To my loyal readers (if there are any), if you haven't already realised, I had recently set up a YouTube channel named MizReeney & Little C, https://www.youtube.com/user/mommareeney (don't forget to subscribe!). So why's my channel id mommareeney? Well I signed up for YouTube a very long time ago and back in those days I think we were just assigned with the id we wanted. I wanted to change it to MizReeney, but after some research I found out that you can only have a preferred address after you've reached some number of subscribers or something like that.
So what is my channel about and why did we start posting up videos? Well Caelyn aka Little C, just loves watching YouTube and it came to the point where she even pretended that she was talking to a camera while showing what she was eating or when she opened up a new toy. So I figured why not just record her and just put it out there. Our channel is basically a channel where we share what our life is like in Singapore, sharing happiness and sharing love. I guess we just love to share! And I see it as an extension of my Blog.
One of the things I worry about of course is compromising my family's privacy. But really, whatever is in the YouTube channel is nothing that I wouldn't blog about here or tell my friends. And I consider you guys, my readers and my viewers, as my friends :)
The other concern is, the haters. And there are always gonna be haters no matter whether you are popular or not, whether you are well known or a nobody. The one thing I need to personally develop is a thicker skin. I can be quite sensitive to negativity and criticism. But I am slowly learning that hey my viewers and readers are entitled to their own opinions just as I am entitled to mine. I can choose to ignore the stupid and hurtful comments and I can choose not to read them and I can choose not to let them get to me. There's always a choice. And those that do put stupid comments are people that don't matter to me and they're just probably some immature little punk....or not....there are some idiot grown ups out there too.
So if you've seen my channel or one of my videos, feel free to comment below what you think of it. And thanks in advance for watching and subscribing!
I love stuffed mushrooms. It really is one of my favourite ways of eating mushrooms and it's a great way to add protein to your diet. And a great dish to make if you're on a protein diet. In this dish instance I used portobello mushrooms but you can of course just use button mushrooms or even shiitakes. And if you don't like chicken you can use beef or pork.
My secret ingredient is Quinoa. I just love love Quinoa! Sorry so lame for getting excited about Quinoa right? :) This is a great way to add healthy food to your diet. I cook my quinoa on the stovetop. After you rinse the raw quinoa in a fine mesh strainer, put into a pot and add water to the ratio of 1:2. So 1 cup of quinoa to 2 cups of water. Cook on medium to high heat for about 8-10minutes until all the liquid has been absorbed. For a tastier quinoa you can cook it in some stock.
I don't have exact measurements as usual so you can just play around with the taste to your liking.
Ingredients:
Minced Meat - Chicken/Pork/Beef
Thai Basil, shredded
Red Chilli, chopped coarsest or finely. Deseed if you wish.
Fish Sauce
Sugar, small amount
Crushed Garlic
Cooked Quinoa
Mushrooms
⚫️ Mix all ingredients in a bowl except for the mushrooms. Mix the meat by hand (use disposable gloves if you want), until the meat is kind of sticky.
⚫️ Take a mushroom and turn it over so that the stem is facing up. Fill the mushroom cups with the meat mixture. It's not necessary to remove the stems.
⚫️ I usually cook this in the Airfryer at 180C for around 7-8 minutes. Then turn it up to 200C to brown the tops for another 2-3 minutes.
⚫️ Serve hot or warm at room temperature. Great with a side salad served with a Thai dressing.
I've been craving steak lately so on the odd day that hubby came home early from work we decided to eat at Jack's Place at Nex Shopping Centre.
I haven't eaten at any Jack's Place for a couple of years. I can't even remember when the last time was.
First thing when we walked in, the server said to us something like Have patience with us tonight if we are slow to take your order. Hmmmm...well although I commend him for saying that, the way in which he said it seemed a little impolite and insincere. It wasn't even a full house...so how slow can they be?
Anyway we settled on the food below. Hubby and I both ordered the Rib Eye Steak which was (Thank God) done perfectly!
NZ Silver Fern Farms Ribeye Steak $23.80++
The only let down was the hot plate wasn't sizzling. But if it was I guess the steak would've been overcooked.
The biggest let down of our dinner was Caelyn's food from the kids menu. Kids menu doesn't mean it should be tasteless and hers was exactly that. It was Spaghetti and Chicken Chop. Really how can you go wrong with this dish. It was worse than what you can get from a Western Stall at the Hawker Centre. Spaghetti had no sauce at all and had no taste. Chicken Chop was under seasoned and would have been good with a sauce or gravy.
