The Dengue Tale

It all happened in a flash.

1 fainting.

15 minutes of unconsciousness.

995.

39 degree celsius.

4 litres drip/day.

20+ bloodtests & needle pricks.

50+ visitors.

7 days of hospitalization.

That week God showed me how blessed i am. Pain aside, he planted caring nurses, pleasant roomies, oodles of friends & family members by my side. And ensured abundance of food. Seriously, i can't say enough thankyous to the many darlings who kept me company.

Shall bypass the bloody needle scenes and zoom straight into edibles....

breakfast in bed (:

One thing for sure, my perception of hospital meals certainly changed. Food at SGH is not bad at all! In Class B1 wards you get a daily selection of chinese/western/vegetarian/indian halal for your meals, served right under your nose. Teatime arrives promptly at 3.

Vegetarian: Potato-stuffed Taupok

Chinese: Fish in Black Bean Sauce

yummy Western: Baked Fish Fillet (even ate up the salted peas)

not-so-yummy Western: Chicken in Tomato Gravy

Teatime: Pumpkin tart & Lipton tea

Of course i couldn't survive solely on hospital meals. I had my fair share of smuggled nosh too.... plus those plushies, balloons, fruit baskets & flowers (in background) to brighten my days. Love my friends!

Mini Taiyakis from Isetan Kyushu Fair

Loved Rare Cheese & Caramel.

Azabu Sabo Matcha Icecream take-home pack. all mine.

14oz of Yami Yogurt natural delight

homemade bento from a colleague. cod & prawns!

I'll never forget how timely this angel arrived. These foods spell B.I.N.G.O

salmon sashimi never tasted better. missed it so bad.

Say Cheeze's Blueberry Cheesecake totally hit the right spot.

*poof* within minutes.

....& many more.

*widest smile ever* (on my awful unadorned face)

Thanks a million to all who came, for making elaine a happy happy patient!

P.s. Please beware of mozzies!

Lunching Wild (Rocket)

Things i like about chef Willin Low:

Abdicating his corporate status to pursue his heart instincts.

His unabating passion for cooking.

His courage to twine local nosh & western posh.

The unpredictability of his dishes.

Relish. Wild Oats. Wild Rocket.

I never had a boredom issue with Wild Rocket's menu. The 3-course Ala carte Lunch ($35++) is my running choice here. The cast changes periodically & newbies-on-probation often sound mismatchingly gripping. They make you go ?!! alot.

Check out: Bah kut teh wanton, foie gras ngoh hiang, salted duck egg pasta, bee tai bak, blue swimmer crab congee soup, hainan tomato relish, gong tng, sticky rice.... Slowly getting disturbing.

The foccacia bread seemed to have waned in standard. I remember it being dense & moist with savory cheese speckles dabbing its caps the last time, but now the virtues have vanished.

Five-spice Foie Gras ngoh hiang meat roll ($13.80)

How's a Foie Gras Ngoh Hiang for starter? Think French wave thwacked Peranakan Loh Bak. He swathes foie gras & five spice-marinated prawns in beancurd skin, then teamed caramelized onions & fresh granny smith sticks to cut some unctuousness. Culturally bizarre but interesting.

Pan-seared Tuna Rocket Salad ($12.50)

I thought they could have laid more semi-seared tuna, or maybe used a less canton-evoking ginger dressing to silence my grouses. Relish's got a similar version with 5 tuna slices.

Harji Pasta with Prawns ($5 supplement applies)

Fans of "har ji meen" would beam upon their special-of-the-day. The Hong Kong delicacy is done a notch classier by replacing egg noodles with fine angel hair slicked in minimal olive oil. The shrimps were crystal (my own term for crunchy, semi-pellucid prawns) but dried shrimp roe too little to shine.

Roast Chilean Seabass on light congee ($32)

On extremely rare occasions, i see grease in a different light.

Their Roast Chilean Seabass happens to fall in that pinhole. Fish oils + the oleaginous attributes of chai poh confit composed a flavor so scrumptious, that diluting it with uninspiring ketupat-like congee makes no prudent sense.

Personal note: Still loving Ember's CSB most! (:

Kueh Baulu Tiramisu ($9.80)

Kueh Baulu's versatility worked. The reappraised dessert tallies alcohol-moistened spongecakes, espresso icecream & mascarpone cream that's not unduly firm. 5 points for taste, 2 points for his witty substitute.

