The before:

And…the after:

Haha diao face ;D

Yup so these were our milo doggie cookies! Milo – one of my ultimate favourite drinks. I have to have a cup practically every day.

But unfortunately the cookies didn’t turn out very well other than appearance wise, I think mainly due to a lack of conscientiousness on my part. In the midst of adding in the flour to the butter mixture, I noted that the dough was becoming really dry and wondered how we were gonna shape the cookies from that. And so I hastily decided to add in water, and an indiscriminate amount, I should add. Of course I thought it wasn’t alot…until the mixing went on and the texture still looked unmistakably watery, to my horror. And so there we were, rolling out semi-liquid dough in our hands, hoping for the best but expecting the worst to happen.

The cookies turned out to be rather tasteless, due to the absence of sugar from the recipe I guess. They had a rather buttery feel and thankfully the addition of more chocolate chips than was stated in the recipe managed to salvage some of the lack of sweetness. The koko crunch ears turned soft on the next day though And now there are still some remaining doggies with lots of stranded koko crunch in the container haha.

I’m sure the saying that baking can be therapeutic is something which most have heard of before. It applies to me as well…it isn’t just the end result which soothes the spirit and induces a sense of satisfaction and relief…but the process contributes equally, if not more, to this effect. Of course in the midst of all the mixing and stirring and pouring and kneading it will get frustrating when the desired effect according to the recipe isn’t achieved…but at that point of time it helps to know that all is not lost; something may still be done to remedy the situation, if not at least to act as an emollient to the likely adverse outcome. On top of that it still helps to know that baking is a continuous learning process – this setback would provide an important lesson for the next attempt.

And so here I am feeling emo (about results, no less) and trying to suppress this huge impulsive urge to bake because the kitchen table is just saturated with snacks and my sister’s recent onslaught of baking conquests (and failures). I need to feel happy! I’m so restless and yet I’m not doing anything about it save for ranting about personal things when this is meant to be a food blog. Hurrah ):

And as the title suggests – what’s new right? That I’ve been away for far too long again.

Anyway, can you believe it? Christmas will be here in 11 days. Gosh. This is the time of year when people like me marvel at how quickly the year has gone by and how we’d been looking forward to December and wishing it’d come sooner and now here it is and it’ll just be over before we know it. Yeah haha actually I’m just speaking from my own perspective but I’m sure there are people out there with the same sentiments right!

Okay I realise I’ve no blog-worthy pictures from recent food experiences (okay except maybe for 1 but that’s too recent so it’ll have to wait HAHA) even though I just went for a yummy hotel lunch buffet a few days ago! I guess I was too excited about the food and though I did take some pictures they didn’t look good at all. I really should bother more with presentation next time haha.

Okay these are from quite a while ago when it was still term time! But since I miss school food, and since I have a newfound penchant for scones, and since these pictures look too good to go to waste…I thought, why not?

Olio Cafe – scone, sandwich (if i’m not wrong – mushroom and something?), wrap!

Experimenting with angles…

You know what? I don’t even think it’s proper name is a “wrap”. I can’t even remember. But it’s my fave thing to get from there! Isn’t the close-up just gorgeous? Generous amount of filling: chicken, lettuce, tomato…and that mysterious orange thing which I know is a fruit but have yet to figure out which, exactly. Mango? Peach?

That’s all for now BYE!

So anyway here’s a long longggg overdue post. Actually maybe the next few are gonna be overdue ones too :/

Another restaurant at VivoCity! That place really does have such a wide variety of places to eat at…my ambition is to try every single one out. Haha ya, right.

At BOSSES aka 黑社会! How cool a name is that la! The name is actually quite apt considering the fact that the interior, at least from the outside, looks slightly intimidating. It literally is black. The walls are black, the floor is black…you can see for yourself:

But when you venture further inside, you not only realise it’s a lot bigger than you expected…it’s actually quite an exquisite looking place too!

The whole decor of the restaurant exudes sensuality, style and sophistication. A plus point is that you get a beautiful view of the harbour too! The food served by Bosses is in a way similar to the design of the restaurant — Oriental but with a modern twist.

The appetiser of some crispy fish thing, haha.

