Cousin's wedding!

WOW! It has been so long since I have updated. But what's new? Anyway, This post is a tribute to my cousin whose wedding I attended on the 20/1/07 (Saturday) at Orchard parade hotel (Antica Ballroom) . Wonder how it feels being the second cousin in my family to be married. HAHA. Anyway, below are the photos that are taken on that wonderful day and courtesy of

Anna, my fabulous cousin!

ME and Anna plus my cute 1st niece.

My brother, ME and Anna.

Family photo! (without my brother due to football!)

Us AGAIN!!

After much photo taking, it was time for dinner! Well, actually, the family photo was taken like during the 9 course meal. HAHA. Anyway, below are the food photos!!

龙虾沙律拼香茅虾球

Combination of cold lobster salad with lemongrass prawns

This dish looks a lot tastier than it taste. This is because most instead or giving as much lobster meat as prawns, it is usually the opposite. The shell of the lobster was re-used. The sauce, though sinful was absolutely delicious! Like duh, mayonnaise is nice what. Made of large amounts of oil and egg yolk, whats not to like? The prawns like most restaurant would serve them succulent after chemical treatment. But thankfully I didn't taste the after-taste of bicarbonate. Overall, not a bad dish. But in terms of health, let's just say I will be better off eating grass.

海蜇拌金猪件

Crisp roast suckling pig with marinated jelly fish.

MY FAVOURITE!!! Sorry muslim guys! BUT I LOVE PORK. I am sorry if I have offended any muslim after saying that but I am chinese and it is in my blood. Anyway, this year is the year of the pig and eating pork is a must - for chinese that is.

Anyway, The skin was so crisp. Though a tad too much oil on the surface, it was EXTREMELY sinful. The meat was commendable too. Tender and moist and was not soaking heavily in oil. PLUS, the well seasoned jelly fish. After the oily-ness in the mouth, some light jelly fish was pleasing to the mouth. Also, if you have notice, during 'LOU HEI' some restuarants use jelly fish that is too chewy and difficult to swallow. And some may choke over it. However, the jelly fish used here was different as it was soft and jelly-like. But I think it could do a bit better and make it melt in my mouth instead. Overall, VERY FABULOUS! (maybe I am just bias because I love everything pork.)

干贝竹笙蟹肉烩生翅

Shark’s fin broth with crab meat, bamboo fungus and dried scallop

Shark Fin. What can I say about this. Well, the usual. Not much big sharkfin. Only those small ones. Mainly I was eating starch water/broth. Don't see much scallop or bamboo fungus. Overall, this was quite a downer.

XO 酱金线玉带炒芦笋
Sautéed scallops with asparagus in homemade spicy X.O. sauce

The scallop used, if I am not wrong, are 'fresh'. Meaning they didn't used the dried kind. Most probably the frozen kind. The taste was retained. But if real fresh ones were used then it will be a different taste altogether. The XO sauce was not too heavy with liquor. The asparagus was nicely done. Not too tough. Especially if the older ones are used. The taste was unique and the texture was soft and tender. Also, the unique taste was contributed by the small amount of chilli added which thus gave a pinch of spiciness. Overall, not as bad as the sharkfin.

潮泰蒸大红斑
Steamed live red garoupa with teochew – Thai style

北菇海产扒菠菜
Braised mushrooms with sea cucumber and spinach

As you can see that there is no picture above. This is because, those two dishes above are quite common ones. That is why I decided not to have the pictures taken. Also, the taste was some what bland and similar to what my mom can cook, which goes to say a lot above this two dishes. However, having said that, there is of cause certain different taste in the dish. Like for example, the garoupa was a little flaky - just well-done. But its texture should be not too flaky, smooth and feeling moist and not dry. However, the sauce was whats makes the fish platable.

For the braised mushrooms with sea cucumber and spinach, the mushrooms were braised to near perfection, as some were a little soggy with sauce, but what saved the day was perhaps the spinach. I think I am just bias because I love to eat spinach and maybe they the blanched it nicely.

新华蒜香鸡

Crisp roast chicken served with Haw and Red wine sauce

Oh My Gawd! This was such a downer. The chicken was not very moist. Quite dry, but the skin and sauce was what save the day. Do not wish to elaborate.

八宝荷叶饭
Lotus rice with eight treasures

Though the name states that there are 8 different 'treasures', I don't think I tasted all of them. There were only dried shitake mushroom, a bit of dried scallop, I don't remember much of the taste but all I can say is it feels the stomach.

杨枝甘露
Chilled mango cream with sago & pomelo

For quite a long time, I have not tasted cold and refreshing dessert at Chinese wedding dinner for a long time. Most of the time, dessert is usually something hot like 'cheng teng' or some stuff that I probably can't pronoun the names. Mango! A tropical fruit that I am sure most of us love. Especially the sweet ripe kinds. However, the sour kinds are great for salads. Anyway, back to the cold dessert. The sago was cooked just right. Not too hard and not too soft. Jelly-like. The pomelo bits and other fruits balanced the sweetness of the mango cream. However, I think that the mango cream taste a little fake. It taste more puree-like taste rather than real mango paste. Overall, the taste, well...let's just say it is ok.

