Sunday, March 1, 2009

Cooking for 2 - No Meat Dishes


Ash Wednesday came, being a catholic and for the spirit of lent season - I committed myself not to eat any meat and be vegetarian from February 25 till April 12. So with this, Mr. A and I shared vegetable dishes earlier.


assorted vegetables in shrimp paste (pinakbet in tagalog)
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Chopped garlic and onions
Squash cut into squares
Long greenbeans cut into 1inch long
Eggplant cut into circles
Bittergroud cut diagonally
Salted Shrimp paste (bagoong in tagalog)
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Saute garlic and onions then put all the vegetables. Simmer for 3 minutes before adding the salted shrimp paste.

vegetable omelette
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chopped garlic and onions
carrots cut into cubes
minced cabbage
beaten eggs
salt to taste
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Saute garlic and onions followed by cabbage and carrots. Once the vegetable's change color, add the beaten egg ( you can choose to make it whole or stir it like what I did). Put salt as desired.

Go India Restaurant - Vivo City



Go India Restaurant at Vivo City is I believe the only first-class indian dining in the whole vicinity. Mr. A and I went here once for an early dinner. I simply love the place! Ambiance is very classy, service is fast and food is too good.

We started with roasted papad serve with two different dip. After 30 minutes, our main dishes arrived. Tasting the food, I concluded that the meal was worth the wait.


Saffron Rice - aroma is very inviting, finely cooked
Garlic Butter Naan - tasty, perfectly done and not so oily
Fish Kebab - so flavorful, very tender and fresh
Buttered Chicken - big serving, meat is soft, so thick-gravy, bot spicy at all


They also have a wide selection of alcoholic and nno-alcoholic coctails to choose from. Not to mention that they also serve buffet during lunch time at S$25++ (not bad right? saw the buffet table is very long... hehe...)
our non-alcoholic drinks - pink bird for me, green slime for Mr. A
So either you want to have a heartly indian meal or you just simply want to relax and unwind over some cool drinks, you can never go wrong with Go India Restaurant.
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Rating 1-5 (5 being the highest)
Food - 4
Service - 4
Price: Expensive
Will visit the place again? YES

Cooking for 2 - Chicken Kare-Kare


Kare-Kare is a traditional filipino dish compose of beef and assorted vegetables sauted in thick peanut sauce. The process of preparing this meal is so tedious that it is just serve during big gatherings and special occasions. However, with the help of an instant peanut sauce mix, I took the challenge of cooking this last Sunday. Since Mr. A don't eat beef, I customize my menu a little and use chicken meat.

chopped garlic and onions
Egglant cut in circles
Long greenbean cut 1 inch long
chicken cut into serving size
knorr kare-kare instant sauce mix
salted shirmp paste (bagong in tagalog)


Obeying the instant mix instruction, I first boil the vegetables and set it aside. Then put ovile oil on the heated pan, sauted garlic and onion followed by the chicken meat. Add little water after a 5 minuted then completely dissolve the powdered peanut sauce while strring it continously. Add all the vegetables and simmer for another 10 minutes. Remove to pan, serve with salted shrimp past (bagooong).


The end result tasted not so bad but I know I could have made it better. I admit that there are some lapses on my part - I put more water than instructed making the sauce not so thick and I overboil the vegetables making it soggy/ waterly.
Still, I'm happy with the output. Thanks Mr. A for having the courage to eat it with me. Hehe... :P

Saturday, February 28, 2009

NewYork NewYork Restaurant - CityLink Mall


If you are to surf the internet about Newyork Newyork's ratings and reviews, you will see that alot of customers complain about the quality of their food and service. But not me... I had been to this place for about 3 times already and I'm always satisfied. In fact I find this restaurant to be one of the few good hang-out place to chill-out with friends.

Long que to be seated is always expected. Price range is relatively similar with Swensen and Cafe Cartel. However, I find the way they promote and advertise thier menu more applealing. Ambiance is casual and cool. Don't forget to try thier self-service free-flowing candy floss (it's always apple flavor everytime I visit)

Must-try:

1. Giant Burger (literally bigger than life!)
2. BBQ Pork Ribs (though not as big compared to Cafe Cartel)
3. Roasted Spring Chicken (tender, moist and well-marinated)
4. Garden Salad (my mom's favorite! ask for more dressing)


both bbq pork ribs and roasted chicken comes with potato wedges

giant beef burger comes with extra large serving of french fries

Rating 1-5 (5 being the highest)
Food - 4
Service - 4
Price: Expensive
Will visit the place again? YES

Makan Mumbai


Just a little two-blocks walk at the back of our office, Makan Mumbai is an accessible place for who wants to pleasure themselves for a combination of vegetarian and non-vegetarian indian food in a buffet set-up. Though they also have ala-carte meals to choos from, I always opt to avail th S$10 eat-all-you-can selection.



