in&out the kitchen we go'

modesto's

2007-12-25T09:14:00.000-08:00

my parents love modesto's. and somehow, i've been converted to a fan too. having tried the 3 different outlets at Orchard Parade Hotel, The Elizabeth and Vivocity, here's what i concluded.
Orchard Parade Hotel - i think they serve the best food out of the 3 outlets. maybe cos it's the place where i've tried the most things on the menu. still, i like the cosy feeling on the inside although most of the customers there prefer al fresco dining.
The Elizabeth - the decor and ambience here gives sort of a royal feeling. i guess being located away from the hustle and bustle of the city gives a sense of exclusivity. food was so-so...didnt remember it being fantastic.
Vivocity - this was our latest try! and i really enjoyed it! we went there only for pizza, because my food partner was craving for pizza after months of dieting. oh and the scenery from the restaurant is fantastic! overlooks the sea and you can get a glimpse of Sentosa, the boats and liners and the cable cars!

appetizer - freshly toasted focaccia bread with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. i'm always game for some of these! they actually served 6 pieces for the both of us but we were too excited that we forgot to take a photo until we ate 3 pieces. so that's why there are only 3 pieces left in the basket!

our main courses were 2 regular sized (12 inches) wood-fired oven pizzas! ordered one with beef bolognaise and the other one with chicken sausage. my first piece was the chicken sausage and i thought it was great. and then i tried the beef and that was twice better! can't believe we actually finished 2 pizzas without much difficulty...guess that's what happens when you're deprived of comfort food for awhile :)

nutella cupcakes!

2007-12-25T09:08:00.000-08:00

i was gonna give up on cupcakes because i was resolved into thinking that they always look much better than they taste. well for me, the looks didnt really work as well. then i thought about nutella cupcakes and how everyone was saying it's such a forgiving and wonderful recipe. and so i decided to try it out! nowadays i really like making muffins cos i find them so easy and enjoyable to work with.

they turned out abit burnt - but nevertheless, you can never go wrong with NUTELLA! thanks to hazel, xw and rud for the support! will definitely be making more nutella cupcakes soon!

hearthbread

2007-12-25T09:02:00.000-08:00

i tried baking bread for the first time in my life! and i learnt an important lesson in baking - always be patient! and always watch the oven. followed nigella's recipe for garlic and parsley hearthbread which is essentially like naan.

lesson #1 - why we should always be patient - always follow the recipe when they tell you to wait for the dough to rise; be it 1 hour, 2 hours or 24 hours! only then will you get a nice texture.

lesson #2 - why we should always watch the oven - simple, just look at my burnt toppings!

anyway i figured this recipe is too intermediate for a bread beginner like me! kinda tedious and long - shall try a simpler bread recipe next time!

mr potato!

2007-12-25T08:56:00.000-08:00

i found these 4 mr potatoes swirling around in the microwave and thought they looked so cute! they look better in action! this is what the boyfriend eats :)

le creuset!

2007-11-17T16:45:00.000-08:00

here's the new toy in our house! my folks have recently gotten interested in designer cookware...somehow i don't know if i can agree with them on paying almost three hundred bucks on a pot...while the beef stew is bubbling away inside...
Heat Distribution and Retention
"Cast Iron is a superior conductor of heat. The even thickness of the base, walls and lid means that heat distribution is even and energy efficient. Furthermore, the heat retention properties of the pieces are second to none, ensuring that the pot stays hot for second helpings."

i guess that's what makes the pot cost that much...and just fyi, it weighs a ton!

when it's messy, u know exams are coming

2007-11-15T02:59:00.000-08:00

i just couldnt resist taking a shot of my war-torn area during exams...

aficionado!

2007-11-15T01:50:00.000-08:00

what a way to celebrate a friend's birthday! so hazel and i were feeling guilty about not bringing our dear friend rudith out for her birthday dinner - so one month after that, we decided to do it in a special way. nope, not in a restaurant. but right in hazel's house! yes, her brother and gf set up this small little private dining business. so basically they cook everything and decorate everything you see below. (p.s. they're younger than me! gasps)

half of happy meal gang - poor rudith was abducted and blindfolded all the way and had no idea where we're going. she actually thought we were heading to a swimming pool!

it's much prettier in reality - pardon my lousy photography.

the setup - this is actually their dining table. (duh!)

a little peek into their garden!

