Tambuah Mas, Tanglin Shopping Centre

This is one review I have been wanting to publish for a long time. If you have been reading my reviews on other Indonesian or Nasi Padang food, you will remember that I always compare it with Tambuah Mas' food. The reason is that Tambuah Mas has been my family's top favourite for over 20 years (save for a bad experience in December 2011, and some misses through the years). Yes - we have been eating there for that long!

Note: I am referring to the restaurant at Tanglin Shopping Centre only. My mother said that their Paragon restaurant does not serve as delicious food.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Sweet potato spotting

For those who have been yearning for veggie chips, you may want to try Market Place at Raffles City. It was where I spotted these little orange bags of Thomas Chipman Sweet Potato Chips. Thomas Chipman is an Australian brand which also produces corn chips, potato chips, and other root veggie chips. But so far, only their sweet potato chips have made it to our island.

These sweet potato chips may only be for the desperate and/or rich though, as each of these 75g bags cost S$5.60.

Snacks: Black pepper duck breast

Earlier this year I wrote a post on "quick food" for those on the go or who have no time to cook. Another of my favourite Paleo snacks / meals, which is also a nice break from chicken, is the roast duck breast sold at Cold Storage for S$3.95.

Semi-homecooked dinner: Roast chicken, chicken liver, pak choi

Roast chicken and chicken liver from Toa Payoh

Sunday Buffet Brunch at Prego, Swissotel The Stamford Singapore

Relatives said the bread was good

My aunt invited us to Prego for their Sunday Buffet Brunch recently, and we were quite excited about it as we heard that the brunch offers good food. As we arrived early, there were only a few guests around and I jumped at the opportunity to take pictures of all the dishes.

Sweet potato spotting

Am taking a break and will return soon, albeit at a slower pace. In the meantime, these frozen sweet potato fries were seen at NTUC Fairprice Finest at Thomson Plaza (picture above) and Bukit Timah Plaza (picture below). The Sweet Potato Julienne Fries go for S$4.70 a bag, and the Spicy Sweet Potato Julienne Fries with Chipotle Seasoning cost S$5.90 a bag.

Homecooked dinner: Chicken, mixed veg, winter melon soup

Chohula marinated chicken

Homecooked dinner: Chicken feet veg soup, kurau, fish roe

Chicken feet soup with onions and carrots

Vibram FiveFingers Sale

Heads up! There's a VFF sale going on until 26 November 2012 for up to 60% off on certain styles, with free ground shipping on all orders. Fantastic time to pick up VFFs if you like them. Click here to jump!

Jumbo @ Dempsey

When my sister returned from the US for a visit, mom insisted on taking her to Jumbo @ Dempsey for a meal. Mom had previously had a good meal with guests from Thailand, and thought that my sister would like the food.

1A Crispy Puffs: Chicken curry puff, goreng pisang

Curry puffs with multi-layered, flaky skin are sometimes a welcome textural change from the usual curry puffs with thicker, more doughy, single-layered skin. They are fun to eat too - you can break off the crust layer by layer, like eating rainbow kueh lapis.

Homecooked dinner: Fried fish, beansprouts, sliced pork

Fish fried with sambal (tucked under lengthwise slits)

Nut stash from the US

If you are a nut lover and are in the US, or someone can carry nuts from the US back for you, do give Costco's Kirkland-brand nuts a shot.  Everytime my sister visits from the US, she carries with her a few bags of Kirkland's nuts, and every single piece has tasted really fresh compared to the nuts I have bought in Chinatown. In August, my sister returned from the US again and brought back these bags of nuts for us.

Awfully Chocolate: All Chocolate cake

Yes - this is the first time I am trying Awfully Chocolate's chocolate cake. I know Awfully Chocolate has been around for a few years and I am behind on the cake scene (laugh). I have been wanting to try it ever since people were saying it tastes like Lana Cake Shop's, or even better, and might have sooner if it sold by the slice.

Homecooked dinner: Sambal eggplant with pork, soup

Eggplant and ground pork stirfried with sambal

Old Chang Kee: Curry 'O (chicken curry puff)

'course I've read the newspapers about what the lady found in her curry puff. But how often does this happen? 

Homecooked dinner: Cholula-marinated chicken, fried egg, kai lan

Chicken marinated with Cholula hot sauce
and roasted in the Philips AirFryer

Straits Kitchen, Grand Hyatt Singapore

Before getting into the review proper, I will explain the drab-looking pictureless post.

