Indulging the glutton within..

Since Dad is in India, Mom and I decided that it was time to indulge the gluttons in us… So we had..

1. Lebanese Food at El Sheikh on Tuesday

I was inspired by the outing Rinaz et all went to, so we decided to go to El Sheikh.. We just had 3 starters (Hummus, Mossaka’ah, and Falafel) and we were almost full. And they had ran out of Baklava. So we decided to roam around looking for it.. Finally we found some at Alaturka. I had Baklava and mom had mint tea, which she thought was really good.

2. Home-made Pizza on Thursday

Home-made pizza just rocks. Especially when mom and I bake together.. So on Tuesday we decided to have Pizza for dinner..

Vegetable Pizza

Pine-nuts and Olives Pizza

We made a couple with loads of vegetables, and one with just pine-nuts and olives… as I like it.. But I forgot to put parmiggianoon on it.. :( ..

3.  Durians on Friday.

Since it’s Durian season, we decided to eat Durians on Friday. I joined mom after work to eat Durians at at the shops near Aljunied MRT. Now, I am no Durian expert. I don’t understand anything in Durians.. When the guy showed me the split durian to check if it was OK, I just said yes and started gorging it down.. Hahahaha.. Who cares about the subtle differences, they all taste nice.. :)

4. Pasta on Saturday.

So what do you do when you have left over pizza toppings?? Why? Make pasta sauce out them of course!  That’s what we did. Mom made a nice hearty vegetable Pasta sauce on Saturday, while I was roaming around NDP taking photos.. There’s something you can’t beat in a simple tomato-vegetable pasta topped with parmiggiano..

5. Tacos on Sunday.

We found some Taco shells while shopping groceries last week, and we decided to make Tacos for dinner on Sunday. Vegetarian of course.. I made fresh salsa, and mom made beans.. It was kinda burrito+taco+nachos mix thing we had.. Wasn’t anywhere near authentic.. but tasted damn good.. :)

Chip of the old block they say.. I am sure you can guess where my love of cooking and eating different types of food came from..

My great Italian escapade… in Singapore

This title really warrants my 10days bag-packing adventure in Italy, but for now I shall talk about my recent indulgence in really great Italian food here in Singapore…

I have always loved Italian food, and for that matter, the Italian culture, there is something very homely about it.. and somehow I draw a lot of parallels between Italian culture and Indian culture.. esp when it comes to food..

During the past week I ended up (not by design) eating at 3 great Italian places.. so here they are…

1. Pizza Da Donato
Since cartcart was here, we decided to have a Pingster’s mini-gathering, with the agenda of checking with cartcart how authentic the Pizza was..

You can check Daphne’s post for the details.. but here are my thoughts about the food..

The Pizza is awesome.. at $7 per slice, it’s on the expensive side, but is worth it.
Try not to have the very freshly baked slice, as it tends to “sweat” and get soggy.
Do try their unusual flavors like those with Ricotta, eggplant, Feta.
The Calzone, looks great, but is pretty bland.

Pizza Da Donato is at 8 Sixth Avenue, Singapore 276473

2. Ricciotti

After our recording on Saturday, Jerrick and I decided to look for this Italian restaurant for lunch, which his friend has recommended. We were stupid enough to start walking before checking the map, and we got lost… Finally with the help of a small map posted on a lamp post, and Google Maps on Jerrick’s phone and a bit of luck, we managed to find the place, Ricciotti by Garibaldi

It’s quite a classy place.. And we were hoping they have a Set Lunch which would be cheap enough.. Well they did have a Set Lunch, but it was no where near cheap. For ~S$27, we had a main course, a dessert and a choice of tea/coffee..

I had a Parmagiana and Tiramisu with Coffee, while Jerrick went with the Spaghetti Bologniese and some Choclate Cake with Tea.

The Parmagiana was absolutely delicious. The Eggplants were well done. A tad too tough though, but better than overdone, when you can’t differentiate between eggplant and the sauce. The sauce was nice and rich. And the Parmegianno was real..

Jerrick was really happy with his Spaghetti as well. He reckoned the pasta was “homemade”, as in, made freshly using a pasta maker rather than bought from the supermarket.

The desserts were good, but lackluster in comparison to the main courses. The coffee of course was too long…

Ricciotti is at 3 Pickering Street #01-36/37, Nankin Row, China Square Central, Singapore 048660

3. Finalmente Gastronomia

After tstar’s post about this place, the pingsters decided to raid it. And did we raid it or what!!.. Again.. I am sure Daphne’s and Claudia’s posts did better justice to the place… but here are my thoughts about the food.