Wild Rocket Strawberry Cheesecake ($10)

Deconstructed food can be tricky. Consume each component individually & you're bound to condemn: Lemon mascarpone too thick, macerated strawberries syrupy sweet, maple icecream stings of saccharine (but i like it!), biscuit blocks boring.. A mouthful of any could tip the threshold.

My strategy: Take concerted spoonfuls of everything. Allow all the players to glister & flaws would conceal.

Willin conveys close-to-our-heart ingredients in contemporary makeovers, without elaborate sauces or presentations. His innovation is apparent but steep. And i'm not sure how long this risky fashion will continue to lick the boots of the crowd. One or two attempts are likely, but we cannot dismiss the tendency of Singaporeans reverting to no-frills hawker fare for best local comfort.

Even for me, i'll be more enthusiastic spending 40 bucks on a focused, less alloyed cuisine. Sad to say.

'The discovery of a new dish does more for the good of mankind

than the discovery of a new star.' How true.

Wild Rocket

10A Upper Wilkie Road

Hangout Hotel @ Mount Emily

6339 9448

District 10 Disaster

hmmm how shall i begin?

Dinner at District 10 was, regrettably, the worst dining experience for a pair of food kakis by far. Never did we anticipate things to escalate this way.

One thing's for sure, the central dining section was tamed for a charming alfresco atmosphere. But with null reservations, (not that we didn't try..we were told reservations were full) you get assigned to a desolate area blending with the former school's common premises. It just felt... improper.

Have you ever ordered a dish for a particular something, but to your dis-delight, the thing never showed?

I could find greens, marinated mushrooms, feta cheese, roasted roma tomatoes, parmesan flakes and bland balsamic dressing in the District 10 Salad ($12). Everything but walnuts. Boo.

The chef's signature Country Style Roasted Baby Back Ribs ($24) served with fries, had no typical barbeque/marmite/honey sauce slathered. Instead it employed a risky crust of wholegrain mustard, which happens to not be everyone's cup of tea. In this case my friend was shunned off by the wasabi-like pungency.

Now for the serious rant.

Because Lemon Sole ran out, i opted for the waiter-recommended Fish of the day ($25)- checked and double-confirmed to be a grilled RED SNAPPER fillet.

What arrived was an appalling dish of fried noodles. I approached a waitress for a explanation of the components, who promised to return with someone more knowledgeable but never did. So i tucked in and configured it on my own...

1) The fish was obviously NOT a snapper. Any fish-eating person can tell it's salmon.

2) Atrociously fishy. So unbearable that i left half of it untouched (wasting seafood is never my thing)

3) The noodles were maggie/wanton-meeish in character and awfully drowned in grease that it scares me. A spaghetti at least, could have saved its image by a million counts.

4) Effortless toss of shrimps, mango & lychee in thai dressing failed to abide. Everything just didn't flow into a cohesive picture.

I never felt so compelled to oppose a dish to this extent, really.

Project Dessert-to-the-rescue didn't suppress our grouses. The White Chocolate & Strawberry Cheesecake ($10) fared mediocre atop gritty digestive base and melted down to a pannacotta mush in a short timespan. Only liked the accompanying wild berries compote.

When time to exit, the card system was down. You could only pass if you're (i) an american express cardholder, (ii) cash loaded.

We were neither.

The sticky issue only resolved after a 30-minute long haul. Our fish dish was eventually voided & the manager gave a brief apology.

here's what kaki came out with to make up for the absence of a candlelight haha!

When such bad scenarios slaps at you, you can only fall back on the quality company for the meal. My kaki agreed.

District 10 Bistro.Wine.Bar

10 Windstedt Road

#01-17

6738 4788

New York Cheesecake

I happen to love cheesecakes unfalteringly.

While most people whoop over tons of gooey cheese within their savories, im happier having cheese in my desserts. Don't get me wrong. I still sink regularly into pizzas and gratins & their irresistible relatives with no disdain, but the cheesy sweets take me to a higher realm of delight.

I'll usually keep a close watch for my favourite species: American, Blueberry & Walnut. Or anything bearing the blood of cheese, say cheese+tart, cheese+brownie, cheese+souffle, cheese+icecream, or cheese+whatever's morally acceptable...

So when i saw Jamie Oliver's screamingly-mouthwatering New York Cheesecake emblazoned on the cover of a Delicious issue, i took almost immediate action. The product: a creamy, moderately dense cheesecake smacked with robust vanilla Yum! Double yum with a dollop of blueberry topping (:

Here's the original recipe, unmodified.

