La Fondue @ Demsey Hill
Lunch was on Dear today... well everyday is on him la hehe... but today .. he brought me to Dempsey again... wanted to go bk to Au Salut Petit but they were full house as usual... ..
After walking around... seen some things here n thr in that estate
This mini fountain got 2 monsters under neath...
The fish (tilapia i think) is bigger than me.... 2 of themm...
Walked around to hunt for food...
Finaly I decided on La Fondue...
I was 1st introduce to fondue in wehre else but Sweden... ther eis this small little shop near my painting class... pretty ex.. but we love it... subsequently in Switzerland we had it too... Then.. there were 3 of us.. so we could easily afford to order 3 type of fondue and share... mainly the cheese, white wine n chocolate.. and so here I cant seem to decide what I want...
FinalY dear decided for me.. we had the Minden Set.. which consist of the following... BTw.. the waiter advise us not to have fondue IF we r in hurry.. cos its supposed to b enjoy slowly
well... we can hav 1 salad per pax...
Dear choose
Ceasar SaladAnd I choose
Garden Salad with Yoghurt dressingSimply love the olive in it.. its good grade olives... it give the salad a v nice smell... I love olives...
Ahh before I forget... the fondue uses neither solid fuel nor candle light. they use eletric hotplate like this
So only the pot is heated not the plate nor can it scald our hand... I got 1 similar one in the storeroom waiting for mi to use heheee
Table setting...
2 fondue fork for ur fondue later.
Att this point of time... I keep tinking... we are only having 1 fondue... ie the chicken broth ....
Just then...
The cheese arrive... with bread of cos... I choose 3 cheese flavour.. I tot the cheese means we r having solid cheese like hw u eat them while pairing with wine... how stupid am I... yes 3 cheese fondue.. I LOVE cheese...
still rem my cheese from Amsterdam... which I painstakingly bring bk after my summer holiday bk to Sweden then to Singapore few months later...
Here is the accompaniement for the cheese
Closer look...
The ham is fantsatic.. the brocolli is soso.. since its onli liek 10% cook b4 u dip it intot he cheese... the caulifalower err.. sucks.. cos it stink... but we ate it anyway... Bread stick and carrot was good.. so is the celery.. not forgettign the Arnott wafer... and the water cress.... corns tooo...
Then came then nxt dish after we finish the above
the sauce that came along... 7 type
Mainly the herbs dressing, vinegratte, black pepper, mustard, home made chilli, herbs mayo, tomato paste.
the chicken broth fondue... with a sprig of rosemary and some dill added to it.. .enhance the flavour greatly... I love rosemary... ahhhh
but then later on I reaslie.. its actualy cream fo chicken soup haha.. now I know their secret...
Star of the day
salmon, prawns, lobster, scallop, chicken and venison meat...
The food are VERY FRESH... but the seafood seem a bit salty... prob too much seasoning... the prawn seem to hav some saffron (or turmeric) on it.. yellowish... but nice n crunchy... lobster was great.. and scallop was yummmm
we took out own sweet time to eat... heee...
here comes dessert... took me very long to decide wat dessert i want cos its all chocolate.. my biggest enemy... and again i tot its comes in cake form... who noes... its another fondue!!!!!
Carribean chocolate fondue (contain rum).. i choose this because.. i know witht he extra alcohol it will help mi fight away the enemy a little... unfortunately... .the rum was too little... after I ate this.. I think i felt so sick in the heart.. mayb its like heart attack coming...
The icecream, eclaire, fruits, mashmallow and brownie that comes along with the fondue...
If the meal coems w/o the dessert.. I prob think Im NEVER FULL... cos u see the portion is freaking small... im a BIG eater k...
and the bill??? $160... omg... yea.. the set cost $135.. plus all the service charge, tax etc... bahhhhhh so ex... but dear choose it hahaaa... so Im excuse... hehe. anyway its once a year affair yea.. so.. well no regret..
