Sunday, August 31, 2008

Sylvie Esmonin Bourgogne 2004

I bought this bottle during the recent Caveau Burgundy tasting @around 50 bucks.
Sylvie Esmonin Bourgogne 2004 is a modern style burgundian. The wines are more extracted and normally fermented with the stem to impart more flavour to the wines. On the nose the bourgogne is pretty intense, with nose of cedar, gamey and herbal character. Some greenish tannins on the palate but improved after few hours of decanting. Enjoyable if you like sligtly extracted style Burgundian Red at a decent price.

Les Hauts De Pontet Canet 2004

Les Hauts de Pontet Canet is the second label of Pontet Canet. The 2004 Pontet Canet scored a massive 93WSpointers and I'm pretty keen to try on the second label. Courtesy of SH, this rare bottle did not dissapoint.
The nose was brimming with leather, cassive and dust. Nice restraint elegance. Palate wise, its on the mediumto light side, lackin in weight and purity. Alot of cassis and powder tannins. Enjoyable.

Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak, Adams Road

Demona and I has heard so much about the Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak Stall in Adam Rd's Food Court. Most of the newspaper/online review would always quote that even Sultan of Brunei will send his minions to grab a few pack here whenever he is in town.

Hey, if it fits for a King, and at less than 5bucks per plate, we just gotta try it once rite?

By the time we reach there around 730pm on a Sunday evening, everything has been sold out except the chicken wing set. (The stall only sell in terms of set, chicken wing set, otah-otah + chicken wing set etc). The Brunei king must have "sweep" the stall clean...

Anyway, the queue is tremendously long and I-Dogma queued for about 30 minutes before getting my hands on the King's Nasi Lemak.The Verdict: The chicken wing is very crispy. Freshly fried without any stale oil stink. The rice is fluffy as Selera Rasa used only Basmati Rice. The rice is fluffy and soft but hmmm,, it doesn't give me much kick leh... I still prefer KL's Village park Spicy beef rendang nasi lemak.. SLurrrryppyThe chilli: Spicy and slightly sweetish. Not too bad but Demona did not gobble them down...
Carrot Cake: Demona ordered a plate of fried carrot cake as well. for 3SGD, the portion is humongous and value for money. Taste wise- it was just an average Carrot cake, lacking in much desired wok hei and crunch bits.

First ever baking session@Dogma's crib

Demona: Dogma's sudden decision to relocate back to Malaysia after my first two months of my new bumpy wumpy ride job (Which is extremely challenging, tough, tiring, you name it.... I think I lost a couple of kilos too) really came like a swift blow to me.

Things seemed like they're back at square one.

I decided to do some baking here... baking is always therapeutic to me. I'm guessing, it's because of my strong passion in it. At least, baking would take my mind off everything for that few hours under some hot oven steam, with messy flour, butter, sugar coated fingers.

I brought the extra oven from home (Taiping) all the way down to Singapore (save some extra cost haha), and dropped by Phoon Huat over the weekend to get some basic baking tools and ingredients to get the ball rolling.

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Demona: Finally! We put the vanilla beans that we bought from Bali (which Dogma almost got conned into buying overly priced ones) to good use! I've decided to add them into my chocolate chip cookies batter! The smell was extremely powerful! The moment Dogma slit the bean open, the smell immediately struck our nostrils!




Demona: Busy beating the brown sugar butter coated batter until it turned light brown colour, and fluffy looking.



Demona: Little spoonfuls of batter, nicely coating these lovely little bite size chocolate chips were placed on to the tray and ready for some hot, steamy baking sessions!



Demona: It didn't need long for these little sinful goodies to turn brown. One recipe gave about 30 cookies. Some were a bit soft and chewy as I didn't let them bake till they turned dark brown. Some turned quite dark but the texture was very crunchy. So I guess, in this case, it is an "either or" situation. Either you like it chewy or crunchy. Burnt aroma or without it.

I'm not sure on the real comments, but I personally thought it was a good effort and a few church members gave some encouraging comments on the cookies. They were being very nice.



