Phung Thien Nhan

Today I read something in the local news that made me cry.

Nhan is a 2 year old who had been abandoned in a forest by his unwed teenage mom. To me, a mom abandoning a helpless child is already unfathomable and needlessly cruel.

But that was not all. She left the baby in a forest infested by wild dogs and other animals. A helpless, innocent baby.

What happened next breaks my heart. A wild animal came and ate up the boy's right leg and other organs. Villagers found the baby bleeding, shivering and covered with biting ants.

WHY? It is so inhumane, so senseless.

From the pictures, the boy appears to be lively, intelligent, handsome. I feel so so sorry for the terrible ordeal he has had to endure, and the pain that he continues to suffer.



I have decided to donate to this boy's welfare fund.



If you would like to do the same, please go to this website for details.

Jap Curry Meals

Raku Ninja @ Republic Plaza #B1-07

I went to meet a friend at Raffles Place and we ended up at the basement of republic plaza, which had lots of stuff to eat. we initially intended to go for a paper pot, but I was tempted when I saw some other diners eat this...


The curry udon was insipid, with the curry more like a watery gravy instead. The tempura were hard, although not oily.

Verdict: Give it a miss, there are loads of better places around here.


Japan Gourmet Town @ Vivocity #01-157


PL and I came to this place on my first day back at work. This restaurant opened when I was on maternity leave so I hadnt eaten here yet.

When I realised it was part of a chain restaurant, which included the ubiquitous Ajisen ramen, I was rather hesitant because I was never a fan of Ajisen... but since we were already here, we decided to give it a shot.


I ordered their highly recommended moonlight okonomiyaki to share, but I wasnt impressed. The okonomiyaki was hard and tasteless. I wasn't expecting the okonomiyaki that I had in Osaka, but this really missed the mark by miles. I think Nanjya Monjya's version is still the best.


My tempura prawn curry rice was boring. The curry tasted of local curry powder, and was not at all like Japanese curry, which should taste sweet with the generous addition of carrots and onions.

Verdict: not good enough.

Sage @ Mohd Sultan Rd

Of course, I have heard quite a bit about Sage, about chef Jusman So and his restaurant manager wife Kimberly. Most food bloggers know this place, since a bloggers dinner was organised here a few years back when Jusman was just starting the restaurant. Now he has clearly perfected his art, honed his skills, and opened a bigger place to cater to the growing crowds.

Well, I have always liked Husband and Wife restaurant pairings (think Emmanuel and Edina of St Pierre, Julien and Edith of St Julien) so, I decided to give this place a shot for lunch (open only Wed to Fri for lunch, every day for dinner).

There were many choices for their very affordable lunch set (SGD38 for 3 courses, SGD45 for 4 courses), and all looked so yummy that I really had a tough time deciding.


My starter of veal rillette and sauteed onion. It was delicious, and a very ample serving. I loved it. What a good way to start a meal... and it was a precursor to more delicious offerings.


The other starter that tempted me was the crab salad in tomato consomme. SK kindly agreed to order it so that I could sample some of it. Very very delicious. It was a little crunchy, very savoury, yums.


My main of duck confit. It came in a pool of gravy and I didnt know what to think of that, since a good duck confit should have a crispy skin, and a murky pool of soup isnt going to help right? Well, the gravy was a mustard dressing, which was super delicious and goes very very well with the duck. The duck itself was done perfectly, with crispy skin and tender meat. I was waiting to find a piece of dry meat, but it was so perfectly cooked!


My yummy dessert - a cheese platter. Most places would ask for an additional sum for cheese to be served, but over here it was part of the set. I loved everything that was served. My favourite was the 1st and the 2nd. Forgot what they were called. But the last 2 were quite strong though.

I wanna come here again! If only they serve lunch on weekends, then I can bring DH here.

Xmas Party

A few of us girls decided to have a Christmas party for the kids, and well, although there were some moms who had to pull out in the end, we managed to have 4 families get together, and 4 kids to share in this party.


E brought this beautiful gingerbread house which was gorgeous! Tasted delicious too. Delicately spiced with cinnamon and ginger, it was fragrant and chewy.


A wonderful spread of goodies.


My contribution!

Rakuichi @ Dempsey

I brought the kids to the Botanic Gardens for a morning outing... and DH joined us for lunch and we decided to go to Dempsey.

