Dinner @Jewel Box

.: Saturday. June 14, 2012 :.

Okay, this time hubby really surprised me by arranging a super special dinner in a cable car. I didn't even know there's this type of dinner in Singapore. We were entitled for three rounds of cable car and we were dining inside. One course was given each round. From Mount Faber to Sentosa Island and back is considered one round, 30 minutes ride/round. So yeah, we were one and a half hour in a cable car.

Ever since my first gondola ride, I was always disappointed in how fast the ride ended. And now 1.5 hours,  that was the longest cable car ride and the little girl in me giggling haha.

They gave us two complimentary glasses of champagne before the ride and two glasses of wine that accompanied dinner. Perfect.

One thing though, while there was wind swirling into the cabin when we were in between the towers/stations, it got pretty hot and stuffy whenever it reached the station. But that's hardly a complain, not when you can see a sunset unblocked from the cable car.

 

 

 

The Cutest Bakeware

Owww look at these le creuset cuties… aren't they adorable? With a little spoon and spatula, little apron, silicon baking cups, all in pink!! Haha they are meant for children actually but hey, can't blame me in falling for them. So freaking cute :p

The material is stoneware so it's a bit heavy for children in my opinion.

Looking at them definitely makes me want to bake something. It's settled then, baked pasta for dinner tomorrow.

What Happened in May

Homemade Dinners: Wafu Style

Ever since I bought a Japanese recipe book by Kurihara Harumi, cooking dinners no longer seemed a daunting task. Japanese cooking is fast and simple, I cannot believe how simple it is, as long as you have soy sauce, mirin, sake, dashi stock, you're good to go.

At first, I used the dashi stock that I bought from Japanese supermarket and it was way too salty that my first meal was almost inedible. For the next meal I tried to mix water into the dashi stock but somehow the taste was off. Frustrated with the dashi stock, I decided to make dashi stock myself, using dried bonito flake (かつおぶし) and konbu seaweed. Less salty and definitely no MSG.

 

~ April 16, 2012. Monday ~

 

~ April 17, 2012. Tuesday ~

 

~ April 29, 2012. Sunday ~

 

~ April 30, 2012. Monday ~

Lily of the Valley

 

Paper Lanterns

.: April 15, 2012. Sunday :.

Bought these lovely paper lanterns in Orchard.

 

 

Homemade Dinners

My bro and grandma spent two weeks plus in SG from late March till early April. During their stay here, we rarely ate outside for dinner, we were having lots of cooking jam sessions :p My brother even invented a new recipe, "Terong Isi" haha. Oohh I will definitely ask him to make this dish again! It was sooo good. The filling was from diced aubergine, minced meat and some bread crumbs. One thing that I admire from him is that he's not afraid in trying out new things, like combining whatever ingredients at hand and turn them into a beautiful and delicious dish. He spread mayonnaise on the aubergine just before putting them into the oven, made them look glossy, loved it.

~ Terong Isi ~

 

This Minestrone Soup was also cooked by my brother. It was fresh and light and delicious. I have to get the recipe from him, it's healthy and such a perfect dish for moi, for diet lol.

~ Minestrone Soup ~

 

Oh this dish, poached pear, also by my brother… I think we both watched too many Masterchef series :D I forgot exactly why we discussed about poaching a fruit, but I remember I did challenge him to make a poached pear since we happened to have some bottles of red wine and he finally agreed and made this dish. The taste was… interesting. A scoop of vanilla ice cream would go well with the poached pear. Alone, the taste of the wine was just too overpowering, but hey, not that I mind it *wink*

~ Wine Poached Pear ~

 

Okay, this one below was a salmon wrapped in a puff pastry, aka Salmon Wellington. My brother made it after watching a cook-along video by Gordon Ramsay. There is a story behind the pastry. Well, at first, we wanted to make everything from scratch, that means rolling out our own pastry. Too ambitious I might say now, this was a puff pastry, not just an ordinary dough. We made the first batch and it turned out so gross looking and the texture was just not right. First glance, I knew it was over and beyond help, yet, my brother tried to fix the poor dough with more butter… the result was slightly better but come on, to wrap an expensive and beautiful salmon with it? Not a chance. So we went grocery shopping and bought a ready-to-bake pastry dough *cheating*. The dish was spectacular, the wrap was flaky, the herb-seasoned salmon, tender and moist.

