Hot Flavour of the Month

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New kid on the block? Hardly, really. When Chubby Hubby wrote about it here, it understandably shot up to the top on the 'who's who' list in the food scene. I had paid it a visit earlier on and got a seat easily. After the fateful entry however, not only was I turned away, I could not get a reservation for the rest of the month! Even the lady boss looked extremely frazzled by the busy state of affairs.

Now that things have quietened down slightly, it is easier to make a reservation, and if you're lucky, you could even walk in unannounced and get a seat (though I would rather err on the side of caution than make a futile trip down).

I love this place. From the atmosphere to the food. From the conscientious service to the Maccha Au Lait (Iced Green Tea with Milk).

The appetisers are presented in a small 2 tiered basket, come in 6 different varieties, and have never been the same each time I return. But I've never once disagreed with any of them. The most interesting item I had ever tried was some tiny raw cuttlefish/squid morsels that were marinated in a light wasabi sauce.

The last time I was there, the set dinner came with a little serving of light green tea tiramisu. My favourite choice if dessert would have to be the chef's selections though. Perhaps it is the element of surprise when the dessert comes, or that when I had it to share with a friend, there was a great variety of textures to tease and please.



What pleases me the most about the place however, is not so much the food, but the pace. It is almost like a sanctuary for me, a place I can run to when I have been too caught up in work that I have not taken enough time off for myself and need somewhere to hide.


Hide among the faux moss and beautiful lacquer ware. With homely Japanese food and a great book. Ahhhh......

Fig and Hazelnut Cake

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Alright, you caught me there. Those aren't figs, but both fruits have a whole load of crunchy black seeds, no? It was meant to be a luscious Fig and Hazelnut Cake from Bill Granger, but as a matter of convenience, I changed the fig to kiwi. The little drizzling of honey just before serving feliticiously cut through the tang of the kiwi. Though still delicious on the whole, I can imagine how much more delectable they'd be if made with figs instead.



I must admit, my reason for making this cake was a purely superficial one. I wanted to use the beautiful rectangle tart pan that I had purchased from The Pantry Magic (which I almost religiously drop in everytime I am in the area) at Chip Bee Gardens a while ago.

I almost always end up buying something when I'm there, and take my own time looking at things I've probably seen a thousand times before. The next thing on my list would be the gorgeous set of red salt and pepper grinder, tall and elegant, and absolutely fitting with my home decor.

I had half a day off yesterday and decided to warm my kitchen a little with some baking, almost immediately after I woke up at 11. I picked out May's issue of delicious, then flipped to the flagged page with a photo of the glorious, almost luminous cake. By 12pm, the cake was in the oven and would be taken out half an hour later.

After cooling, I sliced it up into 2 inch slices and wrapped them in some parchment paper, secured with a little ribbon, and distributed them to friends with a little note to drizzle with honey before eating. They were a hit and a great mid-day snack to have with some light, citrus tea. Such simple pleasures, such great times.

Fig and Hazelnut Cake

Serves 4-6

Bill Granger's recipe from delicious magazine (May 2007)

Ingredients

225g toasted hazelnuts (ground)

2 tsp orange zest

75 g plain flour

110g raw sugar

40g unsalted butter (and then some), melted

1 egg, plus 1 eggwhite

1 tbs marsala or other sweet wine

6 fresh figs

Honey, to drizzle

Whipped cream or mascarpone, to serve

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius and grease a 10cmx34cm rectangular loose-bottomed tart pan.

Finely grind the hazelnuts in a food processor.

Add the flour, zest, sugar, butter, egg, eggwhite and marsala and process to combine.

Add 2 figs and pulse to roughly chop into the mixture, then spread in the tart pan.

Cut each remaining fig into six wedges and sit on top of the mixture, skin side down.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Cool slightly, then remove from pan.

Drizzle with honey just before serving with cream or mascarpone.

Tak Glam 'Picnic'

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Eating out of takeaway boxes with plastic cutlery probably isn't your idea of a great dinner. It probably even looks slightly miserable. Nevertheless, I had a great time with Addy at Chip Bee Gardens, right outside Da Paolo Gastronomia. Although we were mildly disturbed by a few mosquitoes mercilessly feeding on us the moment we settled down, they soon got their fill and moved on.

This definitely wasn't the first time I visited Da Paolo Gastronomia. As a tiny outlet specialising in ready made food for takeaway, I imagine it attracts couples who have little time or energy to cook, and is sick of eating out or eating hawker food out of cardboard boxes. As a simple treat that can be simply reheated and enjoyed in the total privacy of your own home.

Addy and I were able to enjoy it in the cool evening air, soft evening blue-tinged light, totally undisturbed.

All we had to do was take our pick of Salmon and Spinach in Puff Pastry, Saffron Risotto with Prawns; Marinated Artichokes, Grilled Asparagus and Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms; request to have them briefly heated up; carry it out to one of the two alfresco tables; tuck in and do a little chin-wagging.

The food was not cheap, nor as unbelievably tasty as I had hoped. It is also unsurprising that texture had been compromised as a result of the reheating, and using a microwave nonetheless. Although aesthetically tempting, the Salmon and Spinach in Puff Pastry was not as exciting on the palate. The dish that did stand the test of taste and texture was the Stuffed Portobello Mushroom - excellent.

The entire experience was pleasant though as they have a wide variety of very bewitching food that sounds incredibly enticing. The desserts and bread were particularly alluring but we resisted them to avoid overstuffing ourselves, even though I had thoroughly enjoyed some of them before.

After having said all that, we did finish every morsel in those little plastic boxes. It is a great place to get food to stock up for a picnic, if you want something a touch more luxurious with virtually no effort. It's a bonus that the food is nicely packed into convenient containers, with all the necessary cutlery you would need. No preparation, other than a picnic mat, would be needed.


da paolo gastronomia (HV)
43 Jalan Merah Saga, #01-74,
Chip Bee Gardens, Holland Village.
Tel: 6475 1323

da paolo gastronomia (bt)
501 Bukit Timah Road, #01-01,
Singapore 259760.
Tel: 6468 7010

Hours: Open daily 9.15 amto 9 pm

Mad about typography.

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I have been spending my time productively.

Very productively indeed.

Someone pull me out of this madness!

Tea For Four

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Catching up with girlfriends over tuna mayo sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches and onion relish open face sandwiches couldn't feel more chic. Add cranberry/raisin scones and pseudo-treacle tarts to the menu and the gathering over tea was complete. It wasn't perfect, owing to the treacle tarts that never were due to some mistrust of a certain recipe. But more importantly, it was a simple enough menu to prepare in a few hours, and fuelled us more than adequately for a long evening of gossip.

Simple Strawberry Jam

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When a menu whittles down into something so simple - sandwiches and a dessert, I tend to look at even the simplest of things that we often buy off the shelves.

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Mayonnaise - while requiring just a tad more effort on your part, is definitely not overly complicated and is extremely gratifying when something so ethereally light and delicate has been achieved. Combine it with tuna flakes for incredibly tasty and fluffy tuna-mayo sandwiches.