The buffet table is merely compose of steamed rice, plain naan, 3-4 varieties of vegetable dishes/ curry, 1-2 meat staples, papad, dessert and juice.

I only try the longbean and potato dish and suprisingly, I actually like it. The chicken tikka is not-so-spicy and tender (I had 2 servings of it). I'm happy with the unlimited serving of papad. The dessert is too sweet for me and the juice they provide is not even cold.

Rating 1-5 (5 being the highest)
Food - 3.5
Service - 3.5
Price: Affortable
Will visit the place again? MAYBE

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Cooking for 2 - Adobo and Afritada


Upon receiving Mr. A's unexpected valentine gift (see the gift at http://mommy-ybeth.blogspot.com/2009/02/my-unexpected-valentine-gift.html ), I told him that after we attend the church mass - Sunday lunch will be my treat. I was suprise when he said that he will only say yes to my invitation if I will cook instead. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Mr. A: you always say recession times right? cook so cheaper
Me: you know no visitor allowed on my flat. where to serve the food?
Mr. A: your hbd playround has nice covered picnic tables. hehe.
Me: haha! are you serious? what to cook? pasta ?
Mr. A: no, chicken dish. maybe like what rica did last bbq party.
Me: that's adobo and afritada. ok, I'll try. but we will eat very late.
Mr. A: ok! deal!

So after the church mass, Mr. A went straight to his home while I proceed to fairprice tampines mall to buy all the ingridients I need. I was awake until 1am last night browsing the internet looking for the easiest way to cook these traditional filipino viands - Chicken Adobo and Chicken Afritada.


finished cooking Chicken Adobo at 11:30am


thigh and leg chicken parts
lots of chopped garlic
olive oil or vegetable oil
ground black pepper
dried bay leaves (I didn't put this - can't see at fairprice)
soy sauce
vinegar
7up or sprite (optional)

Heat oil, add the chopped garlic and cook until lightly browned. Add chicken and saute until the meat is beginning to tenderize. Add ground black pepper, soy sauce and vinegar. Let it simmer for 25-35 mins or until chicken is done. Make sure to add more vinegar or soy sauce until it suits your taste (should be a bit tangy). When chicken is tender, you may want add some 7 up or sprite for a aweeter taste then let simmer for another 5 minutes.



finished cooking Chicken Afritada at 1:00pm


winglet chicken parts
cubed potatoes
diced red onion
minced garlic
sliced green bell pepper (I didn't put this, can't see at fairprice)
chicken stock (broth)
tomato sauce
olive oil

Hear oil, sauté garlic and onions. Add chicken and cook until slightly brown. Pour the tomato sauce and chicken stock. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer for 20 minutes or until the meat is almost tender. Add potatoes, green bell peppers (if you have) and simmer for another 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper if desired.

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food all-packed, just waiting for rice
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While waiting for the rice to cook, I took bath again as I smell like hell (combination of onion, garlic, vinegar, sweat, etc). Sms Mr. A while drying my hair saying that lunch will be serve at 2:30pm, hbd playground picnic table.
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He arrived 10 minutes late but I didn't get angry upon knowing that the plastic bag he carries contain a bottled of cold coke and frozen haagen-dazs chocolate ice cream. Hehe...
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Bragging aside, I know I did well as the dishes I served taste almost the same as what Rica prepared on her last sponsored bbq party. And although Mr. A commented that I cooked the food a little salty, I noticed he ate well and had 2 servings of rice. :)
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Long John Silver - Singapore

After long hours of window-shopping and looking for nice bargain at Eastpoint Mall Simei, I decided to have a late lunch at Long John Silver. Compared to other fastfoods like KFC and Mcdonalds, they market thier fish products more. Not to mention the they also have the most variety of side dishes to choose from (like corncob, potato chips, garden salad, rice with black pepper sauce, etc.)
I ordered thier new S$3.95 combo - consist of 1 fish fillet, 1 chicken fillet, french fries and a choice of either pepsi or sprite. I add-on a colelaw for another S$1.50 and I have my heavy meal in a snap.

Rating 1-5 (5 being the highest)
Food - 3.5
Service - 3.5
Price: Affortable
Will visit the place again? YES