Happy Anniversary! With Love from Papa and Mama Goh

Day 233

10.45am - Missed call from SG
10.55am - Called home (Webcam is spoilt, can't skype)

Me: Hello Father, you called me?

Papa Goh: Ya ya, everything ok? Wait ah, mummy, quick!

Mama Goh: 记得今天是什么日子吗？

Me: Huh? 什么日子? 有日子么？

Mama Goh: 忘记了啊？

Me: 什么？

Mama Goh: 你的结婚纪念日啦。

Me: 还没到啦!

Mama Goh: 二月十九，今天啊。。

Me: 哎哟，我没有记华人的啦！

Mama Goh: 可是我们是记华人的咯。希望你们两个不要吵架，一切顺顺利利，要和气生财。最好把这四个字写下来，贴在墙上。

Me: 哈哈。。。

Papa Goh: All the best to the 2 of you ah.

Me: Ok, thank you!

It's so sweet of them to call and wish me Happy Anniversary! (especially Mama Goh) Most of the times, she needs us to remind her about her own wedding anniversary. Perhaps the day is special not because it is our wedding, it is special because it is the day that I leave their side and move on to start the next chapter of my life. 

Thank you Papa and Mama Goh! ♥

Gin's Kitchen - 酸辣汤 (Super Easy & Lazy Method)

Day 231

酸辣汤 is one of my fave soup and a must-have whenever I visit 鼎泰豐. I have been searching the net for easy-to-follow recipes and it is actually a rather easy dish to make. It is the preparation that is tedious, you need to shred every ingredient thinly but what bothers me the most is the leftovers. What do I do with the rest of the bamboo shoots, pork and carrots? So, I came up with my own recipe, if you call this a recipe that is. Haha. This must be the easiest and laziest way to make it.

Ingredients
- 1 can of 炒三丝
- 1/2 block of soft tofu (cut into strips)
- Carrot (shredded)
- 3 Shitake Mushrooms (shredded)
- 1 egg (beaten)
- 2 bowls of water (about 700ml)
- 3 tablespoons of black vinegar
- 1 teaspoon of pepper
- Corn starch mixture (thickener)
- 1 teaspoon of Knorr chicken powder

Directions
1. Add chicken powder to water and bring it to a boil in a pot
2. Empty the can of 炒三丝 and tofu into the boiling water
3. Add vinegar and pepper, adjust according to taste
4. Gradually stir in the corn starch mixture until soup thickens (Add more corn starch mixture if prefer soup to be thicker and less if prefer soup to be more watery)
5. Finally, stir in the egg and turn off heat

The end result is a very appetizing and tasty soup. Mr Tan and I finished every single drop of it!

Eat Out - Sakura Kaiten Sushi (Japanese)

Day 229

It has been weeks since we last met Shenton as Jiaqi is away in Malaysia and Singapore, enjoying herself! Tonnes of good food, plenty of shopping and of course, the comfort of home. I'm envious! Perhaps I should keep a lookout for cheap air tix and fly back more often since I have nothing to do here anyway. While Jiaqi is enjoying herself in MY and SG, Shenton is having a GREAT time here too. Drinking, drinking and more drinking. Haha.

We met at Sakura Kaiten Sushi for dinner. A small and cosy space that could only seat 20 - 30 people. We were seated at the sushi bar and I think we must be the loudest people in the restaurant. We, as in Jasmine and me. I bet the people sitting opposite us and next to us heard every bit of our conversation. Haha. I must say, this is the best service that we have encountered so far. The staff were always smiling and prompt in refilling our tea and taking our orders. I think all of them are Japanese and I really really like their service. I will go back just because of that. :)

There isn't much choice on the menu, no Tempura, no Ramen, no Okonomiyaki, no Sukiyaki, the focus here is really about the sushi. But there wasn't a huge variety of sushi either and even lesser for someone like me who doesn't eat raw food. Plates are colour coded to indicate the different prices, $3.60, $4.60, $5.80 and $6.80. $3.60 per 2 pieces of sushi is definitely expensive and that's probably why they don't have the cheaper stuff such as Inarizushi, Hotate sushi, Kani sushi, Tamago sushi etc. There were lots of salmon and tuna though.