We had a short walk ard the estate again aft lunch to retrieve our car...
see the big car park... plenty of parking space
free too.. so well.. no worries bout taking too long or hefty car park fees...
some restaurant I might want to try in future
The Prime Society... initialy dear wanted to eat this.. but i saw the menu.. pretty ex and not much ppl ard dunno nice anot..wait till i get more feedback...
Wanted to try OOsh..but I cant find it.. onli managed to find it on the way out of the estate...
some interesting antique shops there... selling all this ornaments for the house...
P&G Order
Brenda gave me a super last min notice that she wants the pralet today instead of next week.. My... and she wants a BIG one too... luckily I got the ingredients ready...
she got another request... she wants 5 names on the cake... ahh.. how to do it nicely w/o looking too boring???
and so I did these
Every name is on each pc...
The Final Product
Now come to think of it.. it seems a little like xmas cake yeahhh heee
Happy Birthday to the staffs at P&G
Comfort food for the sick
Guess the past few days w/o much baking is making me sick... the injured finger.. lead to a mild flu to begin with and I hope thats all man...
And well.. it been donkey years since I alst rem I went to the doc for flu.. since I alwasy self medicate and eat my comfort food...
Just what exactly is my comfort food when Im down with runny nose, headache, fever, cough etc??
The ans is
Cold Coca cola with icecream... Yes thats it... dear will always offer me that... seems like.. ever since I begin to paktor with dear, till now.. the wedded days... each time Im sick.. he will offer me this.. and Im so use to it that this round.. when i dun feel too well.. I request for this... Rather... I guess we are so use to the western style of life in treating sickness.. In sweden, I rem doc will encourage us to take such thg when we are sick.. strange isnt it?
prob my mum will jump if she hears that im taking such thg when im sick.. afraid of my asthma comign back etc...
but it sure make mi feel better... the sugar level thats it I guess... and I guess asmuch.. in future for my kids.. if they r ever sick.. they prob get such treatment too??? thou Im not v sure if it works for them as well as it works on me...
No pix of cos since is onli coke with icecream... a bit like rootbeer float yea...
Game to try???
Marie goes to Hong Kong
I really cannot sit still... not for more than 3 days really...
3 days idling... well.. finaly I made something.. .thou I told myself I gonna rest for 1 week at least... well.. I was real depress n moody for past 3 days... day 1 dear already ask mi to make some bread.. but I cant cos my finger was immobile...
Anyway... finaly bcos Emily is going home today.. and I wanted to send her off badly... thou I was down w slight flu (thanx to the idling), I decided to try out cookies making again which I do not know if its a good move anot since it involved rolling and cutting out w the cookie cutter...
It took mi longer than usual to do this batch since I have to do it single handedly... but my preserverance paid off... Marie is on her way to Hong Kong in Emily hands..
Frankly I have never heard of Marie... till I saw the cutters online.. and well.. after buying it, I have no idea who to make and give to cos no body noes Marie... sounds like a maid name huh? Then when Emily told mi she like marie among the 3 thgs she like... I decided this should be a farewell gift to her for now... since we dunno when we will meet again... I just want to make her trip a memorable one... Did some Chip n Dale one for Iris too since well... I bet she like the cookies too... so Chip n Dale is in HK too yea...
I used vanila pods instead of extract for the cookies.. and thus it got some nice specks all over... and I must say the cookies seems to taste nicer than ever... hehe...
Perhaps I dont have to wait too long to see my dear friend again.. Dear suggested a short trip to HK in nov.... wow.. winter... coollllll
Korean Food
Like I mentioned.. we had Korean food 2 nights ago when Emily came down from Hong Kong.
She host a few dinner for me the last tim I went up .. and so I guess.. its my turn finaly!!! And Dear been very helpful too.. since well.. he knew her too from our 1 month Europe back packing days... Serene of cos tagged along since she is feelingmuch better and of cos.. she is part of our back packing gang for the 1st 2 leg of the trip... she is trained by me to do back backign ever since...