Well, that is all I have for my cousin's wedding. Cheers!

TP concert.

It has been so long since I have blogged. Well, the last post wasn't really considered a post. Anyway, I don't wanna talk about it.

It is quite surprising as I have stopped being so personal in my blog. That is to say, I have not really written much about my life, my friends, my family so on and so forth. But, I will be...soon.

This post is about the recent TPCO concert that just occurred. I was to perform 'the entertainer' playing the zhong ruan. For the first time, other than playing the dizi, I have not played any other instrument. But, I am not that pleased for taking such a long time to learn just one piece of song.

Anyway, here are the pictures.

Mei Feng, Wei Kang, oops don't know your name, me and Felicia.

Tan Bo Yue group photo!!

The reason why there is this photo is because the president of TPCO just walked pass while we were going to take a second photo. LOLZ! Anyway, the concert was pretty fun. BUT, I only performed in one song which lasted 4 minutes but the concert was like 2 hours plus. So the other 98% of the time, I was at the back, 'sair gor'ing. But it was worthwhile.

Coming up next, would be on my recent cousin's wedding!!

sighs.

Thanks anonymous. But, I am what I am. The choice of my sexual preference is my decision to make. Regarding the answer, why would anyone be interested. And going by your remark, should I treat it as a sarcastic comment or a comforting one. No matter who comes to tag my tagboard, they should have the courtesy to at least place their names down. This is not to attack you (anonymous) but just that I dislike how people behave on the internet. I am sorry if I have mistaken your good intentions but I just can't trust people on the net these days. I sincerely apologize if your intentions were good. But if it is not...

This is a new year and a new start. I hope that people who I don't know would stop bugging me. especially people who refer to themselves as 'cb' or 'cb king'. I wish that if you have all the time to do ridiculous things like try to make fun, harress, cause distress and frustration, then you might as well spent that time doing something you really like. If your intentions were, as mention as above, then I would like to tell you my purpose of typing this post is to tell you that your goal has not been reached and never will. This is the last and final warning I am going to make. STAY OUT OF MY BLOG IF YOU DO NOT LIKE OR APPRECIATE WHAT YOU SEE!!!

Thank you for your cooperation. Have a pleasant day!

Korean restaurant

Another quick update. Went to get my hair chopped at Shunji Matsuo. Though more costly than the usual, not that bad actually. Was kinda thirsty and got this from Paragon Market Place. It is a carbonated drink. Mine was the peach flavour and 'ter was orange but there is no picture. I bought it as it was quite nostalgic to drink it and savour the good 'ol primary school days where I bought this from the Econ mini-mart. However, it was kinda gas-y and I didn't like that 'spicy' feeling when drinking carbonated drinks. Anyway, after that, we headed to suntec. Did some shopping, and then....

Went to A Korean Restaurant. The pictures below are the appetiters - I think. At one glance, it might see very spicy but lo and behold, it is actually quite mild. However, certain appetiters like the one on bottom right greens and the bottom left bean sprout, it was marinated with sesame oil. Thus it has a refreshing taste and makes one feel like eating more. On top of that, every time we finish a plate of the appetiters, the waitress would automatically refill for us unless we tell her otherwise. I think the refill is free. So eat till you faint!

The first 'dish' of this set was these prawns. Grill till perfection with a slice of lemon and a dash of spring onion. The meat was truly succulent. Unlike some restaurant where they cheat by soaking the prawns in baking soda, this taste quite natural.

Next would be this gigantic sotong. Two of them in fact.

After eating much appetiters and prawns, it was quite filling for me. Cause we ate quite early and I am not much of a food barrel. LOL. So the amount of chilli paste they added seem quite fiery at first but as usual, it is not so spicy. The taste was just nice. Oh and before I forget, the sotong were barbequed so there was some taste of carbon which can be quite good for the body in little amounts.

Famous Korean pancake!

As usual, the chilli is not that spicy unless you bite the membrane part. You know, the centre part of the chilli that holds the seeds. Yeah, it is not the seeds that 'holds' the spiciness but the membrane that holds on to the seeds that gives the punch of HOTTNESS! Though you can see the oil on this stone plate, it is not very greasy and but since it is made of flour, it can be quite filling.

Also, there was kim chi seafood soup with rice and a fruit platter but was unable to take pictures of them as 'ter phone camera was low in power.

By the time the kim chi seafood soup was served, I was quite full and didn't really enjoy the taste of it. So I have no comments on it. For the fruit platter, well, fruit is fruit no matter where it comes from. We had the usual, watermelon, honey dew and pineapple which I dislike.

