CNY celebration~

After 3 days of preparation, and a crazy-busy morning in the kitchen, mum's hardwork finally paid off ya (thanx to her helpful assistants too, a.k.a dad, bro and moi :p ).

Check out what my mum (a.k.a master chef for the day) whipped up this morning~

Fried Beehoon

Fried Chicken

Prawn Balls

Curry Chicken (hot favourite!)

Sweet & Sour Pork

Zhap Cai

Stew Duck

Century egg with ginger slices

Ngoh Hiang

Mushroom Broccoli with abalones

Thanx mum~

Random~

Vivocity's Kopitiam, Prawn Noodle Soup: Check out the size of the prawns~

Ajisen's Vegetarian Ramen: Check out the variety of vegetables~

Cafe le Quad~

i finally remembered to take pictures of the Japanese Udon set from The Quad Cafe at NTU ya~ The huge bento, udon and don set servings not only look pretty, taste good and they are definitely value-for-money ya~

Udon~ (lotsa mushrooms)

Tempura~

Teriyaki Chicken~ (what a generou serving!)

Thai Express~

Had alittle get together dinner at Thai Express at VivoCity last evening~ the food was good ya~ hmmm...or maybe we were just too hungry...keke... Here's a peak of what we had ya~

Hot favourite, Phat Thai~ (Check out the chilli flakes)

Seafood salad~

Honey Chicken Rice~

Thai Special Fried Rice~

CNY goodies high~

Have been doing lots of visiting and CNY pastry snacking for the past 2 days (don't dare to weigh myself, for now... :p). The pineapple tarts, kueh bangkit, love letters (coconut crisp rolls), assorted cookies and nuts... etc... varies from house to house ya~ When it comes to CNY goodies, i've a soft spot for love letters and nuts; pistachios, almonds, cashews, macadanians, grams, walnuts, NUTS! :p~~~

CNY goodies, once you start, you can't stop ya~

p.s. do drink more liang cha ya~ and if possible, eat in moderation~

Reunion dinner~

Oh my gosh, i'm so full, i can't even stand up straight ya... another classic case of over-eating...


"Lao1" Yu sheng, has been a tradition during reunion dinners ever since its creation by a local SG chef~ i could still vividly remember, as a kid, the only thing i liked about Yu Sheng was the crispy crackers but now, i like every part of it ya~

Oops! alittle too colourful~

This is how it looks like after tossing the ingredients together~

Cold dish: Seasoned sharksfin, scallop wings, jelly fish, seaweed, japanese chicken, crab sticks, sotong ball, fried prawn paste chicken, ngoh hiang and stew chicken~

Steam boat dinner~

Some drinks to go with the dinner~

My mum prepared so much food, more than enough to feed 15 people ya. Judging from the amount of food leftover, i could foresee that lunch or dinner will be the same for the next 3 days~

Have a Happy, Cheery, Prosperous & Healthy Chinese New Year!~ :)

p.s. to avoid over-eating, only eat till you're 80% full ya~

Yi Kou Wei (taka)~

Yay~ i was delighted when i saw that they were still selling popiahs at the Yi Kou Wei at taka basement, unlike the tampines branch that temporary stopped selling their popiahs in order to sell their CNY goodies ya.

The taste, serving size and variety of the filling remained impressive except that they didn't have prawns, which was included in the popiah at the Yi Kou Wei at tampines mall. Oh, do ask for less garlic paste if you do not wish to have an empowering garlic afterbreath ya~ Nevertheless, i'll wouldn't mind paying $2 for such a satisfying popiah instead of $1.80 for a lousy tasting one ya~

The box it came in, cutez ritez? :p

Mismatched of the night~

Lucky Plaza Foodcourt~

This was the first time i patronised the Lucky Plaza foodcourt after the revempt ya. They have a fair variety of foodstalls ranging from , vegetarian, korean, chinese noodles, indian cuisine, malay cusinine, economic rice, western, herbal rice, local delights, chicken rice, desserts... etc... (basically like what you see in most foodcourts).

It has become a norm for me to try out the popiah stalls whenever i dine at a foodcourt ya. The nonya popiah at the Lucky Plaza foodcourt was a disappointment ya. The popiah was loosely and poorly wrapped and soggy, the turnip & carrot filling was too salty and the overall taste was way off ya. It was definitely not worth my $1.80 ya...