Back to the dinner... well, dear suggest having Korean since well.. HK have more yummies than us I believe, and so this will be somethg different... and we choose to go Jang Won. Its at Mosque Street.
Run by Koreans.. but.. only the bosses..the waitresses are all CHINESE.. who barely can speak english.. and when I speak in Korean... well.. their face drew a blank expression =(
Some how.. I feel their food is not as fantastic as before.. or is it my standard?... just look at the side dish
Chicken Frank in tomato sauce?? is this korean?? tsk
The Brinjal is not too bad... they have the stew potatoes, veggies too.. din snap a pic since my hand still cannot move about properly
Some of our dishes
Sam Gay Dang aka Ginseng chicken...
Again I think its not as good.. the glu rice is clearly absent... thou the chicken was tender
Kim Chee Pancake, somethg i like.. but i think this is not chewy enough
Chicken Intestine.. Which we thought is the intestine itself and we order.. turns out to b Gizzards... well not bad thou =)
We also had beef tripe soup for dear.. and bibimbap for the rest of us...
A grp photo.. before we proceed to go for some sight seeing then teh tarik, Naan, mee goreng at River Valley
I think.. prob I prefer the Korean restaurant at west coast... zang shing zhong I think... cos the side dish more yummy hehe
Doraemon
Well.. yea Im not suppose to be baking, cooking, washing or any sort.. im suppose to R&R... so.. well as planned.. I went to meet Emily.. YES Emily from HK.. hehe... my sec sch friend whom .. well travelled almost half the Europe with me couple of years ago... together where we went thru the 'tough' days of back packing.. of cos right before that.. went thru the tough days of fighting with each others grades in school.. fighting to b the top... Well 10 good years later... we r still GOOD friends... while we last met 18 months ago in HK... this time round finaly she have a chance to come by.. she gt me some goodies(baking related of cos). will reveal that later.... or when i feel like it... tsk tskkk
So we brought her ard... for dinner n walk around..when I saw this
Die die must buy..esp so since a friend ask me if I have seen any Bento box around.. and I thought perhaps she wants this too.. if she dont wants.. hehe.. it goes to me then...cos dear keep asking me why do I want to buy this.. hahahaa... cos its cuteeeeee...
I hope this dont spark me off a bento collection like what Peony did heheee... her collection is making me drool....
More about the korean dinner we had tomolo yea... my wound is hurting w the typing...
Oneh Oneh
Finaly I found the freshly grated coconut at 1 of the provision shop at AMK today... not tat I stay there thou... Just happen to b there to do some research... n due to lack of communication... the auntie ask me qns in hokkien.. i dont understand.. and when dear explain for me.. and I tell her what I wan... coconut with or with skin... she gave me those with skin instead.. but I went ahead with the oneh oneh making anyway... hurriedly got some sweet potatoes after that.. and after awhile I got this
Oneh OnehGuess I went over generous with my green... scare the orangey colour cant b cover.. anyway... its yummy.. thou i prob can stuff in more gula melaka nxt round.. I din opt to add int he coconut in the fillig since I dun like the filling of the coconut stuck in my teeth... the outer layer is more than enough for me to bear... But still I HEART oneh oneh =)
But before I can sit down n enjoy my oneh oneh... I had a freaky accident in the kitchen.. after 2 hours at the A&E.. Im order to go on a weeks MC if not more.. and thus I guess for the next 1 week I am gg to be real restless at home... even blogging is a prob for me now.. having a hard time typing =(
Almondy Almondssss
After a rush morning... going to get my correct size cake box for the cuppies.. piping n frosting them under 1 hour.. I thought I can rest... then... Small gal reminded me of my 'dying' strawberry in my fridge via sms... threatening that if I dont do the Friands today.. she will wrap me up with curry leaves hahaa... and so... Here I go... after all.. my cousin is popping by to visit and I think she probably can bring these home...
And here goes...
