Withering

Lovely even as they slowly wither away

Yoshimaru Ramen, The Big Shot & Lower East Side Tacqueria

Bit of a ramen craving this weekend so found my way to the other side of the city where expats play - holland village. 

Yoshimaru Ramen Bar serves up Hakata style ramen. IE - a rich and creamy (yes, that's right CREAMY), pork-bone broth with straight-ish chewy noodles. I don't believe I've actually ever had broth this thick before while eating ramen - it was almost as thick as gravy. J & I were properly stuffed after. She had the black sesame broth and I had the peanut paste & chili oil broth. YUM. 

We made our way to back to the city, first to Funan to hunt for a new lens, then walked the busy streets of Little India to look for a quiet coffee place to pass the sweltering afternoon. There was an article that came out a few weeks back about Jalan Besar being the new jaunt for hipsters coffee enthusiasts so wanted to see what place we could find. 

The Big Shot was the cafe we ended up in. Ordinary interiors with a standard selection of cakes - the place wasn't trying too hard, hence wasn't crawling with people looking to get in on a new "it" place. In other words, it was perfect. The Greek frappe  (espresso shot mixed with with brown sugar then poured into cold milk) I had was yums so I was happy to find afternoon refuge here.

Lower East Side Taqueria was where I jumped to next - for a weekly sisterly catchup. A relatively new tex-mex joint in Katong where R & I wanted to check out a few weeks back. The waiter who was serving us was a little in over his head so that was rather amusing but it was a lovely evening none-the-less. No frills, tasty food for a decent price. I finally got my hands on some horchata - which I've been craving since I first tried it in Chicago years ago. 

Ending my Sunday with a bit of a powerwalk around the neighborhood. To clear the mind and gear up for a busy two weeks. 

i light marina bay 2014

It was a lovely (albeit hot) way to spend a Friday evening in Singapore

Cooks & Queens

Remotely coordinating a bridal shower and bachelorette required juggling time,  unnecessary irritations and expectations (mine & those I was working with).

No matter what it would take, my personal goal was to make sure M would have a memorable time. Suffice, to say, I believe we achieved just that!

We dubbed the event: Cooks & Queens.

Cooks was M's bridal shower. 

We wanted a Martha-Stewartesque theme as M does love cooking and all things related to the home. Ingredients to this part of the day included:

• Cooking class with all of M's girlfriends. We did this at The Cookery in BGC - a cute little place that is perfect for this sort of thing. Their kitchen is a lot of fun, and there is a space wherein you can enjoy what you eat after. This worked out perfectly for us as it doubled as a venue to do the more traditional part of a bridal shower - gift giving and games.  
• We jazzed up the place a bit with lots of personal touches - a special vintage-looking apron for the bride, placemats / serviettes / serving dishes in the appropriate colours, speciality popcorn for pica-pica, big 'ol coffee cans stuffed with bright flowers, baking bowls filled with equally cheerful fruit, bunting on the wall, give-aways also in the right theme (large box graters filled with delicious chocolates from kuwait and a set of ref-magnets we printed with kitchen themed life quotes)
• Another special give away from the bride -  book which we filled with "recipes" from all other women in Maica's life
• Gift-giving and Games - what bridal shower is complete without this? The most fun ones I feel are the ones that are slightly more personalized - hence a trivia game about M. Hehe. We had gifts as well that were kitchen-themed. 

Queens was M's bachelorette.

We took it beyond strippers and R-rated games and went instead to a drag club! This was done at Club Mwah on Boni Ave. The venue looked like versace-exploded inside with its large gold lamps and zebra-print carpet. But the show? My goodness, the show was brilliant! Talent-filled, varied and 200% entertainment. 

• M of course needed to spend the evening in the usual crown & sash
• We brought the groom with us! Well, more like masks which we gave everyone to wear. 
• Alcohol (need I clarify this further?) 
• The venue was in on it as well!  Towards the end of the evening, one of the male dancers dressed in a white wedding tux and a mask with the groom's face came to dance with her bride-to-be. 

Few other things that helped stitch the whole day together:

• A personalised invitation to all attendees which covered all the details for the day
• A hotel room near the cooking venue - so we could quickly get ready for the evening, and then retire to at the end of the night

Chocolates & kitchen life-quote ref magnets in grater boxes

Flowers in coffee cans, placemats, popcorn and serving dishes

The Cookery's lovely set up in BGC

Ingredients for one of many things we made that day

All ready to go! Now to surprise the bride to be

More of The Cookery details

Taking notes as we listened to the chef

Demonstration

Mediterranean chicken on 3-garlic pasta

Each of the team's lemon & parsley gougeres - lol from decent to fail! all tasted delicious regardless 

Apple pie - without a bottom crust. Hehehe

Amazing talent at Club Mwah

Zebra!

Travel Eats: Sydney

Spent a week in Sydney (with a side trip to the vineyards of the Hunter Valley) exploring my first city(s) in Australia.

Home base was a comfy couch in my friend's beautiful new home (with an awesome view of Manly Beach). It was the perfect place to lay and scratch belly after a full day of eating. 

Something healthy to kick off my first meal in Sydney

....followed by something not so healthy! 

Pita with saucers of Greek dips

Olives, Greek meatballs and red vino

"What did the cheese say to the mirror?"
"Haloumi" ;-)

Grilled octopus

Moussaka maddness

A lovely breakfast platter from the Swedish joint in the neighborhood

Fresh oysters yessireee

I believe this was a starter of apples/pears with goat cheese and walnuts

Scallops

Some tea to wash down all the rich food

Make your own brekkie at the Hunter Valley 

Cheese et al for Melbourne Cup festivities

Australians love their coffee apparently!

Flavours upon flavours of dukkah

Wine wine wine wine wine...

Rabbit tartaglia

Sea bass with blood oranges and capers

Home made gnocchi with pancetta and mushrooms 

Macarons

Crab cakes

Savoury pancakes with smoked salmon, rocket and chive sour cream 

Mexican churros 

Brewskies

Homemade wings...

Homemade meatballs and gravy

I could've leave without having a meatpie

Lemon curd tart, ginger creme brulee, cappuccino and a soy flat white