Category Archives: FOOD

DRYPERS EVENT @ COOKYN INC

24 April 2012 9 comments

I was delighted to be invited to a Drypers event, held at Cookyn Inc, my fave cooking party house :P The focus was on cooking healthy food which work both for young kids and also pregnant mums. I love planning and cooking Hunter’s meals, so I was especially interested in the event, and even more so when I heard it featured salmon, one of his favourite foods!

I have never seen SO many pregnant women under one roof before ;) Guess this really is a bumper year for Dragon babies. Hunter was the only kid there and so was all smiles with the attention he received.

Fabulous local 'pulled' tea that is perfection at Cookyn

 

The various ingredients we would be using

 

We made a beautifully simple and fresh hummus dip with toasted pita. It was very baby friendly and Hunter could munch on the chips as well as the hummus. It was quite the hit and made me realise that this is great to serve when we have friends over, because it’s simple to whip up and oh-so-addictive!

The secret in the AWESOME chips? Use fresh (ie. soft) pita bread, cut into triangles, and bake in the oven for a bit. They come out crisp and they taste so good, better than the Doritos that we normally use when we eat dips.

Hummus dip with toasted pita

 

Hunter signing "more please", cos he liked it too!

 

We also put together a wild rice salad. Honestly, it was pretty good! I NEVER thought I’d enjoy eating wild rice, let alone a wild rice salad.. But I liked the flavours of the ingredients and it was actually really tasty. It’d be a brilliant idea to make up a batch of this and store in the fridge (to let the flavours really permeate) and have it as a healthy lunch when you’re in the office.

Full concentration required!

 

Wild rice salad with grilled tiger prawn

 

Really into the whole drawing business now

 

And…. the Parcel-wrapped salmon! OH HOW I LOVE THIS DISH!!! Will do it every time we buy salmon now. It works for both adults and babies, because the salmon is utterly soft. It’s also laughingly simple to make: Get a slab of salmon and plonk it on unwaxed parchment (baking) paper. Pop in some diced cherry tomatoes and whatever diced veggies you want (I put in asparagus, zucchini, carrots), sprinkle on salt & pepper, and add in a small pat of butter. Wrap it all up like a bag, and pour in a tablespoon of chicken stock just before you seal and fold over the bag shut. Bake at 210 celcius for 11-12 minutes.

You will find the salmon so so so soft and moist, kind of like a poached salmon, but with a lot more flavour because it’s been cooked in with the rest of the ingredients. It’s LUSCIOUS :) Hunter totally noms it up, and so do we.

Happy little goody bags

 

Parcel-wrapped salmon

 

I’m normally not a fruit/berry person and would NEVER order trifle at a restaurant, but I’m a fan of Cookyn’s Summer berry trifle. It’s pureed strawberries, chunks of soft Sara Lee butter cake, vanilla bean-spiked fresh cream, and topped with blueberries. And it’s just so tasty!

Summer berries trifle

 

Mums and mums-to-be!

 

Hunter, very pleased with his food-clip thingy

 

All smiles :) And isn't that goody bag cute??

 

Karen Happy Ong liked this post

BAKING AT HOME

18 April 2012 13 comments

I had a craving for sticky date pudding the other day, and we had a couple of prunes leftover from the packet that we bought for Hunter, so I decided to try out making it myself! I used this recipe.

Happily, I ended up with a very soft and moist cake, which was the PERFECT texture imho. The glaze on top was a bit heavy-handed though, and I probably should have poured on about half the portion, because we tend to prefer not-too-sweet deserts. I’d say the end result was very similar to what you’d get in restaurants outside in terms of sweetness, and we tend to have our homebaked desserts at half sugar.

This dessert is relatively low effort to make, and is pretty delicious, especially served with a big dollop of good quality vanilla ice cream. We’ve already eaten the whole thing! I’d make it again for sure :)

Cooking the prunes in water

 

Sifting together the dry ingredients. Love the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg :)

 

Adding the wet ingredients

 

Just before going into the oven

 

Cooking the caramel glaze whilst the pudding bakes. Mmmm... bubbling goodness....

 

Poured on top of the freshly-baked cake

 

Homebaked sticky date pudding :) SMELLS AMAZING!

 

And, I baked a banana bread. Yet again! It seems to be my favourite go-to dish.. I bake it really frequently because we love it, it keeps well, and Hunter LOVES it :) I would never give him store-bought banana bread because I know they have little banana and are loaded with sugar. But when I make it at home, I actually use very little sugar and barely any butter.