Very Berry Friands... loaded with Black Berry, Blue Berry and Strawberry
Non fattening I guess since only egg white are use =)
Just then.. mum called and say she is coming up with my princess sisters... so.. I did more experiment hehe
Almond Cake
While Dear like the Friand better.. I prefer the Almond cake..This have yoghurt in it.. but still its not something that I like best. Then again.. this 2 cakes are too rough for me and so I prob will nt want to do it again for own consumption unless my family ask for it
Wedding Cupcakes
By some request.. I did some wedding cupcakes samples..
Double Happiness CupcakeHad a hard time getting the cut out out from the cutter as it was rather deep.. But Im happy with it =)
Birthday Cupcake
Remember my "
fresh" roses?
Well, I use sugar paste to do it the other day.. i was keeping finger cross that the weather will be good in case it sweat n turn sticky.. Luckily despite the wet weather.. the roses are intact..
The roses are made possible for an order... LX asked for some cupcakes for her bf's birthday.. she had requested for red roses, white alphabets for the names and some silver candies... and most importantly.. she wanted chocolatey ones .. so so chocolate cupcakes is the theme.. She req for choc chips too.. but I did not add these in as I am afraid the oil from the chips will spoil the smell of the whole cupcakes. Also I was afraid that the cupcakes will turn either too girly for a guy... or too christmasy... since well.. its red green n white involve... and ermm.. National Day too?? heehee
The red roses are tricky.. its really difficult to get this bright red... fortunately.. with much preserverence... I did it... of cos I love red roses than pastel one anytime =)
Anyway.. well It turns out great.. Dear say they are pretty too... thou I use blue for the Happy Birthday.. since I think it could quite make it more colourful n manly =)
From a very pretty girlfriend LX to her beloved Baby Boo
Simple.. but well.. it do looks like a gem yea??
Our loved ones are always a gem in our heart
Individual cuppies...
What does 3 roses represent??
I Love You of cos
I hope the birthday boy and loves ones enjoy the cuppies.. Thanx for giving me a chance to do this =)
Early Hallowean
I have got loads of time to spare today after baking some stuff... with the packing of my baking cabinet.. Still I am restless... and soo with the left over sugar paste.. I attempted this..
Creepy??
Well... I think its more suitable for Hallowean huh? hehe.. I think Im hopeless with hand shaped sugar craft... real Hopeless...
Well.. hope I got better things coming up tomorrow =) did somethg else too =p
SS Pie
SS.. what do you think it is?
Today's star ingredient... is this
Yes Guinness Stout...
Well.. I did the Stout Steak Pie.
It all begins with Big Ben... Dear brought me to Big Ben.. and one of this caught my attention.. Previously he already had tried this.. and he said its good... so among the mushroom pies, chicken ones, tuna... I choose this...
The Guinness Stout Steak Pie..
I was won over by the pie.. except that I thought its a little tongue stinging... dunno if its salty or what.. anyway... every time we go.. we will order this.. and its a freaky $3 or more per pie and can I say its barely filling? Well maybe I have got a big appetite compare to other ladies... and most of the time.. NO ladies will go Big Ben with me.. Its alwasy only with dear.. and sometimes with his guys n colleagues..
The rate of them gg to Big Ben is very frequent.. I think.. Big Ben will close down if the Navy decided to shift away from Changi haha
Back to the pie... when I ate that with dear.. he ask me.. u know how to do this?? well.. so I got into action. bu tit took more more than half a year before I dare to try it out.. since I am not sure how stout will really taste.. my memory is... its bitterish... thou I tot I like the malt stout at Brewerkz.. 1 other reason is becos.. I dislike the floury taste of lousy pie crust... and so that is my reasons for all these procastination..
Spoke to Lee yesterday and she mention bout making some pie.. and I tot is a good idea to make for dinner.. zoom off to the supermart w Dear after that and bought everything.. spent the afternoon doing this... and I realise I dont have those mini pie dish..ende dup using my cake tin.. which is deeper.. then again.. its better.. deeper.. means more filling haha.. and I managed to make 5 pies onli...
