Hearts ‘IN’ Hearts

This coming Sunday 9 of May - "Mother's Day", will be a great day for every mothers' or mum to be. I am sure no matter which categories you fall into you are bound to enjoy this wonder moment with your love one. So for this post, daddy and little one can help to prepare this hearty breakfast to reward mummy for all her handwork.

Western breakfast is always the most easier to prepare as most of the ingredients such as Ham, Cheese, Bread and Egg can be easily found in the supermarket. Since this is prepared to reward all the lovely mummies, we use assorted hearts shape cookie cutters to stamp out different sizes of hearts using bread and cheese.

Ingredients:
2 Slices of Thick Bread
Butter
1 Egg
30g Shaved Ham
1 Slice of Sandwich Cheese, optional
Assorted Size Heart shape Cutters

Method:
1. Use a Medium heart shape cutter or knife to cut out a heart shape from the center of each slice of thick bread. (In this recipe, I use the thick bread with cranberry, which can be easily found in most local bakery)
2. Spread some butter on the surface of the cutout bread then pop them in the toaster oven together with the 2 heart-shaped cutout and toast for about 5 – 7 minutes till their slightly golden in colour.
3. Remove and set aside.
4. Heat up a small frying pan or saucepan with some oil, saute the shaved ham for a few second, removed and set aside.
5. With the same pan, add in 1 teaspoon of oil, swirl the oil around the pan, place one of the toast bread in the pan, slowly break the egg into the heart-shaped hole, cover the pan and cook the egg over low heat until the egg white turns opaque, about 3 minutes or so.
6. When done, slowly transfer the bread to the serving plate (careful not to break the egg) along with the heart-shaped pieces of cutout bread, which is prefect for dipping into the yolk.
7. Lastly, fill the 2nd piece of hollow heart-shaped bread with shaved ham and top with heart-shaped cheese cutout.

Serve this hearty breakfast with mum’s favourite beverage during this Mother's Day weekend to pamper her sight and taste bubs. I am sure she will be overwhelm by these Hearts...... Here I wish all the mothers and mother to be a Happy and heartwarming Mother's Day!!!

Black Chicken Porridge

Come and pamper mum with this healthy and nutritious porridge this coming Mother's Day that is falls on the 9 of May. I am sure most of us are more familiar on using “Black Chicken -乌骨鸡” to cook with herbal soup rather than porridge. The idea of this porridge comes from the similar concept of Korean Ginseng Chicken where they use glutinous rice as one of the ingredients. So I thought maybe I can turn the herbal soup into something light and yet nutritious for the whole family.

The ingredients used can be easily found in most Chinese Medical Hall and you can also get the black chicken from most of the supermarket too. The use of Lotus Seeds, Yu Zhu and Dried Longan can nourishes Ying and quenches thirst, benefits bloods and clams the spirit and as well for treating tensions and forgetfulness too. Whereas Black Chicken nourishes the Yin and strengthens the kidney.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 Black Chicken, 乌骨鸡
10g Dried Longan, 桂圆
10g Lotus Seeds, 莲子
5g Huai Shan, 淮山
5g Yu Zhu, 玉竹
5g Wolfberries, 枸杞
10g Dried Scallop, optional
3/4 Cup of Uncooked Rice
1.5 Litre Of Water

Method:
1. Trim the fats and unwanted parts of the black chicken, cut it into 4 parts. (you can ask the stall owner to help you to remove the skin, fats and cut it into quarter, according to my mum some supermarkets also provide this trimming & cutter services)
2. Place the chicken pieces in boiling water for about 3 – 5 minutes to remove the odors then rinse it with tap water and set aside for later use.
3. Rinse the uncooked rices for a few times and soak it in water for about 20 – 30 minutes so that it will soften easily and shorten the cooking time.
4. Using a medium or big soup pot (I used a big claypot), bring the water to boil, add in all the ingredients except lotus seeds, wolfberries and uncooked rice.
5. When the water comes to boil, reduce the heat; simmer the herbs and chicken for about 20 minutes.
6. Next add in the uncooked rice(without the water) and soft lotus seeds to the soup mixture, when the soup comes to boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 – 15 minutes.
7. Remember to stir the porridge on and off (to prevent burning), if the soup tends to dry out, you can add in some hot water to dilute it.
8. Adjust the cooking time to the porridge texture according to your mum’s liking, stirring in the wolfberries about 3 minutes before you turn off the heat.
9. You can serve this as lunch or dinner with some extra spring onion or coriander as garnish.

