Sabbatical - The Barcelona Edition

Barcelona was amazing for its cool cafes, great coffee (we discovered a cafe con leche was pretty much the equivalent of a flat white), yummy food (both traditional tapas and contemporary, modern Spanish cuisine) and of course, Gaudi (and other architecture).

It helped that we were in an area which was central but yet residential as we we amongst several cafes, restaurants, bars and bakeries. The residential buildings were old, several hundreds of years type of old. Many had no lifts, the twice-a-day down/up the 5th floor where our Airbnb apartment was, definitely improved my cardio-vascular strength after our 5 days there. There were several very interesting cafes just below us with tastefully curated interiors, pretty young girls and/or hipster guys with big beards (a dead giveaway) running the place. The food was fresh and delicious, the drinks just as good. For cafe lovers, we could not be in a better spot.

I had the best Galician octopus in a tapas bar/restaurant here too. This is a seemingly simple dish, the waitress told me they boil the octopus and then add paprika and olive oil. The texture was perfect, not too chewy, not hard, just so tender. A few pieces of bread was handy to sop up the leftover oil/ sauce. After this, everywhere I went, I looked to see if I could find this on the menu.


Now onto the modern cuisine scene. We were lucky to have obtained several recommendations from my colleague who works in Barcelona and even luckier that his recommendations were spot on. Getting recommendations is one thing, getting those which actually come from people who have good taste or at least taste which is not too far off from yours, is another thing. This was kinda a lucky dip as I didn't know this colleague personally but someone introduced us on email. But out of the 5 places he gave us, we went to 2 which were a stone's throw from our apartment and because they were so good, we actually repeated one of them.

And then finally, the architecture. I loved the old buildings (apart from the old we were staying in and climbing those stairs up and down) and was looking up the entire time in Barcelona. You need to look up to get the best photos! Of course then there were the Gaudi buildings. We were disappointed by the Sagrada Familia because of how the succeeding architects have "continued" with his legacy. But the Casa Batllo, we loved. This House of Bones was simply amazing and the augmented reality tour was quite inspiring. The organic and weird features were just beautiful.

So Barcelona, good bye for now. But I think I will be back.

Sabbatical - The Paris Edition

My long-awaited sabbatical (five years) started with Paris being the port where we landed for our Spanish sojourn.

We had an apartment in the Bastille district and our flat was near a daily fruit and vegetable market. The riot of colours and shapes was simply gorgeous. The variety, impressive, just look at the different types of tomatoes! I ate donut peaches every day as they were cheap and plentiful. And sweet.

Even better than the fruit and vegetable market was a bakery that we stumbled upon on our first morning. The baker-proprietor was a delightful Frenchman. We visited it faithfully every single day of the five days we were in Paris, some days, twice! Every thing was made on site, every baked item delicious and beautiful. The only reason I don't have a photo to capture this highlight of my Paris trip is because everything we get our hands on from that bakery, we gobble down too quickly and then realise we haven't documented anything!

We also found this deli which had nice cheeses, pates, empanadas, quiches and cold meats. Together with a crusty baguette from the bakery, we fed ourselves well in the apartment when we did not feel like going out for dinner.

The pastries were definitely the highlight of our Parisian leg. We ate our weight in pastries I am sure, but then we also walked so much, we walked off every single calorie. I can still taste the heavenly flavours...

Sweets For My Sweet

Desserts are my Achilles Heel. When I go to a restaurant, I look at the desserts first and then try to work backwards to see what my appetite can accommodate and then figure out if I am going to get a starter and a main and what to order. As such, it was difficult when I found out that I have probably more than 50% chance of getting Type 2 diabetes in some stage of my life, because that meant cutting down on the sweets down and watching what I eat even more.

This amuse bouche that we had during the recent Mother's Day lunch was one of my favourite items that day. The pair was encased in gel filled with a chocolate hazelnut and a raspberry liquid resting on a biscuit respectively. These were the best! So interesting to have them pop in your mouth to fill it with a delicious liquid. 

