CHENG TENG

Food was not a concern during childhood even though we were poor.  My mum was able to cook nutritious and delicious food with minimal ingredients.  Savory and sweet soup were frequently served which she believed to be beneficial to health in the long run.  She often stressed that as long as food was cooked with love and care, even though however simple and cheap the ingredients were, the food will turn out delicious.

When I got married and had children I make sure that my family is well fed.  During hot weather sweet soups and herbal tea are served and well-boiled soup for dinner every night.

Cheng Teng is one of favourites.  Soak the following ingredients : white fungus, lotus seeds and sterulia seeds (pang dai hai).  Boil large sago pearls in boiling water till opaque.  Rinse over cold water till not starchy.  Put aside.

Soak sterulia seeds in water till expanded.  Discard skin.

Ingredients - clockwise : sterulia seeds, white fungus, barley, gingko nuts, agar-agar strips, dried sweet potatoes, dried winter-melon, dried longan and large sago pearls. Unable to get dried persimmon, best to include.

Boil sweet potatoes for only 10 mins, too long will turn soft and mushy.  Only add agar-agar strips when soup is luke warm otherwise will melt.

STEAM CHICKEN

We consume chicken more than any other meat.  The simple and time saving dish to cook is steam chicken with mushroom, black fungus, red dates, preserved cabbage (大 头 菜), ginger and garlic.

Soak all the ingredients till ready to use.  Remove the seed from red dates, smash ginger and garlic. Squeeze juice from ginger onto chicken.  Marinate the chicken with sugar, light soya sauce, garlic, ginger, rice wine and corn flour. Cut all ingredients, except red dates, into strips and marinate with salt and light soya sauce.  Mix together the chicken and the ingredients and steam over high heat till cooked.

CURRY CHICKEN

Chicken is the best meat to use for curry as it needs not cook too long and absorb flavor well.  Add in more chillies (dried & fresh) and fresh tumeric to bring out the colour of the dish

I pound the rempah myself rather than buy from market as the smell of curry powder is rather strong.  Athough it is very tedious to make your own rempah but was used to doing it when young.  Very often I was given the task of pounding rempah and plucking beansprouts.  My mum would make sure that the rempah was pounded till no trace of chilly seeds and skins to be found.  Can imagine the sensation of your hands from the splutter of the rempah afterwards.

A bowl of aromatic spicy curry accompany rice and baguette gives a hearty meal.

THE ROYALS

We passed this place very often but never sat foot inside.  When wondering where to go for lunch that we decided to give the place a try.  The place gives a homely feel with a sitting capacity of less than 20 tables. Although small but it does not feel congested.

The bread and pastry section gives a first impression on stepping in.

A gelato fridge next to cakes counter - attractive colors

Fridge for storing big cakes

Shepherd Pie Value Set Meal - $4.90

Spaghetti Grill Fish Set - Tender fish - $6.90

Nonya Mee Siam - sourish and not spicy enough - $3.90

The food is value for money but taste-wise not much flavor.  There is nothing to complain about with such low price.

BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE

I baked a cheesecake using the remaining blueberries.

Not satisfied with the result as cracks appeared

Not enough berries

BERRIES SALAD

Fruits are going cheap at NTUC and I picked punnets of strawberry and blueberry.  What better way to eat it fresh on a hot day.

Mix all the berries with a can of longan and chill.   Best way to end a meal.

YY CAFE

Ah Bua is my favorite kueh, which only can be found at some Hainanese eateries.  Killiney Road Kopitiam is one of them but they only sell the kueh in the afternoon, which I always miss when we went for breakfast, and is open-face fillings.  I prefer the ones with fillings enclosed and I got to taste it at YY Cafe in Liang Seah Street, which sold traditional Hainanese food.

Enclosed fillings of shredded coconuts, ginger and peanut with melted gula melaka.

Fillings coated outside the kueh

Toasted soft fuffy roti with thick slices of butter - enough for lunch

As we were already half full from consumption of the kueh and bread we only ordered 1 or 2 more dishes.

Deep fried tofu with kai-lan

White tender juicy chicken

PICNIC

Picnic at Marina Barrage on a sunny weekend.  Food had already been prepared by eldest daughter who had waken up early.

The place is huge for family outing and flying kites.

Picnic food - simple and delicious

Fruits salad - strawberry, jackfruit and blueberries (hidden at bottom)

Croissant sandwiches - avocado apples and ham

Toasted baguette sandwiches

Stuffed mushroom

Monkey jumping exercise after a full meal

Too heavy to jump high

Ballerina

Monkeys jumping

Eternal Spring

The place make use of solar for electricity

SO LONG FAREWELL

These peanut chocolate-chip cookies were baked for my youngest daughter's as farewell gift to her senior guides who will be sitting for their 'O' level this year.  The cookies were wrapped in beautiful individual packets tied with ribbon.

LEFT-OVER

There is always leftover rice after every meal.   Fried rice is convenient food, without having to cook extra dishes.

I like to fry rice simply just by adding dried shrimps, garlic, ginger and eggs (or salted egg to make the rice more tasty), without meat or awful frozen vegetables (peas, carrots and corns).

FOOD FEST

A big food fest held in June in Takashimaya atrium.  As it was still early at 11am there was not much crowd and we got to savour varieties of food samples.

Fried snacks, delicious sausages

Japanese rice sets

Japanese sauces and vinegar

Beautiful glass teapots, cups and sauces

Assortment of fruit juices

ONE TO ONE

Outing is usually a family affair but once a while going out with my children on a one-to-one basis helps to communicate and to forge a closer relationship.

During the June school holiday I brought my 3rd daughter to Bakerzin at Tampines Mall for lunch. They have a set lunch promotion but we opted for a la carte

The restaurant is medium size with a full case display of their popular cakes and desserts, which attracts a long stream of customers non-stop. By lunch time the place was almost full and service was slowed due to lack of manpower

The potato-leek soup was flavored by bits of bacon floating around amongst traces of whip cream which was not blended in thoroughly

The pumpkin soup was delicious with a hint of curry flavor, spicy and rich.

Open sandwich baguettes in 3 flavors - mushrooms, cheese & bacon and otak. The baguettes were toasted well, very crispy.

Ham & Egg Pasta with cheese. The egg was jingly poached to fragility.The pasta was deliciously mixed with lava of lusciously egg yolk

Sensuous pleasure resulted from piping hot luxurious chocolate pudding served with vanilla ice-cream.

Silken rich panna-cotta served in berry sauce with fresh raspberries and strawberries

ACHIEVEMENT

After all these years of hard work and preseverence my daughter manages to achieve what she desires.  She was lucky to gain admission to one of the most sought after courses in the Singapore U

This is the proudest moment of our lives. The feeling that we have is indescribable when she received her degree on stage.  As parents we wish her all the best and hope that she uphold her integrity and professionalism in her career.

Thanks to my boss for her helpful advice and helped us to obtain 7 tickets to the convocation which everyone in the family has the opportunity to witness this great moment. 
Also a great thanks to my colleague who without hesitation agreed to be her guarantor for the past 5 years.