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Strawberry Jam - is usually almost as easy to make your own jam than it is to buy from the grocery stores. It is important to add slightly less sugar than is required in the recipe however, just in case you don't have a sweet tooth. I'm still learning how to adjust it to the average person's tastebuds since I am known to have a really high tolerance for the sweets.

Bitter Spiced Marmalade

If you have slightly more time to spare, you might want to consider making a Bitter Spiced Marmalade. Unfortunately, I cannot for the life of me remember where I got the recipe from, and what the exact proportions were for the recipe. It did require a fair amount of time, simmering the oranges for 40 minutes to remove some of the bitterness commonly found in the skin, and chopping them before simmering them with sugar and spices.

However, I still found it a worth my time at the end of the day. I am slowly beginning to appreciate incorporating some of the bitterness of oranges in desserts, and in this case jam. It was a great counterbalance to the sweetness and spices (admittedly, I may have been a little heavy handed with the cinnamon and cloves). I also kept it rustically chunky, although a part of me was also inclined to keeping it in big chunks to save me a little bit of time and effort.

My girlfriends may have preferred the strawberry jam to the marmalade, but my mum and I finished the marmalade in no time in the following days. Always, always make a little more jam than you think you need for the day, so that you can have a sublime breakfast the next day.

Luxurious homemade jam with freshly baked, crisp, flaky croissants (get them frozen Swiss Bake - Takashimaya, Cold Storage Guthrie House/Centrepoint/Holland V/KAP) surely cannot be faulted.

Dapur Babah

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Considering the amount of time I spend with Fel, it would be silly not to visit her hometown at least once. So when I was assigned to travel to Jakarta as part of my study trip, I embraced the opportunity. I certainly didn't get much help from her though, when I asked about the places worth visiting and food worth eating. "Jakarta is very dangerous! Just stay in your hotel!"

Thankfully, there was the Kris Flyer Magazine on the plane, with a few restaurant recommendations. One of which was Dapur Babah elite, a restaurant peppered with odd and interesting artefacts. The description of the place and food certainly whet my appetite enough to convince a gang of about 14 to come along.

We might have been a little too rowdy, but the service staff did everything within their means to make sure that we got everything we needed and wanted. Even though one of the menus almost caught fire, and even though we didn't order any dinner sets after having gotten them to print dinner set menus for each one of us, they still accomodated us throughout our meal and smiled as we walked out.

Great service aside, the food was incredible. A selection of Javanese, Dutch and Peranakan dishes fill the menu, with some rather amusing English translations. The prices were really reasonable, and absolutely worth your dollar.

Ironically, I remember the rice with most fondness. Ironic on two levels, because rice is often just the side-kick of any meal, and because I have never been inclined to filling my precious and limited stomach space with rice. However the rice at Dapur Babah stole very much of the limelight on my plate.

Of course, the other dishes were also outstanding. Unfortunately, I did not have the foresight to keep one of their menus, and cannot remember the names of the dishes that I managed to try. One of the two desserts that we managed to try was both intriguing and yummy at the same time. It had little chewy bits (almost like tang yuan/glutinous rice balls) floating in a light and slightly salty coconut broth.

I find it a great plus that they even have a separate vegetarian menu. It is a restaurant worth visiting, even if you only had 3 hours to spare in Jakarta. I really can't think of any restaurant in Singapore that is anything like Dapur Babah in terms of atmosphere.

Dapur Babah élite
Jalan Veteran I / 18, Jakarta Pusat 10110
Tel: +62 (21) 385 5653,
Fax: +62 (21) 385 3040

Hair For Hope

Alright, here's when I really need all your attention and help.


I'm going to be BALD. Have I got your undivided attention now?


I really need your help.



Background

Every year, the Children's Cancer Foundation organises a 'Hair for HOPE' event, getting volunteers to shave their heads to support their cause.

In essence, it is a publicity stunt to raise awareness, as well as funds that will go towards improving the quality of lives for the chlidren and their families. It is also intended to be a sign of support for the little ones going chemotherapy sessions and facing hair loss - this was the trigger point for me in my decision to shave my head.

As you can imagine, making the decision was a tough one. Going through with it will definitely be tougher. As the date to shave my head looms nearer, I can already feel a sense of dread. But I hope that with all your support, this action of mine will be a worthwhile one.

My Cry For Support

Here is where YOU can help me, or more specifically, children with cancer -I would be OVER THE MOON if you could donate as generously as possible.

Sure, if you all decide that supporting me would be a waste of your time, I will still go on to shave my head. But I'm hoping you'll agree with me that the extra $100 sitting in your wallet would be better spent on the Children's Cancer Foundation than on that designer shirt/dress (or atas meal for some of you) that you've been saving up for the past week/month/year.

How To Donate

1. Visit http://www.ccf.org.sg/hfh/webApp/listShavees.php, find for DAPHNE YUAN and donate using your credit card. (It would also be good to let me know via email -see below- how much you've pledged online, just so I can let Santa know who has been good this year)

or

2. Email me at amoebamoron@gmail.com with the amount you're willing to donate, and your name. I'll make arrangements with you to collect the donation from you after I receive my pledge card on the 20th June.


Where To Catch Me Bald

1 July 2007 (Sunday) at Velocity@Novena
Time will be updated via website: http://www.ccf.org.sg/hfh/index.php

There is of course, no minimum amount that you can donate. Still, I hope that my action (i.e. shaving head) will provoke you guys into digging a little deeper into your pockets.

If you're still not convinced that this is not worth your time/effort/money, email me and give me a chance to tell you more about this cause that I feel so much for, that I am willing to sacrifice my long locks for.

Please do help me help them!

Rest assured that I will give everyone the blow-by-blow account of the entire experience, from the night before the event to the moment the electric shaver is placed on my scalp.

With love,
KitchenCrazyDaffy

(Somewhat) Sad News

My laptop has finally thrown in the white towel. After years of massive photo-downloading, relentless blogging, and slave-driving (through the nights for assignments due the following morning), my laptop has blanked out, and refuses to start up. I can't even see the photo of Chocolate Macarons that I had kept as my wallpaper since the day I made them (which is really long ago).

As I type, my sweet, sweet brother is hunched over my laptop trying to salvage it. Alas, the light at the end of the tunnel is diminishing.

In other sad news, my bunny Moka fell ill while I was away. He had been pooping uncontrollably around the house (before that, he usually scampers back into the cage to poop), and running around our feet in quick circles, sometimes both at the same time. Although this doesn't sound like anything more than ill-discipline and mischief, I can assure you he is typically more docile than that unless provoked by my growling brother. He (Moka) has gotten better though, and is now a happy camper back in his old hideout.

Still, I wish I could give him some home-baked treat. It doesn't make sense that I can cook for the people I love but can't for the bunny I adore. If anyone has any recipe for bunny treats, please share!

F-Stop Cafe

I haven't been making much ice-cream lately, the last excuse being the inability to get hold of my usual 1 litre carton of whipping cream. But 4 litres of whipping cream later, my ice-cream production is still nought, zilch, nada.

