Thank you for flying with us.....

"I'm leaving on a jet plane.... don't know when I'll be back again......" really, I don't 'cos I only got a 1 way ticket to Singapore. I'll be back in Jan I guess, just that, I really don't know when..... X'mas in Singapore with the family from Indo here will be a blessed one though! :) And oh! 3 more days to celebrating me Mumm's b-day in Amara Sanctuary @ Shutters!! Hope that they will do a good job not like what they did for me for my wedding.....

I stated in Facebook the following:

Everytime I'm heading to airport in JKT... I always get that adreneline rush!! Jammed? Flooded? Riots? Demonstrations? 530 departure and I'm still potentially 2 hrs away! :) as thrilling as bungee jumping only you know that you'll still be alive after ordeal :)

However, being a Saturday, the roads were empty for easy and happy travelling. I was from Grand Indonesia, 1 of the bigger and nicer malls in Jakarta after having celebrated my nephew's 16th B-day.... boy is he TALL.... towering at 1.83m... I don't know how these kids grow so fast! We were at Kenny Rogers and what took me back by surprise was that they gave out CHOCOLATE or BANANA Muffins instead of the CORN Muffins that they do here in SG. (choco or banana muffs don't go well with chicken and savoury sides..... well not to me they don't)

The night flight back to SG was nice, it was a half full flight on Air Asia and I was given the emergency seat. HOT SEAT for FREE!!!! Thanks Air Asia! :) I have been using Air Asia for some time now and God forbid that they have delays in the future but for now, they have been quite punctual.

GET OUT!!! Changi Airport was SOOOOOO crowded! The DFS after immigration was swarming with customers.... so when I saw a gap in the cashier, I slid my Choya (for me Mrs) and Kilkenny (for me Mrs too.... -_-) Collection of the check-in luggage later, my beautiful Mrs was there looking like the bombshell she is (I was lucky.. her contacts were not clean when she said yes to being my girlfriend and eventually my wife)

In the car we got and my tummy went: FEED ME!!!!! ok... so I reckon we had to go for dinner but as it was already quite late, I thought that a light meal would be good (of course, when you are 8 Kgs off your ideal weight, you tend to want to watch what you eat....) so, I decided to get back home and whip something light and easy.

Japanese Cabbage and Cheese Omelete With Japanese Shrimps

- a head of cabbage to be thinly sliced and put into boiling salted water for 30 seconds

- 2 eggs beaten and garnished with salt + pepper + fine chilli power (if you have them)

- in a well oiled non-stick pan, on high heat, pour the beaten eggs into it and start to swerve the pan in rollies so that the egg will be evenly distributed unto the hot surface of the pan. If you have a cover for the pan, cover it and let it cook for 1 minute. After a minute, make sure that you test the toughness of the egg so that when you flip it, it will not tear..... on the new side, turn the heat to medium and place cheese if you have unto that upside and let cook again for another minute (by this time, the egg will be solid enough not to be broken easily)

Serving is simple with placement of the sliced cabbage unto the plate, add a dash of fine sugar into the cabbage, if you have Japanese vinegar, add a dash of that too, lay the cheesed side of the omelete down facing to the veg so that it will infuse together. Lastly, splatter Salad Cream or Jap Mayo with Jap Sweet Sauce (you can get both Jap Mayo or Sweet Sauce from DAISO for SGD 2 each.... ) and last but not least, drizzle it with some Dried Jap Shrimps..... YATAH!!!!

Easy peasy meal and light. A quick skip to the weighing scale.... WHAT THE HEY?!?!? WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN IT POINTS TO 83?!?!?!? (Aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh.... sobssssss) oh well...... slim don't suit me

Busy day but rewarding dinner at PIZZA HUT?!?

It was a busy day for me on Friday, had many places to go and things to do, but it was worth it and I achieved all that I needed to do.... bills, shops, delivery, abit of shopping :) (what? only gals shop!?)
I woke up late thou, but thankfully, the traffic in Jakarta was kind to me and thus, I was able to get around OK.

I accompanied a friend to the nearby mall and we had a good walk around. He was looking to change his BB trackball, but couldn't find the colour that he was looking for and decided not to change it to a black trackball.... he was looking for a PINK one?! EWwwwwww....... there are some things that will be nice in pink.... like you know....certain parts of the female anatomy.. (sorry ladies.... not trying to be rude)

I had a sudden urge for Pizza and the nearest was Pizza Hut. Well it may be a turn off for some readers, especially in the USA as I know that they serve better pizzas there, like the 1 dollar a slice ones that drip with its oil but tastes like a sweet piece of heaven, but here in good 'ol Jakarta, Pizza Hut dominates and also a fantastic price to boot!!! I mean, a medium Crown Crust Pizza going for SGD 8 and its Prawn Bruschetta costing only SGD 2.50.... HELL YEAH!!!!!

