dining at orchard central 30 Jan 2010

she wanted to try thai food since she thought she could already handle spicy stuff

headed to orchard central and checked out the directory, before proceeding to check out levels 7 and 8. the outdoor escalator ride up 3 levels was super scary for him, got him all tensed up and sweating by the time they reached solid ground. anyway, back to the main story.

central thai was having a 1 for 1 promo, so they decided to dine there. ready to order, he raised his hand and signalled to a skinhead staff on 2 different occasions. both times, the skinhead saw him but ignored him totally, and moved to stand outside the restaurant. however, when the sexily dressed lady at the next table requested for drinks, tissue papers, skinhead responded very swiftly. wow for service. not for slighting customers.

seafood pad thai $9.90++


green curry beef $9.90++ - thick and very flavorsome curry, made them neglect the pad thai altogether.


time for the bill, $11.65, and the waitress told them that credit payment was only available for $20 and above, and that they didn't accept NETS. had to go all the way down to the ground floor from the 8th level because he didn't have enough cash on hand. it was a bad experience overall, especially with skinhead, will not go back again.

proceeded to the mussel guys next door to complete formalities for dinner. service was much better than the one at vivo city, and they had 1 for 1 mussels for any credit card. ordered belgian mussels and baked cheese mussels on her request.

baked cheese mussels - tough and chewy, not as good as the juicy ones he had at hong kong buffet, lawton, oklahoma, united states. haha.


his preference of picture, as opposed to hers just above


belgian mussels - pot was smaller than the one at vivo city, but the mussels were still delicious. tender and sweet, finished this up with satisfaction before chewing on the baked mussels.


total damage was $30.45...

stirfried pork and meatball soup 29 Jan 2010

stir fried pork with salted bean sauce


meatball vegetable soup - finally used up the remaining vegetables in making this soup. one of her many diet meals in recent

chicken salad and capsicum beef 28 Jan 2010

met the wife at the supermarket to pay for groceries, and then headed back to make dinner.

chicken salad - made up of freshly removed corn kernels, diced carrots, celery and chicken breast. very fulfilling, but without the sense of guilt.


stir fried beef with capsicum and salted bean sauce - capsicums seem to be the standard companion for beef over here at the moment. and he likes his capsicums cooked longer.

lunch on 27 Jan 2010

took half day leave to settle some matters on 27 Jan 2010. reached home to see lunch ready on the table. wonderful.

steamed brinjal topped with preserved olive vegetables and pork floss. great with white rice, love the soft and tender texture of the steamed brinjal.


also had sweet potato mash for dessert. peeled, steamed and mashed, before adding butter to complete the dessert. simple but tasty.

brinjal with spiced pork cubes, asparagus with chicken thigh, rojak soup 26 Jan 2010

brinjal with spiced pork cubes - cut reasonably large chunks of the brinjal, scooped the pork cubes out of the can and layered onto the brinjal. put it to steam for 15 minutes. maybe you should try this one of these days, cheap to buy, simple to make, good to eat. any savoury topping would probably do.


asparagus with chicken thigh slices - this was the first try at color retention. peeled the asparagus and blanched for around 10 minutes, before setting them in cool water. chicken was marinated with salt, pepper and some corn flour. cooked till opaque in the wok before adding the asparagus for a quick stir-fry.


rojak soup - why? essence of chicken, pork ribs, corn, carrots, potatoes and celery were all used. somehow the sweetness of the corn was not evident in the soup, it smelt more of the chicken essence and a little bit of celery. carrot was cooked enough to be mashed easily by the tongue, oozing sweetness while at it.

black pepper beef, kangkong in bean sauce 25 Jan 2010

something caught his eye while pushing the trolley. marbled packet of meat for $3 odd. really stood out from the rest of the packets, so there it went onto his trolley.


black pepper beef - sprinkled 2 teaspoons of soy sauce onto the beef, and heated some green bell peppers in the fry-pan until slightly browned. cooked each slice of beef on medium heat for around 30 seconds on each side. for the final step, got all of them into the pan and added 2 teaspoons of black pepper sauce and stirred until evenly coated before serving.


