Dessert escapades this week

Went back to Gobi with Sook on Tues after shopping. I had to try the Passion Fruit mango crepe and i was not disappointed!! it was AWESOME!!! for a person who love tartness, it's a dream come true for me. i love the presentation by the way. Topped with Passion fruit mango sorbert, layered with mint taste meringue and thin slices of crepe, it has one hell of a surprise which totally wowed me!!

this is but 1 of the surprise.. mixed berries which provided another type of slight tartness.. i didn't eat it together with the sorbert coz it's so good by itself, i'm a sucker for passion fruit too!! yum yum

Sadly i didnt manage to take the essence for this dessert.. it's the hidden cube? or erm think slice of butter. it was hidden either in the 3rd or 4th bottom layer or both. I nearly fainted.. not only coz it was sooo sinful, it was sinfully good!! i love this dessert, to me it's superb!!!! Refreshingly sinful!! :D

 

Met up with Jo for tea on Sat late afternoon. Supposed to go TWG but then the queue was too long. We went to Marmalade Pantry, also got Q, headed to JAMs but was one step too slow as one aunty got the last remaining seat. Service also sucked at JAMs coz no one bothered to serve or help us checked out the tables to see who has finished and if could leave to allow us to sit. So we ended up at Gusstimo.

Gusstimo's tiramisu with tiramisu ice cream. looking at the tiramisu, it's full of smooth creaminess. i don't know if it's mascapone, but as you can see, the creamy part made up the majority of the dessert. 3 slices is just nice. not too rich and not too jerlat. the sponge was nicely soaked in coffee. my complain, no rum!!

Jo took the souffle. it's rich and soft and probably a choc lover's dream. the choc is not too sweet and has a good level of bitterness to it. i tot the arrangement of the berries just make the otherwise probably boring presentation very much more appetising. the chesse ice cream is smooth and good!

D & D @ 1 Caramel

today's the return visit to 1 Caramel in less than a week. went with Cece for a major catch up sesh which was partially overdue. we stayed there for 5 hours. from 7 ish to 12 ish.

customised cupcakes selling @ $6 per cupcake and min order is 12. very pretty!

thought i saw a family having pizza the other time i was there and told Cece that yes, they served mains. however, after studying the menu for like countless times, we didn't see any pizzas! in the end, we resorted to asking the waitress if they served other savories. surprisingly, they did. 3 kinds of pizzas: Margarita, hawaiian and parma ham. so we opted for the parma and mushroom soup. we didn't order cakes at the point in time coz we were going to revisit the display fridge after the mains.

the mushroom soup arrived first and had two slices of crispy toasts. i like the just nice richness of the soup. it's thick with generous bits mushrooms blended to just the correct size adding a good texture to the soup. unfortunately, the were bits of leaves (i think dried basil leaves? Dunno) in the soup and it sort of marred the last few moments of drinking the soup. overall, i'd order it again coz it's savoury enough and not overly creamy!

the pizza arrived thereafter and it's quite big. divided to 8 slices, it can feed at least 3 people or even 4. it's definitely not as good as the one i had in Skinny P coz the toppings weren't that generous and the dough was not exactly fantastic. it could also be because we had too much. we didn't finish the pizza. 2 slices were left behind though we finished the rocket leaves and the parma ham.

if you don't want to visit the fridge, which is something you should do, they also have a menu. i counted, there were a total of 27 different kinds of cakes!

we ordered tea too. mine's the fruit mountain. not too strong, it's quite light but not as light as Cece's Geisha something. the butter cookie is yummy too!

by then we were pretty full, took a walk to the gigantic see through fridge to finalise the cake of our choice for the night. initially we were pretty optimistic, that we will be able to eat 4 cakes in total, but we ordered 2 different cakes first, just in case.

cece ordered the Chocolate Praline Cake. As described in the cakes' menu, quote: '1 Caramel's Cocoa signature with varying layers of chocolate mousse and hazelnut praline feuilletine.' when i ate the cake, i thought it was sweet. cece didnt think it was. i guess we have different levels of sugar tolerance. to me the cake tasted like kit kat again. i very much prefer the CBL coz of the balance of tart and sweet.

i ordered the Nid d'abeilles. Don't ask me how to pronounce it, but quote again: 'Layers of honey chiboust cream and strawberry jelly sandwiched with crispy almond dacquoise.' hmm yet another cheem description. i thought the cake was quite sweet as well. Though the strawberry jelly is sour, it's still sweet. overall, sweet. i didnt taste much honey but the cake was really soft and the chiboust cream was light a fluffy. almond dacquoise is also sweet. hmm.. everything sweet.