Jamie Oliver's New York Vanilla Cheesecake
recipe from Delicious Magazine march 2009 issue

His recipe reacted quite well to modifications so you can try adding your own touches. i tweaked the base's butter-to-biscuit ratio, added walnuts for crunch & adjusted the proportions of some ingredients for mine.

Serves 8-10

250g digestive biscuits, crushed

150 unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/4 cup cornflour

900g Philadelphia cream cheese, at room temperature

2 large organic eggs

1/2 cup thickened cream

seeds of 1 vanilla pod, or 1/4 tsp vanilla extract (1/2 tsp for me =p)

grated zest of 1 lemon

Blueberry Topping

450g blueberries

1/4 cup caster sugar

Grease and line the base of a 24cm springfoam cake pan. Preheat oven to 180C. Mix the biscuits and butter in a bowl, press into the base of the pan and bake for 10 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Turn oven to 200C. Combine sugar and cornflour in a bowl. Add cream cheese and beat with an electric whisk until creamy. Add eggs and beat well. Gradually add the cream, beating until smooth, then beat in vanilla and zest.

Tip mixture into pan, level the surface and sit on a baking sheet. Place in centre of oven and bake 35-40 minutes until top is browned and the filling is set around the edges. A piece of foil over the top wihh stop it from browning too much. Allow to cool. Place in fridge for 3 hours or overnight.

Put the blueberries in a sacuepan, sprinkle over sugar and add 1 tbsp of water. Put ona medium-low heat to simmer gently for 10 minutes. Cool and serve with cheesecake.

Maybe i'll try incorporating some fresh berries into the cheese batter next time, so it'll become a true-blue blueberry cheesecake. Oh i so love those =D

Matcha Souffle Cheesecake

Everyone will have their Matcha-mood someday...

When mine struck, i splattered some greentea powder into cheese... And out came these high milk content, semi souffle-like slices.

Matcha 抹茶 is love <3

Privé Bakery Cafe

Third time at Privé, i finally embarked on savouries.

Cappuccino

With a luxurious bayview and breezy backdrop, Privé Cafe is now the rising hotspot for Brunch. Just desserts alone can get me head over heels... or crazy enough to drag Dad right off his flight (and jetlag) here for a splendid sunday meal.

Privé Ultimate Breakfast

For the day, instincts told me i should prey on something complete, something like a Big Breakfast or The Works. Fortunately Privé offers a timely variation of Privé Ultimate Breakfast ($17): seafood edition. Instead of sausage & bacon it had a healthier attendance of smoked salmon & a quirky mussel vol-au-vent, 2 eggs done your style, arugula and roasted mushrooms. You may argue what's The Works without The Meats but for a seafood fan like me, The Works is everything better with The Marines.

BLT & E

B.L.T = Dad's three magical alphabets. Though not outrightly expressed, i know Bacon is Best for Brunch inhibits in his mind. Hence even when the BLT & E (e for egg, $16) appeared more chi-chi than imagined, he nibbled the streaks right down to the very last chip. Now that's a Bacon.Loving.Tale in reality.

Carrot Cake

Once savouries ended, i toe-lightedly hopped over to the cake shelve like a kid on caramel candy. Privé's got one of the inarguably BEST carrot cake on our island and a handful of delish others to boot. The tall Carrot Cake ($6.80) is sturdy like sponge and densely clouded with many orange carrot sticks & blackish walnuts i love. Compact, moist yet not thunderously heavy. Just soooo scrumptious that Cedele takes a backseat for now. All hail CC the almighty!

Blueberry Cheesecake

Also noteworthy was their Blueberry Cheesecake ($6.80), seductively stained with dashes of natural purple. Not too heavy over a soft wet base. A real blueberry cheesecake should involve the blue gems this way (in & over) else it logically degrades to a 'american cheesecake with blueberry jam topping'. If not for the carrot cake stealing the limelight, i would have showered this one with closer attention.

I don't care what they say, im in love with you...
*carrot cake smitten.

I'll be hopping back for more without a doubt.