HERE'S THE FOOD!

salad! greens never tasted so good. soup of the day - clam chowder. we were told this is homemade! way better than campbell's! and the garlic bread is fantastic (i'm a fan of garlic bread! bad breath =X)

main course #1: pesto pasta with king prawn!

they even had a palette cleanser! made from strawberries, mango (i think). can't remember what else there is. and the blue sugar on the rim of the glass is really pretty! jill (my old friend from classic cakes) concocted this up! she's really a genius - no wonder she's going to enrol into le cordin bleu!

Main Course #2: Who doesnt love steak! I'm sorry i forgot most of the dish names cos this was quite some time back..

And then there was dessert! A little bit too hard cos it was out of the freezer - but still i licked every bit off the plate!

gabriel and jill are really talented chefs! i've already told them i'm gonna invest in their restaurant! by being their star-dishwasher. :D

welsh cakes!

2007-11-15T01:41:00.000-08:00

was so bored from studying today that i decided to try some fuss-free baking! in fact, today's experiment didnt even include baking - basically i used a frying pan to help me...sometimes i'm simply too lazy to bake because i have to take out and set up my oven from the cabinet. it's a dome shaped convection oven which we simply have no space to accommodate it anywhere in our house - maybe i should put it in my room instead? then i can live, breathe and sleep baking all the time haha.

don't they look pretty?!

after turning over...

somehow i think it looks pretty on the pan! they taste a little like kueh bangkit!

back to books! :)

something great to share.

2007-10-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

found out about Envirosax bags recently. i thought it was a really great idea to use these esp since we have like "no-plastic-bags-day" at supermarkets once a month.

these incredible bags, are made of polyester, portable, waterproof, weight just 40 grams and cost just 9.90sgd! and 35sgd in a pack of 5! seriously i think they're comparable to anya hindmarch's "i'm not a plastic bag".

more designs available at http://www.envirosax.com

Yellow Butter Cake

2007-10-02T03:26:00.000-07:00

found this great recipe for butter cake - tried it several times and the cake comes out great!

Ingredients (makes an 8 inch round tin)
Unsalted Butter 180g
Sugar 195g
Salt 2g
Eggs 110g (2 eggs)
Cake Flour 225g
Baking powder 9g
Milk 225g
Vanilla Extract 4g

Creaming method:

Preheat oven at 190 degrees celsius.
Scale ingredients accurately. All ingredients should be at room temperature.
Place butter in mixing bowl. Use paddle attachment and beat slowly until smooth and creamy
Add sugar; cream mixture at moderate speed until light and fluffy (around 8 to 10mins). optional - add salt and flavourings now to ensure uniform distribution. if melted chocolate is used, add it during creaming.
add eggs a little at a time. after each addition, beat until eggs are absorbed before adding more. after eggs are beaten in, mix until light and fluffy.
Scrape down sides of bowl to ensure even mixing.
Add 1/4 of dry ingredients, mix just until blended in. Add 1/3 of wet ingredients. Repeat until all ingredients are used.
Bake at 190 degrees celsius for 25 mins.

the garden slug part 2.

2007-09-25T01:45:00.000-07:00

so part 2 happened on the boyfriend's birthday again. because he ASKED for it, indirectly. in my faint attempt to surprise him, i made a reservation for dinner plus a customised menu for the night. and when we got there, we were delightfully surprised to see that the slugs have printed the menu for us (in which we brought home as souvenirs). of course i had to get free flow lemongrass tea again. it's one of the nicest drinks i've had. only thing i wished they would sweeten the tea for us, rather than us trying to gauge how much syrup to add into the jug. it was so sweet of them to include a little cactus (how apt!) for the birthday boy. he was quite excited about it. and somehow, that grin on the slug seemed to remind me of his =p

So first off, we started with the Seafood platter for 2. which cost a bomb! basically there were king prawns, mussels in mozarella, grilled squid, and smoked salmon. out of the 4 items, i really only take prawns, although i did try everything. but honestly, the platter was quite a disappointment. to think i was trying to be nice to satisfy his craving for seafood!hoho. then came the good part. the ultimate steak sandwich. we asked for steak to be medium, and the panini was just nice! it's sort of crispy, but not that kind of crispiness that will cut your gums and tongue and leave your mouth dry. the meat was juicy and tender, and you could just taste the real flavour of beef. now that's what i call a REAL sandwich.from the picture you can tell we were too excited about the pizza that we each had a slice before remembering to take a photograph. to tell the truth, i've never like thin-crust pizza. i've been conformed to like pizza hut's bread-like crust. but this was different! i'm definitely going back for more pizza from tgs.dessert time! i was really looking forward to dessert cos it sounded so good! the gelato was fantastic, and my dinner partner insisted it was homemade because there were "ice bits" in it. i begged to differ. topped with glazed fruits, this was the ultimate treat. at least the fruits didnt make the dessert seem so unhealthy!the last part was a surprise when the staff came out with the cake lit with a candle! and i didnt even tell them to do that. plain cheesecake topped with peach slices with a nice little birthday tag on top. by this time we were already too full to eat anymore cake. so we packed it home. and sadly, the cake wasn't as good as i expected. then again, i was the only one who didnt really like the cake. the rest of the family finished it up within 2 days. word of caution though: customised menu didnt come cheap!

