A Birthday Pizza for Hedgehog

One of the new birthday foods we had for Hedgehog this year was at this place near NEX at Serangoon.

What the name is, I have to check. 

If I'm not wrong, it's called Gusta Sourdough Pizza Co, and you find it at the void deck of Blk 326 Serangoon Avenue 3. 

It's easier to walk from the Serangoon Central Bus Interchange than from the main road of Serangoon Central- which is what we did. 

What you do is to head towards Serangoon Avenue 2 from the bus interchange, turn right and then keep walking until you come to the junction of Serangoon Avenue 2 and Serangoon Avenue 3. The Braddell Heights Community Club is the landmark you look out for. Blk 326 is in the section diagonally opposite, so you cross Serangoon Avenue 2 first, then Serangoon Avenue 3, and make a left until you come to Blk 326. 

It's pretty straightforward. 

You know, there was a time when people wondered if food from the HDB heartlands could be any good, but experiences, and social media, are showing more and more that not only can the food be good, the nature of it being a HDB means that one can play around with as much aesthetics and mood and everything without having to be overly concerned about this, or that. 

It's probably easier to have it set up too. 

I was a little surprised by the decor of the place. 

No, I don't mean that it was unpleasant to the eye, no, nothing like that.

On the contrary, there was a very simple, clean aesthetic to the overall theme (very much like their pizza, as I later found out) and had such a casual, easy vibe that you felt comfortable either way regardless whether you came dressed for a date, or came downstairs in T-shirt, slippers and shorts. 

There was a bit of wait, I must mention, and whilst that did get me a little on the gwumps side (I was hungry), thankfully the wait was not too long and we got directed to a small, cute little table right at the back. 

When I say at the back, I literally do mean, at the back, right under the huge wall-mounted mirror, and next to the alcove under the shop's stairs near to where they stored their cartons, some pots, pans, and their dry ingredients. 

We placed our order, trying to decide between their Classic Pizzas or their Modern Pizzas. 

I quite liked the Classic Pizzas, but have to admit, the Modern ones seemed a bit more interesting. 

How often is it that one gets a Potato & Cheese Pizza complete with baked potato, garlic, cream, paprika, black pepper and parsley? 

Or a Pesto Pizza that I (quietly) had wanted to try?

I mean, someone might say that it's 'just' pesto, but I like pesto, and this one had mozzarella, kale and parmesan. 

I was quite tempted to order the Parma Ham & Peach pizza. 

Also for the same reason that I like parma ham, I like peach, and I like the sweet and salty combination. 

It wasn't just the Modern Pizza we found interesting. 

The Classics were just as good too. 

You had the Hawaiian Pizza- tomato sauce, cooked ham, mozzarella, pineapple and EVOO. 

You also had the Italian Sausage Pizza which, besides tomato sauce, parsley, EVOO and mozzarella, you had Italian fennel sausage. 

The Five Cheeses Pizza was something we looked at, too. 

Very tempting to try out new cheeses that I've never had before (and can't pronounce). This particular cheeses pizza had Mozzarella, Asiago, Grana Padano, Provolone, and Pecorino.

I wonder what they are.

I also wonder what they taste like. 

Maybe next time I go I should give it a try.

I should also try the Smoked Salmon Pizza.

So it might seem normal, but besides the smoked salmon and the mozzarella, they had sour cream and dill and lemon juice and something called mizuna leaves. 

I wonder what those are. 

This afternoon we chose to have one pizza, and one side. 

For the pizza, we deliberated between this pizza called The Sunset, and Ham & Mushroom. 

The Sunset had Mozzarella, tomato sauce, Parma ham, grated parmesan, ground black pepper, chives and one raw egg yolk. 

My friend was charmed by the Parma ham, the grated parmesan and the egg yolk, so we had that. 

This picture might not look like much, but let me tell you, it was pretty good. 

If Parma ham isn't already a meat good on its own, way better it is with warm, mushy, melted cheese and a crust of soft sourdough. It's not just the perfect salt taste of the ham, it's the way the thin, slightly hard texture complements so well the soft of the cheese and wraps it all inside your mouth. 

I'm not sure what the raw egg does- my friend had had it all mixed it up with the cheese- but there's that bit of wetness that clings to each slice, and makes each bite feel smoother, more delicious. 

We also ordered a side of chicken wings, specifically, baked chicken wings marinated with yogurt, paprika powder and herbs including garlic, marjoram, sage and rosemary. 

On the surface these chicken wings might look unassuming, like any other ordinary chicken wing you find anywhere else, but first bite brought me straight to the oil-drenched, lime-squeezed BBQ chicken wings of Fengshan and East Coast Lagoon. 

The taste was exactly the same. 

Literally. 

