Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Mini Brownie Cupcakes at Faeries' Tea Party

Cute little brownie...


This was fun to make because I will usually make the brownies in bigger trays. This recipe follows the basic brownie and was piped through and baked in those mini cupcake paper moulds. The width should measure about 1 inch or slightly bigger. As promised in a previous entry, I shall include the recipe here.

Brownies:
175g butter
120g sugar
50g plain flour
90g cocoa powder (sweetened)*
2 eggs
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add one egg each time and beat well.
Sift the flour and add to cocoa powder, salt & baking powder.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in portions of 4.
Each addition use blender on lowest speed to mix well.
For the last portion, use a spatula to fold in the flour.
Bake in oven for 30mins @ 180deg.

You can pour brownie batter into aluminium trays or non-stick baking pans.

You can also put the batter into a piping bag and pipe it to paper cupcake moulds until 2/3 full or as desired.

*If you are using unsweetened cocoa powder, you may increase the amount of sugar. I find this sufficiently sweet enough because a lot of recipes is too sweet for me.

The brownie batter after piping into the moulds...

Brownie cupcakes!

Monday, September 29, 2008

Cinnamoorolls at the Faeries' Tea Party

I have created this for a previous Brownie Tasting Party because it is an easy party dish. Here are some of the nicer photos of them. Yum...I am impressed by it too.

The rolls before the toppings.

The finished product!
Cinnamoorolls:
Bread
Melted Butter 175g
Cinnamon powder

5 Digestives (crumbled)
Icing sugar+Cream or you can use condensed milk
Maple syrup

Spread melted butter on bread using a brush.
Sprinkle cinnamon powder.
Roll them. Cut them like they are swiss rolls. Place on tray.
Continue until tray is full. Pour remaining butter on the rolls.
Topped with digestives and drizzle the icings and maple syrup.
Serve!

These work as great tea party food. Do not worry about the crumbles covering the rolls. That is the fun part, trying to dig out the rolls. This is not too sweet and not greasy at all so everyone can enjoy them.

Special thanks to my lovely assistant: Vanna White! From carrying everything, to setting up to helping to eat & everything else! :o)

Friday, September 26, 2008

A Healthy Day

Silken Tofu, Pork Floss & unsweetened green tea.

Plain yogurt with blueberries, cashew nuts and honey.


My healthy lunch. :o)

Corn Muffin


This was from Jiffy's Corn muffin mix. Did not turn out as expected and I felt a little sad as I screwed up on a pre-mix. *Its impossible!!!* Argh...

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Perla's Pastry Boutique

Or Pasticceria Da Valentino. Either way, I was not too impressed by their signature cakes here when I dined at the restaurant, Ristorante Da Valentino. I remembered having their Chantilly Al Cioccolato Bianco (White Chocolate Chantilly Cake) and could not recall the average tasting cake because I did not taste any white chocolate. Perhaps it was meant to be that way, light, fluffy and......i can't recall. My bad.


I popped over to next door to see if they have anything else that I might have missed. I find it rather out of the ordinary that they have a wine cellar within this pasticceria. The big bottles of wine had renewed my interest and fascination with this place and when inquired, the service staff pointed to a huge bottle of wine next to the cash register which she thought I might be interested.

Unbelievable.

27 freaking litres of wine in a bottle 3 times taller than my head. They had used a regular sized red wine bottle as a comparison. Woah... As my hands were shaking with excitement, hence the blurred photo.

This is the La Togata Brunello Di Montalcino, 2001 being produced in a 27-litre bottle. I do not have the full name of this particular full bodied wine so excuse the shortened name. There are only 5 bottles available in the whole world and one of them is in front of me as it was exclusively brought in by Valentino.

I believe that this is not a dream. I also believe that the price is beyond expensive too. Lol...

Butter cookies that don't look real to me.