Chewy Cookies

2007-09-25T01:37:00.000-07:00

Chewy Cookies (makes 24)
3/4 Cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Egg, beaten
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Cups AP Flour
2 tsp Cornstarch
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp salt

Cream butter and sugar.
Add in vanilla and egg.
Fold in dry ingredients.
Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 8 - 10 mins.

P.S. I added in raisins, chocolate chips and slivered almonds. Basically can add in anything else that you like in your cookies!

chocolate muffins.

2007-08-01T02:31:00.001-07:00

I've learnt today that you should never bake when you're feeling down - no matter how bored you are. Wanted to try some good chocolate muffins today. So I used this nutella frosted muffins recipe.

Nutella Frosted Cupcakes

10 tbsp(140 grams) butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups (200 grams) sifted ap flour
1/4 tsp salt2
tsp baking powder
Nutella, approx. 1/3 cup

Preheat oven to 325F.
Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.
Cream together butter and sugar until light, 2 minutes.
Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don't worry if the batter doesn't look smooth. Add vanilla.
Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains.
Using an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin liner with batter.They should be 3/4 full, if you're not using a scoop.
Top each cake with 1 1/2 tsp Nutella.
Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the nutella.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 12.

So I decided to be smart-alecky and save on the nutella money, by making my own chocolate ganache.

Chocolate Ganache

1500g dark chocolate couvertures
500g chocolate nuggets
2000ml whipping cream
660g butter, in cubes

Mix chocolates in a large bowl.
Bring cream to a boil in a saucepan.
Pour two thirds cream over chocolates and stir until smooth.
Bring the remaining cream to a boil again and pour over chocolate mixture.
Stir until smooth.
Add in butter and stir until smooth or until all butter has melted.

This recipe above makes a huge bowl. So I decided to cut it down by 20 times. So it's all the measurements divided by 20. So I kept stirring and stirring, and I was wondering why it doesnt look like what I usually make. THEN i realised, i've added 200ml of cream instead of 100ml. Grrrr. And for my muffins, they tasted kinda egg-y and I realised I didnt whisk the eggs a little before adding them into the batter. And of course, the failed chocolate ganache didnt really go well with eggy muffins.

good old' muffins.

2007-07-28T05:42:00.000-07:00

can't wait to share one of the muffin recipes i got from a le cordon bleu baking book!

Plain Muffins

1200g Pastry (Cake) Flour
600g Sugar
72g Baking Powder
15g Salt
360g Eggs, Beaten
840g Milk
30g Vanilla Extract
480g Butter

1. Sift together all the dry ingredients.
2. Combine all liquids to the dry ingredients and mix just until all the flour is moistened. Batter will look lumpy. Be careful not to overmix.
3. Pan and bake immediately. Dry and liquid mixtures may be prepared in advance, but once combined, bake without delay or loss of volume may result.
4. Grease and flour muffin tins. Fill tins half to two-thirds full. Bake for 200 degrees celsius for 20-30 mins.

Variation - Blueberry Muffins
480g Blueberries, well drained
Fold blueberries into finished batter.

Variation - Wholewheat Muffins
840g Pastry (Cake) Flour
360g Wholewheat Flour
50g Baking Powder
10g Baking Soda
120g Molasses
Adjust flour and leavening as listed above. Add molasses to liquid ingredients.

Gonna try them asap!

choux pastry part 2.

2007-07-24T06:46:00.000-07:00

Right after dinner tonight, I got down to the second part of making my cream puffs. So I took out my saucepan of custard out from the fridge. Whipped my whipping cream and folded into the custard to get what's below! Ta-da! This is the cream you get in cream puffs. Looks kinda unsightly though but it's good stuff k! So I got mum to help me pipe the cream into the puffs. This was abit tricky cos we had no idea how to fill up the entire puff. Half of the puffs had medium to large holes on their bottoms cos they got stuck to the greaseproof paper while baking. So we just piped the cream in from there. Was quite a messy scene but eventually we managed to do it.

