Tuesday, September 8, 2009

*~ Caramel ~*

Was back in Singapore recently and met up with Amrita during her office lunch break at this really quaint cafe called Caramel.

Amri & I - We were both dressed in canary yellow that day! Lol!

I heard it had just opened its doors and not many people knew of its existence (yet). Which probably explains why there were only about 10 people (Amri and myself included) seated indoors at 1pm - Singapore's peak lunch hour.

Caramel charmed me at first sight. It felt.... English and whimsical.... Kinda like Alice in Wonderland.... The Madhatter minus the havoc. =) And the bunnies.


I'm not complaining - I do hate the lunch crowd after all - but I am rather shocked as the food was good, albeit pricey, and definitely interesting. The menu came in a charming B4 size and was printed on both sides.

As you must have surmised, there weren't many choices for food and I thought that that was a rather pleasant change from the norm. Too many choices lead to uncertainty and uncertainty leads to 10mins worth of juggling between meal A and meal B.

So, for the first time ever, I made my decision in under 20seconds. Unbelievable but true.

Here's what I ordered:-

Tofu Salad with Toasted Walnuts and sesame dressing. YUM.

And Amri got herself:-

Grilled chicken sandwich with sesame dressing. Yum too!

Being girls.... And dessert lovers, despite how stuffed we were, we still had an extra tummy for desserts and I was enchanted by the cute and colourful array of cupcakes and other desserts sitting in their cooler. Without hesitation, we pounced on three cupcakes....

Cupcake #1: Apple Cinnamon

Yum! It smelt sooo good!

Delicious! The apples were coated not only in cinnamon but plum powder too! Tangy, zesty and interesting.


Cupcake #2: Rum & Raisin

Never a big fan of rum & raisin but this was surprisingly good, though a tad dry and too strong after a few bites.

Raisins were soaked too long in too much rum. *wince* The cake was also a tad dry.


Cupcake #3: Chocolate Mint

Looked/Sounded fab.

But this was the biggest let down of the lot. It was dry, tasteless and had no mint at all! Bah.


Final verdict: Worth a visit. Decent prices, but cupcakes need improvement..... A gooey centre perhaps?

contact

Caramel Cafe
100 Beach Road
#01-50/52 Shaw Towers
Singapore 189702

Tel: 62952188

hairloomandcaramel@gmail.com

Operating hours
Mondays - Thursdays
12pm - 8pm
Fridays & Saturdays
12pm - 10pm
Sundays & Public Holidays
Closed

Russian Cherry Teacakes

I've bought a new toaster oven!

And conveniently burnt myself making my 1st batch of cookies since the death of my previous one.

Took this recipe from the FoodNetwork.com (a great place for recipes by the way), and altered it (unintentionally, but I have a problem following recipes. Haha).

What I didn't know till AFTER I prepped the dough was that this is a twist on a traditional Christmas cookie - the Russian Teacake. Well, Noel had one and said it tasted like Christmas.

I guess I succeeded, aye?

cookies cooling on the tray....

Cookies ready to eat!


Nyom nyom nyom.

Russian Cherry Teacakes - I love thee.

Monday, September 7, 2009

24.

I just got back from my last visit to Singapore for about at least another year or so.

And though I often comlain and whine about wanting to return to HK asap, I honestly loathe leaving my friends behind.

I didn't know just how much I missed them until I left on the plane yesterday for HK and then a wave of melancholy struck. I wish I had another 2 weeks; I wish I could relive my recent visits back to Singapore and do it all over again. I wish for many things, but that is wishing for the past and unfortunately (or fortunately), I live in the now.

I'm listening to ballads tonight - a perfect companion to the blues of my heart strings.

*sigh*

I'm guessing that one of the reasons why I'm hit incredibly hard this time is because, for the first time since the nightmare begun (and tapered to an end), I can finally see the joy and fortune and blessings I have with regard to the friends I've made in Singapore and to the new friends I've made on my trips back this time around.

I wish I could've spent more time getting to know AJ & B - my lovely cousins - and definitely more time with friends I've always cherished and cherish even more now that I've grown and am less burdened with the scars/burns of my past.

