Chocolate Sponge Cake~

Cakes, they come in many different forms, black forest cake, tiramisu, cheese cake, chiffon cake, marble cake, butter cake, fruit cake, mousse cake, banana cake, walnut cake, coffee cake, cupcake... etc... and the list goes on and on. There's always something for everyone.

Hmmm... i like my cake simple and plain, without whipped or butter cream, ganache or mousse, cream cheese or custard, fruits or gelatin. How about you? What is your favourite cake?

~*Chocolate Sponge Cake*~

This wonderful chocolate sponge cake recipe was adapted from a section of Aunty Yochana's Awfully Chocolate Banana Cake.

The cake is fluffy and soft. A nice balance between the sweetness and chocolate flavour.

i'd highly recommend this basic chocolate sponge cake recipe for adventurous people who intend to bake a variety of chocolate based birthday cakes ;)

Ichiban Boshi @ Suntec City Mall~

It's post F1 fever but it's still alittle quiet over at suntec city... hmmm... Perfect, if you are looking for a quiet evening.

A peaceful and enjoyable dinner with good food and friendly and prompt service.

~*Yasai Salad*~

For starters, fresh lettuce, baby corn, japanese cucumber, tomato and asparagus served with special japanese dressing.

~*Maguro Sashimi*~

~*Salmon Sashimi*~

~*Kinoko Yanagawa*~

Assorted mushroom claypot soup with egg simmered in dashi stock. Another nice way to enjoy your mushrooms~ Yum!

~*Soft Shell Crab(left) & Lobster salad(right) Handrolls*~

Yummie-licious!

A second serving of soft shell crab handroll :p~

Bean Curd with Glutinous Rice Ball~

Rojak! Popiah! Fish soup! Cabbage! Congee! Lao Po Bing! Tau Sar Piah! Kim chi! Mr Bean ice cream! Rolled oats! Red beans! These are some of my previous/recurrent food cravings.

Keke... can you guess what's my current food crave? ...Hah! Yupz! It's ah balling a.k.a glutinous rice ball... hee...

i happened to be at Bukit Merah on a cold and rainy morning and craved for a hot bowl of ah balling when i stumbled upon this Soya Bean Milk and Bean Curd stall at Bukit Merah Food Centre. What other better way then to have a hot bowl of dessert to keep myself warm. :p

~*Bean Curd with Glutinous Rice Ball*~

A generous serving of bean curd with 4 homemade ping pong size ah ballings (2 peanuts, 2 black sesame) in hot soya bean milk (i specially requested for no addition of sugar syrup to my dessert). The bean curd was smooth and rich. The glutinous rice layer was chewy (but slightly thicker than zhen jie's ah balling) and filled with smooth and sweet black sesame or ground peanut fillings.

For my standards, with the omission of the sugar syrup, the sweetness of the ah balling filling was enough to complement the hot soya bean milk and bean curd. Awww~ what a satisfying bowl of hot dessert :p~

Zhen Jie Desserts & Ah Balling @ Amoy Street Food Centre~

This has got to be it! i've found it! The number 1 choice, my favourite Ah balling stall! Chewy boiled glutinous rice flour with a generous amount of filling, served in sweetened peanut soup. There are a total of 7 different flavours to choose from, red bean, lotus seed, yam, black sesame seed, green tea, peanut or durian :p~

~*Ah Balling in Peanut Soup*~

A serving of 4 or 6 glutinous rice balls in sweetened peanut soup at just $1.50 and $2 respectively.

The sweetness of the hot peanut soup was just nice. The peanuts were so smooth, soft and melts in the mouth.

The glutinous rice flour layer was not too thick, "Q"/chewy and smooth.

i had a combination of 2 peanut and 2 black sesame seed ah ballings. The black sesame seed paste was smooth and sweet. And the ground peanut filling was rich and yummie-licious :p~

Besides ah balling, the stall also sells a variety of hot and cold desserts. Hmmm... do you have a favourite Ah balling stall to recommend?

Harbour City Restaurant~

Dim Sum lunch at PSA building, Harbour City Restaurant.

~*A spread of Dian3 Xin*~

Char siew pastries, crispy spring rolls and fried yam.

~*Siew Mai & Har Kow*~

A must have whenever it comes to ordering dian3 xin1!

There was a balanced proportion of meat, fat and prawn in the siew mai/shao1 mai4.

The har kows were alittle disappointing... although the medium sized prawns were wrapped in a thin layer of flour, they must have been sitting on the steamer for some time... the prawns were soft and slightly mushy...

~*Prawns Wrapped in Beancurd Skin*~

~*Chee Cheong Fun with Prawn Filling*~

The steamed rice flour alittle thick and of a slight gooey/gummy texture.

~*Pan-Fried Carrot Cake*~

An asian version of the carrot cake, pan-fried radish with rice flour (Luo2 Buo4 Gao1).

~*Fried Scallop Bacon Rolls*~

Deep-fried scallop wrapped with bacon and topped with salad dressing.

~*Crystal Vegetable Dumplings*~

Hmmm... when it comes to dimsum, where's your favourite hang-out? Any recommendations?

Lau Pa Sat~

Dinner at the newly renovated Lau Pa Sat, with new marble tables and wooden stools, and an elevated centerstage directly above the drinks/desserts/fruits stalls ('Live' band plays every fri and sat nights from 7.30pm onwards).

It has been a really long time since i last ate at Lau Pa Sat, which is famous for their satay stalls, seafood and wide array of cuisines.

What did we order? The 4 of us shared a spread of spicy and relatively oily local delights (with 3 bowls of rice), and a popiah for me too! :p

~*Popiah*~

Gourmet popiah from "Bao Luo Wan Xiang". A large popiah filled with seasoned boiled turnip & carrots, beansprouts, sliced cucumber, eggs, ground peanuts and lettuce.

~*Satay*~

Mutton and chicken satays with ketupat (compressed rice cake), onions and cucumbers served with thick & rich, sweet & spicy peanut gravy.

~*Sambal Kang Kung*~

Alittle disappointing... it wasn't as spicy as i hoped it was :x

~*Lala*~

Z had a quarter of it and S pratically finished the rest of the plate. i had none of 'em, not a fan of shell food...

~*Sambal Stingray*~

Grilled stingray topped with sambal belachan and served with lime and cinchaluk sauce.

~*Fried Squid*~

Crispy squid, cucumber and pineapple fried with sweet and spicy sauce.

Ice Queen Ice Cream~

My gelato craving was triggered after reading ieatishootipost's blog about Ice Queen Ice Cream. Thank goodness i was able to roll down to Golden mile food centre to sample the homemade gelato ice cream and satisfy my craving.

~*3 Scoops @ $3.50 only!*~

i had a combination of chrysthemum tea (which was fragrant and moderately sweet), strawberry (i could actually taste the flavour of fresh strawberries!) and mocha (i love the slightly chewy texture and bitter sweet mocha flavour). Overall, the gelato had a slightly chewy texture, they were moderately sweet and weren't too creamy. i was extremely satisfied with the serving, just nice and didn't feel the least "jelak" (sick of it). It's definitely worth the trip to travel all the way for the delightful homemade gelato ice cream.

~*Check out the range of flavours*~

Peanut, chocolate with hazelnut, orange sorbet, lychee sorbet, rum & raisins, mocha, durian, black sesame, chrysanthemum tea, earl grey tea...etc

Looking forward for more Ice Queen Ice Cream! :p~