 

 

 

I can't remember what we tried but there were some hits and misses. According to Mr Tan, Jasmine and Shenton, the fish were all fresh and tasted good, nothing exceptional except the Salmon & Caviar sushi. The Caviar was delicious and "exploded" in our mouths. The other positive ones include, Karaage, Potato Corokke and Breaded Scallops. The hot dishes were all pretty good. The Potato Corokke was so crispy on the outside, yum!

 

 

I had the Organic Cold Soba with Teriyaki Chicken. The soba was good but the teriyaki chicken was a little too sweet for my liking. The prawn dumplings were the greatest disappointment for the night. I'm not sure what the filling was, but it tasted like some mashed fish meat, I couldn't find any prawns! The dumpling was totally unappetising. The tempura shrimp roll was also rather disappointing. The shrimp was cold and soggy, perhaps because it was left on the belt for too long. I think I ate more fried food than sushi and I wasn't really full at the end of the meal but luckily, there was black sesame and green tea ice cream to fill in the gaps.

The four of us spent a total of $147 for dinner and it is rather expensive for mainly sushi. It is a really nice place with wonderful service but as someone who loves variety, I wouldn't be in a rush to go back though I really like the place. 

Eat Out - Han Guuk Guan (Korean)

Day 228

Another cold and windy Friday. Summer never really made an appearance this year and Autumn seems to be following in her footsteps. Winter, on the other hand, is determined to announce her presence. I've took out Mr Tan's winter clothing and am all ready to start shopping for mine tomorrow.

Wanted to have dinner @ Hutong Dumpling Bar but it was fully booked when I tried to reserve a table this afternoon. Hopefully we'll get to go there next Friday. I miss 小笼包! Next option? Han Guuk Guan. I checked the web for tram services that run near Han Guuk Guan and was pleased to see that #24, #30 and #35 all run along that route. It should be easy to get there but I couldn't be more wrong. #24 and #30 only runs till 6pm from Mon - Fri and doesn't even operate on Sat and Sun. Luckily for us, #35, the free City Circle Line was still running! Lesson learnt - always check the tram's timetables.

It wasn't packed on a Friday night and it was great because that meant the noise level was manageable and you can sit comfortably with enough space. The staff are mostly Koreans and they don't speak much English. There was Chinese, Japanese and Korean food on the menu but we were really there for the Korean food. I placed our orders by telling him the numbers and that proved to be very efficient!

First up, Seafood Hotpot ($32). It looks really good with lots of ingredients - a crab, prawns, tofu, fish, mushrooms and vegetables. But, the pot holding the soup and seafood was so shallow that there wasn't enough soup to reach the crab on top. How can it ever be cooked? The fish were still frozen and the prawns weren't fresh. After almost 20 minutes of waiting, the soup was still not boiling and we didn't even touch the crab for fear that it hasn't been cooked. This is the 2nd time we are ordering Seafood Hotpot and sad to say, it was another disappointment.

 

Next, we picked 2 items from the BBQ menu, pork belly ($14) and marinated spicy chicken ($14). All of us were a little bewildered when they arrived as we thought the meat would be barbequed at our tables but nope, they actually came on hotplates. I was kinda disappointed and wondered if I ordered it correctly. But on a positive note, that meant no smelly smoke on our clothes and hair. I didn't try the pork belly and only went for the marinated spicy chicken. Jane and Emily like the sauce very much and Jane couldn't stop complimenting it. The tender chicken and flavourful sauce just make you going back for seconds and thirds.