kangkong in broad bean sauce - heated some garlic in oil until fragrant, then added soaked dried shrimps and continued cooking until the flavour was released. threw in the kangkong and cooked on medium heat, adding 2 dollops of spicy broad bean sauce to taste.

coke wings and egg soup

egg soup with potatoes and tomatoes - forgot to stir and ended up having some clumpy chunks of egg. soup was bland, so the only reprieve's probably that it seems healthy.


sin-loaded coke chicken wings - she used a huge scoop of sugar, 2 glasses of coke, salt, light and dark soy sauces, can you feel that he's feeling? marinated the chicken overnight with salt, pepper and some chinese rice wine. after which, the chicken parts were boiled for around 10 minutes before removing from heat. next was to cook the sauce and throw the chicken in to soak in the color and flavour. stirred on high heat until the gravy became thick. next step, dig in!

pizzahut on 23 Jan 2010

gave the cherry blossom pizza a try, $22.50++. citibank cards get 25% off. shaped like a flower and seemed appealing on the overall. the meat floss topping reminded them of her recent dishes. you get pineapples, bbq meat bits, pork floss and a cheese stuffed crusted. each slice actually seemed like a piece of bun that may be purchased from your bakery, nice to eat but perhaps too expensive for him.


seafood vongole - $10.90++ . there was another citibank promo, $12++ for a personal pan pizza and a pasta perfetto. unfortunately, the confused waitress offered them a choice of either seafood or chicken. in the end, her mix up cost them 1 personal pan pizza, wonderful. not.


"completed" the set with lemon tea and cream of mushroom for $3.50++


cream of mushroom

rainbow pork loin and honey charred wings 22 Jan 2010

rainbow pork loin - not sure how to translate this, it's chinese name is 渔香肉丝, but since it looked so colorful, he decided to name it this way. carrots had to be grated to get the fine strips you see, and they added color and sweetness to the dish. other ingredients were onions, green bell pepper, broad bean sauce


honey coated (or charred) chicken wings - this was supposed to be caramel coated, but she mistakened rock salt for rock sugar, and realised that sugar was actually non-existent. ended up using honey to coated the pre-fried chicken wings before throwing them into the wok again to seal the flavour (according to her). alas, honey appeared to have low tolerance of heat, and the surface got charred just a while into cooking. still edible though, most likely thanks to her 4-hr marinade of the chicken wings. also realised that frying chicken wings in a non-stick pan saves oil and doesn't stick the chicken wings to its surface, unlike using a wok, where you have to keep adding oil, and the stuck-on bits make it a hassle to wash.

mashed potato with minced meat, braised pork loin 20 Jan 2010

mashed potato with minced meat - potato, butter, salt and pepper for the mash, before mixing in marinated mince meat. sounded a little weird, but fortunately it still tasted ok. he still like smooth whipped/mashed potatoes better though.


stir-fried pork loin, braised with peking sauce. a packet 6 frozen pork loins cost $4.70. good to keep and probably also economical to have, since it can make multiple meals. a little too salty, but with tasted good with plain white rice. she bought many different sauces in recent, expect more braised food....

curry chicken 19 Jan 2010

chocolate mooncake - made the night before, ready to eat in the morning. chocolate flavoured skin with chocolate core. this was had in conjunction with some oats, milk and 4 slices of bread stuffed with pork floss. very filling.


came home after a gruelling physical test, washed up the soiled clothes, took his shower while she touched up her dish.

curry chicken - everything was pre-cooked before putting into the curry mixture. potatoes were soft enough, but the chicken bones still had raw blood. spicy curry made him perspire again, had to go into the shower again... tired and sleepy......

dinner on 18 Jan 2010

had a simple meal this day. his favourite tofu. she chopped up square blocks of the tofu and topped with marinated minced meat mixed with diced carrots and pork floss, before sending it into the steaming pot. perhaps the pork floss should have been added last. carrots were a nice addition to this dish, gifting it a tinge of sweetness.

close up of the toufu dish


a more mundane view of it

caramel topped pudding 17 Jan 2010

the blur of eggs, flour, milk was managed by her, while he heated the sugar. caramel was poured into the molding bowl (just a normal bowl actually), before she poured the pudding into it. see the pock marks on the pudding? probably occurred because the pudding was steamed on high.