From the faint sheen of oil on the lips to the tender meat of the chicken underneath the perfectly browned crisp, the taste, texture and palate was down to a perfect T. 

I don't know if it were the paprika that made the wings taste the same as the BBQ ones did. 

I also don't know if the garlic or sage had anything to do with it. 

What was it that gave the chicken the taste of burnt? 

What was it that gave the lime lime taste of sour? 

It might have been the yogurt. 

The probiotics. 

But where did the milky part of the yogurt go? 

It couldn't have possibly disappeared somewhere. 

Maybe it might be the fact that I'm no cook and I'm terrible at estimation, so I don't know what's what and I don't know what's where. 

I just eat. 

So how all the sage and rosemary and garlic translated into the Fengshan, East Coast Lagoon BBQ chicken wing, I don't know. 

But oy, rare is it to find something this good, this healthy, this delicious, this familiar. 

I'll be quite keen to try the pasta next time. 

Especially the Traditional Carbonara and the Basil Pesto & Broccoli. 

I like carbonara. 

Though I can't have it very often because I can't do a lot of cream, so when there's a place that serves up something as healthy as pasta with the cheeses of grana padano and pecorino with pasteurized egg yolk and bacon bits, I got to try. 

Same way too how I like pesto, and if there's something that's got pesto worth my tummy to try, I do. 

I'd love to know how charred broccoli in basil pesto, and cheese, tastes like too. 

Hedgehog's Birthday Rostis

It was a bit of a quieter celebration that we had for Hedgehog's birthday celebration this year.

Not to mean that we didn't have any,

Just that there were days when we wondered from where we could get the best deal.

And there were days where I wished we could have gone for some of his favorite foods instead of having to wait till another time. 

I like to do birthdays before the actual day, not after. 

But no harm to adjust and no harm to wait, and plan, I suppose, since life is about living- and living in the day and now. 

If there's one thing I'm really glad for, it is that we got to have some of his favorite foods at places new and old, and a new experience it was going to eat at them. 

One of Hedgehog's favorite foods is Rosti. 

It's one of those foods that he will not hesitate to go for whenever he finds a new brunch place that offers it, and he doesn't mind even if the place is far off our usual hangout places. 

He just wants to try.

We went for two different rostis at two different places this time.

One of these we'd actually had had a few times beore, but this time we wanted to try some of their other offerings, so we did. 

6 Letter Brunch has three locations in total. 

Which of these three- Crawford Lane, Frankel Avenue and Tanjong Katong- is the most popular, I have no idea, but we like the one at Frankel Avenue, and so to this outlet we went to this time. 

Some of the most popular dishes here at 6 Letter are their All-Day Brunch, their Rostis and some of their mains. 

I might be keen to try their Smoked Duck Carbonara, but amongst their Rostis they have Baked Salmon, Grilled Chicken, and the 6 Letter Brunch Rosti which is a platter of rosti, Norwegian Smoked Salmon, sunny side up egg, edamame, salad, mashed avocado, and fresh fruits. 

So we went for this one. 

I don't mind sharing crispy fried potatoes done in a pan.

Neither do I mind having the potato with smoked salmon and a dip of mashed avocado. 

But what I really like, however- and don't laugh- is the edamame, and the fruits. 

Edamame is something I like to go for when the opportunity presents itself. 

Which, unless I'm at a Japanese place, doesn't swing by often. 

So in no way will I forgo a serving of edamame whenever I can. 

They make for good munchies. 

And because I am someone who has fruits with her scrambled eggs at hotel buffet breakfasts, having a piece of dragonfruit with a forkful of fried potatoes is not weird to me. 

Same thing goes for a grape with a sliver of smoked salmon. 

But this being a birthday, we didn't want to stop at just one plate, so there was an extra side of bacon, and an order of brunch tacos that, instead of scrambled egg and bacon, had grilled salmon belly inside.

It takes a bit of skill to eat tacos without the filling dropping out of the shell, I realize.

In my case, fortunately, other than a bit of sauce that dripped, nothing fell out otherwise. 

6 Letter Brunch isn't the only place where we had rostis. 

The other place we went to was Tolido's Espresso Nook at Crawford Lane on the ground floor of a HDB block bordering the junction of Jalan Sultan and North Bridge Road.

It is a popular place, this one, it seems, not merely for the coffees that they serve, but also the mains, which, more than once, I have seen fellow diners enjoy. 

At another time I might order their Prawn Laksa Pasta, or their Roasted Eggplant Pesto Sandwich. I might also order their Stout Glazed Bacon French Toast, or their Pandan Pancakes. 

I like Roasted Eggplant, and those Pandan Pancakes looked so good. 

But today we were here for the Rosti, and we chose the one with Cheesy Sausage. 

