Homecooked Food (*^_^*)

The poll for the Presidential Election 2011 was on 27 August and I was simply excited about it as i just cast my virgin vote After I did my voting, I met up with my makan kakis and went to BL's house for dinner and gather to watch the live telecast of the Presidential Election result on TV. We had planned an enticing menu for our dinner ~ with such delectable food and great companies of friends ~ what could we ask for more ~

Chilli Crabs ~ Our chef had put too much tomato paste and it turned out not spicy as what we wanted. But we applaused for his effort and getting all the fresh ingredients

Another good job done by our chef's wife ~ Green Salad with tomatoes and pine nuts. Fresh leafy greens and she also bought an organic herbs and spice salad dressing which was very refreshing.

Dried Mee Siam ~ This was a recipe which Linda wanted to cook. It seems an easy recipe but frying the bee hoon was not easy. Anyway, that would leave to our chef to handle it ~ haha

Ngoh Hiang ~ These super yummy minced pork rolls were made by BL's mum. The minced pork was well marinated and I like the crunchiness of the finely chopped chestnuts in the rolls. Thanks to Auntie and I had brought home 5 pieces to cook for my tomorrow's lunch

Stir-fried Chilli Squids ~ The squid texture was just nice and not overly cooked.
Very appetizing!

Garlic Clams ~ Very fragrant and I could slurp up many at one go ~ Yummy!

This is another recipe from Linda ~ Thumbs up for this dish as the sauce was so creamy and flavorful. The big juicy prawns absorbed the sauce flavor and tasted heavenly good. This was the first dish that we all eaten up.

There was another delicious dish which I did not take a photo ~ Crispy Prawn Paste Chicken Wings. Yet another popular dish as all of us were licking our fingers and asked for more servings.

After eaten our main dishes, we had grass jelly (oops ~ no photo) for dessert which J & C bought from Alexandra Village Food Center. So far, that's the best grass jelly I have tasted. The grass jelly has mild herbal taste and it's so cooling after eating it since we had so much heaty food.

Next, our chef and wife bought us the delicious soft swiss rolls (orange and durian flavors) from Rich & Good Cake Shop @ Kandahar Street.

Wow! We really ate a lot for the night and felt utterly full after such a scrumptious meal

Italiannies Pasta Pizza & Vino

It was another birthday celebration for a friend and colleague and we had arranged a dinner at Italiannies which located at the previous Singapore Power Building. Now it has undergone into a dining and retail property as TripleOne Somerset.

The restaurant has a nice and relax ambient. The interior design are mostly in wood and gives a homely feeling and very country style. It will also be a good place to chill out and have some wine or beer after a day of hard work ^.~

To start off with our dinner, we ordered a bottle of white wine which the waitress recommended. The taste of the wine was smooth and flavorful.

Sicilian Chicken Salad ~ Diced chicken breasts, mangoes, red grapes and pine nuts, tossed in Lemon-dijon dressing on crispy romaine lettuce.

Grilled Salmon Spinach Salad ~ Marinated salmon with fresh spinach, arugula, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions,roasted peppers, green olives, Parmesan and sun-dried tomato vinaigrette.

Their Salads are fresh and delicious. Beside the wine, another good start to stimulate our appetizer.

Spinach Artichoke Formaggio ~ This sauce dip is absolutely yummy and very cheesy.
Goes well with the bread.

Clams Lombardi ~ Simmered in white wine, olive oil, oregano, garlic and parsley
The sauce was not too bad but the clams are small, little meat and not very tangy.

Pepperoni Pizza ~ Pepperoni, mozzarella cheese and shaved onions.

HAM & MUSHROOMS PIZZA ~ Ham, tomato, mozzarella cheese and mixed mushrooms.

Fettuccine pasta with fresh button mushrooms and smoked bacon in a Parmesan cream sauce. This pasta was just too much for us and we did not finish all up.

ROASTED CHICKEN ITALIANNIES ~ Spicy roasted chicken with peppers and rosemary potatoes in a tangy pan-gravy wine sauce. This is one of the restaurant specialties.

The chicken meat was soft and tender. The gravy was tasty and peppery. The potatoes were a little hard so we dipped with the sauce to eat.

Personally, I liked this dish as it had a strong flavor which suited my taste bud and moreover, i was craving for a savory dish. ^0^

AUSTRALIAN GRILLED LAMB CHOP IN HONEY ONION SAUCE ~Australian marinated lamb chop served with onion and honey sauce.

