20 July 2011 - Toasted enoki ham roll for night snack

The remaining ham seemed to be mocking him from the chiller section. The mind's saying no, but the body's moving on its own.

Brought the ham out and found 5 slices in all.
Used one packet of enoki mushroms he had bought earlier on, 3 packets for $1.10.
Chopped an inch off the end and rinsed the mushrooms for a bit.
Divided the mushroom clump into smaller portions and wrapped them up with the ham.
Toasted them open-end down for 6 minutes before flipping over to toast for another 3 minutes.

Love the convenience of a toaster oven.

Nitrates from the ham flavoured the mushrooms, didn't need any additional salt.

24 April 2011 - Shrooms Lunch on Sunday

Bought 4 varieties of mushrooms together with littlest brother's request for some multi-purpose flour and unsalted butter to make his pancakes.

Got up around noon, the usual lazy weekend practice. Washed up and started preparing the meal. Each pack of mushrooms cost below $2, he apologises for forgetting the exact prices. Also observed that the mushrooms got gooey/slippery after the rinse.

After chopping off an inch from the bottom, King Oyster Mushrooms was cut across the stem to produce round slices. The flesh of this large mushroom was firm and balanced out the slightly gooey texture of this dish.


Enoki mushrooms, a soup favourite for them. Likewise, chopped an inch off the bottom before cutting out more manageable partitions from the top.


Bunashimeji mushrooms were more troublesome, as the stems were shorter and resulted in loose mushrooms. Processing them almost individually was painful.


Shiitake mushrooms had mixed reception. He appreciated the taste and its tender flesh, but she did not like the smell of it. Placed this on its cap and and sliced downwards.


Heated some olive oil in the pan, browned some garlic and salt before cooking the mushrooms. Hungriness is never patient, so the slow flame eventually became a medium one and the shrooms got cooked in no time. The eventual product tasted a little bland, he'll probably try adding some soy sauce next time. Black pepper was sprinkled before serving.

22 April 2011 - Old Hong Kong Kitchen

Bought a few Old Hong Kong dining vouchers online some time back. After 2 long weeks at work, he tried to reserve a table at Old Hong Kong Taste, myVillage on Good Friday. However, the receptionist told him that the vouchers could not be used on public holidays when the voucher only stated that it would not be valid only on Mother's Day and the eve itself. Trying to prevent himself from getting into conflicts after being in them so frequently in recent, he decided to avoid arguing. Probably not the best way to resolve things, but he needed some rest.

Luckily, he tried making the reservation at another branch, Old Hong Kong Kitchen at Square 2. This receptionist told him that the vouchers could be used. Double standards being observed here?

On Good Friday, they set out for Old Hong Kong Kitchen. There was quite a queue at 12.30pm, so they decided to browse the mall before returning slightly later. Informed the manager of their reservation, and they were shown their seats promptly.

A waiter came by to set their table, and during this, a few drops of water from the tableware sprinkled onto the table and him. The waiter apologised, but what's better was that he returned to dry the table and the tableware with a serviette. While waiting for the food, a discussion of whether the tableware should be dried before being set was started between themselves.

The table setting.


Got a pot of wolfberry tea with chrysanthemum. $3.20++ per pax. What irony, Mom makes this at home and he never wanted a sip, yet paid $6.40++ this day to drink it.


Close up of the tea's contents.


Pork and Shrimp Dumpling (Siew Mai) - $4.30++
He thought that the Siew Mai was well infused with the flavours of the shiitake mushroom, a fresh change from the usual porky taste. Shrimp lent crunch and made this all the more delectable.


Cross section of the Siew Mai, probably more shrimp than pork.


Here's another shrimp dim sum, Steamed Shrimp Dumpling - $4.30++
Each had a whole shrimp in the middle, while the rest of the filling was padded by diced shrimp.


The perennial favourite, Shanghai Meat Dumpling (Xiao Long Bao) - $3.30++
The version here seemed to have a saggy bottom as compared to some others they had before.


