0 A much welcomed break

I had a mini respite from the 12-hour intensive lab work over the course of last week. We marked granny's 83rd birthday at Ming Kee seafood restaurant, which meant I had an excuse to complete my work earlier. The dishes were lip-smackingly good from start to finish: signature homemade beancurd with shitake and broccoli, bamboo (razor) clams, triple cooked crab bee hoon, soft and silky smooth steamed tiger grouper, sea cucumber with more shitake and broccoli, and chinese spinach in superior stock. Everything was flavorful without being too rich, salty, or having that MSG taste that so often plagues cze char eateries. The crab bee hoon was Shiok with a capital 'S' - thin rice vermicelli coated in its sweet & robust crab stock, with more crabtastic goodness from the chunks of fresh Sri Lanka crab pincers. The fish was also very good (flavoured in the classic soy sauce/spring onion way), albeit a tad pricey. I loved the plump shitake shrooms featured in the bean curd and sea cucumber dishes too. Unfortunately, I didn't take to the bamboo clams, and the broccoli and sea cucumber could have been more well-cooked as they were slightly hard to the bite.

Before that I had a jaunt at Marketplace@Tanglin Mall, where I stocked up my supplies. Exciting new buys included Mullers coconut greek yogurt, cappuccino Larabar and a tabbouleh salad mix (Fantasic Foods). Also bought Israeli couscous, Pacific soy and cage-free eggs (to test if there's a difference between that and normal eggs).

For lunch today I decided to have the egg yolk, instead of throwing it away. Lunch was tri-colored fusili pasta with purple sweet potatoes and the last of my soaked and roasted crunchy buckwheat groats, salmon, aforementioned egg done sunny-sideup, cucumber and lettuce, and pesto and goat's cheese. I thought the egg yolk would make a "sauce" for the pasta since I don't fancy Pappy's pasta sauce, which is the bottled creamed version. Although I couldn't really make out the taste of the yolk, I did have the thrill of poking into the yolk and seeing the golden liquid ooze out. I was eating in the dark (in confocal room), and sometimes I like it that way.

0 All the good eats in a [klutz] day

Breakfast - banana cinnamon oat-muffin-bagel porridge topped with Justin's chocolate almond butter, a chunk of Theo & Philo green mango and sea salt dark chocolate and cocoa mole hot chocolate sauce made with Delamere's skimmed goat's milk, and a scattering of pomegranate seeds. Lunch - Italian salad leaves, roasted vine-ripened cherry tomatoes and uber-ripe mushy avocado slices, purple potatoes & carrots roasted in avocado oil, seasoned with black pepper, cumin, paprika and dill, two whites-one-yolk creamy scrambled eggs, crumbled goats cheese, and half an Ambrosia apple afterwards. Dinner - lup cheong, shitake shroom and scallion soy sauce fried rice, sea bass, slow cooker chicken wolfberry herbal soup with si shen powder, papaya slices.

On the other hand, something was wrong with me today. 1. Spilled gooey egg whites all over the kitchen counter when I cracked the egg (NOT fun cleaning up). 2. Splashed egg mixture onto stove top when stirring the eggs in the non-stick pan. 3. Prepared my secondary antibody mixture wrongly three times before I got it correct. 4. This included fixing the dissected brains in the secondary antibody mix instead of fixing buffer! 5. Almost incubated the in situ brain samples with a secondary antibody mix with mouse Cy3 (red is Tyramide Cy3!) 6. spilled rice all over the floor when scooping rice for dinner.

I believe He was trying to impart a message about having quiet quality time today. The topic in Our Daily Bread today was "Time Out," a reminder to take time out and pray in the midst of hard work. Incidentally Luke 10 (I'm still through Luke 10) also talks about Jesus' teaching on Prayer.

So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

0 Potato and pau

Potatoes are yummy in their own right, but hasselback-ing them ups the visual interest. The thin potato slices get crisp under the oven heat and yields a texture the cross between fluffy baked potatoes and potato chips! Best of all, the crannies between the slices gives unlimited opportunities for all sorts of stuffings; my choice was minced garlic, lots of it, in fact so much that it probably scare Edward Cullen to pieces. Oh how I love garlic, even garlic breath. This time, I used a red potato. Apart from the minced garlic, I drizzled it with avocado oil. I didn't expect much from it, but boy, it turn out potato-tastic!

