Home-made French Vanilla Ice Cream & Cats Tongues!!!

I made french vanilla ice cream using this recipe here!! You MUST watch this video! He is very detailed, gives his instructions clearly & he is not boring!

Here is the close-up of my finished product! Am proud! Thank you Scott Hargrove!

I made a few adventurous changes to this recipe though:

1) I used whipping cream instead of heavy cream as I couldn't find any heavy cream at the store. According to somewhere on the internet though, you must make sure it's not UHT whipping cream. The fat content is apparently lower in whipping cream anyway.

2)I used 1/3 parts of brown sugar & the rest of the 2/3 white sugar. I initially wanted to use solely brown sugar because I like the taste of it & I thought it'd go well, but I was met with appalled faces (& up till now, I still don't get why).

3) As I didn't have an ice cream maker or a kitchen aide with an ice cream making attacment, I just used the cake mixer with the whipping attachment & did the stir-every-half-an-hour-or-so-whilst-it-is-freezing method (I just stirred it about 5 times) as I wasn't sure the ice cream mixture caught & held on to the air incorporated whilst whipping.

The result was better than what I expected, as, being a pessimist, I thought my ice cream would come out a rock-hard slab. It WAS a tad bit hard, but I still managed to scrape up a ball of ice cream using a soup spoon after about 5 minutes (yes, it's a tad bit of a long time to gather up a scoop of ice cream). In future, whilst serving this batch, I think I'll transfer it to the fridge about 10 - 15 minutes before serving. Better than buying an ice cream maker, anyhow.

As the ice cream recipe requires only egg yolks. Jian found a 'Langues De Chat' recipe or 'Cats Tongues' which requires the egg whites.

Here is the only picture we took of it:

Jian made an EXTRA long one just for the fun of it. No I DID NOT eat it all by myself. We shared it. Heh.

Anjappar @ Jurong Point

We went to Anjappar for dinner yesterday with Jian's folks as I didn't feel like eating at home. We have been wanting to try Anjappar for a while now, but have never gotten our arses to it. I did make Jian buy a masala thosai & mango lassi for me once though. I somehow preferred the one from Prata Wala (yes, the website is a COMPLETE LETDOWN) downstairs & the mango lassi was sweet beyond belief (yes I preferred Prata Wala's mango lassi too).

Jian's parents actually did say that the food at Anjappar wasn't that great, but it's always good to try for yourself, as different folks, different strokes.

Anyhow, we ordered:

Chettinad Chicken Masala. Not bad.

Chicken Lolly Pop. Jian HAD to have it, as he was surfing the menu & trying to find out what the items were & I noticed he kept lingering on some lollypop chicken videos. This was the best dish we had, even though it was deep fried. The skin was nice & crisp & had a nice tanginess to it because of the lime we squeezed onto it. Mine was gone in a flash.


Mixed Vegetable Curry. There was more curry than vegetables in it. Luckily, the curry was passably nice & I ended up eating most of this, anyway.


Mutton Sukka Varuval. Don't be fooled by the size of the picture. This is a close-up shot. In fact, they all are. The plate is equivelant to a teacup saucer. This was not too bad. Quite nice. We ordered 2 portions of this as it was a SUPER small serving.


Fish Curry. I did not eat the fish as I didn't feel like it, but I tried a little of the curry. Very fishy, but Jian's parents thought this was the best dish of the lot.


Biriyani Rice. I didn't try this as well as generally speaking, I don't fancy the musky taste of biryani rice. Jian & I shared a white rice. What I like about the rice that they serve in indian restaurants is the texture. The grains are fluffy & yet, they separate easily. Jian says it's because they boil the rice instead of steaming it. Don't ask me. I just eat it.


Soupy thing that comes with the rice, Jian's ma says it's made from assam.

Jian finished off his meal wth a masala tea. I've had masala tea before & I don't remember the taste of the masala to be so strong. It seemed to overpower the tea. I remember liking my masala teas from any stall in Little India, in fact. Oh well.

In conclusion, I think this was by far the least memorable indian meal we've had EVER. Perhaps we have spoilt ourselves by patronising too many stalls in Little India (Sakunthala's, Sri Kamala Vilas, Jaggi's & basically almost anywhere you go, the food is good) & Samy's Curry at Dempsey.

There were plenty of indians dining at Anjappar, so I guess the food must be up to par. Well, it is; it's just not as fabulous as I had hoped. We also noticed that dishes were delivered to the restaurant pre-prepared & they just put the finishing touches before serving. Makes sense, then all the branches have a standardised taste, the food comes to us hungry diners faster & they take up less space in the already teeny-tiny kitchen.