I don't know how we managed to add scrambled eggs, but that was something I really appreciated. 

Soft, creamy, slightly fluffy and tasty- that's what those eggs were. 

Their rosti was perfectly crisp and well fried too. 

You could feel the crunch, the taste of the well-fried potato with every bite, and you didn't have to think about whether the rosti would turn soggy if you ate it slow, or how you still had to dispose the potato peelings left haphazard in the sink. 

You just relished every mouthful.

What I liked, too, from this meal here this time, were the drinks.

My friend had ordered me a Babyccino. 

Next time, however, I'll want to try their Signature Sea Salt Caramel Latte, their Sea Salt Caramel Mocha, their Orange Mocha, or their Pumpkin Spice Latte. 

Maybe I just might go for some of their teas as well. 

Like their Earl Grey Lavender Tea or their Osmanthus Sencha Tea. 

A Birthday Meal @ Tuk Tuk Cha

I'm someone who usually goes for their mains when I'm at Tuk Tuk Cha.

On occasion, however, and especially when they've got things like birthday vouchers and offers, I switch up- switch around- and have myself a different meal from the usual.

Hedgehog got a birthday promotion for the month of July, so we went. 

My favorites at Tuk Tuk Cha lean towards traditional Thai street food favorites. 

The Green Curry Beef, the Pad See Ew, the Pad Thai, and at one time, the Beef Boat Noodles.

Today felt like a day to have a plate of Pad See Ew (stir-fried flat rice noodles in soy sauce), so that's what I got. 

Didn't matter whether or not I had had been having it at many other a time. 

Hedgehog, on the other hand, decided to have one of the newer dishes on this special offer menu board. 

For a while we vacillated between the Tom Yum Fried Rice, the Sweet and Sour Pork rice and the Pineapple Fried Rice, but in the end he went for a plate of cashew nut chicken, and because the $12 deal included a drink, he went for a nice cold refreshing cup of Thai Milk Green Tea.

Between the both of us I think I was the more delighted one.

It might be an ordinary looking plate of chicken and cashew nuts no different from those at zichar stalls but there's something appetizing about a serving of small stir-fried chicken bits in sweet-sour tangy sauce paired with crunchy nuts smothered in the same sauce. 

It makes for a sweet sort of meal. 

What's more there was an egg.

Anyone who has ever eaten a fried egg with rice knows just how lovely it is to break open the yolk and let it all run down into the grains then eat it together. 

There's a certain savor that one can't get just from eating rice alone. 

We shared our plates; Hedgehog helped himself to a bit of noodles from mine, I poked his vegetables over with my fork and picked a couple of cashew nuts from his. 

But it was the dessert afterwards that made this meal feel complete. 

If there's one thing about the food here, it is that they don't compromise on size or quality even if it be part of a complimentary birthday voucher that you get for free. 

I was happy to have this lovely cool plate of (fried?) cubed thick toast drizzled with a layer of thick pandan cream, topped with a huge scoop of cold, tasty coconut ice cream, and sprinkled generously with tiny little specks of crunchy biscuit bits and oreo bits all on top. 

JEN's Weekend Afternoon Tea

It has been a few months since I tried writing this post. 

Two months, to be exact.

It isn't because I don't have pictures or don't have anything to write, but because I do, and there is a lot that I want to talk about. 

You know how there are some meals that don't seem to leave impressions or memories on you even though you know you've had a great time? 

Not the case with the weekend afternoon tea here at JEN65. 

There's something about this buffet here that sticks with you long after you're finished. 

I don't know if it is the offerings, the ambience, or the crowd. 

There's something very cozy about the cafe here. Maybe it is the orangey-yellow tones of the furniture. Maybe it is the color of the warm-toned wood. Or maybe it is how their lights make the place feel welcoming, and embracing, both at the same time. 

It doesn't matter which part of the restaurant they seat us. 

All sides feel the same. 

But we have a thing for space and so often prefer to be seated at the lower deck closer to the laksa noodle side. 

If there's one thing about the food here at JEN65's afternoon tea that I like, it is the combination of both ethnic Asian and Western that speaks to me. 

This is a place where you can decide whether you want a salmon pastry or a plate of seafood pasta with mussels and cream or a plate of beef rendang with rice. 

This is a place where you can have a plate of sushi together with a serving of salad. 

Or quiches with Chinese-style wok-stewed vegetables. 

I am the sort who loves variety, and it is wonderful knowing that I can have on the same plate a grilled ham & cheese sandwich, a spinach quiche and a heapful of mee goreng all at the same time. 

Then again I don't usually mix everything, and so, instead of tossing everything onto one plate at one go, I go multiple times. 

I began the meal this afternoon with several sticks of satay, a wee little bit of mee goreng, and a couple of cherry tomatoes that would add that burst of sweet-sour fresh tomato juice whilst helping (hopefully) with the digestion. 

