editing a couple of my backlog pictures from my old computer that my Sis's bf has managed to salvage. Here's a chocolate cake that I made back in April for one of my girlfriend's birthday.

A mini Black Magic Cake slice goes a long way...

Beerfest 2010

To summarize, here's the pictures to how much fun Beerfest was. I've more pictures on Facebook, but here's a couple just to rehash memories (:

Applesauce muffins with walnuts and goji berries

Muffins. Warm muffins straight out of the oven. Mmmmmm. It conjures to mind a country style kitchen, where a red-cheeked cook pulls out a whole tray full of these lovely babies outta the oven with a pair of worn frayed kitchen gloves. In my dictionary, muffins are homely creatures.

Applesauce muffins with walnuts and goji berries

Jones the Grocer

On a fine fine weekend, we drove into Dempsey in search for an awesome brunch. With the abundance of natural foliage surrounding the Dempsey area, it was like having brunch in a private forest. Just not forgetting the fact that in reality, it is certainly not a private forest, as the crowds always seem to descend on Dempsey during the weekends as there are several popular brunch places located there. Cafe Hacienda. P.S Cafe. Barracks. Jones the Grocer.
 

Jones the Grocer

Happy Fathers' Day!

Fathers' Day Brunch for - who else but Daddy. Sis and me made brunch together. We planned the menu the day before - mozarella cheese on foccacia toast, sautéed mushrooms, crispy bacon and poached eggs. I did the mushrooms and bacon, she did the toast and poached eggs. Mmmmmm. Too bad there wasn't fresh juice to accompany our hearty fare. I paired mine with a cold glass of milk. Good enough! (:

Taste Paradise

Yay to the PC Show 2010. I've finally gotten my new laptop! A Sony VAIO (I know I know, what happened to the Mac? Haha.) cos afterall, Windows interface is still the best! ;) The venue was jam packed with people, but thankfully, we managed to enter the place, locate the booth and get out within about ten minutes. It helped that I already knew what I want before heading down to the show. I was going to get the pink, but upon reaching there, the Hot Pink was really way too bimbo (even for my standards), and the only colours left were black and pink. The white on display was damn gorgeous. But although they had like three to four white sets, they were for display purposes and not for sale. :( So I went with safe black in the end. Am now still thinking about that Sexy White cover. Maybe that explains why Safe Black is still in its box...unopened and untouched. Snigger.

I'm waiting for the Sister's boyfriend to help me set it up, internet, programs and all. I'm such an IT idiot (okay, it's just me being plain lazy arse). Anyway, hopefully that means I can get to my lost files. Soon. Here are pictures for another dim sum brunch with the family. This time at Taste Paradise @ Ion. We wanted to go Royal China for dim sum but when we called the place, it was already fully booked. :( So Taste Paradise it was.

 

Tea; Appetizer; Dim sum; Taste Paradise

Lei Garden

Dim sum. Two simple words that mean so much. There's nothing better than waking up late on a lazy weekend, and then heading out for some yummy dim sum brunch. Perfect little tiny morsels that are meant to be shared among many, just so you can have the excuse of ordering more.

Lei Garden @ Chijmes 

Sticky date pudding 2

It's Friday! Here's some pictures of a sweet treat to brighten the weekend. I've used the Masterchef recipe again for the puddings, as I did the last time round. But weirdly, they taste different from what I remembered. The last time I made it, I remembered it to be softer and nicer, but this time round, they weren't very good. Could it be because I use my silicon molds to make this, whereas the last time round I used a metal muffin tray. Will taste be affected because of what material the molds used are made out of? Hmmmmm.

Sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce and hazelnut praline

Shimbashi soba

Just read in the papers last week that Shimbashi Soba at Raffles Place's gonna be closing soon as their lease is going to end and the management is not going to continue leasing. Aww how sad. I love Jap food, and I've frequented this place several times, each time leaving the place with a happy full tummy. Luckily for me, I'm more a town person then a CBD person so I still can get my soba fix when I want to. The last time I went to Shimbashi Soba, it was in March, when I was still seeking a job and had plenty of free time on my hands. I was in town to fix my (new - then 2 months old) iPhone which just crashed on me for no good reason. Sister rushed down to town after she woke up so we could have lunch and go shopping. We decided to date Daddy dearest for lunch and decided on Shimbashi Soba.

Shimbasi Soba - Sayonara?

Dining in

My dad's gotten into this habit of making us go for family meals once a week on his day off. Depending on the availability of the family members, we'll go out on either Saturday/Sunday for brunch/lunch/dinner. At first it was a bit of a bother for me cos that means I've gotta spare a day outta my already miserable short weekend for the family instead of heading out with friends. Then again, lately, I'm not really having much of social life cos no one ever dates me out. :( And I've gotten into the mood for the once-a-week meals cos that means I get to bring my baby (the Canon 500D) out for photographs! (Yes, I take photos of the meals we have and that means no one gets to eat till I get my shot! Haha.)

But then again, after all the weekly dining out sessions, sometimes it's just good to stay at home for a nice homecooked meal yes? Sis was having the same sentiments. So when Daddy dearest asked me mid-week, "So what are we eating this weekend?", I said, "Why not stay home? I'll cook!".

 

Saffon threads. Can you guess where this is heading?

Pear riesling sorbet

I've just signed up for the Stanchart 2010 yesterday. Though I was trying hard to persuade the colleagues to join the 21k with me, the girls decided to sign up for the 10k instead, and so I'm kinda on my own. Well, like my sister (the pro that she is that had signed for the 42(!)k) said in reply to me whining about no one accompanying me, You're your own best pacer. Hope so! Just completed the Adidas Sundown 10k, there's the upcoming Nike Shape 10k in July, I'll be doing loads of running every week from now for training. That will hopefully help in my healthier lifestyle plans hey?

So anyway, a while ago, I was supposed to have dinner with one of my fave girlfriend in town, and everywhere was packed (it was a Friday, no surprise here). We decided on Cedele at Takashimaya cos it looked pretty empty. It was a really good decision I think. The food was pretty good, I had a burger and my friend had a pasta. The burger was super - juicy (I hate it when restaurants serve dried up patties and call that a burger) and moist and flavourful, paired with a lovely soft foccacia. I enjoyed every single bite of my burger. When we walked by the desserts display to get to our seats, I knew that I was definitely going to get dessert after dinner. We were deciding among the cheesecakes and cakes, when I saw the icecream counter. Boy. We were instantly sold.

Pear Riesling Sorbet