Nueva Cuba

Teh: On Wednesday, i met up with a few friends at Nueva Cuba (Customs House, near Raffles Place) for drinks. I thought it has a nice partial view of the waterfront and wanted to share it here. Another thing worthy of mention is the Mojitos they serve. We had the classic one, the lychee mojito, the watermelon mojito and the Brazilian Mojito (affectionately known as Mojito-gao [thick] by us). They all have an actual stick of sugarcane inside! Good for chewing. There was a server in particular we liked the most. He was friendly and funny. He is someone i would want to employ if i have my own place. Our disappointment was the Beef Fajita we ordered. The portion was too small for the price ($26++) and the beef was too tough. My friends wished for more comfortable chairs too.

Perhaps this is a good place to stopover if you are on a bar-hopping outing. Good view with good drinks but not for staying long.  Check out the pictures! (I continue to wish for a better phone camera!)

Nueva Cuba - Giant Mojitos!

Nueva Cuba - Just outside the interior area

Nueva Cuba - Outdoor view

Nueva Cuba - Outdoor view

Happy Valentine's Day!

Lim and I (Teh) wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!

We haven't been very active on the blog because Lim is perpetually busy and well, i haven't been cooking anything decent and worthy enough to blog about. And because i think we owe you a post, i'm going to talk about the 2 places i went to recently.

Johor Bahru (Malaysia)
On Lim's birthday (last week), we skipped work together and went to Johor Bahru! It was quite a lazy day. We watched "Underword - Awakening" (and drooled dutifully at Kate Beckinsale) for 7 ringgit @ KSL Shopping Mall! There were only 5 of us in the cinema. We had a good time laughing at some of effects and the incredible things vampires and the Lycans could do. It was enjoyable.

Lunch was a disappointing affair at Causeway Bay Hong Kong Cafe. Don't try the Coca-cola chicken. It tasted like the chicken was fried, left around to be cooled and then mixed with coke (or coke-wannabe). The dry beef hor fun i had was good. The ice lemon tea came in 0.5 litres size! We didn't know. Lim had no trouble finishing it.

The highlight of the day was the massage at the end. For 70 ringgit, we had an hour of foot reflexology and 30 minutes of back massage. The room was comfortable, there was a TV with Singapore channels. I can't remember ever watching "Ellen" (the talk show) in the middle of the afternoon. In between my quiet and discreet face contortions during foot reflexology, I caught whichever bits I could. The back massage which followed the foot reflexology was literally the back breaker. I knew my muscles were stiff but I didn't know it was that bad! But being the sadist I am, i thoroughly enjoyed the whole session. Poor Lim. He said his groans and protest of pain fell upon deaf ears. The guy who gave him the massage probably thought he was enjoying it. lol.


Azzura (Sentosa Beach)

If you like the sun and the beach, Azzura is the place for you! It is a beach club located on Sentosa. You can reach it via the sky train (from Vivo City). Just drop at the beach station and walk towards the beach. Azzura is 5 minutes away.

There are plenty of sun chairs, sun beds, swings and seats. You'll definitely find something you can to laze on while you soak up the sun. If it gets too hot for you, they have 2 pools available. We really felt like we were on a holiday. My friend had the Azzura Dragon Mojito. Its basically Mojito with dragon fruit inside. The drink turned out to be quite potent. No wonder it appeared to be the most frequently ordered drink! For $16.50++, it better not be weak. I had the Mango Frozen Margarita ($16.50++ too) which looked good but was weak on the alcohol side. It was refreshing nevertheless. But next time i'm going for the Mojito! We ate, drank and tanned the whole day. We order Pizza Azzura. It was good! The mixed platter we ordered was rather disappointing. The items on the platter did not justify the price ($34++) due to their small portion and poor quality. There were french fries, wedges, fried sweet potato stick (?), onion rings, calamari and chicken wings (3 parts only!). Pity the prices were not in ringgit.

Side note, plenty of eye candies at Azzura!

Happy Lunar New Year - Roast Pork Recipe

Teh: Happy Lunar New Year! We wish everyone a smooth sailing Dragon year ahead! Huat ah!

On the lunar new year eve, i tried another method of making roast pork. I must say it was my most successful attempt so far! And believe me, i've made roast pork with various methods over the years. The skin was crispy and the meat was just nice. I could have seasoned the meat better but the spotlight was all on the skin!! Thoroughly crispy skin! The most important thing is.... this recipe is almost effortless! Try it! (sorry i didn't take any pictures. my phone was cranky *sulk*)


Roast Pork
400g pork belly
salt
seasonings

Method:
1. Wash the pork belly. Pat dry.

2. Season only the meat part with desired seasoning. (5 spice powder, garlic powder etc. I only seasoned with salt and it was yummy!)

3. Leave pork belly uncovered in the fridge overnight.

4. Cut the skin of the pork belly when you are ready to roast it in the oven. Cut = use a sharp knife and cut the skin till you can see the fats under the skin but no more than that. Which way should you cut the skin? The simple way! Imagine the roast pork is ready and you want to cut it up to serve it. Cut the skin as though you are making markings for the eventual cut.

5. Rub salt all over the skin and especially in between the cuts.

6. Bake at 220 degrees celsius  for 15 minutes. Then lower down the temperature to 180 degrees for 40 mins. If after 40 mins, the skin doesn't look puffed up or crispy enough, crank up to the max temperature and baked for another 5 minutes.

