Many changes have taken place over the past few months:

1. New job
2. New activity I’m crazy about – yoga
3. Greener lunches

All of the above has me very excited. So I have new colleagues, all of whom are great. Especially a group who have inspired me to have these green lunches you see here. My ‘Salad Party Girls’, you are an amazing bunch. I finally am able to actuate what I’ve always thought of doing; having a healthier home-made lunch to offset my guilty pleasures (please, how can you say no to red velvet cake?!).

My other friends say I’m eating like a rabbit. What’s wrong with that? It results in better digestion, better complexion and better fitting clothes. This is a good habit. And the strangest thing is, I look forward to these lunches. They might be green and full of healthy ingredients, but they are tasty. No kidding.

Best of all – every salad lunch is different and we don’t even pre-plan. What we do is each girl brings 1 to 2 ingredients and we all combine them into one big salad fiesta. So simple. My contribution of late, has been the healthiest of stuff – quinoa, pearl barley, garbanzo beans, red kidney beans, tuna in olive oil, flaxseed meal.

Are you inspired yet?

It is my hope to ‘infect’ more colleagues into joining us. Healthy eating makes you feel good! That’s how I feel these days. I rather eat these homemade salads than pay more than $10 for a fancy schmancy designer salad at the many up and coming new trendy salad shops I see popping up.

Try it today. Go to a supermarket. Pick out a combination of things like japanese cucumbers, green apples, purple cabbage, eggs, buckwheat soba, cheese. Then pick out some sauces to make your salad tasty. My personal favourite is the Japanese goma sauce. It elevates any salad!

Combining green lunches with yoga has shown some improvement on my silhouette! 2013 has been pretty great for me.

And oh speaking of eating greens like bunnies, here’s one Instagram profile (see below snapshot) you have to follow (if you love bunnies!) – @bunnymama

I think of this photo of cute Rambo eating his greens whenever I eat my veggies. It makes me happy

Last week, I received a flurry of links on Facebook about a friend’s hawker stall being reviewed by the one and only KF Seetoh. His write-up was published on Yahoo! Singapore. I was thrilled and also a tad guilty for not having patronised his store since it opened in December last year. So I am making up for it by sharing this wonderful gem with you. I finally visited his stall over the weekend and I declare Seetoh’s write-up accurate to a T.

What this humble lad is doing, gives me hope – that food heritage, and traditions will not die with our parents/grandparents. I call him, the Appam Prince of ‘Heavens’ (quite literally – Heavens is the name of his stall!)

So who is this ‘Appam Prince’? A tall and strapping gutsy spirit by the name of Suren with appam (and thosai) in his blood. He grew up helping his dear mother whose little stall (now 16-years old and going strong) in Ghim Moh (it’s called Heavens too) is famous for its appam & thosai. Hungrygowhere profiled Suren’s mum in a 2010 interview, which you can read here, (no point repeating the backstory to you).

When Suren was not in school, he was at his mum’s stall, helping her out. Even in his poly days, Suren would sacrifice his free time to assist his mum. You could say it was a perfect master apprenticeship in appam & thosai making. Over the past 2-3 years, he has also been working full-time at the Ghim Moh stall after he quit his job to help his mum.

Prior to opening his own Heavens branch at Bedok Market Place, Suren has always expressed a desire to enter the F&B business, and in particular, allow his mum’s appam/thosai legacy to live on beyond her generation.

And viola, the perfect opportunity came when saw that Bedok Market Place was looking for tenants. Myself, being an East-dweller for my entire life, I celebrate this new addition to the Simpang Bedok area. He currently operates this stall with his fiance; the lovely and very beautiful Jessie.

Although I am not sure about the origin of the name Heavens (note to self- ask Suren!), I am guessing it is in reference to how divine his appams are. Appams, are actually a sort of pancakes made from fermented rice flour. And at Heavens, Suren makes it using the exact same recipe his mum uses. What’s so special is that he grinds raw rice, to get the flour, and then ferments it. If you’re curious and want to make it at home, you can try this recipe. As of now, I don’t think I can get Suren to share his secret recipe (but if you really want it, let me know and I’ll try to ask).

