Season 2 of Family Cook Off Sponsor by FairPrice And HPB

"FairPrice Family Cook Off", a Singapore version of family cooking competition, returns for a second season on Asian Food Channel and E City airing on Starhub TV from 25 October 2011 to 06 December 2011. Same as last year the show will be bought to you by NTUC FairPrice and produced by Brand New Media. But this year there will be a partnership with Health Promotion Board (HPB) to increase the awareness of using healthier ingredients in cooking.

The second season of Family Cook Off will be hosted by celebrity couple Evelyn Tan and Darren Lim, who are both household names in local English and Chinese television circles. Whereas the Judge will be Fay Khoo, author and television host for various Malaysian food guides and television programmes.  She is also the founding partner of her own brand spices "Miss Khoo's Asian Deli" and currently food editor and columnist for TIME OUT KL and Esquire.

Filming of FairPrice Family Cook Off Season 2 will take place at the Marina Bay Golf Club, with the first episode scheduled to air on 25 October 2011 on the Asian Food Channel and E City. Subsequent episodes will be broadcasted on both channels every Tuesday thereafter at 8pm. Recipes from each episode will also be available at selected NTUC FairPrice stores or on http://cookoff.com.sg/ and http://www.hpb.gov.sg/

Similar to previous year, the FairPrice Family Cook Off follows a knock-off competition format. Each week, two families will go head-to-head in three 20 minutes cook off challenges using mandatory ingredients provided to create their dish. The breakdowns of their tasks include:-

~ A Family's Signature Dish;

~ A recipe makeover challenge that requires the cooks to put a health spin on a Popular Singapore Dish (example: Laksa); and

~ A mystery ingredient challenge by using four ingredients and five minutes to plan and cook up a creative dish.

Registrationis opens to public from 15 July 2011 to 05 August 2011 via their official website at http://cookoff.com.sg/. Participants will be picked through a process that includes interviews, and tests on their skills and ability to work as a team. In addition to winning the grand prize of an "all-expense paid trip" to a mystery location, the winning family will receive S$1,000 of FairPrice gift vouchers too.

Cooking Demonstration by

Winner of FairPrice Family Cook Off 2010

COTTON BLEU FAMILY

The Cotton Family, winner of FairPrice Family Cook Off Season 1 shares they experiences and thoughts about last year event. Father, Herve says that they didn't expect to win the Family Cook Off Championship but they really enjoy whole process of bonding and fun time shared as a family during the cooking event.

Above shows a live cooking demo on their finale signature dessert done during Family Cook Off Season 1 which is known as Floating Iceberg. According to Herve this a family recipe pass to him from his mum and it is actually poached egg white served with custard, fruit and caramel sauce.

And fresh from their win last year, they also opened a French-style family restaurant known as "Cotton Bleu" at 205 Upper Thomson Road with range of choices from Appetizer, Main Course to Dessert. Will share more on their menu on the next post.

In order to participate in this year Season 2 Family Cook Off. Click on their official site at http://cookoff.com.sg/registration-form for more more detail and registration form. Good Luck.

Singapore Food Festival 2011 - Official Opening 15 July 2011

Although it was a raining evening, it did not reduce the number of visitors gathering around Clarke Quay Read Bridge to discover the journey of this year Singapore Food Festival 2011(SFF11) "CURRIES AND SPICES" theme during its Official Opening on Friday, 15 July 2011.

Introducing different types of ground spices for making curries and cuisines near the main entrance.

From the name "SPICE IT UP!" you are able to discover Singapore ethnic curries and cuisines using different kinds of whole or ground spices found in their cuisine which they will showcase it on most of the participating stalls. Example: These are the spices and ingredients used for making Chinese Herbal Mutton Soup from one of the stalls.)

As compared to last year(read more HERE) statistic of 30,000 visitors, this year we have over 35,000 visitors crowding at the stalls on the Clarke Quay Read Bridge during yesterday night official opening.

Before the Guest of Honor arrival at the Singapore Food Festival Village, there is a short 5 minutes band performance where the drummers dressed in chef outfits accompany by two dancers to SPICE up the HEAT for the event.

This year Singapore Food Festival logo is given an updated look to reflect to the theme of SFF11 after 17 years. The brand new logo is a colourful amalgamation of Singapore’s Best-loved Spices in a traditional mortar and pestle. Every member of the launch party will be given a piece of a puzzle to fit onto the “Spice Backdrop”. These 5 pieces of puzzle will form the new SFF Logo when pieced together and at the same time officially launching SFF11.

The order of the pieces of puzzle are:-

~ 1st Piece: Cinnamon Stick (by Ms Le Thi Thanh Thao)
~ 2nd Piece: Chilli (by Chef Milind Sovani & Mr Shanmugam)
~ 3rd Piece: Ginger (by Mr Ng Yong Hwee)
~ 4th Piece: Cardamom (by Ms Melissa Ow)
~ 5th Piece: Coriander Leaf and Star Anise (by Minister S.Iswaran)

After Minster S.Iswaran and the rest of the launch party finished touring the "Curry and Spice Street", they headed to the cooking demonstration area to observe SFF Consultant Chef Milind Sovani prepares a Fish Head Curry dish.

