i-De@ls - Magazineline. Buy US magazines for cheaper price than bookstores.

If you like buying American magazines from places like Borders, Kinokuniya, Times, check out this website offered by i-De@ls in partnership with Comgateway. They offer big savings and at US$4 shipping charge per issue, for most (if not all) magazines it works out to be cheaper than getting it at the bookstore. For example, one issue of Every Day with Rachel Ray magazine costs around SGD$13, but from this website it costs around SGD$8. But you'll also need to sign up at comgateway and enter your personal information there.

If you doubt the safeness of this kind of shopping, HSBC Singapore is in partnership with comgateway to offer i-De@ls.

On a separate note, I've also tried out Spreeing on the ST701 site, I ended up shopping at a few sites like Victoria Secrets, Old Navy, Wet Seal and Go Jane (check out the Sales items in these stores, cheap). Can't wait for my packages to arrive, will blog about it once they arrive. The process so far has been very good, and they will notify you if something is out of stock or if the colour u want isn't available and whether you'd like to choose the other colours instead or cancel.

Note that if you're residing in other parts of Asia like Malaysia, Brunei, Hong Kong, China, Comgateway is also open to those residents and offers delivery there. Now if only they'll extend to Australia that'll be great.

Thai Fish Cakes

Description:

Great way to eat fish for people who are afraid of the fishy smell of fish.

Ingredients:
Boneless white fish fillets/chunks
French Beans, diced
1 egg
Red Curry Paste
Fish Sauce
Sugar
Pepper


Directions:
Place everything except the french beans in a food processor and blitz until smooth. Then add in the french beans and mix it in with your hands or spoon. With wet hands, shape the fish mixture into patties and put on a plate dusted with a little flour.

Shallow fry the cakes until they turn golden brown. Serve with a sweet chilli dipping sauce.

Pork Belly cooked in Dark Soy Sauce (Tao Yu Bak)

Description:

The pork belly is usually cut wider and eaten with an empty steamed bun (kong bao). This recipe is adapted from Mrs Lee's cookbook. An important characteristic of this dish is also the caramelisation of the sugar onto the pork to give it a nice shiney glaze.

Ingredients:
Pork Belly
Sugar
Dark Soy Sauce
Light Soy Sauce
water
Chopped garlic

Directions:
Put some oil in a pan and stir fry the garlic and then add the pork belly. Add the sugar until it coats and caramelises on to the pork. Add the dark soy, light soy and water and cook until the pork belly is very tender. Best thing is to cook it and let it sit in a Thermos pot until tender.

Spaghetti with Cucumber 'Pesto'

I got this recipe from a tv show on the Asian Food Channel called Dosanko Cooking (a Japanese cooking show). This might be a bit of an acquired taste and it's served at room temperature.

First cook your spaghetti according to packet instructions until al dente. Get a couple of Japanese cucumbers and sprinkle some salt on a cutting board and roll the cucumbers in them and quickly rinse off the salt. This is supposed to bring out the green-ness of the cucumbers. Take one of the cucumbers and grate it into 'mush', you can use a ginger grater or one of those graters with spikes on them. You are basically grating them to like a fine 'paste' eventho cucumbers are quite watery. Then take the other cucumber and dice them finely. Grate some raw garlic into the cucumbers, add rice vinegar and some sugar into the mixture and mix with your cooked spaghetti and serve.

It's supposed to be eaten during Japanese summers because it's cooling. It's kinda interesting, but the taste of raw garlic can be a bit overwhelming so becareful how much you put in it.

Prata at Casuarina Curry

Location: 126 Casuarina Road, off Upper Thomson Road

Service at this place seems to have improved a lot, not to mention the ventilations at the indoor seating. Most weekends, brekky brunch or lunch, this place is usually packed with diners. The week before we had tried prata at The Roti Prata House on Upper Thomson Road and couldn't decide which was better, so off we went to Casuarina Curry to 'try it again' to see which one won our hearts. And the verdict, well I can't decide really, they're both very very good. The Roti Prata House sells prata that's slightly bigger and fluffier but the prata had an unusual yellow tinge to to it which made me conclude that it meant they used more ghee in the dough and it did feel slightly oilier and interestingly had a sweetness to it. The Roti Prata House sports what looks a bit like a make shift kitchen, whereas Casuarina Curry sports a cleaner enclosed kitchen (with windows so you can still see what they're doing) and makes you feel more at ease about the hygiene. And since the place was just recently renovated, Casuarina Curry is a nicer place to bring your little ones to.

Too bad I didn't take any photos of The Roti Prata House's prata, but below are the pics from Casuarina Curry.

It wasn't actually this yellow, I think it was the lighting.


We also had fried rice with mutton


And sardine murtabak

We also had one hot and one cold teh tarik (i prefer cold one). Casuarina Curry has ample parking and that's always a big deciding factor on where to go.