Demona: One recipe wasn't good enough to curb the solemness engulfing me. I also tried on a first attempt on baking some ham and cheese scones, knowing that Dogma has a tongue for savouriness whilst I'm the sucker for sugars. The scone recipe actually added in sun dried tomatoes rather than cheese, but sad to say, cost is a major contributing factor of my baking style here. So cheese will have to do for now.

Dogma helped pan fried chopped ham into burnt perfection! I added in some cheddar cheese chunks, paprika and mustard powder. I coated these spicy smelling squares with egg to help them cook quicker and to give a nice brownish burnt colour to them.




Demona: The scones weren't too soft, which was good: I thought that the texture was quite good for a scone, but flavour wise, I have much to improve on. The scones weren't flavourful enough: Maybe it was the lack of cheese and ham, or maybe skipping the sun dried tomatoes did affect the flavour. Maybe adding more ham and mozarella cheese instead will help. Anyhow, I did like the texture of the scones, but flavour has got to improve. I probably would continue on making savoury scones with this recipe but altering the flavour ingredients. Am already thinking of trying on a sweet scone recipe on my next baking session!

I'm predicting that I'll have some new baking picts to post up next week! Dogma's last day in Singapore will be on Sunday and I would probably need hours and hours of therapeutic baking.....

Commonwealth Market

It has been pretty quiet for the past few days...Both Demona and I were pretty much quiet by our own standards. One could argue that this is a deafening silence before the storm as much challenges and obstacles lies ahead upon Dogma's relocation back to Malaysia.

Let's keep our finger cross and keep praying that all will go well!

Here are some snap shots of another round of budget food at Commonwealth Market ( near to Queensway MRT).

Ice Coffee+ home made Barley@1SGD: Demona and Aileen really love the homemade Barley drinks sold by the Danny's Coffee Stall. The barleys were slow cooked to perfection, melts in your mouth when you smash it with the tip of your tongue against your teeth. Besides, the aunty manning the stall took pride in this barley drink and would give extra ( 6-9 pieces) of ginko nuts if you are one of her regulars barley drinker. Double Thumbs up!
Close up of Ginko Winko nuts!
BBQ Chicken Wings@1SGD each: Pretty well done BBQ wings without excessive gooey honey. The wings were crispy and clean but the chilli sauce would need some extra work to give us more kick. Average.
Claypot YeeMee: Not too sure where Demona ordered this, but the dish was average at best. Nuff Said

Home Cook @ Clementi

We've been eating in quite a fair bit since Dogma lost his job.
Well, no matter how gloomy is the day, the tummy still has to be pampered, albeit in a more thrifty way...
Bagel@1.50SGD: Bought from cold storage, lacking in the chewy-ness and fragrance found in freshly baked bagel ( where could you find freshly baked bagels with toppings here in Singapore?) A tad hard and stiff for my liking. Man i miss those New York/Holland Deli where fresh bagels were topped with assorted ham/cheese/cranberry sauce/ smoked salmon and served with a good old cuppa in a sunny afternoon! Meow!!
Salmon Belly Strips cooked 2Ways@3.00SGD: Bought from Cold Storage. These strips of fatty Salmon belly is really, well, Fatty.. Season with some black pepper, salt and put them in the oven for 15minutes and you can hear the oil crackling and let the Salmony aroma filled up the kitchen. Slurpy, but not for the faint hearted. Artery Clogging yumminess!

Salmon Belly Strips in Tomato Sauce: Pan fried the Salmon belly strips with some Sarawakian whole black pepper till golden brown and drain some of the excess salmon oil, Add some freshly prepared mustard sauce +pasta sauce and bring to boil. You'll get a cheap and hearty fish soup in a jiffy! Thicken the soup and it could be a great dip for the bagels/bread or pasta as well!
Ham Chips@2.19SGD: Bought a prepacked Ham ends/chips from Cold Storage. You know, those looose bits of ham and the end part that was typically pre-packed and sold a huge discount. Same taste, great value, @ Cold Storage!
Home Made Beef Shank@Dogmama made these solid northern Chinese Beef Shank cold cut. Good to satisfy demona's Trex appetite. Lacking in some spicy pepper/anise (5 herbs) to give it more kick thou.

