Rock Sugar Bird's Nest

This is the first time I received bird's nest as a gift. Never one to hanker after such 'delicacies', receiving it as a gift is a totally different story altogether! :)

Each tiny bottle contained barely a few pieces of bird's nest soaked in rock sugar solution. The bird's nest, alike shark's fin, doesn't taste much by itself. Once cooked, the texture strongly resembles that of agar agar, which is slightly harder than jelly.

Such delicacy is highly valued by the Chinese due to it's nutritional values, rarity, life endangering job of harvesting the nests from limestone caves and the arduous cleaning process before yielding pure bird's nest.

I have Jamie to thank for presenting me with the gift and certainly Philip too, for without whom such an opportunity would not have arised. :)

记得吃 - Part 1

For a start, I already like the name of this dessert shop - 记得吃. :)

I first got to know of this dessert shop along Liang Seah Street where it used to be the alternative dessert shop to patronise if one couldn't find a seat in the more popular 阿秋甜品 across the road.

However, since the launch of their durian puree dessert, the number of 记得吃 followers have been growing steadily, with me being one of them!

If you want to avoid the weekend crowd along Liang Seah Street and be assured of a seat immediately inside the shop without having to queue up, you could visit the main branch at Chinatown Point.

A recent visit revealed a new range of desserts in the shop - snow shavings! I believe the dessert was 'copied' from Taiwan where the shaved ice is so fine unlike ice kachang and yet taste like ice cream but without the sinfulness of the creaminess in the usual ice cream.

For those who doesn't like their dessert to be too sweet, you might want to request for the syrup not to be poured over the snow shavings.

We also ordered their hot dessert - almond paste with black glutinuous rice and similarly received a two thumbs-up compliment! :)

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum

The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum is a relatively new temple in Singapore having only been founded in 2002. As such, the temple with its full fledged air-conditioned facilities was quite an enjoyment to pay a visit to even for the locals who were dying to get out of the sweltering heat.

The interior of the temple was very richly decorated with plenty of gold in the grand hall and especially so on the fourth storey where the sacred Buddha tooth was kept. Here, the floor was even tiled in gold!

The Grand Hall

For visitors who would like to have a summary of the life of Buddha and an introduction to the other Buddhas, it would be a wise choice to visit the Nagapuspa Buddhist Culture Museum located on the third storey. Here, the story of Buddha is recounted in Buddha's view such that it is in the first man's account. This seems rather strange to me as I feel that it is more appropriate to recount the story in the third man's view instead.

On the second storey, there's even a teahouse where visitors can enjoy a nice cup of tea with soft Buddhist music playing in the background and the option of browsing the Buddhist books on sale.

All in all, it was a rather nice experience, seeing the temple in a modern light and definitely lots of photography opportunities for the tourists!

A Global View On The Food Shortage In The Rest Of The World

A worldwide survey was conducted by the United Nation. The only question asked was: "Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?"

The survey was a huge failure.


In Africa they didn't know what 'food' meant.

In India they didn't know what 'honest' meant.

In Europe they didn't know what 'shortage' meant.

In China they didn't know what 'opinion' meant.

In the Middle East they didn't know what 'solution' meant.

In South America they didn't know what 'please' meant.

And in the USA they didn't know what 'the rest of the world' meant.

Outback Steakhouse @ Millenia Walk

I have passed by this restaurant (Outback Steakhouse) on several occasions but never the urge to frequent it. And that record was recently broken when it was the proposed gathering venue with a group of ex-schoolmates.

As the name implies, it is an Australian restaurant so I was rather puzzled to find a soft toy of a Kiwi instead of Kangeroos adoring the dividers of the seats.

Having not much idea on the specialities of Australian cuisines, a glimpse into the menu doesn't offer me much insight either. It just looks like a typical western restaurant. Only item on the menu that caught my fancy would have to be the onion fries or Blossom Onion (so lovingly termed at the Handle Bar @ Gillman Village where I first sank my teeth into one several years back).

The rest of the items which we ordered off the menu seem pretty ordinary for local standards except that it's a little on the pricey side. The servings are huge too so it would be advisable to share 2 main dishes amongst three or four of you if you are petite diners. :)

heart-shaped grilled chicken breast

quarter chicken with a huge scoop of mashed potato

tomato based sphagetti with chicken and mushroom

fish and chip

Chinatown (牛车水)

Chinatown is always bustling with activities and my guess is that its quietest moment would have to be on the first two days of Chinese New Year. Most of the shops and even the hawker stalls in the nearby market operate almost everyday throughout the week and it is only on Chinese New Year that they decide to give themselves a well deserved break to start off the New Lunar Year.
On the 3rd day of Chinese New Year, I happened to pass by a coffee shop located along South Bridge Road between Temple Street and Sago Street. The shop is painted in red with posters advertising a Singapore Coffee Museum within the shop. It was hardly a museum but rather a small room with a tiny corner displaying a table, chairs, cups, saucers and typical coffeewares used in the olden days.
More interesting for me would have to be a framed up poster listing the local terms for the different types of coffee.

note: there is a typo error in the poster - Kopi Poh refers to coffee thin or thin coffee.

Year of the Roaring Tiger (虎虎生威)

In a blink of an eye, another year has passed and in place of the somewhat depressive Year of the Ox is the much anticipated Year of the Tiger.

