Baking Attempt - Banana Macademia Muffins

My 2nd successful attempt at making Banana Macadamia Muffins

I was a little sceptical at the turn out of the muffins as the mixture I had was thick, chunky and little gluey, very different from the chunky yet smooth mixture I had last time round. It was probably due to the fact that I added only 1 big banana this time, relative to 3 the last time. Also, I added more macadamia nuts. I definitely was more focused and followed the recipe more closely. For those keen to try, the recipe is as follows:

Ingredients (Half of everything here):

Recipe taken from http://www.joyofbaking.com/breakfast/BananaMuffins.html

1 3/4 cups (245 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar
1/4 cup (50 grams) light brown sugar ( I used orange sugar cos that was what was available)
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 ounces (65 grams) white chocolate, cut into small pieces ( I replaced this with macademia nuts)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
8 tablespoons (113 grams) (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 very ripe large bananas (approximately 1 pound or 454 grams), mashed well (about 1-1/2 cups)
(I used only 1 big banana)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

My 6 muffins look nicely crispy on the outside and smells Oh so good.lol... Not too sure about the taste though. I am still resisting the urge to eat one as I write..

Oh well, I caved in. The muffin is nice and fluffy, has a crunchy bite to it and is not too sweet. :D However, i find it a little dry. I think it may be due to the additional 1 min of baking time and also, the reduction of the bananas used.

After finishing one, I feel like making a nice cup of tea and enjoy the second one.. :P

Banana Macademia Muffin

Totally bored that life is nothing but work and more work, I decided to do something. Since my house always has bananas (my dad is a big fan and we always have to help finish it in order to prevent him from potassium overload), I decided to make try my hand at making Bananas Muffins.

Have not tried making non-chocolate related muffins as I do not know how they will turn out, both in terms of taste and looks. Anything with chocolate is safe but for today, am venturing out of the comfort zone. Found 2 Banana Muffins recipes online (http://www.joyofbaking.com/breakfast/BananaMuffins.html  & http://thegoddesskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/03/banana-and-peanut-butter-muffins.html) and out of laziness, combined a little from both based on the availability of ingredients and hassle free factor. :P

As I am not too sure how it will turn out, I halved all the ingredients required to minimise wastage should they turn out horribly wrong and ended up with about 7 muffins. The macademia nuts was added on a last minute decision.

In all, it took me about half an hour to gather all the ingredients, weigh, mashed and mix them together and pop them into the oven. I had my fingers crossed the whole time the muffins were baking and I did not even take a peep to see how they will turn out. I did get "warnings" from my Dad that they are nicely brown and should be taken out of the oven. Lol...

And so I waited till my 22 mins was up... :D

This is my tray of 7 nicely fluff up Banana Macademia Muffin.

Close up of the muffins I made with a little of the macademia nuts peeking out. :P

Am trying very hard to resist the temptation to pick one up and eat it. Will wait patiently for the taste test when I have it for breakfast tomorrow morning. ;)

Baikohken Ramen@North Canal Road

This is my 2nd visit to Baikohken Ramen. This time round, we did not have to wait long for a seat as we did during lunch. Eating places in the CDB area are usually not crowded during dinner but this place was about 80% full.

Having tried the normal size ramen and learning my lesson, I opted for the half size portion this time round while my friend settled for the full size one.

This is one of the limited side dishes available that we ordered to share.

When the bowls of ramen arrived, there did not seem to be much difference between the full size and the half size ramen. I have to admit that this is not a true comparison as we ordered different types of ramen.

My friend had the Shio Butter and Corn Ramen. It was served with a slab of butter, lots of corn, leeks and char siew.

My half size Miso Char Siew Ramen and the added eggs.

Another shot of my ramen after pushing away the greens to reveal the char siew.

A close up of the melt-in-your mouth char siew.

I must say that the half size portion is still considered quite a big portion as I had a lot of meat in it. Both of us were so full that we sat till the shop wrapped up for the day. :P The service was very good and the staff did not even chase us away although they were closing.

Overall, this is definitely a good place to get your fill for ramen. :)

Earlier Post: Baikohken Ramen

Photos taken with SE C905 (resolution reduced)

Il Lido @Sentosa Golf Club

Had a task to look for a nice yet inexpensive place to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Luck must be on my side as I was recommended to this very nice place which was having a great set lunch promotion. Getting to Il Lido may be a little problem as there is only one bus (yellow line) in Sentosa that goes to the golf club. My suggestion would be to take a cab or better still, drive in. Parking is free and there are ample lots when we went on a weekday though I cannot say the same for the weekend when more golfers go there for golf.

