[New In Town] City Nomads

CityNomads.com is not just a website where people can find great deals in Singapore, it is a social network and community for Singapore’s food and drink lovers. On 16th December 2010, CityNomads has a launched party at Infusion @ Dempsey to celebrate its' official launched.

And on the following day, 17th December 2010 they launched their website which is easy to use with only four main tabs to navigate from such as:- "Today's Promotions, Recent Promotions, How it Works and About City Nomads". Below is a sample of the screen capture for your reference or you could click the link provided to explore more at: http://citynomads.com/


Just like some of the well-known online restaurants and leisure search sites such as inSing, HungryGoWhere and OpenRice_Sg, CityNomads will also organize regular events such as wine tastings, absinthe parties, whisky appreciation, cooking classes and and etc to bring likeminded individuals together.

And on top of the these, CityNomads also promotes Eco-friendly habits with its paperless system. Members will not need to print out any coupons but instead just provide their ID and mobile number for verification.


  There is even an Iphone App (more information HERE) for “Nomads” to help keep track of purchases. For quicker updates and information on CityNomads, you could add them at Facebook(link HERE) or Twitter (link HERE).

Korea Winter Discovery 2010 - Everland Theme Park

Upon returned from Jeju Island we spent almost half a day at this Korea famous outdoor theme park known as "Everland". This park equipped with many different kinds of rides and attractions that are suitable for all ages. In it there is also a safari park in Zoo-Topia area where tourists would get a close up view of the wild animals.

Roasted Chicken With Brown Rice And Chestnut Stuffing

  Today is Christmas and as a Christian we do value this special and meaning day in December Calender. For the past two years, our church has planned outdoor Christmas Party in the neighbourhood area so that more residents can join us to celebrate this special occasion at the eve of Christmas. So since today is a rest day for family gathering, I decided to try my hand on preparing my very 1st Christmas Lunch.

To be honest, I seldom prepared western dishes because I do not own many of those spices or herbs which we hardly used in our daily Asian cooking. And this Roasted Chicken Lunch that I prepared is also not a fully western dishes too. As when you read the rest of the post, you would notice that I replaced the usual herbs stuffing with brown rice and etc.

Here are some collage photos to show the ingredients and steps on preparing the Brown Rice Stuffing which is quite similar to what I did a few years back on the Baked Pumpkin with Rice Stuffing (link HERE).

Ingredients: (for 1 quantity)

1 Cup of Uncooked Brown Rice Mixture
2 Tablespoons of Frozen Green Peas
6 - 8 Whole Ready to Eat Roasted Chestnuts
1 Tablespoon of Mixed Fried Fruit/Golden Raisin
1 Teaspoon of Minced Garlic
1/2 Teaspoon of Minced Ginger
1/2 Tablespoon of Oil
Seasonings:
Dash of Pepper and Sesame Oil
1/2 Teaspoon Light Soya Sauce

Method:

1. Rinse the rice mixture two to three time then soak in water for about 30 minutes before cooking.(soaking the brown rice prior cooking can decrease the cooking time)
2. Cook the brown rice in rice cooker with the usual method and once it is cooked through stand it rice cooker for another 10 minutes.
3. Next scoop the cooked rice to a place and let it cool off to room temperature while preparing the ingredients for the fried rice and get ready the chicken.
4. When done, preheat a non-stick pan with 1/2 tablespoon of cooking oil, saute the minced garlic and ginger till fragrant then drop in green peas and give it a quick stir before adding the cooked brown rice.
5. Use the back of the spatula, loosen all the lumps of the cooked rice till grains are formed.
6. Stir-fry the rest of the ingredients such as chestnut and mixed dried fruits then follow by the seasoning till well mixed.
7. Transfer the rice mixture to a plate while handling the chicken.

Note:-

~ Mix 1/2 cup each of Brown Rice with normal Long Grain Jasmin Rice. (I do encourage you to try brown rice as it will give this dish a very nutty fragrant and taste)

This is the final Brown Rice Stuffing with Chestnut, green peas and dried mixed fruit mixture which is ready to be used. Since this is used as a Christmas theme stuffing you could realise that the colour that I used seems t be circling with green, red, golden and etc. I am sure this would be something new to you as to add dried mixed fruits into rice stuffing.

