TCC at CitiLink (09/09/2007)

Oops! I haven't updated this page in almost 4 months! Whoever reads this - probably not many of you anyway - must be sian and given up reading already! Sorry sorry! Got lazy! Haha..

Here's just a short one, from 9th Sept, at the TCC at CitiLink Mall..

Toasted Camembert cheese! To quote Dear, "Ebichu cheese!", after a short animation series of a house-keeping hamster named Ebichu who loves Camembert.. The fig compote by the side of the plate was a nice accompaniment to the cheese and bread.. I think Dear enjoyed it far more than I did though haha.. I tended to smear only a little on each bite, while he dumped quite a portion on :) Well, waste not, want not :)



Wedges with nacho cheese (an extra serving of cheese as requested by Dear).. We had this a number of times already, and it's yummy as always. I do wonder though, what they do to make the cheese that radioactive orangey-yellow colour!








Verdict: I definitely will be eating the camembert cheese again! I really like it! TCC also revamped their menu a bit, so I'll be eager to try the new dishes they've got to offer :)

Project Shop Blood Brothers Cafe @ Paragon

I met a friend I got to know from JC orientation, April, yesterday for tea. Well, technically it was tea, but it was to last us both till about 10pm at night. She'd looked so different from just 3 months ago! The pounds had just melted off her! We were at Paragon so she could buy presents for her dad and godfather, so, having heard of the Project Shop Blood Brothers Cafe previously, we decided to give it a try.

Crisp bread with homemade dips - some gingery thing that the both of us declined to touch after trying it, sun-dried tomato puree and hummus.. Man I love the latter two, especially the hummus. OK, I like chickpea anyway, and this garlicky chickpea dip/spread was sooooo yummy!







I don't remember the name of this dish, but I can sure tell you (more or less anyway) what it consists of: Risotto cake, roasted red peppers, eggplant, the main veggie that you see here (arugula? I'm not sure), rounds of goat's cheese topped with basil pesto, and drizzled all over with balsamic vinegar.







We'd initially thought that the risotto would be very dry, but instead it was pleasantly chewy, and I liked it, even though I always had the impression that risotto was more moist and creamy. The goat's cheese went well with the leafy greens and the vinegar dressing, I thought, and I happily ate my way through it, since April didn't fancy the goat's cheese at all.

Verdict: Who would have thought I'd be sated with no meat items at all? Smellie called it a "veggie horror" when he saw the pictures, but I was really satisfied with it, and so was she. With good food, a good friend and nutty conversation, the afternoon was lovely :) We didn't get to try the key lime pie April recommended due to time constraints, and the fact that we were both full, but now that I know of this place, if I ever go back there again, I'll definitely try it (and the risotto cake again)!

Fried udon & fuit salad!

It's been a long time since I've updated this space, so I thought I'd break it with a home-cooked lunch!

Pan-fried black pepper udon with luncheon meat, sausages and 小白菜, with an egg to be mixed in afterwards! It wasn't as fragrant as when Mom made it though, so next time, I'm going to try some variations :) Still good though! Oishi!








We made a fruit salad after that. OK, it's just a bunch of mixed fruits really. An orange, 2 mangosteens, 2 red bananas and a large mango :) I realise that most of the things we eat tend to be very yellow, I don't know why. Haha..but this looks like a very bright and sunshiney salad! I like!







Verdict: Another item to things that I'm learning to cook. Next time, it'll be better! :)

Cafe Cartel

Dearie and I went for an SSO concert, and went to Cafe Cartel at Raffles City Shopping Centre for dinner. It's been so long since I've been there (Yr 1 Sem 1, if I recall correctly) that I was craving their carbonara again. We forgot to take a picture of Dearie's sandwich, and the salad we shared, but I thought I'd share the picture of the carbonara anyhow.

Fatty bacon, mushroom slices, cream, spaghetti and a runny yolk plopped right in the middle to be mixed in. My goodness, it's bliss! Rich, creamy and, to me, infinitely yummilicious!

Perhaps it's just me, but I love cream pastas.. The richness of it is just incredibly decadent and indulgent. Which is why I don't have it often, but when I do, ooooh man, bliss!