i think we had a bit too much sugar that we went on a sugar high and was hyper for a short 30 mins and started to seh for the next 30 mins. we got back to our original state by drinking lots of water that coupled with lots of laughter as we chit chatted. it was so therapeutic and i missed her company. it's always nice to chat with her when there are things i find it hard to understand and needed someone who bothers to analyse and unafraid to tell me her thoughts in a evaluative manner. she didn't need to provide solutions, it's just great to hear what she has to say.


food though not as amazing as the first experience, company was great and the place was so nice to nuah!! i didnt feel like moving from the long bench with that huge fluffy brown pillow. felt damn shiok! it was a wonderful friday night and i look forward to meeting up with my dear friend soon :)!

Dessert @ 1 Caramel

i read of this place from a couple of blogs and got me curious. had the idea of going prior to catching 'UP' since it's at Handy Rd where The Cathay was. Almost could not make it coz of the activities which i arranged. In the end, we had early dinner and managed to find 1 caramel to have a nice, yummy dessert makan sesh.


when we reached 1 caramel, i was surprised that there weren't that many people. somehow, i was expecting full crowd at the place and finding a seat would be difficult. but i guess it's prolly because it's national day and most people would either be at the parade or catching it a home. if not, then most likely they went overseas. anyway, no complains. happy to be able to get a seat without waiting.


the place looks pretty small. there are two kinds of al fresco areas. one with round marble tables and chairs, each table sitting 4 and there were 4 tables. then there was another more cosy area where there were long comfy sofas to chill and relax.

i love the interior for the mustard yellow cushion seats, dark zenish brown tables and the chairs with the super long backing. it looks almost like antique children chairs but enlarged a few times bigger. felt like a kid when i sat on it. well, the chair was tall. there was also a huge see through fridge where the cakes, tarts, wines were being kept. it was a visual treat indeed!

love their lightings and the cutlery they use. Very modern and classy. in all, the place has a very homely feel. it's like stepping into someone's house of sorts.


the cakes menu is always on the table. it has i think probably close to 30 varieties? it is indeed a tough choice to make. if you make a visit to the see through fridge, it's even harder.


i was determined to eat Lychee Rose until i came upon a separate menu where this dessert caught my eye. 'Red miso souffle'. the souffle is made with miso and comes with yuzu ice cream. i was curious how this combination would be like. so i forgo the cakes and chose this instead.

we had the Chocolate Berry Lust which was recommended. it's actually a tart with chocolate ganache filling. looking at it, seems like very rich chocolate and i wonder how potent it would be. taking a bite, i knew it's ok. the valrhona chocolate ganache was very smooth, creamy and rich but not to the extend of being overwhelming. the tart base is made of 2 layers. one which tasted like kit kat and another hmm.. some very dark chocolate biscuit? i'm not sure and can't really taste what it is.


there was also generous topping of a variety of berries (gosenberry, strawberries, blueberries, raspberry and that very sour berry which i can't remember the name) and small chocolate coated biscuit balls made this tart looked even more tantalising! i must say that the sour berry and the chocolate ganache tasted best when eaten together. there was a balance of sweetness from the ganache and tartness from the berry. not so good combi when eaten with the blueberry though.

the Red Miso Souffle took quite sometime to arrive. we finished the CBL and had to wait quite awhile. when it arrived, i didnt see any reds, instead it's all in different shades of yellows and creams. the presentation was simple and pleasant. we then poked a hole in the middle of the souffle wondering what's inside. poking the souffle was like 'waw! soooo super soft and fluffy!!' we didnt see any filling, but the reward came in the form of the warm, sweet buttery, creamy and milky smell. definitely something nice and yummy. it's a very comforting smell actually. fresh, original and untainted.

eating the souffle with the yuzu ice cream is akin to eating warm brownie and vanilla ice cream. the hot and the cold was like mmmm.. but the difference is the souffle was salty though can't taste the miso-ness of it, but it was definitely salty and eating it with the yuzu ice cream which was partially sour and sweet, it was pretty happening! 3 tastes at one go, it was quite unusual coz each taste has it's presence and was not overwhelmed by the other.


i like this dessert coz it played with my sense of smell, 'touch', taste and sight. i like it and it would have been better if the yuzu ice cream was sherbet instead to play down on the cream i feel.


i was wrong to say that they didnt serve mains. primarily coz i didnt read of mains being served. i should have asked when i called the day before. but nevermind, this leaves more chances to explore what the place has to offer another time, another day.


the chef made this cityscape for national day. It's damn big, should see it for yourself. we were also in for a treat of fireworks display from the NDP after we finished our dessert and got a partial good view. what a way to end a yummy dessert sesh. i'm definitely going back to 1 caramel and hopefully soon :D!

