Korean Dessert In Singapore - Bingsu Vs Soft Serve Ice Cream

The Korean wave continues to hit Singapore over the past few years with K-Drama, boy bands, fashion and now even dessert cafes are into trend these days selling Bingsu (Korean style shaved ice with assorted toppings) and soft serve ice cream which are popular among youngster.

In June school holidays; together with my partner in crime (my boy, Instagramer @greenpiggy) we have a lot of fun going around Singapore to hunt for food as well as sightseeing. Below are some of the Korean Dessert Cafes which we have tried and would like to share our views with you too.

[June School Holidays: Week 1] Fishing, Cafe Hopping and Food Hunt

Time flies and now we are into the last week of June School Holidays. Although we did not plan any overseas trip this year but we do have lot of fun during the past few weeks exploring different parts of Singapore. For example; we went for fishing, food hunt, picnic, cafe hopping as well as day trip to Johor, Malaysia.

And on days when the boy has tuition classes, we would stay in door enjoying bonding time together whipping up meals or baking some tea snacks. Some days we also mingle around our little garden take care of our plants and vegetables. So for this and the subsequent posts we welcome you to join us walking through the wonderful time and memories that shared between me and the boy during the June school holidays.

[Gluten + Dairy Free] Banana Bread With Raspberry And Coconut

Recently I have an obsession for Banana Bread and I have being trying different combination of ingredients and methods to get the best recipe for my family. And for those who do gluten free bakes you will realize most of the time the bakes tend to be dry and crumbly due to the use of ingredients. But for this super easy one bowl "gluten + dairy free" Banana Bread recipe; the end result is amazing with super moist and hearty texture all thanks to the over-ripe bananas. Furthermore together with the raspberry the combination of banana and coconut are a match made in heaven that adds bonus points to this bake too.

[recipes] Perfect Italiano Cheese - Weekend Brunch Ideas

We love brunch and I am sure you love it too. So why not starts your weekend right with some fuss free homemade cafe-style brunch in your comfort zone. You can choose between the usual egg and toast, pasta or even new ideas like Nacho Pizza which requires minimal ingredients and preparation steps which enable you to have more time to enjoy the meal with your loved ones.

Mixed Berry Magic Cake - 莓子香草魔法蛋糕

Magic Cake (also known as 魔法蛋糕 or Magic Custard Cake) is where one cake batter magically turns into 3 distinct layers after being baked in the oven. And it feels so amazing when you see a fluffy sponge layer on top, wobble custard layer in the middle and a dense cake layer on the bottom while cutting the cake.

Chocolate Banana Nutella Cake - 香蕉榛子酱蛋糕

Nothing beats a slice of good old pound cake for afternoon tea. This fusion version of Chocolate Banana Nutella Pound Cake includes mashed banana to add-on a moist texture even when refrigerated plus the rich flavour of Dutch-processed cocoa powder and Nutella for a more chocolately taste.

[recipe] Coconut Banana Bread - 椰子香蕉面包

Today we will be having banana bread that is made with ripe bananas that are sweet and fragrant together with coconut oil and fresh shredded coconut that add in strong coconut flavour without overpowering the taste of the bananas. We love the moist and soft interior of the cake with a slight crisp top that is covered with lightly burnt shredded coconut that adds extra bits for a perfect breakfast or tea choice.

[Day 2] Disneyland California + Disney California Adventure

Disneyland Park - Anaheim, California

First of all, thanks to those who leave me encouragement notes as well as enquiry emails regarding our first trip to West Coast of the United States. Meanwhile I will try my best to share as much information as I could for the rest of the upcoming posts which I hope it would useful in a way for those who are planning to travel to U.S soon.

[Day 2] Disneyland Park where dreams come true is a magical theme park fill with fun, laughter and excitement for family or visitors of all ages. There are a total of 5 Disneyland Theme Parks in the world with two in U.S (California and Florida); one each in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Paris (but from what I Google there is 6th Disneyland currently under construction in Shanghai). Among the five we are blessed to conquer four of them and in this post I would like to share our experience in Disneyland Park, California as well as Disney California Adventure Park. Hope you would enjoy reading through this.

