An excellent Sunday Afternoon with One's Girls

One is home alone this afternoon and has had a wonderful time of it, reminding one of a couple of things. The first is cooking in MJ's Daggers pad many moons ago to pumping music with multiple pots on the go. The other is when two intrepid travellers weren't travellers and were delivering engagement party invitations - picture this. One in apron, cooking up a storm, Kelly Clarkson pumping on the stereo (which One is informed could be heard down the street!).

Fast Forward to 31 January 2010, one in aflatofonesown in the kitchen, the girls blaring out of the stereo, bolognaise and a red beef curry bubbling away on the stove, Kenwood having a work out producing mince for the curry, dishwasher full, two spoon rests in full use. PERFECTION!

So far one's girls B and J-Lo have dropped through, but one thinks that Lily ain't far away!

Singapore: Food Confessions Volume One

Picture this: Day One, travellers arrive in Singapore after a delayed overnight flight from Perth. Very nice taxi driver takes one to the Mandarin Oriental (Hello! but that's a story for another posting). Its now 8am, no breakfast has been eaten, the fog is beginning to lift over Singapore and one's stomach. What is one to do but have breakfast twice?!

Dilemma one is that Singapore really doesn't move pre-10am so after a random wander from the hotel we located a Coffee Connoisseur cafe and had breakfast number one. Then a further wander through shopping malls that were open with no shops actually open introduced the Food Republic, so second breakfast comes from Toast Box.

Return to hotel after walk and shop through Suntec city and Muji (love Muji!) where one got the cutest salad dressing shaker bottle shaped like a beaker and the basic equilibrium of the Singapore fling (sorry for the pun) was set: wander, food, wander, shop, food, shop, wander (repeat as desired interspersed with splash in pool and nap in king size bed).

First on the list of places to eat was Fatty's near Sim Lim Square. Fatty's is a bit of a tradition for one when in Singapore and the order is fairly regular: Nuclear Chicken (a delicious redish curry which is quite spicy), Spring Rolls (porky, deep fried by not oily at all), Chilli Prawns and some greenery. DELICIOUS, so delicious in fact that there were no photos taken (sorry).



After that it was time to hit up the shops for one's entree to retail Singapore. ZARA at 313 Sommerset was the main attraction and many bargains were obtained including a great grey mandigan with block coloured stripes down the back.

Having been without food for almost 1.5 hours, it was time to refuel and recharge and Food Republic on Level 6 was the venue of choice. Cue steamed BBQ pork buns, scallop dumplings, spinach wontons and prawn wonton.

Then it was back into the shops to get some Ts and basics from uniqlo which is this Japanese chain that G&A introduced one to on Oxford Street in 2008. By this stage it was around about 8pm so it was time to return to One's hotel and hit the pool in training for thy Triathlon...

Not to be without food for very long at all it was then off to La Pau Sat which is a great old food pavilion. Of an evening they close down a side street and the Satay hawkers and Beer wenches come out to play. It was DELICIOUSNESS again. There are photos however One is having technical issues connecting One's iPhone to the computer this afternoon so they will have to be added at a later date. But here is La Pau Sat that one found on google images.

Shout out to our Indian Readers

Woop Woop to KTP and LJD!

Jus (Subiaco) a disappointment

** Since posting this blog on Friday, One sent an email to those in charge at Jus and today (Sunday) has received quite a lovely email in response. Impressive that the owner replied and even more impressive that he replied on a Sunday. Hats off to Jus.

Some Friday nights, all one wants is to pick up some non-disgusting takeaway food and a seat on the couch. Today was one of those days.

After considering the options, Jus Burger in Subiaco was the chosen one, having enjoyed beautiful fresh and tasty burgers at Jus Burger's original shop in Leederville. The SO called in the order and was told the burgers would be ready in 30 minutes.

20 minutes later the SO and one left aflatofonesown and headed to Subi to eat said burgers. Upon arrival one lined up in the cue and paid for said burgers. This is where things appeared to go wrong. The burgers, chips and possibly the salad were collected out of some form of warmer - disappointing. But it was a Friday night and the place was
pumping so a little bit of warmer could be forgiven. Unfortunately for one and the SO, not only were the burgers in the warmer but so too were the luke warm chips which by this stage were not crunchy but malleable and dense. The house salad was limp and clearly had been sitting in its takeaway container for at least a day. One's burger should have had fresh horseradish, it did not.

What gets one's goat is that these gourmet burger joints charge for a premium product but deliver a mediocre product and think its ok. Well one says no to that. One says no to a luke warm $11 basic beef burger with horseradish. One says no to a luke warm and dry $12 chicken burger with avocado. One says no to a small serve of luke warm chips and one says definitely not to a $6 limp salad.