Aside from appams, he makes his own putu mayam (string hoppers) from scratch. Oooo these beautiful scriggly white strands that resemble our Chinese beehoon are such a delight to eat. And you must eat it by hand for maximum pleasure. Yes, food does taste better when eaten by hand.

I prefer to have my putu mayam with just the orange sugar. Not a big fan of the shredded coconut & putu mayam combination. Suren makes some really fragrant putu mayam. Boy you should see how fast he presses the dough through the wooden putu mayam ‘ricer’. That dude has some serious upper arm strength. It takes mere seconds for him to churn out three batches of putu mayam!

The fact that he makes each batch of dough by hand a la minute is enough to give him several pats on his back. Lazy people will do it ahead of time or just buy pre-made dough. But not Suren!

Everyday, he makes a limited amount of appam batter at 7am in the morning before the stall opens. And one bite of these, was enough for me to understand why people flock to Ghim Moh for his mum’s appam. These rice Indian pancakes are really fluffy in the centre and crisp at the sides – which is what a good appam should be. Give me these appams over McDonald’s hotcakes any day! These are healthier and my goodnesss, they taste so freaking good.

I tried all 4 – plain, egg, butter & the princess appam (combination of egg, and cheese and butter). My favourite is the butter appam. I’m a simple girl and I love my butter. Add a sprinkle of their orange sugar on top and you’re all set.

Suren serves chicken and mutton curry as well. The egg appam, when dredged through his curry, is to die-for. I mopped it up clean.

This is the princess appam. Order this if you are really hungry! If you like the salty/sweet combi, remember to add some orange sugar on top.

I was too full to stuff a thosai down my appam/putu mayam filled tummy so promised him I’ll come back another day. I’ve heard that the Royal Thosai (combination of cheese, onion, chilli, potato and egg in one thosai) is a must-try. It’s what his mum (the Appam Queen) is famous for at her Ghim Moh stall.

This is their humble store-front. It’s beside the Vietnamese stall which is quite hard to miss. I’ve asked Suren to teach me how to make putu mayam. He has agreed, so let’s see how I fare. Maybe I’ll be able to make some for my family at home soon.

Meanwhile, I want everyone to know about Heavens because I think the Appam Prince (Suren) has got a good thing going. You know I like to share good food. This is a good food place you should try at least once, if not more. And while you’re at it, ask the Prince about the heritage of appam. He’ll be more than happy to share with you.

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Heavens
#02-08, Bedok Market Place
348 Bedok Road, Simpang Bedok Area
Open Mon-Sat, 8am to 9pm

Blessed are those hungry in appetite, that they be surrounded by great pies and coffee, and cuisine from Indian to Thai, to exotic (think turtle soup!) and the common (McDonald’s), for they shall find culinary comfort day after day.

Yes I am one of those blessed people. And I say this with sincere gratitude to God. No jokes. Where I work, I am spoiled for choice when it is lunch time. Which makes me very excited every single day. Having worked where I’m working for 2 years + now, I have seen eateries come and go. The saddest exit that I still mourn over, is the closure of the Indian coffeeshop just opposite my shophouse office. Sigh.

But as they always say – when one door closes, another one opens. Hell-ya! Since mid last year, so many cool outfits have opened within 1 km of my office. Hurrah! Chye Seng Huat Hardware, Broers, L’etoile, Suprette are some of the gems that I visit quite so often. They’ve been blogged to death so I don’t see a need to expound on how great they are.

But the latest addition to the neighbourhood – Windowsill Pies have gotten me all hot and bothered, in all the right ways so I have to declare my love here!

