A Surprise Birthday Party

I've never organised a surprise birthday party. So what made me plan one?

Give a guess - I don't just plan surprise parties for anyone. It just had to be that special someone :)

Yes, it was JF's birthday on Friday and I wanted to do something for him. He's been pretty busy so I thought a surprise party might cheer him up and give him a chance to catch up with all our friends.

Cool, so I wanted to plan a party and surprise him. But where was I going to hold it? Thank God I already had a place in mind. It's a cafe I've long heard about, always intended to go but haven't had chance to. So I decided I had better make my way down to this happening place (they even have a blog!) before I miss out on all the fun.

Pitstop Cafe is the place and I think it's just perfect for birthday parties. That's because it's a boardgames cafe that serve food and drinks and ice cream too. And when I say board games, I do mean ALOT of boardgames. It's pretty interesting - they have imported board games and very interesting and fun games they buy when they're travelling overseas.

We played the common Taboo of course. And then went on to play Cranium (see above picture). It was incredibly fun! This boardgame aims to make you use most parts of your brain; thus the name Cranium (a section of the human brain). It's hard to explain but you'd understand what I mean if you play it yourself! :)

What's a birthday party without a cake ya? I baked JF a devil's food cake last year and decided to go with a brownie cake this time.


picture courtesty of sonic - my best friend lina's bf (he's really talented!)

It's no surprise that I chose chocolate again eh? Haha.... well he liked the cake and so did everyone else so that's good! It disappeared pretty fast:



The food at the cafe was not too bad, but it's nothing too fantastic. But I guess the focal point's the board games so I think it works out all right. I liked my black pepper chicken chop:



Though I thought the fries were a tad too salty but that's just me! Liked the cherry tomatoes, carrots & broccoli served on the side though; told ya I am a veggie lover :)

Jules had the cattle cut:



She said it was quite good. It does look good - especially the sauce. Yummy. Oh and the thing is, this place doesn't have service charge. And they have a special package for those who are playing games at the cafe. It's $12.90 for a main course, with soup & drink & 2 hours worth of board games. How cool is that?

We all had great great fun. Thanks Pitstop Cafe for making JF's birthday a happening one! Now I know why everyone keeps raving about the place. Here's us huddling up for a group shot:



These are the people I love dearly - and in case you're wondering, yes, that's JF beside me in black (bottom far right). All in all, the party was a success! Hurray :)

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Pitstop Cafe
14B Circular Road
Tel: 6536-5383

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The Baker's in the Papers?

And so, I appeared in the newspapers yesterday.

Was I pleased? Haha, more like very amused and shocked at the size of my photo!

Those of you who read the article would very well know what I mean. And for posterity, I posed with 'myself'. Yes, it seems rather shameless! But allow me to continue to amuse others just for laughs, if not, for fun:



Hahahaa.... I think my brownies was the main attraction though. I baked them especially for the shoot. And it certain was heavy balancing my laptop (with that plate of brownies) on my right palm. Coincidentally, the photographer was my former coursemate back in my mass comm days at NP so it wasn't that much of a hassle or rather, it just made things easier. Funny how Singapore's so small ya?

So anyway, I've been receiving text messages from friends who saw me in the papers and it's been interesting. Even my former lecturer texted me to say he saw me. So now you know that the whole of Singapore actually reads the papers. Ha!

But of course, this isn't that much big a deal. Given a choice, I'd rather, in this lifetime, be in the papers because of something good or inspirational that I did, amongst all else. Perhaps, through my love for writing, baking and cooking, I can touch the hearts of others and maybe inspire more people in more ways than one.

You can say that I have big dreams. But mine are not worldly - I seek not for fame and fortune, but just for the ability to change the world in whatever small way I can, to put smiles on the faces of others, to spread the love that I have. It's amazing how a small little foodblog that I started about a year ago can do so much. Through this wee site, I have made friends from around the world, locally, and got so many valuable experiences. And now, I'm in the newspapers. Who knows what's next?

Only God knows.