Cutie adjourned to Go-Go Bambini's for playtime, and DH, Sweetie and I went to eat some lunch. We decided to try Rakuichi. It seemed a bit pricey but it was Dempsey after all... everything is a little pricey.

Oh, but the lunch sets were actually quite affordable. I think our sets were about $30 to $40 each.


We started with some skewers: pork belly and beef tongue. Both were so good! The pork belly was savoury, sweet, slightly smokey, very tender (and fatty!). It wasn't cheap but it was so good, I am still salivating at the thought of this one. The beef tongue was sliced thickly, unlike most other places. This was unusual, but still tasted good because it was cooked just right. The texture of the meat was still slightly chewy. I loved these.


DH took the sashimi and sushi set, which he shared with me. All were quite nice, but nothing particularly memorable.


My set was the grilled set - with soft shell crab, unagi and hamachi cheek. All were good and I think my set was nicer than DH's... and cheaper too.

DH liked the hamachi cheek best of everything we tried that day. I liked the pork belly best. Portions were substantial enough to satisfy us both.


We were eached served sesame ice cream as our dessert. It was lovely, one of the nicest I have ever tried. It was delicious, not too sweet, fragrant and nutty.


We brought Sweetie with us to the restaurant. Sweetie didn't eat anything, but she sure brightened up the whole restaurant with her megawatt smile! :)

Happy Birthday Cutie

Cutie turned 3 in November, and we had a vehicle-themed birthday cake for him and his friends.

I think it was a lovely party. And Cutie sure enjoyed it too.

Sushi Jiro @ Siglap

Part 2 of DH's birthday celebrations were held at Sushi Jiro, a quaint little restaurant near our place at Siglap. It's run by a Japanese chef who married a Singaporean lady and decided to relocate to Singapore.


One thing interesting about this little place is that it serves seasonal specials which are typically found in more high end restaurants. This is mentaiko (spicy codfish roe), which is really an acquired taste. DH likes this a lot, and can eat it presented in various ways. I do like this, but would prefer it to be cooked, like mentaiko pasta, mentaiko tofu or grilled mentaiko.


We ordered edamame beans for SGD6 cos Cutie likes them...


But he very sweetly offers them to me first.


This is rather interesting - Ankimo in Ponzu (monkfish liver in vinegary ponzu sauce). Again, not something that one would usually find in ordinary japanese places. The last time I ate this was at Inagiku (we haven't gone there in awile cos our Feed at Raffles card has expired, sigh). It is very smooth, and rich, almost like eating a slab of meaty butter... taste-wise, I would liken it to foie gras, but the ponzu helps to cut the richness, and give it a tangy lift.


Another unique offering - Shirako in Ponzu (codfish milt in vinegary sauce). This white curdy thing is considered a supreme delicacy by Japanese, available only during the winter months. It is actually rather tasteless, and absorbs the taste of the ponzu. Rather, it is the unique texture of the shirako which makes it so sublime. It is soft, creamy, a little custardlike, yet rather delicate. Interesting.


The beef sukiyaki was a large pot, and we asked that they cooked the beef for us... Although I think it would have been nicer to serve us the raw beef slices, we didnt want to have the gas stove cooker on the table with 2 kids around. The sukiyaki was served with 2 raw eggs, which DH used as a dipping sauce. MIL and I both avoided the raw egg... I am a little afraid of eating raw egg, even though I eat raw fish. Is that silly? DH says it makes the beef silkier and smoother.


The grilled hamachi (yellowtail) cheek was truly delicious. It was clearly very fresh as it tasted very sweet, and it was grilled just right, with the fish skin slightly crispy and the flesh soft and yielding. Very very nice.


Our premium omakase sushi set... with all our favourites, uni (sea urchin), toro maki (bluefin tuna belly), anago (sea eel), akagai (ark shell) etc. This plate costs GD80, which really isn't cheap.


DH's birthday mochi, with a candle on top! Cutie sings Happy Birthday so enthusiastically, the waitress pops in to investigate.


Sweetie loves birthday celebrations too! She happily joins in the clapping, but maybe she doesnt really understand the commotion...

Imperial Treasure Restaurant, Crowne Plaza Hotel at Terminal 3

I've always thought that Imperial Treasure was a very nice restaurant, serving up very exquisite and classy traditional Chinese delicacies.