Well the total damage for the meal was a not-so-painful SGD17 for 2 and our tummies were filled! Time for round 2 of shopping; we headed off to another mall, it's near my friend's resto - Pluit Village. It's shapped like an airport with its never ending length. What do you know! It has a Singapore food court on the 3rd floor and is huge! I had a quick tour of the food court which had NO SMOKING SECTION!?!? That's Singapore style for you! Hmm..... maybe it's just me but I didn't know that Singapore is famous for its SEMBAWANG Yong Tau Fu?! I heave heard of Sembawang records, but for YONG TAU FU!?!? Hmm.... clearly, the owner of this food court has BEEN to Singapore, I give him that much. Sadly, some of the Indonesians are 'ignorant' enough to think that the food here is replicating Singapore's best!? (Minister Mentor, IF.... and I do mean IF and in my dreams, you read this..... me thinks you should TM the name SINGAPORE...... this food court will render actual Singapore food as CRAP!)

Anyway, enough of my bantering, let's dwell into Bruschetta shall we? I made this before and I was inspired to share with you all due to having sunk my teeth into the Prawn Bruschetta in Pizza Hut. This is Vegetarian Bruschetta with Salsa Topping.

- cut baguettes into 1 inch thick portions

- take tomatoes, bell peppers, onions and dice them

- open a can of mashed tomatoes and cook it with oilve oil and onions.... add dried chopped basil into this and continue to cook in mid-high heat until the mixture is totally mashed. Remember to add salt + pepper to taste

- heat a pan and 'olivize' it (as in use olive oil to lay the pan..... easier to type heh) put in the bell peppers + onions and cook them for 3 minutes on high heat and then add the tomatoes last for another 1 minute, let them rest after

- if you have garlic spread, spread it thinly unto the breads OR use the garlic itself and rub it unto the pieces of bread. After this, distribute the cooked peppers / onions / tomatoes on the bread. Some may like the salsa to be above the vegs OR above the cheese. Which ever way, you know what? It will taste sexy! So after or before the salsa sauce placed unto the cooked vegs, sprinkle Mozza Cheese and grated Parma if you have them.

- lay them unto alu foil and chuck these puppies into the grill oven and on high heat for 1 minute.... that's all folks!!

Serving is simple on a nice large plate and sprinkle more herbs after they are done and add spits of olive oil above them and that's all there is to it! Open your mouths and enjoy the blast of vegs / herbs and the bread itself......

Back to SG I go and I will be attempting a local dish next, 'Iga Penyet'........ :)

A Bottle of Johnny Walker and A Jug of Long Island Tea Later.......

A fav hangout of mine in Jakarta would be Mulia Hotel at Senayan. I don't know why, but I love the bar there... CJ's. I guess it's the band, the drinks, the crew that I know so well.... but the price, not cheap. The crowd there is also much to be desired I guess..... (it's a but like KFC, if you get the drift) The Christmas decor is not too shabby, in fact it's quite grand, sorry about the pictures taken thou, Blackberry has to do something about its camera! http://www.hotelmulia.com/

Anyway, we were there to bid farewell to a friend who has decided to get back to Singapore after 3 months in Jakarta. Well, at least he tried to get used to this place, but it was meant not to be? Anyway, it was a good night out.... 5 glasses later and that friend was sleeping at the VIP area like a baby.... WEAK!!!!!

I have always been interested to make food with shot glasses, being cool looking and you know... kinda 'in' using shot glasses as a serving utensil. Well, I did 1 from before about 2 months ago. Salmon Puree with Celery in a Shot Glass.

- salmon fillet to be grilled for 1 minute (depends if you want to have your salmon well done or semi-cooked, my advice is to have it semi-cooked for a better colour)

- cut the fillet into smaller pieces for blitzing

- cut some strips of celery as well for blitzing (if you want to grill the celery strips, it's better for that extra taste)

- in a Blitzing device, I am using the Phillips Blender ( heh... cheap and good) add the salmon fillet, celery, a teaspoon of salad cream, a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of olive oil. (add a teaspoon of White Wine as an option) Blitz the contents together - if you want chunky pieces, not too long about 5 presses of the blitzer; 10 presses of the blitzer to smoothen the mixture more.

- grill or blanch some prawns (shell-less... and yes ladies, its TRUE.... no skin is better) with olive oil and chopped garlic, salt and rosemary. In my case, I blanched the prawns in salted hot water for 1 - 2 minutes.

Serving - cut strips of celery, about 2 inches long and 1/2 inch thick. In the shot glass, oil the inside and just tip the blitzed salmon and celery in. Garnish with crushed black pepper and put the prawns above and stick the celery into it and it's done.