Wines @ Thirsty Thursday

It has been some time since i last joined the Thirsty Thursday Gang.None the less, TT still maintains a great atmosphere after my long absence.. The wines for the recent TT has been focusing on value for money wines, with looming and painful recession in mind.

Chateau Leoville Poyferre, Saint Julien, 1999: I have always like Ducru and Las Cases from St Julien. Particularly for the elegance and pencil shaving nose. However, the Poyferre is quite a let down. Opened up with a typical Bordeaux nose of leather, cassis. Abit restrained. Dusty and earthy nose appear. On the palate, currant and powdery and sappy tannins, but abit watered down and lacking in weight.

Winespectator note:
Lots of licorice, spice and currant aromas. Medium- to full-bodied, with silky tannins and a medium finish. Slightly diluted midpalate, but attractive. Score range: 85-87


Ferraiolo, Vigneti Del Geographico, 2003: A weird over fruit/musty nose appear on the nose upon opening. Some suspect it to be an off bottle. After decanting for 2 hours, more fruits and dark berry occur. Full bodied but not impressive at all.

Winespectator Note@88pointer
Pretty aromas of plums and blackberries with hints of dark chocolate. Medium- to full-bodied, with silky tannins. Nice wine. Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon. Best after 2005. 1,100 cases made–JS
Francis Ford Copolla Presents Director's Cut Chardonnay 2006, Russian River Valley: A wine from the famed director of Godfather series. FFC wines is a big hit in the american market but i was skeptical as it might mean fruity wines with no minerals and characters. However, i was pleasantly surprised by the Director's cut Chardonnay. Very nice in nose with toast, butter/vanilin. More fruit and oil/fat in the palate and slight overoaked but enjoyable. Short finish.

Francis Ford Copolla Presents Director's Cut Pinot Noir 2005, Russian River Valley: This was a let down. Typical new world pinot with too much fruit. Over extracted with no character. Yuck

Yalumba The Reserve 1996: A blend of shiraz/cabernet. The most amazing wine for the night. Served blind, most thought it was a Young Old World (Bordeaux). Open up with an ultra elegant nose of dust, leather, cassis and blackcurrant. Very fresh and defying the age of the wine. On the palate, clean fruits, balanced acid rounded with silky, lycra tannins. Superb. Easily rivalled a classified bordeaux. Can be kept further 10years easily. Amazing. Grab!

Robert Parker Ratings 96points.
"An awesome wine, only made in the greatest vintages, the 1996 Shiraz/Cabernet The Reserve (only 50 six-packs available for the USA), is nearly as spectacular as the 1998. A rich, full-bodied, concentrated effort revealing tremendous fruit depth, enormous power and weight as well as impeccable balance and purity, it should hit its prime in 2-3 years, and last for 15+." RP

Fatman Satay @ Lau Pa Sat: The wines for the night was enjoyed together with the good old Fat Man Satay tar-powed from Laupasat. We had some roast duck from Asian Kitchen as well, which was a let down.

Rasa Sedap Foods Pte Ltd @Joo Chiat Rd

Demona: AYAM PENYETTTTTT! AYAM PENYETTTTTTT! Too bad when we arrived, "flat chicken" was already sold out. According to Dogma, the stall is near Rasa Sedap.




Demona: The shop was empty when we were standing outside of it. Since there wasn't any luck on getting hold of a flat chicken, and we were already here, we thought we'd brush aside the fact that the shop was empty and gave their food a try.



Demona: I took some "tempe" (fermented soybeans) with long beans.. and they tasted, OMG... amazing!: the beans were spicy, crunchy, coupled with soft, fully absorbed gravy sauce locked inside the squarish tempe.



Demona: Dogma and I are T-rexes, and beef rendang has always been prone for landing on our makan plates, and this pitstop did not differ much either. The beef rendang was...... oooh lah lah! The meat was very, very tender and juicy! coated with rich, thick, rendang gravy. These T-rexes were fighting for them meat chunks!