Bap Bow Jus Burger: One says save yourself the wait and the money and buy a dirty burger or kebab this Friday night

Singapore Discovery Number 1: Kaya Toast (& toast shops)

Shortly after arriving in Singapore and checking into one's (complementary upgraded and therefore macked out) suite at the Mandarin Oriental the SO and one stepped out for some breakfast. One had bubble and squeak with ham, not sure if the potato is the bubble or the squeak but there was plenty of potato and not much veggie. Anyhow, one then suggested that we scope out the malls adjoining aforementioned macked out hotel pre-shop opening time (11am) so that one could maximise bargain hunting time when the shops did open.

A wander through Marina Square (home of located Zara Shop 2) located many gems including this great shop called Muji which one had become acquainted with in Madrid in the northern summer of 2008, but more about Muji later, now back to the food, Marina Square connects with Suntec City which is a major shopping center with about a million shops. Not the greatest shopping centre in Singapore, but worth a visit to head up to the top floor of one section to Food Republic which G&A had informed one about. Its all the best parts of a food hall and none of the bad ones, so basically its all local food prepared by locals (rather than a gritty selection of gross food found in Australian food courts). And in Food Republic, there was a place called Toast Box.

One loves toast and particularly of late, white toast with butter and honey. Toast Box toasts bread on a grill so its nice and crunchy on the outside and still beautiful and bready on the inside. Anyway, Toast Box provided a delicious entry into the Singapore world of toast and to Food Republic which one visited frequently whilst in Singapore.

Which brings one to Kaya Toast. Which one discovered at the Raffles Shopping Centre at a great little toast shop called Ya Kun which is basically an old school toast place with plenty of attitude that has been serving coffee (made in a sock and served with sweetened condensed milk) since 1944.

Now Kaya Toast is served like a sandwich with a piece of toast spread with Kaya a hunk of butter and then another slice of toast on top. Kaya, according to the folk at Wikipedia is a 'coconut jam made from coconut milk, duck or chicken eggs which are flavored by pandan leaf and sweetened with sugar'. It is sweet and delicious and highly addictive.

Jetstar: A Review

One is not known for all things budget, although one is known for one's love of a bargain and in this case one simply could not pass on the $230 saving one could make (and therefore spend on clothes in Singapore) by flying Jetstar to Singapore. Indeed add to the $230 a preferable schedule and one's mind was made up. The SO took some convincing to re-board Jetstar after a trip to Hamilton Island last April when one was seated in row 1 while the SO was seated in row 27 between the screaming single mothers and their screaming children.

However, one had one's way and off to Jetstar we were. The flight was about 2 hours late leaving Perth, but luckily, one was holed up in the Qantas Club sipping on a G&T, then some bubbles and then a Baileys in an attempt to fight off the zzzzzzz's. Eventually we boarded and one swiftly fell to sleep somewhere areound 2am, waking only to have a glass of water shortly before landing in Sinapore at 7am.

Key take-away: when flying overnight, fly budget (well fly the budget brother of a Legacy airline such as Qantas). No service means no one waking you up mid flight to ask if you want the fish or the chicken.

SPWC: Trial Number Two

Red Velvet Cake if you please...

This week's cake is a Red Velvet Cake, which traces its origins from Texas.

One first saw this delicious cake at Magnolia Bakery in NYC and it intrigued one at the time but one promptly moved on with one's S&TC self planned walking tour (cupcake in hand!).

The Red Velvet Cake recipe is supposedly Magnolia's own, however one cannot attest to its accuracy as it was not found on any official page, however one is embracing the whirled wide web in the search for the perfect wedding cake.

As you can see, not only was this a new recipe, but also the first exercise in stacking thy nuptual cake, although this one is only at half height - in the end product it each layer would be 2 layers of cake with butter cream in the middle.

Its a deliciously tasty cake and went down with the bride & groom so who knows, we may have found our cake. One does believe though, that a little Cointreau wouldn't go astray over the velvety richness that is the Red Velvet Cake...

SPWC: Trial Number One

Welcome of SPWC - the Search for the Perfect Wedding Cake...

One has offered to make the Brother's wedding cake and so now one is in pre-season training. So with a rather daunting task, one could think of nothing better to do during a mini-break at work than Google it and found this recipe on a UK website called The Hub.

And so just like that it was time to hit the kitchen and dish up some cake. This recipe uses cocoa as its chocolate ingredient and olive oil. One loves a cake with olive oil because they're always deliciously moist and scrumptious.

So results of Trial one are:

As it cake number one, one decided to do a selection of icings. There is a chocolate ganache (thanks Nigella for the recipe) and a butter cream icing in vanilla and chocolate. There's also a simple cake with icing on the tops and side and a filled cake that has icing in the middle too.

One loves the sleek shiny chocolate ganache but also loves the fluffiness of the vanilla butter cream brings. Can't wait to do the taste test!

An excellent Saturday night

Saturday was the day after the night before and it was a rather slow day dealing with a dull headache, a general malaise and an aversion to loud noises.

