Basic Sweet Buttercream

It's rather tough finding a good buttercream recipe.. I finally found one that I fancy just enough to share it (: It's a basic sweet buttercream that's easy to whip up.. Good for filling cakes, good for frosting cakes.. and even for piping designs onto cakes. I used it to pipe ombre roses onto the cake I baked today. 

It takes about 20 minutes to whip up a batch of it and I'll rate it a difficulty level 2 out of 5. 

Restaurant Week 2015

Earlier this week, the hubby and I had the luxury to be given a sneak peek of Restaurant Week 2015. We were excited to be on a date on a week night and even more excited to be sampling great food! Restaurant Week is an annual event from which many restaurants will feature a special menu for a great price of $35++ for dinner and $25++ for lunch. This year, Restaurant Week will run from 24 October to 1 November 2015. There are many restaurants participating in this year's event. 

For starters, the hubby and I went to Shisen Hanten at Mandarin Orchard Hotel. We enjoyed bubbles to start the evening! 

We started with a soup...

It was a Seafood with Bamboo Pith Broth with Chawanmushi. Yes you got me right, soup with Chawanmushi! At the bottom of the bowl of soup was a lovely layer of Chawanmushi.. It was indeed refreshing and I loved every bit of it! 

 

I then had Stir-fried Prawns with chilli. The prawns were so huge and juicy! The deep fried bun was great to wipe out the gravy! 

As the hubby is allergic to chilli, the chef whipped up a special tomato version for him! The hubby enjoyed it as much as I did. 

Chef Kentaro is a master in Szechuan and Japanese fusion dishes. He's the son of Iron Chef Japan! (: Such a young and capable chef!

After our starters, we were whisked off in style in Audis to Hilton Singapore for our mains! 

We visited Opus Bar and Grill to enjoy an Opus Grilled Dish Sous Vide Chicken Breast. 

I'm not a fan of chicken breasts as they're easily dry but the Sous Vide version was moist.. One of the rare chicken breasts that I'd glady eat again and again. It was accompanied by a deep fried chicken wing (super well marinated!) and deep fried chicken skin (super duper yummy)! The Scandinavian slaw was really refreshing. I truly enjoyed this dish! 

We were then whisked off to The Royal Mail at Ascott Raffles Place for dessert. Oh yes, we had no idea where the next course would be, making it truly exciting as the hubby and I were guessing where we would be whisked to next. 

We had Durian Croquembouche... I didn't quite fancy this though I'm a huge fan of durians. I wish there was a stronger presence of durian in my puffs! I loved the spun sugar lots though! 

The hubby doesn't take durians so the chef sent him an Eton Mess! The hubby was definitely happy with his Eton Mess. I took a mouthful and it delighted me too! 

We're truly blessed to have been able to enjoy the evening, courtesy of the organisers. I'm looking forward to The Restaurant Week and in fact, I've narrowed down a couple of restaurants I'd love to try/visit! 

To make your bookings/reservations for Restaurant Week, visit the official website. Bookings start on the 28th of September. If you're a American Express card holder, you can make priority bookings on the 21st to 23rd of September. Enjoy a great meal, or even meals at great restaurants all around Singapore! 

Salmon Baked Rice

I've been buying Salmon Trout by the whole from Giant lately and decided to bake a Salmon Baked Rice today, inspired by the baked rice I did previously.

The hubby and I loved it! I guess this recipe is here to stay! 

Essentially, this recipe is made up of a fried rice, canned soup, salmon and cheese. The fried rice can be cooked with whatever you fancy, or whatever you have in your kitchen. Just add in whatever tickles your fancy. 

This recipe yield 2-3 portions or even 4 (if you're small eaters) and it takes about 1.5 to 2 hours in all to whip up, of which most of the time you're just waiting for it to cook. I'd rate it a difficulty level 2 out of 5. 

Condensed Milk Cotton Cheesecake

Truth be told, I haven't had much luck with cheesecakes that are baked. This one shared by dearest friend Christina of Baking Mom hits all the right notes! It's so fluffy and yet, it isn't too sweet despite the use of condensed milk. It was a hit with my colleagues who enjoyed it.. so much so that a friend chomped down 2 slices in one sitting! It's best served chilled. 

Yesterday, I did a Totoro one! (:

Very nice and fluffy! 

This recipe takes about 2 hour 30 minutes and I'd rate it a difficulty level 3 out of 5. 

Black Forest Cake with Pavlova

Yesterday, a friend requested for me to bake a special cake for her. It was a combination of Black Forest Cake (naked style) and a pavlova! It was my first attempt and I'm glad it turned out well! 

I had no intention to write the recipe initially but since it was requested by many, here I am writing it. I did not photograph the process of the cake but I'll try to be as detailed in the instructions as I can!

This cake is rather easy but yet difficult at the same time so I'd rate it a difficulty level 3 out of 5. It took me 2 hours on the night before assembly and another 1 on the day of assembly. 

Agedashi Tofu

As I had oil left over from frying food for our lunch, it was such a waste to toss it away. I decided to fry some Agedashi Tofu for tea! This is by no means the authentic way it is prepared in Japan. This is my easy version of it and the hubby and I love it very much! Most of the ingredients here can be found in Daiso! (: 

This recipe merely takes 15 minutes to put together and I'd rate it a difficulty level 2 out of 5. 

Your almost complete guide to Taobao Shopping (Updated 16 Oct 2016)

So Taobao is like really AMAZING. Ever since I started about 3-4 years back, I've been addicted to it on and off.. I've gotten many things from Taobao, ranging from stuff for our wedding (like artificial flowers for our bridesmaid to hair accessories), to baking stuff... to clothes.. and even furniture. More often than not, Taobao offers items that are cheaper than what's sold in Singapore. Also, Taobao offers things that cannot be found in Singapore, like pretty cake boxes. 

Taobao has pretty much everything one can imagine. So with what I've gathered through my experience, here's a Taobao Tutorial teaching you how to get started, right down to every detail! (: 

[Do check out the Taobao Directory I've gathered based on what I've purchased..]

What I'm sharing is what I'd call direct shipping.. This applies to using Taobao's appointed forwarders to bring items in by air. This bypasses the need for an agent. This is generally applicable to items you need soon (as opposed to sea shipping which can take weeks) or items that are light and those that do not exceed the limit for length.. For bulky items, I'd recommend agents (which I'll explain down the road).. 

So you'd first need to get started by setting up an account! Generally, you'd more or less need to be able to read a little mandarin or use Google Translate to play around a bit.. 

As this blog post is INSANELY long, click on to read more! 

313 Food Trail & Tring 313 App

2 Saturdays ago, I was invited to 313 for a food trail! I'm so behind time with my blog posts XD (That's what work has been doing to me! I barely have the strength to bake too! ):)

In any case, I had so much fun with 9 other food bloggers and we were so well fed! We visited many food eateries in 313 and I was pretty surprised at the number of good eateries there were in 313.. to think I only ate from the quick eateries at the basement whenever I pass by and need a quick bite.. I'm also gonna introduce the Tring 313 apps that brings you many promotions by the mall!