Nam Sing Hokkien Fried Mee

Nam Sing Hokkien Fried Mee at Old Airport Road

Old Airport Road's hawker centre has been a popular haunt of mine lately. Despite always leaving the place with bbq chicken scented hair and sweaty clothes, I still insist on going back there again and again. This hawker centre is a classic. You know how the same goes for Maxwell Food Centre? These places have history, and most of the time, the stalls are passed down from generation to generation. I guess food does taste more delicious (I shan't discuss if it's psychological!) when one knows how much time and effort was spent crafting the recipe, or maybe finding it.

I'm not sure if you have heard of this absolutely famous fried hokkien mee stall. It has been featured on Makansutra once. Called Nam Sing, this humble stall doesn't look like much but its food speaks for itself. There are many versions of fried hokkien mee out there. But the one that Nam Sing serves is a tad different - he uses rice vermicelli with egg noodles instead of the usual thick white & yellow egg noodles. Nam Sing's fried hokkien mee is light and uber tasty. Check it out:



It has alot of seafood as you can see. I really enjoyed eating this. It's cheap too (as with most hawker food), at $3 a plate. You know, I've been wanting to savour their yummy noodles since forever but the other times when i was eating at Old Airport Road, it was closed by 8pm++. I think it's because they had finished selling all their noodles!

Anyway, I brought Amy here on Tuesday and she loved it. She also tried this same noodles and was sold. She even bought a Singapore cookbook for her mum. It certainly is highly interesting finding out what other non-locals think of our food, culture, atomosphere etc. Haha but I find it amusing that the dear girl has yet to try our chicken rice. I told her I'd have to bring her to the one at Maxwell Road Food Centre - the stall which Anthony Bourdain patronised when he was dining there. Pardon my bias but if Bourdain says it's good, it's good! :)

Well have you ever?

Have you ever come across innovative products that blow your mind? I know I have. And most of the time, it's got nothing to do with food. But lately, I've had some interesting encounters with really creative versions of edible products.

Take Nutella for example. JF brought this Nutella Snack & Drink thing from his trip to Europe and you should have seen the look on my face! I absolutely love Nutella and was rather tickled when he showed me this compartmentalised Nutella & Drink version of something I'm so familiar with. I mean, I don't know if it's right to call it weird or just plain intriguing. On second thought, I think it's ingenius. So now you can have your nutella, and juice to quench your thirst too. And both come in one convenient package. Ah, the wonders of the human mind.

And just when you thought that was interesting enough, wait till you see this:



I really don't know what to say. I mean, there's a thin line between freaky & fun. I do understand that it can be dangeous for kids to handle a hot applicance like an oven but surely it can't be that bad? Who eats cake which haven't been baked? Unless it's cheesecake or something totally NOT raw.

The weirdest thing is that I found this package at Art Friends, this art & craft supply store at Bras Basah Road. It wasn't even a baking shop or a supermarket! Oh man, what's the world coming to? I really should buy that and try it for myself. Just hope that I don't get poisoned!

Talk about being inventive. Alas, I don't think even Ferran Adria or Pierre Herme would approve of this.

Ohio Buckeye Candy

I made these gems - don't they look interesting?

Do you love Reese's peanut butter cups?

Are you one of those people who have no qualms eating peanut butter by the spoonfuls? Then you have to try some Ohio Buckeye Candy!

No, you can't buy them here (or at least, I don't anywhere that sells them) but you can make your own!

I'll have to thank Amy for telling me about these peanut butter chocolate candy. You see, she's from Ohio and is here on an exchange programme at NUS. I hosted her and Krisanna two weekends ago and we had such a blast!

Any how, Amy happened to love peanut butter as much as I do and we were just discussing about how wonderful it is when she let me in on the wondrous Ohio Buckeye Candy.

Here in Singapore, it's not that easy to find Reese's peanut butter cups so you can imagine how excited I was to hear of something similar I can make on my own.

Buckeye is actually a fruit of the Buckeye (Horse Chestnut) Tree found in the States I think. It was seriously the first time I've ever heard of it!

