Angry Birds Halloween Party at Sentosa's Port of Lost Wonder

This October in line with the upcoming Halloween celebration on 31 October, the Port Of Lost Wonder (POLW), Sentosa and the Singapore Cable Car welcome you to enjoy a jolly good family time at the first ever Angry Birds Halloween Party on, 27 October 2012.

During that evening, ticket holders to the Halloween party at Port of Lost Wonder can look forward to an festive activities as the beach gets transformed into an Angry Birds themed Halloween playground featuring the iconic characters from one of the world’s most popular mobile games.

Apple, Oat And Walnut Crumble Slice

Apples are beautiful fruits that can be used in both dishes and bakes. For our family, I often use it to make Apple Tea or Double-boiled Apple With Gingko Nut and you could read more on my collection of apple recipes(here). In order to show my support for Bosch "Apple-tizing" Health Recipe Contest 2012, I decided to make this health Apple, Oat & Walnut Crumble Slice with added Chia seeds which is an amazing ingredient that loaded with lots of health benefits.

Following the successful debut of the Bosch cooking contest in 2011(read more here), this year they are having Bosch ‘Apple-tizing’ Cooking Contest 2012 which is open for entries till 31 October 2012.

To particular, you must own either a Bosch Kitchen Machines or Food Processors in order to submit a healthy recipe using APPLES (submit via Bosch Singapore website here). After which the six best entries will be shortlisted to compete in a cook-off contest on 22 December 2012 using their own Bosch appliance.

So if you have either one of the mentioned Bosch appliance(s) maybe you could consider to send in your "secret recipe" featuring Apples and your Bosch appliance. For your information, Grand prize winner gets "A pair of economy tickets to Germany (plus $1,000 allowance)".

APPLE, OAT AND WALNUT CRUMBLE SLICE

Here for my buttery pastry I have added some cinnamon powder instead of mixed spice and as for the filling I choose Granny Smith Apples and golden rinse to balance the sweet and sour taste. And to create a crunchy texture with healthier toppings, I choose Organic Rolled Oats, Walnuts and Chia Seeds to go with the buttery crumbs. 

(Make: 16 x 26cm pan | Preparation: 15 minutes | Baking: 20 minutes + 35 minutes)

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups (340g) All Purpose Flour
1/3 Cup (60g) Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon Powder/Mixed Spice, optimal
180g Unsalted Butter, chopped
2 Tablespoons Ice Water

Apple Mixture:
4 - 5 Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored, diced
1 Tablespoon Caster Sugar
Rind of 1 Lemon, optional
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1/3 Cup (60g) Golden Raisin
1/3 Cup (35g) Rolled Oats
1/3 Cup (45g) Walnut Nuts, chopped
2 Tablespoons Chia Seeds, optional

Method:-
1. Preheat oven to 180°C (degree Celsius). Grease a 3cm deep, 16cm x 26cm brownie pan and line it with baking paper, allowing 2cm overhang on all sides.

2. Process flour, brown sugar, butter and spice(if using) in Bosch MCM 4 food processor until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

3. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons chilled water and process until mixture just comes together to form a dough (adding more water if required).

4. Wrap 3/4 cup dough in cling wrap and refrigerate until firm. Press remaining dough using fingers tips or spatula evenly into the tin and bake it in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until pastry turns golden in colour. Remove and set aside to cool.

5. Next add apples, caster sugar, lemon rind and juice in a saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar has dissolved.

6. Increase heat to medium-low, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes or until apple is soft. Allow mixture to cool completely before stirring in raisin.

7. Spoon apple mixture over pastry base. Coarsely grate chilled dough into a bowl with rolled oat, walnut and chai seeds mixture then gently stir to combine.

8. Sprinkle dough mixture over apple mixture. Bake in 180°C (degree Celsius) for 35 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool completely in pan before sliced.

Baking is like doing science where we tends to experiment with different recipes and ingredients in our pantry. So according to your preference, you may choose to replace walnut with almond or chia seeds with black sesame seeds or anything that is available in your pantry.

Actually Apple Crumble is not difficult to make, and you could even prepare the pastry dough or apple filling a head ahead. You could serve your Apple Crumble wither hot or cold with ice cream, cream or custard. Love mine with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream!

Below are some recipes that I have tried using BOSCH MCM 4100 food processor.

ABC Detox Juice	Lemon Berry Tarts	Baked Lemon Cheesecake

The Yogurt Place plus Giveaways!