I find it easier to be open about things now, to be more honest with respect to my thoughts/feelings and I am pleasantly assured that honesty, is not always taken badly - I suppose it's çoz my delivery has mellowed and I am less blunt/angsty.... And also, less self-conscious.

Amazingly, albeit what many think of me, I used to be shy and incredibly insecure with a very very low self-esteem. Though the low self-esteem has yet to ompletely dissipate, I can say with much certainty that that self-esteem of mine is sure as hell climbing its way up slowly.

I'm loving it.

I have many people to thank for having stuck with me through the bad (and I mean really bad) times and sharing the good times with me. I have many to thank for believing in me and having faith that I'm not a lost case and mostly importantly, I have many to thank for understanding me when I was unable to express myself effectively/without pain.

It is because of such fantastic persons in my life that I find comfort in knowing that I am not a loss cause and that I am not some big mistake that God put on this earth to torture and to punish others with.

I am happy.

At 24, I finally am somewhat at peace.

For that, I am glad.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Peach Crumb Cake

I can't believe it.

My 2-month old toaster oven is, literally, TOAST @.@ Don't ask me how I managed to fry the poor fella.... I'm still losing sleep over it. I killed my oven!!!!

As dramatic as it sounds, this is a HUGE problem for me - that toaster oven was my everything! It roasts, toasts, cooks, bakes and goes DING!!!! =(

Now that the oven is dead, I guess Noel won't be having any roast meat or toast or baked pasta or lasagna or confectioneries any time soon.... *Big Sigh*

Anyway! Was over at Cynthia's place a week ago and baked a peach crumb cake and a lemon cake (forgot to take pictures of my lemon cake but it was well received too!).

Noel and I had the 1st half of the peach crumb cake for breakfast one day and the other half for a quick snack before my 5 hour dance practice.

Here're some shots of my really yummy peach crumb cake!

Wholesome goodness!

Innards shot!

Up close & personal with the cake's tender parts. Mmmmm

The crumble was nice and cinnamon-y and crisp (despite having sat in the fridge overnight) and wasn't overly sweet too (hooray for good estimating an not following recipes!)! The sponge cake base was also really fragrant and soft - almost like that of a chiffon cake! The only improvement to note for the next crumb cake I attempt is that I should be less conservative with the volume of fruits next time. All in all however, the crumb cake was, much to my own surprise, really really good.

This might come as a surprise to some of you who know how massively into cooking/baking I am but this was probably the 3rd or 4th time I've actually had my own baking.... I mean, I eat my own cooking all the time but baking is a TOTALLY different matter.... It's really really strange coz I derive more pleasure from seeing others eat it than actually chowing down on it myself.

I am SO weird.

Oh oh oh!!!! And check this out! I've been quite down lately and guess what Noel brought back one day?

It's gorgeous and a really happy looking bouquet.


As you can tell, I am very very happy. XDDDDDDDDDD

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Dancing Pigeons + Obscene Dim Sum

I just got back from a really horrible dance rehearsal....

Horrible 'coz my body felt as heavy as lead and as stiff as a wooden puppet whilst my brain swirled about languidly in the recesses of my skull like cotton candy. I wasn't registering anything and it took me twice as long to react than it normally would.

*sigh*

This is what too much worrying/stress/insufficient rest/illness does to you. It's happening to me and I think it sucks majorly.

The production is scheduled for 23rd August and at the moment, I feel like I'm deteriorating and I hate that feeling. *sigh* Just gotta work harder and rest more. Maybe it'd be a good idea to stop hitting the gym especially before dance practices. :S Knowing my gym-a-holic self, that'd be a pretty tough feat.

So today's practice was sh*t. And I'm feeling sh*t. Hopefully, I'll redeem myself tomorrow. I gotta. This ain't me and I know it.

On a happier note, Noel and I finally met with some interior designers for our new apartment and we're exhausted from running around HK but incredibly excited to see the preliminary sketches! We still have 2 more designers lined up but we're already frothing with merriment.