My banana bread looks oddly dry, but it’s actually very moist. I cut down dramatically on butter (only a small dollop) and instead use plain yogurt and sometimes some sour cream. It makes the banana bread SO moist and gives a great subtle tang – wayyyy better than using butter imho!

Banana bread fresh out of the oven. Best served with freshly-whipped maple butter :)

[EDIT: upon request, here's the Banana Bread recipe :) ]

  1. Beat 100g butter and 100g brown sugar together until creamy
  2. Add 1 egg and beat in
  3. Add 3-4 mashed bananas, 3 tbsp plain yoghurt and 1 tsp vanilla essence.
  4. Add 225g sifted plain flour, 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 1 tsp cinnamon and pinch of salt salt and beat in gradually.
  5. Pour into a greased loaf tin and bake at 180c for about 1 hour or until golden-brown and cooked.

And this was actually eons ago, but I was craving a good sausage sandwich today and remembered these pics ;) It was a small and casual BBQ dinner we had, kids included. I adore BBQs because it always means we have the typical Aussie ‘dish’ – a sausage and grilled onions slapped on thin white bread, and drizzled with tomato sauce. PERFECTION.

A relaxed weekend BBQ

 

Super-healthy pasta salad to off-set the BBQ goodness!

 

Sausage sandwich. LOVE.

 

Eleni Pitsakis liked this post

BAKER & COOK

12 April 2012 7 comments

Another flash-sale site I’m a fan of is Foxysales, which do frequent deep-discount sales on brand name items.

I was SO excited when recently they had a big sale on Oobi baby/kids clothing! I immediately picked a super-soft and thin kaftan top for Hunter, in a navy blue (he looks best in this colour IMHO), cute mandarin collar, and long sleeves. I really like it because the material is really thin (almost see-through) and soft, so it’s fine for Singapore’s weather but also provides a bit of cover in airconditioning or cooler climates.

I also got the matching pants which are also really thin and soft and comfy. They’re slightly on the large size for him, so we’ll get a good few months of use out of it :)

Hunter modelling his Oobi outfit :P

 

Lil comfy boy

 

We also checked out Baker & Cook the other day. They rate themselves as “Singapore’s only true artisan bakery & foodstore” – quite a lofty claim! Stepping in, I’m immediately reminded of Shanghai’s Baker & Spice stores, and it’s also reminiscent of the bakeries in Australia. It also smells WONDERFUL in there :) It’s packed with both locals and expats, and seems to be the go-to place for brunch these days.

The counter is a little chaotic, with no proper queue for ordering/paying. But, I did finally get served and our food came out soon afterwards.

Chaos at the counter of Baker & Cook

 

My man :)

 

Their latte was top-notch. It was served in a teeny tiny glass for the price, which was a little sad, but did contain 2 shots of espresso and so had a fabulous kick to it.

Latte

 

I had the Mince and cheese pie which I didn’t take a photo of below (forgot, oops!!), and I liked that I could choose the type of salad it came with. The pie pastry itself was homemade and utterly delicious and buttery, but the mince was a little too salty for my liking.

The Blueberry bagel with cream cheese was FANTASTIC. Often, bagels in Singapore are really dense and overly chewy (in particular those awful “NYC” brand ones at Cold Storage). But this one was fluffy yet still slightly chewy, and dotted with tons of blueberries. It was lightly toasted and went beautifully with the mild cream cheese. I’d get this again next time for sure!

Blueberry bagel with cream cheese

 

Their croissant was perfect. Very fluffy and oh-so-buttery. It was really light and crisp on the outside, but soft and moist on the inside, and flaked apart with a light tug. It was lovely served with their homemade jam, which is in help-yourself pots on the tables.

Croissant with homemade jam

 

I really wanted to try the custard-filled donut because, well, just LOOK AT IT below!! How to resist??? It was very nice :) Fluffy and golden-brown, with a lovely springy bite, and creamy custard oozing out. Yum.

Custard-filled donut

 

The chocolate muffin also begged my attention ;) I do love my muffin tops! It had a lovely amount of chocolate through it, and wasn’t dry, which is often my fear with muffins. Not bad at all.

Chocolate muffin

 

We brought home some hot cross buns, since they were specially baking them for Easter. They cost around $2.50 per bun (!!) so you’d expect something awesome. I thought they were only okay, but it’s because I’m not a fan of raisins and they put tons in there! Obviously, this is what makes a good hot cross bun, so Chris really liked them.

