Sticky stick

My grandma's over here to stay for a month and when grandma's here, you know what that means. Lots of nice food!

(Don't worry mum, your food is still NUMBER ONE)



Here's a little what granny did today. Home made muah chee with home made peanut powder.

Mmm mm!

Oops..

Sorry.. couldn't help it.

611 Tau sau piah

Little Red Shop. Yes, that's what they call themselves now, having relocated from Balestier Road to the current B2 at Vivocity. The former 611 Tau Sau Piah no longer basks in it's former glory but I still reckon that it's pastries rock my socks off.



Take the Salty Tau Sar Piah (70c) for example. A bite reveals a crispy, flaky pastry which opens up into a nice mesh of salty bean paste. Real, solid, bean paste, not those commercially tasty ones. The sweet saltiness blend really work together in this instance.



The sweet one is thinner, larger and not is sweet but not overly done it makes your teeth hurts. Plus, they come in a cute little box which makes you keep opening for that "one last tau sar piah".



I've yet to try the other flavours namely; penang salty piah, lotus paste, lotus durian paste, coffee paste and green tea flavour.

For those who need comparisons between Long Fatt and 611, I'll give you my take. Long Fatt has a nice, buttery, flaky pastry which is thinner and softer with a nice soft inside while 611 has thicker, harder flaky pastry which needs some improvement on.

But I still reckon both would be nice with a cuppa Kopi-O.

Hot little buns

I dumped an entire packet of kaya buns into my girlfriend's hands and swore not to take another bite again.

Why such a drastic measure?

Well, that's because Maecy's mini buns are so damn good, I bet you'll polish them off faster than you can say "delicious" and for someone who wants to watch his waistline, that's not a very good thing.



The buns come attached in half a dozen like those red bean buns which you can find in normal bread stores. The difference though, is that they are tiny enough for you to pop into your mouth as a light snack without feeling overly full.



What also sets them apart is the soft, fluffy insides which graduates into a chewy bread with substance as you bite along. Not to mention the nicely browned top and the slightly crispy, buttered bottom which gives a nice twist to the taste.



I missed the green bean flavour though, which they claim is the salty kind. However, the kaya which doesn't contain any eggs at all didn't get me thinking that far. The thick custardy-like paste is that rich in flavours and texture.

The cheese flavour also boosts a subtle cheesey taste with a mild saltiness which is bound to whet your palate. Everything goes well with the soft bread, I'd say.

Be sure to sure the green bean if you plan to head on there while there are other flavours which include strawberry, chocolate and red bean.

About swearing not to take another bite, I admit I failed. But I turned to Qin only to find an empty plastic bag, because apparently, she couldn't resist them as well.

Address:

Block 32 New Market Road #01-1042
People's Park Cooked Food Centre
Tel: 9670-4398
Opens: 10am to 7pm, closed on Sundays and public holidays

Boon's Goreng Pisang

So I had my plate of mouth-watering duck rice in front of me and was partly successful trying to savor every bite of it. Why then, did my eyes kept darting to my left and my taste buds simply couldn't focus on the meal? The answer is pretty simple actually, since I was seated beside Boon's Goreng Pisang, a widely popular stall located in Long House Food Centre and situated just beside Soon Kee's duck rice stall.

Densely decorated with an abundance bananas as any acclaimed goreng pisang stall would, Boon's Goreng Pisang churns out the crispiest batter and the softest insides you can ever get.

For starters, get the oh-so-crispy fried banana which comes in three different sizes which makes it a little more convenient for those who place a little more emphasis on calories. The caramelized insides are simply gorgeous.



Other items worth mentioning are the green bean and tapioca fritters; both of which contain mashed-up goodness inside of them. Aptly sweetened at the right level, the way the crispy batter gives way to the slightly powdery insides makes the added calories simply worthwhile.

Or why not grab a cempedak fritter, which my girlfriend insists is a must try no matter the circumstances. I could just imagine the creamy paste enveloped by the awfully good batter.

What about the other items then? It's not that they ain't good, it just that I simply haven't tried them yet.