So, when we made reservations to come here, I had high expectations... and the outlet at Crowne Plaza Hotel, Terminal 3, didn't disappoint. Everything about this restaurant really impressed me, from food standard, to service, to decor, all were excellent.

We tried the roast pork which was crispy and piping hot... There was a rather thick layer of fat under the crispy skin though, so that may not be too well-received. DS does a very good roast pork, totally home-made (her trick is to use lemon juice to dry out the skin, and then poke holes in the skin using a fork...) but it is very painstaking and is a true labour of love.

We also had braised goose wings and goose webs, but I forgot to take a picture.

Drunken prawns... very succulent and fresh. The herbal soup was so delicious, I had to slurp it all up.

The squid in salted egg yolk was also superb, a divine pairing of tastes and textures.

An individual serving of sea cucumber and mushroom for each of us. Also excellent, because the gravy was delicious and both the mushroom and sea cucumber were a substantial serving.


This dish, we got tricked. I thought it was kai lan with fish slices, and ordered it, but when it arrived, it wasn't fish slices but slices of fish cake. Aiyah!

Ee Fu Noodles, because it is a birthday, we had to have noodles to symbolise long life. This one was fried with spicy XO sauce and scallop. Very good.

Dessert we shared: Glutinous rice dumplings (Tang Yuen) in crushed peanuts,
and mango pomelo sago dessert.





DS bought 2 tiramisu cups and had the waitress bring them over with candles for the 2 birthday boys - DH and Cutie. Cutie loves blowing out the candles.


Happy Birthday to my 2 dearies.

Thank You

Thank you to everyone for their kind birthday wishes.

Thanks particularly to Wei, Mia, Chandelier, Ice and Fen, for being so sweet.

I really do have lots to give thanks for. :)

Obolo Chocolate Cheesecake

Happy birthday to Chocolate Reindeer!

This blog is 2 years old!

If you look back at my earlier posts, you will find that this blog was started on my birthday...

Thanks to DS and my family, who surprised me by sending a hamper with beautiful flowers, balloons and a chocolate cheesecake to my home..


Yummy cake, it was dense and rich and smooth, and not too sweet. Very very nice.


Thanks to DF,DM, DS, DBiL and DB for loving me so much!

PS: the cake is from Obolo, a boutique de patisserie (which means pastry boutique in French) in Joo Chiat... It serves all kinds of gourmet desserts and specialises in very classy, very exquisite cheesecakes like the Guanaja Chocolate Cheesecake that DS ordered. The Guanaja Chocolate Cheesecake is a luscious dark chocolate cheesecake made with premium cheese and Valrohna (wow!) 70% dark chocolate, studded with dark chocolate chunks, topped with chocolate macarons. MMMMM.... Thanks DS!

Beef and Beef

DH recently discovered this beef place which sells excellent grades of beef, so we have been eating lots of it..

He bought this sliced beef karubi for our hotplate dinner... it's called full blood blackmore wagyu beef. It supposed to be beef 100% Japanese black cows without any other breed introduced to its bloodlines (therefore full blood)with a marbling grade of 9+, the highest possible grade.



400 g of this beef cost DH $170. Just look at the beautiful marbling.




It smelt soooo good as it sizzled on the hotplate... You dont need to cook it for too long... and then it just melts in your mouth... ooh delicious.



Yums.

LUNCH AT HOME

DH also bought some USDA grain fed aged ribeye home... at about $40 for a slab of 200g, this was cheaper than the grade 9 wagyu.

It tasted very good, very beefy, if you get what I mean.


The guys at the shop can marinate and season the meat for you too. DH chose salt and pepper so that we could truly appreciate the natural taste of the beef. Eaten with a simple salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing, it was a hearty and filling meal.



Thanks to my cute chef.


CUTIE

Time really flies, Cutie is now almost 3 (he turns 3 at the end of this month), so we have decided to send him to school...



Look at Cutie in his uniform!



He shows me the caterpillar he coloured at school... and it says I love mummy on the top right hand corner.


My little boy is growing up!

SWEETIE

Sweetie is also growing well. She is happy and cheerful... and we are really thankful for this new addition to our family.




Cutie loves his sister, and is always trying hug her, kiss her and/or make her laugh. Here they are together. My pride and joy.