Deluxe Lunch II

It's another sinful lunch consecutively! It was an impromptu decision to walk all the way to Chinatown from our office. Thanks to our superior who was on a 1/2 day's leave, so that we could spend slightly more than the usual 1hr lunch time!

And the 1st and only food that I could think of was the guo tie aka gyoza near People's Park Complex. I had been mentioning it to my colleagues, swooning to the juicy guo tie after I had unpleasant experience at the newly guo tie shop opposite Amoy Street Food Centre.

Turkey spotted this bakery and immediately hurried over. It was her favourite custard bun that she ate since young. She bought about 7 and me 5.

Look at the assortments here...

and there...!

Finaally... time to order lunch at Tian Jin Fong Kee. Everyone was there for their guo tie.

The place is clean and can sit about 20-25 customers indoor.

Turkey and Pig Head eating there for the 1st time, and definitely not the last.

Beef kway teow. The beef slices were tender, the sauce was tasty and thick and the kway teow wasn't clumpy. Savouring it let me reminisce of MH's beef kway teow and how I used to help her separate the clumpy kway teow into strands.

Sambal Kang Kong; an all time favourite and a concise decision.

Tian Jin Guo Tie. Turkey and Pig Head gave the thumbs up. The skin wasn't too thick, meat was juicy still and not over-fried.

Hahaha... see how clean we'd cleaned the food off the the plates?! But we're not done yet.

Greedy Pig Head didn't feel satisfactorily full, and suggested Xiao Long Bao.
I was surprised that the chef did not add cabbage leaves at the bottom 1st before putting in the meat buns.

This is supposedly to prevent the buns from tearing when using chop sticks to pick them and prevent soup from seeping out.

Turkey demo the art of picking one...

and pouring the soup out into the spoon.

She managed to pick the buns with most soup among us! Envy!

The bill chalked up to $44.20 That's $14.80 per pax. Quite expensive for a lunch but no doubt that all the dishes were great.

Deluxe Lunch I

Let me see... it's a Thur and the sun outside is blaring outside. My colleagues and I were hungry by 11am, and my stomach was drumming inside. I was emailing them about The Shepherd's Pie, when Pig Head suddenly suggested chicken pie which is located near China Square.

Don Chicken Pie currently occupies 2 shop spaces, with ample room for dining in.

There were quite alot a few choices available; the signature chicken pie, black pepper chicken pie, kid's chicken pie (non-spicy) and vegetarian.

Then follow by the sizes; quarter (2 types) or whole.

Yes, MY personal Black Pepper Chicken Pie.

This is a quarter pie size. Heard my colleague, who had the other quarter size (basically 1 whole size sliced into 4), was smaller and not that filling.

It was pretty delicious, the amount of pepper was adequate but wasn't like any black pepper crab. You get to see more meat than potatoes in this pie, which is quite value-for-$.

When I was half-way thru, I was beaten down already. By 3/4, I held up my white flag! I needed space for my ABC!

Don also sells cheesecake and kueh lapis. We tried the latter, which was really soft like sponge cake. You may check their website:http://www.donpieclub.com.sg/

Beetroot Detox

I'm a heavily toxic and constipated person. I've tried all sorts of detox pills and tea. I can't go on like this (~$~) and am advised that prolong uasge is not beneficial for health as well. So when I watched this Taiwanese talk show, with 2 experts from America whom advised on the goodness of beetroot juice that not only help detox and slimming too! But to drink 6 glasses of beetroot concoction a day?!

I followed a recipe from online:

http://www.abc.net.au/nsw/stories/s363394.htm

It calls for celery, apple, beetroot and cucumber. But the quantities used are too much for me alone. So I just divide the portions by 4 since I only have a quater of a beetroot.

My friend suggested that I add in honey to enhance the taste of the juice. She has tried Apple-Beetroot-Carrot/ Celery (ABC) juice at Mei Hua Foodcourt (beside) Golden Shoe and believed that the stall holder has put honey to sweetened it.

Time to get a juicer as my best companion.

I like it! Thou the taste of celery overpower the beetroot. I shall add 2 tbsp of honey next try.

I didn't follow the recipe exactly as I didn't have a cucumber and pure honey at the time.

And I manage to clear my toxin twice the next day!

Here is a list of sites that provide recipes for beetroot juice:

http://funnfud.blogspot.com/2007/11/healthy-red-juice-beetroot-cucumber.html

http://www.happyjuicer.com/juicer-recipes/UnBeetable.asp

http://www.happyjuicer.com/juicer-recipes/Lymphatic-lift.asp

http://www.happyjuicer.com/juicer-recipes/March-to-the-Beet.asp

http://www.waitrose.com/recipe/Apple,_Carrot_and_Beetroot_Juice.aspx

http://www.juicingbook.com/vegetables/beet/

http://www.lpjuicers.co.uk/MainPages-Articles/juicing-recipes.htm

http://www.sprout.net.au/wht_recipes.html

Just a normal dinner affair

Yes, what you see now is a typical dinner for 3/4 persons. I can finish 1 plate of vegetables (depends what's the vegetable of the night) and a whole fish if I want to (e.g. steam pomfret with ginger slices). Since Mother Hen (MH) is a retiree now, she's all the time to spend her time in the kitchen to prepare.

MH must have bought them dirt cheap at the wet market. They taste simple but crunchy and all naturel.

Stir-fry french beans with dried shrimps.

Simple stir-fry dou miao.

Fried luncheon meat of Ma Ling brand, from China.