Here is another set of collage photos showing the ingredients of the roasted vegetables and steps on stuffing the chicken.

Ingredients For Roasted Vegetables: (Serves 4)

1 Medium Carrot, cut into 2cm thick chunks
2 Medium Potato, removed skin and cut into 6 chunks each
300g of Pumpkin, removed skin and cut into chunks
1 Fresh Sweetcorn, cut into 2cm thick ring, halves
Seasonings:
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1/2 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Peppercorns
1/2 Teaspoon of Dried Chilli Flakes
1/2 Tablespoon roughly chopped Coriander

Method:

1. Mixed all the vegetables together with the seasonings in a bowl and set aside while preparing the chicken.


Since I still have some Seah's Spices available from their complimentary gift (link HERE) set, I decided to use one of this "Seah's Salt-Roasted Chicken Spices" for our Christmas Roast Chicken Lunch. There are two small 20g sachets of spices in each packet where you can roast up to 2 chicken of 600g each.

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

1 20g Sachet of Spices(Seah's Salt-Roasted Chicken Spices)
1 Sakura Chicken, around 1kg size
1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
1 Quantity of Prepared Brown Rice Stuffing
Prepared Vegetables Chunks for roasting

Method:

1. Before stuffing the chicken, trim the extra fats, emptied and cleaned the cavity, removed the head, neck and feet. Rinse and pat dry using kitchen paper towel.
2.Next brush the olive oil evenly around the chicken before rubbing the powder spices all over the chicken include the cavity of the chicken and under the skin layers.
3. Scoop the rice stuffing into the cavity and pressed tightly using the back of the spoon until all all or most of the stuffing are used up.
4. Place the stuffed chicken in a baking dish, secure the chicken thighs and wings to its body by using some kitchen string.
5. Arrange the prepared vegetables chunks around the sides of the baking dish and roast in a pre-heat 220 degree roast for about 20 minutes.
6. Remove the baking dish from the oven, quickly brush over another layer of olive oil all around the chicken and also give the veggies a quick toss before putting back to the oven to roast for another 20 minutes.
7. To get that nice and crispy outer skin, you can switch the oven function to fan-force mode on the last 7 - 10 minutes of cooking time.



In about 1 hour time, we could enjoy a hearty Christmas Roasted Chicken Lunch with rice stuffing and mixed veggies at our comfort home without need to eat in rush and wait for the festive season queues in the eateries. You can also re-heat some ready served chicken gravy pack or festive cranberry sauce from the supermarket to go with the roasted chicken.

This photo shows the inner cut of the roasted chicken where you can see the colourful brown rice stuffing in the cavity. The rice is so yummy and fragrant by the spices and juice from the roasted chicken too.

Roasted Chicken will be great to serve with Caesar Salad that consists of the crispy romaine lettuce and croutons which dressed with Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, olive oil and etc.You can easily prepared this by getting some fresh romaine lettuce and ready salad dressing pack from local supermarket such as Cold Storage.

This is the 1 person serving portion of our Christmas Lunch. Everyone enjoys this simple and wonderful meal with accompany of white wine and sparking drinks.

Although this year Christmas has almost come to an end in another few hours time but I would still like to wish everyone of my blog readers a wonder and blessed Christmas. Hope you have enjoy this festive season with your loved to ones and Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

And also I am submitting this post to "Aspiring Bakers #2: Christmas! (Dec 2010)", hosted by Passionate About Baking at this link HERE.

Sakae Junior Club - Sushi Making Workshop

Last Friday, 17 December we went for a kids' Sushi Making Workshop organised by Sakae Sushi at one of its' outlets at Causeway Point. Although making sushi is not something new for my boy who loves to help me in the kitchen but from his facial expression I am sure he is having great fun and enjoyable experience with the new friends.

After registration at level one, we are asked to proceed to the Kid's Section at Level 2. From a glance you can see that the venue is well-prepared with kids' friendly sitting area, ingredients and great atmosphere towards kids liking.

This sushi workshop lasted for about an hour plus and all kids get to learn the steps and hands on at how to make Chawanmushi, Tri-Colour Sushi Balls and Cartoon Inari with some assists from their accompany parent(s).