Picky eater update

It would seem that Caelyn isn't that picky anymore and is even more willing to try new stuff. I have recently discovered new veges that she likes to eat include french beans (or string beans), Kangkung, Beansprouts (cooked with salted fish and sliced chilli too mind you), Steamed broccoli - and the great thing is I don't even need to hide these veges. She seems to have an advanced palate and surprises me when she eats stuff that I wouldn't think she'd like. I guess it just takes trial and error and perseverance to figure out what she likes. I don't bother cooking anything separate for her anymore and it's been a while since the last time I've had to cook her an additional meal just because she wouldn't eat what I cooked.

Yay Caelyn!

Ritz Apple Strudel

This apple strudel from Ritz Apple Strudel & Pastry, Upper Thomson branch, is sooo yummy. Its pastry is light and flaky and crispy, while the apple filling and the cream has just the right tartness and sweetness. They also have other fillings such as strawberry, blueberry, durian. We bought the half size one and it's enough for 4 portions or 2 very generous portions.

Seafood Platter at New York New York restaurant

They recently opened up a New York New York restaurant at Kovan Heartland Mall and so we went to try it. It has quite a varied menu from fish and chips, rotisserie chicken, pasta, desserts, etc all reasonably price (think Cafe Cartel). We tried the Seafood Platter for 2 (around $36) and was very happy with our choice. The platter consisted of slices of smoked salmon on a bed of baby salad leaves (the gourmet salad mix type), battered prawns, battered calamari, crumbed fish (which tasted very fresh) and steamed/boiled whole cold crab, all served with 4 different dips: tartare sauce, some kind of seafood sauce, some kind of peanut satay sauce and clarified butter.

It was all good. Next time might try the meat platter.

Comgateway and Singapore Spree - ST701

Has anyone ever used the services of Comgateway or the ST701 Singapore Spree before? They're both offered by a local company called Comgateway that allows for you to purchase things on any US site. A lot of US sites don't offer international shipping or they don't accept international credit cards. What comgateway does is assign you with your own Oregon postal address so you can buy online with companies that don't offer international shipping but accept international credit cards. For companies that don't accept either, Comgateway offers a concierge service whereby you tell them what you want to purchase and they'll do it for you at an added charge of 5% of your total bill including US local shipping. The Singapore Spree option on the other hands works similar to the concierge service, except that you also get to share your postage with other shoppers who shop at the same store. It's a good method cos shipping is charged at minimum 1kg, but if u buy something like a piece of clothing, that's definitely not gonna weigh 1kg right? So sharing the shipping cost with someone is a good idea.

I think tho this works a lot better or is more beneficial for you if you are buying a lot of stuff, otherwise shipping costs will outweigh the cost of your product unless of course you buy something that costs a few hundred dollars. Their shipping charges are really good too. I've checked out other online 'mail forwarding services' and their shipping charges cost a bomb and some of them require a one time registration fee plus a monthly 'rental' fee. Comgateway doesn't require any of that. I still have yet to try using the services, but I'm quite curious to know if anyone out there (ie. anyone who's reading my blog) have tried? Comgateway currently delivers to China, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, French Polynesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka (http://www.comgateway.com/COMGATEWAY/com.creditel.comgateway.common.FAQ.do#gi3). I hope that one day they'll expand to Australia because I don't think Australia has something like this currently. Maybe also because Australia is such a remote place that logistically it wouldn't be feasible to offer such low shipping rates.

So if anyone's had experience with comgateway, can you share them with me?

Yummy Soup Base

Truth be told, I'm not much of a soup person, but from time to time I don't mind having it especially if the soups are really yummy and sweet like the one I cooked here. This isn't really a recipe as such, more like a basis for a really great soup where you can put basically whatever you want in it. This soup was so sweet I didn't even need to put any seasoning into it.



Ingredients for the soup base: Dried Scallops Prawn Heads and Shells (no prawn meats needed, save the meat for another dish) Celery cut into chunks Pumpkin cut into chunks

Just combine everything in a pot and cook for at least an hour or until the dried scallops are tender. By the end of the cooking, the pumpkins would have disintegrated into the soup. Give it a go, it'll warm you up!

Choc Chip Banana Muffins

Adapted from: Annabel Karmel's Feeding Your Baby & Toddler

CHOC CHIP BANANA MUFFINS

Ingredients:
125g Plain Flour
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
125g soft margarine or butter if you prefer
125g caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
60g choc chips
as much diced banana you want (or you can substitute with other fruits or dried fruits)

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line your muffin tins with paper muffin cases.
2. Cream the sugar and margarine (with a spoon). Mix the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt together in a separate bowl. You can sift it if you want, but I couldn't be bothered and my cocoa powder didn't have lumps.
3. Add the eggs bit by bit into the sugar and margarine mixture with a tablespoon of the flour mixture. Then add in the rest of the flour mixture, the choc chips and bananas.
4. Spoon into the prepared muffin tins and bake until cooked through in the middle. Small muffins will cook faster in about 10 minutes. Bigger muffins will cook in about 13-14 minutes.

Food Fiesta 2008 at Takashimya Basement

There were a lot of people at the Food Fiesta but the offerings weren't that varied. And there were even stalls such as the Korean food one that already exists inside Takashimaya food hall itself.