This is a simple dish, easy to make and can be done a day before with storage in the fridge as this can served as a cold dish or normal temperature dish. Seafood shot! DOWN it!!

Italiano..... but not really

It was pissing like no tomorrow.... yesterday but the silver lining in that was it stopped the suppossed mass demonstrations in parts of Jakarta. ( PHEW)

I had to meet a friend and I was told to go to this Resto in Niaga Bank Tower... it's called PEPENERO. It's an Italian Resto with outlets in some parts of Jakarta, but this one is very chic... If I were to have a resto, I would make it to replicate Pepe's, Very Nice! I didn't bring my camera with me and taking pictures of the place and food with my Blackberry will do it much injustice. But if you would like to have a good meal and at a good price (about SGD10 / dish) and with such a chic ambience, get your asses here!!!

After a bread basket and a pork belly main dish, I was filled. The cuppa was also typical Italiano.... MIA BELLA......perfecto. Chatting continued and a handshake after, we parted ways.... I swear the pork bellies called me back, but I had to go off. It was still raining!!!

<-- the building on the LEFT

I swear I will try to make it back in SG, so watch out for it all.

A friend on facebook wrote to me about this blog and she commented that she liked the way I did some of my abalone dishes, so I'll share with you lot 1 of the dishes. Abalone with Kailan and Shitake Shroom in Oyster Sauce.

Abalone is a delicate shellfish. Its going to taste like a deflated basketball when cooked wrongly (trust me I know, I had a bball smacked to my face when I was in secondary school). Anyway, it's actually not that difficult, its all in the timing.

New Moon (no ladies, there will be no Camp Edward nor Camp Jacob) is my fav brand for abalones and I had 1 stacked away in the cupboard and since the Mrs loves Abalone, I decided to cook for her some time back.

- Abalone, remove it from can but keep the brine, it will be useful. Rinse the abalone with water and paper towel dry it.

- Oyster sauce, 2 table spoons of it would be enough. Add a tablespoon to dilute it. Leave that for now.

- Kailan to be soaked in boiling water for 1 minute to retain its hard and crunchy texture. Add oil and salt to the boiling water.

- Shitake Shroom takes some time to cook if it's the dried type but I suggest using the fresh one. Blanch it for 1 minute and then on a grill pan, grill it over high heat for 1 minute on each side. There will be the sweat of the shroom and that is sexy when mixed with the oyster sauce to give that extra 'ka-pow' to the taste!

- Oyster sauce to be reduced in a pan over mid-high heat and add the shroom juices to the pan. Add olive oil and also some chopped garlic to make the taste better. A touch (1 teaspoon) of honey will make the suace flowing with saltiness and sweetness at the same time.

- Back to the star of the dish. In the same water that was used to blanch the Kailan, turn off the heat of the stove and slide the Abalones in. Let it soak in the hot water for 1 minute. Toss it around in the hot water. Remove after 1 minute and lay it over the veges as in the image.

To top it up, add a teaspoon of olive oil when serving and drizzle some dried chilli flakes to add colour and slight taste. Well guys, hope that this will remind you of that sexy abalone dish that you have tried in many restos..... Buon appetito!

Jakarta Bound for a week

Well, it's time again to go back to the motherland..... just for a short trip. To oversee some things actually and to pay some local bills.

I can't cook in this country, the kitchen is the territory of the trusty maids, so I shall give a past dish for you today. I did cook this here in Jakarta, but I had to borrow the kitchen from a friend who has the ORIGINAL SINGAPORE STYLED YONG TAU FU. For those who like Yong Tau Fu, take a visit to this resto when you visit Jakarta. It's only 15 mins away from the airport and they serve 100% AUTHENTIC Yong Tau Fu! Get into thier website for more details and branches in Singapore and Jakarta: http://www.tanglinytf.sg/

Well, in Jakarta, the Carrefour is MASSIVE!!!! Even the one out of town is huge! The whole basement of the shopping mall - Pluit Emporium is Carrefour. Well, food here is cheap, but only certain types. The topside steak was a cheap SGD 5 for 650 grm! I bought 4 of those and also some Bell Peppers and potatoes to make Spicy Teriyaki Mash.

Grilled Mid-Rare Topside with Bell Peppers and Teriyaki Sauce Mash:

- boil the potatoes till soft and then msh them together. Use some butter to highten the taste. Add a touch of salt to taste. To make it more creamy, add 4 table spoons of FULL CREAM MILK (that's right all, FULL CREAM! You want healthy? Just eat salad then....) Let this rest on the side.

- for the peppers, cut them into strips and just grill them. Lay the grill pan with Olive oil and just grill them peppers! Make sure to allow some char-ing as this will add crisp and enhance its sweetness. About 10 minutes and on high heat with constant turning to make sure that the peppers are not over burnt!