Mama Bakery

Move aside Provence and Sun Moulin because the latest Japanese bread shop which products has got me craving for is Mama Bread, a cafe-like bread store nicely situated on 2nd storey of the newly opened Novena Square 2.

As we swooped through the store like a pair of vultures hungry for some authentic Japanese food, familiar breads like An pan (red bean), Milk pan and Melon pan slightly aroused our senses but it was the more intriguing flavours like seafood vege mango or nutty bread which teased our palates.



The An pan was nicely done and exudes a fragrance strong enough to get your stomach juices going. Generously filled with a good douse of red bean combined with the enticing smell of warm bread, it really makes for a good snack.



The seafood vege mango was even better with a huge piece of prawn inside it. Delightfully creamy, the snack was drenched with sufficient sauces unlike pizza breads in bread stores which often comes dry and tough with a rubbery layer of dried cheese. To put it simply, the fillings resembled that of a lobster salad, those usually used in sushis while the slices of mangoes gave it a subtle hint of sweetness.



The cheese scone proved to be a little too cheesy for me though, and I would preferred a more balanced form of sweetness/saltiness. But the texture was good, not rock hard and crumbly enough for a good bite.



If nothing attracts you, at least stop by and try it's Choco Bowl, a large bowl-sized dense chocolate flavoured bread with a generous mix of rich, bitter-sweet chocolate. A chewy texture greets you on the first bite, followed by a delectable taste of bitter chocolate, which undeniably sets it apart from other chocolate breads.



As I trudged into the store which my mouth full of chocolate bread and munching slowly to let the moment last, an old Japanese lady whom I expect is the owner of the store asked with a hint of pride from behind the counter, "Oishii?", to which I vehemently agreed with a thumbs up. I mean, how could I not have?

Slowly munching on the breads we bought, taking in the full serene view of the night sky with a small fountain by the side adding to the ambiance, it really was quite quintessential. The moment only lasted awhile though, as my face uncontrollably expressed a look of dismay after I finished my portion of Choco Bowl and struggled against the strong temptation to grab another chunk of it.

Jolly well, I think I'll save the enjoyment for another day.

Pancake Weekly #5: It's a little bit funny

A rich cream of the milkiest white, set against a backdrop of natural rooty sweetness wrapped around a soft, delicate sponge. Add a slight touch of palm sugar which exudes a subtle but full-bodied taste and you've got yourself... something weird... and tastebud-subjective.

In my latest endeaver, I'm trying a new combination which results I'm not even sure of myself. Utilizing the natural sweetness of sweet potatoes and the full bodied cream of a coconut, I tried blending the two together and creating an entirely never-heard-of pancake.

Combining Japanese sweet potatoes and coconut cream churned out a product quite similar to "Orh nee" or yam paste with a slightly distinguishable sweet potato edge while a drizzle of rich, thick Gula Melaka finished the snack off with a nice rustic feeling.



It's a subjective taste though, and I'm not sure if I even like it myself. I would have liked it, if we had good quality Japanese sweet potatoes here in Singapore. The imports we get, however, usually reeks of a stenchy chemical taste which leaves a really unappetizing aftertaste in the palate and I'm pretty sure there are people who can identify with my situation. Personally, I think it's pretty okay if eaten warm when the components work together harmonously. After it turns cold, the taste becomes a little off, plus sweet potatoes turn green after exposed to light for awhile and developes that weird taste.

In short, I received good and not-so-good feedback on this pancake so try it, if you're feeling brave enough.

Ingredients:
3 large sized Japanese sweet potatoes
1 cup of water
10 tbsp of Gula melaka
4 tbsp of coconut cream
2 tbsp of oil

Steps:
1. Steam sweet potatoes and remove skin
2. Cut potatoes into chunks and blend in a blender with 1 cup of water. Add more water if required
3. Heat 2 tbsp of oil on non stick pan and cook the sweet potato paste till paste-like
4. Remove from heat and add coconut cream and 6 tbsp of Gula melaka. Mix well
5. Spread on pancake and roll up
6. Drizzle remaining Gula melaka and serve warm

*Adjust coconut cream and Gula melaka according to taste

Salvation

A health advocate refraining from whole wheat may sound like an oxymoron. And other than whole wheat, the list of forbidden foods include nuts, dairy, soy and eggs. Other than fruits and vegetables, I think I've blocked out every item a nutritionist would include in a healthy diet aye?