The bill came up to $65.42 (including GST) for 4, including a masala tea, a lime juice & a sweet lassi.

Blk 39 Teban Gardens Road Fish Bee Hoon (Hao Chu Seafood)

Jian & I went to my parents' place as we had to bring my kidney-failing, hypertensioned (blind from the hypertension) 16 year old kitty to the vet & back. Since we were already there, we took to opportunity to see if the zhi char stall was open. Jian claims to have eaten THE BEST fish bee hoon he has EVER tasted. He has been raving about the place for at least 3 years, & I would have had it sooner, but the last time we attempted to get our hands on the goodies, it was closed on a weekend afternoon. Bummer.


I had a home-made ice lemon tea & he had a lime juice. The reason I took this picture is because the jolly drink stall auntie popped the sliced lemon & half a lime on top of the drinks so prettily, instead of chucking the fruits in together with the ice & pouring the drink in. $1 each.

Incidentally, they use the word 'home-made' very loosely, as Jian HAD to burst my bubble & tell me that the ice lemon tea (as in, ALL home-made ice lemon teas in coffee shops all over Singapore) is 'just cordial, prepared in the factory'. *GRUMBLES*


AH, the fish bee hoon! NOW, this fish bee hoon, for the food purists, was made milky by ADDING EVAPORATED MILK into the soup. Now, all along, I've always preferred my fish bee hoon with the added milk. I do like the milky flavour it adds to the soup. I mean, why condemn it if it tastes good, right? (You food purists just luck-out, that's all.) We had XO added to the soup & I forgot to stir it up, so I got a strong mouthful of XO down my throat.

Taste-wise, I agree with Jian. It IS the best fish bee hoon I've ever tasted too. The fish was lightly fried before being added to the soup & did not have a fishy or muddy taste. I just HATE the muddy tasting fish that a lot of fish bee hoon stalls use out there. We both totally cleaned out our big bowls of the noodles, soup & all. Well, especially for the soup, of course. Anyway, this is the first time Jian has eaten it with XO. In future, I will try the normal one, just for comparison.

$6.50 per bowl, if you add XO. Jian claims to have always paid $4 for the normal one, & just add $2 to add XO, but maybe they increased the prices very recently.

I should CONSIDER visiting the folks more often, ONLY for the fish bee hoon. Heh.

Epicurious

Friday night out & Robertson Quay was BUSTLING (I mean... what's new, right?). We managed to get a table for without reservations at Wine Connection, tried to request for a table of 4, but failed, so we walked around & managed to sit our behinds at Epicurious, a much quieter spot, just a short walk away.

The menu looks good & the tapas was a reasonably good range, such that one didn't (really feel) like there was a disappointingly small selection. Okay, to be honest, I DID feel that it was a little small, but there were really no complaints, as a lot of my favourite bites were included in the tapas menu. 8 types of cheese, various cold cuts & some antipasto. There were also small bites. There is a mains menu as well, which Jian said looked quite good. They have a wine list too, but we ordered the house wine. I saw something on the menu which said '$15 corkage charge, ours, or yours). $15 even if I order wine from you?!?!??! Well we ordered the house, like I mentioned, but I saw no indication of $15 on the bill. They stopped accepting customers at around 10pm, according to sharp-eyed Jian.

This is the first platter we ordered. I cant remember exactly how they charge, but the more you order, the cheaper it gets. The prices start from $6 per pick of cheese (add $2 for one of themore special cheeses, I can't remember which), $6.50 (or is it $7.50) per pick of a cold cut, $4 (I think) per pick of antipasto. If you order from the cheese or cold cuts section, each antipasto is only $2.50. it's quite confusing, but you have to look at the menu to fully comprehend what I mean.

So our selection was: comte cheese, chorizo (from Singapore), chargrilled peppers & chargrilled eggplant.


Cheese & Tomato Quesadillas. They were not bad, really, a little too much raw onions & a little too few tomatoes for my liking, but they pass. The skins were nice & semi-crisp.

Meatballs. Tasty. The sauce reminds me of nicer tomato pasta sauce, but really, you can't stray far from that thought when a warm tomato-based sauce is around. It is pretty good with the meatballs.

Our second platter consisting of salami, artichoke hearts & hummus. They served the platter with butter, instead of vinegar & olive oil this time. Pity. The olive oil was EXCELLENT. The hummus was nice & smooth & citrusy. Jian admits that it's better than the hummus he makes, as it is lighter in texture & slides down your throat oh so easily!

MY PLATE! The thing I love about this place is the mis-matched, but strangely matching plates They have a few different floral (I want to name an era, but I cannot put my finger on it) plates & they do not purposely give the whoel table the same plates. They use different bottles for your water. (They leave the bottles of water on your table for you to help yourself. I like.) I spied an Absolut Vodka bottle at a neighbouring table.