The Pizza’s are great. I would say even better than Da Donato. Maybe because they are fresh here.. My favorites were the 5 Cheese, and the Bosco (eggplant, mushroom, white-truffle oil).. The bases were nice and thin, the toppings were fresh and generous.

The 5 Cheese pizza, had a delicious helping of various cheeses which you could taste. If you like strong cheese, you will love this pizza.

For the Bosco, the white-truffle oil added an interesting dimension to it..

The place is simple but feels very Italian, though somehow lacks the charm that’s present in Da Donato’s. Oh and it’s in the middle of nowhere, and you have to take a bus to go there.. Though, it’s right behind a bus-stop… But well, who cares.. it does have the best Pizza’s I have had in Singapore.. And I am going there again…. to try their desserts.. and Anti-pasti… and ofcourse more Pizza!!!

Finalmente Gastronomia is at 443 MacPherson Road, Singapore 368154

P.S. Thanks Jerrick, Daph and Claudia for the photos…

Hanging out at 6th Ave..

In the last 2 weeks, I have been to 6th Avenue thrice.. and I am starting to love the place…

So I went there for the first time 2 weeks ago with Jerrick from Tech65 for dinner, as well as to get some fresh espresso for our Tiramisu..

My only knowledge of this area was that it looks posh and expensive when I went past it when I took 67 to Bukit Batok during Natak rehersal.. Oh and I had read a good review of a restaurant somewhere here on Popagandhi‘s blog..

So Jerrick introduced me to this small corner Pizza place.. Pizza Da Donato!.

It was a “hole in the wall Pizza place”, and they serve many many flavours of pizza, all freshly baked and laid out behind the counter.. The best part is that they are cut up in squares, from the huge Pizza which is baked, also as a square.. Reminded me of Rome, where they sold Pizza by the gram, and you had to point how big a cut you wanted from the huge square of pizza beind the counter.. Anyway, so it’s $7 a peice. I think it’s decently priced for 6th Ave.. and you get a wide variety of tasty fresh toppings.. My favourite is the Eggplant and the Spinach…

Last week, I endded up at Pizza Da Donato again with my parents. Walking around a little further towards Annamalai Ave. We found the Wiener Kaffeehause… I remember, my Austrian friend was mentioning that there was one near Chinatown, which she found pretty good.. We were too full from Pizza that do, so we skipped it..

But, I found myself on 6th Avenue on Friday evening with some colleagues, and being the coffee junkies we are, we went to the Wiener Kaffeehause.. It’s a typical 6th Avenue type “posh” place.. But very nice and quiet, with a little old world charm.. The coffee is served in shiny plates with shiny silverware to go along.. The coffee itself was nice.. It had a little sour after-taste as is expected of Viennese coffee.. but I liked the Einspaenner, which I had..

So.. 6th Avenue seems like a nice place to hangout, especially for the food… And I will surely be going there often..

Anyone game for Viennese Coffee?

P.S. I really need a camera.. 

Pizza Pizza!!!

After lots of experimentation, I have perfected (in my opinion) my favourite pizza.

I must say that it is inspired by one on the menu of Spizza.

So here it is..

This is Elisa alla ntt…

And here is the receipe.

• Thin (Italian) Base
• Simple Tomato sauce (Tomato, Onion, Garlic, Herbs)
• Pitted Black Olives
• Seeds (Pine Nuts, Sunflower Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds)
• Parmigiano Reggiano (Don’t you dare substitute this)
• Herbs and Extra-Virgin Olive Oil as garnish…

Nice crispy bake… and tis done!!!

NTT’s Bored Weekend #1

The weekend’s just started and I am already bored. I have tons of work to do… “work work” as well as “play work” but I am gonna be lazy…

Soldering and Toys!!!

I went to help a friend solder his guitar amp jack all the way to clementi in the morning.. I had to make a trip down to SLT to stock up on supplies. Got some “Stannol lötfett”. It’s the best flux (solder paste) I have used. Others are mostly crappy and smell really bad..

After fixing my friend guitar, he showed me the lastest set of ‘toys’ he bought for his lab!!

He had a really cool guitar interface which had digital effects for many amps and speakers. And it sounded awesome on his moniters!! I totally forgot the name…

Then he showed his Hercules DJ Console. That’s really cool stuff. OK. It’s not anywhere near as cool as the stuff professional DJs use, but you can spin some good stuff off it at home.. or in my friend’s lab!

