Barney and Hippopotamus @ Marina Square

It's just another family event for this June. We brought our kids to watch Barney Show at Marina Square. Well, needless to say..they were very excited over it but not us. We saw parents queuing for two hours prior the show starts. Those who can get into the entry were entitle to take photo with Barney and friends after the show ended. Well, as for us, we decided to go for a good lunch before the show starts at 4.00pm.

We decided to try Hippopotamus, a french restaurant at #01-204/205 (our first time) with a cozy and warm  interior atmosphere.

Our orders were two sets of sirlion steak set lunch come with a choice of sauce and 3 side dishes. Choices of 5 types of sauces are available to choose - barbecue, Béarnaise, stewed shallot, pepper and Roquefort cheese and choice of side dishes - fries, potato gratin, green beans, baked potato, ratatouille or basmati rice.

We also ordered a kid set meal - nuggets and chips with a choice of drinks and ice-cream and a bottle of Summerfield California Chardonnay 2008 to pair with our steak.    



Steak with pepper sauce and side dishes - Ratatouille, chips and potato gratin



Steak with pepper sauce and side dish - baked potatoe with sour cream, chips and green beans



Kid meal - Nugget and Chips

Sommerfied California Chandonnay 2008

Once settled, we were served with complimentary bread but we didn't enjoy the bread much as it was really tough and dry to taste. The steaks are quite fresh except a bit saltish in taste. The nuggets were very tender and chips are cripsy too. By the end of the meal, we were quite satisifed with the food with reasonable price. The staffs were friendly and helpful. Can try!

Say Cheese..

 

Cheese....



Cheese.....

 

Say Cheese......If not....I am going to .........

Ok..ok..I say cheese

 

Cheese...Want to try my bread?





Yummy..yummy



Let's Play @ Changi Airport

It was another fun event in this June with my kids at Changi Airport Temrinal 3 near Check-in Row 11. It is free as long as you spend any amount at any changi airport's retail outlets. Prior entering the playground, you have to produce your purchase receipt to redeem for one play and require to sign a consent form while queueing for your turn.  Each time, a group of children will be allowed to enter and is limited to 10 minutes for each play. The inflatable playground has slides and inflatable airplanes, sunflower models for photo taking. 

My elder boy was having fun with it but my timid younger boy was terrified by the bouncing effect and refused to play even I offered to carry him around. The airport's inflatable playground has ended on 26 June. Indeed a nice place for Kids!

   

Vogage De La Vie - Sentosa Resort World Festive Grand Theatre

We went to watch the “Vogage De La Vie” at Sentosa Resort World Festive Grand Theatre on last Friday. It was our first time watching a real life circus acrobatic theatre performance. In the first place, we were quite worried with my younger one (18 months old) who might throw tantrums in the event of the show as kids at this age have shorter concentration and might be scared by loud music and the pyrotechnics effect. To my surprise, my two kids were well-entertained and had enjoyed it very much. It was a fun night out for us!  

The overall performance was indeed entertaining and exciting. I personally love the setting of the props, stage, music, costumes and pyrotechnics of the show. The audiences get to see the performers up close when the performers moved within the audience seats. This has also lifted up the ambience of the performance. A few performances like the stunting bow and arrow act, the Finnish rope and cloud swing act, the Viktor Kee’s juggler act and Aurelia Cat’s trapeze act were all impressive and amazing. It is worth watching if you have not see any of such circus acrobatic theatre performance. 

My Cooking Journal 15 - Stir Fry Leek with Seafood and Firm Bean Curd

Leeks are close relative to onions, garlic and scallions as they belong to the one vegetable family known as Allium vegetables. Compare to onions or scallions, leeks are sweeter in taste, milder and more refine in flavour (when cooked).  

Leeks process few good nutritions to our bodies. It is relatively low in saturated fat, sodium and cholesterol (capable of possessing low blood pressure effect and hence, lower risk of heart disease), rich in Dietary Fiber (assist in digestion and metabolism), Vitamin A, Vitamin C (Assist in repairing body tissues and boosting immune system), Vitamin K (Promotes strong bone and teeth), Vitamin B6, Folate, Manganese, Iron and Magnesium (Enhance proper growth and function of our body for sustaining optimum health). Apart from that, leeks contain some anti-bacterial properties to assist us to fight against infections.

Buy, Selection and Storage:

You can purchase leeks from local supermarkets or wet markets. Before purchase, choose leeks that are firm and less than 1 1/2 inches long (shorter leeks are more tender and delicate in taste). Make sure that the green parts are un-wilted and no green/yellow/brown spots on stalks. 