Demona: *drummmm rolllllssssss* the winner of the best chilli was ...de one on the top! The sambal nasi lemak chilli was *smooches!* You could eat just like that. Dogma thought the Demona Chilli Gobbler action was showing too much!

Verdict: Total damage cost was SGD 4.90, plus a SGD 1.10 teh ais. The portion was HUGEEEEEE. It was just nice for two to share. I'm guessing that the waiter was kind to gave us a lil' extra on the portion size since there weren't many customers around and if the food were not fully sold by closing time, it'd be gone to waste anyway. Apparently, Rasa Sedap has 6 branches all around Singapore, but Joo Chiat's branch, somehow rather not attracting many customers but other branches are doing very well. Do give Rasa Sedap a try! The rendang is making me salivate again... Oooooooh!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Western food@Commonwealth Market

Demona: Dogma and I wanted to have a change on our dinner venues, usually Holland V, Clementi or his humble home, we headed to Commonwealth Avenue market, which was located nearby where I'm staying.



Demona: Many of the stalls here were closed at night. We had no idea what's good to try out in this place. We took a little stroll around the area, scouting for stalls that would catch our foodventura eyes. That was when we saw.......



Demona: THIS! SUCH A LONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG.. queue. I peeked in, and I saw this skinny chinese man, with huge and thick black framed glasses on a ONE-MAN show. He has no helper. He deep fries the french fries, breadcrumb coated pork/chicken chops, grills the pork/chicken cutlets or steaks, cooks the mixed vegetables and baked beans, steams the buns, takes the orders, does the cashier job, and also washes the dishes. IN ONE GO. I swear, he's actually an alien octopus disguised as a man to blend into society.

Most of all, he seemed quite tolerant and patient towards the long, awaited undecided customers. Despite having time to think of what to order before his/her turn, when the turn comes, many still "errrr...", "ahhhhhhhh...." "What is the difference betwee pork chop and cutlet?" "one pork chop.... eh no, wait, change to steak, eh no wait, okok.. pork cutlet"

Under normal circumstances, a man as busy as he is will probably lose his cool, but yet.. this octopus man stayed calm and nicely answered his customers. THUMBS UP TO YOU, OCTO MAN!



Demona: I ordered the chicken chop, grilled and drizzled over with sweet, thickened sauce with mixed vegetables, french fries and a bun as sidelines. SGD 6. The chicken meat was quite juicy and tender, a grilling job nicely done. The portion was quite huge as well. Both of us shared this meal and we were left feeling quite full too.

Verdict: Tastewise, it was slightly above average. However, for this portion, we can actually get this a dollar plus more cheaper in many places around. But I guess, I had to give him some credits for running a one man show business, especially a foodstall that requires cooking on the spot rather than pre-cooked dishes. OCTO MAN, you deserve the extra dollar plus!

Thai Lay's Chips

While waiting for the bus to go back to Taiping, Demona and I shopped around the sleazy Golden Mile complex and got our self a few packs of Thai Lay's chipsVienna Barbecue + Hot Sauce: Some slight tang on the palate. Nothing spectacular. The chips felt abit starchy..
Thai Chilli Paste: Again, the chips is a tad starchy compared to the normal lays you get locally. More intense spicy note..but nothing to shout about.

Rosemount Estate Blue Mountain

Rosemount Mountain Blue Mudgee Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 1997
Reviews from Winespectator@90points
Bright and focused, offering delicious blueberry, plum and spice flavors that glide smoothly through the silky finish. Drink now through 2007. 2,500 cases imported
My notes: Got this as a gift from KY. Cork was musty after a decade of improper storage. Open up with mellowed spicy berry note from bottle aging, then a strong herbal/medicinal note appear on the nose. Palate was medium but some bitter herb tone emerged in the end. Lost some fruits. Past its prime but good to see how Aussie red behave after aging. Drink up now.

Dogmama's Food

Home-- is where your heart is....
10 solid years of living in Singaland away from home, had not for a single ounce , reduced my love for my home, my family and my country...

