Birthday Treat @ Sakae Sushi Part II

Today's lunch was a very special treat because Rey had being looking forward for it for a long long time. He has being talking about having SAKAE sushi with his best Facebook playmate.... "Ah Pooh" since the 1st day she return to Singapore. Joyce is a very good friend, sister and listener of mine thru MSN and facebook for the past two years while she was away in Australia :) And with similar tastebuds as us, she is also one of the Sakae sushi fan.....and she loves the raw Salmon slices ...just the way I do.....

But today's lunch treat, we have special mission.... Joyce was curious on how I take my photo shots before the meal and what are the angles that I will snap and etc... So this lunch was actually a very interesting and meaningful treat. Secondly it also meant for us to have an early celebration for my coming birthday in Mid January.... :p

Other than taking the usual items that we like, we also ordered 3 special items that we are going to try and share with the readers. First to arrive on the table is the"Beancurd Roll" shown on the first photo on top, but we are kind of shock with the dish. Because it seems rather different from what we saw from the menu which is something shown on the sakae photo above. As you can see from the Sakae photo, the white portion(seems like the doufu) is thicker and it clean and crispy on the outlook rather than the black sauce that drizzle on our serving....... Although the sauce taste quite nice, but it is sort of contradict to the photo shown on the menu which might be a bit misleading....

While flipping through the ordering menu, J & I decided to ordered this "Tempura With Yuzu Soba" which we find it worth the price of S$13.99 which consists generous amount of cold Yuzu Soba, a plate of assorted Tempura Moriawase. When we are busying taking photo shots of this dish, we are kind of caught off with what is the purpose of that little quail egg. Since we have not come across using this egg in any soba dish that we have tried before, we decided to approached the store manager for help. And she was very kind enough to explain to us that the egg is to be crack into the soba dipping sauce and eat together with the noodles. So at least in the end we knew that it is the same as what we thought it is used for :)

The Yuzu Soba taste great with it's QQ texture and a light "Yuzu" fragrant when you chew in your mouth. And this sure goes well with the deep-fry Tempura Moriawase.

Cabbage Roll is another dish that we ordered from the Veggie Delights section. Em... seems like today most of the items are from the Veggie section :p From what I remember, this used to be a similar Chinese dish where they wrapped the meat mixture (minced meat & prawn with some chopped carrot, water chestnuts and etc) with blanched Cabbage, steam it over medium heat till the meat is done, then drizzle some oyster sauce gravy on top of it.

The one that we have today is quite similar to the type I mention above, but the different is the one that served at Sakae is more of mixed vegetables filling such as Shittake Mushroom, Carrot and Enokitake Mushroom.

As for dessert, Joyce prefer something cold and sweet so she decided to go for the Peach Mochi Ice Cream. Em.... so far I have tried all flavour of Mochi Ice Cream except this peach flavour but personally I still prefer the Lychee flavour which is more fragrant.... em... wonder will Sakae bring in some DURIAN flavour... :p

A Glimpse @ Marina Bay Sands

Today we take our 2nd visit to the Marina Barrage from our way back from lunch in town. Since Grandma has not being to the Barrage before, we decided to make a trip over there so that she can take a look as the place as well as enjoying the beautiful scenery there. During our 1st visit last year, we didn't managed to get to this Water Park area where the kids and adults will be enjoying themselves with the cooling water......

Today's weather is much more better than the our revious trip. Although sun was shining bright and scotching, but thank God it is still a very windy day where you can see a lot of people flying all sort of kites at the roof top area. One that caught our attention is a "BIG BLUE SHARK"....but too big even though I zoom in to take the shot still can't take a close look of it....

From the roof top of the Barrage viewing deck area, you can take a better look at the almost completed "Marina Bay Sands - 滨海湾金沙综合娱乐城". This three cascading 55 storey hotel towers topped by an extraordinary sky park, ‘floating’ crystal pavilions, a lotus-inspired Museum, retail stores featuring cutting-edge labels and international luxury brands, trendy Celebrity Chef restaurants, endless of entertainment at the theaters and a Las Vegas-style casino is located along the Marina Bay waterfront. The expected completion date is roughly in the 2nd Quarter of 2010.

Steam Salmon Fillet With Herbs

Here is another Chinese New Year auspicious dish from Cuisine Paradise Kitchen. Despite of the Cod Fish that I always used, Salmon is another type of fish that is always on my shopping list. And since now is near to the Chinese New Year festive season, I think having something which is "BRIGHT" and "RED" will be a great presentation to impress our guests during Chinese New Year gathering...... So let me share with you my 2nd Chinese New Year "Fish" dish which I called it "鸿运当头" due to the colour of the salmon slices and herbs like red dates and wolfberries.