Haato

Chocolate & Tea

Sesame & Coffee

Tried them on both occasions at Serangoon Gardens. Followed my heart to order the gelato as I was craving for ice cream. Gelato's flavour was on the thin side and I had to race with time to finish them up before they melt into a drink. Average at most.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Chocolate Banana Loaf at Zang Toi


I was not hungry at all when I walked past Zang Toi but I just stopped and stared at their signature chocolate banana loaf which looked humongous compared to other cakes I have seen here in Singapore. Hmmm...as I was wondering how it would taste like, I found myself seated and flipping through their menu. Yes, it is one of those hypnotic moments I find myself in whenever I see or smell something good. So we ordered a slice of the chocolate banana cake and a green mango float with ginger ale.

I certainly wasn't expecting them to warm the cake but they did. The drink came with a can of dry ginger ale and a mug of ice with green mango juice and ice cream.

The cake was soft and fluffy but not as chocolatey as the chocolate sauce being drizzled over it. This may be a smart move not to overwhelm anyone with strong flavours because the slice was quite big. It made the cake easier to eat too.

I think that this drink is cool. I liked that I could taste green mango when I am drinking and it was not too sweet and it actually quenched my thirst! We like this!!! Although I know this is not everything that KL has, this has given me fond memories of the food over there. The food in Malaysia is definitely something I would look forward when I next visit them. :oD

Zang Toi's West 57th St. Cafe
Bukit Bintang Plaza (BB Plaza) / Sungei Wang Plaza
LGF032, Lower GF
Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur

Friday, September 19, 2008

Cinnabon

I was in KL for the week and was happy to find Cinnabon, a chain bakery of the famous cinnamon rolls. Prior to this I only had a faint recollection of Saint Cinnamon Bake Shoppe being in Singapore for a short period of time before it disappeared magically and I am not sure if Cinnabon ever reached our shores. I did not get to try either before so I was ready to sink my teeth into this moist looking roll.

It all went to my tummy!!!! *evil grin*

This is the Caramel Pecan Cinnamon roll. I did not get the original ones as they looked dry. I am just swooned over by this soft buttery roll that has ample cinnamon, caramel and pecans. The pecans has added some texture but it did not really help in the taste department. They had provided fork and knife so eating this was a breeze. Yum. I could go on and on eating this. It was not as dense as I had expected and the roll was still a little warm. I am not sure if it was due to the scorching hot weather.

Plaza Low Yat,
G1, Ground Floor
Off Jalan Bukit Bintang
55100 Kuala Lumpur


Saturday, September 13, 2008

da Mario Pizzeria : Calamari Fritti

Yummy calamari...

A strong craving for calamari brought me to da Mario Pizzeria. I was fantasizing about calamari for weeks and finally my wish came true!!! I love this version of calamari fritti from da Mario because the batter was thin, crisp and the squid was fresh.

Taste wise, it was definitely much better than a lot of places. Service wise, was pretty good as the waiter was always smiling, taking orders and trying to be attentive to every customers in the restaurant. This was a rare sight and discovery. Kudos to the waiter!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Olive Green's Corn Ware

Corn rigs & barley rigs...corn rigs & barley....

It was unintentional that my recent posts were in green. It is, however, the trend now to go green and be environmentally friendly. Speaking of which, a 'green' discovery was made down the aisles of Meidi-ya.

Ta-dah!!! Olive Green's Corn Ware! It is made from Corn and Yam and I wonder if the plates are edible. Lol...after reading more info about this disposable plate, I still find it unbelievable.

Maybe the soup or gravy will leak from this plate and make it mushy and soft. Maybe it will just disintegrate in your hand while u are holding it!! Maybe I am thinking too much. :o|

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Key Lime Pie from PS. Cafe, Paragon

I have googled for "key lime pie" and was directed to Wikipedia where it was shown that the traditional version for this has a thick layer of meringue. It also mentioned that the colour of the filling was mostly yellowish due to the addition of eggs and food colourings are added in by some to give it a lime green colour.

More whipped cream please!

This was my first time trying this dessert and I did not know what to expect. Having no expectations was a good thing because this pie turned out to be pretty appetising and I don't mind having seconds if not for the steep pricing. The lime green coloured filling was sweet and tangy, subtley fragranced with lime and had a texture of a custard. I had imagined it to be more gelatinous but this was even better. The whipped cream and the pie base had complimented the filling so much so that I had requested for more whipped cream.