Yet another favourite, Steamed Chicken Claw in Black Bean Sauce - $3.30++
The Chinese name of this dish sounds grander, "Phoenix Claws". She never complains about the spiciness in this, but does it for every other dish. Both of them finished this up in no time.


Stewed Beef Ribs with Pumpkin - $4.80++
3 portions of beef, and matching slices of pumkin. Beef was tender, but more worthy of mention was the pumpkin. The outside had a little bite in it, yet the inside was soft without being mushy. Never recalled liking pumpkin so much.


Steamed Glutinous Rice Wrap - $3.80++


Unrolled into one large leaf, uncovering a mound of glutinous rice.


He thinks that it contained some salted duck egg yolk, and fatty meat mince. Decadent stuff... but it was well received.


Steamed Diced Chicken Buns - $3.80++
These looked like overturned buns, with the filling pressed into it. This consisted of minced meat with herbs, and topped with a wonderful shiitake slice and a chunk of chicken meat. When he flipped the chicken meat over, the underside of the chicken still looked raw, red and slightly transparent when the top was already opaque. He brought this to the attention of the waitress, who swiftly swept the plates and spoons off the table for a replacement. The waitress gave him no time for a picture. Well-trained. The replacement took very long, perhaps to ensure the doneness of the dish.


Remember the incident earlier about wet utensils? This time round, the spoons came dry, but with lint on them. This brought back the discussion on the tough lives of people in the service line, serving wet tableware or serving dried tableware with lint would do little to please their customers. He then decided to let this pass.

Steamed Chicken, Fish Maw and Pig's Intestine in Bean Curd Wrap- $4.30++
This was difficult to eat, especially when the bean curd skin was difficult to break off. Picked at the fillings until the whole thing was small enough to be finished off easily. The clear broth in the serving bowl was light, yet tasty.

back from the jungle

been a long while since the last post. did you think this went dead? almost. some quick updates anyway.

Feb 26 - even though he had a company function to attend, she still made the effort to make a improvised-recipe cheese cake for his birthday. probably guilty for forgetting it the previous year! can't help but smile when he sees this picture.


mushroom beef wraps that she made, didn't enjoy this too much, prefer chunky portions to thin slices. still have no idea why the sides of the beef were in yellow...


astons prime sirloin - with very-good-to-eat potato salad and onion rings. asked for medium well, but it seemed to be medium rare instead. not too bad for the price


astons prime ribeye - allowed her the more expensive cut, but with greens for sides - coleslaw and garden salad. she seems to have slimmed down a little, so sad!

kopitiam dinner

she made him wait around 15 minutes for her, yet she could still groan about being hungry. undecided what to eat, they scoured each level of plaza singapure, and landed up at kopitiam.

walked every store, indian food - no, malay food - no, beef noodles - no, roast meats - no... the female glutton ended up looking at the picture of a succulent-looking beef steak at the western food stall. anything goes for him, thus they ordered a medium-well beef steak, and a chicken chop. both with spaghetti. the vendor-auntie pressed him to add on a bowl of cream of mushroom with a piece of garlic bread for $2. he somehow nodded, and the bill came up to $21.

the beef looked a little on the thin side and a tad too salty. $12.90



the chicken chop was thinner than the one at ang mo kio s11, but the skin was crispy. again, the cook probably used too much salt. $5.90


the spaghetti had good colors with carrots and tomato pulp, but it still smelt of flour. reminded him of the few times he tried to make spaghetti at home.


soup had large chunks of shiitake mushroom. bread smelt and looked inviting, but the bite was disappointingly limp. $2


unfortunately, they were too hungry (gluttony) to take photos of the finale, pulut hitam and chendol. one hot, the other cold, which they both enjoyed digging from each other's bowl.

the story continues when they got home and had a showdown with steamed prawns, steamed promfret, braised pork and stir-fried wongbok, but... it had been a long day.