The egg tarts didn’t taste as nice as they looked.

Typical dim sum dish!

Innocuous looking but super delicious Durian Mochi! (There, not your typical Chinese food)

Not to forget the inside…

Ma Po Tofu! I think.

Our staples for the day: fried rice & beef kway teow

Thisss….wasn’t really good at all.

Hmm, still can’t beat Crystal Jade/Ding Tai Fung if you ask me!

Tom Yum Chee Cheong Fun…ooh fusion food too!

I can’t remember what these are called exactly, but as you can probably tell they’re some kinda guo tie.

Some pork ribs thing which I (surprisingly) tried and (surprisingly) quite enjoyed!

Some custard thing which was just too cloyingly sweet

Supposedly their signature dessert item — the Salted Egg Custard Bun. Just poke it a bit and the ‘juice’ immediately comes oozing out!

It was yummy but sinful and too filling!

Ooh, one of my favourite Chinese desserts! RED BEAN PANCAKE! Though I don’t order it that often, especially since it isn’t served that commonly.

FEAST YOUR EYES….hahahah. It was perfectly crispy and not too flaky…the red bean paste just glides out onto your tongue.

OKAY I’m getting hungry just looking at these pictures again! It’s 330am and my stomach’s empty….too late for food though!

Does the name Hog’s Breath Cafe appeal to you? I’d never really thought about it until I was actually about to type it out for this entry. It’s a pretty awful sounding name if you ask me, evocative of unpleasant odours and images. However I let the fame of the food overshadow the name and so I was really excited about having lunch at the vivo outlet.

And so we all had a set lunch each!

My pan-fried dory fish

The ubiquitous fish and chips!

Oh no I forgot what this is…sirloin steak? (look at the interestingly shaped mashed potato! )

Ummm…another steak

PLUS POINTS!:

- The dishes all came with curly fries. So much better than the average fries right out of the freezer.

- Not to forget the intricate presentation of the food. Very colourful, appealing to the senses.

- Portions were just nice!

- AND I almost forgot…

The SOUP! Which came in a cup, how cute. It was starchy but in a nice way. And of course to top it all off, three crunchy croutons bursting with flavour. Croutons really make a difference to a soup!

Last but not least,

I live for desserts.

Hands up all you dessert people like me! (((:

I’M BACK!!

Yesss I know that I’ve seriously been neglecting this poor blog..or should I say, starving? ;D And depriving you people of drool-worthy pictures of yummy food! But the thing is that I haven’t had that much to blog about! Ok la…sometimes I take pictures and then I let them rot in the cam/comp until the enthusiasm to blog about them has dissipated. Yep…another negative trait – procrastination – that ellen needs to correct! :/ Especially since school (oh the dreaded word) has started. :/ :/

SPEAKING of school…Dawn and I recently went to check out Megabites Cafe! At the Science canteen! Or next to it. Yeah other than for food I don’t think I’ll be going there much hahah. The food offered there is really value for money I must say. And the variety definitely caters to a wide range of palates.

 I had the chicken chop set, which as you can see, consists of mashed potato (quite a large portion of it), some grilled vegetables and something called mega butter rice, I think. Looks like plain white rice, right? But yeah it has quite a nice flavour. I’m carbo girl so ya, I’d appreciate it ;D

From another angle! Hmm the main item, the chicken, wasn’t great actually. I wish it could’ve been more tender (as in texture, not behaviour ;D )

And since it was a set, this is the soup which accompanied it!

Cream of mushroom, I think. Sorry but since I highly suspect they use canned campbell soup just like how I’ve heard some cafes do too, I must admit that they all taste the same to me! I mean, I can’t really tell the difference between cream of chicken and cream of mushroom, for example. They’re just all…creamy. I’m not saying this was awful though! Campbell is nice, I don’t discriminate against it ANYWAY, the set cost just $3.90! (“WOW! SERIOUS??” I hear you say)

AND presenting Dawn’s black pepper fish! Looks good eh? Lots of sauce. Sauce is good, there can never be too much of it ;D Especially if it comes with yummy button mushrooms too. HMM if I’m not wrong, hers cost about $4.50?