When my friends and I arrived at Straits Kitchen at Grand Hyatt Singapore for their hawker buffet, I began taking photographs of their various stations using my trusty Samsung Galaxy SII. After a few snaps, a waitress suddenly appeared and told me "You're not allowed to take photos in here." My expression must have been "???" because she repeated herself, and said that the exception was that if I, or other people, were in the picture as well.

Up to 50% off Vibram FiveFingers

Heads up all VFF fans! LeftLane Sports is selling some models at up to 50% off till 4 November 2012. You can use my invite to get US$10 credit on your first purchase of US$50 or more.

Baguette Monge from Maison Kayser

There was an article in the Straits Times earlier this year about Maison Kayser producing the best baguettes in Singapore. Besides wanting a top baguette to compare mine to, mom likes baguettes. So when I was in the area, I decided to pop down to Scotts Square for one from Maison Kayser.

Coconut oil spotting

Aunt Patty's organic extra-virgin raw cold-pressed coconut oil
spotted at Cold Storage, VivoCity

Original Luna Sandals - My Tying Style

As the step-by-step pictures are self-explanatory, I do not propose to add any commentary. Do note that I snipped off the extra lengths of leather on both sandals.

Shoe (Sandal) Review: Original Luna Sandals

After running about 10km a week for 2 years in my Nike Air Zoom Streak XC2, it was well past the time to buy a new pair of "barefoots". Which shoe should I buy though? I had heard heaps of good things about Inov-8. But at the same time I wanted to try something more radical that Erwan Le Corre was wearing: Luna Sandals.

Homecooked dinner: White clams, eggy bittergourd

White clams stewed in some Thai chilli sauce with chives

Trader Joe's Thai Lime & Chili Cashews

It was a write-up of these Thai Lime & Chili Cashews on Trader Joe's website that I had sent to my sister, that had made her buy a bag for herself to try. She enjoyed them so much and found them so addictive that she brought a bag home for us as well.

Snack: Avocado and cherry tomatoes

Overripe avocado and sliced cherry tomatoes

The peas corn and carrots in the background are mom's

Rumah Makan Minang

After reading a review of Rumah Makan Mining on ieatishootipost, I dragged my father to its location at Kandahar Street to da-pao some food for dinner. I had high hopes as I have been looking for a cheaper alternative to my favourite Tambuah Mas.

Coconut oil spotting

Virgin coconut oil spotted at NTUC Finest, Thomson Plaza

Homecooked dinner: Sambal kangkong, black pomfret

Sambal kangkong

Angie The Choice: Pandan Chiffon Cake

Mom knows I love pandan chiffon cake, and we usually go for Bengawan's because it is in our opinion the best. When she passed by a pandan cake from Angie The Choice though, she was intrigued by the label which advises refrigeration at 0 to 4 degrees celcius. So she decided to buy one for us to try.

Homecooked dinner: Beef stew

During the five years I lived in Australia, I ate beef many times a week. However in Singapore, I tend to eat it only once every few months as it can be twice as expensive as chicken and pork. That is the reason that most of my bolognese stews are cooked with ground pork instead of beef. Mom decided to use some beef this time though, and it sure tasted good!

Terra Vegetable Chips: Thai Basil Curry

All you Terra Chips lovers out there, I have got something new to tempt you with. My sister saw this big bag of Thai Basil Curry chips at Costco and decided to fly a bag to Singapore for us to try. I am very much indebted to her because it is one of the best chips I have ever tasted.

Estrogen, exercise and imbalance: Update

It has been close to one and a half months since I first wrote about estrogen detoxification. Since then I have finished the whole bottle of Source Naturals' DIM (2 months of 2 x 100mg tablets a day), taking them together with Natrol's Calcium D-Glucarate (2 months of 2 x 250mg tablets a day). After one month, I noted that: "my hips went down in size - I could tell from clothing, there was much much less fluid retention, cravings were a little less severe, and my mood was more stable."

Homecooked dinner: Kai lan, minced pork, carrot and radish soup

Kai lan stirfried with ginger

Da Paolo Gastronomia: Tiramisu

Where can you get the best tiramisu in Singapore? Unlike the case with its Blackforest Cake and Valrhona Chocolate Cake, lots of people will readily say Da Paolo. I wholeheartedly agree.

Thoughts: Blog, pretentious food blogs, etc...

After doing lots of walking to locate a pair of low-heel work shoes, I took a break at Ah Mei Kaya Toast and had a black coffee. Did some thinking about this blog and the direction in which I want it to go.