The rissoles, these are the BEST rissoles in my whole life. I mean, no kidding. Our family recipe. The first rissoles me and my brother ate were those made by our mum. She used to take orders on this rissole when we were kids and until today, our family's rissoles is still unbeatable. I cannot find a better and more delish rissoles.

~ Salmon Wellington and Indonesian Rissoles ~

~ Wafu Dinner ~

 

~ The sauce for the pizza was made from scratch. It was more fresher ~

April Highlight 2012

 

Birthday Dinner @The Cliff

.: March 20, 2012. Tuesday :.

It's my dear hubby's birthday! We went out for a special French dinner at The Cliff in Sentosa that I booked two weeks in advance before. When we arrived at the hotel resort (where the restaurant is), we were a bit surprised to see that it looked more or less exactly like hotel resort in Bali. Like, the more we stepped into the resort, the more we forgot that we were actually in Singapore. It was a nice feeling. The waiter gave us a good table with an awesome view (I specifically requested what table I wanted in my email reservation. A table overlooking the sea *grin*). Not that we could see the sea in the dark, but well...

We ordered six course degustation menu. They had a four course menu as well and fred almost ordered it, but… come on, four petite dishes? A girl gotta eat! So we ended up with six course.

 

I had foie gras before, one big foie gras and… yikes, me not like it and couldn't comprehend why people like it so much. I mean, I could eat foie gras but I didn't enjoy eating it. Didn't appreciate it. But all that change after I tasted this foie gras from The Cliff. Oohhh… heaven! It was soft and creamy, like eating tofu, a little crisp on the edge. Even think about it can make me recall what it tasted like. We're definitely going back to The Cliff just for this baby.

 

~ The lychee martini dessert was so cute, all in pale pink colour. Refreshing. ~

 

Our dinner ended with a cup of tea. It was ten plus, we had a good night and we thank God for the life together He has given us.

Happy birthday, love.

 

Happy Easter!

"The great gift of Easter is hope -Christian hope which makes us have that confidence in God, in his ultimate triumph, and in his goodness and love, which nothing can shake" (Basil C. Hume)

 

"Earth's saddest day and gladdest day were just three days apart" (William Penn)

 

Give Thanks

Give thanks in all circumstances, whether good or bad.

Spread the Love

Sunday Dimsum

I'm a sucker for nice dim sum, so when Fred suggested to go to a dim sum restaurant, I immediately said yes. We went to this restaurant once, when we were still dating. The place was old with a dirty red carpet on the stairs but the dim sums were super nice. So we went to Shaw building and the restaurant was no longer there. We thought they closed business or something when we noticed one small announcement pasted in the window. They are moving to Takashimaya!!

A new place is spacious, more grandeur and service is superb. We walked out as two happy customers.

 

 

Color Splash

Was browsing through old files and voila, found a forgotten watercolor sketch. I still remember, after I finished this one, Ellen asked me if I wanted to go groceries shopping at nearby shopping center. Cold day, but we had a bright, clear sky.

 

This one below is what happen when I don't have a clear idea what to draw. But it's fun, just a few drops of watercolor on white paper, blow in every directions… and there you have it.

My New Sketch Blog

エヴァのスケッチブログ

At long last, I have new blog and it will be all about my drawing and nothing else; in pencil, ink, watercolor and oil painting. 

A drawing a day and it will keep you from stress v(^o^)v

Wicked is Wickedly Wicked

Last Saturday we went to see this critically acclaimed Broadway musical, Wicked. I love its theme song, Defying Gravity, since the first time I heard it, made me want to watch the play. Ever since, I was secretly hoping that it would open here in Singapore, and it is! Started from December 2011, the show will open until April 2012 at Grand Theater Marina Bay Sands.

The story tells us about Elphaba and Glinda, how they became known as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good in the Wizard of Oz story. I'm rooting for the misunderstood Elphaba and as for Glinda, hmm that's a tough one. I found myself hating Glinda at first, she's definetely those popular, shallow, mean girls we all met (or became one? lol) at high school. Halfway through the story though, Glinda and Elphaba became really good friends and it was funny seeing Glinda's effort to make Elphaba popular.