Thanks Amy for introducing the Ohio Buckeye Candy to me! It is so easy to make. Well it can be a little messy when dipping the chocolate but it's worth the work, nonetheless. And just a short disclaimer - this tends to be rather sweet so don't try it if you don't have a sweet tooth. Or you can cut down on the sugar. But then I'd suggest you freeze the peanut butter balls first, before dipping in chocolate, or else it won't hold. The recipe here makes alot of balls so I halved it. Have fun ya'll! Try making some buckeye candy and share the love:

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Ohio Buckeye Candy

Mix together 3 cups creamy peanut butter, 1 and a half sticks softened butter and 2 lbs. confectioner's sugar. Form into small balls. Using a toothpick, dip balls into 16 oz. melted dipping chocolate until almost covered, leaving some of the peanut butter mixture exposed on top. Refrigerate. Enjoy!

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P.S. I know some of you have trouble converting the measurements. Here's a very useful link: Measurement Conversion Calculator.

Easiest pudding ever

I like puddings and I like bread and naturally, I would love bread pudding. The amazing thing about this pudding is that it's so simple yet so delicious. Even a non-baker can put this together in a blink of an eye!

Using the simple bread pudding recipe from William Sonoma, I made myself some bread pudding a few days ago using loaves of Gardenia bread I brought home from the camp. They sponsored bread for our breakfasts at the camp and there was just so many leftovers! But I was more than happy to bring home free loaves of Gardenia bread :)

The loaves were about to expire soon so making bread pudding with the bread was a good idea! And my sis was happy of course, she loves this pudding:



I too, have been enjoying a slice of bread pudding for breakfast the past few days. And I'm hooked! Seriously, you have to try making some yourself if you love puddings and bread.

The recipe calls for baguettes but it's no problem if you use normal sliced bread. I think this pudding is good enough eaten on its own. No need to garnish it with icing sugar. Unless you have a really really sweet tooth of course. Eat this with a cup of mocha. It's lovely...

Chocolat Noir

Remember how much I raved about Cailler chocolates the last time my aunt brought some back from her trip to Switzerland? It was definitely unforgettable, that chocolate. So unforgettable that I made JF promise to buy some back for me from his recent trip to Switzerland and Italy with his family. Haha, I actually told him that he had better not come back without some Cailler. I think he really took me seriously. He bought 3 bars of Cailler for me. All noir! Yay! I was elated. hahaaa boy do I sound like a kid right now. I guess it's easy to get into my good books - all you have to do is to get me some good dark chocolate =p

Anyway he got me my favourite eclats de cacao and the 74% dark. I'm still eating them slowly; wanna make it last since I can't get Cailler here! Look at the cacao nibs:



It's heavenly I tell you. These chocolates rock my world. Why don't they bring Cailler here? Or maybe it is available here but I'm not aware of it. Anyone who knows if it's sold here, please tell me! In anycase, if you happen to be going to Switzerland, you have to give these a try and don't forget to buy some for me! heehee... oh, and do try this other brand Villars. It's nice too. Ahhh Singapore should have more European chocolate brands. We chocolate lovers would love that!

8-hour cookie baking marathon

Heya! I'm back! I miss sharing about my food escapades with you all.... so it's good to be back. The YISS (Youth in the Spirit Seminar) ended yesterday and it was a great success. I feel so recharged and am glad I decided to be a facilitator once again. I made lots of new friends and I had fun manning my 'cafe booth' during the Chillax segment of the camp.

Okay Chillax is actually a 2 hour 'activity' during the camp that we have specially prepared for all the participants. It's kinda like time for them to rest & relax. There are booths where you can have your nails done, get a good massage, buy stuff from the flea market, play soccer or table tennis etc. And for those who have been reading this foodblog long enough would know that we had this last year too, including a cafe booth! Of which I'm in charge yet again of course.

And so this year, I decided to bake more cookies to sell. The camp started last Thursday and that means I had to bake on Wednesday. Since I wanted to ensure that everyone could get a taste of my cookies, I had to bake ALOT of them. Did I end up baking alot? Indeed I did. I started baking at 1pm on Wednesday and ended only at 9pm! Haha, okay cookies ain't that difficult so why did I take so long? Thanks to my good 'ol small oven of course. I really should get a bigger oven!