Stepping into Sentosa on a weekday simply transports you into a different world, away from the bustling city life. The place seems to have its own heartbeat. Birds chirping, peacocks and parrots roaming freely around and plenty flowers in all varieties sprouting everywhere. Beautiful and relax. :)

We took a little while to find the restaurant and actually walked in via the back entrance! Hahaha..The place was quite empty, with only a few tables occupied. The service staff were attentive and yet not intrusive. The owners of the place even provided stools for ladies to place their bags on instead on the floor. A very sweet gesture! :)

After running through the menu, we ordered the set lunch. It consists of an appetizer or soup, choice of daily pasta, fish or meat main course, daily dessert and coffee or Tea. As there were 2 of us, we settled for different items to share.

We were served a big basket of thinly sliced garlic biscuits while our food was being prepared. The portion is very generous considering that we did not have to wait too long for our food.

For antipasto, we had one soup and one appetizer. The soup of the day was Pumpkin soup and appetizer for the day was Pan Seared Scallops.

The pumpkin soup was rich and savoury and very smooth. There seems to be some fish or chicken stock added to it but you can still taste the sweetness of the pumpkin.

The pan seared scallops were served on a bed of mashed and whole chick peas and topped with rocket salad. The scallops were lightly pan seared, keeping the inside still little raw. You can taste the freshness of the scallops and eating it together with chick peas and rocket salad, you get an explosion of textures and flavours in your mouth. Nice.

Next up was our main course. As both of us were not too hungry, we settled for a fish and Pasta.

When the pasta was served, I was chuckling inside. The portion is really fine dining portion and I was a little thankful that we were not too hungry. However, the dish proved me wrong as the pasta did fill me up. The pasta was baked till it was lightly crispy on the outside but still soft on the inside and when you put it into your mouth, it seems to melt away.

We were trying to figure out what the filling inside was. After much debate, we decide to check with the waiter and he told us that it was actually minced mushroom and cheese. How very wrong the two of us were. LOL.

The other main course was the fish – Sea Bass. The Sea Bass was placed on top of blanched spinach and sprinkled with some crispy stuff that we could not really make out, together with a stalk of rosemary. I guess it could be made up of some olives, sea salt and crushed ikan bilis??

There was some tomato puree alongside the plate which makes the presentation interesting and gave an additional flavour to the fish. I get an additional “prawn” on my plate made out of the puree. :) If only the fish was cod fish instead of sea bass, it would have been so much smoother and nicer.

As it was meant to be a birthday lunch celebration, I tried to arrange for a cake but was told that my request was a little last minute and they will have to check with the chef if it was possible to make one. If not, they will probably put a candle on my dessert. I was hoping that the cake would be made but when dessert was served, it did not materialise. The candle came on top of a strawberry together with the desserts instead.

There were 2 parts to the dessert. Cream Brulee and Cheese with some berries sauce.

The cheese was served in a shot glass drizzled with some berries sauce and a stick of chocolate. I like the combination of the cream cheese and tartness of the berry sauce. They balanced each other out and makes you dip in for more. It was finished unknowingly.. hahaha

The dollop of cream brulee looks so cute with a leave inserted. The sugar on top was nicely caramelised and added the crunch to the otherwise soft, milky and smooth dessert. This is the best cream brulee I have eaten. How I wish they had given us a bigger portion!

Time passes quickly when you have good company. A bonus was the good food and nice view of the place. From where we sat, we got a really nice view of both the interior and exterior of the restaurant.

Overall, this is a good place for special occasions and business over lunch as the seats are nicely spaced to give you the privacy you need.

IL Lido @Sentosa Golf Club
http://www.il-lido.com/
Tel: (65) 6866-1977
Opening Hours: Lunch: 11.30am - 3pm 
Dinner: 6.30pm - 11pm
BAR Time: 11am – 12am (Sun - Thu) / 11am – 1am (Fri/Sat and Eves of Public Holidays)
 
Reservations required. Dress code: smart casual.

Crystal Jade Hong Kong Cafe@Orchard Central

I was totally bored and started looking for places that we can explore during lunch. Was looking for somewhere not too expensive, not too crowded and near to office. It so happened that there was an article online about this place and I was pretty attracted to the write up on the giant bowl noodle.