Prive Bakery Cafe

2 Keppel Bay Vista

Marina @ Keppel Bay (Ground Floor)

6776 0777

Canele Dessert Outing: A Pictorial

Blackforest

Chocolate genoise with kirsch, layered with 66% dark chocolate mousse, chocolate crumble, kirsch chantilly and dark cherry

Sometime back, a group of us headed to Canele and filled our table solely with entremets. Chef Pang's 2009 Collection divulged a couple of new surprises so copious of his ingenius creativity. I've held no qualms about his talent since day one.

Barcelona

Almond chocolate sponge layered with orange caramel mousse, dark chocolate orange mousse and feullietine. Decorated with chocolate macaron and blood orange jelly

Triple Chocolate Cheesecake

Walnut chocolate fudge cake, chocolate chip cheese cake and dark chocolate chantily

Raspberry Cheesecake

Chocolate fudge cake, velvety smooth vanilla cheesecake glazed with raspberry jelly and rosemary-infused creme chantilly

The ten of us picked 9 cakes to engage in our very own dessert merry-go-round. Though mostly familiar to me, it was a virgin experience having sooo many of them to savour at one go! My favourites stood out almost immediately... loved the chocolate takeover in Blackforest, brilliant citrus shot in Barcelona, rich harmony in Triple Chocolate Cheesecake & the uplifting rosemaryness of the Raspberry Cheesecake.

Tiramisu

The Italian classic, made with marsala mascarpone mousse, finger sponge soaked in coffee, white rum and brandy

(clockwise from top left)

Jupiter

Parfait Manjari, exotic caramel and pecan nut nougatine on a flourless chocolate sponge with exotic coulis

Macha

Delicate green tea mousse and chestnut cremeux layered with green tea biscuit and almond crumble

Gateaux Chocolat

Dark chocolate cream, flourless chocolate sponge decorated with triple chocolate shards

Tarte Citron

Almond tart filled with lemon cream, torched Italian meringue and candied lemon peel

Canele has it all to hit bull's eye for any dessert softspots... my stand is strong on this. Had wonderful company and sweets that afternoon, thankyou all for the great time spent!

Canele Patisserie & Restaurant

252 North Bridge Road

#B1-81/82 Raffles City Shopping Centre

Royal Copenhagen Tea Lounge: Sweet Noon

eye feast!

Prior to indulging in my taitaish-fantasies, recollections of an enjoyable lunch hurled back.

ROYAL COPENHAGEN- the big name of Denmark's majestical porcelains. Tea Lounge at Takashimaya faces no challenge in fulfilling any taitai-wannabe's checklist. From remarkably expensive diningware (you won't wish to know) to alluring delicacies, premium tea brews and a bustling Orchard view for peoplewatching- you'd notice the gentlemen's attention on automobiles.

All's set for a pampering noon.

hands raised for strawberry water~

Whilst the Lamborghinis voomed, savouries begin to line in.

Petty Shell with Shrimp & Asparagus ($7.90)

We began feeding puny morsels of creamed shrimps and chopped asparagus into our mouths, which gleefully overpoured out of their miniature crust houses. These were humourously petite, 97% baby-friendly and 80% as comforting as homestyle campbell.

we've got the answer to PETTY shells.

Selfish Pasta ($20.90)

Wacky names are, eccentrically, their forte. Wacky brainchild #2: the Selfish Pasta out of royal director's board meeting was only a level more degrading. But if you could forgive that untactful address, the dish's got some pesto-dribbled sauce and luscious lobster tail flesh to boot.

so good, you'd be too selfish to share!

This time, they answered.

Salmon & Potato Gratin ($19.90)

Clap for seriousness. The Salmon & Potato Gratin was a richy showdown of layered potato cake, chives cream, and roasted asparagus. Plus a fatty highlight pan-seared to crisp excellence.

Copenhagen Scones ($6.90)

No trip to RCTL is complete without the sweets.

I would strongly recommend Copenhagen Scones if you've got nothing more than a space for the best. My love for scones began from their warm buttery signatures, served with the classic butter-jam-cream condiments.

Perfect for breakfast, brunch, tea, dessert, anytime.

Lemon Cheesecake ($4.90)

Room for more = time to tackle the torturous decision-making at the door. I took two visits back and forth before convincing my fickleness to settle.. Lemon Cheesecake.

lemon zest pricking out..

Not a hint of regret. The tangy cheesy entwine, liberal with lemon zest, snared two thumbs up from us. And left us with vivid soury recalls.

I'm glad i've found you, RCTL (:

Royal Copenhagen Tea Lounge

391 Orchard Road

2F Ngee Ann City

6735 6833