But anyway, I had fun baking the cookies because I also got a chance to teach lil timmy some baking tips as well. He was so curious and kept on asking me what I was doing. He's so inspired that he wants to be a baker when he grows up. Awww.... Man, don't you just love kids? I know I do. :)

On another note altogether, let me just say how much I've come to appreciate the concept of 'mise en place'. It's actually a French term referring to having all the ingredients necessary for a dish prepared and ready to combine up to the point of cooking.

Now, I never really used to practise mise en place properly and always ended up being nagged by my mum about the big mess in the kitchen. So this time, I tried to do things systematically and guess what? It worked. Everything went like clockwork. I'm quite proud of myself. It used to be rather daunting to bake or cook a large quantity but I suppose practice makes perfect.

You know how much I love baking! And the thing about it is the more I bake, the more I love it. It's a skill that I've come to love and I'm keen on being a good baker. I know that I have no prior qualifications but if I work hard enough I will fulfill my bakery dream soon enough.

Anyway I've put together a photo essay of sorts with regards to the cookie baking marathon i had! enjoy....



Ligo raisins are my favourite choice for baking. I used these to bake my oatmeal raisin cookies.




Check out the aftermath.




what's that? it's peanut butter cookie dough! it smells so good i tell you. but you gotta be nuts about nuts first. hehe..




my oatmeal raisin cookies getting ready to be baked in a 180 degree celcius oven.




Ta-dah! Freshly baked oatmeal raisin cookies. I seriously think that oats are sexy. hahaa don't ask me why. they just are. :p




selling my cookies at the camp




I just named my peanut butter cookies "Nuts about Nuts". Trying too hard to be creative I guess. Don't laugh.




I named these "Healthy Oatie Delight". Hey they are healthy! The recipe called for 2 cups of sugar (gasp!!) but I used only half the amount. That's because the raisins would already give the cookies some sweetness... 2 cups sugar is just overkill. And hey these cookies contain wheatgerm! beat that!




Last but not least, my chocolate chunk cookies which I just christened "Chunky Chocs". Phew, talk about a great cookie challenge. I think this 'marathon' kinda made up for me not baking so often during school term.

Allrighty, hope you enjoyed the pictures... laterz!

Tanjung Balai Mission Trip

adorable indonesian kids giving us a warm farewell before we left

This holidays for me, has been a very fulfilling one. I've learnt alot. As you guys would know, I came back from the Tanjung Balai Mission Trip last Thursday and you know what? The experience I got was priceless. I was there to teach English to some of the students but I felt it was more like a cultural immersion trip. Yes, I did have some delicious Indonesian food (some of which I will show you at the end of the post) and we did have to make do with squat toilets that don't come with a flush and bathing with cold cold water with a pail. But what I brought back with me was something so much more intangible.

Why? Because I find that most of the time, when we are in our comfort zone too often, we tend to take things for granted. A smile becomes so rare and a frown seems easier. Time passes so fast here. When I was there for 4 days, every second seemed like eternity but in a good way. I got to ponder and reflect and just soak up the scenery in all its glory. Mingling with the locals were a bonus. They're just so hospitable! I took alot of pictures but I will show you a few (esp since this is a foodblog!), so enjoy...



Aren't the kids so cute in their costumes? They performed an ensemble piece for us. Awww....




This is the wooden buses we traveled in. It's so cute and hardy! It can travel over bumpy terrain with ease. Good stuff. I like sticking my head out of the window to enjoy the cool breeze.



This is St Emmanuel School, and we stayed at the dormitories here.



Some photography shots for you. This was taken in the night when it was pitch black. I relied on the bright moon and slow shutter speed to capture this. I really like it. Looks haunting doesn't it?



