Play: A fun day out when daddy is on business trip

A quick diary on our fun day out when daddy is not around....

All ready to go...

Shocked face...

First stop--> Toys R Us 

play play and no buy... :)

Second stop--> colouring at Cotton On....

Lunch @ Marche...

Loving the rosti just like mummy...

and they had the kids meal (very worth it!)

* Less than SGD 10 for a rosti with sausage plus a cup of freshly squeeze juice (including tax)

and have playground too. Play to their heart's content as daddy is not around...

Photo taking with Hair for hope mascot ... 

Kiddies time seeing people cut hair for charity. Took the chance to explain to the kids as well..

Dinner at Subway before heading home...

Taking the MRT.. happy

We only spend on food. Did not buy anything. Nevertheless, kids are happy :)

Cook: Homemade Blackberries Cream Cheese

Homemade Blackberries Cream Cheese served with bagel and coffee

I bought some bagel the other day at Cold Storage and so got an idea to make some simple cream cheese to goes with it. Tried blueberries cream cheese on bagel during my trip to Melbourne and really love it.

Read about my experience of amazing coffee and bagel at Manchester Press, Melbourne:

http://blessedlittletravelers.blogspot.sg/2016/09/winter-in-melbourne-2016-day-9.html

INGREDIENTS:

1. 250g of cream cheese, soften at room temperature

2. 1/8 cup of castor sugar

3. zest from 1/2 lemon

4. 1 cup of blackberries

Ingredients

Lemon zest

METHODS:

1. Whip the cream cheese using an electric mixer until it is soft and fluffy.

2. Add in sugar and lemon zest, mix well using electric mixer.

3. Next, pour in a cup of blackberries and fold them in gently.

4. This is how it looks like when it is done.

5. Served in a nice serving bowl :)

Blackberries Cream Cheese

Eat: The Kitchen at Bacchanalia (1 Michelin Star) Singapore

Kitchen at Bacchanalia, awarded 1 Michelin Star serves contemporary French cuisine at 39, Hong Kong Street, Singapore.

They serves 2 or 3 courses working lunch menu. Prices are reasonable compared to other Michelin Star Restaurant.

Best of all, still/sparkling water and unlimited bread supply is complimentary....

On top of that, OCBC card members get free upgrade from 2 to 3 courses meal when pay using OCBC credit card. 

Parking can be an issue as there are limited parking space nearby. However, the restaurant do offer valet parking for its customer. Otherwise, take a cab here to save the trouble for parking.

Working lunch menu

We arrived at 12.30pm , just nice for our appointment. The restaurant has an open kitchen concept so you could watch while the chef prepare our food. 

Once we sat down, we were asked if we would like still or sparkling water. We choose still water and was served promptly. For the kids, I asked for warm water and that was being served as well.

Table plating was nice and unique. Even the side plate for bread is very pretty.

With my pretty girl

Mummy and the boy boy

Open kitchen concept

Kids love to observe what is going on in the kitchen

We were then served bread and this is practically the highlight of the meal. The bread is very very good and freshly baked on the spot. Butter is very good as well. They are very observant and keep refilling our bread once we are finished, so we had a good supply of bread.

Bread and butter (complimentary and unlimited supply throughout appetiser and main course)

We were then served two complimentary starters. First up was beef. The waiter was very nice and asked if the kids would like to have the starter as well.

Even though we only ordered 2 set of 3 courses meals to share between 2 adults and 2 kids, the kids also get their share of complimentary appetiser :)

To be honest, I have to comment that their complimentary appetiser is much much better than the starter that we ordered.

The beef is very fresh and goes very well with the radish and some creamy sauce that was topped on it.

Complimentary appetizer- raw beef

Garlic soup sounded ewww but it is surprisingly very good!

Another complimentary appetiser-garlic soup with olive oil

Our starter on the other hand, was a bit of a disappointment.

Appetizer- White peach- french bean, almond and fois gras snow

Now for the main course, I had short rib which is ok, nothing fantastic but not bad either.

Main course- Braised short rib -beef

Mum ordered fish and its much better than my beef. She enjoyed it and shared it with the kids.

Fish 

For dessert, it is the kids' favourite strawberries dessert and they practically finish the dessert themselves. I did manage to ate a mouthful. Not amazing, but tasted ok...

Strawberry Breton

Overall, the dining experience is pleasant but I was not wow-ed by its food... bread and complimentary appetiser is definitely my favourite during the meal. 

Still, if one is looking to try a Michelin Star Restaurant and wanted a reasonable priced Michelin Star Restaurant, I will still recommend Kitchen at Bacchanalia for its excellent service and dining experience.

* Reservation is recommanded.

The Kitchen at Bacchanalia 

39 Hong Kong Street

Singapore 059678

OPENING HOURS

Lunch - Tuesday to Saturday 12pm to 2.30pm

Dinner- Tuesday to Saturday 6pm to 10.30pm

CLOSED ON SUNDAY AND MONDAY

Eat: Island Penang Kitchen, Singapore

Looking for authentic Penang local food in Singapore?

Give Island Penang Kitchen a try.....