The Jajangmyeon ($10) was next and this is one of their famous dishes. This is the first time that I'm having Jajangmyeon here, I can't really comment how good it is. The noodles were topped black bean sauce filled with potato and veg and julienned cucumber. The starchy sauce was neither oily nor watery and coated the noodles very nicely. It was a huge serve and though each of us took a potion of it, we still couldn't finish it. I would love to have some meat and more cucumber as too much of the noodles and sauce can be a little 腻 but I did enjoy the chewy noodles.

Then came the highlight of our dinner (at least for me), Sweet and Spicy Fried Chicken ($27). The name is enough to make me scream for more. Everyone loves fried chicken and I love sweet and spicy sauce! The picture does not do the chicken any justice. It was really really good. I LOVE IT! The fried chicken that we had at Hallah had a thin batter but the ones here are coated heavily in batter and they were so crunchy. No chicken bones in the chicken pieces and the sauce was so yummy. Reminded me of the sweet chilli that MacDonald's used to have. My fave sweet chilli sauce, THE BEST. Yum.

Finally, Japchae ($??) arrived and by now, we were all full. I shouldn't have ordered this. Too much food! Potato noodles cooked with lots of mushrooms, onions, leeks and black fungus with lots of pepper. Once again, it was a huge serve, at least twice the amount of what we had at Hallah and though it was good, I still prefer the one that we had at Hallah.

We were all so full that we could hardly move. We decided to walk back to the city area to 消化消化. I would certainly return for its sweet and spicy chicken, just the thought of it now is making me drool. Yummlicious!

Belated V-day Present

Day 225

After making my way down due to the stupid fire alarm, I made my way to the Post Office to collect my present from Japan! I didn't receive the first notice about the present and only knew about it after Zhi asked me about it. Thankfully there was a final notification. Thank you, my bestest buddy in the WWW! I love you lots! *muacks*

Another False Alarm!!!!

Day 225

The fire alarm sounded again today at 3pm. I was hesitant to leave the house after Saturday's stupid episode. Msged Mr Tan to tell him about it and he said better to be safe, so I started to make my way down 19 flights of stairs again. There weren't as many people in the stairwell, perhaps because most of them are out working, or perhaps they just can't be bothered anymore. I was almost at the ground floor when the announcement stopped. WTF!!??!!! Still, I made my way to the ground floor and once again, 2 fire engines were already outside but the firemen were putting away their fire suits!!! FALSE ALARM AGAIN????!!! @#$%&*!

The building management always put up notices in the lifts when things crop up in the building, mainly because of what the residents did. Eg, they put up notices to "remind" residents not to throw boxes down the chute as the chute was choked last week from Level 20 to 28; they "reminded" residents not to park their cars in unauthorised spaces in the car park; they also "reminded" residents to use their common sense when recycling. But this time round, it obvious something is wrong with the fire sensors in the building, not the residents' fault and thus, the management KEEP QUIET about their mistake. No word from the management at all. Till now, we don't even know if there was a real fire. This really pisses me off. So typical of what we are experiencing here. They are always ready to put others down to make themselves look better but they will NEVER admit their own mistakes. NEVER. 

I really hope there'll never be a fire or emergency because I'm not sure how many will still evacuate the building after 2 false alarms.

Lousy Muffins on a Lazy Monday

Day 224

Tried to make Oreo Muffins using a different premix today and they turned out to be really lousy. My twin, who is now a baking expert, has been telling me how easy it is to bake without using premix but I always find that too troublesome, with all the measuring and different ingredients. But after today's lousy muffins, perhaps it's time to ditch the premixes.

Not sure what went wrong but the Oreos totally 'melted in the muffin', I broke the Oreo cookies into 4 pieces and mixed them together with the batter but all of them melted away and there was no Oreo left. Boohoohoo~

I followed the instructions and baked them for 25 minutes. The muffins were soft and moist, but I found them too boring and not sweet enough, all flour and nothing else. The nicest part was the choc chips. They were nice but I added too little so the next time I bake muffins, I'm gonna add lots of choc chips or even a choc chunk in it!