Note:
~ When using dried scallop, soaked it in hot water till soft, rinse and set aside before adding to the soup with the rest of the ingredients.
~ Soak lotus seeds without pre-washing in hot water till soft, removed the green bitter dried germ of the lotus seeds before adding to the soup.


With all these benefits of the ingredients used, why not list down your shopping list and start preparing something for your mum this coming Mother’s Day. I am sure she will be delighted even it is just a simple dish that is out from your hand and heart.

Maguro Tataki @ Sakae Sushi

Last month Sakae Sushi has launch a new revamp menu which includes the S$3.99 pink plate, appetising new dishes and desserts to pamper their loyal customer. And finally today, I am able to try this Maguro(Tuna) Tataki Salad which is also a new dish that is often SOLD OUT during a few of my visits.

This is my first try on eating Tuna that is lightly grilled and served with a very matching Salad dressing that brings out the wonderful flavour of this fresh tuna. On whole this dish is served together with some deep-fried Kakiage which is a type of tempura made with mixed vegetable strips and half of a soft-boiled egg topped with ikura. All these cost S$9.99 per serving, so wait no more try it out at any of the Sakae outlets near your area.

I love this "Kansen Maki" at first sight when I saw it moving towards our direction on the sushi conveyor belt. It contain 3 of my favourite ingredients together which are "Fried Ebi, Salmon and Mango". This is a very wonderful combination with a crispy and crunchy ebi being wrapped inside their premium sushi rice then outer layer covers with slices of soft and juice salmon and mango. This is really a great combination......

Em... I am sure by now, for those readers who read my previous Sakae Sushi Posts, you will sure to have some ideas on who's sushi this belong to.......Yes! It's my precious darling's favourite Tamago Sushi and this shot is taken by him :) Maybe in future my darling will be another Food Blogger too..... em......... :)

The chef at Sembawang branch cooks a better Garlic Rice than the one I had in another branch in town. The taste of the rice blends well with the seasoning and it taste great with that extra Krill topping.

Upon visiting Sakae for so many years, I have not try their "Kajiki Sashimi" until today. This Swordfish sashimi has a mild flavoured, moderately-fat, firm and meatlike flesh. It taste so different from what I had imagine all along which I thought it might be having a very raw and yucky taste. But after trying it today, I knew I am missed out this goodies for such a long time..........

Mum and I loves this "Ajitsuke Idako" which is a kind of seasoned baby octopus that is served as a cold dish. The seasoning and the texture of the octopus make it a great combination appetiser. Sometime we can even get 2 or 3 plates at a go.

Mentaiko Tofu is also another new dish on the list and for your information "Mentaiko is actually the marinated roe of pollock". But overall we find this dish too oily and the fried tofu is kind of soggy which made this dish a bit of greasy.

Dual combination or fish roes for this Lobster Salad Combo which cost S$3.99. I am sure this sure worth the price for this dish where you can have both Lobster and generous amount of fish roes as topping.

Today's dessert I would like to try their "Imo Caramel - Japanese Caramelized Sweet Potatoes" which resemble one of the Taiwan after meal dessert we had during our recent Taiwan trip in April. But the different between the two is, Sakae Imo Caramel is in strips form whereas Taiwan's is in cube form and before eating we have to dip the Imo Cubes in cold water so that the caramel will not stick together. Although the Imo Caramel at Sakae taste good but it's kind of hard to bite, maybe the kitchen staff has over-fried it :p Hope the next round when I order this dessert the caramelized sweet potato won't taste hard and dry.