Leeks should wrap in paper towels or newspaper and stored in refrigerator for up to 5-7 days. If you have washed and cut, you can stored them in a air-tight container and keep it in refrigerator for 3-5 days.  It can still maintain it freshness.

Ingredients:

1. 3 stalks leeks - Thoroughly washed, sliced diagonally into 2 inches length
2. 4 pieces Medium Size Prawns - Washed, deshelled and deveined 
3. 1 piece Squid - Wash, remove membrane, vein, eyes and cut into rectangle slices with diagonal pattern on surface. (refer my cooking journal 4 - method no. 1 if you want to find out how to process the squid) 
4. 1 block Firm Bean Curd -  Cut into small rectangle cubes
5. 2 tablespoon olive oil
6. 4 cloves garlic - skin peel and sliced
7. 3 slices of ginger
8. 1 teaspoon sesame oil
9. 1 teaspoon fish sauce - for marinate of seafood
10. 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
11. pinch of corn flour - for marinate of seafood
12. pinch of pepper, salt and sugar - to taste 
13. Water (1 cup)

My Cooking Journal 14 - Steam White Pomfret (清蒸白鲳魚)

This is another steam fish cooking method that I would like to share. This times I included wolfberry in my steam fish dish. Wolfberry (枸杞子) is very well used in chinese cruisine and in tradition chinese medicine. It is very nutritious and sweet in taste. It contains various important nutrients such as essential amino acids, vitamin C and B2, iron, potassium, zinc, selenium, phosphorous, calcium and germanium and also with small amount of vitamin E, dietary fiber and proteins.

 

Wolfberry is well know for improving our vision and liver, for anti-aging purpose, helps to promote healthy skin and hair growth, boost our immunity, improve our blood pressure level and prevent cancer.  Usually, I also like to add them for my chinese soup recipe.

 

This dish takes about 25 minutes to prepare and cook.

Ingredients:

 

1. 1 medium white phompet 
2. 1 inche Ginger, thinly shredded
3. 1 tomato, cut into 6 wedges
4. 1 red chilli, thinly sliced
5. 2 pieces dried mushroom - soaked till soft and thinly sliced
6. 2 pieces of preserved salted vegetables, thinly shredded
7. 2 stalk Spring Onion, white part cut into (1 inch) length and green part thinly sliced
8. 4 cloves garlic, minced for garnish
9. 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
10. 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
11. 1 teaspoon sesame oil
12. 3 tablespoon olive oil
13. dashed of sugar and white pepper

Sauce:

1. 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
2. 1 tablespoon oyster sauce 
3. 1 tsp sesame oil
4. Dash of white sugar and pepper

Mixed the above in a small bowl and set side.

  

 Deed fried Garlic (for Garnish):

 

1.  Heat wok, add 3 tablesppon of olive oil to heated wok
2. Add minced garlic and fried till 75% of the garlic turned brown. Be careful as garlic get overcooked very easy, you have to watch it closely.
3. Transfer the fried garlic to a bowl, let the garlic sit in the hot oil for 2 minutes.
4. Separate the fried garlic and oil in a bowl. Set aside for garnish.

 

 

My Cooking Journal 13 - Chinese Fish Porridge (鱼片粥)

If you want to prepare a quick, simple and satifying meal for your family, you can try the one-pot approach that is to cook rice and ingredients together in a pot. I am referring to cooking the rice into soft- thickening texture (which is commonly known as "porridge" or "congee") complete with ingredients that you like.  

 

I prefer to cook the porridge in a rice cooker as it is easier, faster and you need not worry of porridge getting burnt on the base. When cooking porridge on a gas stove, you need to stir frequently to get the consistent texture and to avoid the porridge burnt on the base. So in a rice cooker, all you need to do is to add the necessary ingredients and water at right times and provide a good stir when necessary to make a good consistent texture.

I would be using fresh King fish (Known as "Batang" locally) as the main ingredient.

Ingredients:



Sliced King Fish soaked in salt water

1. 200g to 300g King (Batang) Fish - cut into thin slices and soaked in salt water
2. Century Egg - Remove shells and chopped into small pieces
3. 4 nos. medium size Dried Scallop - Soaked in water
4. 2 nos. Fish Cake - pan fried the fish cat & cut into thin slices
5. 1 cup rice - to serve 2 adult & 2 toddlers
6. Water 
7. 2 cloves of garlic - cut into slices
8. 4-5 slices of ginger 
9. 2 tablespoons preserved chinese vegetable (cabbage)
10. Fried shallot and chopped coriander- for garnish
11. Dash of pepper and sesame oil
12. Fish sauce - to taste