Zalina's Specialties has a good range of local Malay Cuisines where you will indulge with the sambal chilli, rendang, chili prawns and etc. Our set meal consists of :- Turmeric Rice, Rendang Chicken, Sambal Prawns and Egg which cost S$6.50. 

Local favourite Ngoh Hiang that you can have it anytime of the day with a accompany spicy dipping sauce with hint of crashed peanuts.

Spice Sutra offers a range of North Indian food such as Butter Chicken, Assorted Skewers, Mutton Curry and etc.

Other than spicy curries you can also try the Chili Crab from Jumbo Seafood, Claypot Fish Head Curry from Chng Kee, and Fried Carrot Cake from Lim Hai Sheng. But if you keen in trying some Indian food, look up for the stalls occupy by the Indian Restaurants Association Singapore(IRAS) where they offers array of Indian cuisines.

For those who love Ice-Cream there is an Gelato stall that sells a few types of "spiced ice-creams" such as Wasabi, Vanilla Saffron and Chocolate Chilly(where you will get to see real red chili in it) for a single scoop at S$4.00 per cup.

If you are someone who love SPICES and SPICY food, do come down to the Singapore Food Festival Village and experience your journey with all the different types of curries and cuisines are you can find there.

SINGAPORE FOOD FESTIVAL VILLAGE

Date: 15 - 24 July 2011
Time: 4.00pm - 11.00pm(weekdays) / 12.00pm - 11.00pm(weekends)
Venue:Clarke Quay Read Bridge And Along Central River Promenade
Admission: FREE (Pricing of the food starts from S$2.00 onwards)
Website and Details HERE.

Hearty Breakfast From Coffee Bean And Tea Leaf

Breakfast is my most favorite meal of the day. I love the smell of scrambled eggs and bacon whenever these two are served on our weekend breakfast. As you know staying in food paradise like Singapore we are all pamper with wide varieties of breakfast choices range from either the traditional Fried/Steamed Carrot Cake, Century Egg Porridge, Fried Fritters(you tiao) with Kopi or more westernize choice like Oat Porridge, Bacon and Sausage.

Sometime it might be good idea to pamper yourself with a cup of freshly brewed coffee/tea, served together with a set of hearty breakfast without you sweating in your own kitchen. Usually I would like to ordered Brek 'O' Day which served with scrambled eggs, toasts, sausage and salad.

I love their freshly made salad with crisp lettuce, generous amount of flake almond and cranberries served; with sourish and sweet tangy dressing that perk up my day.
Pricing: S$7.70(include a cup of freshly brewed coffee/tea that is FREE to refill daily till 11.00am)

Above shows the range of Breakfast Menu items from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf which I am sure you will find something your preference.

New Zealand Natural $1 OFF Hot And Cold Lunch Treat plus "The Launch"

Apart from my recent post about New Zealand Natural(NZN) promotion on their FREE 1 PINT Ice-Cream(read more HERE) there is another new promotion for the month of JULY (01 July - 31 July 2011) which I saw from their Facebook page. This promotion is ONLY at their HarbourFront outlet which is great for those who work or hang around HarbourFront Shopping Mall

As you can see from the promotion leaflet above there will be a S$1.00 OFF when you make any purchase of hot food such as pasta, pizza or hotdogs (including a Free cup of either hot of ice coffee) OR regular-sized ice-cream which makes it a perfect deal for your lunch/tea break.

Furthermore I heard from a few friends who loves NZN ice-cream, there will be a GREAT LAUNCH on their 6 Most Popular Flavour ice-cream from this July onwards at appointed supermarket outlets. With this launch it means we can easily purchase NZN Ice-cream at a more convenient locations spreading across Singapore other than their 9 ice-cream parlous(location HERE).

SIX MOST POPULAR FLAVOURS

New Zealand Natural Ice-Cream

These premium no artificial flavouring and colouring ice-cream which from New Zealand comes in 473ml tubs with new packaging distinct from those available at the local ice-cream parlours.

Forest Berry:
~ 97% Fat free yogurt made with real boysen berries and 3 other berries

Hokey Pokey:
~ Crunchy butterscotch balls, folded into creamy honey-combed ice-cream

Classic Vanilla:
~ Smooth vanilla ice cream made with fresh cream

Mango Sorbet:
99% fat free, non-dairy luscious mango sorbet, made with real mango

Cookies and Cream:
~ Crushed chocolate cookies dunked in creamy vanilla ice-cream

Chocolate Ecstasy:
~ Rich chocolate fudge, swirled through NZN’s famous chocolate ice-cream

For your information these NZN ice-creams are "EXCLUSIVELY" available ONLY at Cold Storage Supermarket's 40 over outlets island wide at S$12++ per 473ml tub. So start to spot and grab a tub or two of these new eye-catching New Zealand Natural premium ice-creams on your next visit to Cold Storage. Now I am excited to try out one of their 6 Most Popular Flavour like Hokey Pokey.