Betty Crocker - Our Favourite Cake & Cookie Mixes

[Betty Crocker] Homemade cookies with LOVE

Think about it this is the 11th Mother's Day that I am celebrating with the family and this year my boy gave me a special handmade gift; Assorted Chocolate Chip Cookies which he made solely on his own. And to spread the love for this special occasion, he even packed the cookies into gift bags for his granny and grandma as well my bestie whom is also his schoolmate mum.

Labour Day Long Weekend

Time flies when another week had past without your notice. It seems like last Friday we had a wonderful Labour Day Holiday and now it's Friday again which is two day away before 10 May, Mother's Day. By the way, have you get ready your presents or plans to celebrate with your beloved mum. For us we had an earlier celebration in order to avoid the crowds so if you have time you can  read up some of the places that we went (National Museum, East Coast Park) and eateries (Thai boat noodles, Wee's Family Coffee Shop) that we tried over the long holiday weekend.

[Day 1] Our Ultimate California + Las Vegas Trip In 2014

After months of planning and consideration, our family finally set-off for our first long haul flight to U.S. last December (2014) by joining the 14D11N Ultimate California + Las Vegas tour from Dynasty Travel. I still remember vividly during the preparations, we were worried about the traveling time, food, weather etc and moreover our tour only finalized two weeks before departure due to the dates and group size.

Looking back it had being almost 5 months since we returned from the trip but only till recently I have the time to go through those photos to compile the writeup.  I hope through these related posts I am able to share with you our wonderful memories and encounters during the 14 days west coast U.S. trip.

Beetroot Chiffon Cake - 甜菜根威风蛋糕

Beetroot Chiffon Cake

Finally it's Friday! It had being a busy week where I need to be out of the house most of the time running errands but on the bright side I managed to overcome my fear on driving which is an achievement to me. Ops sorry! Let's be back on track with the Beetroot Chiffon Cake.

I am always excited when it comes to chiffon cake because our family love its spongy and fluffy texture. In this post we are using Beetroot which is a natural superfood to bake a healthy chiffon cake for the family.

Fun Recipe Ideas using The Laughing Cow Cheeses

[Main] Cheesy Penne with Salmon and Broccoli

Dairy products such as cheese and milk are often considered as a natural source of calcium to strengthen children's teeth and bones. With that our fridge is always packed with bottles of fresh milk and array of cheese in all form such as cheese spread, sandwich cheese and belcube cheese.

The Laughing Cow cheese products have been around for many many years. It’s known for its superbly smooth and creamy taste. So in this post I would like to share a quick pasta lunch recipe which can be easily prepared in less than 20 minutes using their cheese spread and sliced cheddar to create a delicious white cheese sauce. Besides that there are also a few fun ideas of adding cheese into your daily diet. 

Moments And Memories - March School Holiday 2015

Monday, 23 March 2015 marks an important date in Singapore history because our founding father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew has passed away peacefully at the age of 91. With the great lost and seven-day of national mourning, members of the public flooded to join the long waiting queue (waited as long as 10 hours) to pay their last respects for Mr Lee Kuan Yew at the Lying-in-State located in Parliament House. Indeed it was a long and heart wrenching week for everyone in Singapore but Mr Lee's name will forever be remembered in our heart for his contributions to build a better Singapore (read more @ http://www.rememberingleekuanyew.sg/).

[recipes] Mango Sago Pomelo vs Mango Pudding

[Dessert] Homemade Mango Sago with Pomelo

Now is definitely a good time to make some mango dessert especially when those sweet Honey Mango from Thailand are on offer. Since the fruit stalls at my area are selling 1 for either a dollar to two depending its outer appearance and ripeness, I bought a dozen to make some cool refreshing chilling Mango Sago as well as Mango Pudding to beat the scorching heat.

