“It is often in the darkest
skies that we see the
brightest stars.”
“It is often in the darkest skies that we
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Butter + Beans
Best coffee I’ve had in KL so far! They are located at Section 17 of PJ. Quiet residential area with ample of parking spaces!
Maggie Beer’s apple crumble recipe
Fancy some apple crumble? I made some the other night with Maggie Beer’s recipe. This time the apples are much more softer than my previous one!
Ingredients
-
3 strips lemon zest
-
½ cup brown sugar
-
40g unsalted butter
-
¼ cup Verjuice
Crumble
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1 tbspn brown sugar
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2/3 cup wholemeal flour
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1 tspn ground cinnamon
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100g unsalted butter
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Peel, core and slice the apples into wedges and place in a medium saucepan.
3. Add the lemon zest, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon sticks and Verjuice. Bring to a gentle simmer, and continue to cook until tender but not mushy (about 20 minutes). Check to see that apple wedges are cooked through.
4. Remove the apples from the saucepan, discarding the cinnamon and lemon zest, and arrange in the base of an oven proof dish.
TO MAKE THE CRUMBLE:
5. Mix together the brown sugar, wholemeal flour, oats and ground cinnamon in a mixing bowl.
6. Using a vegetable grater, grate the butter onto the flour mixture, and incorporate using the tips of your fingers until mixed like course breadcrumbs.
7. Top the apples with the crumble mixture and bake in the oven preheated for 30 minutes, until the crumble is golden brown.
8. Allow to cool slightly then serve with Vanilla Bean and Elderflower Ice Cream or runny cream.
Ippudo Tao, UE Square
Hey guys,
I was recently in Singapore again for Joseph’s uni mate’s wedding dinner. It was the last holiday of the year that we got to spend time together. Ah, now I don’t even know when I’ll get to see him again, but I do hope it’s soon.
Anyways, I finally had the chance to dine at Ippudo, the famous place that everyone heads to for ramen in Singapore!
Gyoza to start my Japanese meal is almost always essential! IMO, you can never go wrong with Gyozas!
I usually wouldn’t order pork buns plus it did not help that it looked completely unattractive on the menu page. Luckily Jose was there and he has this thing for ordering things that people usually wouldn’t! and boy, this was really gooooood. the pork melts in your mouth and the bun was yum!
You have got to try the original Ippudo Tao ramen : Tao Kuro! The noodles are thicker and chewier than normal ramen with their special blend miso base that makes the soup real tasty!
Jose ordered the Ippudo Shiro which has a much lighter broth as compared to the Tao Kuro. If you’re a fan of flavourful broth, do give this a skip!
It’s not a cheap meal, but well worth every penny because we can never get ramen as good as this in Malaysia ;(
There’s two Ippudo outlets in Singapore, one in Mandarin Gallery, and the other at UE Square. The one that we visited was the one at UE square, around Robertson Quay.
Opening hours:
Mondays to Thursdays
11.30am-3pm
(Last order at 2.30pm)
5.30pm to midnight
(Last order at 11pm)
Fridays to Saturdays
11.30am-3pm
(Last order at 2.30pm)
5.30pm to 2am
(Last order at 1am)
Sundays
11.30am to 11pm
(Last order 10pm)
Ippudo Tao
207 River Valley Road
#01-55/56
UE Square
Singapore 238275
Just found another place for amazing Margherita pizza – Chinoz, BSC!
Here’s to my final few days of waking up late and lazing around in bed. I’m officially employed!
My Elephant, Sri Hartamas
We had dinner the other day at My Elephant, the Sri Hartamas branch. I’ve heard that this place has got the best thai food in town! Well, I can’t judge it because this is the first time I’m having thai food in KL but food here was pretty good, and spicy too!
i had the Thai Milk Tea which was on their special drinks menu but it really wasn’t any special. I didnt really like it!
Mieng Kum : This is highly addictive! Unlike the korean tradition of wrapping meat in cabbage, the thais wrap nuts, chilli, lime, dried prawns and sticky sweet plum sauce to top it all up. Crunchy with a sweet and sour punch!