Oooh I loved all the actresses, they are good! I don't even mind watching the play again for the second time or the third time, or the fourth time... you got the idea. Not bored at all!! I can clearly see why the Wicked got all the major awards. Five out of five witch hats. 

Quick Sketches

I will be joining a 10-week watercolor workshop started next week *ahh so excited, can't wait*, so I'd better start sketching again. 

Wheeew... been a long time. Feels great to be immersed in a world of lines and shapes.

~ Sipping a cup of coffee in an afternoon while sketching ~

Valentine's Day

Yay… my hubby agreed to become my co-blogger wakkaka. So, it is only appropriate to let him begin his debut to a blogging world by writing about our Valentine's Day 2012 experience.
v(=^o^=)v

.: February 14, 2012. Tuesday :.
Written by: FM
About a week before the D-day, I went to several flower shops to look for special bouquet to give to my wife on Valentine's day. I already had an idea of the bouquet and what I actually wanted was to have the florist to deliver the bouquet to our home, exactly on 12am, but they could not do it, saying that the service is not available for Valentine's day. I was disappointed but I figured that I would just bring it home myself after work.
Secondly, I thought of having a good dinner for our Valentine's day.  So, I was out searching for a nice restaurant for the special dinner.  With a help (or no help) from my colleague, we created a list of restaurants. However, after making some calls, I immediately realized that it was tough to find a good restaurant when I tried to book just a day before the D-day. In the end, I was relieved that I could find one :)
After bouquet and dinner reservation, I still need to prepare for gift. Again, a day before the D-day, I went down to Tiffany & Co in Takashimaya to look for the gift and I got a pendant that I hoped she would like.
This is the first year we celebrate Valentine's Day as wedded couples. It started at 12am at home when I presented the gift to her. I was really glad that she loved it.

The next day, I was able to sign off early from work. I went to pick up the bouquet and actually wanted to take a cab home after that. The queue was long (guess a lot of people went home early from work that day) so I decided to take the bus home. I was the only one bringing bouquet of flower on my hand, but I could not care less. When I finally arrived home and presented the bouquet, it was well received (hurray) :D
We could not spend more time at home as we need to send our parents and brother to the airport. When we reached the airport and finished checking in, it was still early. To spend more time together while waiting for boarding, we went to "Paradise Inn" restaurant (just upstairs) to relax and have some food. However, after flipping the menu for about 10 minutes, we could not decide on what to order. We ended up ordering set menu. It came with a veggie dish cooked with salted egg, fried rice, wasabi shrimp, chicken soup, desserts and cold drinks. It was good. I ended up eating a lot and was wondering whether I could eat my Valentine's dinner later :P
After waving goodbye to our parents and brother, we realized that it was still 7.30pm when our dinner would be at 9pm. We, then decided to go to Changi City Point to just walk around until about 8.15pm before going for the dinner. The dinner was at "Forlino" restaurant, located at One Fullerton. I'd never been to that place so we just followed the sign and after going through alleys and steps, we're finally in the dining hall. The place was exquisite and the view was great. We spent our 7-course Valentine's dinner accompanied by great music from the violinists. The dinner was a special way to close our Valentine's Day. Most importantly, though, I got to spend the special day with my special one ;)

~ Our Sumptuous 7-Course Dinner ~

Another Yazawa Dinner

.: February 13, 2012. Monday :.

My mum and dad and my bro came to Singapore before traveling to Australia on the 14th. And today, we brought them to Yazawa for dinner. Yeah, it is the same Yazawa that my ex-colleague introduced to us and the beef was really on-par with those I had in Kobe that I wanted my family to try it as well.

And... they liked it, as I knew they would. Whenever I'm craving for a good (best?) bbq, i would go to Yazawa. Hmmm beefff… gimme more beef...

Busy Saturday

.: February 11, 2012. Saturday :.

What a busy Saturday we had.

This morning we went to a wedding. The bride and groom are our friends at church. Luckily their wedding reception ended at 2 PM so we rushed to the other end of Singapore to attend my colleague's daughter birthday bash. After that, accompanied Fred to hospital. It was a long day and it made me down to think that I had to work again at midnight today. At my state, I could drift off anytime soon let alone survived till morning. Thank God we reached home at around 7 PM, so I had 4 hours to steal some sleep.