I like the satay here. 

Best if you eat it hot, but it also doesn't matter if you happen to have it lukewarm.

Yes, the meat does get a little hard but, surprise of surprise, it's not dry, and tastes just as good along with other foods.

So clean, and good it is that I don't even need the peanut sauce. 

I just eat the satay all on its own.

This afternoon (upon the recommendation of my friend) along with my second helping of satay, I helped myself to a bowl of sweet, creamy pumpkin soup, a grilled ham & cheese sandwich, and two little bites of what I think is chicken dim sum. 

It might have been siew mai.

It might not have been.

That's not to say that I didn't help myself to other foods. 

One plate I took had on it mashed potato (which unfortunately turned cold before I could get to it), some couscous (that I found at the salad counter), a heap of black olives and more of the cherry tomatoes. 

Then there was the plate which had four little cups of kueh pie tee, one lor mai kai (I wanted the glutinous rice) and a ham & cheese sandwich. 

I have my own tastes when it comes to customizing my kueh pie tee. 

Where others might go with the full works of turnip, chopped hard boiled egg, sesame seeds, parsley, tiny little shrimp and everything else, mine only had the chopped hard boiled egg, lots of parsley, and a little bit of sweet sauce. 

I didn't take the turnip, nor the sesame seeds, nor even the shrimp. 

For some reason the turnip tends to soak through the pastry cup of the kueh pie tee even before i get to the bottom of it and I like my pastry cup to stay crisp and crunchy throughout. 

Hard boiled egg and sweet sauce go surprisingly well together. 

Buffets are some of the best places to test just how suitable some combinations can be. 

It's like I didn't know how well tomatoes and black olives together were. 

And how well fresh crab meat and laksa soup go together. 

This crab laksa dish is one that we specially concocted ourselves. 

Admittedly it does take a bit of brute strength to whack out the shell to get to the meat inside but thankfully my friend is quite gungho when it comes to laborious tasks like these and at our table there gets a fair bit of hammering with tools and all. 

My job?

Yank out whatever shreds of crab meat there are still stuck inside.

Stir the crab meat inside the soup. 

Eat it. 

This afternoon I decided I was going to leave a lot of room for dessert. 

No way was I going to do the same thing as I'd done the last time- eating myself happy with all the lovely foods but leaving no space for all the desserts I wanted to try.

This time I got three servings of dessert. 

First one was an ice cream sandwich whose carnival-like stall was alfresco outside the restaurant at their outdoor seating area. 

I think the flavor was Thai milk tea. 

The ice cream didn't melt as quickly as I thought it would. 

So solid was it that I was able to eat the entire ice cream with a spoon- without having the bread slowly getting soaked in melting ice cream. 

After that I helped myself to a couple of cakes. 

There were some cute, and unusual ones that I hadn't had before, like the kueh lapis- a staple cake which I always try to have whenever I'm here- that I like to eat layer by layer. Then there was a slice of Earl Grey, a gula melaka sponge cake that looked like a banana one, a lemony cheesecake, and a cute little piece of Nyonya kueh of glutinous rice that I took mainly for the pretty colors. 

The Earl Grey was a lovely blend of soft mousse-like texture, and sponge. 

The lemon cheesecake gave a pleasant contrast between the sour and the sweet.

The gula melaka was thick yet had that slightly burnt taste which I always like.

And the kueh, simple as it might as seemed, had them so delightful I found myself appreciating it even more. 

I had thought I'd be fine with just this plate of dessert.

To my surprise I realized I actually could still eat more. 

So back to the counter I went, and came back bearing a couple pieces of dragonfruit, more of the spongy gula melaka cake (which I really liked), and marshmallows dipped in the chocolate fountain. 

Oh, by the way, have I mentioned the drinks?

There can be no afternoon tea without drinks, can there?

So here at JEN65 one gets a variety of sweet drinks- the fun type- lots of fruit punch, syrupy drinks, iced peach tea, and iced lemon tea, but me, I go for mugs of hot green tea or osmanthus tea.

They work the digestion better. 

For me to eat more. 

SteppyYums

I have been wanting to write this for a while now but somehow, just somehow, have been kind of distracted, haven't found the inspiration, and in a way, haven't found the time. 

Sometimes I feel it is a good thing that I'm quite a homebody and just so long as I have food I like and have enough of it, I don't actually need to go about everywhere and anywhere- unless the food there is really, really good. 

In that sense, I am blessed that I've got a great cook at home, and by that I mean I've got someone who knows how to work the pan, work the pot, balance out the sauces and manage the heat. 

There've been some great dishes in the past couple of months, mostly revolving around minced meats, eggs, and salmon belly. 