Instead of going during lunch, I suggest this place when we were thinking of where to eat for dinner with some cols.We went a little past 8pm and was quite surprised to find it only about 50% full given its location in Orchard.

The super long escalator that brought us up to the Cafe. I read that this is the most direct and easiest way to find the place.We had to take a few of these long escalators to reach the eating place on the 7th Floor. It offered a nice view of the Orchard area but having said that, if you have a phobia of height, I would suggest that you take the lift in the building.

The extensive menu that was placed before us. As with all Hong Kong Cafes, we had to check the items that we wanted on the order slip. There were so many items on the menu, accompanied with nice food pictures. It took us some time to decide what we wanted to eat. A little spoilt for choice :P

The Hong Kong (HK) Milk Tea ($3.90) and HK Yuan Yang ($3.90) that we ordered. The waitress brought the two vase like containers with the tea and shot glasses that resembles the leaning tower of Pisa to our table and then started pouring water into the "vases".  Little did we know that there were dry ice in it and smoke came pouring out. I was so enthralled by the presentation that I kept snapping away. ;)

Deep Fried Calamari ($6.90) that we ordered to share.

The Giant Bowl Noodle($10.90), served with Spicy Noodle. When the waitress brought it to the table, you can see the shocked looks on my cols' faces as the bowl was really big. I think the bowl is so big I can actually steam my face in it! hahaha. There were lots of ingredients in it too! So much so that you cannot even see the noodles below it.

My Giant Bowl Noodles served with Japanese Style La Mian. In it, there were Fish fillet, Tempura Chicken Chop, Pork Chop, 2 xTempura Prawns, 2 x mussels, plenty of Sotong (Cuttlefish) and a sunny side up. The amount of ingredients in this giant bowl really makes this value for money and really fills you up quickly.

My uniquely presented meal. :) That is my giant bowl after digging out some of the ingredients for a photo shot.. hee.. You can really see how big the bowl is with the chopsticks as comparsion.

Simply loved the idea of my tea being served in this way. I call it the "Leaning Shot Glass and Boiling Flask".

The almost empty boiling flask :P

Overall, the food is considered not bad. We even got a 10% discount on the spot for spending more than $50. The more you spent, the more discount you will get. I remembered there were 3 different tier of discount but cant exactly remember how much you need to spend. The place is also suitable for big groups but you may want to call to make reservations before going down. 

Pretty interior of the place.

Crystal Jade Hong Kong Cafe @ Orchard Central

181 Orchard Road #07-15

Tel: 6509 3118

Photos taken with SE C905

Restoran Asli - Malaysia

This is my second visit to Restoran Asli. Thanks to a friend for bringing me there. It is about an hour's journey from my home provided there is no jam at the custom. Love the tranquility of the place, the laidback lifestyle and of course, the freshness of the food. I doubt you can find another place in Singapore where you can just space out, relax and enjoy good food at unbelievable prices.Even Pulau Ubin is too commercialise nowadays.

We went to the Restaurant at a neither here nor there timing and was slightly intimidated when we walked in as the staff were all sitting around at the entrance, resting and waiting for the crowd to arrive. They were literally staring at us and it did make me hesitant in pushing on. I almost wanted to turn and leave. Luckily, i didn't.. hahaha

The boss came very quickly and asked for our order. Not knowing what we wanted, the boss assisted in the ordering by naming us all the items available, by categories. I ended up making the bulk of the order and below were what we ended up with.

Seafood Toufu (RM6). We ordered this the last time too. Seems like a staple to order. Even children love them. The toufu this time round is not as smooth as the last and does not melt in your mouth. I am not sure if it was because we took too long to take photos or the heat of the oil was not high enough to cook the toufu properly (due to us arriving way too early for dinner).

Huang Di Miao (RM6). Decided to order a veg different from our usual. This was quite nicely done. Not too old, not too young and not too gluey (you will know what I mean if you have eaten huang di miao before.)