Stir-fried KangKung with Chilli
Tom Som: This is their best seller soup (what? not even tom yum? nope!) One word of advice is to ask for it to be less spicy. Joseph loves his spicy food and he has a very good tolerance level for spiciness, but even this was proving to be a challenge for him.
Green curry: This was the best green curry that I’ve ever tasted!! It’s creamy and real flavourful at the same time! Delicious!
We also had the squid tempura because I can’t take food that are too spicy!
We were actually pretty stuffed from our meals but I couldn’t resist trying some of their desserts, so I made Joseph get the mango sticky rice, and I had the thab thim krop. Both was pretty good!
We’ve had 4 drinks together with our meal and the bill came up to about 150 bucks. Great quality with that came together with a reasonable price tag 
My Elephant
Jalan Sri Hartamas 8,
Taman Sri Hartamas.
010 220 1283
La Belle Miette, Melbourne
If you’re looking for the best macarons in Melbourne, this is where you’ll find them! I’ve tried Pierre Herme back when I was in Paris and I’d have to say that the quality of the macarons here are comparable to those of Pierre Herme’s!
Sweetness and texture is always consistent every single time I take a bite into these little babies. One year later and it is still exactly like how I remembered them to be.
My favourite flavour has got to be the chocolate one made with 72% cocoa! Other than that, I also absolutely adore the salted caramel, hazelnut and raspberry ones!
La Belle Miette
30 Hardware Lane,
Melbourne CBD.
03 9024 4528
Chez Dre, South Melbourne
IMO, Chez Dre is one of the top brunch spots in Melbourne. They are always consistent with the quality of their food. Also, pretty and delicious desserts to satisfy that sweet tooth craving after a good brunch! Their menu changes quite frequently though. Each time I’ve visited this place, there has always been a change of menu. How I wish that they were still serving their Jalapeno corn bread!
Croissant with scrambled egg and sausages
The vegie breakfast platter(with added smoked salmon) was huge! After being accustomed to Malaysian portions, I was finding it rather difficult to finish this platter myself! The steak and bacon sandwich was mouth watering and drool worthy!
Be sure to try the chocolate tart before you leave this place. It is the best dessert in the house!
Donna Hay’s Pavlova Recipe
The last time I tried making pavlova, I failed because I did not use an electrical whisk! Thankfully, I managed to churn out an eton mess instead. Oh yeah, my manual hand whisking skills is very lousy! but honestly, to make a pavlova, you have got to use an electrical whisk for best results.
A good pavlova has got to have a crispy shell and a moist marshmallow-ish kinda centre!
Before going into the oven
After
This time, I am proud to report that my pavlova was a success! The texture and sweetness was perfect! The fruit combination was tropically inspired to give it a little sourness so that the whole thing does not taste too sweet (because pavlova is simply just egg white and sugar).
I love Donna Hay’s recipes, they are fool-proof and not complicated at all. So far I have not been disappointed by her recipes!
Donna Hay’s Pavlova
Adapted from here.
- 150ml eggwhite (approximately 4 eggs)
- 1 cup (220g) caster (superfine) sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch), sifted
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar
- 1 cup (250ml) single (pouring) cream
- ½ cup passionfruit pulp (approximately 4 passionfruit)
- 2 mangoes, cut to cubes
- 3 kiwis, cut to cubes
- 1/2 cup pistachios, chopped to tiny bits.
Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F). Place the eggwhite in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk until stiff peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, whisking well, until the mixture is stiff and glossy.
Add the cornflour and vinegar and whisk until just combined. Shape the mixture into an 18cm round on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Reduce oven to 120°C (250°F) and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes. Turn the oven off and allow the pavlova to cool completely in the oven. Whisk the cream until soft peaks form. Spread over the pavlova, top with fruits and nuts and serve immediately. Serves 8–10.
* You’ll know when the meringue is stiff and glossy because the mixture will have tripled in volume and stands up when the beaters are lifted.
* The low heat puffs up the meringue while the long cooking time dries it out to give you a lovely crisp shell.
* Store your pavlova, undressed, in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