Verdict: The food was good, the usual Cafe Cartel standard. But the down side is that there's no more free flow of bread! I loved eating the bread with olive oil and Parmesan! The next time I've got a craving for carbonara, I'd love to go back there again.

Inaugural lunchbox!

Oh dear, I've rather neglected this site.. Nothing very special today, I just wanted to share a lunchbox I made for school on the 27th of March

The lunchbox(es) - there were 2 identical ones, for Dearie and myself - are birthday presents from a mutual friend, Limin. Too bad we didn't manage to photograph the accompanying cutlery: a cute little spoon and pair of chopsticks!

Isn't it cute? This is Dearie's lunch. OK, mine's the same, but we photographed his lunchbox. Better angle hee~ It holds macaroni and hotdog bites in a tomato sauce in the bigger compartment. The smaller one holds an omelette and Japanese seaweed chicken.




Verdict: Not the most nutritious lunchbox in the world by any shot, but it certainly held enough food to keep the both of us happily fed :)

Japanese curry and pork cutlets

I made this lunch on our 17th month anniversary, something which I'd wanted to cook for quite some time now.

A birds-eye view of the entire lunch - hot rice mixed with the remaining egg wash from the pork cutlets, pork cutlets that I attempted to stuff with cheese (see picture below), a gravy boat filled with the curry, and a bottle of lime (because I ran out of lemon) barley to beat the heat.




As I mentioned, I attempted to stuff the pork chops with cheese. Quite obviously, I failed. With advise from April (over on the main blog's tag board) my next attempt will be better, I hope :)

But the pork cutlets were still pretty yummy, despite having their cheese innards spilling all over the paper towels placed to soak up the oil.





Verdict: I was happy with the curry, this being my first attempt at making it, but I found it a tad too salty, though Dear liked it a lot. And it's a good way to get veggies into Dear - carrots, potatoes and onions in the curry! Haha.. Sneaky me.. Lessen the amount of chicken stock and up the amount of water next time :)

Xin Wang HK Cafe @ Kovan Heartland Mall, Hougang St 21

Dear popped by on Sunday night to return a calculator that my brother needed, and as I was hungry, we decided to go for supper. We'd actually wanted to go to MacDonald's, but found it closed, then to Punggol for nasi lemak. But en route, we saw Xin Wang HK Cafe, which loudly proclaimed "24hrs" (it was about 12+am then), and it looked interesting, so we decided to give it a try.

Teh "kau" Ice - essentially more concentrated Teh Peng ($1.50). I thought it was nice, just the right touch of sweetness and thickness of the Teh Peng - even with the ice, it didn't taste dilute in the least. The cute little mugs are a plus too. Actually, they aren't that little. It hold ALOT of liquid. I was very bloated at the end of supper after drinking it.



One of their speciality must-tries: Cheese-baked spaghetti with pork chop ($8.90). It sounded good, and we figured there must be a reason it's called a must-try, so we ordered it. WOW... It came as it looks in the picture, entirely covered with hot, melted cheese. Piercing into the crust, it was steaming hot. I swear, just the spaghetti with the cheese was enough for us already ^_^ Halfway through, we came to the pork chop, and while it was tender, it honestly wasn't the main focus of the dish, for either of us. What amazed us was that the spaghetti remained steaming hot throughout. Literally. We could see the steam!! ^_^



A breakfast-y ham, eggs and beans with toast ($7.50). Everything was pretty standard I think, but definitely generous in terms of serving, which is a plus :P The slices of toast were thick slabs! The only thing we didn't like was the sweet sauce they drizzled over the eggs.




Verdict: To quote Robyn, we were pretty much reduced to "waddlage" (the state of waddling due to being too full). Despite the bad reviews I've read on forums while doing this post, I would say that it was way better than we'd expected :) We'll definitely be going back again! :D

P/s, it's only 24hours on Fridays and Saturdays. It's open on Sundays till 2am. The rest of the weekdays I'm not too sure.

Pp/s We're not too sure about the prices apart from the spaghetti. This is as best as we can remember, so if it differs from reality, we apologise!