Baby Sotong (RM8). The baby sotong here is slightly different from what I had in mind. I was expecting to see a plate of dark and crispy baby sotong which are fried to death. Instead, we got a plate of pretty meaty sotong, each about the length of your thumb, lightly dusted with a batter and fried till they were just golden brown. I would  not called them baby any more, maybe "toddler", and if they were any bigger, I'd probably not be able to eat them whole as it woud get too squeamish for me to look at them in the eye. :P

Crab (RM 30.30). Cannot rememeber the exact name of this dish but remembered that it was stir-fried with curry leaves, hay bi (dried shrimps) and belachan. The meat of the crab was very tender and juicy. We decipher that the crab was steam-cooked before it was stir-fried with the remaining ingredients so that the original flavour of the crab will be locked in. Depending on your preference, if you like the flavour of the dried shrimps and belachan to be infused into the crab meat, this may not be for you. I'm ok with this as I get to taste the freshness and sweetness of the crab and at the same time, the fragrance of the hay bi ;)

Deep-fried Man Tou (RM3.20 for 4). What is eating crab without some deep-fried man tou?? I love the man tou here. They were fried to perfection. Golden brown , crispy on the outside, soft and sweet on the inside. Perfect accompaniment to the crab and provides the carb for the meal.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable meal! Good and fresh food, with a nice breeze, near the sea and (almost) under the stars and does not damage your pocket. What more can you ask for? :) As we ate our food, the smell of piping hot food keep whiffing by and we cannot help but let our eyes stray to the variety of food that was served at the other tables. By the time we finished our dinner, the place was almost 80% full. Considered very good business given its remote location.

Over run our timing to leave the place before sunset and took this night shot while enduring mosquitoes bites. The place has an entirely different feel at night. Even more peaceful and beautiful than during the day.

Restoran Asli, Johor Bahru

Photos taken with Nikon D50 (resolution reduced)

Baikohken Ramen @ North Canal Road

A col brought us to this Ramen Place at North Canal Road. It is a very small eatery that is opened by a Japanese. The owner is the chef himself and heard that most of the ingredients were directly imported from Japan.

There was already a queue when we arrived and while waiting for our seats, caught a glimpse of the type of Ramen offered outside the shop. The sign above says it all. We also spotted a few Japanese eating at this place so the food must be quite good.

For such a small place, I would say that the variety of Ramen is decent. It is also good place to eat for people like me cos I do not have to spend a long time pouring over the menu deciding what to eat.:P All you have to do here is to decide the soup base you want, from Miso, Shio (salt), or Shoyu (Soya Sauce). Next, pick what you would like to eat: - Normal , Butter and Cream, Char Siew and Vegetable, and your order is done! Of course if you would like some sides, they do have Gyoza available too.

While waiting for our ramen, we were served ice cold unpolished barley drink which was really light and  refreshing.

My Shoyu Ramen came topped with plenty of greens which all of us thought was spring onions but was actually Japanese leeks as confirmed by the chef. I had added eggs to my ramen and really liked how the yolk is runny while the white is firm. The meat in my ramen was buried by the leeks so I had to dig it out in order to get a picture of it. LOL. The meat was generous and so tender that I actually tore it apart while "digging" it out. :P

Look at the texture of the meat. It was very well prepared and really very tender. Thumbs up!

There were some bamboo shoots in the ramen too. I have never like bamboo shoots because you can smell them from a metre away. Surprisingly, the bamboo shoots here do not have that smell. I took the courage to try after hearing that it is quite nicely done from my cols. All I can say is, eating bamboo shoots is an acquired taste which I have yet to acquire!  :p

My col's Shio Ramen. The noodles were done really properly. It is springy and does not stick to your teeth.

Another col's Miso Char Siew Ramen. We all went "wow" when we saw this big bowl of Char Siew Ramen topped with generous portion of Char Siew and leeks. It was so full that the soup almost overflowed from the bowl. :D

Another col's Butter and Corn Miso Ramen. Didn't get to try it but was told that the corn is very sweet.

I must say that this is one Ramen that really pushes me on. There was still a lot left even after I had eaten for very long. Had to take a break before finally preceeding to finish it up. The portion is really BIGger than normal. Even the guys commented that the portion was big.. Hahaha.. We should have opted for the half size one that was available.

Overall, this is one nice place for Ramen but do not expect to be able to sit around and chat after your meal during lunch. Just be sure to go earlier if you do not want to stand in the queue during the lunch. Alternatively, can opt to go for dinner when it is less crowded. :)

Baikohken Ramen
7 North Canal Road
Tel: 6534 3808
Opening Hours: 11:00 - 15:00 and 17:00 - 22:00 (last order at 21:30)

http://www.baikohken.com/








Photos taken with SE C905 (resolution reduced)