Aussie Food Fare (1 of 3)

It's been about 4 years since I last visited Australia. This time round, I toured the east coast and was rather shocked to see quite abit of overweight locals. The figures up-to-date was at a shocking 6 out of 10 overweight adults!

And the diet kind of explains why. It's fish and chips, nuggets and chips, seafood basket with chips laying the basket, burger with chips, steak with chips, coke with chips or simply a bowl of chips. And the seemingly basic diet of chips are not that CHEAP really.

I am also guilty of two weeks of indulgence. Been loading myself crazy with cake slices and the irresistible giant scoops of ice cream amongst other yummilicious food!

the must-try Lamingtons

adorable Lindt Easter bunnies

blueberry pancakes with crispy beacon strips

scrambled egg with sautéed mushrooms

Fredo Pies - highly recommended by Lonely Planet (but I found it to be so-so only)

chicken schnitzels with greens

the super expensive chicken breast with prawns @ Lower Hunter Valley

my first time eating fried noodles out of a box after seeing them on American TV programs for so many years! A must-try but the taste can be a little heavy with thick sauces...

Carls Junior sized burger @ Sea World

Pizza Hut replacement version - not too bad really

And to counter that sense of guilt, I turned to sushi but it's a total flop attempt trying to recreate it. The shrivelled content wrapped in cold hard rice only made the sushi sold at NTUC taste heavenly. But then, there's always the fresh and reliable greens.





I also had my turn at whipping up a tiny Singapore 'storm' in the kitchen with my idiot-proof pesto pasta and attempt at stir-fry chicken with vegetables. I found some chinese stir-fry packet sauces in the supermarket and decided to try one out. The taste was not so bad but I gathered I shouldn't have emptied the entire packet of sauce unless I really like to have the chicken and vegetables swimming on the plate. Lesson learnt: One shouldn't be too greedy.




The majority of the breads sold there are soft breads, very similar to the Singapore bread and unlike those rock-hard ones in Europe. Despite having tasted different types of bread every single morning, I instantly fell in love with a warm plain bread served as the starter for my last extravagant meal in Brisbane. Such is the beauty of simplicity...

Meringue Cookies

Meringue Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

4 egg whites

1 cup sugar

1 tsp lemon zest (couldn't find any lemons so excluded it)

Method:

(1) Sift together the flour and baking powder

(2) Whisk the egg whites with electric whisk till stiff

(3) Add sugar gradually and continue whisking till stiff peak forms

(4) Fold the flour and baking powder gently into the egg white

(5) Add the lemon zest

(6) Bake at preheated oven of 180°C for 8-10mins (or until the cookie turns brown)

Verdict:

(+) Minimal ingredients and very easy to make

(+) For those health conscious freaks out there, this is a cookie without the fats and cholesterols of butter/margarine/oil

(-) Need to estimate the baking time very carefully. Too short a baking duration and the cookie is too soft, too long a baking duration and the cookie can easily turn charred.

(=) The cookie is a bit dry but when dipped in Nutella, it's really really nice!

(=) The cookies would be more fragrant if only I had the lemon zests added into the batter.

Farewell Ah Meng...

The plan for today was to join the throng of 40,000 strong crowds at the Singapore Air Show 2008. However, it was only after I made my way to the SAM machine that the message "Sold Out" flashed before my eyes. I couldn't believe it. Do they mean the walking spaces at the new and more spacious Changi site were sold out?

All equipped for a day out in the hot sun with sunglasses, sun block lotion, water bottle and a cap, I was left standing beside the SAM machine with the occasional poke of the finger on the touchscreen and ever the slightest hope that I might be able to trick the system into issuing me a ticket after the nth attempt.

Determined not to spend a disappointing Sunday, I hopped into a taxi and made my way to the Zoo.

With the hype in the papers about the recent passing on of Ah Meng and the search for the next animal Superstar for the Singapore Zoological Gardens, I decided to visit the nominees before casting my vote.


I'm really proud of the Singapore Zoo. Aside from the spacious enclosures and the creation of the animal's natural habitat, the visitors are promised a glimpse of the animals at all of their respective enclosures. Please do not take this for granted because I have been to many zoos in different countries and many a time, I was left standing in front of an enclosure, trying to locate the animal and figuring out where on earth could it be hiding in the not-so-large space.


Another great achievement by the Singapore Zoo is the close proximity it has brought the visitors to the animals. There are some world-first free ranging areas where the lovable Orang Utans and numerous primates can be seen swinging above the heads of visitors, feeding time where children can hand feed the baby wallabies as well as the various animal shows where the visitors get to interact with some performing animals. And it never fails to warm my heart when I see how close the animals are to their trainers. With some effort on our part, it is truly possible for man and animals to co-exist peacfully.


