Foodie on food

It has been sometime since I blog on food. No, I have not stopped cooking or baking, I just put them aside. So, here they are…


This meal is re-made using all left-overs. Any time better and healthier than the Macs


I didn’t make this. It is a rhubard pie. Always wanted to find out what it taste like. Been watching British Bake-off and it is a favourite dish to do among the contestants. When I saw it, I must try. Verdict…good for those who like sour-ish pie. Not exactly mine kind of pie.


With all these, I whipped out three different types of tiramisu for the great reunion

 
Durian, Bailey’s and semi-bitter sweet tiramisu.


Ann was off school for two days because of the PSLE oral exams, we did the Shanghai dumplings, it’s her favourite.


We went Moroccan. This is really easy. Whether you are a FTWM or SAHM, this is a very nutritious meal for the family.

 
Put all ingredients in and pop into the oven. You can do whatever you want, spend time with your kids. If you are a FTWM, get a slow cooker. Even a very good one doesn’t cost more than a $100. Do it in the morning, by evening, everyone can eat together.

 
Oxtail with couscous. We were first introduced to couscous by a friend, was an Asean-scholar, who went to Morocco to do mission work. In Morocco, they will cook a big pot of couscous. Then a pot of stew. The cooked couscous will then be placed in a big serving plate, the stew will be poured over it. The whole family will then use their hands to eat from the same plate. Yes, it is community eating.

When this friend came back from Morocco, she brought with her some couscous and invited us over for a meal. It was ‘eat at first sight’. Both the spouse and I fell in love with it. We search for it and found it. When the kids came, we introduced it to the kids. Ann, especially, loves it.


Here is a picture of community eating.

If too much white rice is unhealthy and brown rice, the family find hard to eat it, try couscous. It is a healthy staple. According to some nutritionist, couscous is more than just “the food so nice they named it twice”, it also has a wide variety of health benefits, including the ability to prevent certain cancers, increase heart health, prevent bacterial and viral infections, promote normal metabolism throughout the body’s systems, controls fluid levels in the body, improve digestion, help weight loss efforts, heal wounds, build muscles, and boosting the immune system.

From Morocco, we went to Japan.

Cured my own salmon. All these for just $13. You won’t get this price if you eat outside.

 
Brought out the bento box and we had Japanese food. The family loved it so much.


Wonder what is this? A great dipping sauce for anything. Recipe shared by a very long-time friend.
Cilantro, green chili padi, garlic cloves, blend together. Thai fish sauce, sugar and  lime juice, whisk till sugar dissolve.  Add into the blended mixture. Goes well with practically anything.
Like what Ann always say, “easy peasy, lemon squeezy”. *Wink*

A super long weekend

Hari Raya Pusa and the National Day were just side by side. Plus the weekends, we had four holidays in a row. I think, this must be the first in my lifetime. We decided to have a short holiday but not too faraway.
A good friend of mine gave me a special package to Batam. The last time I visited Batam was way before even Kai was born. That was a long time. I wasn’t expecting much but just a few days of taking life slowly. What really amazed me was this bunch of staff at the hotel was simply out of this world. I think I wrote my most appreciative comment ever in Trip Advisor. The hotel is Holiday Inn Resort, Batam

My family and I spent 3 days 2 nights( 8 to 10 Aug) at this hotel recently. We have been to many places and have stayed in many hotels but we all agreed that Holiday Inn Resort, Batam wins hands down in terms of staff work attitude. The time we were there it was a long holiday in Singapore and Malaysia. The hotel was running at 100% occupancy rate. All the F&B outlets were running at full steam yet, the staff served with such great attitude. They continued to smile and chat with us, they cleared tables quickly so that the later guests could have a clean place to eat. Even their F&B Manager, Mr Leslie Tan was busy clearing tables. Very often, behind a team of good staff, is a very good leader. He led by example. At the front office, the staff served with a smile. Helping guests to open the door was their GM, Mr Frank Schoenherr. You will probably now understand why this is such a great team. From the GM to the Manager to the staff, everyone was doing their bit to make their guests happy. Transportation service was 1st class. The shuttle was on time to pick us at the ferry terminal and was punctual to fetch us there on the last day. Housekeeping was punctual and the amazing thing is that in spite of a huge crowd, no one staff was without a smile. 

The place is a bit old, the décor is a bit outdated, it definitely needs some touch up. For a start, I would suggest that they removed all fabric sofas from the rooms and replaced them with PVC ones. That is the cause of the musty smell as mentioned by some reviewers. They have served their time, time to let go. However, it is still a clean, proper room for sleep and shower. We booked the 2 bedroom suite and it came with two bathrooms and it was useful. Teppanyaki dinner is a must try. BBQ dinner was excellent with very fresh seafood served!