Plus! I had my caramel popcorn fix at G.I. Joe today. I love having dates with Noel. It's always so much fun. The movie deserved a 3/5 (5 being the best) in my opinion.... Simply because certain parts of the movie just seemed.... Too easy/simplistic. Watch it and you'll know what I mean. The action was good though! And I was amused to find the actor from Step Up 1 playing the lead protagonist in G.I. Joe. Worth a watch but not worth a 2 thumbs up.

Speaking of dates with Noel... Owing to certain hiccups we've been having in our relationship, I've thoroughly exhausted my poor boy and so I went all out to make him the most fabulous dinner, with dessert, a stroll and a back massage later that night. Throw in a manicure/Pedicure and facial treatment and I think our home was a spa.

Dinner was roasted pigeon with swiss mushrooms and seared scallops on the side.

It was yummy! One tiny bird for Noel & one for me too!

We were so stuffed from dinner that we had problems enjoying our dim sum breakfast this morning with some of Noel's friends.

The interesting dish was the Lo Mai Kai (glutinous rice)... Instead of the usual steamed-in-lotus-leaves setting, this Lo Mai Kai was actually fried and crispy.

Delicious!

I believe our table ordered an obscene number of just that dish! In fact, I'd dare say that we ordered an obscene amount of food --- enough to feed the hungry in Africa for a week maybe (okay, I exaggerate, so shoot me).

P.S. This was at the beginning stages of brunch. We tripled/quadrupled this number of dishes towards the end. We had to send some back!

Alright, that's it for now. Just wanted to rant about my slacking off at dance. Will work HARDER! 2 weeks to production! GARGH!

Chat soon!

Loves.

C.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Food-thingies in HK

I'm doing pretty well tonight - I'm guessing it's coz I'm procrastinating from ironing and I'm just trying to clear my harddrive of some of the random pictures I've taken about things I want to blog about but have been too lazy to do so.

That was one long sentence.

Anyway!

About a month and a half ago, I was taking a stroll down the street and this hamburger-looking tupperware caught my eye. Seeing as how I love these random looking knick knacks, I couldn't resist the urge to buy it!

Dismantled.

I know! Isn't it the cutest? It even comes with its own baby fork & spoon! I'm going to use this when I get back to Bristol. Can't have Noel bringing this to work -- It'd be... Hm. Unprofessional. Lol. Kinda! Or just really funny. Depends on which way his colleagues swing!

One of the great things about creativity is that it results in the creation of different flavours of the same food. I'm talking about my 雞仔! I came back this time around to a pleasant array of 6 flavours!

Original, Chocolate, Strawberry, Yam, Green Tea, Sesame w/ Coconut!

See! New array on top shelf -bottom shelfs are the original, which still are the local fav I think since it sells out really quick and the new flavours have to made on order.

One of my new favourites has to be the strawberry (Chocolate still ranks first though!).

It's nice, refreshing and, honestly, tastes the same as the original but it has that strawberry milk aroma to it that makes much better (I think).

Met up with Yan Lin 2 weeks ago and we totally LOVED the desserts we had at Azabu Sabo.

Hers.


Mine.

We pretty much ordered the same dessert just with different accompanying ice cream - mine was green tea and hers was the vanilla softie.

Both were fantabulous!

Though I think Yan Lin will agree with me when I say that dessert was more memorable than our main course.

Yaay for japanese ice cream desserts.

Remember Bristol??

Hahhaha! Oh gosh, I've been meaning to post this up for the LONGEST time now, but I've just been procrastinating.

I spent my 24th birthday sitting for my Constitutional Rights law paper. It went well, and I (never giving Noel the credit he deserves) didn't expect any gifts that day.

I had dinner with a bunch of awesome friends at Nandos before walking back with Ash, Lisa & Kye and discovering that our neighbours had kindly collected a parcel on my behalf.

I was ecstatic!

Kinda guessed it would be from Noel, yet too scared to have my hopes dashed.

I snatched the box as politely as I could from our neighbour and scooted into our home and ripped the box open.

It was the best gift ever - chocolates, flowers and (my favourite) a lovely card from my baby to me.

We didn't have a vase at home --- Law students have no time to care for plants/flowers and so Ash & I never bothered with floral stuff --- So I cleaned out my coffee jar and used it as a vase.