Although there are hit and misses when compared with the ones sold in Penang, generally it is still a good place to visit when craving for Penang food....

Located at one of the shop houses opposite West Coast Plaza, one have to either drive, Uber, or take a bus there as there are no MRT station nearby...

All prices are NETT as there is no service charges or GST (all included)....

You can get fried kuay tiao, prawn noodle , assam laksa, chendol, nutmeg juice, fried pork, etc....

There are air-conditioned seats inside the shop and there are a couple of seats outside as well...

Anything below $30, they only accept cash. NETS can be used for bill more than $30. 

Menu 

Menu 

No service charge and GST (all prices are NETT)

Now, lets take a look at the food.... 

These are what we ordered...

Fried Kuey Tiao-- generous serving of kuey tiao, fried with prawn, chinese sausage and fish cake , beansprouts. Yummy...

Fried Kuey Tiao

Prawn noodle- slightly spicy broth. Very flavourful prawn soup, served with prawn and hard boiled egg. Very good.. one of my favourite.

Prawn Noodle

Assam Laksa- this is a misses... doesn't taste much like the authentic Penang Assam Laksa....not recommended.

Asam Laksa

Fried Belachan Pork- tasted ok....

Belachan Pork

Chendol- quite a small serving. Gula Melaka taste is good but not as shiok as the one in Penang. Still, quite good for local Singapore standard...

Chendol

Opening hours (closed on alternate Tuesday)

Island Penang Kitchen

#01-126, Block 721,

Clementi West Street 2

Singapore 120721

Opening hours:

Monday to Friday: 11am to 2.30pm, 5pm to 9.30pm

Saturday, Sunday, PH: 11am to 9.30pm

Closed on alternate Tuesday

Cook: Easy Waffle Recipe using blender

Recently, I have purchased a waffle machine on promotion and hence, started my experiment with waffle batter. 

I did a search online and found one recipe which is simple with good reviews, and someone mention about using blender instead of the usual hand mixer or simple mixing on my own. Well, blender sounds like a really good idea so i decided to give it a try. Well, it was a success! Making batter has become so easy!

The waffle is flavourful and it is good even if you eat it on its own. Or you can add your favourite topping to makes it even more attractive!

Waffle... top it with your favourite topping!

INGREDIENTS (serves 4)

1. 2 eggs

2. 1 3/4 cup of fresh milk

3. 1/3 cup of melted salted butter

4. 2 cups of plain flour

5. 2 tablespoons of brown sugar

6. 4 teaspoons of baking powder

7. 1/4 teaspoon of salt

METHODS:

1. Mix the dry ingredients (plain flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt) in a mixing bowl.

Mix the dry ingredients 

2. Place the eggs in the blender and blend for a few seconds using the blender.

Blended egg

3. Add milk and melted butter into the egg mixture. Blend it using PULSE a few times.

4. Add the mixed dry ingredients into the egg/milk/butter mixture. Blend it using PULSE function for a few times until the batter is ready.

Batter is ready

5. The batter should look like above. Then switch on the waffle machine. Once it is hot, place the batter into the waffle machine and you should have nice yummy waffle in a few minutes. 

Waffle!

6. Any leftover batter can be placed into the fridge and you can use them again the next day. Just take them out of the fridge, let it cool down to room temperature and you can make more yummy waffle!

The toppings I use...

Cook: Three Ingredients Parmesan Cheese Cookies

It has been ages since I last blogged. I have been busy renovating and moving house. It is definitely a big project moving house especially when the kids are on board. There are so many things to consider, from renovation to furnishing to packing unlimited things in the house on top of taking care of the kids.

I am very pleased with the movers which we used and their service is superb. Very professional and they did a very good job helping us packing our stuff as well (at additional cost which is totally worth it).

Anyway, my weighing scale has been spoil for some time and now that hubby manage to fix it for me, it is time to go back to baking and cooking nice food!

Today I am sharing a very easy three ingredients parmesan cheese cookies which does not need any kitchen aid. You just need to use your hand... 

Parmesan cheese cookies

INGREDIENTS (makes 25 biscuits): 

1. 100g plain flour

2. 80g grated parmesan cheese ( i just use the ready grated store bought version)

3. 100g cold unsalted butter (cut into small chunks)

4. A pinch of salt 

METHODS:

1. Place the plain flour, parmesan cheese, cold unsalted butter (straight from the fridge) and salt into a mixing bowl.

Rub the butter into the flour and cheese using hand

2. Using your hand, rub the cold butter with the flour and parmesan cheese until they form a dough. (Work as quickly as possible to prevent the butter from melting)

Dough is formed.

3. Next, place the dough into a cling wrap and shaped them into rectangle.

Shaping the dough in cling wrap

4. Then, place the cling wrap into the fridge for 30 minutes or so until the dough is hard. (If you would like to keep the dough for future use, you can place them into the freezer)

5. When the dough is hard, preheat the oven to 180 degree celcius. At the same time, take out the dough from the freezer, cut them into slices around 1cm thick. 

6. Place them on baking sheets , leave some space in between the cookies as they will expand during the baking.

7. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until it turns golden. 

All done :)