This guy is from an Italian restaurant, think Al Forno, can't remember. But there were a lot of onlookers looking at them making pizza. They looked scrummy.

See the cute 'face' pizza?

Food from S-11 foodcourt

Prawn Paste Chicken Wings

Crispy Baby Squid

House recommendation, Fried Tofu with sweet/sour/spicy sauce and garnished with jackfruit. Was not too bad.

Am I making you salivate?

Caelyn ate lettuce

I was rather surprised the other day when Caelyn took a bite of a piece of lettuce with salad dressing and proceeded to ask for more. Never had I excpected her to like eating lettuce! But then the next day she pooed about 4 times, the normal for her can be twice a day. Wonder if the lettuce made her poo more. Wasn't runny or anything, still normal type (too much info? hehehe)

So, does your child eat lettuce?

Mac and Cheese

It is said that this is something a lot of kids like to eat. I've made this before, but this time turned out to be the best by far. I have combined recipes from Rachel Ray and Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious ( to sneak in veges). Jessica Seinfeld has added Cream Cheese into her sauce mix, might try that next time. I liked Rachel Ray's recipe cos she uses part chicken stock and part milk. I've used all milk before for the sauce and it tasted too rich for my liking. Anyway, this is another dish that Caelyn likes to eat, good for her

Ingredients (amounts are only a guide):
Any type of pasta shape you like
1-2 tablespoons of butter/margarine
2 tablespoons of flour
Pumpkin, steamed and pureed
Cauliflower, steamed and pureed
1.5 cups of chicken stock
1 cup milk
1 tbsp dijon mustard
Grated Cheddar Cheese (as much as you like)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook pasta until al dente.
2. While the pasta is cooking, make the sauce by melting the butter in a saucepan. Add the flour and cook with the butter until it forms a paste. Don't let it colour. Add the chicken stock bit by bit while whisking. Then add the milk, the purees, the mustard. Take it off the heat and add the cheese and seasoning. If you find the sauce too thick just keep adding liquid until you have the consistency you want.
   
3. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and serve.
   

Ma Po Tofu

Ingredients:
Soft Silken Tofu
Minced Pork
Spring Onions, chopped
Spicy Bean Sauce (Dou Ban Jiang)
Fish Sauce
Garlic, chopped finely
Corn flour mixed with some water
Chicken Stock Powder (MSG free one)

Heat some oil in a wok, and add the garlic. Then add in the minced pork and cook until browned. Add in the fish sauce for some flavour, then add the spicy bean sauce and mix with the pork. Add some water to make a sauce and sprinkle in some chicken stock powder (optional). Bring the sauce mixture to a boil and thicken with corn flour mixed with a bit of water before finally putting in the tofu and spring onions.

Oven baked Sweet Potato Fries and Chicken Strips

This is a healthy meal which I made these because I wanted to see if Caelyn would eat Chicken Strips. I wasn't surprised to see that she didn't want them to tell you the truth. She's more of a noodles, rice, pasta girl. She's eaten McDonald's nuggets before, but I guess my chicken strips don't look the same. I was also inspired by Jessica Seinfeld's recipe from Deceptively Delicious that was featured on Oprah.

For the Sweet Potato: Cut into long 'fries' and toss with some olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and arrange in one layer on a cookie sheet.
For the Chicken Strips: I had used Chicken Tenderloins, but seems like they weren't tender at all, tasted very dry as if they were chicken breasts. Note to self, will use boneless thigh fillets next time and I think it's better if you pan fry it (maybe wouldn't be so dry). I added some pureed spinach to a beaten egg and for the crispy coating I mixed some panko breadcrumbs with some sesame seeds and parmesan cheese and seasoning. I dipped the chicken strips in the egg spinach mixture first then coated them with the panko mixture.

For both, bake in the oven till golden and crispy. Tho the sweet potato doesn't go quiet as crispy as normal oven fries would, I really love eating them this way.

Crispy Prawns and Frogs Leg with Cereal (Mai Pian Xia)

I think this is a Singaporean dish (?), it's a popular menu item in all seafood restaurants and even those that sell cooked dishes at hawker centres. I really love the cereal oats, i love having it sprinkled on my rice. But this dish it seems isn't for everyone because when I had friends in town last time, they didn't enjoy this dish as much as we did. Maybe it's an acquired taste. I find it a lot easier to just buy the premix which already has the oats, creamer, sugar, etc in it. All you need to do is fry the prawns and frogs leg (or whatever other meat you want to use), then chop up some chilli padi (bird's eye chilies) and curry leaves and stir fry it in some butter, add the packet mix and the cooked prawns and voila your dish is done.

Incase you didn't know, curry leaves are good for you. They're one of the richest sources of micronutrients, antioxidants, vitamins (carotene, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid & vitamin C), calcium, iron, phosphorus, protein, fat, carbohydrates, energy, soluble & insoluble fibre. Usually I buy a bag of curry leaves and put them in the freezer and they can last there for many many months (I do the same with kaffir lime leaves and fresh red chillies).