I have, however, been dreaming up of different flavours and presentation. Between two slices of shortbread, as pseudo-popsicles or simply in a pretty little glass with plenty of childhood toppings. (Thinking up of dinner or lunch menus has become a great digression to keep me awake during terribly boring talks that I've had to attend in the past few weeks.)

Yet, an experience at a little-known cafe along South Bridge Road managed to humble me with just one spoonful of ice-cream. While I had been mentally putting together unique flavours, I had gotten sidetracked from the fundamentals - texture. On my flight back from Hanoi (another entry on that another time soon), I managed to catch an episode of Heston Blumenthal's teevee debut - In Search of Perfection. In it, not only did he went in hunt of great tasting milk for the base of his ice cream, he also emphasised the importance of (ironically) icy-free ice cream. He waxed lyrical about how using nitrogen helped him turn creme anglaise into flawlessly creamy and smooth ice cream.

But at F-Stop Cafe, the ice-cream was not just smooth, it was 'chewy'. So 'chewy' that it resembled pizza. It was deliciously dense, and like a rose bud, took its time to blossom. It lingered in my mouth, leaving behind the lightest layer of chocolate perfume. The grape flavour had tiny bits of grape, was similarly 'chewy' and not at all like the other artificially sweetened fruit ice creams I've tried. The texture of Rum and Raisin was slightly different, most probably due to the addition of rum, which is resistant to freezing. Perhaps using 'chewy' to describe ice cream is a little baffling, but I'm pretty sure that if you try it yourself, you'll agree with me that 'chewy' is an apt description.

I have not spoken to the ice-cream maker himself to find out the secret, nor have I been able to re-create the texture, but rest assured it is on my list of things to do before I die. As far as I know, the ice-cream is only available in that shop. The F-Stop Cafe is a photography-cafe, where photographers can gather and talk all things technical without feeling like nobody understands. Apparently, Singaporean Canonians and Olympians gather there regularly discussing photographs, new upgrades etc...... My motivation for now is purely limited to the ice-cream, and I fully intend to conquer each flavour.

Cafe F'Stop

17/19 South Bridge Road.

Walk down along Jazz@South Bridge

Hazelnut Shortbread

Everytime I endeavour cookies, I tend to pick those whose dough keeps well in the chiller or freezer, so that I can retrieve them for any emergencies. By keep well, I mean that they can be pre-shaped but would not require too much space in the refrigerator. Friends who have taken a peek into my refrigerator sometimes get a little (perhaps slightly understated) taken aback by how packed it is. It is probable, however, that with just some proper organisation (something I swear to get down to in my lifetime), my refrigerator can be trimmer.

Digression aside, all that means that shortbread cookies that are shaped into logs, refrigerated and sliced only before baking have a permanent place in my repertoire of recipes. Flipping through Gordon Ramsey's Just Desserts on one of those rare slow nights, I spotted a simple enough recipe for Hazelnut Shortbread. Coincidentally, I had all the necessary ingredients at the moment and started working on the dough immediately.

I shaped it into 4 logs, that I have since used up on different occasions. As after dinner souvenirs for girlfriends, as a post-lunch accompaniment to Gryphon's vanilla sencha tea, as a way to show my appreciation or care, or simply to let my mum know that I love her (Mothers' Day is coming up, and one can never start giving too early).

Buttery, crumbly, delicately thin and rich, with the amazing aroma of hazelnuts, they disappear almost as quickly as they are baked. I had already tripled the quantities, but still wish I had made a few more logs to leave behind for my family as I'll be overseas for the next week or two.

I have had friends comment that my family must feel so fortunate to have an almost loony daughter who would bake way past midnight just to destress, as they get to enjoy the foods of my labour. But I realise that I usually share these with my friends more than I do with my family, and they sometimes get a wee bit neglected.

I guess it is never too late to repent.

Hazelnut Shortbread

From Gordon Ramsey's Just Desserts

Makes about 20

Ingredients

200g plain flour

1/4 tsp sea salt

125g unsalted butter, softened

90g caster sugar

1 large free-range egg, beaten

50g finely ground roasted hazelnuts

Method

Sift flour with salt.

Cream the butter and sugar together using an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.

Gradually work in the egg.

With the mixer on its slowest setting, add the flour a spoonful at a time, then the nuts.

Stop mixing as soon as the dough comes together.

Lift the dough on to a sheet of cling film.

Shape into a roll, about 4cm in diameter and wrap well.

Chill for at least 2 hours until firm.

To bake, preheat the oven to 160 degrees celcius.

Slice off rounds of dough, 5mm thick.

Place on a non-stick baking sheet and prick lightly with a fork.

Bake for about 20 minutes until very pale golden.

Leave on the baking sheet for a minute, then lift on to a wire rack.

For a classic appearance, sprinkle with sugar as they cool.

Dough keeps for up to a week in the refrigerator, or for yonks in the freezer - just let it defrost in the chiller section overnight or at least a few hours. If dough is too hard to slice cleanly, dip knife into a cup of hot water and wipe dry with the kitchen towel before slicing.

Dinner Munching (Part III) - Fruit Tart

In making this tart, I was stepping way out of my comfort zone. This is not just the mud-is-seeping-into-my-shoe kind of discomfort, but more like the rolling-around-in-mud-with-worms-swimming-in-my-hair (which I had to do once in primary school at a nasty camp) kind of discomfort.

I never liked the rubbing-in method that I had first learnt about in secondary school. When Miss Amy Goh demonstrated it, I thought it incredibly unhygienic that our fingers had to muck around in the dough for such extended periods of time. This also sort of explains why I bake few breads, and when I do, I use my bread machine that relieves me of any contact with the dough. Before any rubbing-in or kneading, I never fail to sanitise my hands as much as I can, short of exfoliating the entire outer layer of my skin.

Being an extremely tactile person (which explains my fascination with all things furry), one would think I would take to rubbing-in like a (daffy)duckling to water. Still, I find myself skipping recipes that call for any hands-on work, literally.

During dinner, I told Jac that the last time I made a tart was in secondary school, but it had slipped my mind that I did actually make an apple tart more recently (2 years ago) in Paris. However, unlike many tart/pie recipes, that recipe did not call for too much direct contact with the dough except for the part where we have to roll out the dough and line the tart pan. Also, my aunt had a beautiful and huge wooden table, absolutely conducive for rolling or kneading, but that is unfortunately something I lack at home.

However I figure that there's no running away from tarts or pies all my life. Instead of running away from it, I decided to face my fear. This is also how I came to decide upon the politics part of my degree, and I'm glad I did it.

Similary, I'm glad I made the fruit tart. I am also glad that I left plenty of time to prepare for it during the day. While the pastry cream used to fill the tart up could be made, cooled and refrigerated beforehand, and the fruits could be added just before serving, the tart cases needed a fair bit of work.