Kids Menu Chicken Chop and Spaghetti with Apple Juice $7++
It wasn't a cheap meal either at about $80 for 3 of us. If it wasn't for the steak and perfectly cooked jacket potato I would've said its not worth it.
We also had the lobster bisque which was not bad. About $4.20++
This...is garlic bread....I know it's a multigrain bread, but how come it tastes so stale???
And we added on Onion and Rings and Curly Fries $5.90++.
Today was the last and final day of our quick getaway in Batam. Our Ferry wasn't until 3pm so we still had plenty of time to do a last round of shopping and play. That's the great thing with staying beside the ferry terminal, we didn't have to rush and go far. So after breakfast we packed our things and left it at the hotel. We headed back to the Megamall to let the kids play at Timezone.
The Timezone here is huge. You'll never find one the same size in Singapore. It even had a Carousel, Bumper Cars and a Playground! The best thing was on Mon-Fri 10am-4pm everything is only Rp1000, and I mean everything!!! Yes including the bumper cars, carousel and playground!
Everything Rp1000!
Usual price for the playground is Rp37,000!
The Dads got in on the action too.
Lining up for bumper cars.
After all the fun, we had to quickly go to lunch. We went to lunch at this small restaurant called Byza Cafe. Wasn't that good....
Somewhere under there is a piece of chicken.
soft shell crab!
After lunch it was time to go back home. Bye Batam, see you next time!
Day 2 of our Batam trip started with the complimentary Harris Hotel buffet breakfast. The spread was not bad, not like a posh hotel spread but then again this isn't the Hilton, but what was there was adequate. There was a lot of local spread which tasted pretty good, the let downs were the western spread like waffles which were soggy, etc.
After breakfast, we decided to explore another shopping area called Nagoya Hill. We took a taxi from the hotel for about Rp70,000 - Rp75,000. There are plenty of people touting and offering transport outside the hotel, but I think I feel safer taking a taxi from inside the hotel premises. Nagoya is about 15-20 mins drive from the hotel. When we arrived, we tried to pay the taxi driver with a Rp100,000 note and the driver claimed he had no small change. I'm pretty sure he was trying to rip us off and hoped that we'd just let him have the 100K, so luckily we had exact change. So just word of warning if you go to Batam make sure you have some small change for taking public transport.
So the first thing we did was go to this Massage place. We had a massage here the last time we were in Batam and thought it was pretty good. The shop faces the entrance to the mall (it's just right in front of JCo donuts). All the little kiddies also got their feet massaged. The 3 of us if I remember correctly paid SG$36 for a 90min foot and shoulder massage. So that's $12 each, bargain right? (But you can actually get cheaper one in Jakarta).
Food Street - Nagoya Hill shopping mall
After the massage, it was then lunch time and we ended up eating at the food court. I didn't even know there was a food court here when we visited the mall on our last trip. The food court is on the top floor kind of hidden in the corner, but the food was pretty good. Same as most foodcourts in Jakarta it works by using a card system to pay for your foods. You go to the cashier to get a card, you and whatever amount you don't use up you can just get it refunded from the cashier. It's not a big foodcourt but had enough things that excited me :)
This is Gudeg. It's a combination of rice, coconut and young jackfruit cooked in a coconut cream, and a few other side dishes. Yummmm....
Empek Empek. This is fried fish cakes with some noodles and a spicy sweet sauce. I love it, one of my favourite Indonesian dishes.
Siomay Bandung, basically minced meat with fish paste and stuffed into tofu, potatoes etc. Eaten with peanut sauce with a drizzle of kecap manis. Another one of my favourites.
Es Teler. Um, not sure the translation for this one. It's shaved ice with sweetened condensed milk and jackfruit pieces and I think coconut milk.
This is what the Es Teler looks like after the ice has been mixed up.
After lunch we walked around the mall and came across this interesting shop selling a round hollow bread.
Tasty! Oreo biscuit flavour I think.
The biggest surprise find from this mall was a hidden FREE playground inside Ace Hardware shop! If you have kids who are getting fidgety and bored on your shopping trip here, be sure to stop by this shop to let them release some energy. At the same time you can check out the shop :)
After a full day out, we went back to the hotel to take a dip in the pool again. We were then too tired to go outside to have dinner so we ordered room service! Caelyn was so excited, I know it seems silly but we've never ever ordered room service before! So this was what we ordered, the food was delicious! Only downside was there weren't enough chairs in the room for all of us to sit and eat in the room :(
BBQ Seafood Platter with stirfried vegetables. Thumbs Up!
Penne Carbonara
Crispy Duck with a Vegetable dish that was so delicious!
Incase you missed it, click here to read what we did on Day 1 :)