This dish was disappointing :( as my friend had the first bite and it tasted bitter and charred. The honey sauce was not handled properly and burnt. You could see from the photo that it was blacken on the surface. We feedback to the waitress and she felt apologetic and gave us replacement of another dish. But we decided not as we were quite full. So they cancelled this dish in our bill.

As for dessert, we skipped away and headed to Sauce @ the Esplanade Park for chat & drinks :P

My strawberry Mojito Cocktail ^.~

I love this snack ~ Luncheon Meat Chips
Thinly sliced and fried till crispy and dipped with chilli sauce.
Oh that cheesy sauce was for our nacho chips :)


It was a fun and enjoyable Friday nite.
Happy Birthday AWB and Linda!

Cheers!

HaPpY NeW YeAr !!

*blink* *blink** and we have moved into another brand new year of 2011!

It's also time to list down your New Year's resolutions Well, I used to draw up a long list of what I wanted to accomplish but just didn't realize them all ~ Now, I just hope to stay healthy and happy throughout the years. I think it's much easier to do and fulfill it ~ haha!

Here were the shots on my New Year's eve potluck party



Fried Bee Hoon which we ordered from one of the Amoy Street hawker stall.
They were generous in giving the ingredients.



My colleagues requested for my mum's otah ~ thick slices of the tasty otah




I love Totistos whole grain tortilla chips and their yummylicious~
smooth & cheesy dip and all natural chunky salsa dip - slurp!







Sotong & Crabmeat fillet



This wonderful salad was done by an aunty working in our company. She has a flair of decorating the fruit salad. Each time we requested her to make the salad and it turns out lovely.




Last, but not least, how could we miss out a bottle of good wine for this celebration
~ Toast to all for a good year in 2011

JOE's KITCHEN ~ THAI CUISINE

First of all, HAPPY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY to KATE and ROBIN I wish you both a happy life full of love, joy and happiness! 纪念日快乐！ 祝你在这特别的日子里快乐幸福。恭喜！

The couple was supposed to meet me for dinner last week but Robin wanted to watch the World Cup matches :( so we postponed it to this week :) Finally the World Cup is over and he can lead a healthier lifestyle now ~ Hey! Bro, you better Zzz early and stop multi-tasking. Regain your health and strength soon so that you bring Sista, "Actualyn" and I for a good meal

Kate suggested for Thai Food @Joe's Kitchen. The restaurant is located at the housing estate at Block 125, Bukit Merah Lane 1. Its interior is orange color (wonder if it is to match the Thai's signature dish - tom yum soup color haha!) and their menu serves the typical Thai home dishes. Here are the dishes ordered by Kate for the 4 of us ^.~

Mango Salad ~ a spicy appetizer. See those chilli padi WooOoo hot hot

Crispy Seafood Tofu ~ Outer is golden brown and crispy. The mixed seafood and tofu paste is well marinated so it's tasty and not very oily.

Stuffed Chicken Wings ~ This is one dish that I will always order when I go for Thai food. It's crunchy inside as they added water chestnut, chicken meat, corn, carrot and mushroom. Not the best that I've tried.

An intruder came into my photo!! Shoo Shoo go away

I prefer black olive rice to pineapple rice. Black olives have a salty flavor and also low in fat and cholesterol.

Green Curry Chicken - a little disappointing as the gravy is not thick enough but the chicken pieces are tender and moist.

Sweet Potato Leaves with Garlic ~ Delicious! the leaves are not overcooked ^.~

Fried Prawns ~ The prawns are very fresh and meats are not tough.

Deep Fried Fish Fillets with Special Thai Chilli Sauce ~ After eating one piece, I'm tempted to have more : )

This is their Special Thai Chilli Sauce ~ Not very spicy

Fiery dish is here ~ Tom Yum Seafood Soup! Served with a generous amount of seafood. It is spicy so one bowl for me is enough.

Joe's Kitchen signature dish ~ Thumbs up and must order ~ The vermicelli is simmered with the flavor of crab and fatty pork (Bro kept digging the claypot for his favorite fatty pork bits~ we found 3 little pieces for him ~ great satisfaction huh, bro)

Don't you think we have ordered too many dishes just for 4

Dessert to wrap up our meal ~ Mango Sticky Rice

This is my liking~ Tapioca with Coconut Milk

Many thanks to Kate and Robin for the dinner treat. Such a great pleasure to celebrate together on your wedding anniversary day!