You'd need to rub the butter into the flour, lifting your hands as high as you can manage without coating your kitchen with a fine layer (if you are lucky) of flour, mix the water and egg yolk into the flour mixture with a knife until a dough comes together, turn the dough out onto cling film, refrigerate or freeze (depending on your needs) it, roll it out between two pieces of baking paper, line your tart pans (I used 4 small individual tart pans), place some crumpled baking paper on top and fill with pie weights (or rice), then bake, and remove to cool.

And to think I took the recipe from a dessert book that is more tailored for the busy cook, with little time to spare. They did not have to tell me not to overwork the dough since the last thing I wanted was more playing with the dough, which got more tricky to work with the longer it was out of the fridge and under my irritatingly warm fingertips.

But the final result was truly rewarding, and can be attested by my girlfriends' praises. Not just for the pastry cream, which I had made before and loved for its taste and easy preparation method, but also for the crispy and crumbly tart base.

These individual tarts were more elegant and easy to serve compared to big 8-10 inch tarts. But this is definitely something I would make only if other parts of the dinner are much less involved.

Sweet, Rich Shortcrust Pastry (for fruit tarts)

From Sweet Food (Murdoch Books)

Makes 375 g worth of shortcrust pastry, enough to line the base of a 23 cm pie dish or 5 small round individual tart pans

Ingredients

250g plain flour, 125 g chilled butter (chopped into small pieces), 2 tbspns caster/icing sugar, 2-3 tbspns iced water, 1 beated egg yolk

Method

Sift flour and 1/4 tsp salt into a large bowl.

Add chopped butter and rub it into flour using fingertips until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Stir in sugar.

Make a well in the centre, add in egg yolk with iced water, and mix with a flat-bladed knife, using a cutting rather than stirring action. The mixture will come together in small beads of dough.

Add more water if necessary, a tsp at a time, until dough comes together. Test the dough by pinching a little piece between your fingers - if it doesn't hold together, it needs more water. Use just enough to hold the pastry together - if it is too wet it will toughen and may shrink on baking; if too dry, it will be crumbly.

Gently gather the dough together and lift out onto a lightly floured surface.

Press dough into a ball and flatten slightly - don't knead or handle the dough too much.

Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.

Roll out the pastry between two sheets of baking paper until large enough to cover the base and side of the 5 tart pans. Remove the top sheet and invert the pastry into the tins, allowing any excess to hang over. Trim with knife and prick the base several times with a fork.

Refrigerate for 20 minutes, place crumpled baking paper over and fill with pie weights or beans. Then bake for 15 minutes in a 200 degrees celcius preheated oven, or until crisp, dry and lightly golden. Allow to cool.

For Fruit Tart: Fill with pastry cream, decorate with raspberries or other mildly sour fruits. I thinly sliced apples, fanned them out, sprinkled sugar over them and caramelised the sugar with a blow torch. Let your creativity loose with this tart.

Dinner Munching (Part II) - Fish and Spinach

Sorry for the bad photograph, I'm still learning how to take photos in low-lighting with my camera without it appearing grainy or blur. It certainly doesn't help that no matter how I try, spinach puree cannot be made to look appetising.

However, it was the spinach puree recipe that I spotted first in Damien Pignolet's French. Instead of being enriched with cream and plenty of butter, transforming spinach into something absolutely heavenly but unbelievably unhealthy, it simply required pear puree.

Damien Pignolet recommended eating this with steamed or pan-friend fish, a piece of advice I took up but looked to Jane Lawson's Cocina Nueva for. Her Almond Crusted Hake piqued my interest, but was tweaked to include ground hazelnut instead of ground almond. It was breaded in the afternoon and chilled until just before serving where it needed 3 minutes (and then some) on each side, depending on the thickness of the fish. Even the spinach puree could be made in the afternoon and reheated just before serving.

This was especially useful because it left me plenty of time to prepare dessert, which required much more time, patience and effort.

I quite like the spinach puree and agree that it goes well with fish. Being a little fruity, it was definitely different and possibly a great way to get children to eat their greens by actually making spinach tasty, without negating its health benefits with cream or butter. The fish had the most wonderful aroma while being fried, and a delightfully earthy hazelnut taste.

Unfortunately I have learnt to be a little smarter and informed about my choice of fish for future use. As all the fish were labelled in Chinese, I had no idea what kind of fish I was purchasing and relied only on price to differentiate quality. I would have preferred a more tender, flaky fish to go with the puree. Embarassingly, I still don't know what I had served my girlfriends!

Spinach and Pear Puree

From Damien Pignolet's French

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

100g pear, such as Beurre Bosc or Packham, peeled and cored

400g spinach, well-washed and coarse stalks discarded

salt and freshly ground pepper

a few gratings of nutmeg

2-3 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil

a few drops of lemon juice

Method

Boil pear until soft (10-20 minutes) then drain.

Boil spinach in plenty of quite salty water for 5 minutes until very soft.

Drain well and press out most of the moisture with the back of a spoon- the spinach should not be too dry.

For the smoothest result, puree the pear and spinach in a blender rather than a food processor.

Add the oil and season to taste, adding the lemon juice to freshen (do this only just before serving if you're preparing this in advance).

This very special recipe is adapted from Michel Guerard's Cuisine Minceur, a book dedicated to 'lean cuisine', as we would call it today. I like to serve it with steamed or pan-fried fish, and it is also excellent with roast partridge or guinea fowl.

Dinner Munching (Part I) - The Butcher

I had been trying to arrange for dinner among a group of 3 of my SC/NJ friends and it was starting to feel like it would never happen because schedules kept clashing. When a date was finally settled for more than a month away, I filed it away in my organiser and started planning for it only a week before by looking through cookbooks and food blogs.

However, the actual cooking started only on Saturday morning (the dinner was scheduled for that night). The early start gave me plenty of allowance to do my tasks leisurely without breaking out into as much as a sweat, except perhaps on my walk to the supermarket under the glaring hot sun. I chose relatively easy dishes that could either be prepared in advance or would require only a few minutes of flash frying. It definitely helped that I had a stash of sausages from the Swiss Butchery, hidden in my refrigerator, calling out to me.

On my way home from Phoon Huat to replenish my baking supplies at Chip Bee Gardens earlier in the week, I popped into The Butcher just to have a look see (as I always do whenever I'm in the vicinity). I emerged $18 poorer and 9 sausages heavier (hardly surprising, really). My family had been savouring them slowly and purposefully. The favourite was the Moroccan Lamb, followed by the Mexican Jalapeno Pork, Pork with Black Pepper and Coriander, then the Beef and Guiness. The Mexican one was unexpectedly very spicy, but popular nonetheless.

For the dinner, inspired by one of Donna Hay magazine's recipes for a Chorizo, Chickpea and Cous Cous salad, I made a Sausage, Broad Beans (it was meant to be chickpeas too, but I accidentally opened the wrong can), and Cous Cous salad. As you can imagine, very little effort was required.

3 minutes for the cous cous to cook and get fluffed up (with olive oil, lemon juice and salt). Less than 10 minutes for the sausages to cook through and get sliced. 1 minute for a can of broad beans or chickpeas to be opened (or much less if you have a very good can opener). 4 minutes for the four fried quail eggs (optional). Put them all together with some basil and they're ready for the table and for any highly discriminating palate.

