The To-Die-For Chocolate Cookies

I’ve totally not kept to my part of the bargain on many counts during this year of sabbatical, one of which is the promise to bake more often.  But I’m not about to berate myself – what’s passed is passed, and what’s more important is being forward looking.  Yup.

And so, I blogged about Natalie a couple of days back.  She was discharged some days back without a proper diagnosis.  It’s unfortunate that nothing peculiar showed up on her MRI scans.  She also did a very painful lumbar puncture.  The results take about 3 weeks to return, and I’m hoping something conclusive could be deduced from the results.  She had been very unhappy, for very good reasons too: she hasn’t been going to school for a week, and the lumbar puncture hurt like mad.  Just imagine a huge needle going into your spine; it’s not something even adults can tolerate without tearing much lest a 7-year old girl.

I decided to cheer her up in my own way, by baking some nice cookies for her.  Just so happened that the Pierre Hermé PASTRIES book that I ordered on Book Depository finally arrived, giving me the perfect opportunity to try out a new recipe.  I picked the chocolate chip cookies to try baking.

The cookies turned out more than well, and I was pleasantly surprise (although I never doubted the maestro’s recipes).  However, I do find the taste a little too adult-ish (Guanaja, at 70% cocoa content, is a tad bitter).  I don’t know how Natalie will take to it.  Fingers crossed.

(Clicking on the picture above will link you to my baking website, complete with the recipe.)

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Family

This week’s challenge – Family.  I knew the exact picture I wanted to find to represent ‘Family’ but I just couldn’t locate it.  Might have lost it when my PC last crashed in 2008.

Found the next best picture.  Some explanation is in order – this was taken in Jan 2006 when Sugar was 1.5 years old and Paris was barely 3 months old.  The moment Paris came home with us, she identified Sugar as her mother figure – she followed her surrogate mummy everywhere and mimicked everything she did.  What happened here was, Sugar had been naughty, so she was being punished to ‘Down’ and ‘Stay’.  The puppy Paris was free to roam the house yet she chose to lie down beside Sugar.  And being a puppy, she couldn’t keep her eyes open for long.  This shot was taken when she fell asleep while accompanying Sugar in her punishment.

It was a super cute moment.  Hilariously funny too.  But I chose this picture because it sufficiently embodies the essence of a family, that is, going through thick and thin together.

A Special Someone

On this special day, I wish to extend my best wishes to a very special someone – my cousin, my best friend.

My cousin is just a year elder than I am, and we practically grew up together.  It it little wonder that I sometimes feel that she is more of my sister than my real blood-related sister.  I look up to her in many aspects – her tenacity, her love for life and her gentleness.  She is also one of the most balanced people I know.

The stresses of motherhood and running a big household has apparently taken its tow on her, according to my aunt.  She has it tough all her life.  I just wish she remembers to take time to slow down and smell the flowers every day.

Happy Birthday, dearest Jie!

Driving and Dad

I have been driving for over 14 years now.  Back when I just received my driving licence before the turn of the century, I was barely an adult and still schooling at a local university.  In an attempt to get me to stay at home in my final year of undergraduate studies (my university is about a 45 minutes to 1 hour drive from home), dad struck a deal with me – he would buy me a car (second-hand, no less) and I would move home.

I accepted the deal although it was hard to say good-bye to my friends at the hostel.  After all, I’ve had 3 whole years of fun staying in the hostel and it was time to settle down for the last lap in the final year.

While in transaction to purchase my very first car, dad took it upon himself to take me driving every night.  In his huge Mercedes-Benz, may I add.  It was extremely daunting for a fresh driver like I was.  I had things to relearn for example, how to reverse-park or parallel-park without 4 poles at the corners demarcating the lot, how to scale multi-storey car parks of shopping centres and how fast to drive on an expressway.  These were sadly not covered during the driving lessons and eventual test.  In more ways than one, it made me realised that fresh drivers (like I was) were very ill-prepared for the real roads.  I wonder if things have changed over the years.  In the very least, I’ve heard that parking no longer comes complete with the 4 poles.  That’s a vast improvement.

Dad’s not a patient man.  Coupled with a fresh-driver-daughter with poor motor skills was a combination headed for disaster.  Just 3 days into his training, I went home crying and complaining to mum, telling her that I wanted to stop lessons with him and that I’d rather not have a car.  That must have sounded so uncharacteristic of her competitive daughter that it raised her alarm bells.

