Jurong Bird Park, Singapore

Thanks to my insistent prodding, we were finally able to go to Jurong Bird Park yesterday despite the uber rainy weather. No project chocolate review for this week for the meantime, else I want to get diabetes and go bankrupt at the same time haha.

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Sapporo Petit Doughnut, Takashimaya

I've googled the net in vain to no avail. I can't seem to find the origins of this stall in Takashimaya (which replaced my all-time favorite Auntie Anne's).  Now I don't know about you, but to me the brand name is a bit very confusing... Is it Japanese (Sapporo - 5th largest city in Japan)?? Or French (Petit is french for Petite)?? Or English (Doughnut - English spelling of Donut)??
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Project Chocolate: Leonida's

I actually now look forward to my weekends because I know I'll be tasting a new brand of chocolate hehehe. So I randomly chose Leonida's as the second contestant for my project chocolate. This stall is actually right beside Patchi in Takashimaya. I've heard of Leonida's before but it never really crossed my mind to taste it.
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Fair Game

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Extreme Dining - Dinner in the Sky!

W-O-W!!! This truly brings dining to a whole new level! (literally and figuratively that is haha)

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Fitness Blog #8

GUILTY. GUILTY AS CHARGED. My attempt to fitness has become my journey to fatness. I AM GUILTY BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT. Even more guilty than Hubert Webb. Haha kidding, that was totally out of line and irrelevant.

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Project Chocolate: Patchi

I read in Anton's blog (http://www.ourawesomeplanet.com/) that Patchi Chocolate recently opened in Manila at the Bonifacio Global City, so this sparked my interest (in my big tummy) on finding the best "underground" luxury chocolate. Thus, PROJECT CHOCOLATE was born! :P

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Singapore is a "FINE" city!

I'm sure you've heard this line at least once - that Singapore is a FINE city. Meaning, there are FINES for almost anything (e.g. No Durian, No smoking - Fine $1000, etc) but at the same time FINE also means Singapore is a great, modern and clean city.

Now that it's 2011, I just realized that on March I'll be celebrating my 4th year anniversary here in Singapore. WOW. I can't believe it. Really. I honestly thought I would only be here 6 months and pack my bags to head back home. But I guess things happened differently and here I am still thriving and working the daily grind.

But don't get me wrong. I do LOVE it here. I mean hello, I wouldn't be here till this day if I didn't right? But what exactly do I heart about this FINE FINE city. Let me count the ways:

1. The FOOD - Helloooo??! Obviously! I wouldn't have gained 20 effing kilos if the food was no good. I love the fact that there is an abundance of Asian food - from Indian to Indonesian to Malaysian to Vietnamese to Burmese (Myanmar), and the list goes on. Lately though I see more and more western food sprouting about (e.g. Wendy's, Texas Chicken, Chili's, etc) but hey I'm not complaining haha. I just have a feeling though that Singaporeans would be supersized like our Western counterparts a few years down the road. Uh oh.

2. Ease of Travel - Eversince I've been here, I've been fortunate to have travelled to so many places I once used to only dream about. Seriously, I feel its so much cheaper and more accessible to travel around the world. I guess my purchasing power is also higher here plus the fact that Singapore has direct flights to almost anywhere. Oh! and the annual natas travel fair has uberly great travel deals, which reminds me that its coming soon on February!

3. Cleanliness and Safety - Where else on Earth can you walk around at freaking 3am and feel safe and secure?? Maybe on a desert or farm somewhere isolated but definitely not in a metropolis elsewhere. For someone like me who came from crime-infested Manila (no pun intended, just stating a fact), this truly is a luxury. Plus, the roads are so clean you can probably drop your food right smack on the freeway and it would still be clean hahaha.

4. Comfort and Ease of Public Transportation - I really don't mind that I don't drive or own a car here. In fact, I'd rather not with the surging prices of petrol, ERP, parking, COE, etc. I can take a taxi to and fro work everyday and it would still be cheaper compared to owning a car. Seriously, some (if not most) cars are the price of a house in Manila. AND the buses and trains have really cold A/C. So no sweat. Unless you're beside someone who forgot to take a shower or put on deo. hint hint. haha peace.

5. The Internet is fully-utilised - Most, if not all, transactions here can be done online. From banking to food delivery to booking a BBQ pit at the beach, government transactions, etc. You can literally be a slob on the couch at home and do everything online. No need to take a shower, dress up and head out. See, now you can even save on water and soap hahaha.