This was a chocolate dessert, I can't remember much about it because I am not a chocolate fan. (Really? There are people who don't like chocolate? Yes, I get that a lot.) But the presentation was really pretty and the small bit of chocolate I tasted was not overly sweet, the way I like my chocolate (if I had to like chocolate).

Who doesn't like an apple tart? This was an unusual one in its presentation, as with all the dishes on the menu really. This restaurant does strive to put a twist on its items, a fusion of western and Japanese and definitely presented in a way that you least expect.

So with a great love for desserts, what can/should I do? "Everything in moderation" does seem to be a good mantra for everything and especially in this case. But on the other hand, the other important quote that comes to mind is "Life is uncertain, eat dessert first."

Habitual Baking

When we were living in Sydney, I used to make this orange cake quite often. It was such an easy recipe and I am a lazy baker. Or maybe call me a creature of habit, that's probably a fairer description. I bake what I am used to and rarely try new stuff. Once something new gets on my list, I just repeat it over and over again.

But somehow I stopped making this orange cake once we moved back to Singapore. I think it was out of necessity that I started baking bread and then the whole creature of habit thing took over and I almost exclusively made bread, interspersed with rock buns, another old-time favourite. Occasionally, I would make a quiche for lunch or dinner. And that was it. Oh except for that couple of times I tried my hand at making hot cross buns.

Anyway I decided to revisit this old friend last weekend. But instead of making the cake in a loaf tin which was how I used to make it in Sydney, I used little cupcake moulds. They cook faster this way and were easier for handing out in the office.

I made myself a nice cup of Earl Grey and had one for dessert right after dinner.

They were well-received in the office today. I think I will reinstate this recipe to the "Frequently Baked" list once more.

It's funny how much our personality traits are deeply embedded in different aspects of our life.

What I Buy When I Travel

I have a long-term love affair with all things fragile and breakable when I travel. There is never one trip where I do not come home lugging back some glassware or china. Why can't I love wood or plastic? That would make life so much easier! 

I love the look of mismatched china, I love drinking out of tea cups and saucers, particularly vintage ones, I love laying out my sweets and savouries on cake platters and stands. And I like eating and drinking tea a lot. I love taking afternoon tea. I love having tea parties at my house. I guess that explains a lot!

Me and My Tiffins

I generally don't like having too many takeaway containers in the house. Sure they are convenient to have around when you need to put some leftovers in the fridge or bring some extra food to the office. But seriously, how many does one need (even factoring in spares for emergencies)? We don't need to generate more waste. Plus those takeaway containers aren't constructed for multiple use and are apparently cancer causing as they emit some carcinogenic chemical when they are overused.

Hence, I try to remember to bring my own containers when I go to the nearby hawker centre to buy takeaways. Instead of the retro tiffins of multi-tiers like the 2 I have above, I use a single tier one (since I usually buy a one-dish meal like noodles or porridge) which is made of stainless steel and insulated to keep the food warm.

Call it what you may - being green, trying to reduce our chances of cancer, or just not wanting to hoard more useless stuff, I think it is an easy thing to do.

The Scent of My Memories

Our memories which we keep tucked away deep inside, can be triggered by a picture we see, a song we hear, a perfume we smell, a food we eat.

A visual trigger is probably the most common. One thing reminds us of another and leads on to our memories, a bamboo basket like a cake tin but made of woven bamboo strips that I chanced upon in a retro shop reminds me of the steamed egg cake that my mum used to make when I was a child. I remember there weren't any bakeries near where we lived. I can see in my mind's eye how she would beat the eggy mixture by hand, and it had to be one-directional for many, many times to ensure that the cake rose. She would line the basket with tracing paper and then pour the mixture into the basket and then steam it. We would eagerly await the cake to rise, for the satay stick to be poked in, to test whether it was done, and then for the cake to cool before we could have a slice.