Gin's Kitchen - 秋彬板面 （哈哈）

Day 222

After the fire alarm scare, we returned home to continue cooking dinner. Tonight's dinner? 秋彬板面! Haha. In SG, there is the famous 秋莲板面 and over here, there is 秋彬板面, using the most simple method of course. A few things to improve and hopefully the next attempt will be better!

Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1 chicken thigh (sliced) (I forgot to buy minced pork)
- 2 bunches of kailan (chopped)
- 1 packet of ikan bilis (80g)
- 300g of 上海拉面　(1 packet is 500g - enough for 3 serves and too much for us)
- 1.5l of water
- 1 teaspoon of Knorr Chicken Powder

Directions
1. Marinate chicken slices with soy sauce, pepper, sesame oil and corn flour
2. Add 3 tablespoons of oil into the wok and fry 1 handful of ikan bilis till crispy
3. Boil 1.5l of water in a pot and add in the rest of the ikan bilis and chicken powder to make stock
4. Let the stock boil for 10 minutes then simmer for another 10 minutes
5. Remove the ikan bilis from the stock
6. Heat up the stock again until it is boiling
7. Add in the kailan, followed by 上海拉面 and chicken slices
8. Cook the noodles for about 4 - 5 minutes
9. Dish out the noodles, kailan and chicken slices into 2 bowls
10. Add in 1 egg into the stock and let it cook fora while
11. Remove the egg and add it to the bowl of noodles
12. Do the same for the 2nd egg
13. Finally, pour the stock into the 2 bowls
14. Add the crispy ikan bilis and it is ready!

It tasted not too bad actually. The soup was light and with the chopped chillies, yummy! I like the 上海拉面 very much as it has a really nice chew to it.:)

Things to improve on:
* Cook the eggs longer as they were a little uncooked tonight. Probably cook it for at least 1 minute
* Try using minced pork instead of chicken slices
* Perhaps can cook the noodles separately instead of adding it to the stock as the flour from the noodles made the stock thicker and a little starchy. This time round, I added in more water after dishing out the noodles

Another First - Evacuation!

Day 222

Another first happened tonight! At about 9pm, the fire alarm in our building sounded while I was cooking and Mr Tan in the toilet! He has never heard the fire alarm before and didn't know what it was but I have heard it at least three times. They have tested the alarm thrice and each time, there is an announcement prior to the alarm to indicate that it is a test. Tonight, there was no announcement. My first thought was, it's probably a false alarm and I continued cooking. Haha. Mr Tan on the other hand, changed and was ready to leave the house. Then the announcement came. "Evacuate the building. Evacuate the building." It echoed throughout the building and by the time we hit the stairs, there were many in front of us. 19 flights of stairs down.

By the time we reached the ground floor, there was already a crowd outside the buildng and there was a kid standing there without his underwear! He was butt naked! I couldn't help and snapped a photo of him. :P We stood around and tried to look for the fire but saw none. No smoke, no fire.

Within minutes, 2 fire engines arrived but the firemen didn't spring into action. I guess there isn't any fire for them to put out. Instead of hanging around, we decided to go to Coles to do grocery shopping. By the time we returned, everything has back to normal, no more fire engines, no more crowd. We only managed to have our dinner at 1030pm but thankfully, there was no real fire!

Eat Out - Ying Thai 2 (Thai)

Day 221

Finally we are going to Ying Thai 2 - the very popular and highly raved Thai restaurant on Lygon Street! Lygon Street has the biggest number of Italian restaurants and cafes in Australia and is a popular hangout for student from Melbourne Uni. Admist all the Italian restaurants, there are little gems such as Ying Thai! Many regard Ying Thai as "THE" Thai restaurant and a must-visit for authentic Thai food. The original one is in Richmond, this is the branch but the food is just as good. We have been wanting to try it out for the longest time. Our previous trips to Lygon Street were with Sabrina who drives so we never had to tram there, until tonight. We totally missed the stop and had to walk for almost 15 minutes before reaching it. 