Hot cross buns

 

I’m looking forward to going to Baker & Cook again. Their breads and pastries are top-notch and, though not that cheap, make for a nice brunch or snack. If you can, go there on a weekday, because weekends get pretty packed!

 

CHRIS’ BIRTHDAY @ THE TASTINGS ROOM

2 April 2012 20 comments

The Tastings Room
6 Raffles Boulevard
Marina Square #01-08
Singapore 039594
PRICE: $$$
RATING: ★★★★-

I’d (incorrectly) thought The Tastings Room was fine-dining, so told Chris to “change into pants” (instead of the shorts he was wearing). But then we found out it was more casual-dining, whoops! The ambiance is much like a bistro, with attentive and friendly service and the soft din of chitter chatter from the diners.

We were here to celebrate Chris’ birthday. It was a pretty quiet one since we don’t really do blow-out birthday celebrations, we never have in our 12-13 years together! Apart from our epic 30th birthday presents to each other, we rare do presents, and it’s good that way way because most of the time, we aren’t really majorly coveting anything and prefer to have a nice meal or a little holiday away instead. Chris is always eager to spend more time together as a family with Hunter, so we spent the day with him instead, and Chris was happy :)

The Tastings Room is actually quite a small restaurant, and it was full, probably due to Restaurant Week that was on at the same time. That said, they were very accommodating to us with a baby, and even remembered that I mentioned it was Chris’ birthday when I made the celebration and stuck a candle in his dessert ;)

The Truffle wild mushroom puree soup was very well received. It wasn’t heavy on the cream, and the soup was chockfull with chunks of mushrooms. The wine was refreshing light, and a great accompaniment to the soup.

Truffle wild mushroom puree soup (Wine: Yalumba Eden Valley Viognier 2009)

 

Their Rose Sauce Linguini with Salmon was a stunner! I am a sucker for cream-based sauces, so I may be biased. But this one was rich without being too thick, and with a generous helping of salmon chunks. Fortunately, it didn’t give the dish a fishy taste, which can happen with salmon pastas and is a huge turn off.  Only gripe? Could’ve done with 50% more of it ;)

The wine was LUSCIOUS – not too strong a red wine, but very mild and smooth. Pinot Noirs always hit the spot :)

Rose Sauce Linguini with Salmon (Wine: Trinity Hill Hawkes Bay Pinot Noir 2010)

 

The Confit of French duck leg was beautifully flavoured (love the rich gravy reduction) but could have been even more meltingly tender. There was a sizable amount of meat, though I think not enough for adult males that have large appetites. Would’ve been better/more satisfying served with a large dollop of mashed potatoes or something.

Confit of French duck leg

 

I eyed my Tiramisu suspiciously when it arrived because it was in a slice, and I like my tiramisu in a ramekin because they’re usually more moist that way. But I was relieved that theirs was excellent – moist with delicious layers of cream through it. Wish the slice was double the size ;)

This was paired with a stunning Moscato, which was sweet but not too sugary, and a lovely way to end our meal :)

Tiramisu (Wine: Beni di Batasiolo Moscata Spumante)

 

Birthday boy with his Apple flan dessert (sadly, it wasn't very good)

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the love of my life, the best husband I could ever dream of having, and one freakin’ fantastic father :)

 

Mariella Vinces, Mary Rizkalla liked this post

HOMECOOKED QUICK MEALS

24 March 2012 30 comments

I haven’t done a homecooked food blog post in awhile.. so I’m basically lumping all of them into one right now :P

As a pregnant mum with a young toddler, and considering I go out daily and come home in a rush, my priority is to make fuss-free, easy meals that are tasty but healthy. OK, I lied about the last part. I try to make them healthy by adding lots of veggies in, but the word ‘healthy’ is subjective so what I consider healthy might be a calorie-fest to another ;)

All my meals are prepared within 30 mins, tops. Most are way less than that, because I have to keep an eye on Hunter whilst I’m preparing/chopping the ingredients, so for me time is of the essence. I cook after Hunter sleeps at 7-ish.

I’m minimalistic. I aim to use 1 chopping board, 1 knife, 1 mixing bowl (if required), and 1 large saucepan. Not much more, because I also don’t want to generate a ton of cleaning up afterwards.

I don’t use a standard recipe. Generally I’ll either make it up entirely, or get some inspiration from somewhere or other.. Not because I think I’m a fab cook, but I’m not good at following instructions (haha), and I like to do things my way. I will add and omit ingredients as I feel fit, depending on what I have in the fridge and what we like to eat ;)

Oh, and Hunter also eats a lot of this stuff for lunch. I don’t add salt in my cooking, and make sure there’s loads of veggies, so it’s good for him even though it’s ‘adult’ food. He LOVES it :)

Anyway, here you go!