But to me, the most powerful trigger is the one of smell. It is more subtle than sight, and you often forget about the sense of smell and its power. I think it is more overwhelming when triggered. It brings back memories that you don't remember you have and takes you right back.

I was recently in Penang, and the first night in Georgetown, the Boy and I wandered down into the area where grandma's house used to be, looking for dinner. We ended up at this coffee shop. When this bowl of koay teow thng (rice noodle soup) was brought to my table, I could already smell it, the distinct smell brought me back to when I was perhaps 8 years old, spending my school holidays in Penang. Every night, we would go across the street from grandma's house, to the koay teow thng stall and order a bowl. My first recollection was it cost RM0.60 or RM0.80 then and by the time I last ate it, it was RM1.60, I might have been 14 or 15. And then I stopped going to Penang with my mum until the recent few years when we have been visiting again almost annually.
My tastebuds confirmed what my nose already told me, this was the same stall even though it is some 30 years down the road. The taste seems to have been imprinted in my memory despite the long lapse of time since I have last had it.

I finished the bowl of deliciousness and as I was leaving, I stopped to chat with the stallholder who looked to be in his 30s or maybe early 40s. I told him I used to eat this koay teow thng a long time ago and was it his father who had this stall about 30 years ago? Oh more than 30 years ago and the stall was at the small lane by the side of the current coffee shop, he said. I told him how the taste was still exactly the same, it hasn't changed and it was excellent. He was all smiles, even though he was busy, I think he enjoyed this brief exchange where we walked down memory lane together.

Tribute to Some of the Loaves I've Made

There is something satisfying about making your own bread, not just because you save a ton of money not paying for mediocre bread at exorbitant prices at delis and gourmet bakeries, but also the fact that you are actually making something very basic with your hands to feed your family. People feel a loss of satisfaction with the Industrial Revolution, that's a fact. Making something with your hands counts for something...

 The back story to my bread-making was when the New York Times came out with its wonderfully simple No-Knead Bread some 8 or 9 years ago, I was intrigued. Bread-making always seemed to involve a lot of hard, manual work and mysterious workings of yeast and leaveners. Until this No-Knead bread recipe burst out on the internet. The only drawback was it required a cast iron pot or a Dutch oven. I lusted after a Le Creuset cast iron pot since then, frequently checking the prices during sales. However, nothing could make me part with S$500 for a pot, Le Creuset or otherwise, not even bread.
Then fast-forward to 2010 when I started going to the US regularly for work. The opportunity to get my much-coveted Le Creuset Dutch oven arrived. For a little less than half the cost of the same at home, I could get a shiny red pot. I hand-carried my precious cargo from San Jose to San Francisco via Hong Kong to Singapore. And then the break-making started in earnest!

The bubbling of the dough mixture was most satisfying. This meant to me that the magic was working.

Leaving the dough for a 12-hour proof plus another 2-hour makes for a sourdough bread, without the need for a sourdough starter. Another shortcut! I just love this recipe. The Boy also loves this bread and would clamour for this on a weekly basis. I was also eager to cut down the cost per loaf from about $30 to a more normal $10.

I even ventured into the land of bread that required kneading after seeing a picture of the same posted by a friend. So I made these 2 loaves but as they were white bread, they weren't the hit the sourdough bread was, and so I went back to baking what the public demanded.

On a subsequent trip to the US, I even bought a second, slightly smaller Le Creuset pot in orange and I've since used that one more to bake my bread because it gives the dough a better rise because of the proportion.

I've experimented with adding dried cranberries, candied walnuts, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds and dried figs to the dough. Making bread especially the No-Knead bread is easy and enjoyable and helps achieve the satisfaction quotient of making something with one's hands.