Guesses aside, welcome to my world. Sad but true, my overly reactive immune system triggers allergic reactions which manifests itself in the form of an itch [one damn irritating bugger] whenever I consume these foods. Never underestimate the power of a simple itch though, for anyone who has been through a bout of itch-scratch cycle can testify to the unforgiving cycles of inflammation and scratching.

My poison? Eczema. A common skin ailment which a good majority of people suffer from in some way or another. Sadly, doctors and researchers have yet to find a cure for it and one of the most widely used solution is still the usage of steroid creams and anti-histamines, both of which suppresses your immune system.

One alternative way to cure this problem, as I found out, is to cut out any or all allergens which my body will react to and though its hard, let's just say that an itch-free lifestyle is a better way to go. Every time an offending food item sneaks into my thoughts, it's met by a firm wall of determination or if that wall breaks, it's more than often met with a firm "NO!" from Qin [sigh, so now a man can't even have his cake and eat it]. So imagine my delight when I stumbled upon this huge shelf of organic, allergen-free foodstuff at Marketplace yesterday. I was like a kid who stumbled into Toyland!



Aah, I can finally feel the joy of grocery shopping again. Wheat free, gluten free, dairy free, nut free, they've really got every allergen free item under their belt. In a matter of minutes, I snapped up three [not less than fantastic] items; muesli, chocolate spread and a banana-flavoured snack bar. Dude, can you imagine dairy and nut free chocolate spread?! It's like finding calorie-free cakes man!

The muesli comprises of "corn" flakes which are made with maize and rice flour, rice puff, rice bran, coconut, and dried fruits. It's really awesome and has that full bodied taste from the coconut. I had a bowl of it with rice milk (sorry, can't take real milk remember?) today morning and it was gooooood. Plus, I was getting sick of only eating fruits every morning. ps: It really keeps me full. I lasted for 4 hours without feeling hungry.



The chocolate spread is almost like Nutella but with a much subtler shade of hazelnut. Man, it's so good I lick it off the spoon every morning. Having 60% lesser sugar definitely helps too [on the guilt part].



I haven't gotten down to prying the banana bar open and chomping on it like a chimpanzee yet. But judging from the looks of it, you bet I'm gonna enjoy it.

Why did I write this post? I have no idea. To share my joy, perhaps. Or to share this information with people who needs it as much as me. Rejoice!

Pancake Weekly #3: Qunitessential

In this era of increasingly fast moving technology, taste buds and everything else on the planet, ham and cheese is so yesterday. Therefore, men often have to seek new, exciting stimulants to reignite (or re-erect) their senses. Corny? Maybe a little. Putting words into action, behold a new flavour that has been created for this week's Pancake Weekly. A flavour so enticing, a combination so bold, that it will bring you to your knees.

Shrouded in a blurry wrap of nutty, sweet darkness, a yellow cream so natural but so unconvincingly good that it get you thinking why you never felt the urge to consume it before. Of course, I certainly hope one day I can somehow teleport my creations for all my readers to sample, but until that day comes, lets just rely on my psychic powers alright?

Now a nut may be addicting, but a nut flavoured chocolate is a product that packs much more punch than that.. much much more. Fast forward a few decades where creative taste bud-talented men used to manually blend nuts into chocolate, we now have Nutella, Aaah! Brilliante! Dig it with a spoon, swipe it with your finger or scoop it out with your tongue [eewww, admit it, I know you do it], Nutella provides the same aphrodisiac-like results to anyone, which is, uber happiness.



But just expand your imagination a little by spreading this brown goo on a pancake; Umm, should be wackingly good. Now come on, try expand your imagination a little more, force your chemoreceptors to work a little harder, or try starving it into creativity [this can be done by eating plain rice 5 meals a day, 7 days a week, please seek medical advice before doing this].

