TCC desserts

This was from ages back. Boss asked if we'll be interested in some desserts, post lunch.

:)

How can we say no?

TCC = ...

I like those. My take..?

This Cheesy Chick. That'll be me, for even attempting.

Snowy Espresso

My boss kept flipping the pages, going back and forth, determining his choice of coffee. His choice for coffee had been easy. Problem was the fact that he's at TCC. Do you have any idea how many varieties of coffee drinks they have?

After contemplating the size, flavour, mix etc... He chose one that came in the smallest of glasses. A single shot of espresso with caramel & cream - in a short SHOT GLASS. All of 3.5 inches tall.

Not that he hadn't been warned. There was this characteristically cute waitress who was over-zealous in her explanations & recommendations and she kept reminding him as to how small the portion for that one was.

ChocoNana Parfait

My choice of dessert.

A single scoop of chocolate ice cream at the bottom, with a layer of chocolate parfait, topped with a couple of chocolate biscuits, a stick of choux pastry and a fence of nicely-arranged sliced bananas with oodles of whipped cream. Oh, and that thin chocolate disc with the TCC logo.

Caramel Soy Pudding & Citrus Jello

A colleague's choice.

My first comment was that it looks like Creme Caramel. My boss remarked that it looked more like a flan. Well, it turns out that 'flan' is the general name for this wobbly custard (the milk replaced with soy) pudding, after all.

There's this jelly at the bottom of the martini glass that has a light citrus & gingery flavour. Then topped with more ooddles of whipped cream, cut strawberries, marshmallows and and stick of loveletter-esque wafer roll.

Dark Devotion

Another colleague's choice.

Warm chocolate lava cake topped with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream and covered with this interesting-looking tuille with specks of black sesame seeds. Then there's dollops of berry compote on the sides, with fresh cut-strawberries.

My boss was eager too see the liquefied chocolate inside so he had the honour of doing the 'first cut'. The 'lava' flowed out alright, albeit a little to easily.

"Not cooked enough," he said. Here's coming from someone who had the 'best lava cake' whenever his friend got down to baking them.
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TCC do have great-tasting desserts alright. Not too sweet (very good - in my books). And given the presentation, one can see that they're meticulously prepared. And I like the variety of items available in a single serving.

Oh, with this dessert-outing, I finally got to use my TCC membership card after like... 3 years?? 15% off my boss's treat! =)

halo halo

Been a long time since my last update, eh?

Blame it on twitter! Micro-blogging never been so addictive (and convenient).

Check out my food-pic tweets until I find enough time to blog. Work is picking up in the office and I'm usually dead beat once home. Weekends, I'm away at my parents'.

Besides, the baby needs some time with mummy too; given that he's sometimes still asleep as she leaves for work and already asleep for the night when she comes back. boo hoo!

I know, I know... EXCUSES! I have tonnes of pic, I tell you! pfft!

from the kitchen

mi rebus

Out of the blue, my mum-in-law (MIL) thought of cooking Mi Rebus - literally translated as 'boiled noodles'. The gravy is made from either the stock derived from shrimp (dried) or beef. Then added with flavour given by 'tauchu' (preserved soybeans), peanuts and curry powder before being thickened with sweet potato (which gives that slight hint of sweetness).

My MIL used 'tetelan' (parts of beef that's close the the bones) as the base for this Mi Rebus.

Please note that this is the actual Malay version of Mi Rebus that one gets in either Singapore or Malaysia. Ask for this in certain parts of Indonesia and you'll be served in the soupy version of instant noodles. No joke. After all, those noodles are boiled too, right?

When that's the case, you can try asking for Mie Jawa or Mie Celor instead.

spicy grilled prawns

This was an ingenious idea by my MIL who was wondering how to cook the prawns that she just bought.

It's tough being a housewife isn't it? Everyday asking (my MIL's case, singing), "What do I cook today..?"