Each and everyone of the kids enjoyed this interesting workshop very much and you could heard laughter almost every few minutes during the whole section. And another encouraging issue is everyone present at the workshop is very co-operative in following instructions which makes everything goes on smooth and enjoyable. Above are the 3 items done by my boy.

After the workshop, each and everyone of us get a set of the Lunch Bento according to our preference choice. For both Adults and Kids, everyone gets  to choose their desire bento set from the pre-ordering menu before the workshop. Since we have two adults we could get to try out both the Salmon and Spicy Chicken Bento while Rey settle for his Fire Engine set.

[Recipe] Decorated Festive Chocolate Cookies Together With Early Christmas Party

Last Saturday we have a small Christmas potluck gathering at my place with some of my old friends as well as the new friends from Twitter. Everyone has a wonderful time despite on the chaotic happening in the kitchen while some of us are busying with the food preparations.

And in order to make this a memorable gathering with Christmas atmosphere, Rey and I have decided to prepare some "door-gifts" for the guests which includes some of these mini decorated festive cookies in it. Can you spot Pooh, Minni and Tigger among these cookies?

  We made these Chocolate cookies instead of the usual one that is infused with spices because we are afraid that some of the guests might not prefer the aroma of the spice. So Chocolate flavor will be best for everyoe. These are some collage photos on the ingredients and steps on making the cookie dough.

Ingredients: (makes roughly 2 dozen)

90g Unsalted Butter
100g Caster Sugar
1 Egg
180g Self-raising Flour
2 Tablespoons Dutch Cocoa Powder
¼ Teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon orange liquor, optional


My boy and I are busy with the cookie cutout and get them ready for baking and icing decoration.

Method:

1. Cream butter and sugar till light and creamy, add egg and orange liquor then beat till combined.
2. Fold in flour mixture (sifted flour, cocoa powder and salt together) in the egg till it forms a dough.
3. Turn dough on lightly floured surface and knead gently until soft dough is formed.
4. Divide the dough into two portions, flatten each portion on between sheet of baking paper and place in fridge for 30 minutes.
5. On floured surface, roll dough out to half a cm thick, cut into shapes using festive shaped cookies cutters.
6. Re-rolled leftover dough and cut again.
7. Baked in preheat 180 degree oven for about 8 – 12 minutes depending on the size of the cookies.
8. They will be soft when come out of the oven but will set as they cool.


After the cookies cool off and decorated with colourful icing, we packed them into individual packet and get them ready into the goodies baga together with some chocolate for the guests as "door-gifts".

Ingredients For Royal Icing:

65g Icing Sugar
1/2 Egg White
1/4 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
Assorted Food Colourings
Assorted Christmas Theme Sprinkles, optional

Method:

1. Sift the icing sugar and set aside.
2. Beat the egg white till foamy then add in lemon juice and icing sugar in a few batches till smooth. (about 5 - 8 minutes, it must be a spreadable consistency)
3. Divide the icing into a few portion then mixed with your desire colours.
4. Spoon icing into disposal piping bag, snip the tip off and pipe decorative outlines and design on each biscuit.

PREVIEW OF OUR CHRISTMAS POTLUCK GATHERING

Christmas Turkey prepared by Misstamchiak(Maureen) and Kai. Everyone is looking high and low for the roasted vegetables and sauce :p

Cheesy Ham Roll prepared by Yancai, Maureen and Rae. This is another way to present the sliced Turkey and it taste very yummy for us to snatch with just these limited rolls on the plate.

Stir-fried Fish Fillet with Thai Basil Leaves by me (Cuisine Paradise). This is something similar to the Chicken version recipe that I have posted HERE.

Spicy Egg and Cucumber Kerabu prepared by Rae(Shan). This cold appetiser consists of a lot of ingredients such as prawns, egg, cucumber, pineapple, belacan, dried prawns and etc.

Here is another main dish which is the "STAR" and highlight of the day too. Cioppino or fish stew that is prepared by Alvin and Lobs(Lobsterpaints) As you can see, there are big fresh prawn, mussels, clams and different type of fish that are stew together using tomato paste, red wine and many other herbs and seasonings. Very delicious pot :)

The whole table of food that are ready to be served. Yummy Chicken Curry by Susan, Grilled Chicken Drumlets by Joyce(ahpoohbear), stir-fried broccoli with mushroom, logcake, fruitcake and etc.