Booking was made for 8pm but we only managed to reach the restaurant around 830pm. Our seats were already given away but thankfully there was a table available and we were seated promptly. Service was fast and within minutes of placing our order, our food arrived. 

Yum Sam Grop (Crispy pork skin and seafood salad in sweet chilli sauce) ($13.90) is one of the popular dishes here and it was the first to arrive at our table. A huge plate of crispy and crunchy pork skin tossed with cashew nuts, squids, prawns and sweet chilli sauce. I think I prefer the seafood to the pork skin. It didn't actually taste like pork skin, more like cracker. This is the first time we (Jasmine, Emily, Mr Tan and I) have eaten something like this and we didn't find it to be exceptional. We won't order it again although it is so popular that I see almost every table ordering it. 

Next up was Pud Grapow (Stir-fry Minced Pork with chilli and basil leaves) ($12.90). The dish looked so simple but it was so flavourful and spicy! The minced pork goes very well with the steamed rice. The chilli was a little too much for Emily though and she finished her milk tea in no time. 

When dining in a Thai restaurant, it is a must to order Tom Yum Soup! We had Tom Yum Seafood Hot Pot ($15.90) to share. Most of the seafood were crab sticks and mushrooms abd I was slightly disappointed with the ingredients as I was hoping for more prawns and fish. But the soup was delicious and spicy with the right amount of kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass and chilli. Yum! If only the pot was bigger, with more soup of course! *thumbs up*

Finally, Gang Keow Warn (green curry with vegetables and duck) ($16.90). This was the most expensive item on our table and the portion was so small! For $16.90, I was expecting it to be bigger, probably 1.5 serves instead of 1 serve. I could have finished the entire bowl by myself! The curry was a little too mild and watery for my liking, not as flavourful as the Tom Yum Soup.

Ying Thai's food is indeed spicy and I really like the Tom Yum Soup and Pud Grapow. The meal came up to be about $20 per pax and everyone was full but not entirely satisfied at the end of the meal. Would love to have more meat and seafood!

Gin's Kitchen - 蝦仁蛋炒飯

Day 219

我要吃鼎泰豐！我要吃小籠包， 我要吃蝦仁蛋炒飯， 我要吃小菜，我要喝酸辣汤！！

我肯定没办法做小籠包和小菜，蝦仁蛋炒飯和酸辣汤好可以试试。
平时炒饭我都用加了“鸡饭调味料”的饭，所以不用加蒜头，不用加盐。今天我用了白饭，好像更好吃哦，可能是因为我加了我新买的“鸡精粉”。

蝦仁蛋炒飯 is not rocket science, it is simple fare. But I love the end result tonight! Really yummy and satisfied my craving. :)

Ingredients
- 15 prawns (shelled and deveined)
- 1 1/2 cup of cooked rice
- 1 stalk of spring onion (chopped thinly)
- 1 garlic (minced)
- 1 teaspoon of Knorr Chicken Powder
- 3 eggs 
- Dashes of pepper
- 1 teaspoon of salt

Directions
1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok and saute the garlic
2. Add in the prawns and stir-fry for abour 1 minute
3. Add in the rice and stir to separate the rice grains
4. Add Chicken Powder, salt and pepper and continue to stir-fry
5. Push rice and prawns to side of wok and add 2 tablespoons of oil to wok
6. Crack eggs into wok and lightly scramble it
7. Break up the egg, add in the chopped spring onions and mix everything well with the rice

大功告成！好吃好吃好吃！

Eat Out - Es Teler 77 (Indonesian)

Day 215

Wanted to go Zam Zam for some Indian food tonight but it was closed by the time we reached. :( They serve dinner but their closing time is 8pm. Kinda early for a place that serves dinner right? The temperature has dropped quite a bit again and it was getting cold. I decided to warm ourselves up with some hot sambal chilli! Sabrina brought us to this Indonesian restaurant a long time ago and their sambal chilli is fiery! Really really good sambal chilli.