Pies/tarts are a tricky thing to bake and through my personal attempts (apple pie, kiwi tart etc), I have learnt how difficult it is to get all the pie-components right. For me, a good pie has to have a: crisp crust and base, decent filling (if it’s an apple pie, give me my apples, don’t stinge!), and a good balance of flavours (sweet & salty is my fav combo at this moment. no surprises there). And I’m very surprised that Windowsill Pies does all these to perfection! Many times, I’ve lamented about the lack of good pie shops (it’s sad to have to go to Starbucks or Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for a pie fix. it’s a coffee joint for goodness sake!) here. Whoever the pie guru behind Windowsill Pies is, I want to salute you. Your pies are a bit pricey ($7.60+ per slice) and I baulked at it first. But once I tasted the first forkful, I was sorry I complained about the price in the first place.

You guys have got it right in so many ways.

Your pies are a huge draw and better yet, your decor – makes me want to come back again and again.
Such whimsy!

From your wooden larger than life tree, to the side ceiling to floor window area, to your furniture and adorable tree door handle. I wouldn’t mind living in your cafe. This is the exact style I would follow for my own future house. Seriously!

Though I have yet to try their entire repertoire, I am confident that the rest of their pies are great as well. At least that’s what I’ve heard from online chatter.

I did enjoy the two slices I had: The Sam Willows & the Strawberry Lemon Tart. The Sam Willows Pie is ‘a quartet of pear, peanut butter, hazelnuts and rosemary’ (from their site). This is a combination I wouldn’t have thought of myself. Loved the pear and while I was trying to guess the cream layers at the bottom (hazelnut, rosemary and peanut butter), I thought it worked. Like I said – salty, sweet pairings are my current loves. I don’t normally describe pies as fragrant. But this one was. I like sniffing my food. Yes, I’m weird that way but hey I loved the scent of The Sam Willows.

The Strawberry Lemon Tart – if you have a low tolerance for sour, then you shouldn’t try it. Myself, however, I lapped it up like a hungry puppy. I think they used Meyer Lemons (these have a slightly sweet profile, even though it’s lemony sour.) for these. Think of it like lemon curd mixed with tarty sweet strawberry jam.  So so good.

Come to this side of the woods if you ever feel like having some good pie. It’s worth a trip I tell you.

As for me, haha, I’m still laughing happily at the convenience of having this place just a stone’s throw away from my office.

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Windowsill Pies
78 Horne Road
9004 7827
www.facebook.com/WindowsillPies

Hershey’s Quick & Easy Fudgey Brownies – my first bake of 2013!

The dust that has settled on this site of mine is now mountain-high. After a year of ‘no-show’, (no thanks to my decision to pour myself into work, happily of course!), it is time this ‘now-rusty-baker-who-cooks-occasionally’ pulls up her socks and conjures up some magic on this domain again.

My elusiveness has probably driven many readers away from here. To them, I say, it’s time to give me a second chance aye! This being a new year, the year I turn 29 (yea I’m that old. but it’s ok, i’m proud of my age), I would like to achieve new goals. Baking and cooking at least once a month (or forthnightly if possible) and try to revive my Cocoa & Butterscotch business. My home kitchen has expanded, plenty thanks to my dad – I now have a lovely engine-red KitchenAid, two Happycall pans, several Neoflam skillets, frying pans and Eco-cook pans, on top of our current sets of WMF saucepans and then some. So I’ve run out of excuses.

On the verge of sounding ultra-cliche, I have to say this – I’m back with a vengence! A delicious one of course. Nothing evil, unless you count food porn as temptation for you to break that diet. To this I say, live life, embrace all the butter, pasta, chocolate & cheese that surrounds you! Just exercise regularly (I’m very satisfied with my current exercise regime, the Insanity Workout program, which I will share more about in another post) and those hips will still be able to bring all the boys to your …yard… dancefloor, whatever!

To kick things off 2013, here is one super simple brownie recipe you can follow even with your eyes closed. Of course I tweaked the sugar portion as usual. Used brown sugar instead and only 1.5 cups even though I doubled the recipe. We were going to have the brownies with ice-cream and I am not a fan of that cloyingly sweet aftertaste most store-bought brownies have. These were just right. You can call them ‘dark chocolate’ brownies if you will. They soaked up the melty ice-cream like a sponge and was a perfect end to a home-cooked dinner my friends and I had at their place yesterday.