Throughout the years, the custom of preparing the house to welcome the Chinese New Year has not changed a bit. There are the usual new year goodies laid out nicely to tempt the guests, the auspicious Yu Sheng (鱼生) which some believed to have originated from China but with it's contemporary version definitely created and popularised in Singapore and the two most important and popular vegetarian dishes in my family which have somehow became a family tradition for lunch just before noon on the first day of Chinese New Year (年初一)!

I am simply glad that my entire family is gathered on this very special occasion and with each progressing year, the dining table is getting more and more crowded with new additions to the family. :)

Happy New Year to All! 祝大家新年快乐！

Dorayaki - 铜锣烧

Doraemon (小叮当) fans would be able to easily recognise this stack of Japanese pancakes at first glimpse! For those who still haven't got a clue, it's the favourite teatime snack for Doraemon.

Traditional dorayaki consist of a layer of anko filling (sweet azuki beans - a kind of red bean paste) sandwiched between two light and fluffy pancakes.

In my case, I prefer to simply munch on the plain pancakes. The choice of fillings is pretty much up to the individual's liking! :)

Dorayaki

Ingredients:

3 eggs

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

3 tbs water

1 cup flour - sifted

filling of choice

vegetable oil for frying (optional if using non-stick skillets)

Method:

(1) Put eggs and sugar in a bowl and whisk well

(2) Dissolve baking soda in water

(3) Add water in the egg mixture

(4) Add sifted flour in the egg mixture gradually

(5) Heat skillet and lightly pour oil on it

(6) Pour a scoop of batter into the skillet and make small pancakes (~ 4" in diameter)

(7) Turn over when bubbles appear on the surface

(8) Let the pancakes cool before adding the filling of your choice

Verdict:

(+) A light, butterless pancake that is done in half an hour!

Winter along River Drau

It took a week or so for the snow to finally melt only to have the town dusted white again after a day and night of snowing.

The snow accumulated along River Drau and atop barren trees are so white and fine that it looks just like a winter scene off a Hollywood romance movie.

duck asleep with it's head folded in it's wing

Winter in Wien

This is my second trip to the capital of Austria, the first being in summer and this time round, in winter.

The cold temperature would have been bearable if not for the harsh wind throughout the day with its relentless assault on our faces no matter where we turn.

Surface of Donau Canal frozen

Fortunately, the inner city (innere stadt) is lined with rows upon rows of shops, restaurants, cafés and historical landmarks where we were able to hop in from time to time and warm our pink-frosted cheeks and noses.

We managed to visit a couple of museums within a day but it was just a pity that photography was not allowed in all of them. Nevertheless, at the Kunst Haus Wien - Hundertwasser Museum, we managed to take some 'legal' photographs as well as to sneak a few discrete clicks here and there. This is a building designed by a famous Austrian artist - Friedensreich Hundertwasser - who has a somewhat unique style of utilising strong colours and contrasts. Straight lines are a definite big No-No to him! The norms are no longer the norms once you enter the building: floorings are uneven, stair steps are curved and trees grow out of windows! How nice would it be if he were to design schools where the creativities of children are allowed to flourish instead of being bounded by the so-called norms.

There was even a detailed plan to transform a big plot of land into what looked like TeleTubbies Land to me! Unfortunately, it was never realised and what remained today is a mini-scale version of the original plan.

Even on the streets, there are no lack of historical statues and landmarks everywhere.

A delightful sight in the midst of the busy pedestrain street would be the Maroni stands.

"Heisse maroni anyone!?!"

Inevitably, food is naturally at the top of my priority list. With the recommendation from Lonely Planet, we made our way through a small alley in search of La Crêperie - a restaurant that sells both sweet and savoury crêpes. Only when we were standing outside the restaurant, did we realised that it's a Georgian-themed restaurant. It used to be part of the former Soviet Union and to be honest, I never even thought that I'll get the chance to eat Georgian food until this chance encounter. So how cool is that! :)

Vegetarian savoury crêpe

Savoury crêpe with minced meat - taste alot like lasagne, only better and less cheesy

When in Wien, it is almost a sin if one doesn't patronize at least one of the numerous cafés for their famous Sacher Torte. Amongst these cafés, only two claimed to hold the original recipe for the Austrian speciality cake - Hotel Sacher and Demel.

Having had tasted the version from Hotel Sacher previously and not being "wowed" at all, we proceeded to taste the other version from Demel.

The cake tasted drier with no apricot jam in-between the chocolate sponge cake layer and the dark chocolate icing over the cake was less sweet too (which suits me perfectly fine). Similarly, I wasn't blown off by the cake and it doesn't taste that special either. Nevertheless, my vote would have to go to the Demel version should I have to choose one. However, after considering the prices charged at Demel, I guess I wouldn't mind going to just any café if ever the Sacher Torte craving kicks in.

Demel Sacher Torte

Dark chocolate cake with liquor @ Demel - tastes much better than the Demel Sacher Torte

Interesting for me would be the see-through baking kitchen which offers a view as to how the cakes were made. The other highlight for me would be the Demel shop where there are lots of chocolates as well as cakes on sale. However, for the exorbitant prices charged, I guess I'm equally happy to take off with just a few clicks of my camera where the images are permanently preserved for my viewing pleasure rather than temporary stored in my stomach.