Notice how the cat blends in with the background? It's such a pretty cat! Here is she with her kittens:



I managed to catch a beautiful sunrise when I was there. here's one of a peeking sun:



The sun when out in its full glory:



Beautiful ain't it? Anyway here's some food pictures:


snacks prepared for us by the locals

We ate lunch at this pseudo kelong on the last day, before we headed home. It was delicious I tell ya! I managed to snap a few quick shots before the food disappeared:


yummy prawns


huge chilli crabs with lots of flesh and roe


some fish, not sure which one is it though.


sambal sotong (squid). very yummy!


tasty fried chicken

So there you have it, my first mission trip in photos and words. But before I go, here's one shot I like alot because it reminds me of how blessed I am and how easy it is to be caught in the quicksand of a robotic life. I will forever remember that despite how tough life here seems to be, it is worse for others elsewhere and that if they can grin and bear and manage to smile so brightly with whatever they have, then I can too:


Say Cheese!

Here's something I came up with and I want to share it with ya'll :

"It's time to dump your inhibitions, flirt with dreams, and intoxicate yourself with the elixir of life"

So smile to a stranger, savour each grain of rice and haha share that bar of chocolate with someone! :) Cheers!

Drinks with a twist... and such

This weekend has been so awesome. I volunteered to be a local host to two exchange students Amy & Krisanna who are from the States and it has been so much fun! These girls are from the University of North Carolina and they're here on a Southeast Asian Summer Exchange Programme. It's kinda like a cultural immersion programme. They'll be going to Malaysia, China and Thailand too. Anyway both of them stayed over at my place last night and in case you're wondering, yes I did bake them something - chocolate chunk cookies of course. It's cool that they're big on desserts and chocolates because they liked the cookies and they were enjoying my cookbooks and the droolsome pictures!

We were supposed to go blading at East Coast Park yesterday but it started pouring so heavily! But we were already around that area so I took them to Katong and Joo Chiat. These places are known for their quaint Peranakan styled shophouses and delicious Peranakan food etc, and so it was perfect. They really love our local food especially satay, popiah, chee cheong fun, goreng pisang & min jiang kueh. We explored the whole area and walked so much! Even I discovered places I never knew existed - like the peranakan museum of sorts, on top of a peranakan restaurant.

Though it was only 2 days, they've been such great company! One thing that gets them very excited is Mr Bean. Yep, those soy milk outlets peppered throughout our island. The ones that sold the soy ice cream I wrote about the other time? They love the icy soy mocha drink! I tried it for the first time yesterday, got them to try it too and it's now their favourite. Haha, I also recommended my favourite papaya soy milk blend from Mr Bean and Amy really likes it. So people, you know what drink to get the next time you're thirsty and there's a Mr Bean near by! (Mr Bean's really everywhere now... we always found one whereever we went!)

Speaking of drinks, here's another unique one:



Double Vanilla Float from Killiney Kopitiam. I really like this alot beacause they serve the ice cream with iced milk tea instead of coffee. It's really refreshing! It's sold at the Marina Square outlet but I'm not sure if they have it elsewhere. It's quite cheap though, only $2.80.

Don't you think it's funny how you live in a certain area long enough but still keep finding new things that surprise you? I find that happening to me all the time and especially this weekend. I love to play tour guide and it has been a blast bringing Amy & Krisanna around Singapore. I so wanna do to UNC for the exchange programme now! I'll miss them when they go back home...,

hey girls, if you're reading this, I just want to say Thank You for the great company! I learnt alot about how things are where you're from and I hope you enjoy the rest of your time here. Keep in touch & bon appetit! :)

Wanton Noodles

yummy wanton noodles from joo chiat road.

I'm back home from my mission trip to Tanjung Balai in Indonesia. It was an enriching experience. Have lots to share! But am cropping the photos right now. Will blog about it soon though. :)

To digress a little, allow me to rave about a place I just discovered recently. Was actually looking for a place to lunch with my sis after attending mass last Sunday and I suggested Joo Chiat. Indeed it's a place I've only just started exploring extensively and I like what I see. So much good food. Thing is I'm always only at the other end of Joo Chiat, the side nearer to Katong.

But as they say, it's better late than never eh? So I passed by this place while both of us were searching for something to fill our rumbling tummies:



I didn't feel like eating prawn noodles so we both got a bowl of wanton noodles each. At only $3, it was certainly worth it. It came with a bowl of soup with 5 wantons! Yummy I ate every ounce and drop of this plate of noodles. Was I sold? Yes I was... But that's just me, perhaps I don't eat wanton noodles enough? Try it for yourself and let me know what you think. It's at 354 Joo Chiat Road.