Okay so here's what I got, you've got this nice pancake and you spread Nutella on 3/4 of it right? What happens to the other 1/4 then is you grill a banana right, and mash it right there. Following which you wrap the pancake around the banana, and roll the whole thing up. I'm not going to describe to you how it tastes like (nothing short of spectacular) because I hope that you're gonna try it yourself.



Another way is to sandwich it in a MJK like manner. Now, I know it doesn't look like a lot, but it definately tastes a hell lot more than it looks.

Pancake Weekly #2

Whaaad? Has it been five days since my last post?! Oops, Okay I'm sooo sorry cause the past week had been nothing less than a whirlwind of events and a nuclear explosion in my tummy.

Why, you ask? Because my family was back in Singapore and I had the honor of filling their stomachs (and mine) with good ol Singapore food, to the verge that I'm quite sick of eating out now. Think about it, I finished 2 full tanks of petrol in a week just by travelling around and I gained an unwelcomed 3kg, most of which unceromoniously deposited on my waist. Sad but true.

So I'll definately be introducing a few restaurants over the next few days but for now, lets do a little catching up with pancake weekly alright?



Ham & Cheese! Boy, do they rhyme so well that it can be a brand name by itself.

Welcome to Ham & Cheese inc! We have ham & cheese hamburger, ham & cheese fries, ham & cheese sausages, ham & cheese hashbrowns, ham & cheese brownies... er... sundae ice creams... NEXT!

Mmmm! So Sammilicious! (so delicious~!) It's so tasty, tasty it'll make you crazy! T to da A to da S T E Y girl you tasty, T to da A to the S T E Y girl you tasty! [hands in the air and doing the hurley, yeah babey]

Something my girlfriend goes crazy for, fry some ham/bacon, slap on some cheese and fold them all up in a pancake. Shuuuuuuuuuuuweet! Or salty.

Pancake Weekly #1

I've decided! Due to my undying love for min jiang kueh, I'm going to start a Pancake Weekly which will feature min jiang kueh or any other pancakes in different [read awesomely delectable] styles and fillings. Oh yes, please don't be turned off sometimes though, I have the knack to produce weird stuff. [Hai! Watashi Orihime san!] Oh yes, my brain churns out weird recipes and cravings which normal people [eg. you] find weird but weird people [eg. me] find normal. Geddit? I hooooooope so..

Alrighty folks, I hope you're not sick of min jiang kueh posts because heres another one [it doesn't really matter because I'm going to post them whether you like them or not mwahaha!] Min jiang kueh with caramelized baked banana kueh dadar style! Shuuuweeeeet I say. Ooo I see you babey! Shakin' that ass, shakin' that ass!

Oven-baked caramelized banana; soft, silky, warm, creamy inside without the unhealthy fat which comes with deep frying and wrapped with soft, spongy, awesomely good pancake. You bite into riiight, and you feel the soft banana-ey insides squirt out and next you start to taste the light yet tasty batter. Mmmm umamai.. Mmmm sedap! You see, good food can cross language barriers, like how superman can.. wear his underpants inside out! [Okay, that was lame and unrelated]



Heres how you do it, which you should because its good.

Simply wrap bananas (I like to use the small ones [not Del Monte] as they are much sweeter) in an aluminum foil and baked at 200 degrees for 10 minutes or till bananas are soft and mashy.

Carefully place them on the pancake which you should make thinner this time round, and fold the sides of the pancake inside. Next, fold the bottom up and roll. Its like making poh piah, if you still don't geddit, go order some poh piah and watch how they make it k?

Do you know the taste of heaven?!

I made min jiang kueh yesterday.

[enters state of nonsensical madness]

Oooooooooooh yesssssssssssssssss, min jiang kueeeeeeh. Mah salvation! Oooh the hunger, the joy, the sponginess, the taste! The.. the.. awesomeness. Oh yeah babey, this is what I call the haute-ness uh huh uh huh. I see you babey, shakin' that ass!