Making Orh Nee from scratch

the project 爱 committee members met up yesterday on our first practical trial to make 2010 CNY eve dishes. this meeting was to make 3 out of i think 10 dishes that we will be presenting to our family members come next year.


so we were to make salad (sup sup suay) sushi and orh nee.


i shall just talk about the orh nee coz it's no easy task!


before you embark on this rather ambitious project, you need to ensure you have the correct equipment and a good number of family members/friends to help. don't try to improvise from what you currently have. My advise is to just get what you need to make the orh nee.


you should have a good pot with handle. a wooden spoon of reasonable good length. gloves to protect your hands when cleaning, peeling and cutting the yam as some people maybe allergic to the sap or something and most importantly, lots of patience coz it's a long and tedious process!


we didnt know how to choose good yams, so i left it to my mum. 所为，姜还是老的辣! the yams my mum choose were excellent and very good!! i could still feel moisture from the freshly cut off leave stalks! i guess i need to ask my mum how she identified these yams. so good yam is definitely key. she bought 4 medium sized yams and i think that can serve at least 30 bowls of orh nee!!


so first of all, need to peel the skin off the yam. you need a good peeler which should be those long ones instead of the short types with restrictive peeling length coz if the yam is medium sized, definitely will have problem peeling it. make sure your peeler is sharp as well coz it makes the peeling process easier. like potatoes, yams have buds which grow randomly and the buds are bigger and thicker than those of their smaller root cousins.


after 'skinning' the yam, you need to cut it for steaming. cutting the yam is also key. you need to cut them to equal size so that the yam when in the steamer will steam properly. we concluded, cutting the yam into cubes would be the best size because thereafter, they needed to be mashed.

this is the salah way of cutting the yam

we steamed the yams for an hour to make sure they were soft enough to be mashed easily. mashing my friends, is a darn tedious process. since we did this in batches, we had major problems mashing our first batch because the yams were not cooked long enough, so we ended up having cubey yam for our first batch. learning from our lesson, we steamed the next few batches longer and we had an easier time.

not perfectly mashed up, but good enough for the first time

then came the 'Orh-mashing' process. since we were insistent on using the most traditional methods to make the orh nee, we used the primitive fork to mashed the yams. so our orh nee ended up with some bigger bits (which i thought was quite nice.) and did not end up like the smooth paste we eat in restaurants. mashing the yam with forks was not easy especially if you didnt cut the yam into cubes. depending on how smooth you want ur paste to be, you may want to consider using the food processor. the 'Orh-mashing process can take as long as 30 mins to 45 mins depending on how much yam you are mashing.

heating the sugar which never seem to melt!! that's why need to add in water!!

after adding water to the sugar and when it started boiling, we added in the yam to the sugar syrup

after mashing, we were ready to go into the final process of making orh nee. because it was our first time, having read books, gather data from restaurants' chef and then seeking advise from friends who have made this teochew dessert before, we were still at a loss. do we just heat the sugar and wait for it to melt? do we add water to melt the sugar? or are we supposed to add oil together with the sugar?


so for our first step, we decided to heat sugar without water. I was doubtful coz i didnt think the sugar will melt nicely just like that and was right, thus we added a little bit of water. in any case, batch one failed but tasted like orh nee. so we tried batch 2 with ah ma's advise. she said to add more water to the sugar and then stir in the yam.


batch two was more successful, but without the smooth paste like those in the restaurant. all in all, it tasted like orh nee, we just need to work on the texture. basically, you have to cook it over small fire, keep stirring the yam paste. it will look watery at first, but it becomes thicker and thicker as the water evaporates. so the curcial point is when it's at boiling point when the paste starts to bubble and may get burnt. stirring non stop is a must!


by the way, orh nee is but yam and sugar and a little bit of oil to make it smooth and glossy. so regardless how you cook it, it will taste like orh nee. it's just how you can make it into a smoothy paste with the right amount of sugar.

i made this today with the left over mashed yam from yesterday. not bad, except it had too much sugar!

it took us a good 4 hours for trying our hand at making the orh nee. together with the rest of the dishes it was much longer, i was so tired at the end of the day. i slept early even dozing off while i tried to keep awake and missed some parts of my current fave taiwanese drama serial 'to get her'.


anyway, making the orh nee went good for the first trial, we will definitely make it better next time!