Sydney, I Miss You

Last trip to Sydney was 5 days before Christmas last year and was an in and out trip, hardly enough time to meet my friends, drink all the flat white to satisfy my caffeine cravings, visit the new cafes that have popped up in Surry Hills, buy all the vintage ceramics and glassware at the opp shops, nose around the Mitchell Road Auction House, gorge on lovely bread from Bourke Street Bakery and Central Baking Depot, walk the parks and beaches... And almost a whole year has gone by without a work trip to Sydney this year, the biggest drawback of the new role. I miss everything and everyone.

So even nursing this (new) cold which followed 2 bouts of walking pneumonia, I am determined to enjoy myself when I get there in 2 days' time. So let me get back to lying on the couch and resting my mind, body and soul. Then I will be ready for you Sydney!!

Mum's Bread Pudding

Mum used to make this bread pudding when I was little. In the old days, there weren't many eateries, bakeries, shops, hawker centres located conveniently near residences. So mum felt the need to be inventive and create some desserts for the family. This was something which was easy to make as the ingredients were things which were normally found in a household.

I remember the taste of the pudding so well, I remember helping her stir in the coconut cream to ensure that the bread was thoroughly soaked through. But it has been decades since she made her bread pudding. So I decided that I would ask her for the recipe and make it myself.

This is super easy and quite healthy (compared to other types of cakes) and I've been making several of these puddings in the last week. Even mum gave it the thumbs up and concluded that it was "not bad". I love the taste and the memories of childhood that come with this.

Peking Duck Restaurant In A Hutong

This is in the famous Peking duck restaurant "Liqun" in a Beijing hutong. Hutongs are very interesting, and showcase traditional living quarters in modern times. It is pretty amazing how even Western tourists manage to find their way through the maze to this restaurant where I am sure no one speaks any English. The ambience is just so authentic, and that also can mean quite grotty. So one needs to shut one's eyes to certain things, and more importantly, make sure that one's bio needs are taken care of before coming to the restaurant because the loos are outhouses located some distance away from the restaurant.

I particularly like this photo which I think has captured the essence of the place, contrasting the delicious ducks with the humble surroundings, and the blaze of light creating an atmospheric quality.

Flavours of Seoul

When in Seoul, apart from kimchi which I do not like, the other thing to eat is ginseng chicken which I do like. We had it twice in our 4 days there.

Seoul also has great cafes. Pretty ones, rustic ones, quaint ones, American chain ones. And the coffee is half decent plus they make great green tea lattes and even a sweet potato latte which was really delicious, even if it sounds a little strange.

Apart from western-style cafes, Seoul also has many traditional tea shops which serve Korean and Chinese teas in pretty pottery together with traditional Korean sweets. And that takes me to the pottery at Insadong which one should not miss for its famous pottery and other artsy stuff.

Korean barbecue is another speciality that should not be missed. Again like the ginseng chicken, we loved it so much we had it twice. Considering we were only there 4 days and that meant that we did not have unlimited meal slots, it meant that we really loved it. The best part is the different leaves that come with the meats, and you pick a few different ones and wrap cooked meat, bean paste, pickled radish, grilled garlic slices and a lump of rice (which is served in a bamboo container with a red date, a black bean, a gingko nut and a lump of charcoal!) in the leaves and then savour the different tastes and smells.

There is a lot to Seoul and the food is just one aspect of it. But what a great aspect!

Soup Goes With Bread

Soup goes with bread without saying of course. After resolving to put my new Le Creuset dutch oven to good use soon, I was thinking of making soup to go with it and invite some ladies over for Saturday lunch soon. A very simple yet healthy lunch of rustic home-made bread with carrot and ginger soup perhaps with a dollop of sour cream.

So when I found these 6 vintage little soup/rice bowls with the much sought-after local bunga lallang motif, I was really chuffed. I only have 4 Japanese soup bowls at the moment, 2 were lovely wooden lacquer ones which were a wedding gift from a Japanese-Australian friend, while I bought the other 2 plastic/mock lacquer ones from Daiso to make up the numbers for when we have guests. Now the stars are all aligned for me to get started on the home-made soup and bread-making with this half a dozen soup bowls. No more excuses.