My bro's gf carried them all the way from Shanghai, China. We're still alive after having eaten so many cans.

One of our favuorite soups, Lotus soup with pork ribs. The more times you heat them up, the sweeter the soup.

In the end, I was left with 2 plates of vegetables > half left , >8 pieces of fish and 2 pieces of luncheon meat. Brought them to office and shared with my colleagues over lunch the next day.

Sunday lunch with Mother Hen's Peanut Porridge

Our Sunday brunch/ lunch usually includes peanut porridge, and chwee kueh and/or plain fried bee hoon/ kway teow from the wet market. Yes, we can some how finish them by late afternoon.

MH slicing chicken meat to shreds while guard dog looked on.

The ingredients include chunky pork ribs (act as part base for the soup + whole garlic as flavour), China peanuts & dried scallops.

Chicken shreds were added in today's lunch. But the porridge was too watery and the rice not boiled long enough. The previous Sunday's was better =(.

Pancakes with red bean paste. Normal but I'm still satisfied because I like red bean.

Ondeh Ondeh. They beat the ones sold at Amoy's. The juice oozes out once I took a bite. Minus point: too sweet.

My favourite chwee kueh from my favourite stall. I brought it to share with KY, who is a more fussy eater than I am. He likes it and commented that it's got less oil than the one his mom always buys for him.

Botak Jones @ Toa Payoh

I kept hearing about Botak Jones over Power 98, and subsequently reading it on the newspaper.

It kept boasting about their juicy burgers and the authentic All-American food. Well, hard to believe when everywhere is using that same phrase.

In my own view, the mini beef burgers at Ice Cold Beer (ICB) are the best! REAL juicy beef patties that splatter once you sink your teeth in. On top of that, the cheese and thick tomato slice didn't help stop my saliva mixed with the juices from dripping from the side of my mouth! Oh and not forgetting the chunky fries!! All these for only $15+++ or so for 3 mini beef burgers & fries? (I'm missing it already)

So I definitely have to try myself what this Botak Jones is all about, especially when my friends who introduced me ICB's have gone to try themselves. (Luckily, they've not betrayed ICB!)

I chose the branch at 970A, Toa Payoh North, which is very near to KY's home. And we'd to rush to Bishan Junction 8 for 'Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull'.

It was a large place with a few stalls still opened by the time we'd reached there. Most probably, the place may be busier during the week days when serving those who work around the area.

Most of the people came with the same purpose as us.

The menu was like an excursion's itineary over a week. Too many words in their 'stories' didn't help but confuse me.

So, we ordered a How's Salad (basically house salad), a regular Black Pepper Chicken and a regular Fish & Chips. They offer choice of 2 sides for the chicken, but KY said that they never asked him.

They did informed that the waiting time would be 20-30mins.

While waiting for the food to come, I noticed this pretty stall that sells anything choc; brownies, fondue, cakes & etc.

That's probably for a person's share.

The house salad is really worth $4, even though it's quite plain. Well, what do you expect from a house salad?? In the plate are lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, cheese, olives and thousand island.

And the food came in less than 20 mins, one-by-one.

Black Pepper Chicken

I forgot that I was eating chicken because my taste buds were absorbed by the black pepper aroma. The chicken was tender too.

Fish & Chips

We'd wanted to order a large portion to share, but luckily we didn't! $6.50 for the regular course was far more worthy. There were 2 big chunks of fish, crispy yet not too over-coated with the flour batter. The fries were not your usual kinda plain ol fried potato strips , as I believed that they'd been processed with some seasoning or cheese.

Overall, food and service are good at an affordable price. The only minus point is the menu and if the choice of sides are actually valid. Or is it possible that they could only provide fries and coleslaw as the only alternatives that night?

I came home to find this on the dining table. My bro exclaimed how good it taste. But I don't always trust his taste. Most of the time, he's only half right!

Not exactly fantasticly great, I think. But good enough for a snack during office tea-time.

I shared it with my colleagues. Reviews were pretty good. Mr Tan, who always gives a constructive comment, found it similar to Don's chicken pie.

More than what MH could carry from Hokkaido

MH went Hokkaido with her frenz, and she almost brought back half of Hokkaido back with her! Like MH like daughter... though I must declare I'm better off. =)

We thought that's all the luggages she had lugged back from Hokkaido.

She must be kidding us??!

1 luggage of goodies + ...

... 2 boxes of goodies.

Chocolates...

And more chocolates...

This belong to me only!

Yes... instant noodles. They are in the fridge currently. Haven had the chance to give it a try. On the right is fried crispy garlics.

The cheesecakes from Hokkaido were really soft and literally melt in your mouth. Careful that they'll be gone sooner than you thought!

Swiss roll with fruits. But it can't beat the cheesecakes.

Japanese tomatoes are the sweetest!

10 pcs altogether. It was on sale and what all Mothers love...

I managed to grab some to share with my colleagues and fellow piggies, before they're gone!

They were a different snack from the ones found at supermarket. My colleagues and I couldn't take our hands off them. And they were crispy but not oily! Good to go along with beer. Each pack cost Yen5oo.

Very crispy and couldn't stop eating!

Hokkaido potatoes; cooked and sealed. Tested by Pig Head and Turkey

Pig Head: "Normal ah... Nothing special."

Turkey: "It'll be great to add in mayo and bacon bits."

For those who're interested in Hokkaido too, you will know what to expect from the photos below. It's a far more relaxing trip than the one I had in Tokyo. Be warned: pls prepare a bowl to store your saliva now...

The End.