I have always been of the opinion that it's hard to go wrong with a dish that involves sausages. Furthermore, these gourmet sausages from The Butcher are delicious by themself. This cous cous 'salad' should convince anyone to have a stash of sausages, a bottle of cous cous and a can of chickpeas at your disposal all year round. Particularly handy for last minute dinners, which seem to be happening to me pretty often recently.

I was told that Tuesdays at The Butcher are Sausage Days where you get half kg worth of sausages free with ever 1kg of sausage purchased. But they're not open on Labour Day, so pop by the following week if you want to make use of the offer! 1.5 kg might sound like helluva lot, but I assure you that sausages as good as this never last very long.

My Super Fast Food

Have been going a little gaga over Italian recently, especially since the dishes I usually choose to whip up are so amazingly effortless. Fried polenta cakes with a thick shower of parmesan, yum! You'd think I'd get sick of it by now.

This is for you, Duckie

We visited my great-grandmother, great-great-grandmother, great-grandfather, grandpa and Uncle Fred today. It was certainly an adventure and I find it amazing how my grandmother (at 81 years of age) remembers each block and unit number so clearly. Incidentally (or not), it was my grandfather's birthday as well. He was born exactly 83 years ago today.


Uncle Fred, passed on 22 years ago on the 13th August. 2 days before my favourite cousin - Freda - was born. This would of course, explain her name. His full name was Fred Yuen Yew Wai, and she is Freda Yuin Yu Wei. I love how her name is steeped deep in family history (my own name is very much less glamourous), and how fate had blessed our family with her birth so shortly after an unfortunate incident.


Freda, whom I affectionately call my little own Duckie, is now in Korea living out her dreams. Her journey there has been miraculous, though not without its obstacles. I can't help beaming with pride everytime I talk about her to my friends. I have a little photo of the both of us that I carry around with me everyday. I miss you, and I'll see you at Christmas!


Love,
Your Cousin

My Super Fast Food

Yet another quick, fuss-free, little dish for worn-out, can't-be-bothered-to-cook moments. Something that can be made in 5 minutes flat definitely deserves an entry on its own and a space in your cupboard.

Have it with some reheated chicken stew for a hearty meal.
Toss it with some greens for a healthy perk-up.
Eat it by itself if you're just feeling a little greedy but feel guilty for overeating.

I simply followed the instructions on the back of the packet, prescribing the amount of boiling water to add, and the appropriate time to wait. Using boiling chicken stock might make it slightly tastier, but it might then strip away too much of its original flavour (though this might be a good thing for some). Added the toasted pinenuts, raisins, mandarin olive oil (see previous entry), some lemon juice, and salt, and tossed till it was light and fluffy. Just make sure you use instant cous cous, or be prepared to steam it (the traditional way) or simmer it in a pot for up to an hour!

I think it says much that my meals are getting shoddier and quicker to prepare, ever since my work started proper. Though I think I should qualify that it's not that I stay at work till late, but that all those yoga classes after work simply leave me little time to spend time in the kitchen. Even my weekends are burnt spending entire days with Fel (which actually isn't bad)! It sure feels rather 'dodgy' meeting up with her almost everyday of the week though.

After so many years...

It's really embarassing that I only just met my neighbours after having stayed here for so many years. We met in the elevator and I only realised they were my neighbours when we wanted to stop on the same floor.

It's great that I can now put names and faces to the home that seems to constantly emit heavenly smells of homecooked food. Not only do they often make me feel a little hungry, they also prod me to spend a little more time in the kitchen myself. The little things. =)

Mandarin Orange Infused Olive Oil

I have no idea when it really started, but I find myself receiving random sms-es from friends and family once in a while asking for recommendations to restaurants and cafes given a particular context. This could be for a special date, an anniversary dinner, a casual gathering, a girly catch up, a formal business lunch or simply for the sudden need to pamper oneself. I guess that's what I get for making it so obvious that I have this (unhealthy) obsession with the preparation and enjoyment of food. Of course, I try my very best to help in whatever way I can with whatever limited knowledge and experience, but when I can't offer something suitable, is when I feel terribly bad.


An extremely positive spin off though, is that friends almost always know exactly what makes me happy. April had just returned to Singapore for a short 3 week break (making Gabe an extremely happy man) and had gone on a tour of Europe before flying home. On one of her stopovers, she picked up a gorgeous metal tin of Mandarin Orange Infused Olive Oil that has the beautiful aroma and taste of Mandarin Oranges, from O&Co. I find their packaging novel and ergonomic with its easy-pour pop up spout.


Incidentally, they had a shop in London that I chanced upon, just around Spitalfields Market. When I was last there (which is such a long time ago), I had purchased some white truffle oil that though pricey, is better than some other brands of truffle oil that I have since tried. I regretted not getting more, or other types of oil that they stocked. So when April presented me with the O&Co paper bag, I couldn't be happier! Actually I did feel even happier when I saw that it was exotically infused with Mandarin Oranges, indulging my perpetual craving for unusual flavours.


For a little 'snack' this weekend, I decided to try it out by adulterating the typical Aglio Olio. Suffice to say, I went back into the kitchen to make another serving promptly after finishing my first. I don't think that tin of oil will last very long in my kitchen.


Typically I would have chosen linguine for this, but I desperately wanted to try out my not-so-recently purchased Yellow Label Sgambaro Mille Righe pasta, made purely out of durum wheat and using bronze dies. I was trying to kill time when I walked into a wine shop. Yet the thing that caught my eye was a crate of dried pasta right in the front of the store. The brand was totally foreign to me, but the pastas' slightly rough quality appealed to me. I was out of the shop with two packets in hand, and eager to try these out.


So fast forward a few months (!!) and here I am. They softened under the generously salted boiling water into floppy short, large tubes. They also did a great job in letting the oil stick to it. So even as I took my time taking a photo of it, they did not dry out and stick to each other. This was a problem I encountered before and always thought it was just a problem with the sauce I had made. This revelation is a helpful boost to my confidence in preparing pasta. Now my only difficulty would be finding the wine shop that I had so randomly wandered into, and hope that they would still have stocked up on these.

Menotti

Creamed spinach with mushrooms and mozzarella cheese panini

Before I left for UK, I was insane about sandwiches. I would willingly give up my bowl of Mee Pok for a well-filled club sandwich anyday. I thought UK was the PERFECT place for me to live in. I could live on sandwiches all day/week/month/year long. That was until I arrived and got sick of sandwiches within the first month.

After a month of all different types of sandwiches, I learnt to be a little more discerning of the good and the bad. Those with incredibly dry and tasteless fillings ought to have been banned, but were unfortunately rampantly available in our school's Costcutter (mini-mart). What UK did open my eyes to, was the world of Paninis. Crisp exteriors, matched with just the right amount of filling not to overwhelm but to flirt with one's tastebuds and pleasure points.