Yep, my flowers were soaking up caffeine.

Yaay!

Anyway, here's a snap of the chocolates....

There were 4. I swallowed 2 before remembering to take a shot. Lol.


And the flowers in the coffee jar.

Camelias. With card in foreground!

I was moved. It would've easily made the best birthday I've had since it's my 1st away from home and am with new found friends in a foreign land.

Can a girl ask for anything more? It was terrific. I was really happy.


Fantastico!

Ooo! Before I forget, here's what'll greet you should you ever come knocking on my door in UK!

Our gate. 3A Northcote Road!


View as you walk towards our main door! Rap on the door and it shall be answered! With big smiles and either me or my gorgeous Bermudian flatmate.

Blueberry White Choc Chunk Cookies

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I discovered something really interesting while back in Singapore - Toaster ovens make pretty good substitutes for a normal oven when it comes to baking cookies.

I found out while staying at my mom's and conveniently short-circuiting the entire house coz I didn't know that our oven was faulty. With a large ball of dough sitting in my bowl, I figured I'd try toasting it in the toaster oven!

VOILA!

Magic.

Armed with this knowledge (new to me, though I'm sure many of you out there already knew this secret), I gave in to the baking monster lurking within me.

I woke up one morning and all I could think of was "BAKE BAKE BAKE BAKE BAKE BAKE BAKE BAKE BAKE Cookies!". I swear it was a silent but incredibly powerful mantra. The next thing I knew, I was breezing through the aisles of supermarkets and throwing stuff into my basket. Did you know that it's easier to find Coffee Extract than it is to find Vanilla Extract, which is a staple in baking? Omg I had to sift through 3 supermarkets before I found it... And yep, as all things are in Citysuper, it was MAJORLY overpriced.

I came back, threw the stuff into the bowl....

The white chocolate chunks actually look like cheese here.... Hm. Cheese cookies. I wonder....


And popped them into the toaster oven for them to poof up and bake nicely. NYOM.

Ta-dah!

Aren't they pretty?

Blueberry White Choc Chunk Cookies! I'm really proud of this batch since I made it all by hand and even chopped the white chocolate myself! Yaay!

Gah. Love baking! Next bake fest ---- Russian Cherry Teacakes!

Watch out folks! Callie G. is back and armed with a toaster oven that BAKES!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

the 1st update in donkey years

I've been negelecting my blog.

So today, I've decided to utilise the most of my weary bones and extra time to pump some life into my dormant blog.

First off, quick run down of the main 'highlights' of my life - finished year 1 of law school (exams were nightmarish); learnt golf from Dad; am living happily with Noel in HK; zipped off to Langkawi for a friend's wedding; finally set foot in Singapore after a good year and a half and had a blast of a good time meeting up old friends.

Loving the new me.

On a side note, stress piled on as I was heading into the first week of exams and so, as usual, I diluted the pressure by working my muscles into dough, butter and flour.

Here was my first ever attempt at making bread - Cinnamon rolls!



Food tasting. =) I miss you Kyle! I don't get to bake for you no more!

My verdict: I was a tad too conservative with the sugar so the bread came out a bit flat and tasteless. That said, I felt the bread wasn't as elastic/springy and airy as I would've liked it to be. I suppose it was because I hadn't let it proof for long enough.

Shall attempt it again once I get an oven!

My 2nd bake-fest came when I was soooooo stressed with studying contract law, I threw whatever I had into a bowl and kneaded like MAD.

Poof! Coffee scones.

These were YUM.

That's it for now!

Hope I'll be more conscientious in updating! Till next time!

Peace out!



C.
xoxox

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Food & Easter in Hong Kong (Part 2)

Part 2!

Am working on my 2nd coursework (which I find a much easier task to handle) and just had dinner. Thought I'd put up more pictures of my trip back to HK.

Anyway, an interesting occurence that happened while I was in HK was that I was spotted and asked to sign on with a modelling agency, which I did.

What really vexes/confuses me is how in Asia, I'm deemed reasonably pretty but much too large in size, whereas in UK, the converse occurs - I'm tiny and ugly (I've been told by 10 men at a go once, so I'm very positive of this).