So thats about it for Korean cuisine.

Yum Cha

After a century of decadence at home without updating my blog, I felt kinda weird trying to start this habit again. And before I forget, this is my 50th post! Hurray!

Anyways, I recently went to Yum Cha last week Thursday with my poly friends. Went to the Chinatown Yum Cha a couple of times, but only this time did I have the honour of showing you what I had. With the courtesy of minnie's camera phone. Thanks so much yea.

As you can see, this is peanuts. Supposely to 'open' the appetite.

Peanuts, as we have learn, supposely increase one's appetite. However, we also learn that too much peanuts are not good for the health as the fat content is in the ratio of 2:1 which also means if there were 2 cups of peanuts, the fat content is 1 cup.

The item below is cuttle fish congee.

I make it a habit never to order congee unless I am extremely extremely hungry as the rice they use in making this is glutinous rice and glutinous as everyone know is really really starchy due to high gluten formation blah blah blah so it is really filling. This by the way was ordered by Lisi who should eat more considering she is literally stick thin. Didn't really taste this so no description here.

The ever famous Har-Kao'

Although har Kao is not my all time favourite, it does pack quite a punch when it is made by a skilled dim sum chef. Usually, the skin is really thin yet thick enough to hold the filling which in this case is shrimp and other ingredients. I don't have Dae Chang Geum taste buds so I can't identify the ingredients just by tasting. Anyways, Yum Cha's har Kao wasn't really up to my expectations. Its skin was a little thick but the shrimp was succulent though we have learned that there are 'secret' methods in causing the flesh to be plump and succulent.

Charsiew chee chong fun.

Those people were just crazy about this dish. It is just a dish with simple ingredients - 'fun' and meat. However, having said that, it is not so simple to make this. It does require some steps. The 'fun' is thin but manages to hold the fillings. The sauce smelt great with sesame oil. Garnished with spring onions and sesame seeds. With all this ingredients, this dish is almost too good to be true. The other version (which personally prefer) is the one with shrimp.

Shrimp chee chong fun

And my personal favourite - SIEW MAI with fish roe

Sorry to say, but all the fantastic delights I have eaten, they are not halah. My apologizes to the Muslim readers. Not that I am doing this on a purpose but I have not been able to locate a restaurant that serves Halah fine dining. However, when I do find one, it will definitely make it to the pages of my blog.

The dish above, as you can see is my all time favourite - SIEW MAI. I crave this almost everyday. Those who know me knows I love the siew mai especially from Hong Yun Bao Dian at Bedok. However, Yum Cha's siew mai and the one I usually eat is different. First of all, Yum Cha's has fish roe. Though it does not give much taste, it does make it look pretty. Second, is the added shrimp in the Yum Cha's siew mai. The succulent shrimp combined with the tender and smooth minced pork is just a sinful pleasure in the mouth.

Given all the time in the world, I think I can go on and on about siew mai but I think I will just stop here for the mean time.

This is also one of my all time favourite - FENG ZUA

The name given - Feng Zua. Which also means Phoenix Claws. We Chinese love to create lovely names for our delicacies. This dish is actually chicken feet. It has been braised in a special sauce before it is transferred to a bamboo steamer. Chewy collagen bits and tender meat makes my world go round. With a pinch of chili, this dish is almost perfect.

This was something that thought was nice - Thai style marinated jelly fish

This dish. I seriously had no idea what we ordered this. It was actually a simple dish that is not worth $5. First of all, the onion gives the pungent taste with jelly fish and spring onion. Though delicious, I don't think is worth paying that kind of money.

Mini egg tarts.

Since young, everytime I have passed the PAO shop, I would ask my mom to buy me egg tarts. I have not eaten it in a long time but I have to say that I still remember the taste of it. Now, I prefer the Portuguese egg tarts. It has a nice oven flavour. And the colour seems more natural.

Last but not least, Pai Ku.

Who can eat dim sum and forget about Pai Ku. This dish packs more punch than Feng Zua when it comes to collagen. However, it sticks to fat as well which makes this dish totally sinful. My God! The smooth and soft and chewy texture. The fat that melts in the mouth. Oh my, after this, I have to go on a diet for like 1 month.

Oh ya, we ordered something else but it is not shown here as the ever gan geong me hurried to eat and it was one short of the three and also we forgotten to take the picture. Anyway, the dish is - Xiao Long Bao!!

This is one dish that is a must must must HAVE! The stock in the bao is absolutely marvelous. The meat is well seasoned - of cause. The secret in placing the stock in the bao is to marinate the meat with the stock so when it is steamed, the stock will flow out of the meat and TADA...Xiao Long Bao with stock. And although this may not seem important but there were strands of shark fin. Indulge! But, I don't really think it is real.

Anyway, Enjoy!!