Attended a part of the CogSci conference in the evening. The tea reception didn't feature hot savoury food. I had a bite each of the mushroom puff (the filling), brownie and apple walnut cake. I would have loved to attend the concert, but knew I couldn't concentrate with my hunger pangs, so I left early and after grocery shopping at Finest at Bishan, I got a chicken & mushroom pan-fried pau from Aster pau. It was made right on the spot, served piping hot. However it cooled down by the time I got home :( Enclosed within the thin, slightly sweet skin was a well-seasoned chicken and mushroom patty. The patty was a little hard, but I would like to think because they use lean meat. Another differentiating factor from the normal steamed chicken pau is that the exterior of the bottom part of the pau was studded with sesame seeds - a delightful crunch! They also have other types of pau like pork as well as as crystal dumplings. I think the main draw here is the low prices with reasonably good quality products; great for a quick bite.

0 Pollen pleases with much pleasures

We had an amazing afternoon at Gardens by the Bay, starting with a fancy lunch at Pollen. The Mediterranean-European restaurant, helmed by British Michelin-starred chef Jason Atherton, was a perfect match to my dining preferences; it joined my radar list the moment I read about its opening a few months ago. I'm really thankful that the family could have a nice lunch together, a rare event these days, in the comforts of the majestic Flower Dome. The food was nothing short of awesome. Every dish was not only perfect balance of flavours, textures, but beautifully plated. The set lunch at 55 pax is quite a good steal, considering you'd get free entry into the Flower Dome, which would otherwise cost 12 bucks.

Rye sourdough with codiments: cod-potato dip and green olives

Roasted beetroot, goats cheese and beet leaves. Beets and goats cheese are a classic pairing but they are paired for a reason. The earthy tones of the roasted beets (which came in purple, golden and orange) accentuated the creamy sweets notes of the goats cheese. Simple yet satisfying.

Smoked salmon with wasabi-like accompainment. Have you ever seen such a hunk of smoked salmon? I'd imagine thin slices of salty salmon a la carpaccio-style, but this meaty slab delivered a pleasant surprise. I had a slice of Mum's salmon; lightly smoked and not too heavy-handed on the salt (my pet peeve of smoked salmon), the flesh was between a raw and flaky texture. This would definitely provide the daily recommended dose of omega-3.

Pan-seard John Dory, prawn minestrone, baby courgettes, coco beans and edamame. Although slightly disappointed the cod was not on the menu, the pan-seared John Dory did not disappoint. The execution of the searing could not be more perfectly done; it yielded a skin so crisp you could feel it crackle at the slightest pressure, unveiling smooth tender flaky white flesh. It's so easy to overcook white fish, but as mentioned, the timing here couldn't be better (I'd imagine the chef had a ticking timer beside him!). The foamed sauce of prawn minestrone was poured over the fish upon serving; it looks deceptively light, but was potent with the umami taste of the crustaceans. I loved the beans and edamame that came with it. Overall, a stunning fish dish.

Most awesome risotto ever: turffle & sorrel risotto. It was creamy but not heavy (no jer lak aftermath) and bursting with mushrooms and truffle jus! I shared this and the John Dory with my sister, so we could enjoy the best of both worlds :)

All good things must come to an end, and the divine desserts helped to end it right, leaving us with sweet memories (pun intended).

Peanut butter and cherry yuzu sorbet. It was my first time having desserts in a deconstructed form, so I wasn't sure if the different components were meant to be enjoyed separately or combined into a mess. So I sampled the them individually first: the cherry yuzu sorbet was tart but refreshing. The "peanut" part of the dessert was delivered in multifarious forms - as a peanut mousse, peanut parfait, peanut crocante and crunchy peanut butter - which resulted in a complex but complementary play of tart and sweet, smooth and crunchy.

You may need an acquired taste to enjoy the goats cheese ice cream, but I'm sure no one can deny on the artistic appeal of this dessert. So pretty and pink!

Chocolate roast cocoa nib ice cream, lavender parfait and cherry. Again I had a bit of Mum's dessert; the crushed cocoa nibs with ice cream reminded me of oreos atas style. This was on the sweeter side compared to other desserts, but still oh-so-good.

Overall, this was one of the most memorable meals I had, for the food, company and ambience. Delivering fresh and clean flavours amid a modern flowery setting, I look forward to many more returns - if only I had the money. (Total bill racked up to approx 300 for 4, thanks to the charges for the bottled water.)