Chicken fillets with veggies and bocconcini

Chicken fillets with veggies and bocconcini: I quickly seared chicken fillets over high heat, then tossed in chopped onion, garlic and zucchini. After a few mins, I added in 1 can of chopped tomatoes, and let it all simmer for 20mins. I then added in a couple of bocconcini and handful of basil leaves, then served it with cous cous.
Note: Chopped up, this makes a fantastic meal served on pasta or mash potato for Hunter. He gobbles it up at lightning speed!

 

Vegetable frittata (before)

Vegetable frittata (after)

Vegetable frittata: Grate or finely chop onions, leeks, carrots, broccoli and mix in a bowl with a handful of cooked chopped bacon. Add 5 beaten eggs, 1 cup grated cheese, 1 cup self-raising flour, 1/2 cup oil, and salt/pepper to taste. Put into a baking dish and bake at ~40mins at 180 celcius.
Note: Hunter LOVES this and it’s so tasty plus healthy! Very easy to bring along when we’re out for lunch, because it’s a ‘clean’ meal with little mess when feeding babies.

 

Sausage rolls (before)

Sausage rolls (after)

Sausage rolls: Mix veal sausage mix with pork sausage mix. Add in a handful of breadcrumbs (or flour, if you don’t have any), and grated carrot. Add a few splashes of milk, and mix well. Put on puff pastry and roll up, sealing with egg wash. Bake until cooked through and golden brown.
Note: I used shortcrust pastry in the pics above and it’s nowhere near as good as puff pastry. These are really good for keeping on hand and popping in the oven when you want a lil snack. I haven’t given Hunter this though, because I’m against him eating sausage (no nutrition IMHO).

 

Quiche (before)

Quiche (after)

Quiche: Blind-bake pastry in pan for 15-20mins. In the meantime, fry mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, bacon/ham, onion in a saucepan until liquid from mushroom evaporates. Season with salt/pepper. Turn off eat, and stir in 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup cream, 3 beaten eggs, a bit of nutmeg. In cooked pastry shell, put a layer of shredded gruyere cheese, add in the mixed ingredients and scatter with shredded basil, and top with another layer of cheese. Bake at 210 celcius for 10 mins, then reduce heat to 180 celcius and bake for another ~30 mins until cooked through.
Note: awesome comfort food. I personally use 2 layers of pastry instead of 1, because I like a thicker crust. Wait’ll you have a sniff of the smells wafting out of your kitchen when you bake this!!

 

Sour cream and bolognese pasta bake (first layer)

Sour cream and bolognese pasta bake (second layer)

Sour cream and bolognese pasta bake (after)

Sour cream and bolognese pasta bake: Cook a bag of pasta and stir in 2/3 tub sour cream, 2/3 tub cottage cheese, and chopped shallots. Put half of the pasta at the bottom of a large baking tray.
Brown 300g minced beef over high heat, then add chopped onion, leek, mushrooms, carrot, zucchini, salt/pepper to taste. After the veggies soften slightly, add in 1 can of chopped tomatoes and simmer for 5-10mins. Put on top of pasta in tray, then layer on grated cheddar cheese. Finally, layer the other half of pasta on top, and layer with cheese again. Bake at 180 celcius for 20 minutes.
Note: love how this makes a large portion, because it keeps well. To try and make this healthy, I put in way more veggies than I do beef mince.

 

Coffee Jelly

Coffee jelly: Boil 500ml water in a pot, then turn off heat. Take out a few tablespoons of the boiling water into a small bowl, and dissolve in 10g of gelatine. In pot, dissolve in 2 tbsp of good-quality instant coffee powder, and 5 tbsp white sugar. Add in the gelatine mix and stir well. Pour into glasse and chill in the fridge until set. Serve with whipping cream.
Note: insanely, a small pot of coffee jelly costs about $2 in Japanese supermarkets! For that price, you can make a huuuuge portion of it at home, and it’s so so easy! Will never buy coffee jelly again for sure…

 

Hope some of these recipes were interesting for you guys :) I fully encourage you to add in random veggies in your fridge, and mix and match as you choose. Experimenting in the kitchen is part of the fun of cooking, IMHO!

Do you like seeing recipes for quick & simple dishes here? Let me know and I’ll try and make the effort to photograph and blog ‘em more.. I’ve recently stopped documenting all my cooked food ‘cos been a bit lazy :P