This brownie really came to be because of a spontaneous Whatsapp message. Within the hour, we had gotten the ingredients, and I started baking. I used Hershey’s unsweetened baking chocolate bars to whip these mocha coloured babies. And despite the fact that I was cooking in a new kitchen (my friend’s place), I thought these brownies turned out rather well.

The many left-overs (we had a huge 3-course home-cooked meal prior: Port Salut cheese wrapped with smoked salmon & ham, Spicy grilled tumeric chicken with onion, chilli padi and caramelised onion topping, and Feta cheese salad topped with tomatoes, white button mushrooms and baby corn) were packed and fed to my dearest colleagues on Friday. Was relieved that they liked it. Phew, I still got some baking magic in me yet!

I’ve tried many brownie recipes and still, I always return to Hershey’s simple techniques of brownie ‘construction’. Because it is so dead easy, you can involve your kids. All you really need is a BIG mixing bowl and a wooden spoon. I didn’t even use a mixer for this.

To bake these, download the recipe from Hershey’s at this link: Quick & Easy Fudgey Hershey Brownies

If you have a party for 10 to 15, then double the recipe like I did and reduce the amount of sugar according to personal sugar tolerance.

Before I sign-off, I would like to wish each of you a very Happy New Year and may you have a fulfilling, adventure (both in and out of the kitchen) filled new year with your loved ones.

Love,
Cheryl
xo

So my darling brother has hopped onto the baking bandwagon and boy am I ever so happy. You know the why

Tall, strapping, with more muscle than flab, he is not your typical baker, in all sense of the word. Not only is he super stringent but very dedicated when it comes to baking. Last Christmas, he baked hundreds of gingerbread men while experimenting various recipes & ingredients. When a stroke of genius strikes him, I’ll get a call, with interesting questions like “should I put tabasco in my gingerbread men”, or “should I put curry powder to get a zing in my cookies? or black pepper?”

His recent endeavour makes me very happy. Only because it concerns Nonya pineapple tarts. He toyed with the idea of baking them in January so we could have some for Chinese New Year. Since then, he has been baking them at least twice a week.

I have no complaints.  My brother is still tweaking and perfecting his recipe so I won’t be able to share with you just as yet. But what I will do, is to share my insights and sights, so enjoy!

The mise en place – a beautiful thing. Especially since we got a gorgeous die-cast pineapple tart mould from our aunt. Apparently it is hard to find. It will be our Chia family’s heirloom I told him. Dad’s beeen really encouraging, sharing his fair share of opinions when it comes to true authentic Nonya methods. He says Planta margarine is de rigeur for Nonya tarts. I disagree. I much prefer SCS butter, with some milk powder added to the dough.

The steel mould makes for some very precise, and pretty tart shells. Amazing. You can also adjust the depth of the hollow area where the jam goes in.

And there you have it. Another peek into the Chia family’s kitchen.

More to come, real soon!

Mastering my Dad’s fantastic Kong Ba & Ayam Buah Keluak has always been a life-goal for the simple reason of wanting to pass these recipes down to my own children. I believe in this one simple equation, that Heritage = Food = Togetherness.

In a bid to learn, I thought I’d start with the simplest way – observation. Last Christmas, dad cooked Kong Ba and Ayam Buah Keluak for us and he encouraged me to do a pictorial and record videos. So I did. Here’s a basic step-by-step photo book of how Kong Ba and Ayam Buah Keluak is made. Do note that I do not have metric measurements as yet. My dad does not measure his ingredients. He’s that good.  This Lunar New Year, we had the usual suspects – tantalizing kong ba, ayam buah keluak, udang belado and pork bone soup. As you can tell, we love our pork.

To all of you who celebrate this festive season, I would like to wish you a very very happy lunar new year! May this year of the water dragon bring you plenty of blessings, good health and prosperity.

And now, here’s a wee little exclusive peek into our kitchen.

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Kong Ba

Step 1: Buy ‘gor huay ba’ (pork shoulder) from your market. About 1kg+ is fine. Make sure that it has enough fat on it. Lean pork leads to tougher bite. Marinate in Soy Sauce for a few hours before you begin cooking.