Then she saw the leftover sambal used to stuff the grilled 'cencaru' (torpedo scad) fish, from the previous dinner. Then she took the banana leaf that she brought back after staying over at someone's kampung (village) house. She placed the fresh prawns inside and covered them in the leftover sambal.

She then folded the banana leaf and wrapped the package in aluminum foil before putting it back into the fridge. Before dinner that evening, she tossed the whole package onto a hot pan and covered it.

And there you are.
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There's just something about home cooked meal, doesn't it? They taste so good and made with so much passion; yet we took them for granted, choosing instead to relish over foods prepared outside.

Guess it's because we paid for those food, that's why. Thus our eagerness to feel the worth of the money we spent.

Sigh... It always comes back to money, doesn't it?

lamb chop

I was seriously thinking of having Chicken Chop (from the western food corner) for lunch but was somewhat drawn to this Indian stall.

As I stared at the menu board, wondering what to order and it somewhat dawn upon me that the lamb chop is the closest thing to a western meal anyway.

lamb chop - Indian style

This plate here took quite some time to arrive. Seeing how meticulously the tomato & cucumber slices had been arranged, my colleague jokingly remarked tat she figured out why it had taken that long.

Other than that, this plate's nothing special anyway. The pieces if mutton tasted too gamey and were more fatty than I preferred. The sauce was suspiciously tinted a tad too reddish and was pretty salty.

Those fries were the typical shoestring type. Maybe they ordered from the same source as the neighbouring western food stall. The real deal would have been those homemade potato cuts/wedges made from the actual spud and slightly salted before being fried.

The saving grace were the fresh slices of tomato and the pretty runny sunny-side-up egg. As I've mentioned before, I like my egg to be somewhat half-done and this was just nice. I love to break the yolk into the remaining sauce towards the end and try to lap it up as decently as I could. Yum!

Oh another thing. Where's the peas? A decent Indian food stall would have rows of canned peas on display and use them peas in almost every dish!

Man, I sure miss the real deal from Haig Road or Ayer Rajah Food Centre...

BK with the baby..

.. was such a baddd idea. I'm talking about having a meal in there when it's just me and the baby, wrapped around me in the sling. NO pram.

Thankfully, I was in the right mind to order bottled water instead of soda dispensed into that cup with the flimsy cover. And bless my ego, I crazily refused the help from the guy at the counter to help me carry my trap. I really should kick myself.

The baby wasn't asleep either, so he was kinda trashing his legs around when all I want was to have a peaceful meal. So 1 of my arm was fixed around him the whole time.

Imagine me unwrapping and eating the burger, tearing open the packet + squirting chili sauce and opening the bottled water.. with 1 hand. Oh did I mention the kind of effort it takes to open the Hershey's sundae box??

I almost asked the 2 guys having a business discussion 2 tables away from me for help.

'Angry Whopper' Jr. meal + Hershey's Sundae Pie

Got into BK because I was somewhat yearning for their Hersey's Sundae Pie. Then I saw the promo poster for the 'Angry Whopper' and decide to give it a go.

And that point, I totally forgot that I have a baby hanging beside my torso. Until I had trouble carrying the tray and the counter guy gave me an alarmed look. Right then the bottle toppled over (luckily it's a bottle!) and he volunteered to go around the counter and help me carry my tray.

I looked behind and saw a queue. Last thing I need was to have people cursing me & my baby for holding their time so I kindly refused his offer.

Despite struggling with the baby and the tray of food, I chose the table at the very most end (imagine the relief when I finally put the tray down!). I don't want people to see the mess I'm gonna make for myself.

'Angry Whopper' Jr.

Apparently, there are 3 levels of 'anger', which kinda define how much heat you want in your burger. Right then, I have NO freaking idea what it was that makes the burger spicy, anyway. And my tolerance for spiciness had dwindled so I was somewhat apprehensive.

"Is it really spicy?" I asked. He assured me that, "It's NOT SO.." and recommend the mid-level (Frustrated).

Imagine, in my curiosity to see what an 'angry' burger look like; what with me fumbling to unwrap it with 1 hand and all I saw were merely the rings of fresh red chillies that did it.