Really, I don't mind seconds. Oops, did I repeat that?

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Green Tea Panna Cotta by Ochacha


The first time I tried this was with Gab. I am just amazed by this creamy and smooth dessert. This rawked!!!!

Some places have panna cotta that tastes like a kueh or more gelatin elastic like than this silky smooth one. Panna Cotta, like tiramisu, are often offered everywhere and yet have differing standards which makes it difficult to tell if it is good here. At least for now, I think this is one of the better ones.

Well, even though it looks green, it does not really have a green tea taste. At least I am eating something green.

SOYJOY - Apple Flavour


I was quite curious when I first saw SOYJOY. The wrapper looks interesting, so does its website too. I was wondering how it will taste like so I got one to try.

Tastes like fruit cake. A very hard fruit cake. The texture was like a hard, oil free fruit cake that crumbles once you take a bite.

I think I would prefer muesli bars and chocolate bars. Hmmm....

Snow skin Mooncake

Green Tea flavoured Snow skin Mooncake by Gab's mom. Thank you auntie!!

My first mooncake of the year. This stuff is pretty addictive and I almost ate half of it! Seriously, I think the snow skin beats a lot of other places as this does not have a fake essence or flavour added to it. It can be considered one of my favourite snow skin now.

The green tea paste can be readily bought at supermarkets or wet market (i have not idea) and the melon seeds were added generously so that it could add some texture to the paste. It was either not too sweet or it was so chilled that I could not really taste the cloying taste of the chewy paste.

Nevertheless, I could finish one regular sized mooncake by myself. Yum!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Dessert at Bakerzin

I was at the UE Square (81 Clemenceau Ave) branch because I had initially thought it would be a quiet place to hang out after dinner. Quiet place also meant that service could get more efficient. Nah, I was proven wrong.

We had ordered a dessert tapas of 3, Baileys souffle and a Sweet Pleasure cake to share. Service was a little sloppy although there was not many customers. They forgot the bring out the cake and charged us for it until reminded. This was something I had to highlight. Another thing was, the banana pizza reeked of stale oil so much so that I could not bring myself to take another bite after the first. No good.


Dessert Tapas: Raspberry panna cotta, strawberry crumble with ice cream (i think) and Banana pizza with Maple ice cream. The first 2 desserts were not too bad.

The Baileys souffle was pretty good. Maybe because Baileys makes all dessert taste good? Lol...A little biased but true in my opinion. :o)

Well, I may not patronise this branch. Ever. Unless there is something to make me change my mind.

Lamb Chops at Sunset Way


The original plan was to go to Astons Specialties at Cathay but none of us moved our butt! By the time we are ready to eat, we have already anticipated the snake queue outside the restaurant and refused to be part of the queue.

We ended up at Sunset Way, one of the foodcourt or coffeeshop called Food Park near Blk 107A and had western food at Pasta & Grill.

They were out of sirloin and pasta so all of us got the alternatives that were available. I got the lamp chops. It is thin but redeemed itself by being crispy at the edges. Lol...I just wanted meat for my dinner so I did not really care. It has a mild lamb taste so I thought it is decent.

At $7.50 a plate, I could not expect restaurant standards so I thought it is just slightly above average. Only the coleslaw or salad was not too bad. The fries were too hard and chewy. Not my kind.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Bintan Trip

I went on a trip to Bintan recently and I must say I liked the food there enough to make me want to go back again even though I am not a beach resort fan. I stayed at Bintan Agro Beach Resort which was on the other side of the island hence the longer travelling time.

I was surprised at the quality of food provided even though they had specified that the seafood was not "fresh" ones. Sun Moon Restaurant is kelong restaurant above the sea which is connected to the main beach by a bridge. We ordered quite a number of dishes to share.

Sun Moon Fried Rice

Interesting fried rice dish. This was fried with coconut gravy. It made the rice moist, fluffy and appetizing. Definitely one of the best.

Butter Oatmeal Squid

This dish blew me away. I love squids! This was absolutely THE dish to beat. It is buttery, eggy and had enough squids to go around the table for 8 hungry people. We ordered the same next day. There were other dishes but these 2 are my favourites!