Because in the freezer that's exactly what we have.

Sometime early this year we'd made orders for bags of frozen organic minced pork, organic minced beef, pork chops, and salmon belly. Add to that we still had the foie gras carried over from last year. 

There's been a plate of minced pork with leftover rice.

There's been a plate of minced beef prepared with either Massaman curry paste or red curry paste. 

There's been a plate of minced pork with rice, with pieces of salmon belly. 

And there's been a plate of minced pork with eggs done sunny side up doused with a mix of soy sauce, fish sauce and oyster sauce. 

I love the eggs that we have here.

The chef never fails to make these eggs interesting for me, and no two days are the same. 

There are days where the eggs are scrambled. 

There are days where the eggs are sunny side up. 

There are days where the eggs are mixed together with the meats. 

Yet this meal, with all her varieties of taste and flavors and style, is consistent. 

And I love it. 

There aren't absolute favorites.

But I do take a fancy to salmon belly, and delight it is that we have the frozen kind that we can simply throw in the pan and fry and don't have to worry too much about paying exorbitant costs at Japanese sushi chains and restaurants.  

I don't care even if there be a bit of fishy fishy taste. 

It's just good for me. 

We haven't gotten round much to the pork chops- save for one time and I don't have a picture- but there'll be other times, thank God, and I'll get a picture with the herbs and everything next time. 

The pork's pretty soft when pan-fried, after all, and it will make for a lovely plate with, eggs, or potatoes, or even some other vegetable. 

Coffee Shop @ East Coast Road

This afternoon we were hunting for new places to lunch.

And because we weren't so keen on the cuisines nearest to us, to the Grab app we went, where amongst all the varied restaurants and coffee shop stalls within a 5km radius, one- at East Coast Road- stood out. 

What the name of this coffee shop is, I don't know. 

I just know it's near the junction of Telok Kurau Road and East Coast Road, opposite The Snooze Hotel. 

What will surprise you, however, is the fact that it's not a small-type, unknown, random coffee shop, but in fact quite a well-known, famous one. 

What stalls they're famous for, what cuisine they're famous for, I can't tell- it might well be the Happy Hour Beers that I saw some patrons go for- but there's a chicken rice stall, there's a stall offering Indian food, there's a stall offering Taiwanese, Kim's Fried Hokkien mee (the famous one) is there, and then there's a dim sum stall. 

We were here for two things.

Dim sum, and the Taiwanese.

It was the Taiwanese food that I in particular wanted to try. 

Perhaps there is a difference between eating at home and eating it at the place itself. 

We ordered a bowl of Lu Rou Fan. 

The sauce, in particular, was our thing and really what we had come here for. 

But besides the Lu Rou Fan, on the menu too was the pancake, and so we ordered one. 

The Lu Rou Fan had these really huge chunks of meat all nicely chopped up easy to eat with chopsticks and spoon, and although I'm not sure how best to describe the crepe pancake. there was a thickness to it, there was a chew to the piece of crepe itself, the fillings were more than enough, and there was a lot of pork floss all scattered on top as well. 

Surprisingly it was this crepe that really made me feel full.

I had thought it might be the dim sum, out of which this afternoon we'd chosen quite a few, but no, it was this crepe that gave the feeling.

Maybe it were the texture of the flour which is, shall I say, significantly different from that of cheong fun where again we were surprised by the size of the plate. 

I had thought that the cheong funs be just two little rolls (as some dim sum places tend to be) but no, this was like four rolls altogether, huge ones they were, all perfectly rolled up, chopped neatly, arranged prettily. 

It was lovely feeling the cheong funs slide so smoothly and silkily down my throat. 

It was also lovely getting to chew them a little bit so I could taste the sauce well. 

There was a basket of what I think- if I'm not wrong- siew mai, underneath the scattering of bonito flakes. 

Then there was also a plate of yam puffs. 

Which I'm not really sure just how to describe them. 

It wasn't that they weren't nice. 

But there was a wee bit of oil lingering around on my tongue after I'd finished.

And I'd forgotten how the yam tasted like. 

Maybe because they weren't as hot as I would have liked by the time I got to them.

Maybe they would have tasted better had I eaten them first (instead of finishing everything else) 

But I'll order this again next time. 

I'm sure it will be good. 

Yam puffs, after all, do make for a great snack, and are one of the best dishes to order when having dim sum. 

It is the kind of snack where one gets the best of both worlds. There's a softness, a light sweetness, even a smoothness about them that make you want to have it again and again. 

Chinese New Year 2025

There was a bit of break from our usual traditions this year. 

It wasn't that we didn't have a good meal.

It wasn't that we didn't celebrate.

Just that there were some things that we somehow didn't have a chance to do even though it's been a pattern of ours to do it every year. 

