Don't you just love Christmas shopping?

I love it, 90%of the time... truly, I do. I love the get-togethers, catching up, gift exchanging, and all that stuff. Even if you have to double- and triple book a Saturday. I even love the cheesy music they play everywhere.

But for the remaining 10% of the time, here is a list of suggestions...

Perfect gifts for the Frenemy

Don't have any frenemies (really??!)? Give me your contact so I can tell you what I'd like in my stocking.

Merry Christmas!!

Keep healthy so you can enjoy the season to the fullest!!! Bring that umbrella! Consider wearing crocs or sandals for comfort while shopping, and for sloshing about in rain puddles! Forget about losing weight this month, just aim to maintain........ that's what new year's resolutions are for.

What's this? A mini iPhone?

Just came across this on the net.. (so am i the only one who didnt know about this cutie?)

There's a youtube demo here:
http://i-phone-mini.blogspot.com/

Donna Carmela Traditional Home Style Cooking

Donna Carmela Traditional Home Style Cooking
2 Greenwood Avenue
Singapore 289189
T 6463-4206

Hit Greenwood for a spot of lunch at Peperoni Pizza (6 Greenwood Ave) only to find a notice on the door that they had closed 3 days ago (indefinitely!!) for renovations. Sigh! Thankfully, there’s still Casa Verde at the Botanics. Pity about Peperoni, as we had only been there once and enjoyed the pasta and pizza served there, we had so anticipated an encore visit today!!

[Is it me, or do the places at this stretch of Greenwood Avenue not seem to last very long? It’s definitely NOT that the food is bad, but somehow, restaurant fronts here keep changing, like those mediaboards you see all over town.]

So anyway, two steps along was the newly-opened Donna Carmela (one month old, according to Steven who took care of us)… we allowed ourselves to be invited in.

We took a little time with our order – we to carefully consider how best to fill the limited tummy space available.

They started us off with a bread and antipasta sampler... Freshly baked and sliced bread accompanied by tiny pickled onions, tuna, antipasta pickled veggies.





We decided on the Tomato Caprese salad and Tuna Carpaccio for starters. The tomato and buffalo mozzarella cheese make surprisingly good partners - try it!

The tuna carpaccio certainly didn't disappoint either. It was a pleasing mix of onion, carrot, herbs, cheese among other delectable morsels atop a generous base of cured tuna carpaccio. We finished this in under 5 minutes.


We wanted to order the Porcini soup, but Steven politely advised us to re-consider since we did have plans to try dessert as well.

These were followed by (mains) Aglio Olio Peperoncino (spaghetti) w extra chilli – nice and hot! Liberally sprinkled with sliced garlic (yum) and small red chilli bits, this went down a treat. What I liked particularly was that it was not oversalted. I consumed every single strand of pasta (and it was a rather large plate).



And the chef’s special – the Donna Carmela (spaghetti) was a delicious, creamy tomato sauce with pork sausage – I’m afraid my description does no justice to how good the pasta actually was. This is somehthing everyone should try!

The dessert menu doesn’t feature tiramisu!!! But you wont miss it as there are several other things to choose from, and dessert serving sizes are just right for a sampler-style buffet – 3 people could share 3 to 5 items, something like that. We picked the Perfetto Ice Mango and the Coppa Tartufo – a good way to end a satisfying meal (in the excellent company of Beloved).

The bill came to just over $90 (incl plain water, coffee, no alcohol). Illy coffee (yay)!!

Their name card also has Caipirinha (Brazilian Churrascaria) – anyone know where that is (or did Donna Carmela replace Caipirinha?) No address was given on the name card for the latter.

*Nups post, Chapter 2

Just a quick one – thought I’d share a few of the candid remarks / reactions from friends we’ve informed…

‘Congratulations, finally !!!! We are both really happy for you’ – S & JP (S and i attended the same University)

‘WOW, CONGRATULATIONS!! Which one are you marrying??’ – S, former classmate

‘I read your email. Very very excited. Almost peed in my pants. Congrats dear!’ P (for Panda, heh heh)

‘omigosh gal, you've decided to take the plunge!’ – D, former colleague

‘definitely will attend even if u dont send invitation.. gate crash!!!’ – H & O

*Nups post, Chapter 1

This is the first instalment of the chronicles of the *Nups...