Leave Day 1 - a surprise part 3

after dinner and maybe coz he was too full, dad suggested going to Cold Storage at Katong Mall. I haven't been into katong mall for the longest time i can remember. the last time i set foot was to have dinner at Wahiro which was like 2 weeks back and i only went into the restaurant and no where else. not even Cold storage coz i figured it prolly doesn't take credit cards.


yeah well, i am more of a credit card person than a cash paying one.


turned out i was right cash or nets only. so i ended up buying only a box of pessimons (yeah, i am also a sucker for pessimons). when i came out of the cashier, i saw this shop which was painted in black and orange. what attracted me was the black medium sized chandelier lamp hanging from the ceiling which was such a stark contrast to the orange.


digressing a bit, i love the colour combi of orange and black. Each colour has such a bold characteristic yet they gel together in such an appealing manner.


then the second thing that attracted my attention was this poster outside which screamed 1 for 1 and had a photo of macarons on it. so i sneaked a peek as i walked away and i saw the display refrigerator displaying beautifully coloured macarons, tarts, puffs etc.. i had wanted to leave, but decided to go in and was greeted by Jeffery the friendly ops manager.


Fortunately or unfortunately, the 1 for 1 was for the day was for the creme brulee and not the macarons coz the promo was already over. though i am not that much of a creme brulee fan, i was told that the sugar is being caramelised in front of the customer.. well, this one i gotta see and so, i decided to get the coffee and earl grey creme brulee. thereafter, it was taken to the work area and Jeffery whipped out the 'weapons' to caramelise the creme brulee.


we all know that if eating food requires the involvement of all our 5 senses, it is definitely going to make eating the food entirely worth it. buring the raw sugar right in front of the customer certainly involved everything. first i saw the sugar bubbled away under the heat of the burner (if that's what you call it) and then slowly turning brown as it goes along (sight). then i hear the sugar sizzle softly (sound) and i smell whiffs of sweet chao ta-ness float in the air around me (smell). suddenly, i find myself in a world of my own with the creme brulee, but then, i still haven't get to touch or try it. i was so eager that i nearly forgot to pay for it. so paiseh!!


by the time i reached home, i cannot wait. had wanted to use the SLR to capture the shots, suay suay today used too much batt so it was out when i wanted to use it. so used the point n shoot instead. after taking some shots, i finally got to 'touch' it. okay, i didn't literally touch it with my hand or what, the softness of it when it met my tongue it was softer than eating tao huay and has a richer texture than ice cream. it was better than the creme brulee i had in spain and it's definitely yummers!



i had the coffee one first and the taste of coffee was not overpowering. there's a slight bitterness (only so mild but still can taste it) of the coffee and it was not too sweet. the slowly melting caramelised sugar dripped and draped itself slowly onto the areas which were being scopped off gave the whole dessert the great taste!! i prefer the earl grey simply because it's smelt fragrant and pleasant and i wonder if the tiny bits were tea leaves?


do eat the creme brulee asap coz once the sugar liquifies, it's not as happening when you eat it crispy :D


i am so going to head back to the stop again! It's call 'Indulgence' and it's surely a gem in Katong! So happy that i didn't skip by it.

mum's yearly CNY dessert

every year dunno since when, my mom started preparing this extremely time consuming dessert. it's got the ginko nut, the lotus seed, dried longans and chinese red dates.


i remember she used to ask me to knock away the ginko nut shells and remove the stems in the lotus seed. after removing the ginko nut shells, the ginko nuts have to be boiled to remove the layer of thin brown skin as well as the skin which makes the nut bitter. it can be a half a day event if it's one person doing the job. by then i'd be uber tired and my hands wrinkly coz of soaking in too much water. the cooking's left to her and prior to that, she will actually soak the ginko nuts and the lotus seeds in sugar syrup for 1 or 2 days in the fridge. only on CNY morning, she'd start the cooking.

the red dates being soaked

the ginko nuts and lotus seeds soaking in the sugar syrup

this year thankfully, it was through the shortcut method. she bought ready prepped ginko and lotus seeds. of coz the end result aint as good as the one prepped over days, but i guess it's ok for auspicious reasons. most of the time i find it quite sweet hahaha. anyway, it's a yearly dessert which can only be eaten once a year. so it's always good to start the year with lots of sweetness!! :D

the end product for this year

Here's wishing everyone

新年快乐，事事顺利，万事如意，新想事成，牛年行大运！！
发财，发财，发大财！
HUAT AH!!!