Some pictures of the setting:

After that we had a walk around the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest, which will be featured in the next post!

0 A field of mushrooms

Mum returned from the land Down Under with two bags full of huge-ass portobello shrooms. Though slightly dried out from the journey to Singapore, it's the thought that counts. The easiest, fastest and most convenient way to use up a generous amount of shrooms before they turn bad is to churn it into soup (again!). A dried porcini stock further intensifies the heady mushroom aroma and taste. In contrast to my previous vegan version, I chose to use the classic (real) ingredients this time round: butter and milk, and the result was much tastier and satisfying.

Portobello & Porcini Soup (adapted from Noob Cook)
Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients

• 12g butter
• 1/2 medium white onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 400ml mushroom stock (made from rehydrated 1/4 cup dried porcini)
• 150g portobello mushrooms, chopped into chunks
• 3-4 sage leaves, chopped
• 80ml dry vermouth
• 80ml milk
• salt & black pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Melt butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Saute onion and garlic until soft but not browned, about 4 minutes.
2. Add stock, and bring to boil.
3. Add in chopped portobellos and rehydrated porcini. Let simmer for 15-20 min until softened.
4. Stir in sage.
5. Remove a portion of mushrooms and chopped into chunks of desired size. Using an immersion or conventional blender, blend the remaining mixture until smooth.
6. Add vermouth, milk and chopped mushrooms. Heat until just below boiling point.
7. Serve warm and with a side of crusty bread for mopping up those shroom goodness!

Was too hungry and the soup too good to pause for a photo. It reminded me of the Pate Moi spread I bought from Borough Market in London. So heady and good! Another bag of portobello shrooms to conquer. I'm thinking of some simple but (hopefully still juicy) olive oil portobello steaks to sandwich between bread!

1 What stole my weekend

It was a whirlwind of a weekend that ended much to quickly. In the name of saving time, I'll let the photos tell the bulk of the story.

1. The Amazing Spiderman! Although it boasted a typical storyline, it was nevertheless an enjoyable film with bits of humour and lots of swinging action. Andrew Garfield (who I prefer to Tobey Maguire as Spidey) and Emma Stone freshens up the blockbuster series with their younger personalities. James Horner is now added to my favorite list of composers, with his grandiose take on the main theme, filled with the fanfare of trumpets doling out a soulful tune. Just listen!
2. Crab bee hoon soup from Hong Kong Street Chun Tat Kee at Balestier Road. This cze char place is known to dish out a mean bowl of XO slice fish bee hoon and san lo hor fun. Wanting to venture out of our usual orders, we had the crab bee hoon this time round. This is my first time handling crabs in their fully shelled form and it was certainly an experience with the shelling and extraction of the meat. A very tedious and painful (literally) process but the reward was sweet, succulent and robust fresh crab meat. The stock was superbly flavorful with the crabby taste, with notes of hua diao rice wine dancing on the palate. It bordered on being excessively salty towards the end though. Our other orders were sambal kangkong and cereal prawns. After the tasty meal the bill came as shock though: $59 for two people!
3. Pizzeria Mozza.My sis and I had lunch here before the Harry Potter exhibition (see below). It's her first visit and my second, 10 months after celebrating my birthday here.
   

   Rucola, funghi and piave salad came as a mound of fresh rocket leaves with (raw) white button shrooms and shaven piave (an Italian cow's milk cheese similar to Parmigiano-Reggiano) layered in-between. The vinegary dressing did well to highlight the peppery tones of rocket, although it somewhat overwhelmed the less ostentatious shroom profile.

   

   Long-cooked broccoli, caviocavallo and chiles pizza. Another first for having broccoli on pizza. The long-cooked broccoli was tender and tasty on its own but I felt it didn't pair too well as a pizza topping. Caviocavallo is another type of cheese but I'm not an avid fan of cheese and especially when melted on pizzas, all the cheeses taste the same to me. On the whole this pizza okay, if not a tad salty.

   

   Of the Tomato, Sicilian oregano and extra virgin olive oil pizza and Broccoli pizza today, and the Margherita pizza the previous visit, the former is my favorite of the lot. If you're a tomato lover, you'll be most delighted. Intense tomato sauce topped with oregano, this upheld the adage of beauty in simplicity. You'll get your lycopene dose filled with this one!