- I bought ready made BBQ sauce and just soaked the raw meats into it for 4 hours. After its done, I let them rest for awhile before putting them on a hot and olive oiled grill pan. As the meat is thick, we have to make sure that we time the cooking properly. 3 mins on 1 side of the steak and then add a knob of butter for when we turn it to the uncooked side. Butter is for taste, so it's going to make the meat explode with its own juiciness and the salt from the butter will make the kitchen smell like heaven. for 3 mins on the other side and then turn the heat to mid and for 1 min on each side, continue to cook the meat.

Serving - make sure that you re-grill the peppers to ensure heat. The potatoes are meant to be covered with alu foil / cling film to maintain its heat as well. The BBQ sauce to be made warm for dressing. As above picture, serving can be done as above. For the mash, use a table spoon and create a semi-scoop sized helping of the mash and place 1 scoop on top of the other. Lay the grilled peppers on another part of the serving plate and lastly, the steak. Scoop a helping of the BBQ sauce and lay it above the steak. From the grill pan, there will be remains of the juices of the steak, use some and lace it above the steak as well. Lastly, dress it with pepper and a teaspoon of olive oil. READY TO EAT!!!

MAKAN!! Ayo! Makan dong!! :)

A Seafood Dinner

It was one of those days you know... lazy but full of cooking inspiration. Especially after a failed attempt for a seafood dinner on Friday, when we realized that the seafood was incomplete bad to boot. I mentioned this right? Crappers... all day long?

Anyway, Sunday was a good day to give the palette a better taste of seafood comprising of prawns / oysters / scallops / tuna.

From these I made soup for the prawns and scallops infused with white wine and garlic.


I also made tuna steak (well-done) with rockets and laced with caramalized red onion reduction.

Here is the grilled garlic prawns and scallops.

Oysters as is with chopped chery tomatoes and olive oil with lemon.

Let's just do the grilled prawns as this is a simple way of preparing this dish:

- clean the prawns and gut the black stuff at the back. Some people say its poop, some say its the veins... whatever it is.... just gut the buggers!!

- stuff garlic into the slits (SLITS ok..... you sick perverts)

- for the scallops, dress it with oregano / basil / parsley

- chop some onions and put them unto the grilling pan for the grill contraption (not a grill pan).

- lay the prawns, the scallops and some chopped cherry tomatoes above the onions and drizzle olive oil to it and chuck them into the griller. On medium-high heat and for 15 minutes. Remember to turn the scallops after 10 minutes onto the other side.

- after its done, serve the prawns and the scallops beside each other and squeeze a touch of lemon over it, add a bit more of olive oil and dress it again with salt, pepper and flash some chopped parsley over the dish. Do not forget to place slices of lemon (for some who like the zing). The last touch must be to use the juices that have flowed out from the prawns and scallops and dress that over the dish for a better taste.

For those other dishes, just drop me a line and I'll share on how to make them. :)

Hope you enjoy the prawns!!

Rain rain go away

Saturday morning and the rain kept me awake... the pitter patter of sky juice!?! Argghhh.....

To make it worse, the Sambal Kang Kong from Pasir Panjang New Hong Kong Street 'Che Char' gave me the crappers!!!!! OUCHHHH......

To appease the tummy and my rectum, I ransacked my Samsung Fridge to see what I can find from before. Not so much as left overs, but ingredients for a tummy cooling soup... Cucumber / Wolfberries / Golden Shrooms / Tomatoes / Egg.

As the Mrs was still asleep, I could be on time for a soup-in-bed Saturday morning surprise. Wait... the crapper called (the agony!)





Back to the kitchen and my legs were wobbly from the 'tai-chi' controlled release. Knife and chopping board out, Cooling Soup here we go:


- Cucumber are diced into cubes

- Tomatoes are diced into small cubes

- Wolfberries are soaked in water

- The stock, now the stock is tricky, well if you want to start from scratch but I decided to use the good 'ol Indo way..... RYOCO! :) Easy and quick, a small satchet of this 'taste enhancer' will do the magic, but of course, do add water to taste. Add into 750ml of water to this satchet into a pot and bring it to a boil.

- Golden shrooms are to be washed and just spread apart

- An egg to be beaten in a bowl for pouring into the pot later

- Corn starch if you like your soup to be thick (I know for the ladies, it would be among OTHERS, but let's revert our attention to the dish shall we and I mean culinary dish)




Method: to be honest, just dump all the ingredients in. But best to let the cucumber 1st, shrooms + wolfberries 2nd, 3rd tomatoes (this is in accordance to toughness of these ingredients in soup) and lastly corn statch else beaten eggs to thicken the soup. When done, add a dash of pepper and done. Warm and cooling for the body..... ahhhh......... CRAPPERS AGAIN!?!?!?