Recent years there are many yogurt stores coming up in Singapore such as Yami Yogurt, Sogurt, Sour Sally, Frolick, Yoguru Yogurt and etc. To be honest I seldom visit yogurt stores unless I have run out of homemade yogurt (recipe), but If I did my frequent stores would be either Yami Yogurt or The Yogurt Place.

At Yogurt Place, they have both Frozen and Greek Yogurt depending on your choice and their Frozen Yogurt could be kept in the freezer for about a week (7days) if you intend to purchase in bulks. Although they might not have huge varieties of fancy toppings and some of the fruit compote might be slight sweeter as compared to others. But I love their freshly made "Greek Yogurt" which is smooth and creamy.

Their Greek Yogurt comes in two different flavour such as "Plain" or "Green Tea" in 4 different sizes shown below:-

~ Standard(180ml) @ S$3.90/cup
~ Large(240ml)@ S$4.90/cup (shown in the photos here)
~ Mini Jumbo(360ml) @ S$6.90
~ Jumbo(750ml) @ S$12.90

To add in some extra flavour or crunch you could choose additional toppings such as Strawberry, Mango, Kaya, Fruit Pebbles (more details here) at S$0.90 per serving

Yogurt Place also offers Frozen Yogurt which available in 3 different flavour such as Plain, Strawberry and Fruity Pebbles. These frozen yogurt could be kept in the freezer for about 7 days so that you could enjoy it even at home too.

Below are some of the Yogurt Place outlets for your reference:-
~ Compass Point #B1-16A
~ Jurong Point #03-114/115
~ Toa Payoh HDB Hub (Basement 1 foodcourt)
~ The Arcade Level 1 (beside Raffles Place Mrt Station)
~ Downtown East (Opp wild wild wet)
~ NUS University Town Koufu Foodcourt

Website: http://theyogurtplace.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/yogurtplace.sg

RECIPES WITH GREEK YOGURT

As mentioned previously there are so many ways which you could enjoy eating yogurt either plain with honey, topped with your desire fruit compote, fresh cut fruits, granola, or even use it as an ingredient for cooking/baking.

This is a very delicious and easy to make Lemon Yogurt Cake which you could make use of the Greek Yogurt. More detail of the recipe here.

Instead of the usual Hollandaise sauce which is made using egg yolk, butter, lemon juice and pepper, I have replaced it with Greek Yogurt which is healthier and lighter when pairing with the poached egg and bacon. Recipe of this dish will be available in my recipe blog soon.

VOUCHES GIVEAWAYS

Thanks to Yogurt Place, I am giving away “S$20 Gift Voucher” each to 5 lucky readers.

To win:

1. Like the the above Yogurt Place Gift Voucher photo on Cuisine Paradise Facebook Page;
2. Share the photo and remember to set your privacy setting to “PUBLIC” so that we know who shares it; AND
3. Leave a comment that you have liked and shared the photo.


Closing Date: 21 October 2012 (Sunday), 9.00 PM.

*only for readers living in Singapore*

Fine Palate At 51 Waterloo Street

Located at 51 Waterloo Street, Fine Palate is about 5 - 7 minutes walking distance away from Bras Basah MRT Station (CC2). The restaurant is opened by Heather Barrie who is an Australian-born chef staying in Singapore and she has more than 20 years experience in food catering services.

I love the modern contemporary Australian cafe set up of the restaurant which is so cozy and homely for friends and family to get together and enjoy hearty weekend brunch. Although their indoor siting capacity is around 30 pax but they do have outdoor al-fresco sitting on both side of the restaurant too.

BEVERAGES

While waiting for the dishes to be served, I have a glass of freshly squeezed juices - Beetroot And Apple Juice (S$6.00). You could customized your own juice by mixing your desire fruits shown on their juice menu. 

According to Melissa who ordered this Chocolate Brownie (S$10.00) she really loves the taste and texture where bits of brownie could be found in the milkshake too.

Lemon Meringue (S$10.00) which combined or both sweet and sour taste in a glass.This is a special beverage which is well-received by most of the customers so I guess I would try it on my next visit.

APPETIZERS

I love fried calamari especially the one served at the Thai restaurant near my area. However with a twist, FINE palate served Crispy Calamari (S$14.00) with some cucumber curls and tartar sauce which is a refreshing pick to accompany some cold beer for hot afternoon treat.

Their Quiche Of The Day (S$12.00) was rather good which served with some garden salad as side. I love the pastry crust as well as the savory custard which is soft and milky.