Susu Sehat = Milk Healthy (Strawberry flavoured)

I liked the packaging. The last time I had milk in an unusal package was in primary school where it was triangularly shaped like a bak chang. A little too sweet.

Pokka Strawberry Milk

The colour of the milk put me off a little because it was a little dull and dark. The milk was too diluted.

Milk in a can

I have not tried this. Heheh...will update again.

Tamarind drink

I cringed about 3 times when I had a sip of this because the juice is sour. Eek...not my type...

Food at this place called Melayu Square is absolutely delicious!! I liked the roti canai, grilled squid, fried rice, ayam penyet and teh tarik a lot but did not take photos because it was too dark.
Other than that, I am willing to endure the travelling to go back again!

Mmmm.....Bintan....

Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar

Burp!

Headed to Shokudo for dinner because there is no queue. I have been in there only once and tried their waffle which did not leave a good impression on me. This time I decided to try out other food items. Their charging, or rather, billing system was similar to Marché so I actually know what to do when ordering food.

Soon I found myself stopping at every counter and checking their food item and trying to justify the reasons for ordering them because all looked tempting. We finally settled down with 2 mains, 2 sides, 1 dessert and a drink.

Salmon & Egg Don

This is comfort food. It was piping hot and the salmon tasted fresh. I wasn't expecting too much out of this because I'm no fan of cooked salmon but this was seriously decent. I may just go back for this.

Rosti with Hamburg

The hamburg will be something that I'll be back for. This charred beefy patty oozed with meaty juices and no meat lovers can resist. Ok, an exaggeration but this patty made me got excited because I can imagine this in a burger and I heart burgers!!! The rosti, however, was a misnomer. It is just some crunchy, undercooked potatoes which looked more like potato spaghetti. :o/


Prawn with bacon
This dish is rather forgettable. It just tastes like how it looks.

Grilled Beef
This was ok because the meat was tender.

Chicken wings
Yum. I am still salivating while writing this. This stuff is so addictive that we ordered 2 more sticks of it.

Waffle with milk gelato

Unlike the first time where I had an overdose of sugar, this time, the gelato and butter made it more palatable.

Iced Matcha
Slurp!! This drink is pretty cool. I like that it is not too sweet but it has a powdery after taste. Great way to end this meal with.

The bill came up to $45 for 3 persons which I thought was fairly reasonable. Thank you for the treat Anna!!! I will definitely return the treat! ;oP

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Souper Duper

I have been duped! It was not that souper after all! Lol...

Went to Lau Pa Sat for dinner and saw this interesting looking stall. Sampled their chicken balls and found it to be not too bad so I decided to get a chicken balls with bashed potato set. Yep, there is not typo here as the stall spells it as "bashed" and illustrated it with a badly drawn hammer and some potatoes. As they have a lack of bashed potatoes, I earned myself an extra chicken ball.

Lettuce was placed at the bottom, followed by the potatoes, then the meatballs. Brown gravy and strawberry jam made this easier to eat. The chicken ball tasted a little different from the samplers and this one has more fillers making it almost like fishball. The potatoes felt too smooth to be bashed and I can't taste any difference between this and the powdered mash potatoes. The gravy tasted generic. Saltish and brown. The strawberry jam too sweet.

I can't help but find this dish familiar. Ah...reminds me of the furniture place except that they have far more superior meatballs, gravy, potatoes & lingonberry jam.

I was hungry an hour later but was already on my way home. Will not try this stall the next time.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Anzac Biscuits with Whipped Cream

Anzac biscuit with whipped cream

What I had found out: ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. There were many variations as to how this biscuit came about but the most common saying was that the women/wives of the Australian and New Zealand soldiers made these during the WWI as a way of showing their support.

These biscuits went well with whipped cream. All leftovers from the fridge.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Storybook Inspired Looks



Inspired Look for Cinderella


Chanced upon this wonderful blog called Creature Comforts and submitted my entry. My look board was submitted and featured on her entry. Yay! ;o)