2015 Chinese New Year Family Gatherings

Chinese New Year Gatherings

Gosh, it's almost coming to the end of 1st quarter for 2015 and before we move on to new recipe posts. With that here are some recap of our Chinese New Year gatherings with relatives and friends whom I am bless to have them with us even though we might not get together often during the year. But thanks to the advance social media platforms we are still able to keep in touch with each other through texts, photos or even video clips in our cozy chat groups.

[With Recipes] 2015 Chinese New Year Lunch Gathering With Relatives

Like previous two years, mum invited our relatives to come over for lunch gathering on the second day of Chinese New Year where everyone gets together to mingle around and enjoy some homecook feast. As you know to prepare a semi-buffet for a big group of 30 people was indeed a challenging job but thanks God with past years experience we managed to get everything ready just in time for lunch.

In this post I would be sharing a few recipes on the dishes and bakes that we prepared  and I hope they might come in handy for you too.

[Wordless Wednesday] Chinese New Year In Singapore

[Chinese New Year Flowers] Cherry Blossoms

[with recipes] Homemade Chinese New Year Bakes

Are you ready for the Chinese New Year feast! Here we are counting down 3 days to the year of Sheep (Goat/Ram) which falls on this Thursday, 19 February 2015. I am sure by now most of you have already done your new year shopping; completed your bakes and left with last minutes grocery or fresh food pick-up before reunion dinner on Wednesday.

Likewise for the past few days we had being busy churning up new year goodies as gifts for relatives to show our appreciations and blessings to them. Below are recipes on some of our favourite bakes for this year including 2 recipes using air-fryer to "air-fried" crab sticks and arrowhead chips.

Double Chocolate Pound Cake with Peanut Butter Glaze

Double Chocolate Pound Cake with Peanut Butter Glaze

Apart from our favourite chiffon cakes, pound cake is another choice which often appears on our baking list. Although most pound cake recipes called for an equal amount of butter, sugar and flour in “1 : 1 : 1” ratio, this recipe is slightly different because more butter is being used than usual.

[3 recipes] Homemade Asian Noodle using Philips Noodle Maker (HR2365/05)

Spinach Wanton Noodle - 菠菜云吞面

In this second part (refer to part I here) of homemade noodles write-up, we continue to explore more recipes using Philips Avance Noodle Maker together with fresh vegetable and/or fruit juice to make delicious and fuss free Asian noodle dish in 30 minutes or less. Each flavour of noodle tested  in this post has its unique taste that blends well with the recipe which I hope it will suits your preference too.

[3 recipes] Homemade Pasta using Philips Noodle Maker (HR2365/05)

Baked Pumpkin Fettuccine

Have you tried making your own pasta or even Asian noodles like Japanese Udon or thin noodle for Stir-fry Chow Mien (recipe)? Our family is a big fan of noodles and now with our new Philips Avance Noodle Maker, I am able to make customized fresh noodles (with/without egg, choice of flour and etc) such as egg noodle, penne, fettuccine in 15 minutes including preparations.

In this post I will be sharing 3 types of noodles made with this noodle maker using natural ingredients for its colour, flavour and texture well as a few quick recipes plus tips on it.

[recipes] Pandan Chiffon Cake - 香兰戚风蛋糕

Pandan Chiffon Cake - 香兰戚风蛋糕

Nothing beats a slice of comfort homemade Pandan Chiffon Cake (香兰戚风蛋糕) to cheer up my boy whenever he is moody or stress over school work. This old school sponge cake is flavoured  and coloured with gorgeous jade green colour juice obtained from pandan leaves (pandanus / screwpine) . Besides this cake also has an unique aroma and spongy texture which reminds you of home especially for those Singaporean residing overseas for years.

[5 Recipes] Back To School Lunch Ideas With Perfect Italiano 4 Cheese Melt

Back-to-school Lunch Ideas

It's a brand new year and welcome to 2015 folks! With new school term starting I am sure most of you with kid(s) like us who is going back to school it will be another year of brain cracking time to prepare their lunch and/or tea snack. Likewise our boy who is in higher primary this year will most probably be spending more time in the school or rushing for after school enrichment classes. So preparing some quick lunch/snack such as sandwiches, muffins or hot food (baked rice/pasta) will be a great choice to fill up his hungry tummy until dinner.