Together with a bottle of house sparkling & house red, our total bill came up to $132 for 4 people.

Halia Afternoon Tea

Ah, weeks long forgotten pictures! Jian & I went to Halia for afternoon tea on the 2nd of July 2011, which was our wedding/dating anniversary (that's 5 years of dating, through thick, thin & awful parents on my side & 2 years of marriage. THAT'S something to celebrate isn't it?) because I felt like doing something a little different.

We got off a bus stop too late & had to trek through the Botanic Gardens the long way round, which was actually nice (I have NEVER walked around the botanic gardens in a leisurely way before) albeit hot. Luckily, I was wearing a breezy dress & I am alright with the heat, anyway. Jian was scooting around for every bit of shade the trees provided.

When we arrived at Halia, we were greeted by the pleasant smell of coffee & baking breads. I don't know if they really bake bread there, but the smell was there... I think eggs were in the air as well. YUM! There was no space in the air-conditioned area, so we sat outside, which was nice too. Well the view is better outside, obviously.

Ok, so I was busy checking out the eats when the 2-tiered tray arrived. We didn't have a bite to eat before 1530 hours! The cream & orange ginger jam is meant for the scones.

Front: little slivers of bread topped with gorgonzola cheese & a honey-coated walnut

2nd row: Scone, smoked salmon little thing (salty), ditto, scone

3rd row: foie gras little thing.

Jian, in general, does not really fancy gorgonzola cheese but I DO(!!), so after he ate one, the rest were mine. They were so tiny, I finished them in a flash. I only remember that the little salmon bite was extremely salty. The scones went very well with the cream & orange ginger jam. I was surprised that the ginger taste was nice & subtle. Jian plastered his scone with the stuff. He likes to do that sort of thing as he likes strong flavours. The foie gras bite was just... the little bit of foie gras down the hatch... Pleasant, but gone in a matter of seconds.

Front: Saffron macaroons in yellow & kiwi macaroons in green.

middle: banana wrapped in crepe. Think it's coated with caramel as well.

back: raspberry, chocolate cake.

Background: weird fellow

The macaroons were EXTREMELY sweet. I don't know how people enjoy eating these things! For the saffron one, I don't like the taste of saffron in general, I think, as I don't particularly like musky flavours. Nevertheless, I took a bite & I passed te rest of it to Jian, whom only later revealed that he wasn't keen on it as well. The kiwi one was even sweeter than the saffron one, but i ate it anyway. The banana wrapped in crepe was nice, but I wish we had eaten it before then macaroons. had I known macaroons were this sweet, I would have eaten them LAST. By the time we got to the cake, it was already in a melty state. Sweet too, but nicer (& less sweet) than the macaroons.

The afternoon tea set comes with your choice of a pot of tea. I think it was $28++ per set. You can also order one set to share. We ordered 2.

Don't forget to go for a leisurely walk around the gardens after your tea, when the sun is not as fierce. :)

Tex Mex @ Chili's

Chili's has a Sunday drink promotion of 141 premium margaritas. Very good for Jian. Check out his first nice, big margarita:

His initial comment was 'nice & strong' & I had a sip. It WAS indeed very strong. There was plenty of ice in the drink, so I would guess they probably mixed in the normal amount of alcohol, & the amount of ice was to keep the drink chilled, for people who sip margaritas like pussies. His was the Patron Margarita or something or the other. It's not in the online menu. (Jian says: It should be the Grand Patron Margarita.)

The drink, compared to his size!

We ordered only from the starters, as the portions are huge here. This here is the Triple Play, consisting of Southwestern Egg Rolls, Boneless Buffalo Wings & Chicken Crispers. This starter is not so impressive. The Buffalo Wings are not really 'wings'. They are more like buffalo NUGGETS (on account they are boneless I suppose :P). The taste is ok. I had one & Jian had the rest. The Chicken Crispers are battered cuts of chicken breast. Pretty dry on the inside, but the whole thing goes well with the yellow sauce. I think they purposely put the sauce that goes with the item, closest to the item. Makes sense. The Egg Rolls weren't what I really expected. I expected the skin to literally be made of EGG, but it seems more like a dough skin, deep fried. The taste was pretty good though, so I guess we can let it slide. It seemed like it would be soft & egg-like, according to the picture on the menu, but crispy is good too.


The Beef Quesadillas. You can choose chicken of beef, & I don't think they charge any extra for beef. Guacamole passes the taste test but there is so little of it, considering we are guacamole freaks (me more than Jian). You pay an additional $2.90 for the dollop of guacamole.


