Most Young-At-Heart Birthday Mum

Family and friends met up at Kong Inn Restaurant in JB for a cheery dinner to celebrate Mum’s big day. The spread was delectable and the guests were certainly spoilt!

The culprit bottle of dessert wine which got Gny a bit "tanned"

Marinated chicken feet was the appetizer highly raved by dish lovers. Personally, I don't enjoy this delicacy much so let's leave it for those who appreciate it. :p

Longevity Noodles

Abalone salad

Cold Platter, those little golden balls on the below right are superlicious scallops!

Mummy's fave stewed Pig Trotters.

After allll those food, we are surprised with STEAMBOAT! *jaw drop*

We were all served wasabi and sauce to dip the huge clam raw or we could blanch it in the pot of soup for another version.

This is not just another oyster, this is THE biggest oyster I have seen. Compare the shell size with the dinner fork! It's almost the size of my palm if I were to hold it in my hand.

Steamboat is not over, now comes juicy prawns and homemade meat balls AND crab. We were served self-made belachan. Spicy but shiok~

Crab is so fresh, the leg of this beast is still twitching. Totally caught me off guard when I was looking through my cam screen and it was moving. *hah*

My parents are friends with the restaurant's staff, they presented a beautiful bouquet and it made Mummy happy. How sweet~

Happy 55th Birthday to lovely Mummy!

Warm love,
Starningblue

TGIF!

Today is a day to call for a celebration not only coz its Friday but also coz of some good news. So good that even the pain of my torn muscle seems insignificant. I can now blow the grey clouds away and sleep like a baby.

Tonight is a good time to stuff myself silly. Do you usually cook on Friday? I don’t. If I’m not eating out, I’ll go for take-away / ready meal.

Have a great weekend!

~ Juanie ~

Jago Close Carrot Cake

Who loves Carrot Cake? I remember when I was studying overseas, this was something I would miss most and Carrot Cake is a dish that would make me feel home sick. *besides mummy’s cooking! Of course..*

Frankly Jago Close is not the best place to be on weekend mornings, not many parking lots and the coffee shop is cramped and reeks of different cooked food but it is worth all that hassle.

We usually choose to sit outside at the tables next to the main road for ventilation and space. Sunday mornings are busy but the wait for yummy Carrot Cake is not too long for agony.

Black or white?

Personally, I prefer the dark sauce carrot cake. For chilli lovers, you will definitely enjoy the carrot cake here.
Moist and soft textured carrot cake, partnered with just the right amount of dark sauce; it’s just great with fragrant local coffee for a sinful breakfast on a lazy Sunday.


Warm love,
Starningblue

Tau Yu Bak 豆油肉

Some recipes online are reliable, some are use-at-your-own-risk. Usually, I exercise some discretion with what to throw in. This recipe for tau yu bak is found online. There are certain dishes in Singapore served with pepper which was not my taste. (for example, the bak kut teh!) I’m glad I omitted pepper in this dish if not it would have been totally different and turned my appetite off.

Never rush the cooking of this recipe, it usually takes 2 hours before it starts to taste heavenly. Reheat it overnight, it is even better! Ahh, thinking of it makes me drool now~

Ingredients:

1lb belly and shoulder pork, chopped into bite size
10 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 star anise
1 tsp peppercorns (omitted)
1.5 tbsp dark soya sauce (I added more)
2 tbsp light soya sauce
3 cups water (I added more for more gravy)
Salt to taste
4 hard boiled eggs
(I added tiny bit of oyster sauce too)

How to:

Put star anise, dark and light soya sauce with water and bring to boil.

Add pork, garlic cloves and hard boiled eggs in, simmer on low heat until meat is tender and sauce thicken. (Usually at least 1.5-2hours) Cook further if you like thicker sauce.

Add salt to taste.

Easy busy!


Warm love,
Starningblue

Lo and behold,

Living in melbourne has their perks too, like taking this for granted when it's so accessible. Never thought I'd blog about this until that very day everyone ordered the unusuals other than souffle and waffle x) I think I'll miss him so bad after I leave aussieland.

The King of all sinful obsessions..


Max Brenner!

Belgium waffle with extra choc topping
The ultimate all-time souffle

Truffle with more melted choc

Bahka; cinnamon muffin with more more choc

I think I can save on my words and let the pictures do the drooling for now ;)

Staying in…

The barbeque weather that we were promised never did arrive. Weatherman says Summer is cancelled! Ever since I was back from a trip 1 mth ago, it has been raining none stop. Its all grey, gloomy and somehow depressing. Rain keeps me indoor… I really need something to perk myself up… something sweet.

No name, no recipe. I threw in whatever is left from the last bake and send it into the oven. A kinda moist Chocolaty Love.

Chilling at home.

Turning into a hermit from the credit crunch & weather. Hope my next trip to the sunny island will come soon…

Drooling,

Juan

Thank you!

Pen & Gny,

Thanks for the birthday gift, it is a meaningful book and a pleasant surprise!

Yay!

Another great baking book to make me a better baker. (well, at least to make me look like I know what I'm doing!)

Hugs n Kisses,

Starningblue

小吃 Japan

Being in Kyoto, a foodie tourist must not miss Nishiki Market. I'm glad Kel is an adventurer with me on this expedition. Too bad photos are not encouraged, Japanese stall owners do give hard stares to those pointing cams at their products.

At Nishiki, there are marinated side dishes, appetisers, dried seafood, fruits, fresh vegetables and seafood all along the sides of the sheltered street. Over there we bought a small box of strawterries about 5SGD and all was chowed down in seconds. Every strawberry perfect, delicately sweet and fragrant, juicy and just delicious!


Imagine yourself alternating between a shop selling snacks all pretty packaged and few doors down is a grocery-style fresh food stall. It is all a beautiful contrast and a pleasure to stroll in cool weather.

You can picture our glee when Takopachi and Red Bean Fish Pancake is spotted! This is much better than the version we had in Tokyo last year. Must try :)


Of course being tourist we have to try the junk food there too. When we are rushing to catch the next walking tour or hungry just to fill out chilled tummies...

Donuts for breakfast

Lotteria-Japanese version of McD's

Asahi Beer with Seasoned Wedges at a bar

This is life!

Warm love,

Starningblue