It hopes to be a journey of things to be done, decisions to be made, funny things to be laughed at (either now or with hindsight) and lessons to be learned as the Elevens make the decision to get hitched officially (hello, greedy hongbao palms, come out and play!) and celebrate this with our potpourri of friends, relatives, hangers-on (just kidding).

It also hopes to be a (reasonably) regular update on the planning of the event, and hopefully of life thereafter.

Recording things in writing (here) is also our way of making sure we get a move-on, as so many motivational writers like to remind us.

Things to be done:

1. Book Banquet Venue (done!)
2. Book Solemnisation Date and JP (still pending...)
3. Guest List (95% completed!)
4. Enlist Helpers (gotta do this soon)
5. RSVPS (later)
6. Wardrobe / Accessories (some done)
7. Wedding bands
8. Sort out program for Banquet evening

After all, the journey is meant to be as (if not more) exciting than the destination, no?

So far, we have done #1, thanks to a bout of decisiveness and M, who handled our request for a booking at our favourite Hotel. M, who informed us that he is a Virgo (we love Virgos!), assured us that he prefers things written out properly (ie, via email as opposed to just verbal agreement), also promised that he would chase us for various things as the Date draws closer. Hey, if M is like that, then we're glad he's taking care of us! M, we are counting on you!! よろしくお願いします!!

As for #6, after visiting several boutiques and trying on a number of dresses, the main white dress has been decided (whew!). I must thank darling girlfriend J for accompanying me to a handful of boutiques, and for her patience / input (I dont really do very well when faced with pushy chain-smoking bridal studio aunties, like the kind you find along tg pagar and at bridal roadshows). Also thanks to Beloved, who also accompanied me on some of these excursions.

One studio mama-san told me that I had little time to dither (banquet date is 7 mths away, not next week - come ON!!), her clients book packages over a year ahead of time, etc. Needless to say we hightailed out of her shop in under 10 minutes. Shall I tell you where her shop was? Hmmm.

I am so very, very pleased with the Dress that I finally chose. We made an appointment at this boutique, and were taken care of by A. All I had to do was turn up, and tell her I wanted something plain and with no lace. Et voila, she brought out dresses exactly to my specification. This was the one place that didn’t recommend something else - ‘every gown must have some lace / detail, else it will be too plain – you’ll be mistaken for a bridesmaid’, ‘why don’t you try this pattern, you have the figure / height for it, yadda yadda yadda…’ I’m nearly 37. I’m no spring chicken – I know what the hell I want and what I don’t want.

Time to get ready for class this evening. Till next chapter!

PS – remind me to start shopping for shoes to go with the Dress

Noodle House Ken

Noodle House Ken
150 Orchard Road #01-17/18 Orchard Plaza Singapore Tel: (65) 6235 5540
Operating Hours:Mon-Sat: 12noon - 2pm, 6pm - 2am (Closed Sundays)

Had been wanting to try this place since several blogs highly recommend it. Walked in this evening (a Friday), around 7.30 pm and the tiny space was packed, with a number of Japanese customers reading the evening shimbun, manga etc. The counter seats around 12 regular-sized people. There’s more seating outside (2 or 3 tables on the sidewalk) and another room (we could see it on the CCTV).

Ordered the chashu ramen, $12, plus an egg (we think ni-tamago is a good indicator of how good a ramen place is). We were served in 12 – 15 mins, huge steaming bowls of thick yellow ramen noodles (like the chinese yellow noodles they use for prawn mee). Really can’t imagine the upsized version (for an additional $2 or $3)! Also included were the requisite sheets of seaweed, cut onions and veggies. There were 4 big slices of chashu (the size of my palm!) atop the bed of noodles. It looked like this:

The soup was excellent. Truly, truly good. I could just pick the bowl up and drink it. No MSG for sure. The chashu was tasty, not too salty (yay!) and the ni-tamago was not bad (still does not replace our all-time fave, done by Marutama). Had wanted to also try the gyoza, but thanks to the huge serving size, we were stuffed and unable to eat another morsel.

Also came across this interesting contraption (so call me suaku) to grind sesame seeds:
Would we return to eat here again? Of course. I’d like to try the rice dishes (same combo, but instead of ramen) and the gyoza! It gets crowded at peak times of course, but I’d imagine table turnover is no more than 20 – 30 mins (the Japanese gentleman to my left slurped up his ramen in under 5 minutes).

Recommendation: A Million Bucks By 30

Bought the book last Monday.

Finished reading it this morning.

Surfed author's website out of curiosity.

http://www.alancorey.com/blog/

Decided it was worth recommending.