The idea of steaming salmon with Chinese Herbs came into my mind because I wanted to prepare something different using the salmon fillet that I bought. Instead of the usual pan-fry, bake with herbs or poaching.... I think maybe I can in-cooperate some Chinese Herbs to it and turn the Salmon into a Auspicious Chinese New Year dish.......... There are a few types of Salmon available in the supermarket or Japanese seafood stall, but usually those that we get from the local supermarket are the Norwegian Salmon which is sold in pre-packed of different parts of the salmon fillet from head to tail. No matter how you like to consume your salmon in a way from RAW to grill or poach, I am sure every different methods will brings up another level of taste in the salmon.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 Pieces of Boneless Salmon Fillet, abt 400g
10g Shredded Ginger
1 Stall of Spring Onion, cut into long section
4 Red Dates, soften and cut into halves
1/2 Teaspoon of Wolfberries
2 Slices of Dang Gui, break into smaller portion
Drizzle of Sesame Oil, optional

Method:
1. Rinse the Salmon fillet, pat dry and cut into slices and set aside.
2. Place some spring onion on a steaming plate, top with some Dang Gui slices and arrange the salmon slices on top of it.
3. Scatter the red dates and wolfberries evenly on the salmon slices then get ready a pot of boiling water for steaming.
4. While waiting for the water to boil, pre-heat a small frying pan with about 1 tablespoon of oil, sauté the shredded ginger till fragrant and golden brown, removed and set aside for garnish.
5. When the pot of water boils, place some saute ginger on top of the salmon slices, drizzle some ginger oil and scatter some extra chopped spring onion and steam it over medium heat for about 5 to 7 minutes depend on the thickness of the salmon slices.
6. Before severing, top with the remaining saute ginger and oil and try to scoop a few teaspoons of the fish gravy(after steaming the fish, there will be some water/sauce appears below the fish) over the fish in order to make it look more glossy and presentable.

Note:-
~ This dish is best to serve warm, just right after steaming or else the texture of the salmon slices will be tough and not smooth.

Finally, this is the end product of my "Steam Salmon Fillet with Herbs - 鸿运当头" which I hope those who consume this will have great Prosperity and luck in the coming year. If you are going to try out this dish, do let me know your feedback irregardless of good/bad :) Till then I will leave you with the two Chinese New Year Fish Dish that I have shared with you..... Will update more if I have any new ideas to share......

Assorted Pineapple Tarts

Time when by so fast as it's another starting of the year again. In about a month's time, everyone will be celebrating Chinese New Year and now it is the time to prepare and take note of those festive bakes/dishes. In my family, without failed for the past 8 years, even during my end of confinement period, I still make the effort to prepare and bake our family all times favourite - Pineapple Tarts. And this is also a time whereby my dear son is looking forward to..... as he has being helping me with the rolling of jam, and mould the tarts for the past 4 years.... :)

Pineapple tarts are usually consumed during the Chinese New Year season and it's typical shapes include flat, open tart topped with pineapple jam under a lattice of pastry or rolls filled with jam that are open at the ends and jam-filled spheres. The pineapple jam is usually cooked under low heat in order to caramelize the grated fresh pineapple that has been mixed with sugar and spices like cinnamon, star anise and cloves. From the photo, you can see the metal star shape plunger which they used to cut-out a tiny star from the pastry to top on top of the open tart. But too bad, I have misplaced mine and had only managed to find it after I have finished making these tarts :(

According to the Chinese Lunar Calender, there are 12 different animals signs which is rotating each year. And in 2010, it happens to be the year of the "TIGER". And since it is a Tiger year, I decided to make something different and special. So without much hesitate, I look-up for my baking mould and come out with this "Tigger" head print to represent the Tiger year goodies...... My dear son was very excited about this new design of our family Pineapple Tart and he actually forbidden anyone to eat it.

This set of kiddy pineapple tarts is totally belong to my dear son. He did all the rolling, mould and coating himself before I put it in the oven for him. I guess, no matter what is your age group like, you won't want to reject these cute Hello Kitty, Pooh and Tomica tarts :)

With Chinese New Year around the corner, me and my family wish everyone of you a HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR and may this year brings prosper, health and good career to everyone of you. If you are interested in the "Melt In Your Mouth Pineapple Tart" recipe, you can click HERE for more detail.