Too much cream left. So I guess we have to make more puffs tmr! :D

ecstatic over choux pastry.

2007-07-24T00:31:00.001-07:00

i'm totally over the moon. and this is what has gotten me in the mood.

Mind you, i didn't rip this off some baking website. This is what I've been busy over the whole afternoon! Must say I'd made the right decision to bake today instead of just nuah-ing around at home. Choux pastry is the new craze now! At least right here in my house.

Choux Pastry Puffs
from "Joy of Cooking - All About Party Foods & Drinks"

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
Half cup water
Half cup whole milk
113g unsalted butter
Half teaspoon salt
4 large eggs

1. Bring the water, milk, butter and salt to a boil over medium heat.
2. Add the flour all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan.
3. Continue to cook and stir the mixture for about 1 minute, to eliminate excess moisture.
4. Let cool for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each egg.
6. Make sure paste is smooth before adding each egg.
7. Beat the dough till smooth and shiny.
8. Choux paste can be covered and refrigerated for up to 4 hours.
9. When it is cold, you do not need to bring the paste to room temperature before baking.
10. Pipe paste onto pan according to desired size.
11. Bake at 180 degrees celsius for 10-15 mins.

Above: What it looks like after step 3.

Above: While adding eggs

The End Result!

Many many puffs! Okay, maybe not many many. I think I only made like 15? Cos I used only 1/3 of the ingredients from the recipe...for fear of it turning out like crap. But I've resolved to making more puffs this week! And of course, no cream puffs will be complete without some cream! So I sourced for some custard cream recipe from here .

Pastry Cream
3 cups (750 ml) milk
3 eggs
3/4 cup (175 ml) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (50 ml) all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. (15 ml) cornstarch
2 tbsp. butter (25 ml)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla (7 ml)
2 cups (500 ml) whipping cream

In heavy saucepan, heat milk until steaming.

Meanwhile, in bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, flour and cornstarch; gradually pour in milk in thin stream, whisking constantly.

Return to clean pan. Cook over medium heat, whisking, for 5 minutes or just until boiling; cook, whisking, for 2 minutes longer or until thickened.

Remove from heat; stir in butter and vanilla.
Pour into bowl; place waxed paper directly on surface to prevent skin from forming.

Refrigerate until cool, at least 4 hours. Whip cream, gently fold into pastry cream with spatula just until combined.
Note: Pastry cream can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Am still in the process of making cream. Typing this post as I wait for the custard to cool and be refrigerated before adding in the whipping cream.

Here's what the custard looks like for now! I know I know...it doesn't look very appetising for now. Let's just cross our fingers and see how it'll turn out. Stay tuned!

the garden slug.

2007-07-23T03:26:00.000-07:00

I've decided to turn this into a flog as well after realising that baking posts alone won't be able to keep this place alive, considering that I don't bake as often as I eat. Well, I've got a good place to recommend for this virgin food entry!

Introducing our friendly neighbourhood slug residing in a quaint little building called Bright Centre in Telok Kurau, which is somewhere in JooChiat/Katong if you're wondering. I was brought here for my advance (very advanced) birthday dinner by the boyfriend. We've been wanting to visit this place since eons but never did it because of the arduous long journey (we're not East people). But I guess just once in a while, it's worthwhile to venture out of your comfort zone for a good dining experience!

Ripped the photos of their place from their website - I must say they did a wonderful job of photography cos the photos, unfortunately, looked better than the real place. Nevertheless, one can understand why the owners chose this place for the slug to reside. Seems to me they were trying to mimic the scene of a little roadside cafe in a quiet town. Gotta give them credit for that!

And so after about an hour of travelling by bus and foot, we finally got to the place, all hoping that the long journey was worth it. The decor, though simple, was tastefully done up, giving it a nice and comfortable ambience that was not at all intimidating. You know how sometimes those posh restaurants give a very uneasy intimidating feeling. Well anyway, our server came over and asked if I would like to know about the menu for the night (which has already been preplanned :D). I declined the offer just for the fun of getting surprised!

First up was our drinks - free flow of Lemongrass Tea - one of their 3 Asian exotic iced teas. Sorry no pics for that - but it kinda looks like Iced Lemon Tea - except that instead of lemon wedges floating around, there were lemongrass shoots sticking out. Surprisingly I really liked the tea! Wasn't too sweet and was refreshing and cooling. The lemongrass scent was just right without being too overpowering.