Step 2: Heat oil and throw in star anise, leng kuas (blue ginger), and chopped shallots. Sauteed till golden brown.

Step 3: Once the aromatics are ready, add in your beautiful piece of pork shoulder. Let it cook on one side for a while. When that side is seared properly, turn it over.

Step 4: Drizzle a good amount of dark thick soy sauce. I think my dad uses Tai Hua. I think any brand works.

Step 6: Add some honey.Honey adds a tinge of sweetness to the Kong Ba.

Step 7: Let the pork braise in the pan for approximately 1 hour. (note that this really depends on how big your piece of pork shoulder is)

The dark soya sauce aroma that engulfs the kitchen, the first few seconds that Dad removes the lid off the pot that holds the glorious braised pork shoulder – that’s one of my favourite smells.

But nothing beats the moment it is time to devour those fatty slices of pork

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Ayam Buah Keluak –

Step 1: Fry your rempah (spice paste). It is made of just 5 ingredients: dried chillies, onions, lemon grass, blue ginger and candle nuts. *Note: My dad prepares his rempah in big batches and keeps in in the freezer for convenient usage.

Step 2: Prepare your chicken. Clean it, and chop it just the way you like it. Prepare your assam juice (tamarind juice) in a bowl. Set aside.

Step 3: Prepare your buah keluak. This is an Indonesian nut, known for its earthy texture and taste. Those who hate it, feel like it tastes like soil (not that they have ever tasted soil. probably their guess of what soil would taste like).

Dad prepared these before hand so I did not capture the process of cleaning the shell, cooking the filling and restuffing it. Note that the best way to have buah keluak is NOT adding any pork or additional ingredients. I like mine pure & unadulterated.

Step 4: Add the chicken to the cooked rempah. Saute it for a few minutes.

Now add in the assam juice. Assam is one of my favourite ingredient. Adds a tangy kick to every peranakan dish. Assam Pedas! My fav!

Cook it for a few minutes.

Step 5: Now add in water, so it is not so thick. Add in however much you want. My dad doesn’t like his Ayam Buah Keluak too diluted so he adds only a fair amount of water.

Now let it simmer till it cooks. My dad boils the potatoes last and adds them in, so they stay firm.

To me, Dad’s ayam buah keluak is H-E-A-V-E-N. I want this to be the last dish I eat before I die

There are so many other dishes I want to learn from my dad. But that’s for another time.

Me with darling papa and youngest sis.

In the meantime, happy feasting this lunar new year!

With love,
Cheryl & Family

And here we go again. Yet another year, another set of 365 days of feasting, playing, working and bonding to be done.

I am buzzing with excitement, just thinking about all the cooking, baking, travelling, eating, exercising (yes i am going to resume muay thai!) I plan to do in 2012.

2011 was a splendid year for me, solely because of my wonderful family and friends. Work-wise, I got many opportunities and love-wise, I’m content. You won’t hear me complaining about 2011. Life is what you make of it. If you are given apples, make apple pie, if you are given curry leaves, make some curry!

Every year, I find myself enjoying a quieter New Year’s Eve and this year is no exception.

My colleague invited me to her home for a home-cooked meal and to usher in the New Year. She cooked seven dishes in total. I enjoyed every morsel very much. Spicy, just the way I like it.

I snapped some photos to share the joy Enjoy!

Fried Chicken. Very tasty.

Quail egg sambal. I like quail egg sambal alot and my colleague’s version is fantastic.

Square beans with chilli. It was excellent. Slightly crunchy, with the right amount of chillies.

This is black pepper beef. Again, very very spicy!

Sambal sotong.

Udang masak nanas. My goodness, this is the spiciest of the lot. But I have a high tolerance for spice

This is my portion And only the first helping. I had seconds. Yes I am an unabashed eater. I like, I take more. Thank you Shen, for cooking for us. Really sweet of you.

Me and my colleagues. The lovely cook is the one in green, beside me. Her house is gorgeous. I had to take more pictures….

Her musical carousel is so quaint. Love it.