In-N-Out Burger

After reading about how wonderful In-N-Out Burger was online, I finally got to try them in San Jose this trip.

We went to Gilroy which is garlic country and also location of a huge factory outlet mall. On the way there, I wound down the windows to try to get a whiff but my respiratory infection had blocked up my olfactory senses, no joy of garlic bread in the air.

Arriving at the Gilroy mall, we were hungry and after a quick look round the lot, we headed to In-N-Out Burger. They had a very limited menu with 3 set meals only. However, I later found out that there were secret stuff off-menu like chilli fries. Anyway, we made it easy for the staff and order 3 of the same set meals. Everything is made fresh, the fries are hand-cut and single-fried hence they were not crispy but soggy. I think I still prefer the double-fried sort like McDonald's. But these burgers were succulent and the buns were soft.

We felt a little sick after we finished, probably because we ate an entire day's calorie allowance in one meal. But the next 3 hours of outlet shopping probably helped us work part of that off. It was still too much. Next time, I will get a single burger and share the fries. And that would probably be 3/4 of a day's calorie allowance. I might feel a tad less guilty. Why is it that everything I like is either illegal, immoral or fattening???

Bring Back The Afternoon Tea Movement

After a year-long hiatus from baking and cooking, ever since I relocated back from Sydney to Singapore in January 2010, I have recently dusted off my weighing scales, fired up the new-ish oven and started baking a little. I have also started inviting friends over for afternoon tea (seems that I am on a personal "Bring Back The Afternoon Tea Movement"), hence forcing me to be more Martha Stewart-like, even if it just means Home Economics 101 - Rock Buns.

As we ventured into the market yesterday and G discovered sweet potatoes, one of his favourite food items, which did not cost its weight in gold there, we bought about half a kilo worth. And while mentally working through my afternoon tea items to make, I decided to try out this Japanese sweet potato cake recipe I saw in my favourite Food & Travel magazine. But I tweaked it by substituting chopped almonds for raisins as the rock buns already had raisins in them. And because the sweet potatoes I used were the purple ones, they had this lovely deep purple colour to the cakes and when I added the lemon juice to the mashed up sweet potatoes, there was a chemical reaction and red spots appeared. It was so pretty.

These were very popular at the afternoon tea, the lemon juice gave a sour tang to the sweetness of the sweet potatoes and I love how just twisting a spoonful in cling wrap gives it such a cute little shape. A very simple recipe, but definitely added to my Bring Back The Afternoon Tea Movement staples.

Barley Risotto

When G mentioned he saw a recipe for barley risotto, I pooh-poohed the idea. Barley? That's something we boil into a drink when you have a sore throat in Singapore. Making it into a savoury dish in place of rice? Really?

G persisted and made me get a packet of barley the next time we were in the supermarket and proceeded to make a mushroom risotto one weekend. He makes a great mushroom risotto with the regular Arborio rice. So I waited to see what the end result would be.

Verdict: delicious, and it's going on our list. In fact it was so yummy, I took the leftovers to work in my new bento box. Everyone who saw me in the pantry asked me what I was eating, made comments about how small the portion was (it really wasn't even if it looked small because it was a double-decker box and totalled 500 ml of food in the 2 boxes) and most people made unfavourable remarks when they heard the word barley with risotto except for one more enlightened guy. Well all I can say is don't knock it till you've tried it!

Home-Cooked

We cooked 2 nights in a row, and so we are breaking our home-cooking drought. Good start to the new year I must say. Tonight's dinner wasn't technically all home-cooked as we heated up a hawaiian pizza. I did make the apple and lettuce salad topped with pumpkin seeds and crumbled cheese, with a dijon mustard and honey dressing.

Hopefully this will set the rhythm for 2011 - more healthy eating, more home-cooking, and enjoying our new home more.

