Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday
Here are two cafes that really impressed me with their delicious food and smooth lattes. Carpenter and Cook on the top and Henry Congressional below.
1 Nov 12
18 Jul 12
Shadows settle on the place that you left
Borrowing from the archives today. Also because on some days, I terribly miss our old life. I do, we do, we reminisce about it quite a lot lately.
I never got around to sharing why we moved back in February. Maybe it took this long to settle down. Settled yet unsettled. Anyway without going into too much detail, after my grandma passed away last October, my grandfather asked if we wanted to move into his home and take the empty room. We have been renting for the last three years but back in September 2011, our future plans changed a little. We applied for a build-to-order flat – on a whim – we got it and realized we definitely needed to be saving a lot more (downpayment, renovation, furniture). Being self-employed people has its perks but generally unperky when it comes to housing finance things.
So we save on rent by living with my grandfather till our flat is ready… in 2015 (whaaa what?). I get to see my ahgong (grandfather) every day and live in the house I kind of grew up in, all over again. We get to escape from household chores cos he has a domestic helper. But I don’t get to cook now. And after living alone as two people, sharing a space isn’t so easy. My ahgong and Fatboy didn’t get along for awhile too, a whole fiasco, I tell you. Then Fatboy gets misunderstood as a spoilt cat by relatives who heard the stories of the fiasco. Breaks my heart every time someone says that , he is just a cat who loves his freedom guys…
I know that I will be so thankful for this time spent living with my ahgong tho. His old man ways has rubbed off a little on me already, I no longer toss things away without having a go at fixing it first, no frivolous buys, those qualities yknow? So while I cannot wait to begin our new life in our new home, I also love being this close to my ahgong, sigh, the mysteries of being a granddaughter, a mother (to my cats) and a girlfriend, all at the same time.
20 Feb 12
Feeling this on a Monday
Been wanting to cook but I get so lazy to follow through.
This is mexican meatball soup and I used this recipe.
Sometimes I laugh at myself when I attempt to make something that I’ve never even tasted before. But it turned out very delicious.
This was also the first time I followed the recipe on an iPad while cooking. First and last, haha!
27 Jan 12
A favourite
Sometime after Christmas last year, I found heads of savoy cabbage at the supermarket so I decided to try Jamie Oliver’s recipe for braised bacon cabbage. I made it twice and oh boy, it’s so good. SO GOOD. And so simple to make!
This recipe comfortably feeds two hungry people.
This is what you’ll need:
• half a head of savoy cabbage (the original recipe says you can use green or spring cabbage as well but I personally love the texture of savoy so I’d only make this using savoy cabbage)
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 3 slices of streaky bacon, sliced
• 1 tbsp of worchestershire sauce
• 1 knob of butter
• half a chicken stock cube
• 190ml of boiling water
• olive oil
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper
To finely slice the cabbage, roll the leaves up together like this and slice
It should look something like that
Dissolve the stock cube into 190ml of boiling water, stir well and make sure all the bits are dissolved
Put the pan on medium heat and add some olive oil. Brown the bacon, for about 6-7 minutes. Once the bacon is crispy, add the garlic to the pan. When it starts to turn colour, add the worchestershire sauce, butter and cabbage. Give it a good stir.
Add the stock to the pan
Put the lid on and cook for 5 minutes, then remove the lid and continue to cook for another 5 minutes
It should look like this, with no more liquids in the pan. Taste to see if it needs salt and pepper. Both times I made this, I didn’t need more seasoning. The original recipe also calls for a lug of extra virgin olive oil just before serving. I’ve had it with and without the extra lug of oil and personally feel that there’s no need for it. The dish already has quite a bit of oil from the bacon.
I had it with some pork kebabs! I know the colour’s way off in this picture, sorry about that.
Now I’m hungry so off I go for dinner.
11 Jan 12
How to make almond milk
1 You will need 1 cup of raw almonds.
2 Soak them overnight (or at least 8 hours) in 2 cups of water.
3 In the morning, strain all the almonds and give them a good wash.
4 Pop your almonds into the blender together with 3 cups of fresh water (I used boiled water). Blend for 1 minute.
5 Use a fine mesh strainer or a sifter as I did (pictured below) to separate the liquid and the pulp.
6 You can opt to sweeten your almond milk with vanilla bean or agave nectar (Thanks Diana for the tip!). I used my milk unsweetened as a base for breakfast smoothies (pictured below). Store your milk and pulp up to 4 days in the fridge.
In my bid to try new things/recipes/food/routine, I gave making almond milk a go. Any recipe that doesn’t require more than 5 items or 5 steps is fun in my books. While I don’t think I’m gonna be drinking almond milk regularly – it does cost $9 a pack from a health food store – it was fun to make and didn’t hurt to know about.
Hi! I’m Melly. I share photos of my life & my handcrafted goods here. I live in Singapore & currently shooting with an Olympus Pen-F.