I dod not egg wash the surface with whole egg.. I tested out using egg white and see if it give a shine.. well.. it gave me more than shine.. look how yellow it is.. Im surprised =)
And dear prob think the pie is too girly.. with all the flowers on top hehe
Guinness Stout Steak PieWith 1 in my tummy already... I am very surprise this taste very close to the shop version.. the filling i mean =) .. the stout is very flavourful... it actualy turn a bit saltish aft cooking and so additional salt is not needed...
As to where did the remaining stout goes to... needless to ask.. to our tummy later on when we eat the pie for dinner of cos *wink*
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RecipePastry:
180 gm butter
250 gm plain flour
1 small tub plain yoghurt (+-150g)
1 tsp sugar
1 egg yolk
A pinch of salt
1. Put all the ingredients except yoghurt into the mixing bowl , and mix to a crumble.
2. Add in yoghurt and mix to a dough. Keep it refrigerated for at least 30 mins.
3. roll dough to the thickness u want.. and lay on the baking dish/tin. Add the cooled filling.. cover with a layer of dough and baked at 180 degrees for appx 30 mins. I baked mine for 40 mins as my tin is deeper
Filling:1 pc of topside beef steak(coat with flour and season w salt n pepper lightly)
Garlic
onion, diced
carrots, diced
mushroom, diced
Guinness Stout
Herbs de Provence
Directions1. U can minced or slice the beef to ur preference.. I diced it into small pieces.
2. Heat the pan with some olive oil.. fry the garlic till fragrant.. add in the beef. Lightly brown it. add the rest of the ingredient EXCEPT stout.
3. .when the ingredient turn soft.. add some stout... and let boil... keep adding stout ... I added about 500ml of stout in all... save the last round of stout to jus mildly boil... else the flavour will all evapourate. I add the last round of stout 15 min b4 the filling is done.
4. When beef n veggies turn soft enough (about 1 hour), off fire n let cool.
Note that the filling cannot b too dry.. as it will dry up a little during the cooling process.
I do not add much seasoning as I feel the stout really flavour the whole dish very well...
Gyoza
I think the difference between the Chinese gyoza aka Guo Tie and the Japanese ones, are only slightly different.. the veggies in it thats it.. If I rem, Japanese dont use chives in theirs.. while the chinese ones are loaded with them..
Chives also Known as Jiu Cai have a pungent smell esp when raw... try leaving it on ur counter top for a day or 2, U probably get the rotten meat smell... then again, if you ever try the fermented chives from china. use them for filling in Gyoza, I bet u will never want to eat the fresh one again.
Japanese Gyoza are often loaded with seafood like prawn and crabmeat making the gyoza juicier and sweeter
Either 1.. I like it all.. we can chomp down dozens of them at 1 go... Of cos we need load sof pure vinegar and shredded ginger to go with it.. Sadly.. I have nto master the restaurant standard kind of shredded ginger.. which is super thin.. the best i can do it.. is prob.. half an mm thick...
The retaurant vinegar.. are often thinned with water.. making is less shiok to eat with.. I like to use the Black Dog's brand since is mildly sweet and freagrant on top of the sourness...
Some Gyoza are deep fried (which I think its a bit too hard for me to bite since I dont like crispy thing, soe are pan fry.. with slight crispy on the skin and a little moist too... that is done by sizzling the gyoza with a little water while frying...
For supper last night... I cheated by using the ready made shanghai dumpling skin...
Now I need to buy more chives and do gyoza again since I finish my freshly wrap batch...
Fresh.. or... not??
Take a look....
Fresh Roses? Or?? Sugar Paste??
Whats it for??
I love the deep red thou....
Check out my blog again in a few days time... ONLI if you r curious enough.. not a big surprise thou =)
Chiku Tree??
