Midsummer Night's Faerie Wedding at Bintan

Take 1

Not exactly on a midsummer night but more like a midnight wedding. Further details are kept confidential except for the cake that I prepared for the bride and groom.

This is a 3-tier white chocolate brownie that I have made in advance and assembled on the wedding night. It was an oversight on my part to have forgotten to take the insides of the brownies and the whole procedure. But, one has only 2 hands, and they were constantly kept busy and greasy so I had no chance to take any photos.

Take 2

What I had done basically was to bake 2 round trays (8") of white chocolate brownies and kept them for a couple of days in the fridge so that the texture would be more dense and fudgy. Then I used a heart shaped mould and cut it. As for the cream cheese, this time, I had remembered to use butter and added very little icing sugar so that it does not taste too sweet.

When assembling, try to spread the cream cheese as smoothly as possible but if it is not possible, try to stay calm. Make it look intentionally messy which I had done here and sprinkle strawberry chocolate flakes, white chocolate buttons and hundreds & thousands. Leave the cake in fridge to set and serve!!

Take 3

The guests liked the cake. I like them too. If only I could spread the cream cheese nicely....

These 3 photos are taken to compensate for the lack of other pictures of the cake. Heh...

Special thanks to Vanna White for the lovely assistance in transporting the cake!

Dessert at Azabu Sabo

It is not my first time trying this dessert. The first time I had it was at the Central branch and it left a good enough impression for me to try their desserts again. This time I happened to be at Marina Square.

It didn't take too long for me to decide on this soft served vanilla ice cream on top of a warmed sweet potato cake drizzled with custard sauce. It didn't take too long for me to finish it too.

The vanilla soft served ice cream is quite common, having appeared in places like McD's and 7-Elevens and a lot of other places. What I am actually here for is the sweet potato cake. I suspect that it uses real sweet potatoes but added some eggs or maybe even sugar and baked them so that it tastes better.

I had wished for more custard sauce and the sweet potato cake to be warmer and that to be more affordable so that I can order 2 of these and finish them by myself. Make my wish come true!!!

Menya Shinchan

I am in the mood for something hot and soupy so headed to Menya Shinchan to try their ramen.

It was not a bad thing at all when I ordered their seafood ramen in shoyu (soy sauce) soup base which came flavoured with sardine as stated in the menu. Apart from the canned sardines, I have not seen fresh or dried ones so I actually did not know what to expect of it. The soup was fragrant and had a mild fishy taste which reminded me of ikan bilis. It was not too bad at all.

The ramen was al dente and had a slight chewy texture which in my opinion, was pleasantly tasty when paired with the saltish but flavourful broth. I did not really take note of the accompanying ingredients as they were on the average side but I think there was char shu & bamboo shoots. The portions were small so I slurped up everything pretty fast and was eyeing a sinjiro that someone ordered. It was huge!

I must try that the next time!!!

Mee Siam & Laksa Goreng

Mee Siam Goreng & Laksa Goreng

The laksa was good. I liked that they put a lot of tow gay. This drier version of laksa was quite appetising and I ended up finishing the laksa. The sambal adds up the spiciness which answered to my craving of spicy food. I will go back and order this again. The mee siam goreng however, was a little lacklustre tastewise. It has a strong tau cheo or bean paste taste which I do not seem to like in this dish.

I bought this for $2 at Toa Payoh HDB Hub at a stall which sells nonya food. I did not take down the unit number and address as it was the only nonya food stall there. Will return for more!

White Cherries

White Cherries

Never judge a cherry by its colour! Although they may look unripe, these cherries are actually pretty sweet! It was given to me by my co-worker so I am not sure where to buy them or how much do they cost. This is to compensate for the earlier snack which was too greasy.

Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff

I just wanted a after lunch snack. Ok, I'm a glutton but I was just answering my cravings for something spicy so after lunch, I just happened to pass by this stall (Blk 91, Whampoa Drive, Whampoa Food Centre) selling curry puffs that were apparently famous and I didn't know! I usually refrain from ordering this kind of flaky puff but I was in the mood so I didn't mind.

Flaky puff skin = not my type

$1.20 a puff

This curry puff was too greasy for my liking. It did not came cheap so I had upped my expectations a little only to find out that it was not what I had preferred. They packed in a generous amount of curry potatoes which are not spicy at all. There was a slice of egg and chicken inside which did not help the puff at all in terms of taste. The pastry was too flaky and oily as you can see in the picture.

My cravings were not answered. :o(

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This is actually the second slice!

Over the weekend, I was in the mood to bake something fairly easy and did not require too many different ingredients. With the exception of buttermilk, the rest of the ingredients for this cake was easily acquired.

It was a rainy Sunday evening when I started baking. Measurements were made and the whole process of making that cake batter was literally, a piece of cake. In no time, I had sent the cake for baking and the whole thing took me around 50mins. I was happy to see that the cake was rising properly albeit the slight crack which was a disturbing sight for me. Other than that, I had no complaints.

Clockwise: the crack-> took a slice -> close-up -> cream cheese frosting

I had proudly spread the cream cheese frosting on top of the cake and served them without realising that I forgot to add in butter until much later. I had reduced the amount of sugar for both the cake and the frosting but it still tasted a little too sweet. Overall, I would still rate this cake as a success!!

Recipe taken and adapted from Exclusively Food:

Along the way I had made some adjustments myself so this is my version. To get the original version and the procedures, please click on the link above.

Banana Cake:
125g butter, softened
330g sugar ( I used 180g sugar)
3 ripe bananas
2 eggs
100ml buttermilk ( I substituted with fresh milk)
225g self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Cream Cheese Frosting:
90g cream cheese
45g butter
210g icing sugar ( I used 100g condensed milk)


This will be something that I will make again. Simply delicious!

Arnold's Fried Chicken

Chicken looked like its bleeding...lol...

This is seriously finger licking good. Thanks to Gab, I enjoyed my dinner a lot and regretted not asking her to get me more! Arnold's fried chicken has a pretty darn good batter that could kick Popeye's or KFC's chicken out of their league.

Here's the deal: Batter was thin, crispy, slightly spicy. Thigh meat was juicy and meaty. Heard that they actually use free range chicken, hence the freshness. How fresh? I can't judge.

They allow you to order any parts you like in a meal with no extra cost. But if there is any, I am not sure because Gab purchased a box of thigh meats with no additional costs. I finished my chicken and hoped that everyone else will be generous enough to give me more....but...they finished theirs too!!

I want more! More!!!!