Most of the diners are young Asians, mostly Indonesians or Malays (it is a halal rest) and we were probably the oldest ones there. I wanted to try its Ikan Belado - deep fried snapper with spicy Indonesian chilli sauce and Nasi Goreng Seafood while Mr Tan decided to have Ayam Soto. It is becoming a habit for me to order grilled/deep fried fish at Indonesian restaurants because it's impossible for me to cook these at home with my limited skills.

After walking in the cold for the past 10 minutes, it felt so good to have Soto Ayam ($6.50). It is a small serving, meant more as an entree rather than a main. Nonetheless, it was good. I prefer this than the one served at Blok M. We finished the whole bowl of Soto Ayam. Bagus!

The Nasi Goreng Seafood ($9.50?) is insanely huge. It is enough to feed me for at least 2 meals. I only managed to finish 1/3 of it and I was already full. The sambal chilli goes so well with the nasi goreng. Totally love the chilli! We packed the rest of the rice and the sambal chilli for Mr Tan's lunch as I didn't want to waste it.

They have 4 sizes for Ikan Belado. Normal, Medium, Large and XLarge. Prices varies according to the size of the fish and we were told that they are only left with the XLarge snapper so it will cost $13.50. My jaws dropped when I saw the fish. If this is XLarge, are they serving ikan bilis for the normal serve? Ridiculous. It was probably fried for too long and the meat was rather hard but we still finished the entire fish. I'm definitely not ordering it again. 

It was a satisfying meal at Es Teler 77 and needless to say, the sambal chilli played a big part. It isn't a fancy place where you have waiters standing near your table helping to clear your plates and refill your water but at least it is clean and there's no need to share tables with others. I'll be returning to try its other dishes and I'm sure Mr Tan will love to try the Ayam Goreng that is a hot fave at Es Teler.

Eat Out - Teppansan (Japanese)

Day 215

Teppansan is right next to the Asian Grocer that we always frequent but it looks kinda dodgy and unappealing. I have been searching for Indian/Korean/Japanese food lately as I am rather sick of having Chinese food, except dumplings of course. By the way, we saw that "Petaling Street" is opening a branch in the city and I am really excited. This was the place where Mr Tan had "si-ham" in his laksa and I had the most delicious Thai-style fish. Yum yum. Anyway, Teppansan has received many raves for its cheap lunches and okonomiyaki. I love okonomiyaki, especially when it is topped with lots of okonomiyaki sauce, katsuobushi and mayonnaise. (yes, it's all about the mayo)

They do serve very cheap set lunches, $7.50 for a main and miso soup. I had the seafood okonomiyaki which is one of the mains in the set lunch menu while Mr Tan ordered Chicken Katsu. Service was prompt with menus and complimentary miso soup brought our tables once we settled down. When I heard the staff batter continuously in Cantonese and Mandarin, it sounded the first alarm.

When my seafood okonomiyaki was served, the second alarm went off. It looked nothing like okonomiyaki! In Japan, most okonomiyaki restaurants are grill-it yourself establishments. You get a bowl of batter and ingredients where you mix and grill it at your table using hot plates. I wasn't expecting to do it myself but I was expecting the batter and ingredients to be mixed together. In Teppansan's case, the ingredients were wrapped in the pancake. The ingredients and batter were cooked separately. The ingredients (mussles, clams, 2 miserable "hae-be" and octopus pieces) were fried with lots of onions and HEAPS of garlic (I hate garlic). The only positive thing was that they were generous with the sauces.

Mr Tan's Chicken Katsu ($10) was worse. He complained that the chicken was so tough that he couldn't bite through it and he has really strong teeth, The chicken must have been fried over and over again. It was really disappointing and I definitely won't be going back.