But to put an end to the day that was, one headed off to the Herdie for a little indulgent dinner consisting of broccoli salad, potato salad, garlic bread and a pizza. All consumed while sitting in front of a couple of episodes of Forever Summer with Nigella and a MasterChef Masterclass to round things out!

It was absolutely what the liver ordered and one had a wonderful nights sleep after the indulgence!

An oldie but a goodie

One love a pub and possibly no pub is loved more than the OBH. An outrageous claim perhaps, but the OBH is a great old schoolish pub with plenty of bar staff and plenty of drinks.

Unfortunately, one often turns to Bundy when at the OBH, which is of course dangerous. Friday night with the brother and friends = hung over Saturday...

But a great time was had by all swigging down a pre-mixed Bundy as unfortunately liquid gold is no longer on tap at the OBH.

Goodbye summer holidays

Summer holidays unfortunately are over officially today. It was Day One back at work and one must say it was not as bad as one had expected.

Sure, it wasn't strolling along a beach like this before having a dip in the water and then heading towards a lunch and some antiquing, but Day One did start with coffee with the SO, followed by a co-workers holiday de-brief, a stroll to pick up a new diary and a couple of cook books - Feed Me Now by Bill and Cravatlicious by Matt Preston - a spot of sushi for lunch and then a 3 hour meeting followed by a cleansing ale.

All in all, not a bad start to the working year.

Oh and its only 17 days until Singapore, that's less than 3 weeks!!

Please explain

While on holiday on the south coast, one saw this rather scary deli selection of 'Meat Shavings' between the cheese and dips.

This leads one to believe that these 'Meat Shavings' are for human consumption...

They appear to be off cuts of deli meats, heavy on the miscellaneous beige meat with some salami thrown in for good measure.

One does not understand who eats such things...

A new dining era

Many of you will have eaten at one's dining table over the years and unfortunately it has been on its last legs. But never fear, this new girl is here.

One and the SO hit up the furniture stores and found a new table along with 8 chairs. The table is a big 2m x 1m and the chairs are super comfy. They're kind of beige with a check through them. One likes to think the table is country kitchen meets city pad. Best of all it was all on sale and many dollars were saved and it is being delivered next Saturday!!

Now who's coming for dinner?

Fit for a King

While one slept late this morning, the SO was up and at em hitting the gym and swimming pool for a ludicriously long period of time.

Arriving home, looking a dazed like a child who has been playing in the great outdoors all day, it was clear he needed a perk me up breakfast.

Luckily, there was left over batter from the Courgette Fritters we had yesterday and one had added some extra goodies to make a little Frittata. It had been in the fridge overnight so one sliced it, warmed it in the frying pan, poached some eggs in cling film and added a slice of toast for sustenance.

All that was missing was a little dollop of chutney, one must get on to making some!

An Education

Last night one was taken to the outdoor cinema for the first film of one's season (of course the outdoor cinemas have been in full swing for a good month or two now) but one hadn't yet managed to get to a film.

An Education was highly recommended and one had been wanting to see it for some time. Its a tale of the decisions we make and their intended and unintended consequences. As one synopsis one read said, its a tale of a young girl (Jenny) meeting a worldly man (David) and their burgeoning love affair. To say anything further would spoil the story. Click on the link above for a preview.

Carey Mulligan plays 16 year old Jenny and is AMAZING, even going head to head with Emma Thompson. Peter Sarsgaard plays David, his portrayal of a 30 something with passion for life is infectious.

Highly recommended, the sets and costumes are delightful and well worth a trip to the cinema (indoor or outdoor).

Express Cooking

Nigella's sixth book is Nigella Express and its full of recipes for busy people who still want to cook good food. One received the accompanying DVD series for Christmas and has been quite enjoying working ones way through hours on end of Nigella while flicking through the book at the same time.

In one of the few breaks from Nigella yesterday one hit the kitchen and turned to Nigella Express for some guidance on roasting a chicken (first roast chicken one has made). Now this may not seem like an express recipe or something that a you could whip up as it were, but in fact it is supremely easy.

Step one was to fry up some bacon (YUM!) and then once that was done, it goes in the chook cavity, then you throw some brandy on the bacon fat and pour it over the bird. I had also put some butter under the chicken's skin to start too. If you look closely you can see the crispy bacon:



In the spirit of 'Express' cooking, one then hit up the beach with the SO while the bird baked. As we walked up the stairs to aflatofonesown one could smell a deliciously homely yummy smell that was slightly sweet (bandy), slightly savoury (the bird plus bacon) and totally delicious YUM.

One was slightly anxious that the bird would be either burnt or not cooked, but was completely relieved when one opened the oven to find this:



A quick check that the bird was cooked through by piercing between the thigh and the body and seeing beautiful clear bird juice run out and one was ecstatic!