But grass is always greener on the other side, and after one month of 30 too many sandwiches, I hardly touched sandwiches anymore, even paninis. I opted for more 'real' food instead. Preparing Asian (Chinese) food was a luxury that I would indulge in after each trip into London or Birmingham's Chinatown.

Now, having been back in Singapore for almost a year now (just about slightly more than 2 months shy of that mark), I'm glad to announce that my aversion to sandwiches seems to have worn off. But while I used to lavish in any kind of sandwiches, as long as there were two slices of bread with something edible in between (I'm just as dumbfounded as you by my past choices), I find myself increasingly dissatisfied with the sandwiches that some cafes try to con you into buying.

So when I need my sandwich (panini) fix, I usually return to my reliable haunt - Menotti. It was recommended by a fellow reader (JY) quite a while ago through her comment. We had met when I was working in Takashimaya, where she enquired about panini presses and lamented the dearth of great paninis in Singapore. In the end, she couldn't find a suitable one for her home, but felicitously found Ricciotti and Menotti (both under Garibaldi). I've tried almost the entire range of their paninis by now and have only been let down by the Pollo Panini, where the chicken seemed to be in dire need of some moisture.

Seafood risotto (with extremely fresh prawns)

Thankfully, they also serve a range of pastas and (a) risotto, for those friends of mine who are of the opinion that a sandwich makes not real food. The pastas that I've pinched from them have been excellent, and in my last visit, my girlfriend thought the risotto was great, just a little too heavy for her. Their portion of risotto was incredibly generous and might have overwhelmed my very skinny friend (with her very skinny appetite) a little. I've tried desserts but have not been particularly impressed (and even really disappointed once), though it's the only place I've seen Olive Oil Gelato being served.

I also appreciate that I am guaranteed a seat immediately, everytime I go there. I am a little surprised by this but I'm not complaining, and exploiting this while it lasts!

Menotti The Original Italian Café
252 North Bridge Road
#01-17 Raffles City Shopping Centre
Singapore 179103
Tel: (65) 6333 9366
Fax: (65) 6339 4907
Email: info@garibaldi.com.sg
* Email reservations must be made 24 hours in advance

Sunday to Thursday: 8am to 12am
Friday, Saturday and Eve of Public Holidays: 8am to 1am

Polenta and Onion Relish

When people gather for many rounds of mahjong, food is usually one of the last thing on their minds. Perhaps this isn't true for some of you, but for my relatives and my mum, they would skip mealtimes if only hunger did not bug them enough to make them slightly distracted. I typically do not cook for my mum and her mahjong kakis if I can help it. But if I do, I would work out something terribly simple, that can be eaten from a bowl and with just a spoon.

So when my mum had a mahjong session yesterday, polenta came to mind. I had a bag of polenta sitting around my shelves just screaming to be slowly simmered into a creamy, corny mush. So I did just that, and made a pot of beef stew as well as some roasted vegetables to go with it. Unfortunately, I had grossly overestimated the amount of polenta that I needed, and ended up with an entire tray worth of polenta.

I find that the best way to save extra polenta is to spread it out on a tray, let it cool, harden, then slice it into 2 cm thick pieces. These can be fried with a little olive oil or frozen for future frying. Fried polenta becomes gratifyingly crisp, with incredibly soft middles. Arguably, they are better than their more viscous predecessors.

For a quick dinner tonight, I chose to cube and fry them in a touch of olive oil. Some halved white button mushrooms, a scoop of onion relish, a sprinkle of dried parsley and a splash of white wine vinegar later, I was stuffing myself with spoonfuls of this very, very comforting dish.

The great thing about this meal is that it can be prepared in a flash, on any worn-out weeknight of yours, when the last thing on your mind is having to wait for your onions to caramelise, or your polenta to soften. Just a little planning beforehand, and some leisurely cooking during the weekend, and you'd have created many instant 'TV-dinners' for whenever you really need it.

Surprise Surprise

Ever since Fel and I made the commitment to True Yoga for 7 months, we (sort of) vowed to attend yoga classes as regularly as possible, at least 3 times a week. While there were the highly intensive weeks of daily yoga classes (after which I promptly fell ill for an entire week), there were also weeks where we hardly went for a single class because we kept taking turns to be occupied after work. Still, we both never thought we'd keep up this active lifestyle (in fact I daresay that we are more active now than in Uni) once we started work, so it's really pleasantly surprising.

We also never thought that we'd still see so much of each other after returning from Warwick. I thought I would have to travel to her hometown in Jakarta, in order to see her again. Or perhaps wait for her occasional visits to Singapore. But the one thing I definitely thought I'd NEVER ever do with her again, is to cook with her.

Imagine my shock and horror when she requested to come over my place on Sunday to use my oven. Use my OVEN? I could not believe my ears, did I hear her right?

She explained that she needed to bake cookies for her new colleagues, for reasons I have no liberty to share with everyone. So of course, I did the friendly thing and welcomed her into my home, offering all my tools and 'facilities'.

It was tremendously amusing watching her muddle around with the electric mixer, misunderstanding the recipe, clumsily measuring out the ingredients, moaning about having to sift ('Is it reaaaaally necessary??') the flour and baking powder, and then sighing before she even started any mixing.

Somehow though, she made it through the entire batch of cookies. She must have gone through about 6 or 7 batches of 15 minutes each. Of course, the cookies started out really small and oddly shaped. With each batch, the cookies were more refined and smooth. But they also got visibly bigger, in Fel's attempt to finish the cookie batter quickly.

While she busied herself in the kitchen, I was just a step away roasting peppers and tomatoes for a salad, and making onion relish for dinner. Dinner was decided upon when I was at the butchers at Chip Bee Gardens. While I was tempted by the various steaks, I thought the onion relish I had in mind would go best with thick, juicy burgers.

As usual, and in order to speed things up, I exploited the fundamental carnal connection between men and meat, and got my brother to help out with making the burgers. Before that, he successfully made a batch of one of his favourite dips - Tomato and Chilli Jam (Peter Gordon, from The Cook's Book). Coincidentally, it was also a suitable accompaniment to burgers. So the three of us were cramped in the kitchen, excusing and apologising our way around each other.

Just before dinner (finally) started and everyone tucked in ferociously, I tossed the roasted peppers and tomatoes in olive oil and added them to crunchy greens then sandwiched the many beef patties in a Walnut and Onion Ciabatta. The onion relish, generously ladled over the beef patties, quickly depleted. Truth be told, I had intended to distribute the onion relish to my colleagues as little random gifts. But seeing how my whole family - Fel included- seemed to relish (heh heh) the relish, I decided to keep it for our personal consumption.

I would just have to find another day to go through another 3 kg batch of onions, peeling, slicing and caramelising. It is not something I mind though, as I found it incredibly satisfying watching the turgid green-tinged rings soften into translucency, then slowly caramelising into a deep brown hue. All done within my grenadine-stained, heavy duty oval Staub cocotte, the onions initially filled the entire pot then eventually reduced to less than a third of its volume.