Do I regret it?

A little. 

I don't like missing out on traditions that hold significance to me. 

But life be such that we don't always get to do what we used to do in years past, and I can hope there'll be new experiences and new traditions together in years to come. 

That being said, it won't be possible for us to do the annual thing of having Wife Biscuit and Char Siew Sou at the Malaysian Food Court in RWS Sentosa anymore. 

They've closed it down. 

A part of me wishes that we could have had time to go there this year.

A part of me, however, is glad that we began the festive season with a lovely McDonalds meal at Bedok Reservoir Road. 

Having the Prosperity Burger meal at start of season is something which I, for the longest time, have always wanted to have, and so this evening- having found ourselves in the area- we ordered the beef burger, an additional order of chicken nuggets (with honey mustard sauce) and for dessert, the festive pineapple pie. 

Let's just say that the beef patty had such a generous amount of black pepper sauce ladled over it that there was more than enough to go with the Twister fries. 

But the sauce wasn't the only thing I dipped the fries in.

There was still the honey mustard. 

And then there was the pineapple pie, which, may I say that whilst some people might think of the pie as fake tasting and artificial, I actually quite liked the little pineapple bits swirling around in the thick, sweet filling reminiscent of pineapple custard.

What's more, the custard went quite well with the fries.  

My standards are a tad different when it comes to pineapple tarts, however. 

I like the filling of my tarts to be moist, smooth, and not so sweet. 

Better yet if the crust is soft, crumbly, slightly firm, and buttery all at the same time. 

People tell me it's difficult to find the perfect pineapple tart, and to that, I agree. What with the many opinions and preferences, all of us tend to prefer one tart over another, one brand over another. 

Me, I don't have that much of an expectation- generally I eat everything- but I love it when the tarts have a crust that's thick enough for a firm bite, soft enough that makes the bite an easy one, and fragrant enough that makes each mouthful a delectable, delightful one. 

Honestly I don't know where the places are that serve up such pineapple tarts- there must be a few around the island- but the bakery opposite Hong Lim Food Center in Chinatown is one. 

Poh Guan Bakery has become our go-to place for pineapple tarts every year. 

He loves it, I love it, we both love it. 

So much so that it's become a sort of pilgrimage to come down and get the tarts. 

Some years we just buy the tarts.

Other years we buy the tarts plus suji cookies because they do theirs really good as well.

It takes a heck lot of discipline to not finish all these pineapple tarts at one go. 

It also takes a heck lot of discipline to not buy two of these jars and have them last as long as possible through Easter and over. 

Maybe next year I'll see if I can get two jars, one big one small.

For the fun of it, if not nothing more. 

My Chinese New Year this year was quiet, restful yet fun. 

On Chinese New Year Eve we happened to be somewhere downtown, and although I was pretty happy to go for Fast Food Round 2 at Subway Sandwich or Burger King, we discovered that Tsui Wah was open and so headed there for a quick (but) satisfying meal. 

The menu of Tsui Wah is quite extensive.

They've got rice, noodles, soup noodles, small bites, the works. 

Today however we wanted to have some of the traditional favorites, so on the table there was a plate of (fatty) char siew- skillfully roasted with the perfect amount of sweetness- a plate of fried rice with pork cutlet, and because my friend thought it good to have a bit of Sichuan spice, a bowl of mala dumplings too. 

There were no favorites in this special reunion meal. 

Every dish was good.

Whether it was the fried rice that tasted incredibly smooth and soft, whether it was the pork cutlet that was tender, or the char siew that (to my surprise) had sufficient fat and meat in each slice, I loved them all. 

Every dish was well balanced. 

Even the mala dumplings, where at another place there might have been an overwhelming dose of chili oil, here they were constrained at first serve, then gladly gave you when you asked for more. 

The dumplings themselves were great too. 

There was the chew of the skin, and then the lovely warm ball of meat wrapped snug inside it. 

It was great enough to have three mains, but I wasn't going to forgo my CNY Eve meal without having some kind of sweet, so as a last order (the staff were closing) we got ourselves a glass of iced Hong Kong Milk Tea and a serving of their signature condensed milk toast. 

Looking at these pictures now, I wish I had had the time to savor the meal slowly. 

I would have loved to savor the sweet of the condensed milk without having to finish the toast so quickly. 

I would have loved to nibble on the char siew as slow as I could. 

Honestly, it is the fat of the pork that gets to me. 

Yes, it isn't healthy.

That I know.

But I don't get to eat it often.

In the same way I don't have Mookata often too. 

There might have been a time where I had it maybe once a month or twice a month.

These days however I stagger it out so it's just once in a couple of months, and also on special occasions like birthdays- and Chinese New Year. 

We had ours at Siam Mookata. 