I miss you Taiping!!

Some snap shots of my home on the recent one day trip back...
Slobber Zack and Blackie Hazel: The two jewels at home that keep mom and dad company...
The jewels in the garden: Dad tending the garden while the 2 jewels kept a close watch
Chunky home made Roast Pork: Thick roast pork freshly roasted at home.. Crackling pork skin... Superb!
Braised Tofu, Egg and Seaweed: Mom is good at northern chinese cold cut cuisine. It is simple to make yet delicious. Perfect to go with wine or beer while watching the Olympics!
Dou Miao: Dou Miao from Cameron highland.....A simple dish prepared by stir frying with garlic...
Braised Fish with black bean, garlic and chilli: Mom always has her hand on the freshest and meanest fish in Taiping as many of the fish mongers are her students. The result, big fish, fresh fish of superb quality not available at restaurant but at Ong's mansion.
Herbal Tonic Soup: I used to be a rebellious kid and more often than not, disobedient, rude and lazy. As time pass by, only now i started to understand the unconditional love of parents towards their children. Mom and dad would give up everything just for their children.....
Drinking this hot herbal tonic soup... a deep sense of regret engulfed my heart.. There are too many times i could have been a better son...Sorry dad and mom...

I love you.

Taiping Hawker Food

Taiping is a true heaven for food lover.
To be more precise, Taiping is a heaven for cheap food lover.....
It is simply splendid.
Please enjoy!
Lian Tong Coffee Shop Toast+ egg@1.60RM: Located opposite the Cantonese Association Hall, this shop is popular with Chinese, Indian and Malay alike as they serve Halal Chinese food. Started off since the early 1930s, daddy and grand-dad used to patronize this shop almost daily, and dad has a Special drink prepared for him whenever he steps into the shop. The shop owner will screamed back to the kitchen upon seeing my dad, " Kok Pin's Special!" Basically it is iced coffee + tea mix (with greater tea proportion), kao + less sugar. My favourite item in this coffeeshop is the Toast with half boiled egg on top.. You know, having a butter coated, freshly toasted fluffy white bread, topped with a gooey half boiled egg on a lazy morning is just pure bliss.. AWWWW

Bismillah Restaurant:This stall is established since the 1920s and the building it currently resides in is built since 1932. Located directly opposite the Taiping Market, it has been my favorite joint for solid Murtabak + Roti Canai/Prata since young.
Inside the shop: Old tiles spelling out the name of the restaurant at the world. The shop is filled with antique clocks and other decos as well.
Murtabak Kambing@3RM: At 3RM per piece, this is unbeatable value. Thick, pan fried mutton patties mixed with onions, eggs, pepper and wrapped around with 2 roti Canai. The servings is huge and the strong smell of mutton just kept you going for more... Burppppp.. This is heavenly!
Curry Sauce: Chicken curry sauce that is perfect for the thick mutton murtabak!

DianDin Leluk @ Golden Mile

Demona: Entering into Golden Mile complex, just makes you feel that you are out of Singapore. The shops were less orderly, the crowd was a little sleazy, with several



beer joints inside, packed with travellers leaving for Malaysia.... but it has a HUGE variety of Thai delicacies! We bought some beers and Thailand manufactured chips to munch along our journey home.

We had a fair bit of time to kill, thus we decided to have a seat somewhere and relax our tired minds and bodies from a heavy working day with some drinks. Most places seemed dodgy, and we daren't step in.

Finally, we decided to land on DianDin Leluk. The crowd inside the restaurants seemed like travellers heading back to Malaysia.



Demona: Dogma had a coconut drink. I am no expert in dealing with coconuts, but this one seemed to have very little white "meat" on the sides of the nut, but it had a lot of juice in it. The juice level was almost up to the tip and it made me wonder if any other forms of liquid were added in to make it up so accurately. SGD 3




Demona: This was the red ruby dessert which I've ordered. The "santan" layer was too thick. The flavour, smell and familiarity of the red ruby chunks were covered by the thickened santan drizzled topping. I thoroughly separated as much of santan as possible from the red rubies.