I was toggling on whether to order the Goma or Matcha Ice-cream for our 2nd dessert. Since I have already tried their Matcha Ice Cream with Warabi Mochi which taste absolutely great, I decided to give their Goma Ice-cream a go too. The texture is great with a mild black sesame taste and you can even get some bites of whole sesame in it. But it depend whether will you spend S$2.99 for a worth trying single scoop of ice-cream!

Resort World Singapore @ Sentosa

Em... ever since Universal Studios, Singapore open to public access on 18 March 2010, it has being my thought to bring Rey to take a look at the newly renovated Waterfront Station and Theme Park in Sentosa.

Today is an sunny Saturday morning, we decided to have a some light Dim Sum breakfast at Xin Fu Yin Cha - 幸福饮茶 stall that is located at Food Republic in Vivo City Lvl 3. The furnishing in the stall was in wooden-style chairs and tables which make it look like those 60s -70s stall. Although it's about 10.00am in the morning, there is a lot of people queuing up to grab their favourite dim sum. Overall, we are still very satisfy with their ingredients but the price over here it's rather the same as those in it's main restaurant.

From Vivo City, we took the Sentosa Express near the ticketing station outside Food Republic at level 3. The Sentosa Pass is available at S$3.00 per person per day at the Sentosa Express station. You can also enter the island via Sentosa Express using your ez-link card which shorten your time of queuing up during weekend crowds.

At about less than 10 minutes train ride, we reached Waterfront Station. We were so shock with it's new outlook and changes compare to the previous musical fountain, orchid garden, fish pond and etc that this place used to have.

I am sure everyone will not lost their way because there are a lot of interesting signboards and direction sign. About 100m away from the Waterfront Station, you will reach "The Bull Ring" where you will find some Gifts and Collectibles retail stores as well as "Chili's Grill & Bar" at the corner.

Other than retail and food stores along the side of "The Bull Ring". This area also marks the Entrance to the "Universal Studios, Singapore". Despite of the "high" pricing, I was shock that the ticket for the day can be SOLD OUT even before noon time. Em.... that shows that a lot of people are still willing to pay for the price to go in......... If you wish to know more about the pricing, perhaps you can take a look Here. And if you are interested to pop-by maybe you can consider to book your ticket on line in advance to avoid disappointment :)

After walking around here and there, it's time to take a break, rest the feet and have a cup of coffee/tea. From far, it's not difficult to spot "Coffee Bean" and the opposite end of the bull ring at "The Forum". For our tea-break, we had ice-mocha blended and a slice of their raspberry cake. I love the environment here, it's so peaceful under the bright morning sun..... enjoy my cup of coffee and cake gives me the feeling of "I am on Holiday" mood.........

"The Forum" consists of two level of retail, banking services, restaurants and etc. You will be able to spot Hard Rock Cafe at level 1 just a few steps away from Coffee Bean. Other than food, you also can see DBS and HL banking......

2nd big attraction of Resort World will be it's Casino that is located at the ground level of "The Forum". After taking the escalator beside "Lake of Dreams", we finally saw the Grand entrance of the Casino. All Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents must have a valid Casino Entry Levy (S$100.00 for 24 hrs) to enter the casino. And you will be surprised to see that beautiful "Lamborghin" outside the Casino entrance that will be given out to the Jackpot winner.

Look at the photo of the fountain on the left, that is the "Lake of Dreams" which is a unique musical extravaganza where fire, water and light are the stars of the show. Further down on the stretch, you will come across "Festive Terrace" which is surround by Hotel Michael and Crockfords Tower. Inside Crockfords Tower, they are range of branded shops in Galleria walk.

Look at these beautiful scenic, all these are taken during the Sentosa Express train ride. Sentosa really changes a lot during these past 5 - 10 years and every time you will be surprised when you get there :)

P/s: For more photos of the trip check us out @ Cuisine Paradise Fan Page, click HERE.