Aaaahahaha I'm crazy. Yeah I'm a crazy dude who have the hots for that hot mama [points above, and below, and above again.. and above and below] Oookay, I shouldn't do anymore posts on min jiang kueh. I can feel everyone closing this window, deleting their bookmarks.. BLOCKING THIS SITE! Nooooooooooooooooooooo!

But min jiang kueh is good! It makes you high without the need for estacy! That soft, spongy, porey pancake with the taste of sweet, baked flour and oooh, that fragrant goodness. [I really think this must be what its like to be in heaven] When you slap on some peanut butter, its goodness X 3. Slap on some kaya and O MY GAWD its like food porn woohoo!

Sorry, I shall stop now.



Recipe:

150g All Purpose/Self Raising flour
10g Tapioca/Potato flour
1 cup water
5 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg

Instructions:
1. Mix well and heat non-stick pan on medium heat
2. Lightly oil pan and pour batter depending on how thick you want it to be (I personally use 2 ladle full for a 12 inch pan)
3. Cover the pan
4. Remove approximately 1-2 minutes or after pancake is fully cooked and bottom is lightly browned
5. Spread on kaya or peanut butter and grow some angel wings
6. Don't you know min jiang kueh gives you wings?

Glennan, my kind of girl

Potato chips are definately not for a health freak like me. Come to think about it, I haven't eaten any for years! They are deep fried in oil which has been reused for god knows how long, plus anything thats deep fried is NOT GOOD at all [Dad, if you're reading this, PLEASE TAKE NOTE!]. Its almost equivalent to trans fat and they promote your chances of getting heart disease and adding inches to your waistline.. your thighs.. a little cellulite perhaps.. Do I see something hanging underneath your chin there?

As an alternative I've tried baking potato chips, which often fail miserably. Plus, they still need oil, although lesser and I try to use olive oil. So I finally gave up on chips [Nooo dear Lord!]. Until.. I found Glennan! [Hallelujah!]



Glennan is you're typical girl-next-door kind of chick. She's sweet looking, got a killer smile and a pretty hot bod, except that I'm only fantasizing here. Glennan is actually a company which makes apple chips. [Whuuuut?] Yeah apple chips, you heard me right and BAKED not FRIED. That's what it says.



10 packets of apple crings equals one packet of chips! Go figure.



I LOVE THIS STUFF! It's made of 100% pure apples and yeah, you can pretty much read everything on the label and its only 16 calories! GAWD! 16 calories! [enters state of chips-eating frenzy]. And it tastes awesome! No sugar added but it's shuuuuuuweeeet! Sweet and slightly tart and crunchier than potato chips. [You lose this time fat-laden chips! Mwahaha!]



I'm telling ya, this thing is my salvation and my savior to my sweet tooth. In fact, I just ate two packets today morning.... and I hope Qin doesn't read this post. I tend to go overboard with healthy things. In fact, this morning I was starving and I ate 2 bananas, an avacado, a apple cinnamon rice cake, some rice milk [damn my dairy allergy] and two packets of apple chips. Isn't is good that healthy stuff don't give you love handles? Unfortunately they do Sam, if you eat too much.

So I bought this apple chips from Caltex at $1.20 per packet and I bought LOADS of them. Guess what? The distributor is in Canning Vale WA 6155. That's my poster code dammit! I'm gonna get this chips over in Perth as well, YAY!



Sigh, I just finished my pack of chips. Can't they like pack more into one packet?! Is that TOO MUCH to ask?! Darn..

Queue Queue Rice

I wouldn't be insane enough to queue in line for 45 minutes for a rice ball, so I guess I was a little insane the day before when I DID queue up for 45 minutes... for two rice balls. Of course I grumbled during the entire time of which Qin had to painstakingly endure.

QQ rice wasn't so crowded before that one fine day. That DAY when it was featured on Channel 8. Which lead to the unimaginable horrendous queue which I contributed to by making it longer HEHE. But at least I didn't buy a whole box of rice balls and stood around the counter taking my own sweet time like some people did, jerks. I swore he took 10 minutes or more, Sheesh.