Hmmm, I guess those would be the top 5 things I luurrrvvvee about SG. BUT, don't get me wrong my fellow kababayans who might be reading this. I'm not bashing the Philippines or trying to state that SG is a much much better country. NO NO NO. In fact, if I didn't love the Philippines I wouldn't be going back every now and then right? I'm just trying to list down the reasons why my ass is still here. Plus, nothing wrong about the Philippines learning from SG right? :)

There are also a few things that I don't like in Singapore of course (e.g. some people being stiff, insensitive and unaffectionate), no place is perfect. But I can't deny the fact that there are a lot of things and experiences that I wouldn't have achieved if I hadn't been here.

So Kudos to SG! One day, I am quite sure I'd be retiring in the Philippines, maybe in some farm with a small bakery or boutique restaurant. But for now, I am truly having the time of my life. Praise God for all the blessings. Without him, none of this would be possible.

Now, can someone please tell me when is Galactica going to open in Universal??? (Oh, Universal Studios is #6 on my list by the way! hahaha) Read more on "Singapore is a "FINE" city!"!

New Year's Eve Media Noche

It was really nice to be able to cook again for our New Year's Eve media noche feast. But before I go into that, please pardon me for saying I'm so uberly happy I finally got to buy a MacBook! Yeebbbaaa!!

I remember posting in July 2010 that I wanted to get one. What was holding me back was I wanted to get over all the holiday expenses first before making another big purchase. So now that it's 2011, I found an excuse to start spending again hehe.

So anywayyyy, I definitely don't have anymore reason to not regularly update this blog... As mentioned, we did cook up a storm late friday night. We were cooking for 5 hours straight but it didn't feel like it because I truly honestly enjoy cooking and chopping and stirring... except washing the dishes!

Appetizer was "Spinach and Artichoke Dip", mostly prepared by my cousin, Aileen. It was quite simple actually as most of the ingredients were ready-to-use. Basically, you just need to mash up artichokes (we bought a bottled one), spinach (again, bottled Tostitos spinach dip), cream cheese, (low fat) sour cream, a little bit mayo (we used reduced fat Kraft mayo with olive oil), mozarella cheese, then a dash of pepper and sugar. Bake in a deep dish (or ramekins to make them look pretty) and top again with mozarella.

The Eggplant Parmigiana was a little bit more complicated:

1. Slice eggplant thinly, coat with flour, egg and breadcrumbs (seasoned with parmesan cheese and italian seasoning) then fry till golden brown.
2. Prepare the red sauce - I mixed a bottle of pasta sauce and chunky tomato sauce. Roast some peppers, remove the skin, throw in a blender and mix back with the red sauce.
3. Prepare the bechamel sauce - Cook some flour in butter, then add milk and a dash of salt, pepper and nutmeg and cook until thick.
4. Layer the the ingredients in a deep dish tray in this sequence: Red sauce, Eggplant, Red Sauce, Cheese, Eggplant, Bechamel sauce, Cheese... Repeat.
5. Bake in the oven for around 30 mins. TADDAAAAA!!!

The next dish was stuffed bell peppers which were mostly prepared by Aileen and Bill. Not as difficult as the eggplant parmigiana as all you need to do is saute the ground beef with onions, garlic, seasoning, soy sauce, salt and pepper, then stuff them inside the peppers. Top with cheese and bake in the oven (using low heat) until tender and cheese is golden brown.

Last and definitely not the least was the Seafood Paella which was entirely prepared by Aileen :) Now I'll be honest to say that I've never tried cooking this. From what I observed, you need to saute onions with the rice before adding water and wine to cook the rice (she used a mix of risotto rice and regular thai rice). Add the seafood (shrimp, squid, scallops, etc), chorizo (or chicken sausage if you don't eat pork, such as the case of Zach), tomato paste and saffron.

 

Zach bought a cake plus I got some bagel chips to go along with the spinach & artichoke dip and there you have a feast! It was a very sumptuous meal indeed! We were planning to cook Chicken Pastel Pie but didn't have the energy anymore hehe. Plus, there was only 4 of us eating so this was more than enough. In fact, it's a Sunday now and we're still eating leftovers haha.

Happy New Year once again to everyone! Hoping we all have a blast this year of the Rabbit! :) Read more on "New Year's Eve Media Noche"!