Tiong Bahru Bao & Snacks

I was at Toa Payoh earlier on and saw a long Q at Tiong Bahru Bao and snacks. Out of curiosity, went forward to take a look at the freshly steamed buns and freshly baked snacks. I'm always an egg tart lover as compared to steam buns. Hence I bought a few home to share with my family.

Pastry skin is flaky, but the fillings taste abit sweet to me. Well, as compared I would still prefer those from selegie beancurd. But the ones which i missed most are from Hk Honolulu cafe! :-(

This is the shop name and I look forward to trying other selections from the outlet on my next visit!

Homecooked 经济米粉

I've always like fried plain bee hoon being served with stir fry veggie and fried snacks and seems like this is a breakfast choice for most Singaporeans. To me it's like "huh? ask me eat so full in the morning, doubt my tummy can take it"
So I been craving craving and craving for these 2 days, finally suggested this menu to mum for dinner tonite. Lucky mum didn;t disappoint all of us!

My perfect 经济米粉 dinner consist of 荷包蛋, cabbage with long beans & carrots, fried chicken nuggets and porkchop. Cool, I reali enjoyed my diiner tonite!

豆豉回锅肉

Cracking my brain cells to come up with a new way to cook some meat slices and I like it 重口味. Thus, decided to cook the dish the following way.

Oh ya, juz to share something which happened to my taste bud recently. I been having bland food for lunch for almost 2 weeks and by the 9th day, I felt my taste bud not functioning well as I was unable to taste the sweetness or saltiness in the clear broth. Oh, wat's wrong with me? Therefore, I've concluded that 1 shouldn't eat bland food the time, should excites the taste bud once in a while.

Ingredients;
Lean meat slices
2 stalks celery, cut into bite sizes blacked and soak in ice water
Carrot slices
1 stalk spring onion, cut into length of 3cm
Chili padi strips
1 garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1/2 tsp hiam see, chopped
Oil for frying

Sauce;
1/2 tsp chili paste
1 tsp light soy sauce
1/3 tsp dark soy sauce
1/4 tsp sugar
Pinch of salt
20ml water

Ingredients;
-Fry garlic & shallots in oil till lightly brown.
-Add hiam see, fry for another min.
-Stir in meat slices, fry till change colour.
-Add the remaining ingredients and sauce.
-Toss well and serve.
-Enjoy!

Closed up on the dish.

油皇炒面

A quick, simple & easy to prepare noodle dish for our lunch today. So far I've cook 油皇 with rice vermicelli, mee tai bak and dong fen. this time round shall be yellow noodles. A more difficult challenge as I would require to fry the noodles till the 'kee' smell evaporate.

Ingredients;
600gm yellow noodle
1 egg
1 handful of beansprouts
Some Holland beans, shred
Crabstick, shred
Sweet dark soy sauce
Stock
Salt
1 clove garlic, minced
Oil for frying

Method;
-Scrambled egg in hot oil, set aside for later use.
-Fry beansprouts for 30 seconds, set aside for later use.
-Fry garlic in oil till fragrant, toss in holland beans & crabmeat sticks.
-Fry for 30 seconds, add yellow noodles.
-Add in some stock, fry for about 3 mins.
-Season to taste, return the eggs and beansprouts to wok.
-Mix well and serve.
-Enjoy!

黄金素菜春卷

I had a sudden crave for crispy fried snacks and as I have the intention to give aunty sarah some, decided to play safe by cooking vegetarian version. That's the juz in case both aunty sarah and uncle david is on vegetarian diet.

Ingredients;
Popiah sheets
Flour batter, for sealing popiah
Vegetarian ham, cut into strips
Tau kua, 1 piece cut into strips
1 carrot, shred
Cabbage, shred
Turnip, shred
Salt
Oil for frying

Method;
-Add 5 tsbp oil to a heated wok, fry tau kua till golden brown. Drained
-Heat 2 tsp oil in a heated wok, add carrot and fry for a min.
-Add turnip and vegatarian ham, fry for 2 mins.
-Toss in cabbage, fry till soften, sprinkle in salt and let fillings cool.
-Wrap fillings with popiah sheet, roll up and seal with flour batter.
-Continue until complete.
-Deep fried till golden brown and serve.
-Enjoy!

Wrapping in process....

Closed up on the hot crispy rolls

Ayukawa Grand~JB

Tabby and I were in JB to run some errands and as Tabby had a sudden crave for sashimi, we decided to check out on Ayukawa Grand, a Japanese cum Italian restaurant.

Nice ambience

Salmon sashimi~Tab's favourite

Seafood nabei~something to warm my tummy!

Grilled salmon head~our all time favourite!

Crispy chicken steak with mushroom sauce

Other selections....

Dessert~fruit cocktail with vanilla moose.

祝爸爸 ‘父亲节快乐’

Happy Father's Day to all great dads in the world and most importantly, to my Daddy! we decided to dine out at dad's favourite zhu chao place on this special day.