{Must Try} Out of the 3 Appetizers served, Crispy Kurobuta Pork Belly (S$16.00) with jalapeno salsa and mirin sauce definitely won a vote from me. Personally I love pork belly especially those which are roasted till crispy outer layer but tender and juice meat when bite. So from the photo above, I am sure you would want to try a bite too.

BITES

For "bites" we start with some crispy golden Fries (S$6.00) that is served with homemade wasabi mayo and ketchup at the side. Their wasabi mayo is quiet mild in taste so you don't have to worry as you won't get "choke" bur rather addict to the wasabi dip. 

{Must Try} All of us love this Crispy Chicken Triangles (S$8.00) with is "Lemon grass" infused chicken that are wrapped in crispy pastry and served together with the sweet chilli sauce. Very refreshing snacks while enjoy it with some girls talk.

When compared with the Crispy Chicken Triangle above, this Mini Chicken Quesadillas (S$8.00) that served with homemade tomato salsa was rather a bit on the lose side. The tortilla skin was rather chewy and the chicken filling is not as flavorsome as the lemongrass chicken.

For those who love burgers, these Trio of Fine Palate burgers (S$15.00) might be something that you would prefer for brunch or even afternoon tea on a sharing basis with friends. You could pick your choice from: Wagyu beef burger that severed with  melted smoked cheddar, crispy bacon, lettuce and gherkin aioli or Teriyaki chicken burger that comes with lettuce and cucumber pickle.

The 3 of us have different opinion on these burgers; for me I love the texture of the bread which was slightly chewy as compared to those soft burger bread. But the wagyu beef patty was slightly a bit tough on that day perhaps due to over cooked or some other reason.  

MAINS

Tuna And Capellini (cold) (S$20.00) serve with seared yellow fin tuna capellini tossed in a sesame shoyu dressing on a bed of angel hair pasta. We all love this light and refreshing dish and the wasabi mayonnaise also added a kick to enhance the taste of this cold dish.

Usually their Catch Of The Day (S$20.00) depends on what fish is fresh and available in the market on that particular day. On that day, we have snapper which is cook in Asian Style and the 3 of us love this dish. The fish is very fresh and the combination sauce blends well with the sides as well.

Duck Leg Confit (S$26.00) with braised red cabbage, roast potatoes and fresh asparagus (additional $6.00 if part of a set) is something that we look forward to. Although the outer skin is crispy as it looks but I find some part of the meat is rather a bit tough and dry.

Salmon Benedict (S$18.00) serve with salmon gravlax, baby spinach, hollandaise sauce and rocket salad on English muffins. This is sure a great choice for brunch menu and those who love poached eggs. But for me, since I don't really like smoke or gravlax salmon I would prefer to go for just their Eggs Benedict without salmon.

DESSERTS

When comes to dessert I am sure no one could resists a slice of freshly Baked Oreo cheesecake (S$10.00) which served with some summer berries. Although the price for their desserts might be slightly pricy for a small piece of cake but I am sure if it is nice, you won't mind paying slightly more for quality.

Lemon tart (S$10.00) with coconut anglaise and raspberry compote is one dessert in their menu too. To me the taste of lemon tart is quiet bland as compared to what I have tired before which is more infused with lemon fragrant as well as taste. But overall this might be a good choice for ladies or someone who prefer a light and refreshing dessert.

Didn't get to try this but Melissa mentioned their Tiramisu (S$10.00) is a "must try" too!

{Must Try} Dessert Of The Day was Mango Penna Cotta (S$10.00) during our visited and since I love mango, automatically that was my pick. Their Mango Penna Cotta was slightly different from the usual one as it taste more mousse like with a light mango fragrant which makes you go for more. But just don't expect the texture to be similar with the usual penna cotta which is smooth and custard like.

During our two hours dining session a couple of weeks back, I notice there are quiet a flow of crowds and most the customers look satisfy with their food and services. So for my personal opinion, I think the dishes and desserts at Fine Palate are pretty decent for the price and after all it still depend on individual's preference and taste buds.

My recommended dishes are Crispy Kurobuta Pork Belly, Crispy Chicken Triangles, Tuna And Capellini, Catch of The Day and Mango Penna Cotta / Tiramisu. Lastly I would like to thank Ananya from Chrysler Communications and Fine Palate for hosting this invite tasting.

Fine Palate
51 Waterloo Street
#01-­‐04/05
Singapore 187969
Reservation: +65 6336 5120
Website: www.finepalate.com.sg

Opening Hours:
Tuesday – Friday: 11am – 4pm (Lunch)
Saturday and Sunday: 10am – 4pm (Lunch/Brunch)
Closed on Monday