somehow after steaming, the hardened caramel became watery, that's why you see the top layer and the "moat". or it could have been because she flipped the pudding out before allowing it to cool. they'll probably try it another time, too much sugar intake in recent. she seemed to have been spurred on by the warm afternoon reception of her mooncakes.

caramel topped pudding


slice of caramel pudding fresh from the fridge on the morning of 18 Jan 2010

mooncaking revisited - 16 Jan 2010

slept the day away, in an attempt to drive fatigue away. late evening, he went over to aunt's place to help her fill up some forms, while wife prepared the stuff for mooncaking again.

returned home to help her with stirring of the mixtures, cooking, kneading until everything was ready to be molded.

this time round she not only measured each ingredient, she also measured each piece of skin and filling. they had yam and durian paste today, which was to be wrapped in a ball of matcha filling, before wrapping again with the skin. the final move, to put a stamp on each.

portrait of the square mooncakes


a view of the round ones


her perspective

brunch on 16 Jan 2010

koka black pepper crab noodles, it's been a long time since they last had instant noodles.


the same minced meat patty topped with pork floss and olive vegetable. without the tofu though, and that decision seemed to make this dish on the salty side.


there were also boiled salted eggs again, but they were still watery inside. he only consumed the yolks and threw the whites away. wastage again. sigh.

salted egg dou miao and olive vegetable tofu

he returned home from work after wasting 2.5hrs for a meeting that was cancelled last minute. the only reprieve was to return home to good food for both the stomach and soul.

steamed tofu topped with minced meat, olive vegetables and meat floss. the savoury toppings went well with the bland tofu. he loves tofu. 80cents for the slab, and total cost of this dish is probably less than $2.


dou miao with minced meat and salted egg. another good tasting novel dish to him. however, this was made very wastefully. bought a new packet of dou miao, as she had left the previous packet in the chiller for 2 days and it had wilted quite badly. wasted $1.30. the eggs were cooked in water, losing most of the yolk and whites in the process. food wastage breaks his heart (and wallet). the over-zealous mom scooped away most of the yolk, displaying inconsideration yet again.

mooncake experiment 14 Jan 2010

experimented with mooncake making on this evening. she got her recipe ready and assuaged him that she had all the details. and so they started.

yam core surrounded by matcha flavoured filling, while the outer skin was cocoa flavoured.


view of them in whole. if you're wondering about the green one, it's because they ran out of skin, so they made mooncakes out of the filling.


another, a round mooncake. filling's too sticky and it kept getting onto the mold, hence the broken edges.


it was a minor botched job in the end, because she used 25g of matcha powder instead of 5g as stated. no wonder the matcha felt a little too heavy for his liking...

the day he bled 14 Jan 2010

he took leave for some wife business this day. slept in a little while she prepared breakfast. it's the special sandwich again, except that it had two slices of ham and an egg. his kind of filling breakfast.


lunch consisted of $3 mixed pork soup, though it tasted good, it probably had too much mono sodium glutamate.


also order pork ribs soup, which unknowingly cost $5. 4 slabs of long ribs, and good peppery soup.


2 bowls of rice, each costing $0.50 to bring the grand total to $9.

sour cream salmon, black pepper beef and special sandwich

breakfast of pork floss and ham sandwich. pork floss was held in place by the margarine, and the ham by the slice of cheese underneath. 3 slices of bread in total, he apologises if it isn't evident from the picture, but he was rushing for time. one thing for sure, it's yummy and brimming with love.


he came home drenched, because the work environment's ceiling caved in due to accumulated rainfall. felt a little ill, so she assured him that she would whip up something delicious while he took a shower and a little nap.

sour cream salmon - rubbed with lime, white pepper powder and salt before pan-frying. dabbed with sour cream and it was ready to eat. sour cream.... is missing in this picture series.


black pepper beef with diced red bell pepper - bite sized portions, easy to eat. however, the fairprice label black pepper sauce seemed to lack punch in the spiciness department. still delectable in any case.