Seafood Sheng Mian that had too much cornflour in the gravy

Happy Valentine's Day~

Happy Valentine's day to one and all~ :)

It's not just v'day today, it's dad's birthday too ya~ My Mum prepared a feast tonight~ She started her cooking late ya, so dinner only started at 9pm, even later then at wedding dinners -_- Oh! i had my first "Yu Sheng" just now, keke~

It's actually a serving for 8 people ya~

Vegetable (cai sim) with mushrooms

Kang Kung with grounded chilli padi

Fried scallop nuggets & fish cake wrapped with bean curd skin

Fried rice

Chilli crab (Star No. 1 of the night)

Home-baked birthday cake: Longan's Chocolate ganache-blackforest cake~ (Star No.2)

Layers (bottom-up):

1. Crushed biscuit base


2. Chocolate sponge cake


3. Blackcurrent jam and a thin layer of whipped cream


4. Chocolate sponge cake


5. Chocolate ganache


6. Almond nuts and longans


7. Whipped cream (side)

Though the cake wasn't exactly "good-looking", it was well received, my dad had a double serving ya~ (phew~ thanx goodness~)

Happy Birthday, Dad~

~*cheers*~

Popiah (Hougang)~

Yay~ another popiah update~ Keke... finally had a chance to try out the popiah at the at hougang kopitiam~

For just $1, you'll get popiah with a generous serving of the usual turnip & carrot, lettuce, beansprout, slices of crab stick, crispy bits and ground peanuts, not too bad ya~ i like the sambal chilli most ya, it's spicy ya, definitely not for those who cannot take chilli ya. This stall has one of the better tasting popiahs from the kopitiam chain ya~

p.s. the stall sells ROJAK too~ :)

Essential Brew~

i'm sure many of us have heard of Essential Brew, located at Holland village. i've been there on a few occasions and sadly, i've got to say that their service have gone from good to average to poor ya :(...

On my last visit, i was totally put off by the slow and terrible service ya. Not only did i have to walk to the counter to ask for a menu from 1 of the THREE waitresses at level 2, they also took a really long time to serve the orders ya. And the place was not even crowded then! Haiz... It's a pity ya, Essential Brew has a nice ambience for a small get together with friends, but with such poor service, i'd definitely think twice before going back to the place again... It's not worth paying 10% service charge for no service at all... :(

Herb Chicken Pasta

Iceberg Salad

Ice-cream at haagen dazs~ so satisfying~

Divine: Strawberry, Rum & Raisins, Melon

Last but not least~ beeru~ at brekos~

Carlsberg

Stella Artois

The Daily Scoop~

i've been wanting to roll to The Daily Scoop, finally visited the ice cream cafe this evening ya~ The place was pretty crowded with many satisfied looking customers and their ice cream ya. Not only do they have a wide variety of flavours, such as sensual tiramisu, sunny strawberry, green tea & red beans, rum and raisins, cempedak, so berry cheese and lots more ya, the ice creams are freshly made at the cafe too~

Keke... i forgot to take a picture of the fantastically-wonderful single scoop sunny strawberry cone, before eating it ya (that's why the scoop of ice cream looks alittle small ya)

The sunny strawberry was very refreshing and i could taste little strawberry bits. The best part i like about the ice cream was, it is not too sweet or creamy, simply perfect ya~

A single scoop cup/cone (plain) costs $2.90. They are available in take-away tubs too, at 400g at $8.80 and 700g at $14.50 respectively ya~

The Daily Scoop is located at Sunset way, clementi arcade. So what are you waiting for? Hurry down to the cosy ice cream cafe today~

The daily scoop

41 Sunset Way, #01-04 Clementi Arcade, Singapore 597071Tel: (+65) 6463 3365

Operating hours:Mon-Thu 11am - 9pmFri & Sat 11am - 10pmSun 2pm - 9pm

Closed on selected public holidays

Fruits~

Keke~ A plate of cut fruits consisting of 1/2 an apple, 1/3 a guava, 1/2 a starfruit and a slice of watermelon, make a guess, how much do you think it cost?

Ans: $1.30 from the fruit stall at NIE

Popiah (compasspoint)

The popiah at compass point kopitiam is not at good as before. It costs $2 per popiah. They used to include cooked prawns in the popiah fillings, but now, it has been replaced by slices of crabstick :( Apart from the typical cooked turnip & carrot, the other ingredients included, chinese, lettuce, beansprouts, ground peanuts, bits of chinese waxed sausage, cai4 poh4 (fried turnip bits), eggs, sweet sauce and garlic paste.

They are generous with the amount of fillings, however there was an uneven distribution of sweet and salty taste in each portion of the popiah. The sweet sauce was too sweet, as though they added honey into the sweet sauce. Overall, the popiah was alittle too soggy ya.

CNY goodies~

Finally, after 7 hours of baking and washing up... i've completed the CNY baking project! Hopefully they can last through the Chinese New Year celebrations (Ya...right~). If you are interested, the recipes can be found in the recipe index ya.

Completed CNY baking project~

First up~ Cashew nut cookies~

Pineapple tarts~ i've finally got the pastry right ya, slight crisp on the outside, buttery and soft on the inside.

Kueh Bangkit~ They are so-so only ya, takes some time to melt in the mouth. :p

Cornflake cookies~

Now that i'm done with the CNY baking project, it is time to shift gear to focus on school work (/me looks at the pile... haiz...).