Fruit Paradise - Fruit Tart Shop

Located at Orchard Central, this shop sells, well, Fruit Tarts! We accidentally came across the shop while shopping and we were captivated by how pretty the tarts look in the fridge! It looked SO pretty, we wondered if they were even real! After staring at them for awhile, we were amazed that they are REAL... So we went in and tried them out!



I tell you, it was almost impossible to choose which one to order! Even after ordering, I was tempted to pull the waitress back to change my mind. But I stuck to my decision and got the Banana Caramel Tart.



It's a custard cream base tart with bananas and almond flakes, drizzled with caramel sauce.

My Hubby got the Blueberry Tart, which is the fresh cream base tart with blueberries and blueberry jelly cubes.



They look very rich, creamy and deadly. But surprisingly, they taste quite light. Personally, I would prefer it to be sweeter, but I guess many people are health conscious. Overall, it was a nice tea break. The tart was nice, the tea was a perfect complement to the tarts, the service was excellent and the prices was reasonable. My only complaint was that my tea was not hot enough. What a kill joy... -_-

Check them out

A1 Bak Ku Teh

Bought a packet of A1 Bak Ku Teh Spice to make Bak Ku Teh for dinner the other day. That was my first time trying this brand and I must say... IT'S DELICIOUS LOH~!!! One packet comes with 2 spice sachets, and according to the packaging, 1 sachet for about 500g of meat, so I only used 1 sachet.

So VERY SIMPLE, just follow the instructions on the packaging. (but no need to be so strict)
500g of meat (I used 2 packets of prime rib - BEST)
6 cloves of garlic (whole with skin on)
1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce
1 tablespoon of light soya sauce
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
a pinch of msg
pepper (I use freshly grounded white pepper - you can use regular pepper)
1 big bowl of water

**For water, my Mom taught me to use your choice of serving bowl, plus another 1/2bowl. For example, the portion that I want to cook was about 1 big soup bowl, so I pour 1 bowl plus another 1/2 bowl, as the half would be evaporated during boiling.**

The instruction say add the seasoning AFTER the meat has been cooked. But I think the meat would be more flavourful if you boil it together with the seasoning. So I just pop EVERYTHING into the pot, and let it cook.

I used a pressure cooker to cook for about an hour, which is divine as the meat would be sooo tender, even the soft bone turns translucent and delicious and well, soft! For a regular pot, an hour would also be fine, just that you would have to keep an eye on your soup and make sure it doesn't dry up.

Serve with some simple blanched vegetables, steaming hot rice and most importantly, freshly cut chilli padi in dark soya sauce.

YUMS~!

Cheese Burger Pasta

The original recipe was from the Rachel Ray's Show, but I used the twisted pasta (I don't know what's the name) instead of macaroni and those Kraft sandwich cheese instead of Cheddar and Parmesan cheese. Well, basically I just used what I have, and that's the beauty of home cooking isn't it? But more importantly, it's that it really tasted like cheese burger and it's yummy! Definitely will do it again. :)

Let some minced beef and chopped onion brown in a frying pan while you boil some pasta according to the instruction on the packaging.

Hint: I always use a bowl to measure how much pasta to cook. For one serving, it's about one rice bowl of pasta.

When the meat is browned, add one tablespoon of ketchup, one teaspoon of mustard, about half a cup of chicken stock and stir fry it for awhile. When the pasta is cooked, add it onto the meat sauce and stir till incorporated.

Pour it into an oven proof dish, cover it with cheese and pop it into a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 10 mins, or till the cheese has melted and browned.

Serve with a nice crisp salad. Enjoy! :D

Steak Pasta

Cobby (My Hubby) made this dish, he was inspired by Jamie Oliver when he made those delicious looking steak sandwiches. But instead of sandwich, he used pasta, cause it's more filling for our dinner.

We used ribeye steak, added some salt, pepper and oil and pounded it flat. By pounding it, it cooks faster and it also tenderised it. Grill the steak on a VERY HOT grill, or frying pan. There's no need to add oil onto the pan as there's oil on your meat. Let it grill for about 1 and a half minutes on each side (for medium), remove from pan and let it rest.

Meanwhile, the pasta is boiling in the pot, cooking according to the packaging instructions.

While it's boiling, stir fry some anchovies with chopped onion till the onion is soft and brown. THEN you add the garlic, cause if you add too early, the garlic would be overcooked, turns brown and bitter!

Add in the cooked pasta and a little bit of the pasta water into your onion mix and add in a little chicken stock. Stir fry for awhile till there's a little bit of sauce left. (the pasta will continue to absorb in the liquid even after you dish it up)

Slice your rested steak and place it on top of the pasta, serve with a freah green salad on the side. Presto, perfect steak pasta. Enjoy.

Braised Chicken Wings

This is my Mummy's recipe and it's easy and delicious!

1. Marinate the chicken wings with a pinch of salt
2. Slice up some ginger and smack about 2 cloves of garlic
3. Stir fry the ginger and garlic with sesame seed oil and a splash of regular cooking oil
4. When the ginger is slightly brown, add in the chicken wings and stir fry it for a minute.
5. Add water till it almost cover the meat.
6. Pour in about 2-3 tablespoons of dark soya sauce and a tablespoon of sugar
7. Let it simmer in high heat for a few minutes before turning down the heat and let it braise slowly.
8. When the sauce has been reduced to about 1/3, check the flavour and add salt if necessary.

Done!

Variations:
1. Add mushrooms for added flavour
2. Use pork belly if you like!

For Braised Pork Belly...
Ginger - cut into bigger slices instead of sticks
At step 4,
-Add a stick of cinnamon (optional)
-Add hard boil eggs

Enjoy! :)