Recently Perfect Italiano has launched a new addition; Perfect Italiano 4 Cheese Melt to their existing ranges exclusive only to Cold Storage supermarkets. This delicious blend is perfect for melting and grilling which is a bonus to turn simple tasty meals in minutes. Below are 5 recipes tested using this new blend of cheese to whip up some quick cheesy meal.

Looking Back to 2014

Time flies and in another hour or two more we will be stepping into 2015 which is a brand new year ahead. Although I don't blogged as regularly when compared to others peers due to my personal commitments but I do hope to maintain this website and keep up my blogging passion in coming new year.

Here I would love to thank everyone for your supports in walking though the years with us. Thanks for reading our posts as well as trying /sharing the recipes. Below are some recaps for 2014 which I would love to share it with you again.

Garden Vegetable Frittata

Garden Vegetable Frittata

My family is a big fan of eggs especially when they are prepared in either scrambled, boiled or fried. And recently we are in love with baked frittata which can be easily prepared by throwing in couple of root vegetables such as carrot, potato, onion and etc together with eggs and cheese before popping the mixture into the oven.

Between you could also mix and match your favourite ingredients to make asparagus, potato and bacon or even chorizo/sausage frittata depending on your family preference. Here we have a meatless version by using garden vegetables that I sliced effortlessly with my Bosch kitchen machine (you could refer to the picture below).

[recipes] Perfect Italiano Food Fixes in 15 Festive Menu

Perfect Italiano Food Fixes in 15 Festive Menu

Arriving in the last month of the year meaning Christmas is around the corner where we could slow down our pace and spend some quality time with family and loved ones. Although this year we are away for a long vacation to USA in December but the atmosphere and urge for preparing festive dishes are still within us. So with this scheduled post we hope to share some quick fix festive dishes that can be easily done in 15 minutes so that you don't have to avoid restaurants or worry about preparing festive menus.

Singaporeans’ Favourite Foreign Cuisine(s)

Authentic Korean Cuisine

With the blooming of food industries over the years, Singapore has also become a food paradise that brings in international cuisines from countries like America, France, Italy, Japanese, Korean and etc. So beside our local food such as Chicken Rice, Char Kway Teow, Bak Chor Mee (minced meat noodles) and etc (read more here) we can also enjoy many other international food from high end to family oriented restaurants.

Black Sesame Bun with Azuki Bean Paste

Black Sesame Bun with Azuki Bean Paste

Yeah! Finally after the stressful year end examination it’s time to sit back and enjoy the long 7 weeks school holiday. So now we would have more time to prepare and enjoy international breakfast (some breakfast ideas here) in the morning as well as getting into some bread making sessions with the boy because he loves to help up with shaping the dough.

Furthermore bread making has become a breeze ever since I am using my new BOSCH MaxxiMUM stand mixer to prepare the dough.

WORLDFOODS International Fusion Recipe Swap Challenge

Fusion Thai Food using WORDFOODS Sauces and Marinade

These days there are a lot of fusion cuisines blooming up with fresh ideas waiting to be discovered. And with the variety of ready-made sauces and marinades which available in most supermarkets also make it stress less to prepare International cuisines such as Moroccan Chicken, Thai Tom Yum Soup, Singapore Fried Noodles and etc. In this write-up I would like to thank WORDFOODS for organising such International Fusion Recipe Swap Challenge to try out their products and as well as sharing (guest post) our recipes with another “penpal” from the other part of the world (my “penpal” is Anita-Clare & Caro from Lover Of Flavours in the UK).

[30 Minutes Meal] 7 Express Cooking Recipes

Quick meal in 30 minutes

Hi everyone, time flies and it’s mid-week again! If you are short on time to prepare weekday dinner after a hectic day at work, here are 7 express cooking recipe ideas for your reference. To speed up the cooking time you could even prepare some of the ingredients beforehand so in way you could save at least a good 10 minutes on cutting and preparation. Between our ideas of express cooking are still within the topic of preparing proper one-dish meal which includes meat and vegetables that is done in 30 minutes or less.