Just. That.

How 'innovative'! How... boring. There's lettuce, tomato, onions and now chillies. Wow! Salad in a bun! Pfft!

Hershey's Sundae Pie (Packaging)

And then, there's the reason why I came here in the first place.

Hershey's Sundae Pie

Alas! After all the anticipation, my pie was all soft and no longer cold by the time I'm done with my main meal and struggle with the box.

And I was wondering why the heck I'm yearning for this pie even. I finally remembered how sweet it is. Totally missing the mudpies from Island Creamery, Swensens & Coffee Club.

Eh, all my sweet-tooth pals. My partners-in-dessert-crimes... You reading this?

cbtl brekkie

That morning, I set out to Downtown East alone in search for McD's Deluxe breakfast. Thing was, I'm alone and my self-esteem's nowhere up there when I'm gonna eat alone so I was hoping and hoping that McD won't be crowded..

Fat chance! I got jittery as soon as I saw that there's no available seats left. So I went for my 2nd option. KFC. Also packed. Huhu...

Well, it's Sunday morning after all. I really thought people won't bother to wake up early on a rainy morning like that... ):

I gave BK a miss since I've had their breakfast recently and settled for the last option, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL), which was almost empty. ahhh... Comfort at last!

salmon & egg muffin set

Of course, with coffee. Okay, I'm not sure of the name for the sandwich, there but it goes along that line. There's smoked salmon, there's egg in between muffins! Sounds a bit like something from McD, doesn't it?

Initially, I thought of their Break-O-Day set but I remembered not being impressed by it. I've already had the Egg Benedict previously. Then I saw the word, 'smoked salmon' and I finalised my choice. I love salmon - be it smoked, sashimi, breadcrumbed or teriyaki.

up close, inside

I've always wondered how the staff at CBTL prepared the food when they don't have stoves. By now I figured out that they used the microwave oven. Even for the eggs.

Yeach!

I thought for sandwiches like this, the egg is supposed to be soft and runny (albeit slightly)? That-was-one-overcooked-egg. I dislike having my egg overdone. Oh, I don't know how I could have tolerated such dry yolk.

If not for the salmon, salad and coffee, I would have discarded this. And I'm not one to waste my food.

All in all, it's quite a healthy breakfast...

And I'm still thinking about McD's Deluxe brekkie!

nasi lemak @ KTM

I happened to be in a hardworking mood that day. Drove from Bedok to Pasir Ris and send Hubby to work, then managed to reach Redhill from Changi North in 15 mins. To fetch my bro, since I'm sleeping over at my parents' that night.

Strange but true- bro was actually hungry (there goes his diet!) and suggested going to KTM. Ok, those in the unknown, 'KTM' refers to Tanjong Pagar train station. KTM (Keretapi Tanah Melayu) is the name of the company that govern over that building and the train services. So youngsters & yuppies simply refer to that place as 'KTM' for short, esp. when talking about the eating haunts in there.

When we arrived at the carpark, we saw a commotion at the small hill near the HDB block opposite. I saw the Police truck and told my bro that the vehicle is used when there's an animal to be caught; usually snakes. True enough, they were carrying the contraption meant for trapping snakes and a gunny sack...

Anyway, we went to the older eating house and I was looking forward to their freshly-fried vegetable fritters (bakwan sayur) but they ran out of it. Oh, we arrived at 10+pm and that place is almost full! Singaporeans do eat round-the-clock don't they?

That's when I saw the queue at this stall.

dishes on display (check out the signboard!)

And that signboard did me in. I may be pretty full but I suddenly felt like sharing the nasi lemak with my bro after seeing the the word 'panas'. Plus, the array of food on display looked tempting!

Bro was hesitant at first. Nasi lemak at such a late hour sure isn't good for the system (he's watching his food after all). But I coaxed him into it by pointing at the freshly-fried chicken wings (his weakness!).