Perhaps because we only managed to get dinner ready by the time it was supposed to be supper, my brother was still in search of something to munch on after the burger and salad. So imagine his delight when I told him that Fel had very generously left a cookie jar of her chocolate chip cookies behind for our enjoyment. Recipe for another day!

Onion Relish

From Donna Hay's 30th Issue

Makes 5 cups

Ingredients

1/3 cup olive oil

2 kg brown onions, peeled and sliced into 1 cm rings

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup red wine vinegar

sea salt and cracked black pepper

Method

Preheat a large deep saucepan over medium-high heat.

Add oil and onions.

Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes or until the onion is golden and caramelised (Cooking it uncovered but keeping a close watch on it, stirring more than occasionally, sped up the process)

Add the sugar, vinegar (I would be a little conservative with these two components and add more only when necessary after a taste test), salt and pepper and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Cook for a further 10 minutes or until thick and syrupy.

Mushroom Cuppa

When Justin Quek's Passion and Inspiration was launched at Kinokuniya (Takashimaya) a while back, I was fortunately working just a few floors away. During my hour-long break, I scampered up to see Justin Quek in person. When I entered Kinokuniya, I just had to follow a deep, earthy aroma of mushrooms to find the stocky chef busy whizzing and adjusting a batch of mushroom soup, and a pretty helper pouring it into tasting portions for bystanders to try.

It is humiliating, but not too long before that, my preference for mushroom soup lay in Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup. I grew up on that stuff, and abhorred thick, murky brown versions of Mushroom Soup. To me, the best mushroom soup was creamy, off-white, smooth, with tiny bits of mushrooms to chew on. I had tried many other types but swore by good ol' Campbell.

That day at Kinokuniya, however, that little tasting portion of mushroom soup was the start of something new. In fact, ever since then, I've not missed my Campbell Cream of Mushroom.

It's not surprising then, that I flagged the recipe Fresh Mushroom Cappuccino with Summer Truffles in his cookbook. Replacing the summer truffles with white truffle oil, it may not have been as good, but was still phenomenal. It helps that this was one of the easiest recipes in the book. My brother could have handled the entire recipe on his own, without any supervision on my part. But I'm still going to stick to keeping an eye on him because we almost had a major disaster with the blender.

Fresh Mushroom Cappuccino

Adapted From Justin Quek's Passion and Inspiration

Serves 4 Yuen Family Members and 6-8 average joes

Ingredients

500 gm button mushrooms

1.5 litres chicken stock

a pinch of salt

200 ml milk

100 ml fresh cream

50 gms unsalted butter

truffle oil

Method

Clean mushrooms and cut into quarters.

Place in saucepan, covered with chicken stock, adding a pinch of salt.

Cover and cook over moderate heat for 1 hour.

Add milk, cream and butter, and bring the liquid to a boil.

Remove from heat and blend the drained mushrooms in a food processor or blender, adding a little of the reserved liquid at a time until the right consistency is achieved.

Just before serving, reheat and pour into a deep metal jug, frothing with a hand blender.

Pour into individual cups (scooping some of the foam onto the surface) and drizzle with a little truffle oil each.

Happiness is...

... this.

-

And being incredibly contented. To me, contentment is ranked way up there, together with confidence as an attractive.... trait? Characteristic? Knowing my own greedy desires, I never thought there would come a day when I would actually be wholly contented with my life. There's usually always something I'm hankering after, or lusting for. There's usually always something I feel would make me a lot happier if I had or could achieve.

-

But I found that ever since I started work in Feb, I've been slowly engulfed by this warm feeling of joyousness... and contentment. There's nothing more I could ask for in life, nothing more I would need in order to be happy because I was already happy. Work is great (the dynamics in the office is fantastic and tremendously welcoming), my extra-curricular activities are thriving, my family is doing better than before. And very importantly, I felt like my friendships were all thriving. I may not have been able to stay as connected to every single friend I've made, but I have definitely been trying for the ones that matter a lot to me.

-

In case I get misconstrued, I must clarify that it is not in my intention to brag, but merely to share. I feel like happiness is bursting at my seams. Emanating from my pores. Once in a while, I would actually catch my colleagues' attention with a cheerful 'Sarah' or 'Parvee', and give them a huge grin just to let some of my happiness out and to spread the joy. Just like the children in the photo, I am loving my life and I hope that whoever you are, reading this, can always feel this way too (if not more).

My mum rightly said that my family will only get to enjoy my cooking when I get inspired. The weekend was a great time to get inspired, especially after flipping through the gorgeous food photography in Donna Hay's March issue, because I had plenty of time to act on it. While I may not have used any recipe from the magazine for the dinner I planned for my family, it did effectively lure me into the kitchen. I was happy, and wanted to make sure my family was too, by making sure they had happy bellies first. So I got my brother into the kitchen with me and set to work on the various interesting (or easy) recipes I picked out.

From Gordon Ramsey's Secrets, I found two dishes that I decided to combine - Herbed Cauliflower Puree and Caramelised Baby Onions. When I chose the recipes, I already pictured how it would be plated. And to add some crunch as well as colour to the dish, I threw in some french beans. They all went well together, the creamy and smooth cauliflower puree with the tender, sweet and slightly tangy pink baby onions, and the crunchy buttered beans.

The best sounds I heard that night were the murmurs of pleasure especially with the first mouthful of onion and cauliflower. Perhaps not a common pairing, but definitely one that works. And actually way too easy to put together than it might look!

Puree of Cauliflower Scented with Herbs

Taken from Gordon Ramsay's Secrets (serves 4)

Ingredients

1 medium cauliflower, 300 ml milk, 1 small bay leaf, 1 sprig of thyme, sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

Trim cauliflower, discarding leaves, and cut into florets.

Place in saucepan with milk, herbs and 1/2 tsp salt.

Bring to boil, cover and simmer gently for about 12-15 mins until cauliflower is very tender.

Drain the cauliflower, discard the herbs and reserve the milk.

Whiz florets in a blender until very smooth, adding enough of the reserved milk to give a very creamy consistency (you'll have to scrape down the sides a couple of times to get it moving).

You may need to blend the mixture for up to 5 minutes to achieve a really smooth, silky texture.

Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding a little pepper if required. Serve piping hot!

Caramelised Pink Baby Onions

Adapted from Gordon Ramsay's Secrets (serves 4-6)

Ingredients

100 g butter, 250 g baby onions or small shallots (peeled), few sprigs of thyme, 1/2 tsp sugar,

3 tbspns of juice from bottled beetroot, 100 ml chicken stock, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Heat butter in large saute pan, adding baby onions/shallots with thyme and sugar when it starts to foam.

Cook for 5 mins until lightly caramelised (should turn translucent and slightly brown), seasoning with salt and pepper as they cook.

Add beetroot juice and stock, bring to boil then cook uncovered for a further 5 mins, stirring occasionally until onions are just tender but still retain a bite.

Transfer onions to a dish and bubble up the pan juices until reduced to a syrupy glaze.

Return onions to the pan to heat through and coat in glaze.