Top 10 Express Eats In Singapore

10 Express Eats

I am sure most of you have eaten quick meal (as in choice of food) especially during weekday evening(s) when you need to work overtime till late hours or before catching up a movie date? But I am just curious what are the choices that would appeared in your list; could it sandwiches, fast food, local snacks, instant noodles or perhaps movie snacks like popcorn, hotdog bun or nacho chips? No matter what is your options I think anything that is fuss-free and easy to munch on would be a great choice.

[Fall Recipes] Mini Apple Cheesecake & Pumpkin Parmesan Scone

[Fall Recipes] Pumpkin Scones, Pumpkin Madeleine and Mini Apple Cheesecake with Salted Camera l Sauce

Every year during the month of October, we love to get our hands on some Fall Recipes such as "pumpkin" related bakes like Pumpkin Scones, Pumpkin Chiffon Cakes, Pumpkin Pie or some comfort casseroles for Halloween Party as well as Thanksgiving dinner. 

This October we are featuring two pumpkin related recipes over at Bake King recipe website which are Mini Apple Cheesecake (serve with salted caramel sauce) and Pumpkin Parmesan Scones.

[recipes] 5 Fuss-Free Homemade Pizza Using Perfect Italiano Pizza Plus

Fuss-Free Homemade Pizza using Perfect Italiano Pizza Plus

Have you ever tried making pizza at home where you could add in your favourite toppings like more cheese, ham, mushroom and etc. Or you just prefer to pick up the phone and dial for a home delivery to save the hassle on preparing the necessary ingredients or time spent in the kitchen.

For our family, we prefer to make our own pizza at home because we love to work on the dough as well as the ingredients. Furthermore homemade pizza smells fantastic when they are baking in the oven and we after which we get to eat hot and fresh pizza with oozing cheese when compare to those home delivered pizza.

[30 Minutes Meal] Express Meal Using Lee Kum Kee Menu-Oriented Sauces

Have you ever tried preparing a decent "3 dishes + 1 soup (三菜一汤)" meal within 30 minutes (excluding preparation of ingredients and marinating)? In this post I would be sharing some tips and recipes on how to cook-up four delicious home cook dishes and get them ready on the dining table within 30 minutes.

Since this task is part of the criteria from Lee Kum Kee MOS Blogger Competition which I am taking part, I decided to put myself on a test to see whether am I able to complete the assigned task within the time frame.

[Fall Recipes] Pumpkin Madeleine - 南瓜玛德琳蛋糕

Pumpkin Madeleine

This week we will be sharing another fall related bake (more recipes here) using pumpkin to make Pumpkin Madeleine which is a fusion recipe between American and French. Since my family prefer lighter version without adding of too much of those usual spices like nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, all spice and etc; I only toss in a decent amount of cinnamon powder to lift up the taste.

[Fall Recipes] Pumpkin Apple Bar - 南瓜苹果蛋糕

Pumpkin Apple Bar

I love Autumn especially with its comfort food like casseroles and pies which warns the body when the weather is getting cooler. And with pumpkin hogging the limelight in October, we would love to share some related recipes featuring this seasonal ingredients too. Between from the selection of pumpkins available, our favourite are the Blue and Butternut pumpkin. What about yours?

[New Cafes in Yishun & Sembawang] Holy Cow Creamery, Mootime, RoyceMary Cafe and The Daily Scoop

[Holy Cow Creamery] Waffle and Ice-Cream

Finally the wait is over because for those living in the North, especially Sembawang and Yishun, there is a new hipster cafe plus three creameries opening in these two areas. And with their convenient locations in the neighbourhood within schools, offices and residents, crowds will be coming in anytime of the day to chill up with friends or just enjoy a cup of coffee while reading a few good chapters in the afternoon.

In this post I would be sharing our dining experience and reviews after visiting these cafes but since three of them are still pretty new I think a second or third visit would be great in order to justify their service and food.