Thanks everyone for the hard work on preparing the food and travel all the way to my place in order to make our 1st potluck party a successful one. Thanks a lot pals.

Christmas with Sakae Sushi

Christmas is just 2 day around the corner and I am sure everyone is getting pretty excited with the Christmas Eve countdown event  and feast. At early this December Sakae Sushi has launched some innovative Christmas Theme (menu HERE) items to excite the sight and taste of their customers. Below are two of the Christmas items that we have a few weeks back.

  My boy was attracted to this "Christmas Tree Wonder" while waiting for our seats at the queue. So when the order came he was very excited with the layout of this mini Christmas Tree that is assemble using a graham biscuit base, potato salad body with avocado that decorates with fresh fish roes and yellow Star cutout from Tamago.
Price: S$6.99 per plate

Emo Iruka Delight was my choice and look at this lovely pressie that sparks with those tiny fish roes coating. This pressie is made up with 2 layers of 4 sushi roll each and sandwich with cheese slice.  This is indeed a very lovely combination in taste too.
Price: S$6.99 per plate


Despite with the two impressive Christmas items above we also ordered a set of  "Deluxe Bento" which serves with Prawn and mix vegetable tempura, mix Sashimi, Sakura ebi tofu, seasoned Scallop wings, grilled Eel with tamago and Chawanmushi, rice, miso soup and etc . This set was quite a huge serving which can be consume by 2 persons with additional of some sides plates from the conveyor belt.
Price: S$17.99 per set

Korea Winter Discovery 2010 - Jeju Part II

Continue from Part I (link HERE) of our "Korea Winter Discovery 2010 - Jeju" (link HERE), we will explored another 4 places in this post such as the Horse Riding, Teddy Bear Museum, Glass Castle and Nanta Show.

Korea Winter Discovery 2010 - Jeju Part I

Jeju Island (濟州島) formerly known as Cheju Island is an island off the southern coast of South Korea. This island is also known as the "Island of the Gods" which is a popular vacation spot for Koreans and many Japanese and Jeju is also one of the top honeymoon destinations for Korean newlyweds. Even thought we are there during winter but with its' typical mild coastal climate the minimum temperatures in winter is also above 0 degree due to the warm currents.

Korea Winter Discovery 2010 - Day 1 at Seoul

During early December we went for a 8 Days Winter Trip in Korea and I would like to share with you some of our experiences, scenic views, food and etc that we have encounter during this holiday trips in a few separate posts.

Western Chow @ Bishan

Western Chow is a fusion of Western and Hainanese cuisines which starts off their 1st stall in a coffe shop. Now they have 2 outlets and 1 restuarant in Singapore located at Bedok Road (New Restaurant), Lor Ah Soo and Bishan. Their Bishan outlet at the S-11 coffee shop where they offer similar menu like the main restaurant. We order a set of their promotional set meal that comes with Soup, Main Course and Dessert that cost S$7.90 which is quite a good deal for the serving portion.

  Yummy Mushroom Soup with thick and creamy texture that serves together with slices of button mushroom.
Price: S$2.50 per bowl

  Each main course comes with two sides of your choice and the waitress has mistaken my orders and swaps one of my sides of this "Chicken Chop with Mushroom Sauce" set from coleslaw to rice. Overall we find their chicken chop is quite tender and it goes pretty well with their mushroom sauce.
Price: S$5.90 per plate

Some of my twitter friends who tried their main course over at Bedok Road Restaurant suggest that this “Dory Fish with Assam” is a good catch to try out. The grilled herb dory fillet taste fresh and moist with a twist of their Assam sauce that goes well with rice as side.
Price: S$6.00 per plate

Complimentary dessert for the set meal perhaps can be something better than these miserable slices of peach cocktail in syrup.


Western Chow's food is definitely suitable for everyone as it is Halal which means all Singaporean can enjoy it according to their preference  of choices from the menu.

Western Chow

S-11 Coffee Shop
Block 504 Bishan Street 11
#01-444
Singapore 570504
Telephone: +65 8188 1901
Website: http://www.westernchow.com/