Discard thyme and serve.

Lentil Soup

I have had a stock of lobster oil sitting pretty in my fridge for a while now. It was something I bought on a whim when I was browsing around Arcangel's in Great World City. At the time I bought it, I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but I knew I had to get it. I was sure I would find a great nesting place for it, in a risotto or a soup.

Today, I decided it had enough rest in my increasingly overcrowded fridge, and took it out for some fun. As I browsed through some of my cookbooks, a particular Chickpea and Langoustine soup tempted me, while another's Sweet Garlic, Bread and Almond Soup looked amazing garnished with some chopped spring onions and drizzled with a few drops of oil. Anyone who knows me well, knows that it's not enough for me to make something that tastes good, it has to look good too. But one thing I would never do, is to compromise the quality of the dish to take a great photo.

In the end, I chose to make a Lentil Soup with small amounts of roasted sweet garlic and caramelised onions. Lobster oil and lumpfish caviar then finished off the bowl of soup. To make the soup, I used some seafood stock I had made many moons ago and kept in my freezer for a special day. I did everything within my means to make the soup as flavourful as it could be, without coming up with something that would be too strong to handle the lobster oil. Towards the end, I thought the salt would finally bring all the flavours together, as it usually does. But when it didn't, I was dumbfounded.

What else could I possibly have missed out? Good seafood stock - check. Yummy sweet, oozy roasted garlic - check. Freshly made onion relish - check. Salt and pepper - check. A splash of wine, a dash of vinegar - check, check. But no matter how much of the soup I tasted, something was missing. I couldn't believe I could fail in making something as simple as Lentil Soup.

Then I thought of what my grandmother would do. As a Cantonese, her dishes are rather extreme in tastes. Subtlety is not an existing word in her vocabulary. The flavours leap right at you rather than dance around on your tongue with every mouthful. To achieve that, she never stinges on salt, and sugar. So that's exactly what I did, I added sugar.

It's not uncommon for sugar to be added in savoury dishes. I've seen plenty of recipes, especially those featuring tomatoes, with a touch of sugar to tame tartness and enhance the sweetness of the tomatoes. I have no idea what forces combined in the lentil soup I was making, but the sugar did it. Just half a tablespoon of precious white crystals brought all the flavours together, giving me an extremely joyous feeling.

I did a little victory dance around the kitchen (it was very little, considering how little standing space there was available) then scooped out a little bowl for myself. It was velvety and hearty, yet sophisticated with a few drops of bright red lobster oil and the almost luminiscent pearls of caviar.

The only tool one would need to make a soup as simple as this, is a sturdy heavy duty blender, preferably made with glass that can take the high heat. I used to have a plastic one and would constantly fret that the plastic would crack or worse, that it would impart some incredibly off-putting plastic taste to the soup. So now that I have my glass one, there's no way I'm looking back!

Lentil Soup

Serves 6-8 as a starter

Ingredients

half a bulb of garlic

2 cups red lentils

5 cups homemade vegetable/seafood stock

1 tbspn olive oil

1 big white onion, sliced

2 tbspns good white wine

1 tbspn white wine vinegar

salt, pepper and sugar to taste

Lobster oil, caviar, or dried sakura ebi (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.

Place garlic in oven and roast for half an hour or until flesh is soft.

Boil lentils in stock until soft.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in pan at medium heat and add onions then turn down heat to low.

When onions turn translucent, add white wine and vinegar.

Continue cooking and stirring until onions are caramelised and brown

Remove flesh from garlic skin, and add to boiling lentil soup with the onions.

Puree in a blender until smooth, then strain if preferred (I chose not to) back into pot.

Add salt, pepper and sugar to taste.

Spoon into bowls and drizzle lobster oil and garnish with caviar or dried sakura ebi if available.

Digression: The bunny imposter

Baby Moka is really the pride of the family, although there probably isn't much to be proud of. You could wave a stalk of spinach right in front of him and he might just miss it. You could holler his name for five whole minutes but remain ignored. My family thinks he is a little deaf and a little blind. But we still talk about him fondly very often.

Just last night, Yixian and I were exchanging bunny stories. I thought my stock of leopard crawling antics (because his favourite hideout pictured above is a little short for him to hop into, he has to leopard crawl in) would take the cake, until I heard her bunny imposter story.

She had bought a snow-white, lop-eared bunny a while ago. Just a few weeks later, one ear started standing up more often than it should. And now, her lop-eared bunny has morphed into your average white, red-eyed bunny with two upright ears. I have NEVER ever heard of such a case before and couldn't help laughing as she ranted on about being cheated by the petshop.

This makes me wish I was a bunny too. Ah, the life.

Post-CNY

Chinese New Year is long over, but my CNY decorations are still up. I've had little time to do any proper cleaning up and tidying. The past week was tough to get through as I was down with a mean bug but still had to trudge to work. It wasn't even because I had downright evil bosses. On the contrary, they were extremely sympathetic. But I had a report to submit and a responsibility that I should not shirk from.

Thankfully though, I have a grandma who is merely a S$2.80 cab ride away from work, who would wrap me up in her many quilts and blankets, and have a bowl of warm unsweetened oats ready for me after my short nap. Ah, bliss. Bliss is also being able to rest through the entire weekend to rest and fully recuperate.

To celebrate my recovery, and break my weeklong diet of soft foods, I decided to pull out a precious stash of potstickers from the freezer. This was something that I made during one of the CNY dinners for a couple of my dad's longtime friends, alongside a couple of other Chinese dishes. As I had planned to make a ton of these, just making the potstickers alone took up a good couple of hours even using my pasta maker to trim some preparation time off.

You could say I've come very far when it comes to potstickers. The first time I tried making potstickers, I was in UK and sorely missing chinese food. I then made it again for 'Operation Stella', but with little (or no) improvement because when in UK, any kind of dumpling is better than none at all. Plus, I knew that my dear friends PJ, Fel and Stella weren't going to regurgitate the potstickers and denounce our friendship even if I had really made some really inedible ones.

But when back home, and when satiating a potsticker craving is as easy as taking a trip into Chinatown, it isn't enough to make them from scratch and have them look 'a little like' potstickers and taste 'something like' potstickers. They damn well better please the eye and the palate as the real thing. And who else to seek advice from than from one of the masters of perfection herself, J. She doesn't always post up recipes, but when she does, one can rest assured that every single step is accounted for. My experience when following her advice for making macarons is surely proof in itself.

While putting my absolute trust in her recipes and advice, I still had to put the first few potstickers I folded to the test. Most importantly, for my parents to give the go ahead. Thankfully I did so as the potstickers benefitted from a finer, more delicate skin as they would thicken slightly upon cooking.

And I just couldn't resist creating a variation of a potsticker using some crinkle cookie-cutters. Placing a mound of filling in the middle of the cut-out dough, I folded the skin into half, encasing the filling and pressed the edges together, making sure that the crinkles matched. I then pulled the two tips of the semi-circle together and pressed them together to make a dumpling that resembles a baby's bonnet. Cooking method and timing do not differ.