Second day of the holidays.

And, guess what, I don't know how it was, but out of all the outlets they have, we somehow ended up at the one in Clarke Quay two doors down from the Tsui Wah which we had just a few days before. 

Not complaining, of course.

It's a totally different experience having Thai-style BBQ and hotpot by the river, I tell you. 

Maybe because of the wind. 

Or maybe because one gets to see the gently rippling waters. 

It was lovely watching the beef slices, the pork belly slices and all the different cuts of beef get slowly cooked over the hot grill. 

It was lovely alternating between cooking and eating and cooking and eating. 

We had an extra order of cheese dip for the meats. 

And a happy girl I was that in the selections there were some of my favorite hotpot dishes, like the cuttlefish balls, cheese tofu, and a big basket of lettuce that we cooked in the soup moat. 

Christmas 2024

We're well into the month of March.

And it has just occurred to me that I haven't written about Christmas of 2024 one bit at all. 

I have been occupied, I suppose, in one way or another, and the brain gets somewhat muddled from time to time, but to pass through two and a half months at least without realizing what you haven't yet done is something new altogether. 

It used to be that I had it on draft- and I left it there until the right time. 

But I had completely forgotten about it for the year of 2024.

Despite me looking at the series of pictures from time to time. 

Maybe because the Christmas of 2024 was a tad different from the years before. 

It was a year where I didn't do the annual Christmas tradition of running around top-tier hotels snapping pictures of their Christmas decor and Christmas trees. 

It was a year, too, where I didn't get to try, and sight, the usual trimmings of Christmas foods that I like, and sometimes crave for during the course of the year. 

All in all it was a very different Christmas, and one which, I have to say I don't regret. 

The season began for me sometime in end October in Bangkok, Thailand, where, in the open space outside Central World, in the midst of lightning and a thunderstorm, I caught sight of my very first Christmas tree for the year, and my very first overseas Christmas tree in more than ten years. 

After that very first tree there were a few more trees here and there at various places around the city. 

There was a tree that I saw on the top floor of Central Embassy right near OKONOMI where I'd gone to have lunch, and this tree I particularly remember because it looked like it had been frosted over with snow. 

Of course I had to take picture of the Christmas in the lobby of Urbana Langsuan where I stayed in late November, and which tree they had really put in effort, what with all these wrapped presents here and there surrounding the tree, and huge pine cone decor at the check-in counters. 

There were trees whose pictures I took at Centara Grand, and in Central World itself. 

Let's just say I do remember the rich reds and glittery golds of Centara Grand rather well. 

And likewise the beautiful blue 'Frozen' blue shade of the decor on the huge Christmas tree right in the center of the Central World atrium- sponsored by Samsung. 

There was one tree that continues to strike the mind months after I've seen it.

It's not a tree in the middle of all the tourism bustle.

Neither is it a tree in a five-star.

But it is a tree done up with great sincerity with the lights all in blue and lots and lots of colorful metallic balls hanging from the branches. 

They went all out with this one, I tell you.

Seeing all these trees from Bangkok now I can't help but be thankful. 

Never in my life had I imagined I would one day be seeing Christmas in Bangkok, and not just once, but three.

A part of me wishes that there had been opportunities more, but, considering that at the beginning of the year I didn't even think I'd have a chance, well, it's certainly worth being thankful for.

That doesn't mean that we didn't do a celebration on the island. 

Neither does it mean that I didn't get to take pictures of Christmas trees.

I did- but just one. 

Outside this Korean-style dessert cafe in Velocity where I had been accompanying an elderly lady to her medical appointment in TTSH behind next door. 

The season of Christmas was like a Christmas tree charm. 

A very small one.

I don't recall whether or not we went out to Orchard on Christmas Eve (it used to be another tradition of mine) but this year we somehow found ourselves near Jalan Besar (maybe we had gone to Mustafa prior) and so decided to have dinner at this place that my friend had thoughtfully made a reservation. 

REX Steakhouse & Bar, located at Cavan Road, is (considerably) a casual eatery in this part of Jalan Besar that serves up quality steaks, quality beef burgers, a comfortable ambience, and at a good price. 

I wasn't surprised to find a casual steakhouse this part of town.

The Kitchener-Tyrwhitt area continues to hold its own as a hipster place all these years and is (still) a place where people come hang out when they want drinks, specialty cheese, Thai food, zichar and, on weekends, brunch. 

What charmed me very much, however, was the service, and the food. 

We weren't dressed for the Christmas Eve occasion but no short of a warm welcome we received as the staff guided to a little table by the window. 

I wish I could tell you what exactly there was in the menu but I didn't take a picture and I don't really remember. 

What I do recall were the feasts they were offering. 