*sigh*

Yes, am working on losing weight.....

Moving on...

It was a Friday when I signed on with the agency and Noel and I kinda have a tradition of trying a new restaurant every Friday night - part and parcel of an unspoken promise to have a 'date' weekly. Usually, I select the restaurant as Noel's busy at work.

This time, I thought to try yakitori at Maguro, which was situated along Staunton Street, Central, HK.

The food was delicious though one must be prepared to pay as serving sizes are small and pricey. Still, it's worth a visit.

Yakitori mushrooms + Mackrel

The mackrel was deliciously fresh. The meat was juicy and sweet while the skin was grilled to crispy perfection. It was really good. (Then again, I am biased towards fish, just so you know)

Grilled cod + Beef

Cod is a must have since it's Noel's favourite. While the cod was good, I thought the beef was tastier.

Zoom in on the Beef. YUM.

It was tender, juicy and aromatic - filled with sweet spiciness from the teriyaki dressing. It literally melted in my mouth.

DELICIOUS.

More fish. This time, the specialty for the day - Salmon cooked in white miso. We had to wait abpprox. 15-20mins for this though it was well worth the wait! Highly recommended.

Tofu with bonito shavings.

This was a surprisingly flavourful dish. Ranks 2nd favourite dish on the list just before...


Tuna collar bone.

THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE EVENING.

O.M.G.

This was a piece of juiciness robbed from the kitchen of heaven. We didn't know of the existence of this dish initially, until I saw the waiter serve a massive piece of fish to our neighbours and was so intrigued, I asked what it was and was answered with unanimous songs of praise.

In fact, our neighbours were so kind that they ordered a serving for us! And when we were informed that we were going to be served a smaller portion, they had an uproar. But seeing as how full Noel and I were by then, we didn't mind that much.

So the piece you see above is 1/4 the actual slab I saw my neighbours enjoy.

Nevertheless, it was GOOD. The flesh at the collar of any fish is the sweetest and this was no exception. In fact, it exceeded expectations by a mile. The meat was juicy and sweet, the skin was crispy and the accompanying dip made with mirin, sweet soy sauce and a dash of rice vinegar sealed the deal.

Noel and I devoured this baby in no time!

I was still sucking on the bone and licking my fingers long after we stripped the bone of every morsel of meat.

I was a happy camper. I ruled the yakitori. YES!


On Saturday, I was craving some mexican and so we visited El Taco Loco - also situated on Staunton Street.

Honestly, Staunton Street is the place to go for good food. Any restaurant you dine in will please your tastebuds.

Back to El Taco Loco.

Noel and I had just finished an amazing work out in the gym and were looking forward to a good meal.

Let's just say we were more than satisfied with our food.

Jalepenos + Salsa + Mojo - didn't use any of this. It was just to showcase what they offered on the side.

Forgot what this was called, but there were 4 of them in a basket. The wrap sandwiched creamy melted cheese and chicken breast cooked in pesto. Yummy!

A side order of chilli fries.

Hahhaha! I never knew how much Noel loved his chilli until we had this! He was scooping up the chilli all by itself! Apparently, he says it reminds him of his stay in the US and how much he loved it then and still loves it now.

El Taco Loco gets a thumbs up from us - point deduction for the poor service. What's amusing though is how you're eating off disposable dishware and plastic baskets. Intereting dining experience. Large groups not recommended as restaurant is narrow and cramped. Max. no. of persons = 6. (ideally, 4 - to be comfortably seated)

Whenever I'm back, Noel knows that I'm starved for shopping and relaxation so we usually make a trip down to Shenzhen for some good ol' spa and shopping time. Unfortunately, food there is limited so we usually have our meal at Fairwood - a fast food chain serving cheap local HK/Chinese food.

This is what we had.

My curry chicken cutlet.

Boring and bland. The curry gave me a tummy upset (a minor one though as I didn't taste more than a sip of it. Thank goodness too!)

Noel's baked rice + spaghetti combi. Much better.


Okay, this is all folks! Part 3 deals with my shopping spree with Bel and Elaine! Stay tuned!