The rice & refried beans that came with the quesadillas. Beans were nice, rice had an interesting flavour that I cannot put my finger on.

We were super full by the end of it & had no space for dessert. Better to come here with 4 or more eaters. That way you can order a more extensve variety of food to share. We were tempted by the 4 mini burgers, but opted for the Triple Play instead, so we could taste more things.

The staff who served us (we were at the Tanglin Mall branch) were all friendly & smiley (I did spot a few black faces amongst the servers, but they didn't serve us).

Our bill came up to $67+ (can't remember the cents) for 2 starters & 2 margaritas (but don't forget it was 141 premium margarita day).

There is no service charge, only GST, but if you find the service up to par, do leave a tip. It makes everyone happy after all.

Margarita's @ Faber Drive

Forgive this post, as for some reason, we didn't take very clear shots that night. Anyhow, the jist of it:

Chips with Guacamole. NOW... I don't want to be tooting my own horn here, but I can make better guacamole. The reason why I think mine is better is because this guacamole has a bitter taste to it, which I think might be because they did not remove the seeds of the lemon before they blended the guacamole into paste. I was quite disappointed, as i just LOVE guacamole. The chips looked abit over-fried, but perhaps that is the way it is done. Gotta love the cactus margarita glasses though. Waahaahaa. We ordered on-the-rocks as Jian said ice-blended is kind of wasteful as most of it is left stuck in the blender... Suits me, as I was drinking orange juice, which happened to be the only freshly squeezed juice from the menu....

Portabello Mushroom starter with balsamic & garlic dressing. This bigass portabello mushroom was a treat! I didn't touch the garlic & funny brown paste though.

Kitchen sink burrito. It's got Everything but this kitchen sink in it! Meaning, chicken, beef, beans & I forgot what else. Topped with guacamole, salsa & sour cream.

Fajitas with mixed meat (chicken & beef). I picked on a bit of the beef on it's own. Nice.

The skins & condiments to make your own fajitas! The salsa had that bitter didn't-remove-the-lemon-seeds taste as well... Sigh.

Well, the food was good, but the didn't-remove-the-lemon-seeds taste made me feel like we should have gone to Cafe Iguana or Cha Cha Cha instead. I remember the guacamole at Cafe Iguana was heavenly heavenly heavenly! The fajita's were excellent too.... I didn't mention El Patio cos we haven't been there.... YET...

We spent almost $200 for 4 diners for that meal, which included a jug of margarita & a glass of orange juice, but we were stuffed to the gills as the portions were huge.

Capricci

We went to Capricci last Friday as we felt like eating something nice! & something nice is what we got!

We ordered from the $39++ 3 course dinner. Funny thing though, it's not very publisized at the restaurant itself. When we got there, we had to ask if the promotion was on, even though we had already seen it on the website. Also, the table beside us came a little later than us, & had to ask for the promotion menu as the waiters do not automatically include it when they present you with the regular menu. I think the restaurant would be bustling, if they were more open about it. Mind, business is already brisk with the promotion menu half hushed. Hehe.


I ordered this Eggplant alla parmagiana mozzarella, basil & tomato for my starter. Yummy. jian thinks so too. It's possibly because they used nice sweet cherry tomatos too.

Jian's Prawn & avocado salad with extra virgin olive oil & citrus dressing. They gave him HALF an avocado (oh joy!) & the olive oil was very fragrant!

My main of Home made gnocchi gorgonzola, fontina & taleggio. Basically 3 types of cheese in the dish. I don't know which cheese was used to make the sauce. Upon the 1st mouthful, it was heaven, but I had a little bit of trouble shovelling the last of it down my throat, partly because I was kind of full, partly because perhaps it might have been a bit too rich.

Jian did not capture his Paccheri (sleeves) with homemade Italian sausage, Portebello mushroom & parmesean cream sauce. It was yummy, but I was asking where the sausage was, as I expected to see slices of sausage. What they did was they ground up the sausage or something, or dug the meat out of the skin... or something.

My dessert of Bounette ala Piemontese (cocoa pudding) with crushed amaretti biscuits. Very yummy, but the biscuits were a tad bit hard for my filling filled teeth. Nevertheless, I slowly crunched them down. Waahaahaahaa!

Jian's Semifredo with hazelnuts & coconut. This dessert was not to my liking, which is not their fault. It's just that I don't fancy dessicated coconut in anything else other than Ondeh Ondeh. The texture of it is pretty much like ice cream. Because of the strong coconut taste, I couldn't taste any hazelnuts in it. Pity.

The service at Capricci is excellent & friendly! We just feel they need to be more open about their promotion deal. Heh.