In spite of the rooms, I will still give this hotel the two thumbs up. Rooms are just bricks and mortars, it is the people who give it life and soul.

You know how housekeeping always slack when hotels are running at 100% occupancy rate. Here, housekeeping was punctual even though all rooms were packed to the brim. Who has the best workers? No, it is no longer China. It is Batam. Hats off to them.


Nice comfortable ferry to Batam. I was really out of time. I didn’t know that so much have changed. Book through Batamfast.com. It was a breeze.

 
View from our room

 
View of the whole hotel. That white slide was awesome!


From the front of our room. Reminded me of the desert in Arizona

 
Yummy seafood bbq. You can imagine how fresh they were, the sea is right at the doorstep

 
 
Do everything at your own risk, I find this so ticklish. Just do what you want to do lah, don’t blame the hotel if anything happen!

   
Towel counter. Cute!


 
Go kart time!

 
 
Don’t mess with this girl, she is rock solid!

Then we headed for a kelong lunch, well, not exactly a real kelong but still, it was a seafood lunch.

Then I witnessed this…

   
They threw plates and plates of left-overs into the sea to feed the fishes. Oh please, do fishes eat chilli-crabs. When there were no more left-overs, she took white rice from the pot to feed the fishes and the adults made no attempt to stop her.

Ok, Singaporeans are not perfect. We are kiasu, kiasi. We are termed the ugly Singaporeans but seriously, we know our limit. Do we defaced people’s historical artefacts when overseas? We are so kia cheng-hu that we obey rules like there is no tomorrow. I am not xenophobic but with such behaviours, it is really difficult not to keep my distance.


The amount of food that have been left behind. The crabs and the clams were literally untouched. Scary, right. *Haiz…*

The dinner at night was more enjoyable.
 
These two chefs were so cheery. They were under tremendous stress. They had to feed about 60 guests but they held the fort professionally!

 
These two “chefs” look terribly familiar!

   

Lobster


Salmon


Squid

A short but fabulous getaway…well, not exactly a getaway!

A musician in the making

Kai starting learning the guitar when we came back last year. He started learning sometime in September and he picked up very quickly. His teacher said that he learned a lot through listening. He could make out the music just by hearing. A musician in the making.

Last Friday, he had his first recital.


 
Waiting patiently

 

 
He was good. Can’t believe my little boy has grown to be a musician in the making.
He may have missed a chord or two but a gem needs time to sparkle.

He won’t go hungry

Kai’s first Home Econs lesson. He made Spaghetti Bolognese and brought home some for me to try. The taste is there but pasta not al dente. For his first effort, it is very well done. Well, if he can cook this for himself, he won’t go hungry and it is pretty nutritious too.

The Great Reunion (Part I)

We may have just broken the SCGS reunion record. Some 87 pretty ladies gathered on the 28th July 2013 for the great reunion after 30 long years. For some of us, it was our first meet up since 1983. Some of us are still slim and trim, some of us have added on some kilos thanks to child-birth... one thing for sure, we all have a line or two. In whatever shape we came in, one thing hasn’t changed. The confident SCGS girl in all of us. Among us, are doctors, lawyers, engineers, businesswomen, stay-at-home-mums, semi-retirees, teachers...whatever our profession, on that day, we were all just the Class of 1983. The young, wild, giggling girls were all out for a great time of reunion.

There were about 180 in our cohort. 87 turned up, some 30 girls were based overseas, sadly two among us have passed on. The rest were not contactable. Looking at the figures, it was an almost 50% attendance. A very good turn out considering we have left school for 30 years. Thanks to Facebook and other social media, we managed to find so many of us. This is the spirit of SCGS, this is the power of women when they come together. Also present, were some teachers who have moulded us and of course, our well respected principal, Miss Rosalind Heng. She led us with an iron fist but often, so gentle like a mum to many of us.


 
Beautiful backdrops. It was like going back in time.


 
Not one but two cakes were baked for the special occasion. All done by two of the girls

 
Guests streaming in and more photographs for memory sake


The arrival of our VIP. She mingled with all of us


Pictures from yester years contributed by each and every girl. See what I mean, girls are superb when they come together


Nice deco for the party of the year


Believe this…this lady is in her mid-forties and still fits into her daughter’s uniform


Singing the school song…

 
This lady was found only on the day itself. Amazing!


Cake cutting after the song

 
One final picture of all the ‘kim geks’.

Thank you ladies for such a beautiful day. Thank you for taking time to find each other.

(This reflects our time-honoured tradition, because gold and jade in Hokkien (Kim Gek) and in Mandarin (JinYu) connotes a young  girl brought up and educated in the best manner – SCGS website)

I am a ‘kim gek’.