While we went house viewing of the stratter house at punggol.. came across a house with this chiku tree(am I rite?) actualy dear said its chiku.. I have no idea if its really chiku since.. well I hate the taste.. too sweet
Dear was tempted to pluck... whole tree full of them... then again.. its not nice yea.. thou its over growing over the fence... so just take a photo as momento.. who knows I gg to be their neighbour in future hehee
Seeing Duck
Some short duck history with me
My 1st encounter with duck.. was a astonishing one... why? It began in Sweden when well... we were craving for duck... Dear especially, loves duck. Chinese food being expensive there, we hardly eat at chinese restaurant UNLESS the rest of the guys jio us along... we find it stupid to eat chinese... And the only place we look forward to is Chinatown in London... there we can eat chinese food heartily... hem hemmm ... actualy we onli take roast duck thr and nothg else hahaa... Back then going London prob is just like going to JB... just drive up to the airport 3 hours away, catch a flight.. take Standsted Express to town.. lock up the luggage at train station.. PROCEED to Chinatown for Roast Duck noodle/Rice..
Well.. its cheaper there.. at probably 5 pounds, you can eat the REAL Hong Kong style roast duck... while in back in the lonely town... u probably onli get a few miserable pcs of dunno wat kind of duck... at crazy price... When we hav to camp at the London airport overnight when we go travelling, we will tabao this for late dinner at the airport... not that cheap uh if U consider the air ticket.. but the experience is well worth it.. and I haven found any good roast duck in Singapore ever since... nothg better than London's.
Anyway, once... I saw the word 'goose' at ICA and then I also saw the duck word... I was too happy to find it... thinking goose n duck cost the same.. I blindly pick up 1 and went to pay.... When our friend help me to pay 1st... to our dismay... the freaking duck cost near 100 bucks SGD... duck seem more ex than goose there.. tsk... and that was my 1st encounter w duck.. I made sure I make the best out of the whole duck and the guys get to eat with us... Since then.. my million dollar duck been on both me and dear's mind
Anyway.. back to Singapore.. I was waiting for dear to pick me at CS yesterday when I saw this pack of duck parts.. seems like they do sell the duck breast meat and the thigh seperately.. and my family esp dear loves roasted duck (leg... well who doesnt right?? ). So I pick up a pack and decided to do somethg with it... cheap.. 1kg for onli like $7plus.. compare to my million dollar duck... Duck confit came to my mind.. then again after i read thru soem recipe.. it makes me feel its oily.. thou I dun remember the french ones are tat oily.. so I proceed to making my own roast duck...
Marinate 2 thigh overnight in the fridge.. Today I brush some soy sauce n dark soy sauce on the duck.. and left it to dry like this
Dry skin is essential for crispy skin..esp if u do not wan to deep fry the duck... after airing it for about 3 hours.. I got kidn of inpatient.. and Amrita suggest using the hair dryer to dry it.. the heat caused some oil to ozze out.. oh yes. duck are freaking FAT.. they are fatter then chicken..and of cos smellier.. maybe cos they swim and so need fat to protect themselves from the cold? Anyway... decided to pop them into the oven n bake w fan mode.. so they dry up while roasting...
Basted them with some honey and sesame oil... twice at a 6 min interval.. switching between bake w fan mode n grilling ...
Ta dahhhh
After 20 mins... I got this
Nice ehhh... but too bad skin wasnt as crispy as Peking duck (oops.. we r in spore..maybe we call this singapore duck yea)
Still in the wrap /tortilla craze...
I got down to make some mushu crepe...
Which Unfortunately looks good but dont taste like what it shld be...
So ended with my usual tortila again...
Tried to mimick Peking duck.. with a twist thou..
Use 2 tsp of Hoisin Sauce amd a tsp of Plum Paste to neutralise the saltiness... .add some sesame and mix well... spread lightly on the wrap.. add the sliced duck.. carrot and spring onion and roll...
well I got 9 rolls
the taste of the sauce were great.. thou I might want more plum Paste n it next time... still find it on the salty side thou bearable...
Oh Yea... there are the left over duck since I ran out of burittos.. and we ate it just like that.. nice...
Reserve the bones for porridge tomolo or monday .. Hic Hic