Then he took out an AKG C1000S. Just the case looks soo cool!. I wonder what kind of amps he has for that.

Finally he showed me his new M-Audio Axiom 25. Reminded my of the Kaoss Pad and M-Audio that EML used during their concert..

Oh and he mentioned the motorized 8 channel Digi-Design mixer that has in the lab!!!

I was almost drooling.. I really should have taken up the job when I was offered it.. Sigh…

NTUC and Linux.

How do you know the Linux has reached the masses? When you can see it in NTUC!

Saw of the the “product promo” screens in NTUC booting into Linux! It was soo cool. I must have looked like an idiot staring at the booting screen.  I should have had a camera. :(

I have seen this at the Pacific Coffee Company as well. I guess it makes sense to use some kind of embedded Linux for such devices. But I really wonder why they set the display to be active during boot up. In my opinion, it looks unprofessional.

Singapore Tech Podcasts.

Recently, I found this tech podcast done by a couple of Singaporean guys. It’s called 65bits. Do check it out.

It has small episodes (10-20mins) and 2 guys chatting about technology wrt. Singapore. I have been catching up on the last few episodes, and I am liking it..

Now to start brain storming for ideas…

Nintendo Wii in Singapore

Wii are here!! This is very very surprising. I did not hear or see ANY advertisements, but the Nintendo Wii has been “Soft launched” in Singapore. The “Official Launch” is in October so they say.

G3 at Suntec is selling it at $800 bundled with an extra wiimote+nunchuk and 3 games (wii sports + ultimate alliance + your choice). S$800 is expensive. Cannot lah! The Wii is supposed to be cheap, and a fun console. Sigh.. I will wait…

Suntec for Lunch…  

What’s good at Suntec for lunch?? We could not find anything. Either too expensive or too crappy.. :(

Food.. Glorious Food!

I know I am just making excuses. But, because mom’s not around, and TheWeed is leaving, past 2 weeks have been super sinful. Here is the list of all my indulgences during this week and the last, including some from the near-future….

1. Carl’s Jr. (And our good friend Carl)
2. Subway (Good, cheap, healthy and in NUS!!!)
3. Pasta Mania (Anything for a Spinach Tortellini)
4. Starbucks (Java Chip Frap != Rhumba Frap)
5. Mos Burger (Rice is good…)
6. The Brownie Factory (Almost the ultimate sin)
7. Kebabs at Moto (Why not??)
8. Canadian Pizza (Cheap and good)
9. Home-made Tiramisu (Another adventure ??)
10. Fullerton Chocolate Buffet (The ultimate sin? or an ultimate farewell??)

The last three are to be. Lets hope they go as well as the 1st 7.

Wedding 101.

This is a intro course for all the readers on Indian Weddings. For most, inexperienced people (by that I mean those who have not attended an Indian Wedding) I am sure you find Indian weddings very interesting and colourful! So let me try to take you through an Indian Wedding (specifically a Marathi Wedding) from my perspective, taking my cousin’s wedding as an example.

Fact

Not all Indian weddings are ‘Arranged’. Arranged as in decided by the parents. And NO…not everyone is promised to someone else by the time they are 8…

Ceremonies
Indian weddings can last for many days. There are many ceremonies to be performed, though optional, are performed in most weddings. A typical wedding can last for 3-6 days. My cousin’s lasted for 5 days. There are many different pujas (prayers) and ceremonies to be performed, before and after the wedding and thus they take up so much time..

Weddings are generally held in wedding halls. Many such halls are scattered around the city.

People

It is also a custom that relatives invited for the wedding, especially from other towns, stay at the residence of the bride/groom. Thus typically in the evening before the wedding, there are around 30-40 people in the house. Which is really fun!

You get to meet all the relatives close and distant. I had so much fun just chatting with all my cousins, uncles and aunties. It was really great when 15-20 people sat in big circles talking, joking and just having fun.

That’s also the time when we get to play all the ‘wedding pranks’. My favourite is the rose+stalk prank! Hehe…:D Oh my poor cousins…

Clothes
It is also a custom to buy and wear new colourful clothes during the wedding. And the closer you are to the bride/groom in terms of relationship, you have to wear fancier clothes. I ended up wearing 3-4 different sets of Jhabba-Pyjama and formal Suit!! I have to thank my brother for allowing me to borrow so many of his clothes. :D

Colour are important during the wedding. Generally none of the close family members of the bride/groom are to wear black. And the ladies generally wear red/amber/orange saris. The wedding halls are also decorated with colourful flowers and raangoli. Raangoli are designs drawn the floor for decoration purposes using coloured flour.