4. Harry Potter exhibition.
   

   We breezed through the exhibition in 45 mins. It mainly featured the actual costumes and props used in the film. It was quite surreal to actually see the exact items used in the film right before your very eyes. The Marauder's Map and Potions book were some of the cooler items on display, filled with scribbles of wizardry language. I also enjoyed the display of the Yule Ball costumes; Hermione's lilac dress was so pretty! The souvenir shop of a cash-milking machine though. $50 for a wand?

5. Hacking open a young coconut. Yet another first this weekend. Much skills and strength is called for!

6. Church talk on Biomedical Ethics. An interesting and informative insight on biomedical ethics from a theological perspetive

There goes my weekend. It's past the 6-month mark of 2012. Scary how June whizzed past in a flash.Time to start relooking at monthly resolutions again.

4 Sign me up

I persuaded Mum to sign up for Biblethon, a church effort to handwrite the whole Bible. Yep you heard that right. It's a three-prong exercise to celebrate our church (Wesley) upgrading project, to emphasise spiritual building (and not just building of physical structures), and to reinforce this year's theme of 'Speak Good Bible'. We each get 15 minutes to write a number of verses, and the final handwritten Bible will be displayed at the church's archives. I think it's quite an innovative idea to bring people together. I also signed up for a talk called 'How Do I Know God's Will?' Everybody faces some identity crisis now and then, and since it's only two hours and at a reasonable price, I thought it wouldn't hurt to go. It will be my first time attending a church talk though.

Did some atas grocery shopping which put me in a very good mood, albeit significantly poorer. ThreeSixty at Ion has spruced up its line of products; it's range is now even more exclusive - and expensive. Extra virgin olive oils, authentic balsamic vinegars (from the region of Modena or Emilia Reggio and aged at least 12 years), Japanese mini-watermelons at 38 bucks and a mango at freakish 128 bucks! The cheapo me bought varlhona guanaja (70% dark chocolate) just because it was going 2 for the price of 1. I also bought a jar of dried porcini mushrooms which would come in very handy for risottos and soups, and a mini jar of fig jam by Hediard. At realfoodgrocer (Killiney Road), I finally found coconut cashew cream. Coconut oil is now sold at many places including specialty supermarts, but coconut butter is still a tough find. I have yet to find pure coconut butter (without mixing with other nuts).

And last but not least, a very stimulating breakfast that I had this morning, both in terms of color and taste. All my favorite ingredients in a bowl!

Should I or should I not volunteer for SIWW?

1 Setting an undesired precedent

I don't know whether to be proud or ashamed of myself. Over the past few days I've been treating myself very well - too well for my own good. On Friday I decided not to pack lunch despite knowing that I had a long day, because I wanted a change from the usual. I decided I would get something from Starbucks in between my IT class and Immunology. I could probably count with one hand the number of times I've been to Starbucks (probably third or fourth time) so I wansn't familiar with their menu, or even whether they sold anything other than coffee. After a long glance at the display shelf, I decided on the Egg White, Pepper and Mushroom wrap. It doesn't sound the most exciting, but compared to the other mayo-laden and hefty looking sandwiches, I suppose it was a more healthy choice.

It looked small, so I wasn't sure if my $5.80 was justified. But when I started eating [during lecture], its size suddenly seemed to balloon - it was never-ending, like the Magic Porridge Pot story. The funny thing was the egg whites and the pepper/mushroom were not mixed but separated into two halves of the wrap, such that initially I was eating an egg white wrap, and then a pepper/mushroom wrap. Nevertheless it was really filling (think of all the proteins from the egg white) and really peppery. Not only does the peppers here refer to red/yellow capsicums, it also meant the black pepper folded into the egg whites. What made me guilty was that I actually enjoyed the bit of cheese hidden unexpectedly in the middle (cheese wasn't labeled on the display) - a savory sinful delight.