It took a few days of pacifying her defeated daughter before I agreed to lessons with dad again.  Somehow his attitude changed for the better, and he was trying his utmost to be more patient with me.  Things really got better, and soon, I was good enough to ‘graduate’ and drive on my own.  Even then, dad was worried.  For a full week or so, he drove his car behind mine as I drove to work (I was on an industrial attachment then) just to ensure that I could cope with the morning peak traffic.  That meant that my parents had to wake up earlier than usual to see me to work and then drive themselves to work.  And sleep meant all the world to my dad.

I have such a dedicated dad.  And I am forever in debt to him for the extra lessons he’d given me.  I wouldn’t say I’m the best driver in the world, but I am in the very least not making a nuisance of myself on the roads while not compromising safety.  And because of the training in his huge car, I adapt almost seamlessly to driving cars of any size unlike my sister, whom my dad had never entrusted to drive his Benz.

Thanks dad.  Learning driving from you was probably one of the most important and life-preserving life skills you’d imparted to me.  Now, when the hubby finally passes his driving test, could you please take him out for lessons too?  He’s so impatient on the roads (just sitting as a passenger next to me) he’s always telling me he would run into this or that car if he were driving, just to teach them a lesson.  Now… that’s frightening.  Most definitely road rage in the making.

Newfound Hansik Korean Restaurant

It’s been a while since my last food-related post.  Well… not that I have not been visiting nice eateries… but I have been too lazy to process the pictures.  Slowly, I shall endeavour to clear my backlog.

I have developed a thing for Korean cusine recently, especially ddukbokki (spicy rice cake) and gogi gui (korean barbecue).  If you live in Singapore, you would know the predicament the locals face – very few Korean restaurants in the entire island that serves up the authentic, real deal at a reasonable price tag.

After several dismally failed attempts (including discovering that one of our favourite Korean restaurant has turned itself into a cheap, Seoul-garden styled buffet for dinners – we swore never to return), I finally saw a friend’s status update on FB.  She recommended this Korean restaurant located in the heartlands and she professed that it serves up the most authentic Korean cuisine cheap.

Thinking that it is probably going to be located at some far obscure corner of Singapore, I googled… and to my surprise, it is located at a mall about 10 minutes drive from home!  Woah!  I knew I could always count on the collective wisdom of my friends on FB.

Immediately I called my mum to reverse my previous decision on not meeting up with her and sis for dinner.  In a matter of seconds, the dinner location was settled.  I wished the hubby was joining us for dinner, but oh well.. he would rather feast on fastfood for dinner.

Hansik Korean Restaurant is a small, cosy eatery run almost entirely by Koreans who don’t speak very good English.  But they were friendly, and they tried their best to answer our queries about the food they offered.  Eating with the mum and sis can be quite a chore, I remembered as I was thinking of what to order – they don’t eat beef, and sis cannot take spicy food.  My choices were rather limited.

{The numerous side dishes epitome of Hansik, mum’s bibimbap,
sis’ boring ‘maggie noodles’ & my ddukbokki}

{Chicken Bulgogi (before and after pictures) that mum and I shared}

The bill came up to about S$85 for the 3 of us.  Well, not exactly economical but reasonably priced, I thought.

I liked the restaurant so much I revisited 3 days later, with the hubby in tow.  We ordered different food – marinated beef rib and wagyu beef brisket.  Not many pictures to share because there was a new waitress who was doing all the barbecueing while we watched on, and it was rather embarrassing to keep pointing my P&S camera at the food (and thus interrupting her performing her duties).

The beef was overcooked because she erred on the safe side.  Though still nowhere comparable to what we have tasted in Seoul, the marinated beef rib really tasted quite good.  Ah, I miss Seoul.

Well… today Singapore is going to the polls again – to elect a new President so I should probably talk something about it.  We have 4 candidates for this election, and guess what?  All of them have surnames as Tan.  So yes, it’s Tan, Tan, Tan and Tan vying for Presidency.  How hilarious can it get!  I have not decided who to cast my vote for, although I really want to mention this – one of the candidates is the father of my classmate in secondary school and schoolmate in junior college.

May the best Tan wins.

Hansik Korean Restaurant
Blk 205 Hougang Street 21
2nd Level Heartland Mall
Singapore 530205
Tel:  +65-6288-2448
Opening Hours:
1100-2200hrs

Sibling Rivalry

Spent a lovely Sunday evening at an old friend’s place with 4 other friends.  We go back a long way – 22 years to be exact.  The purpose of the visit?  This good friend just gave birth to a baby boy about 2 months ago and because we all couldn’t make it for his first month’s celebration, we made separate arrangements to visit.