Just to let you all know, I'm going to be really busy preparing for the upcoming YISS (Youth in the Spirit Seminar) that's from the 15 to 18 June, so I'll be posting less. I'll def. be back and just a heads up - you peeps can await my bake sale that's starting soon! :)

Balestier Road's yummy snacks

Morning ya'll! I'm just about to leave my house for Tanjung Balai in Indonesia to go on a 4-day youth mission trip. I'm going to be teaching the kids there English. But before I go, I simply have to share these with ya:



Tau sar piah! These snacks are the bomb. I've eaten many from different shops but I think this one at 611 Balestier Road is the best. The crust is firm & crisp, not too thick and not too thin. It doesn't fall apart once you take a bite. Which is awesome! This is how it looks on the inside:



Tau sar piah are usually filled with 'tau sar', sometimes it's sweet and sometimes it's salty. I think it's made out of green bean paste? Correct me if I'm wrong ya? Anyway please do go to Balestier Road and get some. They have another outlet at Century Sq basement 1 too!

The next snack I definitely have to rave about is the chicken pies at 603 Balestier Road...



They sell such yummy pies that I couldn't resist having one all by myself even though I had lunch just before. Everything from the flaky pastry to the soft and flavourful filling was just right:



Fantastic. I usually don't like eating puff pastry type of pies but this one was different. I'm craving for one right now. haha...

okies, gotta run - i'll be back on Thursday so see ya then! Have an awesome and delicious week ahead you guys! :)

I L-O-V-E homemade brownies

my homemade brownies cooling on a rack

Often have I had this question posed to me: "What's your favourite food?"

Many a time, I give a brief pause before answering.

My regular readers would know why. Thing is, I enjoy every food for what it is and have no particular favourites. I am not a picky eater and I get a kick out of a good and tasty meal.

But if I have to give a definite answer, then I suppose it'll be quite predictable. I'm sure you won't be surprised when I say brownies. Well, I love chocolate and I won't deny that it does make me go weak in the knees. Dark chocolate especially. So why don't I just say that chocolate is my favourite food? That's because sometimes, when used in the right way, chocolate creates magic - magic so wonderful that it's unforgettable.

"Unforgettable" - that's the key word. When you say something is unforgettable, it usually is cast in a positive light. It goes the same for my favourite food. I dare say, I love any dish that's unforgettable. And for that matter, I would declare that I love homemade brownies that are so good, that it's hard to forget.

As a baker, I know that the amount of satisfaction gained when others enjoy my fruits of labour is quite worth it. Baker's pride aside, can I just say that I love my brownies? At the risk of sounding pompous, I do know that the majority of those who've tried my brownies have asked for seconds. I really don't know how I came to baking brownies in the first place but I know that it's my signature dish. I have friends who've missed my brownies since tasting it a few years back. I really wish I had a huge oven so I could just bake some for all my friends and distribute it right now!

So, what's so special about my brownies? I cannot say that it's because of a secret recipe because the recipe's not really secret. It's actually a very basic and common recipe. But it's a recipe I've stuck with since I tried it for the first time. It's Hershey's Best Brownies recipe. Why do I insist on using this recipe time and again? That's because it gives me a moist and chocolate rich brownie that's heavenly and divine to eat. I usually cut down on the sugar to give it that dark chocolate flavour. I also seldom include walnuts and such. I like my brownies simple and I find that even I can't stop at one. I like to think that my brownies taste good because I bake them with love. Haha, okay that's pretty cheesy but it's true! You know what they say... give the same recipe to different cooks, and the end result is as different as purple and yellow. Hmmm, okay no one said it - it came from me. :p

Before I end, here's another brownie picture for Vidya! She requested pictures of my brownies. The poor girl really misses our local food. Vidya, I'll bake them brownies for you when you come back to Singapore ya?


put brownies in front of me and everything else transcends into a blur

Me and my brownies, together we will take over the world! - (ahem, in my dreams)...