7. When the roast pork is cooled enough for cutting (different people different tolerence for heat and urge to taste the roast pork), cut it up with a sharp knife and listen to the wonderful sounds the crispy skin make!


Tip: Based on my experience, if you want to bake/roast 1 kg of pork belly, it'll take about 1.5 hrs in total for the meat to be tender. You should give it 20 minutes at 220 degrees then 180 degrees the rest of the way.

First Bake of 2012 - Mochi Buns / Brazilian Cheese Buns / Pao De Queijo

Mochi Buns / Brazilian Cheese Buns / Pao De Queijo

Teh: Whatever you call them, Mochi Buns / Brazilian Cheese Buns / Pao De Queijo, these chewy cheesy buns are quite addictive especially when they just come out of the oven! Half way through the making of these buns, there will be a few thoughts going through your mind. In no particular order, here are the thoughts:

1) Are you sure this is right?
2) The dough feels so wrong!
3) Why does the dough keep sticking to the whisk?!

Whenever one of these thoughts appear in your mind, answer it with this - "Just do it!"

Now you are all set to try this recipe! Enjoy!


Mochi Buns / Brazilian Cheese Buns / Pao De Queijo 
1 cup whole milk (240ml)
4 tablespoons butter, melted (60g)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (60ml)
200g tapioca flour
3 eggs, slightly beaten
4 slices of cheddar cheese
1.5 tsp Salt

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Mix milk, salt, vegetable oil and butter in a pot, and bring to a boil.

2. Remove from heat when it almost boils. Stir tapioca flour into the milk and butter mixture.

3. Break the cheese into small pieces and add it to the mixture. Use an electric whisk to roughly blend in the cheese.

4. Add the beaten eggs slowly while whisking the mixture.

5. The mixture will become very elastic and hard to mix. Stop periodically and remove the dough from the whisk before continuing (if needed) until all eggs have been added.

6. Shape the dough into small balls with floured hands. You can use tapioca flour. (remember to grease the baking tray first)

7. Bake rolls for 20 to 25 minutes, until they are puffed up and are golden. They look and behave a little like cream puffs.

8. Serve warm.

A small note - I realised if you bake the buns to be browner, the cheese taste is more distinct. But try not to burn them ;) 

There are other flavors sold in bakeries. E.g. Chocolate or black sesame seeds. I think these can be done the way as the cheese flavour, except chocolate powder should be added to the milk and black sesame seeds added to the flour. I have not tried those out though. Good luck!

New Year Resolution 2012

Dear All,

Lim and I (Teh) would like to wish everyone a very happy 2012! What are your new year resolutions? I'll write some of mine here so i can check back again periodically and see if I've fulfilled them. The best way to make a resolution come true is to write it down and read it every day!

2012 Resolutions

1. To get 1000 hits at our blog (go spam bots!) before 2013.
2. To weigh 54kg by 29 Feb 2012.
3. To go  _ _ _    _ _ _ _ this year.

What's your's?

Logcake 4 - The one that was finally given away

Teh: I finally made a logcake that was given away. Initially i wanted to give many logcakes away. But i got lazy and i only made 1 (very reluctantly initally) for a Christmas Party i went to. I'm glad i made it though. It was made of a chocolate swiss roll, filled with cream cheese frosting and chocolate. Same for the outside. The effect turned out to be rather nice. The slight sourness of the cream cheese frosting was a nice contrast to the sweetness of the cake and chocolate. As usual, it was unbelievably soft and moist. It was very well received and that was the best reward for me.

Chocolate Logcake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Logcake after eating
(i'm jealous of my friend's good camera!)

Does anyone else think i need to change my phone so i can take some decent pictures? Iphone 4S? Samsung Galaxy SII?

Butter Cupcakes

Teh: It's that time of the year again - Christmas! Yes we sincerely wish all our readers (yes all 3 of them, you know who you are! hugs!) a very Merry Christmas!

I think Christmas is a time where we should get together with friends (both new and old) and spend some time looking back at the year that passed and make plans (for God to laugh at) for the new year! As i grew older, i no longer see the point in partying, squeezing at the club with 10,000 other strangers, drinking insane amount of alcohol and feeling stupid when there isn't any cab to go home in.

Yesterday i made some last minute Butter Cupcakes. It's a simple and fail-proof recipe! It's also my mum's favourite if you throw in the buttercream frosting. Without further ado!

Butter Cupcakes
125g of butter (I recommend Golden Churn salted butter for best results!)
125g of sugar (Yes, if its not sweet its not good enough!)
125g plain flour
2 eggs
2 - 5 tbsp of milk (Less milk if you like drier cakes. More milk if you prefer softer ones.)
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:
1. Cream the butter and sugar until light and flurry (very pale creamish colour).
2. Add 1 egg at a time while continue to whisk at high speed.
3. Add milk and vanilla essence. Mix.
4. Flour in the flour gently (You all know how i feel about being gentle).
5. Fill the cupcake/muffin cups till 3/4 full or slightly more than 1/2.
6. Bake at 180 degrees for 25 minutes until nice and brown (plus minus timing depends very much on your oven!). It is ready when the toothpick comes out clean after inserting it to the cake.
7. Decorate as you wish.