I think I shall be blogging more about school food in time to come! Since I’ll be spending a few years there it’ll be somewhat of a staple for me yep. (:

I realise that blogging in the daytime increases the quality of my posts, since I’m not in a rush to finish off at night. I’m not gonna treat blogging here as a chore/duty/obligation! You readers can think what you want okay (if there’re any readers out there at all, ok la I <3 my loyal few!), I’ve decided to look at this as something I owe to myself; if it’s a duty at all, it’s a duty to uphold my passion. (:

So! Here comes the star of today’s post: food for thought

To describe this eatery laconically, fft is a quaint, homely little cafe with good people and good food, all for a good cause. Not that it gives out free food or anything! Hahah. But it does make commendable efforts in helping out not only the local community but the wider one as well, for example by encouraging donations to international well-building projects.

It even comes with attitude! ;D

And for the food (of course)…

I had the grilled sausage duo! To quote from the website:

I chose Chinese chicken caesar salad to complete the set! Here’s a closer look:

You may be wondering, why chinese??  Well, it’s ’cause they used a special concoction of a dressing consisting of dark soya sauce. Unusual, yes. Awful tasting? Definitely not! In fact it was such a pleasure to coat each leaf with as much of the sauce as possible, and then savour the blend of sweet and salty. I loved it so much that I couldn’t resist dipping the bread into it as well!

The only drink on the table was the watermelon-mint freeze. Another interesting combination eh! Despite my dislike for mint, I liked the drink as the mint taste wasn’t overpowering.

Kelly had the basil pesto chicken sandwich:

Strips of oregano pesto chicken breast, oven dried garlic tomatoes, soft roasted eggplant, topped with small watercress salad, with a drizzle of garlic oil lifted with a slice of lime at the side.

I nearly ordered this but decided that I shouldn’t keep trying the safer options hahaha. She didn’t enjoy the salad that came with it though, something to do with the dressing.

Now for DESSERTS! (my favourite part)

This looks interesting, doesn’t it! Red isn’t a colour you see often in cakes. It isn’t called old-fashioned red velvet cake for nothing. Hahah. The layers in between seemed like cream cheese, we weren’t too sure. It was alright, just nothing special about the taste.

MANGO cheesecake! If you don’t already know, I’m enamoured of anything that has to do with mangoes. So naturally I relished this. ;D

This was a unanimous favourite for everyone I should think! PEACH CRUMBLE, topped off with a luscious scoop of vanilla ice cream (in my opinion, the quintessential flavour to go with any dessert!) and drizzled with chocolate sauce. Needless to say, this was sinfully sweet, but not overly so for my sweet tooth! ;D Loved the abundance of peach and raisins in it ((:

Oh dear, I do remember ordering much more than those few desserts. We ate till we were practically too bloated to move. But nevertheless we were satisfied! Some of the other desserts we had: creme brulee, oreo cheesecake and old-school carrot cake. Bet you’re already drooling just reading these names ;D

Today I shall talk about ambience. For me, no food experience is complete without this seemingly irrelevant element. Nothing calms me down like a romantic, homely, cosy and serene eatery, and gets me in the mood for food. Of course, this should be accompanied by good company; someone who shares similar tastes and ideals about food as I do. Last but not least, friendly but not overly effusive service staff would be a strong pull factor for me to return next time.

I’ve found all this in Cottage Waffle Place! A really simple, humble small shop tucked away in an inconspicuous corner of level 3 of Suntec City. As you’d probably be able to tell, the place dishes out mainly waffles, “wafflewiches” to be exact. These are, simply put, something like sandwiches made with waffles instead of bread. An interesting and quite novel (to me at least) concept, don’t you think? Actually I’d expected the fillings to be similar to the kinds you’d find in sandwiches, say bacon or smoked salmon. But when I saw the menu I realised they’re mainly dessert style fillings, which, come to think of it, is actually a better idea since silly me realised bacon doesn’t exactly go with waffles. They do have ham and cheese as one of the flavours, though. It all depends on the specific type of filling, I guess (:

This is what she had. Chocolate fudge waffle with iced tea.

And my Honey Butter Waffle, apparently one of the favourites there.