While we were all warming our seats, we observed the dynamics between a 4-year old girl (friend’s elder daughter) and a toddler (another friend’s 1-year old boy).  It wasn’t the first time we met C (the little girl) and she always came across to me as a reserved and quiet girl, a little like my friend herself.  I saw a transformed girl that day.  She was chatty and always vying for our attention in her cute little way whenever we paid too much attention to her baby brother or N the toddler.

My heart went out to her.  She is obviously still adjusting to having a new baby brother around, and getting used to not being the centre of everyone’s attention.  Plus the fact that she is a Cancerian, like I am, I could most certainly empthatise with what she is going through.  After all, I experienced the same old thing 3 decades ago.

Sibling rivalry has been around since siblings existed, and it’s underrated.  In my opinion, the issues with sibling rivalry is not addressed properly in most, if not all, Asian societies (I can’t say the same for Western societies because I don’t know).  My generation (Generation X) suffered because we have parents who were not equipped with the necessary knowledge to address the rivalry before the pent-up frustrations and resentment escalate to an unhealthy level.  Maybe it’s just my parents, or human nature, to always gravitate towards protecting the younger and cuter one.

That said, I’m pretty sure this friend of mine knows how to handle the situation at hand.  It’s just that… seeing C try so hard, reminded me of myself years ago.

Nanbantei, Our Favourite Haunt

The hubby and I love Nanbantei.  I have no idea why it took me so long to write about this favourite Japanese restaurant of ours specialising in kushiyaki.  And why it took me a whole decade (after discovering this quaint little restaurant) to bring my family there.

So, my family had a not-so-simple dinner to celebrate little sis’ birthday last Sunday evening.  My parents are not so adventurous where food is concerned – the daddy likes food with variety and the mummy likes asian cuisine only.  Fortunately for us, Nanbantei fulfilled both their criteria.

I had a third and more selfish reason for choosing Nanbantei – the hubby is left with exactly 3 weekends before he flies off to the land of fast food and junk food for a month, and I know he will miss local fare and his favourite restaurants.  Everything culminated to one decision – Nanbantei.

{clockwise from top left: Vegetable Sticks, Cha Soba, Ginnan and Sweet Corn}

I personally love dipping the vegetable sticks into their specially-made miso paste.  The hubby and I usually swop stuff – I would give him all my leafy vegetables and then take all his vege sticks.  This arrangement always worked for us.  But on that day when we brought our family to the restaurant, there was more than enough for the both of us because they didn’t quite like the vege sticks.

{clockwise from top left: Shiitake, Scallops, Potato Salad, Tomato Pork Maki,
Cod Fish in Teriyaki Sauce, Unagi Kabayaki, Beef Sticks and Fried Dumplings}

Because there were 5 of us in the company, we could order a lot more variety of food than usual (when it was just the hubby and I).  It was the first time I ordered the ungai and cod fish, and I have to say that I have been missing much because they were delicious!  Not too delighted over the gyoza (fried dumplings) and beef sticks though – gyoza’s obviously not their strength, and the beef sticks were a little over done.

I know this looks like a lot of food, but believe me, we ate some more dishes.  And I’ve saved the best for last.

{Asparagus Maki, Sashimi Platter, Mini Tomato Maki and Tebesaki}

There were some slight misses that evening even for their specialties – the asparagus maki and tebasaki were not as succulent as what I remembered them to be.  And the two chefs working that evening were also not familiar faces.  I’m not sure if Nanbantei recently changed chefs again, or if chefs working on Sundays are different; this is the first time we visited on a Sunday evening.

As far as I’m concerned, there are only two Japanese restaurants specialising in kushiyaki worth patronising in Singapore – Nanbantei Japanese Restaurant at Far East Plaza or Kazu Sumiyaki Restaurant at Cuppage Plaza.  My philosophy behind this is, if you wish to taste authentic Japanese Kushiyaki, observe where the native Japanese go to.  We have visited Kazu Sumiyaki once, and concluded that we prefer Nanbantei.  Conversely, our friend who swears by Kazu Sumiyaki visited Nanbantei and never returned.  I guess it’s a matter of opinion and I must admit that we thrive on familiarity so that could have played a part.

I have never tried Nanbantei’s set meals, lunch or dinner.  Heard that they are worth the money but I’m in no position to comment.  The way we order i.e. ala carte, is not the cheapest way to go.  On average, expect to spend between S$50 to S$70 per pax and take it as a bonus if you spend anything lesser.

