0 Wah[hhh] Lok

Despite my love for all things Mediterranean, I suppose one cannot ignore one's roots. Mum chose to mark her big 55 at Wah Lok, a Cantonese restaurant at Carlton Hotel. It was a good choice; a classic comforting Cantonese dinner that pleased with every dish. 'Cuse the pun in the post title ;)

Christmas deco at the lobby. Not quite sure of what to make of their weird-shaped bauble lighting

Apparently the restaurant has just been renovated, and the new decor and furnishings are really stunning. For example, walking through the entrance itself already makes for a dramatic experience, with the arched frames, dark wood glossy marble flooring and backlit lighting giving an ethereal feel.

Equally stunning were the dishes. As with the Cantonese tradition, we started off with a soul-comforting soup - abalone and chicken/pork and wolfberries. The abalone was slightly tough and chewy, but I nevertheless ate it knowing its price value. Luckily though, it didn't have any of that fishy taste. On the other hand, the soup itself was very moreish; a great way to whet the appetite.

Then came the Peking duck which I didn't have.

After a hideously long wait, the tofu, spinach, sea cucumber and chicken feet casserole finally arrived. The ingredients were coated in a brown sauce that didn't fall prey to being too starchy or gloopy, as with many places do. The tofu could have been slightly softer, and the sea cucumber, for some unknown reason, was mushy instead of springy like it was a vegetarian mock sea cucumber. After all these nitpicking though, the casserole overall was still rather enjoyable.

But of course, the highlight of the meal, and possibly in my gastronomic experience - a whooping humongous 2.4 kg Alaskan king crab, lightly steamed in a clear egg white broth. I'd never seen such huge pincers and legs before. The shell was soft and obediently yielded to force, unlike those crabs at zi char places. For example, I didn't even require tools to open the pincers! The meat came out in chunks and was sweet and succulent and so very umami. It was a highly memorable experience.

By this time we were all groaning with pleasure but we still had to tackle the last dish - vermicelli with bean sprouts and meat. The brown sauce nicely coated the strands of vermicelli and bean sprouts added a nice crunch.

Service was great; the recommendations by the waiter was spot on and personally, he came across rather comical and entertaining too. The only complaint is that the food came out rather slowly so there was lots of waiting time in between. But maybe that's what you need to trade for top-notch food. The bill was beyond our expectations, largely attributed to the king crab. I'm looking forward to try the more affordable dim sum range in the future.

0 Soup tales

Lotus root peanut soup - my very first attempt at cooking Chinese soup! Usually I like to make Western style soups like tomato/roasted bell pepper soup but I do believe Chinese soups have certain "healing" properties when Chinese herbs like danggui and red dates are added. At the very least, all the nutrients from the ingredients would leach into the soup and thus it provides an easily digested storm of nutrients for the body.

Lotus has its roots in traditional Chinese culture (nice pun eh?), which endorse the belief that the lotus roots has 'yin' or cooling properties. Hence it is recommended for providing relief for "heaty" sickness, such as "heaty" liver and "heaty" lungs, symptoms often which include headaches, irritability and flushed cheeks. It is also believed to purify blood and stimulate appetite and nourish qi (vital energy).

I leave it up to you to decide if you believe all the above. But I know this makes one mean tasty bowl of soup! Usually pork bones/ribs are used as the stock base, but I did it with a fish stock as there wasn't any pork bones on hand. It went juuuust fine :)

Lotus Root Peanut Soup

Yield: ~ 6 servings

Ingredients

• 250g fish bones
• Knob of ginger, sliced
• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 large lotus root or 2 small (~ 350-400g), sliced into 1cm thick slices
• 1 carrot (optional, for added sweetness)
• 10 red dates
• 2 handfuls raw peanuts  (30g or ~1/3 cup; I didn't have raw ones on hand and used roasted peanuts. Nothing went wrong)
• 2 L water (16 cups)

Directions

1. Soak red dates in water for at least 30 mins to soften. 
2. Soak (raw) peanuts in water for about 1 h.
3. Bring 2 L of water to boil in a large pot.
4. Meanwhile, pan fry fish bones with the ginger slices for 2-3 minutes each side with oil. This is to firm up the flesh to reduce disintegration (and the resulting icky floating bits) later on.
5. Add the seared fish and ginger to the hot water a let boil for 20 min.
6. Strain soup to remove icky bits of loose fish meat. 
7. Transfer intact fish bones into a slow cooker (or another pot). Add the sliced lotus root, peanuts, red dates and carrot (if using) into the slow cooker. Pour in fish stock.
8. Simmer for 6-8 h.
9. Salt to taste before serving.

1 For the last first time

Today was a day of many firsts.

Black Cherry Chocolate Spirutein

I tried out my first Spirutein energy supplement in Black Cherry Chocolate in lieu of the usual Ensure Plus. I followed the instructions and added 3/4 of the packet of powder to a mix cold soy milk and ice-cold water, which I found weird because usually powders are added to hot liquids to aid dissolution. I stirred the mix vigorously, dubious as to whether the powder would dissolve. Surprisingly, it did, though only after quite a bit of stirring and not completely. To sum up the taste experience, it was blackforest cake packed into a drink - great flavour but overly sweet. The bits of dried cherries floating about was also kind of annoying as it interfered with the drinking process. On the plus side, Spirutein comes in an amazing range of 20 (!) flavours like Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl, Double Fudge Crunch and Peaches & Cream. If I ever buy Spirutein again I would get those without the fruit pieces. Overall I still prefer Ensure/Ensure Plus for it being less sweet. Nutrition-wise, I would say Spirutein is more suitable for those looking for protein enrichment (110 kcal, 0 g fat, 15 g carb, 14 g protein) while Ensure Plus is a more balanced source of energy (300 kcal, 9.8 g fat, 40 g carb, 13 g protein).

First cookbooks!

I finally put the $50 worth of Kinokuniya gift vouchers I received a year ago to good use and bought my very first cookbooks: 500 mediterranean dishes and 500 vegan dishes of the 500 recipes collection. At first I considered buying cookbooks by well-known figures or even celebrity chefs, but then I decided that perhaps generic cookbooks would suffice, at least for me the novice cook (and I wouldn't have to pay for all the celebrity fluff too). The 500 recipes cookbooks boast plenty of pictures, easy-to-read texts and multiple variations for each recipe. For example, the basic squash & apricot tagine in 500 vegan dishes can be varied by using beans & apple or prunes. For $15.95 for each book, I think it is very worth it. Hopefully this will inspire me to cook more and expand my repertoire of recipes :) I also bought a small London travel guidebook by Time-Out for my upcoming exchange.

Then just outside Orchard Building, I had my first up-close encounter with models who were, I believe, part of an event for the launch of H&M. Okay, I wasn't that close to them, just about 5 m away, but it was the closest I'd ever seen a real-life model. Now I fully understand what is meant by being a "head-turner." The male and female models were mostly Caucasian, tall, slim, leggy, decked out in trendy (H&M) wear, and veiled under a layer of immaculate make-up. Many Singaporeans were inevitably gawking at them, and some of them stared back - they were simply standing outside Orchard Building as if waiting for something to happen. I felt so... small, so underdressed and so ugly next to them. They made me feel like I was from outer space and a total different breed from their species. I guess this is what it takes to be a model.

I met mum at Plaza Sing to get party decorations and run some other errands. The day culminated with dinner- a bowl of shrimp Ipoh hor fun (soup) - at Angel Kitchen at Cuppage Plaza which was simple and good. They are better known for their curry chicken, which mum had. I bought the last bowl of hor fun available!