Next up was our bowl of hearty soup of the day. Don't know exactly what it's called or what it is. But it tasted like really good minestrone without the artificial flavourings intended to make the taste sour and salty. You can almost picture them laboriously brewing the soup from 342 kinds of herbs and vegetables for like 10 hours, stirring the humongous aluminium pot resembling a witch's brew. And who can resist the slabs of crusty bread?!

Appetiser was a delightful plate of hand-crafted hors d'oeuvres. Reminded me of canapes that we saw at Raffles City. This is the sort of thing I would never order from the menu. But it was a pretty interesting experience devouring these little cute bite-sized thingies. There were the grilled tomato halves, grape and feta combi, prawns and avocado and some tasty beef strips. Looks almost too pretty to be eaten!

Then we had the Yukon Mash! Potato food is always boyfriend food. Not to mention a huge serving of it, topped with yummilicious brown gravy and flavoured with Danish butter. My only complaint was it was a tad too buttery for me. Pity we didnt have to digestive capacity to finish it all!

By the time main course was served, we were already kinda full ): I think this was something custom-made cos even after reading the menu a zillion times, I couldn't seem to match the dish to any description on the menu. So i figured it had to be a combination of The Steak(Juicy Ribeye grilled to your desired doneness, with a light brown sauce) and some seafood pasta. The steak was a hit with the boyfriend (who's a sucker for beef). Apparently, it's so well seasoned and done so nicely you can taste the sweetness of the meet! Well, guess I can't contradict that statement in any way. Pasta was tossed with olive oil and butter, topped with cherry tomatoes and a whole load of seafood!

Here comes the best part of dinner - dessert! And by far this was my favourite dish of the night. I actually got a heart-shaped tiramisu cake made just for me! Yay! I mean, it not only looks pretty, it tasted pretty damn good as well! Certainly one of the best tiramisus I've had :)

I've already thought of what I'm gonna order the next time I'm there. Wasuga Wings and Bangers&Mash!

brownie monday.

2007-07-23T02:11:00.000-07:00

That's it. I've caught the baking cum blogging-about-it wave. I just couldn't resist it! So I was trying to keep myself occupied today and for the next few days before school officially starts in less than 2 weeks. Early noon, I hopped down to PhoonHuat at AMK after much recceing on http://www.streetdirectory.com/. It wasn't difficult to find the place since it's just a couple of blocks away from AMK mrt.

So i picked up my basket and began scavenging for baking supplies. Somehow ridiculously I got the similar euphoric feeling shopping there as compared to walking down Wisma or Vivo. Eventually my total bill came up to $24.95 and was pleased to know that there was a 1.5% rebate for cash payment. Speaking of cheap thrill.

After lunch I got down to baking brownies! Think it's the first time i'm baking them - they look pretty easy to deal with for a start. Got the recipe from Cheryl of SheBakes&SheCooks (just for the record, her blog/flog rocks).

Deep Dark Chocolate Brownies

adapted from Martha Stewart's Double Chocolate Brownie recipe

6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter

7 and a half ounces (200 grams) good-quality semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1/2 cup brown sugar (packed firm)

2 tablespoons caster sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degree celcius. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan and line with parchment paper.

2. Put butter, chocolate, and cocoa powder in a medium heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water; stir until completely melted. Let cool slightly.

3. Mix your flour, baking powder, and salt well and aside.

4. Using an electric mixer (or a handwhisk if you prefer), mix sugar, egg, and vanilla well until pale, about 4 mintues. Add chocolate mixture; mix until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until well combined.

5. Pour brownie batter into prepared pan and spread evenly with a spatula. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a skewer, when inserted in the brownie, comes out clean.

6. Let cool in pan for about 15 minutes then lift out to cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares.

Well I made a few variations to the recipe of course. Didnt have a 8inch square pan on hand so had to make do with my 8inch round pan. And for the chocolates, I used 70g of chocolate nuggets and 130g of dark chocolate couvertures, in an attempt not to make overly sweet brownies. Lastly, i added some slivered almonds to the batter for some crunch and to win the favour of my non-chocolate-fans in my family.

The result?

I think it looks pretty good! Although you can probably tell that I should have let it baked a little longer than 30 mins to get an even colour throughout the brownie. Also, it didnt rise as high as I expected. Was probably around 4 to 5cm high at most? Wonder if it's supposed to be like that or I should have added more baking powder.

Verdict from grandma, dad and mum was very encouraging. So much so that it has motivated me to bake tmr!