And oh, prior reservation is a must if you do not wish to be disappointed.  Either that, or have a late dinner.

Nanbantei Japanese Restauramt
14 Scotts Road
#05-132
Far East Plaza
Singapore 228 213
Tel: +65-6733-5666
Opening Hours:
1200-1430hrs & 1800-1030hrs

The 13th Day

Today is the 13th day since.  It is also the birthday of my beloved little sis who requested that we keep it small, without any fanfare.  I understood and respected her wishes – this couple of months had been rather trying for my family.  First we lost a very dear family friend to muscle dystrophy, and then the family pet.  It’s so bad that my dad has refused to enter our house since the day Sugar returned.  He admitted during the car ride after dinner yesterday that he hasn’t gotten over it yet.

Time is all we could give him.  Strictly speaking, we don’t even own time, but that’s beside the point.

The hubby needed some cheering up, and I wanted to make some cupcakes for the little sis, hence I decided on baking some chocolate cupcakes with marshmallows for the both of them.

Happy Birthday, little sis!  May your life be filled with happiness forever.  May you also have a fulfilling career and find the man of your dreams soon.  Last, but not the least, I hope you liked the cupcakes.

The Ubiquitous Singaporean Dish

If there is any one dish you shouldn’t miss as a tourist to Singapore, it is the Chilli Crab. This seafood dish is usually prepared using mud crabs, and fried in a gooey, sweet and savoury tomato and chilli-based sauce. Don’t be misled by the name because the dish is rarely that spicy for non-locals’ palate. That said, it is dependent on which restaurant you patronise, because my little sis (who cannot take spicy food despite being a local) can’t take the chilli crab from some restaurants.

I was craving for chilli crabs a few weekends ago, and my parents gamely obliged. In particular, my mum. You see, apart from yours truly, mum is the only other person in the family who goes nuts over crabs. Is it a coincidence that we are both Cancerians by horoscope? Just don’t think us as cannibals eating our own kind.

Mum and I had a huge discussion over the phone – we couldn’t decide where to eat. Idea after idea was tossed out of the window until dad intervened and decided for us. Long Beach Seafood Restaurant it shall be.

There were some hits and misses, but generally, the food was not too bad. We also didn’t have to wait very long for our food to arrive at our table despite it being really busy. So the restaurant scored some points there. However, it was extremely trying to catch the attention of the service staff.

{Clockwise from top left: Stir-Fried Venison, Veggies, Prawns in Herbal Soup,
Deep-Fried Honey Baby Squids}

Honestly speaking, I was rather disappointed with the Prawns in Herbal Soup. This is the first time I see Prawns in Herbal Soup prepared in such a way, i.e. the prawns are not in the soup. This wasn’t what I expected and most definitely didn’t taste like anything I’ve had in the past. That said, prawns are prawns – I’m happy to take them so long as someone de-shell them for me. I’m not pampered, I’m just not a huge fan of prawns so I usually don’t dirty my hands for them.

For the best dishes of the night, my vote goes to…

I have no idea what that Chicken Drumstick dish is called, but you have to believe me that it was incredibly tasty. There was probably some honey and barbecue sauce on it but I’ve tasted nothing like it before. And bamboo clams, being so expensive in Singapore, didn’t disappoint either.

And the finale for the night – the chilli crab and deep-fried buns (or ‘mantou’ in Mandarin). It was an excruciating long wait before this dish was served as the last dish. Mum and I went absolutely bonkers when it finally arrived. The hubby doesn’t take crabs and my dad finds eating them troublesome so it was down to just Mum and I for the dish. Unfazed by the size of the dish, we systematically devoured the crustacean bite by bite.

Heaven…

In case you were wondering, the deep-fried buns were meant to be dipped in the sauce before eaten. Probably a rather strange habit to non-locals but yup, that’s the way we do it to enjoy the sauce. So as Mum and I enjoyed our chilli crab, Dad and the hubby chomped on the buns and baby squids while enjoying their beer. We were all jolly happy.

The bill came up to slightly over S$200. A little expensive but that’s about the standard price for a meal comprising crabs, amongst other things. We are spoilt for choices in Singapore, so I reckon we might not return to Long Beach in the near future.

Long Beach KING Seafood
Next to Kallang Park McDonald’s
Tel: +65-6344-7722
Opening Hours:
1100-1500hrs & 1700-0115hrs