She also has many Santa Claus decorations around the house! My Christmas spirit is reignited. I don’t care if it is Chinese New Year in less than 4 weeks. I am still in a Christmas mood.

And now, I will enjoy the rest of today, and tomorrow before finally returning to the first work week of 2012.

To all my dear readers – thank you for your support all these years. This little blog of mine turns 7 this year. How fast time flies indeed. I will be posting more and cooking more for sure. You are in for a treat. Especially if you want to learn more about Peranakan food. I am embarking on a mission. A serious mission to master all my Dad’s Peranakan recipes so I can pass them on to my own children in future.

Till then, take care and be safe!

Everytime I get overwhelmed with work, I have a nagging urge to runaway.

To somewhere far. To somewhere no one can find me. To a place I can seek serenity.

Most of the time, I can’t do that. But I have my ways of seeking that small pocket of bliss. And it’s alot easier to find these days.

Especially in cosy quiet corners that serve simple fare.

Ah yes, for someone who seeks comfort in food, only a good meal can give me the solace I need. Last week, amidst a crazy work week, I did just that. At a lovely little outfit called Broun.

Cassie told me about Broun a few weeks ago and we decided to check it out. This cool new (well fairly new, it opened earlier in the year I think) cafe sits on North Canal Road. Just a stone’s throw away from Clarke Quay.

Everything on their menu is apparently more healthy and wholesome. Most of their mains are served with brown rice or brown bread. Well you know I love my grains. So hellya, I say yes yes and yes to brown anything.

We had to check out what’s on their dessert menu first. We were quite tempted to have just desserts for dinner.

But we resisted, and ordered 2 mains first. More on the desserts, later.

Cassie had the Spicy Zest Wrap. Primarily tandoori chicken wrapped in specked pita bread, it was a tad too sweet for my liking. Perhaps it was meant to be that way. However, I do like my Indian food spicy, as it is supposed to be.

I had the Lamb Stroganoff, which was earthy and so wonderfully comforting. The lamb chunks were fork tender and the gravy, flavourful. I had it with the ‘broun bread’, which of course is their version of healthy brown bread rolls.

After 2 mains, we were still raring to go… Our tummies were far from full.

In our ravished state, we ordered a whopping…….

Three desserts. Yes all three were ours to devour and digest.

And were they brilliant? By a mile. I adored their brownies. Which was surprising because most brownies I’ve eaten out there are too dry for my standards. I liked this brownie because it was slightly moist and gooey and it was full of chocolate flavour. The ice-cream that came with it, was divine. I believe Bailey’s was in it. I think.

The dessert of the day was Bread & Butter Pudding with Poached Figs and Cream. Our verdict?

Glorious. My favourite of the three. The marriage of spongey custardy bread, with poached fits and cream is by far a marriage made in heaven. One of the better BB pudding I’ve tasted. Me loves!

Their apple crumble was great too. I liked their crumble topping. And they had lots of apple slices. Another gold star. Looks like this place will see more of me.

While we were having our desserts, Seyra and her band came out to play. Her voice reminds me of Zee Avi. No kidding. It was lovely music. Broun apparently had regular sessions featuring local artistes. You can check out their website for the schedule.

I was so charmed by the box that our bill came in. They really paid attention to every minute detail. How quaint.

The bill, came to about $44. Rather reasonable, considering we ate 3 desserts and 2 mains.

Ah… a satisfying, filling and scrumptious respite from a mad-capped week.

What more can I ask for?

_________________________________________________________

Broun
36 North Canal Road
Tel: 6535 0430
Email: info@broun.sg
Broun’s Facebook Page

I find it hard to love fast food sometimes, because I don’t have a high metabolism.

That’s why my visits to Mac’s can be as little as once a month; when I crave that MSG taste. It’s weird but true.

But when I crave for something mightily satisfying and large, I only go to Carl’s Jr.

Because no other fast food brand can beat the quality and size they offer. Been their avid fan since they opened in 2005.

