Mid-Autumn Festival 2010

It is again that time of the year where adults load up on the ever sweet-tasting, cholesterol laden mooncakes while children were busy parading and showing off their lanterns.

While locals and tourists alike were crowding Clarke Quay with it's display of giant lanterns and numerous makeshift stalls selling mouth-watering delights, I found myself returning to the Mid-Autumn Festival market located along Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho, more popularly known as Si Ma Lu Kwan Yin Temple (四马路观音庙).

Stalls lined both sides of the street selling the inevitable mooncakes, a great variety of lanterns, pomelos and even potted plants. Red lanterns dangling from the trees also added much festivity mood to the street.

The majority of lanterns on sale were battery operated ones which comes in all sorts of popular cartoon figurines. However, I was more drawn to the paper and plastic lanterns, where the latter was the more 'up-market' lantern during my childhood days. More importantly, these lanterns had to be lighted up by means of candles which gives the children the perfect excuse to play with fire for that one day in a year.

Instead of mooncakes, I would rather prefer the simpler and cheaper 'biscuits' which are a sort of festive snacks for the children. Made up of only flour, sugar, egg, oil and water, the dough is moulded into animal shapes like that of a fish or the piglet before it is baked. Despite having no expensive fillings to brag about, these 'biscuits' never fails to bring back fond memories of my carefree childhood days

Root Beer Float @ New York New York!

I could still vividly recall my junior college days when a group of classmates would drop in at A&W on Tuesdays specifically for it's discounted Coney Dogs and signature root beer floats served in ice-frosted mugs.

Ever since the fast food chain moved out of Singapore many years back, one could still chance upon the occasional root beer floats sold at other restaurants. A recent encounter would be at the New York New York! restaurant @ Heartland Mall Kovan.

The drink came in a tall mug topped with the much anticipated scoop of vanilla ice-cream. It was very much a recreation of the signature drink from A&W but nothing beats the real deal - be it the presentation, price (charged at slightly less than $8!) or even the soft drink to ice-cream ratio. By the time I gobbled up the last chunk of ice-cream floating in the drink, the mug was still about three quarters full and this was when I wished the scoop of ice-cream was bigger. So you see, more doesn't mean it's better. It all boils down to proportions!
For the younger generations who never had the good fortune of dining at A&W restaurants in Singapore, you might want to pop over at our friendly neighbour - Malaysia - for the real deal!

Philip's First Month Party

Just when we, as parents, were lost between the days and nights, a month just passed us by and on 21 August 2010, everybody came together to celebrate the milestone of Philip's first month into babyhood!
We ordered from Four Seasons Catering Pte Ltd which offers a Baby Full Month Buffet Feast package with the traditional red eggs, ang ku kuehs and even glutinous rice thrown into the buffet spread!
The package is competitively priced, buffet spread professionally setup, decent spread of tummy filling staple food and a good portion of finger licking desserts.

Stir Fried Dory Fillet in Sze Chuan Style

Deluxe Lo Han Chye

Deep Fried Nested Yam Roll

Signature Four Seasons Chicken

Stir Fried Prawns with Chilli Crab Sauce (the dish to get the most raving reviews!)

Wok Fried Noodle in Hong Kong Style

Fruit Mochi

Mini Cream Puff

Mini Swiss Roll

Yet another satisfied customer!

Philip ist da!

On 21 July 2010, weighing at 3.510kg with a length of 52cm, Philip finally made his appearance! :)

Baum Kuchen

Baum Kuchen literally translates to mean Tree Cake in English. Despite having spent quite some time in Austria, this is the first time I came across this cake.

The cake resembles the growth ring of a crosscut tree and the baking process is even more interesting. It is somewhat similar to kueh lapis where a thin layer of batter poured into a baking tin is allowed to be baked before adding on the next layer. However, in the case of the Baum Kuchen, the batter is brushed onto a spit which is rotated around a heat source. Once the outer layer is baked, the next layer of batter would be applied until the ring grows to the size of one's desire.

I happened to chance upon the shop, Wheat Baumkuchen, at Toa Payoh Central (Blk 190 Lorong 6, Toa Payoh #01-530) and thought that it stands out from the rest of the typical neighbourhood shops surrounding it.

I would have thought that this is yet another business idea brought in from Europe but was surprised to find Japanese wordings on the paper bag. My curiosity got the better of me and a quick search online revealed that the cake was first introduced to Japan by a German in 1919, shortly after World War 1, which subsequently grew to become a popular pastry in Japan today.

I purchased 3 flavors - Original, Chocolate and Original with Nutella & Nuts coating. Both the Original and Chocolate flavored cakes tasted rather plain and dry. Truth be told, I would rather prefer a spongecake. The last piece tasted much better probably due to its coating which gives it a rich chocolately and crunchy texture.

I'll surely be back for more but only the ones with coatings or toppings on it.