And many may not know that there's an area allocated within the zoo for the visitors to learn more about the different species of Orchids as well as some tropical plantations.


And of course, I duly paid my respect to the late Ah Meng.

Playing Tourist on 3rd Day of CNY

The first stop for the day is at the Duck Tour counter at Suntec City Mall to secure the tickets for the afternoon tour. It's very much similar to catching a movie at any of those cinemas in town where it's simply not possible to get tickets for the next show but only for those screening a few hours later. Before 11.30am, the 2pm tickets were already sold out. I'm glad I made this my first stop.

Next, I took the train to Tanah Merah MRT station, came out at Exit B and boarded the No. 2 bus. The bus took me directly to the bus stop opposite The Changi Chapel Museum which was rather convenient considering the ulu location. Along the way, I even got a peek of the Singapore prisons....to be honest, there's not much to see with the tall green fencing.

This is my 3rd or 4th visit to The Changi Chapel museum but it's my first time hiring an audio aid. The admission is free while the audio aid costs $8. The museum is not very big but the fact that I came back a couple of times really goes to show that the exhibit is really interesting. For those who have yet to be there, it's highly recommended. And if you are observant, just before you turn right to the open air cafe, there's a door in front of you. It's opened to the tourists...check it out! (I did not even know about it during my previous visits!)

Immediately after the museum tour, I headed straight back to Suntec City Mall only to find out that all the tours are fully booked by 3pm and there's already a large crowd gathering at the briefing area.

On my way back to the Suntec City Mall

The 4pm group was subdivided into four groups and lead to four Duckie vehicles. The vehicle which I boarded was named "Darla" and it's a 'female' vietnamese war vehicle used by the US soldiers to transport military aids or equipments. I had quite a good tour guide - Zach and the tour was rather enriching with his illustrious expanations on the major landmarks in the Marina Bay region. I was surprised to learn so many new and interesting facts about Singapore during the tour despite being a Singaporean! Zach also succeeded in getting the spontaneous participations from the tourists in his quizes where the prize for guessing the correct answer is the Duck Tour whistle. I didn't win any so in the end, I decided to buy one. :)

The majestic Merlion

National Day new celebration site

Hard at work at the Integrated Resort site

The Singapore Flyer which will open officially on Valentine's Day!

Dragon boat practise at Kallang River (Where did all the locals go to?)

Singaporeans get to enjoy a 30% off the $33 adult fare for the Duck Tour - which translates to $23 for a 60 mins tour. And I bet my money that if you were to grab any tourists on the street, they can easily rattle off more facts about Singapore than any of the locals!

First Day of The New Year (年初一)

On the first day of Chinese New Year, I thought that everywhere would be pretty much a ghost town with the majority of the Chinese shop owners closed for business for the next couple of days.

I was in fact enquiring around as to whether it is advisable to spend my evening at Chinatown and decided against it when I receive the "N0-Go" from both my parents and the taxi driver. So instead, I ventured to the Singapore River Ang Pow.

It's really an understatement to describe the entire scene as being crowded. People from all over the world seems to be there! There's sweaty ang mohs, Singaporean-Chinese, China-Chinese, groups of nicely dressed Malay families and even the India-Indians seem to decide to abandon Little India to join in the fun at the Singapore River!

Being the greedy me, I spent like 15mins looking at the gigantic God of Fortune, the various New Year decorations and all the fun fair rides before diving into the crowd crawling along the stretch of food stalls that seems to go on and on and on... :)

As it was a rather breezy evening and the crowd was not as packed as that at Chinatown, the long walk down the food stalls was still tolerable. I was able to snap some photos of the various food stalls without having someone bang into my camera or squashing me to pulps.


Along the way, I manage to pick up some popiah candies, takoyaki balls, otak and satay. So I was kind of full by the time I reached the end of the food stall.

Next I decided to treat myself to an $8 blackcurrant drink and a $10 sausage savoury plate which was essentially made up of two sausages cut into thin slices. *idiot* My brother would kill me for paying $5 for one bloody standard sized sausage which doesn't even come with the grilled buns.


But when the firework display went off at exactly 9.30pm, I knew instantly that the $18 was well spent! A spot on the restaurant's roof terrace, away from the crowd, with the gentle breeze blowing on my face and a magnificent view of the captivating skyline as well as the fireworks....it's definitely worth more than $18!!


I do hope this is an indication of the good year that awaits me....