To date, they have lived up to its big burger promise. And my favourites are the Portobello Mushroom Burger and the Guacamole Bacon Burger. I love their condiments bar, especially the super spicy jalapenos & tangy pickles. The salsa is refreshingly good. And of course, the unlimited beverage bar Of course the only drawback is that it’s a tad pricier than most fast food. But I really believe in paying more for quality so that isn’t much of an issue.

Last week, our boss gave our team a treat. At Carl’s Jr., no less. I was a happy bird. We all tried the new Steakhouse Burgers. There are three types of patties – single, double and Thickburger, so we could select depending on how hungry we were.

I had the single patty. How was the taste? It was surprisingly good. I just wish they added bacon (can’t help it, I love bacon in my burgers). The Steakhouse Burger is a combination of Angus Beef patty, crumbled blue cheese, fried onion strings, A1 Sauce and your usual tomato and lettuce.

For some one who usually finds it hard to finish an entire Carl’s Jr. burger by herself, it was surprising that I actually downed the entire burger. Yes, even the burger buns. It was that tasty.

We also had my favourite Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders, which by the way, in my totally honest opinion beats the rest of the chicken tenders offered by other fast food outlets, hands down! And these tenders come with 3 sauces – Ranch, Mustard & BBQ.

The BBQ sauce is Amazing! Have it with your burgers the next time you visit Carl’s Jr. It’s so much better than BBQ sauces at your run-of-the-mill fast food outlets. Definitely 10 notches better than Mac’s for sure.

Another good thing to have at Carl’s Jr. if you’re a fan of milk-shakes, is their Hand-Scooped Shakes, especially the Oreo one. It can turn a bad day, good. Trust me on that.

Oh, you can also get super long straws at Carl’s Jr. now. I don’t really understand the purpose, but apparently it’s a Fanta thing. Perfect for children to play with.

The spanking new Carl’s Jr. outlet at Changi City Point. Yes, we visited their 10th outlet. It has a seating area with a nice carousel-ish pavilion.

Boy do I love Carl’s Jr. I was just there again today. I owed my dear sister a treat and since she is also a fan, I bought her the new Steakhouse Burger.

Can’t help it – I am a groupie I guess ;p

As the tagline of the Steakhouse Burger in-store collaterals say, the Steakhouse Burger is a taste fit for the heavens.

And according to Marketing Interactive, that exact Angel featured in the ad will be roaming several Carl’s Jr. outlets on the 27 November, Sunday. If you happen to spot her, snap a picture with her, post it on Carl’s Jr. Facebook page and you will stand to win a Steakhouse Burger Combo meal. How cool is that?

I’ll be looking out for the Angel on the 27 for sure!

… because it most certainly is the most delicious meat in the world. And he does too!

And this sort of love knows no boundaries.

Even when raw, I love pork. No kidding. A few months back, we spotted a lovely slab of pork belly while checking out the wet market in hopes of finding something to cook for dinner. I pictured roasted pork belly and started to salivate.

Of course he gave me that questioning ‘Are you sure’ look. We both have never cooked pork belly in our entire lives. We just like to eat it.

I had no recipe, no clue how I was going to do justice to the poor pig. But I knew that it was guaranteed to be delicious. (I still believe I have kitchen thumbs…hehe ;p )

So we bravely bought a good 1kg+ pork belly home.

When it was close to dinnertime, I thawed the belly and started to google for recipes.

The boy thought that we did not need any recipe and was about to marinate the belly with a myriad of random sauces and herbs when I stepped in.

Turns out, Jamie Oliver had a pork belly recipe on his site. I was convinced that his pork belly recipe would get me the most delicious roasted pork belly ever.

And it did!

The most challenging part was scoring the belly because all the knifes were blunt! He assisted with the necessary massaging of the belly to disperse the salt and I think he did a great job

It took a really long time to cook though. By the time we were done, it was 8pm. But we had other food to keep us full so it was fine. You could say that the pork belly was our ‘dessert’!

And we were mighty pleased with the belly. It was tasty and moist. Not bad for a virgin attempt.

Jamie Oliver, thanks for making my first attempt at roasting pork belly a success