Now to the most important part. Food!!

Food is the most important. At least for me. You get to.. no no.. you have to eat a crazy amounts of really great food. And for those who think vegetarians can’t have variety, you have to come to one such wedding. Its all vegetarian food during such weddings..

Though we don’t have 5 course meals, there are a lot of dishes served at the same time. And the most important is pakwan. The ‘dessert’. But it’s not served at the end but throughout the meal! And for all the sweet tooth people, its heaven. Here is a summary of what I had during the 5 days..

1. Shri-khand
2. Angur Malai (Rasgulla + Baasundi!) + Gulab Jam + Shri-khand + Modak (dumpling with coconut)+ Karanji (calzone with coconut filling!)
3. Jilbi
4. Aamras (Thick Mango Juice):)
5. Shira

Hmm. And there is also a custom of aagrah. It’s like a host forcefully serves the guests extra food to ensure the guest eats properly and thus be very hospitable. Many times it ends into crazy eating competitions. The one on the day of the wedding was really crazy. Though I can never outdo my brother, I must say it was close…:D

Ahh.. Weddings.. So much fun! Sigh.. 2/4 done. Only 2 cousins left to get married… And now I wonder if I will be able to attend their weddings…..:S

Tiramisu Adventure

I decided to make a lot of Tiramisu for my friends.

TomYam wants to learn and taste, TheWeed has become quite a fan as well, and I want to disturb Lychee for going back early. So I decided to use up all the ingredients I had and make as much as possible. Let see…

(Oh and before Sweska sues me for copyright infringement, I should say that this is post is inspired by her famous post on Soya-sauce Chicken)

Ingredients:

• 6 Extra-Large Eggs

• ~300g Mascarpone Cheese

_

• 2-3 shots of Expresso (I used strong instant coffee) + some kind of strong liqueur (Kahlua or Marsala) (optional and I din use any)

• ~30 Saviordi Savoiardi biscuits
• ~1/2 cup sugar
• 2-3 teaspoon Hershey’s Cocoa

How I did it :

1. Seperate the whites and the yellows.

2. Whisk the whites till stiff peaks form.

3. Beat the yellow a little and mix all the sugar into the yellow.

4. Whisk the Mascarpone Cheese, and then mix the yellow into it.

5. Gently fold the cheese and yellow mix into the white.
Make sure you don’t break the ‘bubbles’ in the white.

6. Dip each of the Saviordi Savoiardi  in the expresso and arrange them in a deep dish/ container.

7. Cover the  with a layer of the eggs and cheese mix.

8. Repeat step 6 for another layer of the Saviordi Savoiardi .

9. Repeat step 7 for another layer of the eggs and cheese mix.

10. Cover everything with a thin layer of the Hershey’s Cocoa

11. Leave the whole thing in the fridge for ~5-7 hours. Overnight for the best results.

It was fun!. I made a lot of mess. Luckily my mom was not around.

Anyway, this is probably the worst way to make Tiramisu, but it tastes nice :). It was taught to me by an Itailian guy! And all I can say is that we had a lot lot of fun while making it.

Anyway, try it out and tell me how it turns up. :D

Goodbye Rumba Frap

Starbucks stopped serving Rumba Frappuccino’s recently. I found out about it while blog hopping

Sigh.. one more of my favourites gone… Though I never really liked coffee (addiction is another thing.. I don’t drink because I like.. I drink because I need to stay awake), I love Frappuccinos from Starbucks.

I remember the time when I was first introduced to the Fraps.. It was during the 1st 3 months of JC , a class (00S09 from TPJC) outing to PS. One of them recomended me the Rumba Frap and the rest is history… Wonder any of them read my blog…:S

I only wish I could have a “Power Rumba Frap” one last time…. Sigh…

Ctrl+Alt+Chicken

Can geeks cook?? Well they sure can, whether what they cook is edible is different question. So anyway, from the guys at Revision3 (think Diggnation.. and Alex Albrecht) comes a new cooking show. Of the geeks, for the geeks and by the geeks!!

Ctrl+Alt+Chicken

The pilot ‘aired’ today and its really hillarious. And educational, of course. They did a “Chicken Cordon Bleu“. Some parts were really stupid, but it was mostly quite funny. Doesn’t really compare to Jamie Oliver.. But hey, its always fun to see geeks trying to cook…:p

So check it out and try to make some “Chicken Cordon Bleu”….