Classic vanilla icecream (with crushed, toasted almonds)

For my first attempt at homemade icecream, I wanted to do a classic flavour using a simple receipe. It was going to be either vanilla or chocolate. Since mom loves plain vanilla, I decided to go with that, with the addition of some crumbled roasted almonds for a nice crunch.

Guess what we got...

Jumbo Seafood: Black pepper crab

When my family had dinner at Jumbo with some relatives on a weekday and I could not make it because of work, mom pitied me so much that she packed back a black pepper crab for me (laugh). I had not been to Jumbo for years... at least 10 years, so I was interested in how their black pepper crab would compare to Tung Lok Seafood's.

Snacks: Roasted Almonds

The pictures of the meals I post are sometimes not my only meal of the day. Sometimes, and especially if I have worked out hard that day, I get hungry again about two hours later. That is when I go digging in the fridge for something that can is ready to eat (e.g. leftovers, salad veggies) or something that can be easily cooked. 

Homecooked dinner: Lemongrass pork salad, cabbage

Mom's Thai lemongrass pork on top of lettuce

Hong Kong Jin Tian Eating House

Ask me which hawker stall serves up the best roast duck and/or roast pork, and I will say without hesitation: Hong Kong Jin Tian Eating House. My family has tried various hawker stalls, and before discovering Jin Tian, we were surprised that even Hong Kong restaurants in Melbourne and Perth were serving up roast meat that was in terms of taste, many leagues ahead of Singapore's hawker stalls. 

You cannot imagine how delighted we were when we found Jin Tian, and that it matches up to those Hong Kong restaurants in Melbourne and Perth. People we have invited over for a roast duck / pork meal have all also been impressed.

Homecooked dinner: Grilled veggies and pork bolognese

Grilled zucchini and green capsicum (tastes delish with garlic salt)

Rumah Rasa

Rumah Rasa is a new Indonesian restaurant in the just-as-new Bay Hotel, opposite Vivo City. According to its Facebook page, its head chef, Chef Sharifah, aims to deliver authentic and ibu-esque Indonesian flavours by using fresh seasonal produce. Rumah Rasa caught my attention when a bunch of food blogs all suddenly published a review on the restaurant. Being a huge Indonesian food fan, I had to go and try the restaurant out.

Homecooked dinner: Grilled veggies, stewed chicken

Grilled cauliflower, mushrooms and tomatoes

Da Paolo Gastronomia: Chocolate Croissant

This chocolate croissant was another venture into a non-cake item from Da Paolo. In my limited croissant-eating experience, there are two types of croissants: the buttery, crisp, flaky kind, and the bready kind. The former should be good enough to be eaten on its own, and I usually do that; the latter - I like to use as sandwich bread.

Shoe Review: Nike Zoom Waffle Racer V

At the same time that I had bought the Nike Air Zoom Streak XC 2 from Running Warehouse,  I also bought the Nike Zoom Waffle Racer V as it was on the "liquidation" list and going at a heavily discounted price. Besides, two pairs of shoes suited my training - one for outdoor sprinting and one for the treadmill indoors.

Homecooked dinner: Lemongrass chicken salad

Just a simple small meal because I wasn't very hungry that day.

Wholemeal Hokkaido Milky Loaf

You may remember my attempt at Tangzhong bread, and the pictures of the loaf with three uneven low humps (yet looking totally shreddable). Not being adept at shaping irked me so much that I just had to bake another loaf of bread to practice.

Vitacost, another online supplements store

Hi guys, I have discovered and tested another online store in the U.S. selling supplements, at which you may be able to get some supplements at a cheaper price than iHerb.com. On 17 August I ordered two bottles of tryptophan and one bottle of 5-HTP from Vitacost.com. On 31 August, 14 days later, I received my box of supplements.  Not too bad a shipping time.

For your reference below is a comparison of the prices of some products, and costs of shipping.

Homecooked dinner: Pomfret, kangkong

Black pomfret pan-fried with chilli and black bean sauce

Estrogen, exercise and imbalance

Cartoon by Frank Coble

On 12 June 2012, Robb Wolf released a podcast titled "Estrogen and Brad Davidson". The blog post itself was not very descriptive, yet I was intrigued because many health bloggers have for awhile been discussing hormonal imbalance and estrogen detox. I usually wait for Robb's podcasts to be transcribed because reading allows me to skim and save time. But this time I actually listened to the podcast itself because I could not wait.