Needless to say, he joined the queue. =)

Since the place was pretty full, my bro ordered a take-away and remarked that he will feast on it right at our flat's void deck.

When we stepped out, we saw the policemen on the other side of the road, where the block of flats are. Seems like the snake managed to cross over! The python was fairly big-sized, like the sized of a man's arm. And the person to stuff the snake into the sack was this old ah-pek (chinese man) wearing a motorcycle helmet.

"Like in the kampung!" my bro said. The old man must be reliving his kampung (rural village) days by partaking in the snake hunt!

my bro's packet of nasi lemak

Well, yes, as soon as we reached the seating area under the block, he opened up the packet. Very hungry, I guess. Sorry that I don't bother to tidy that packet up a lil' bit. As you can see, my bro already start tucking in when I was snapping this shot!

All that's chosen was my pick actually. I was so enthusiatic at seeing all the various dishes (hey, I'm one for variety!) that I pointed out, "That prawn fritter! Wah, looks good. The paru (beef lungs) looks crispy. Of course the chicken wing! Oh, the egg! Don't forget the egg!"

And I saw the ikan-bilis & peanut mix (my bro's own pick). Finally, the ubiquitous cucumber slices and sambal. All for $4.70. Not bad, rite?!

The sambal is good. They didn't use the instant pre-mixed chilli 'boh'. Can easily taste the grounded dried chili paste and it's only a lil' spicy. I can't believe they gave 3 big pieces of that prawn fritter. And the paru was nicely spiced and not chewy. And the omelette was thick and filled with loads of onions. And all the stuff I picked still remained crispy and warm. And sedappp!

I thought that's it's pretty incredulous to see so many dishes just for nasi lemak alone. My bro informed me that the person in front of him in the queue ordered white rice. Oh, I see....

I'm sooo going back there for that nasi lemak! And I'm gonna dine in!

adimann seafood

After the previous unsuccessful attempt to have our meal there, we come back with more resilience. Brought along a distant relative who's based in Blakang Padang (10mins boat ride from Batam). We took him sight-seeing at Changi Airport and was pretty hungry by then.

Despite it being a weekend, we came to East Coast Lagoon Food Centre at ard 4pm, so it's pretty easy to get a parking lot and our desired seating (the gazebo that faced the lagoon).

coconut drink

A refreshing, cooling drink for that hot afternoon. It came with ice-cubes inside. Seeing the warning look on my mum's face (iced drinks not good for women who just gave birth), I hastily fished them out.

Honestly speaking, I'm glad the ice was in there long enough to chill the drink a bit. It's a hot afternoon after all.

beef & chicken satay

Starters. Hah!

How can one resist ordering when nearly all the stalls have someone furiously fanning away at the charcoal grill? The aroma of freshly-grilled (marinated) meat and slightly charred scent in the air...

fried calamari

Highly recommended by my colleague whom I recommended the stall to. The previous time I was here, I had the cereal prawns (which was superb, btw). This time I ordered this. The calamari was fresh, nicely springy and come in fairly-sized pieces. The batter was nicely-spiced and crispy.

But don't take too long to finish this or the batter will get soggy over time.

ikan bakar - grilled fish

My mum was hemm and hawing as to what fish to have as she scanned through the fresh catch on the ice-bed. I can see that she was tempted to have the lone red grouper.

So I said, "The red one looks good..."

Immediately, she pointed at that fish. Heh.

The fiery-red sambal that's spread over the fish wasn't that spicy after all. Love that cinchalok in that tiny saucer, there.

veggies

The ubiquitous kangkong belachan & kailan in oyster sauce.

fish soup

I don't say I regret ordering this but I felt that this dish was unnecessary. The other soup available is the tom yam and we were in no mood for anything spicy after the ikan bakar.

I think they used either the sea bream or the red snapper. Thick cuts of fish fillet which I sadly can't appreciate because I was pretty full by then.

Ah, well...
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My dad kept raving and raving about this stall. How the food is fresh and tasty. And the prices are reasonable, too.

I still can't forget their cereal prawns....