Not sure if there were any specific Christmas ones (I think there were) but there was this Feast for 3 or 4 which had Smoked Pork Belly, Pork Sausages, Iberico Pulled Pork, USDA Beef Brisket, and Brioche buns. 

Then there were the St. Louis Pork Ribs that from the pictures looked really, really good. 

I looked at them, thinking it be great fun to eat those ribs (using hands) on Christmas Eve but my friend got intrigued by their burgers, of which selections they had The B.M.C, the Classic Single, the Classic Double, a French Onion Burger, and a Pulled Pork & Sausage Burger.

The French Onion burger seemed interesting- between the buns there was a Double Beef Patty, Smoked Provolone, Gruyere Cheese, Caramelized Onions, Bone Marrow butter and Beef Jus. 

I wondered what Bone Marrow butter tasted like. 

It seemed like an adventurous thing to have. 

But wise it is to be cautious (and safe) on Christmas Eve, so we agreed on the Classic Double instead. 

It had a Double Beef Patty, two slices of American Cheese, and vegetables in the form of Lettuce, Tomatoes and Red Onions. For the sauce it was the Classic Burger Sauce, which, I have to admit, I don't really know what it was but it tasted good anyway. 

We were pleasantly surprised by the patties. 

Especially since we have had experiences where the burger looks good and solid and everything but the patties were actually hard and dry. 

Here at REX Steakhouse we were delighted to find that the patties were just the right portion, had just the right amount of firmness in the minced meat, and were grilled perfect enough that you could feel the oil bursting out from the meat inside your mouth but not to the degree that you actually got jelak.

I took the top bun.

My friend took the bottom.  

We also decided we'd have a couple of appetizers, and so hard it was for us to choose, I tell you. 

On one hand the Macho Nachos looked good- we have a thing for nachos and black olives and guacamole- then there was the Chili Brisket with Cornbread that I wanted to try, the Crispy Buffalo Wings and the Texas Chili Cheese Fries. 

Originally I had my eye on the cornbread, even as a side, but I was already having half a bun, and there were other table appetizers I wanted to try.

So we had an order of Crispy Mother Cluckers, and a second order of Housemade Sausage. 

The Mother Cluckers were great. 

They didn't really look like the picture in the menu but it didn't matter. 

I loved the batter even though for some reason I couldn't taste much of the beer in the beer battered chicken strips but the Carolina mustard dip was so good we asked the staff if we could have more.

The Spicy Italian Sausages (the housemade ones) were just as good. 

Up till now I hadn't known that sausages could have this sort of chew- I'm used to the tough German kind, the soft hot dog kind, or the hard lup cheong kind- but this one had a chew that, in fact, felt quite fun. 

It would have been lovely had we had the stomach to have some of their sides, like the Coleslaw, the Mac & Cheese, or even the Potato & Egg salad, but I wanted dessert over sides, so from the menu we chose a key lime meringue pie. 

It's a lovely memory to see these pictures taken almost three months ago. 

I think of us at that table looking out the window towards Jalan Besar Stadium and the quiet of Cavan Road to our side. 

I think of us being thankful for the year that had passed and the times that we had had. 

Was it strange celebrating Christmas Eve in a place on a quiet stretch of a suburb outside town?

No.

After all we weren't the only ones there. 

There were other diners that evening, most of which came after us, and everyone looked like they were there for a quiet, relaxing meal, including a solo lady who plugged in her ears, steadily ate through her burger, paid, and left. 

She sticks in my mind because I have a deep admiration for those who can eat alone. 

I've never been able to. 

Even if it be places that I'm familiar with. 

It's just a joy to be able to share a meal with a loved one who knows your tastes and knows that at your favorite Thai restaurant you'll order either Dish One or Dish Two. 

My friend never gets surprised whenever I order Pad See Ew from Tuk Tuk Cha. 

Especially if it is Christmas time. 

He knows I'm all for wok-fried flat rice noodles with soy sauce, and what better time than the season for feasting where I'm definitely down for the food that I like, never mind the salt and the oil. 

Happiness is more important. 

Christmas time 2024 saw us having a good deal of our favorite foods. 

Not all which belonged to the season, by the way. 

I think we were quite determined to avoid the 'seasonal' (and overpriced) foods. 

So Christmas Day saw us heading to Springleaf at Jln Tua Kong for a plate of crispy, skillfully flopped murtabak that was chock full of beef bits and chili and mayonnaise. 

So full were we that we decided to skip dinner and go straight to Jane Deer at North Bridge Road opposite Bugis Junction for their signature desserts. 

My friend took a bowl of peach gum.

"Collagen very good for the skin!" He enthused.

But my heart had been leaning towards the Steamed Egg White for the longest time. 

So I got that.

And wished myself a Blessed Christmas 2024.