Anyways, this QQ rice is actually brought over from Taiwan and features rice balls with 5 different kinds of fillings. There are also 5 different rice to choose from namely; purple rice (like Bubur Hitam), brown rice, mixed wild rice, ice lake wild rice, wheat germ brown rice and a combination of any two. $3.20 for a rice ball or $3.90 for 2 different types of rice or make it a meal by adding a multi grain drink and rice pudding for and additional $1.80.



They also do have quite a variety of ingredients to choose from ranging from chicken floss to lettuce. Actually, what ranges from chicken floss to lettuce?! Ahha! I don't even know what the fish I'm saying.

Okay, so whether your ball of rice tastes good or not pretty much (like 98%) depends on the ingredients you choose. Choose those with very strong flavours (like I did) like chicken floss and mutton rendang (this week's specialty) and your ball (of rice) will taste good.



Hey, I like this stuff. It's like my salvation to my ban from sandwiches (Damn you wheat bread!!!). It's like I can FINALLY eat sandwiches again! Yay! Just kidding, nothing compares to a kick-ass sandwich. But rice is good, and healthy, in a different kind of way. The purple rice is gooooood and has that Piak-y bite to it when you bite chomp down into it and expore its tummy full of yummy ingredients.

Otherwise, thats pretty much it and brown rice, well, tasted like brown rice. Duh, what did you expect?

It's good, it's nice and it's convenient but I'll probably visit it a few weeks later after all the commotion has died down.


Address:

Novena Square 2
QQ rice
#01-06

Ang Ku Kuehs from Ang Ku Kueh

I lurrrve peanuts. Well, any nuts in that matter (now, now don't think otherwise). Raw nuts and nut butter are my favourite but roasted peanuts with pancakes are like god sent.

But there's something else that is good to eat with peanuts, and that is ang ku kueh. Somehow, ordinary ang ku kuehs simply don't go well with the filling.

What do I mean?

Well, the glutinous rice flour is too sticky and very often, too thick. And when you try it eat it, the kueh sticks to your hands! As a result, you don't get to taste the fillings very much. That's why, from now onwards, I will only eat ang ku kueh by Ang Ku Kueh.

Alright, you must be thinking "What the hell are you talking about Sam?!"

You see, the other day Qin and I were walking down upper thomson road and passed by a shop called Ang Ku Kueh. Apperently it's been rated as one of the top 10 Ang Ku Kuehs in Singapore. Duh! Of course we had to put some in our tummies!



The peanut ang ku kueh (70c) was... oh my gawd... I've never tasted so good kueh before! The kueh is thin and not sticky at all and very bitable (won't stick to your mouth like glue) and the peanut filling is... oh my gawd (again). It's super grainy and the sweetness is just right. Plus, there is this slight savoury taste that makes it very special. (And there's alot of filling if you're wondering).

They also have this chicken mushroom ang ku kueh (70c) on Sundays which is equally awesome. It's chicken, yam and mushroom which is super tasty and mostly savoury and slightly sweet. Oh man, fantastic, sedap, yummy!

Well, it's too bad we didn't get to try the kueh salat and dried shrimp rice but what we did try were the ang ku kuehs with peanuts, green bean paste, coconut and chicken and mushroom. Coconut was quite good but the peanuts and chicken and mushroom was Wooo!

Okay I shall stop repeating myself.

Address:

Soft and silky

This was what I got 2 weeks ago.

Real Japanese mochi!!!

Oh my gawd, I've been dying to eat mochi from Japan and not those from Ichiban Boshi. Courtesy of my friend Tee Guan who got them from Japan and kept some for me.

I was quite suprised by the shape of the mochi as I was expecting them to be round like those in Singapore. But rather, they were triangular.



The black ones are black sesame which I absolutely love while the other ones are banana and chocolate. Well, you can't really taste the chocolate but more of the banana which taste a little like medicine.



The skin is also super thin meaning you can taste more of the filling. Oh man, I'm drooling as I'm typing this.

Well, I hope one day I'll be able to go to Japan to eat their sashimi, ramen, red bean, black sesame, soft icecream... ... ... rambles on