Have a great week!

Tatsuya Japanese Restaurant

Tatsuya Japanese Restaurant
270 Orchard Road
#01-05 Lobby, Park Hotel Orchard
Singapore 238857
Tel (65) 6737 1160

This being a special occasion, we were careful to make a booking a couple of days in advance. We requested counter seats (the better to watch the chefs in action).

Tatsuya is ALWAYS crowded. Not bothering with the menu, we asked for the お任せ[Omakase], informing the waitress that the only items to be excluded would be beef (for sir), umi (for her) and alcohol. Our Omakase would consist of over 10 courses (did we mention, we were having lunch - ha!)

As we cannot post too many pictures in a blog entry, here instead is a slide show of all the courses…



The first offering was Smoked Goose salad (waitress informed us it was a seasonal item). Goose meat was delicious, not too salty at all. Pine nuts lent an interesting flavour to the dish.

Next we were served a pair of pretty white snails each... with a single toothpick to assist consumption. Which was all that was necessary – no mess or flying parts at all (remember that scene in Pretty Woman?)!

While enjoying the snails, we watched the chef prepare our Sashimi mori... I'm only sorry the picture hardly does justice to the experience of consuming each piece one by one. Oishisugita.

Next, gorgeous blue bowl of Scallop (nestled cosily within the dugout white daikon 'cup') were placed in front of us. This was an expert blend of ingredients, and included also finely shredded crab meat.

Grilled Saba followed - a foot long (yes like the Subs), one each! Check out how the main backbone of the has been flipped out. Many people concentrate on the fish, and miss out on the daikon bit that always accompanies the fish (see top right of this pic). Well, it's there to complement the main fish. Try it (you can thank us later).

Next was the Sushi – another mini-course of delectables. At this point, before the chef begins making your sushi, remember to tell him you want less gohan (so you have space to sample more goodies)! We watched as the chef prepared the Toro (sigh!) and Mekajiki – both tataki style – sushi, which was Gone in 15 seconds (or less, ha ha!). Then he made a prawn sushi accompanied by mentaiko. Then came Scallop sushi topped with foie gras. Followed by Eel sushi. Then beef carpaccio (for the lady) plus a second helping of Toro (for Sir) sushi.

One thing about this kind of sushi – it definitely does not need shoyu or wasabi (the same way good chips don’t need ketchup!).

By this time, we had been stuffing ourselves for one and a half hours. The waitress asked if we were game for more. Sigh – if only! Tummies only have so much room, so we allowed them to serve dessert, which consisted of seasonal fruit - white peach and Kaki (persimmon).

Our thanks to AT who introduced the restaurant to MW.

Reads:

He Slow Burn by Stu Mittleman
She 星の王子さま (translated from French) by Antoine St Exupery

Recipe: Hainanese Chicken Rice

Please bear with us (join us!) as we flesh out the flavour and identity of this Blog. Meanwhile, here’s a Recipe for Hainanese Chicken Rice, courtesy of friend JT (with appreciation for the recipe and the hands-on lessons!)

Feeds 2 (greedy people) or 4 (skinny Ah Lian types)

Chicken
1. Whole chicken – Rub with salt, sesame oil and soya sauce; season with flattened (two handfuls for one chicken) garlic, onions (small purple shallots), sliced ginger.
2. Boil water in wok. Steam chicken 15 mins (medium size chicken) – use a shallow pan to collect juices (steaming juices are more concentrated). Put a bit of sesame oil on chicken after steaming.
Soup
Boil chicken bones (and breast, optional) with cabbage, carrots, onions, etc. No chicken skin* here (unless you fancy that top layer of oil on your soup)! Boil 15 – 20 mins.
*save this for the main chicken dish!
Rice
1. Take juices from steamed chicken (or stock from boiling), add to rice in rice cooker.
2. Add more sliced ginger, garlic, onions, add knotted pandan leaves, top up with water (add water to remaining juice on steaming pan, don’t waste it!!).
3. Cook rice – stir once.
Chilli Sauce
(pound together, then add 2t chicken stock): 6 Fresh red chilies (seeded), 1 clove Garlic, 2 cm Ginger, 1 tsp Salt, 2 tsp Sugar, 1 tsp Vinegar / Lime juice

Enjoy!

A new blog is born

it's nearly midnight and i've killed more than the allocated quota of gray matter for today...

its easy to set up a blog - it's thinking of a name that requires effort!

good night :-)