Baby kailan with oyster sauce

Sambal sotong

Sweet & sour pork

Kung bao frog

Claypot tofu

Gam hiong fish head

Our big feast

Fiesta cheesecake for Dad

Wow... our favourite cotton light cheesecake

Soft, moist and light texture. No wonder it's our family's all time favourite!

Iced Limau Tea

1 of my favourite drink which I will always order whenever I patronize the Indian coffeeshop during lunch near my office. Since I have the necessary ingredients at home and feeling super thirsty on a hot day today, I decided to prepare this refreshing drink to quench my thirst.

Ingredients;
1 lipton teabag
15g sugar
Hot water
Juice of 1 big lime
Ice cubes

Method;
-Place tea bag and sugar in a cup.
-Add hot water, stir to dissolve sugar, let cool.
-Serve tea with ice cubes and lime juice.
-Enjoy!

姜葱水煮鱼

Having a very strong crave for fish in dark soy sauce and decided to cook this dish and save for Dad's dinner when he comes home later. Steamed fish can't be kept hence will prefer fishes being cooked this way as what I love most is the flesh of the fish being soaked with dark sauce
gravy.

Ingredients;
1 medium fish, shallow fried till 60% cooked
2 stalks spring onion, cut into 3cm length
2 chili padi, cut into strips
1 pc old ginger, shred
Dark soy sauce
Oyster sauce
Sugar
Stock
Oil

Method;
-Fry ginger with oil till crispy and fragrant
-Add stock and seasoning, bring to boil.
-Add in fried fish and simmer on both sides till sauce thickens.
-Toss in spring onions & chili, cook for about 3 mins.
-Serve & Enjoy!

Fried Pork Skewers

Was preparing some deep fried gyoza for snacks and since mum bought a huge piece of pork from the market this morning, I decided to make some pork skewers as well.

Ingredients,
五花肉, cut into slices
Oil for deep frying
Wooden skewers
Garnish: Chopped scallions

Marinate;
Salt
Light soy sauce
Pepper
Sesame oil

Corn flour

Sauce;
2 tsp home-made chili paste
3 tbsp tomato paste
Water / Stock
Sugar

Method;
-Marinate pork for 2 hours, toss with corn flour b4 deep frying.
-Deep fried till golden brown, drained.
-Cut pork into small pieces, thread onto skewers.
-Bring sauce too boil, let it thicken.
-Drizzle over pork skewers, sprinkle with chopped scallions.
-Enjoy!

五香花菇小白菜

A very daring style of adding 5 spice mushrooms with veggie. And yes, I did worry in the 1st place 'What if i add too much 5 spice powder and it cover the fragrant of the mushroom?' 'What if it taste awful?' Erm... dun worry as this shall be a trial and error dish and the VERDICT- it turns out perfectly fine and was so yummy that Adam is full praises. !st time he come across such a unique veggie dish, he said. :-P

Ingredients;
1 bunch xiao bai chye
Dried mushrooms, soaked and drained
Garlic, minced
Dashes of 5 spice powder
Salt
Oyster sauce
Oil for frying
20ml water

Method;
-Rinse and cut xiao bai cai into smaller section.
-Shred mushrooms and set aside.
-Fry garlic till fragrant, toss in xiao bai chye.
-Fry for 2 mins, add oyster sauce, salt and water.
-Dish up and serve on serving plate, reserve vege stock.
-Fry mushrooms till fragrant, stir in some 5 spice powder and add vege stock.
-Simmer and serve over xiao bai chye.
-Enjoy!

蚂蚁上树

Ekina's style of a Sichuan dish where it isn't too spicy. As you all know that sichuan dish are known to be oily and spicy, with lots of peppercorns used. I omit the oily and super spicy ingredients and replace with my home-made chili paste.

Ingredients;
1 bunch 冬粉, soaked and drained
Minced pork
Chopped celery
Chopped spring onion
Mined garlic
Spicy bean paste
Dark soy sauce
Chili paste
Sugar
Stock
Salt
Oil for frying

Method;
-Fry garlic till fragrant, add bean paste.
-Add minced pork and celery, fry till change colour.
-Pour in stock & seasoning.
-Toss in 冬粉, fry till stock absorb.
-Sprinkle with chopped spring onions and serve.
-Enjoy!

Val & Irene B-Day Dinner @ Hot Tomato

The staff of SH decided to have a gathering dinner @ Nex in order to celebrate 2 of the gals's b-day. It was a super last min decision and since Nex is nearby, we make a quick reservations and had the celebration.

Menu..

A very standard drink~Iced lemon tea for all.

Mushroom soup with garlic bread

Tomato basil soup with garlic bread

The gals are enjoying the soup and bread.

Here comes the snacks.. Crispy fried chicken.

Followed by main course~ Seafood baked rice

Chicken breast and mushroom in alfredo sauce

Fish & chips

Mango salsa salmon with linguine

Seafood linguine

Pacific dory with linguine

Steak pasta

Beef bolognaise

Yummy yummy... all of us start digging in.

Black forest cake

Happy birthday gals!

Make a wish and blow out the candles.

Erm... our ms vicky wanted a 2nd b-day. lolz....