Christmas Highlights

This is our yummy rummy Christmas cake which Tony's mum made. She makes these delicious steamed Christmas cakes with dried fruit which she has soaked in rum for at least a month. This cake didn't last very long, I tried my darnedest to prolong its lifespan by doling out a sliver every night after dinner to G despite his pleas for more. I managed to save 2 slices till Christmas evening where after dinner, the family came back to my place and had tea, Christmas cake, B's chocolate salami and truffles which she had made. All hand-made, all yummilicious.

This was of course dessert part 2 already as we had a seafood dinner and dessert was this glutinous rice with coconut ice-cream creation topped with a mint leaf, with dry ice special effects. Very dramatic.

The pretty table setting was at the lunch I had at B and F's. Lovely festive setting, delicious food, great company. G was under the weather and stayed in bed most of Christmas day but did find the energy to get up and enjoy the care package sent back with me. Except he didn't get one of F's coffees. I on the other hand, had 2! Christmas is all about food, family and friends - 3 F's and I guess the order in which I've listed them is a bit telling?

San Jose And Sydney - Related Through Food

My last few trips as told in photographs and captions!

San Jose: Undoubtedly the best meal in the entire week. From Left Bank, a French restaurant in Santana Row, this duck confit capped off the trip with (finally) a great meal before I took the 15 hour flight from San Francisco to Sydney.

Arrived in Sydney surprisingly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed having slept pretty decently on the flight which

was a HUGE surprise as I NEVER sleep on flights. At least not long, restful sleep that will make me feel like I've had suf

ficient rest. But I wasn't complaining as I left my bags at the hotel which wouldn't let me check in at 9 am. Then did a whole clean up in the bathroom, ditched jeans for summer wear and then met C for a lovely day out at Bondi beach. We had lunch then hit the markets where I bought this really kooky tank-top with feathers on the shoulders. I loved the black top with black feathers but bought the natural brown feathered top and subsequently regretted it. But the disappointment was made up with the Bondi to Bronte beach walk which was great as usual. A long cool drink awaited us at the end of the trek. Lovely day with blue skies and gorgeous-looking water.
Next event in this trip was the great meal at Lovedale, Hunter Valley where we had a lovely 3-course dinner. Lovedale is where they host the annual Lovedale Long Lunch and now I understand why. My main course was this yummy slow-cooked pork belly with a piece of crackling topping it off. It ended up being a communal crackling akin to a communal pipe, being passed around the table to the others who had not had the foresight to order this delicious dish so that they could get a taste.

Again, another enjoyable event in our Sydney trip was a dinner party at our friend's place in Glebe. Another amazing dinner whipped up by our talented friend, S who dazzled us with his professionalism as well as his balcony garden which supplied all the herbs and some of the vegetables.

There is much more that we enjoyed from our time in Sydney, as it was the first time G and I have been back together since we relocated to Singapore. It was a home-coming of sorts for us, as we wandered through our old neighbourhood and visited familiar restaurants and cafes and tried out new things and caught up with old friends. We missed so much of our old life but have so much of our new life to explore together.

Cute Bento Lunch

My creative bento-making friend, K came to my place today with 2 cute little bentos for my lunch. After looking at the cute photos she has up on her blog, I finally get to taste some of it. They were tasty in addition to being oh-so-cute. I saved the 2 buns with the cute faces because although the bento seems like a small box, it was rather filling. G and I made a quick snack of the buns on our way to meet a friend for coffee later in the afternoon. K and I had a good time discussing how to make a business out of her creativity in this area. I am really hoping that she can make a business out of it.

K also left me gifts of the bento box, food picks, a bento bag and a cute bento box strap since I was lacking a strap when I bought my own box from Daiso in Tokyo being the bento novice I was, I didn't realise they ALL need a strap to hold them in place.

In addition to all the edible goodies and bento accessories, she also gave me this lovely plant for the kitchen. It goes so well in the laundry area, adding some colour to my white, beige and steel kitchen. Now all I hope is that I don't kill the plant with my anti-green fingers.