Then today I wanted to have something light - Novena Fish Head bee hoon (Goldhill) seemed to fit the bill. However I was disappointed when I saw its shutters pulled; it wasn't open on Sundays. So I went to United Sq FC and upon seeing that the Japanese chain Botejyu - the father of okonomiyaki - had set up a stall there, all my plans for "healthy" was gone. I ordered the salmon & steak yakisoba. In case you didn't know, yakisoba refers to noodles [soba] fried [yaki] on a hot plate, and then coated in the typical umami japanese black sauce - a grease and sodium bomb. Luckily though it wasn't as greasy as other versions I had before. If you have noticed, I underlined the word steak above. Initially that word missed my eye and I thought I was just ordering salmon yakisoba. And then when I saw him adding pieces of meat while cooking, I double-checked the menu. Indeed, the "steak" word was there except it was in a smaller font size! I intended to skip all the meat but to my surprise - and horror - I decided to try one piece - it tastes like chicken! I though. So one piece became two. And three. And before I knew it, most of the meat (I'm guessing beef) were almost gone. This is definitely unprecedented in my life's history. At that point in time I rationalized to myself that since I had made the mistake already I might as well not waste the food and eat it. But that's just part of the justification; I was well aware that I was eating [beef]. What's the beef with eating beef, you ask? Well, I don't know. It's like a vegetarian or vegan suddenly eating meat - and actually liking it - after abstaining from it for his whole life. It's not only a revelation; it's a mourn for the loss of control.

I guess it's back to healthy food for the weekdays.

Edit: after googling, I think those were pork slices instead.

0 Gone viral

It was a pity that PZ could not complete our reunion last night; LM, JJ and I had an enjoyable night out at Orchard. Even though we meet only at most every 6 months, each time we meet, it's like we've never been separated.

First, we had dinner at Robert Timms. Plans for dining at Sun with Moon had to be reworked because of the long reservation list. It was a minimum wait of 35-45 minutes if we wanted to eat there. We weren't that desperate, so sought an alternative place, and eventually settled on Timms.

I was torned between having a garlic prawn & cilantro spaghetti and the vegetarian tofu pattie with mushrooms. For the sake of being unconventional, I decided on the latter. This was both a hit and a miss. The tofu patty was AWSM. Albeit breaded and deep-fried (alarm bells!), there wasn't a hint of oil at all. The patty was stuffed with cubed tofu, spinach and other unidentifiable ingredients, harmoniously bound together by some slightly sweet cheesy sauce. It kind of reminded me of Mildred's in London. The mushrooms and zucchini served on the side were executed very well too, especially those juicy, popping earthy shrooms. What went amiss was the mashed potato; it was dry and unappetizing. But once again, the tofu patty was really good and that satisfied me tummy ;) It was a rather unhealthy meal considering the deep-fried, cheese and mashed potato factor, but it's CNY and it's once in a bluemoon occasion.

After shopping around Ion orchard, it was down to Cineleisure to catch The Viral Factor, starring Jay Chou and Nicholas Tse. The plot contained multiple stories all unfolding simultaneously, not unlike Inception. First, there's the smallpox virus, then Jon (Chou) having to deal with his malignant diagnosis of having two weeks before he becomes paralyzed due to a bullet lodged in his brain, then having to locate his long-lost brother and father, then all three plots intersect as his baddy brother was also implicated in the smallpox virus plot too. What I found interesting about the movie was the multiple languages used - Chou and the Taiwanese would converse in Mandarian, the Hongkies/Malaysians in Cantonese and the Caucasians in English. I think it highlights the tension and the irresolvable discreteness between the different camps in the film. This is especially stark between Jon and his brother, for they have trodden different paths since they were separated.

It's time back to work!

0 Cream of portobello soup (vegan)

Cashews is the "cream" to this soup, but does not distract from the earthy intense poortobello flavours.

Cream of portobello soup (vegan)

Yield: serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 medium red onion, chopped

1/2 lb (I used 200 g) portobello mushrooms, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 large carrot, chopped

2 1/2 cups water or vegetable stock

1/2 tsp dried Italian herbs (use fresh herbs if available)

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup raw cashews (for 'cashew cream')

Directions
1. In a large heavy pot over medium-high heat, saute onion in olive oil till soft (3-5 min).
2. Add garlic, carrot and mushrooms. Cook, stirring often until mushrooms are slightly browned (3 min).
3. Add water/stock, herbs and salt. Stir well. Bring to boil, then simmer for 25-30 min.
4. Meanwhile, soak cashews in water.
5. According to how fine/chunky you like your soup to be, remove a portion of the mushroom mixture into a tall container. Add in soaked cashews (chopped). Use a hand-held blender and blend till smooth. Alternatively, this can be done in a conventional blender.
6. Return puree to pot with the remaining carrots/mushrooms.
7. Simmer another 5-10 min. Serve hot.