The interesting thing about the waffles is that they seem to be a hybrid of the kind you buy from bakeries - you know, the pandan flavoured soft round ones which they fold in half and which you eat from a paper bag – and belgian waffles. When I say that I mean that it’s not too crunchy but it’s soft and chewy in a nice way. Haha. Quite crisp on the outside too. And notice that the edges look so interesting with their curvy shape..they look like cartoon clouds!

And and…this is what I meant by ambience.

Cottage-y, no? Complete with a fake fireplace!

OKAY MY CURFEW’S ALMOST UP AHH!

P.S. Sorry that the pictures are so dark, well it was quite dark at the place…

Does that make sense to you? Haha! (Not like the pictures I put here are amazing at all but oh well I’m hoping you guys aren’t too picky ;D )

Okay first up there’s Crystal Jade (again!! but this time it’s dimsum yummm)

Loved this! Even though I don’t usually have a thing for carrot cake.

Mmm just look at them in all their fluffy glory ;D

And underneath the fluffiness…the juicy sweet tenderness (:

Tastes and kinda looks like bak chang…very soft and nice, only the meat wasn’t salty enough I felt

What’s a dimsum meal without shao mai! Complete with an abundance of juicy prawns inside (:

Next up… some of my favourite food!

(From the basement food court at Toa Payoh Hub)

(From Gelare of course )

And last but not least…

My famous Green Tea Muffins are back!

Okay la fine they aren’t famous but soon they’ll be muaha! JUST LOOK AT THEM.

Even Mr Sandwich can’t resist! HAHA ;D

Anyway, here are some of the pictures I took of the dinner my family had at Crystal Jade Kitchen to celebrate Ahboh’s birthday.

Peking Duck

Spinach with Century Egg

Cereal Prawns

claypot tofu (i forgot the exact name)

heheh prettily decorated!

Fried Rice with Crab Meat (yes it tastes as bland as it looks :/ )

Bean Sprouts with Duck Meat! (the remainder of our peking duck of course ;D )

Alright that’s all for now, have a good week ahead! And maybe anticipate a special guest appearance soon!

I like this definition:

crav·ing (krā’vĭng) : n.   A consuming desire; a yearning.

Craving No. 1 — Koi Cafe Pearl Milk Tea (AS MENTIONED PREVIOUSLY!)

Okay. Unlike usual, this particular cup of bubble tea on this particular day didn’t make me swoon over it. I think it has got to do with the standards varying at different outlets. Or maybe 25% sugar is measured differently at different outlets?? Whatever the case, I refuse to believe that..that..my love for Koi Milk Tea was actually borne out of an impulsive conclusion made from drinking the first cup!

Sigh. I think it’s true. The tea itself can never beat the flavourful Full House one. So maybe the appeal lies mainly in the small, shiny black balls we call pearls. In particular, I always like my bubble tea with the mini pearls at Koi Cafe. They’re more like sago in terms of size and texture — less chewy than regular pearls. Some may dismiss it as lacking the kick that their big brother gives, which I actually agree with to a certain extent. I guess I’m under the illusion that smaller pearls = smaller sin. HAHA.

Craving No. 2 — MOF Gelato Ice Cream

Milk Tea flavour (left) and Azuki Red Bean flavour ($4 for single scoop with cone, $3.50 for cup)

Guess which one I had? (Obviously I’m not so greedy as to consume both at one go!)

…Azuki Red Bean! (Yummy pink nails courtesy of Dawn HAHA)

Just look at it! Doesn’t it just make you wanna go MMMMmmm…? I actually tried both flavours but decided on azuki just ’cause it’s more Japanese. More authentic ma..

It’s delicious actually. Not too sweet and a refreshing change from the usual flavours you get. The beans add a welcome variation in the texture. The only thing is that I wish it was more like gelato, like the name says!! In fact it’s nothing like it: no stickyness nor chewiness. But oh well, as Dawn suggested, maybe it’s the Japanese version of gelato? Haha.

OH, and leaking cones! I say it in the plural sense ’cause it happened to not just me but her as well. But it was pretty amusing ;D Craving satisfied nonetheless! (: