Anyeong Noona

Lady M’s Checkers reminded me of the cake which I used to eat when I was young. Everytime anybody go to the market, I will ask the person to help me buy checkers. Although the price of the Checkers cake which I used to eat when I was small is definitely nowhere near Lady M’s price because it was sold in the wet market in third world country. Lady M’s rendition of Checkers cake weaves together a precise and tender checkerboard of vanilla and chocolate sponge cake. The light fresh whipped cream comes tucked between the squares, outfitted in a silky dark chocolate ganache. 

I’ve never been to Spain but I like the taste of churros, especially when you dip them into the chocolate sauce. I seldom eat churros in Singapore though. The last time I ate them was at Common Man Coffee Roasters and 2 sticks of Common Man Churros costs SGD 12.50. I wonder if this kind of price tag can be considered a crime in Spain. 

I suppose you should never really invest 100% in everything in life unless you receive words of affirmation from God. 

There goes the simple things. 

Where to get Churros: Common Man Coffee Roasters, 22 Martin Road, #01-00

Opening times: Monday to Friday 7.30AM - 5PM, Saturday to Sunday 7.30AM - 6PM

Mille Feuille is one of trademark pastries offered by Paul. While I usually go for the plain one, I decided to go for Strawberry Mille Feuille that night. The crispy golden puff pastry, strawberry creme-filled Napoleon cake topped with light apricot glaze. A lovely rendition in my belly. Sometimes I can’t really decide whether I like strawberry or chocolate better as the base for the cake. Hmm. 

It seems that the adventurous side of me has taken over my laziness for the past few days. I become more open to travel further (which is in Singapore standard involve few MRT stations + few bus stops from home) to try out new stuff. Having fellow adventurous cafehopping buddy helps a great deal in this Singapore version of cafe adventure of our lifetime. Ciel Patisserie, a small cafe located a few stops away from Serangoon MRT station, is a nice place to have cake and coffee. Its cakes remind me of Kki, those pretty little cakes with colorful coating. Exotique (SGD 6.40) is described as coconut bavarian creme, passion fruit cremeux, coconut joconde and coconut white chocolate crisp on the menu. In layman terms, it’s a coconut cake filled with passion fruit cream and white chocolate crisp at the bottom of the cake. Perfect cake for those people who prefer their cakes to be on the less sweet side because of the sweet and sour taste of passionfruit. 

I have eaten many cakes for the past few days in view of my failed relationship. While this has helped a lot in mood, the new habit does not really help in terms of waist size. Engulfed with immediate fear over the moving needle on the scale, I quickly make a run to the gym. Gym membership in Singapore is definitely not cheap and yet, I am unable to let go of this membership. I have included gym as one of those places which I visit everyday because one session of gym class will help me to spend few hours of my, otherwise, free day. 

I expect the 3PM class to be empty because by right, most people are supposedly stuck in their office, trying to overcome their drowsiness after lunch. Today was an exception. The class was nearly as full as a weekend class. My curiosity encouraged me to take a 360 degrees view of the class to see what kind of people made it to the class. Most of them are in their 30s. 

Are all of us unemployed at the moment? Or do these people have find out the ultimate secret of work-life balance?

I wonder if I should do a quick survey to them one day. 

One day, when my crazy gut is higher than my common sense. 

Where to get Kimchi Toastie: 124 Hougang Avenue 1, #01-1444, Singapore

Paddy Hills was the last cafe I visited with Mr Arse-Angel. But then, I did not associate the cafe with the nasty turn of event that followed our story later on. After all, I personally think Paddy Hills is one of the nice quaint cafes in Singapore (except when it’s crowded). Paddy Hills updates its menu quite often so it’s normal for certain dishes to be taken in and taken out from the menu especially during festive season. I did not see Kimchi Toastie (SGD 19) in the menu when I visited Paddy Hill earlier this year so I kinda wanted to try it. It’s basically a pastry item combined with local twist. The kimchi toastie is a danish loaf filled with house cured bacon, mozzarella, orange cheddar and it is served with a side of two onsen eggs. I wonder why most restaurants always give two eggs in brunch item. I suppose it’s to justify the price of the meal. And yet, I think two eggs are too much for me. The kimchi toast tastes pretty good though I wonder if it’s because I am a pastries lover by nature.

When I was small, I think superheroes are very cool especially the scenes where they are saving their loved ones (ahem, girlfriend). But, after incurring bruises and cuts while growing up, I realise that most of the times, you can only be your own hero. Because human is a not a secured being to put your hope and trust on. Despite the sour words, the Momma Hero (SGD 7.5) from the Tiramisu Hero taste rich and sweet enough although I would prefer it to have more alcoholic flavor inside the small jar. 

This is the first time I had Ondeh Ondeh Cake in the 30 years of living on earth. Ondeh Ondeh is a traditional Indonesian green-colored balls of rice cake filled with liquid palm sugar and coated in grated coconut. It is those kind of cake you can buy at any wet market in Indonesia. Childhood memories. Quite surprised people turn it into the flavor of modern cake nowadays. While the taste is more or less the same, it lacks the oomph flavour of grated coconut. Maybe the cake would have tasted better if the filling between each layer is infused with grated coconut.

This was the first time I had a cake named Lychee Rosewater (SGD 8). The moist sponge cakes layered with sweet cream and topped with rose flavoured butter cream taste light and yet, it exudes the right amount of sweetness. If only I am not too lazy to walk all the way to Esplanade Mall, I would probably have this cake often to cheer me up on those gloomy days.

 "Do not focus so much on the future you lose the importance of today" is probably the verse that I need to hear the most recently. I do not know the future and yet, I keep to think so much about it. I wonder if I lose my focus on enjoying the present moment. Sometimes in order to refocus back to what's important in life, you need to chill a little bit with your best buddy in tow to accompany you or listen to your random crap in life. If that's what you want to do at the moment, you may want to come to Xiao Ya Tou at Duxton Hill in Tanjong Pagar.

 

Xiao Ya Tou's address:

"Who's the sexy thing I see over there?"

The sexy thing is most likely not Noona because she has been stuffing herself with so many good food over the two weeks break. Anyeong! It has been a while, isn't it? Noona is alive and well, fatter. It's probably time to break the habit of slacking and binging food over Netflix and K-dramas starting tomorrow. Hahaha.

Noona would probably need to stop eating steak for a while since her last visit to CUT because the steak was so good (and so expensive), it's hard to beat the lingering feeling that Noona felt after eating this steak.

"Let's not fall in love, we don't know each other very well yet."

  

Anyeong! Do you ever have this feeling of having a crush on someone and yet the more you know that particular someone, you feel like suddenly there's a background song with TOP's voice saying "Uri saranghaji marayo"? Noona is having this weird feeling at the moment because she thinks that her crush has turned out to be crazy. Not in a criminally psychotic way but weird kind of psycho. Okay, Noona does not know how to explain this weirdo but...oh well, further observation required perhaps? Hahahaha. 

Talking about TOP, Noona hopes he recovers soon. Sobs. 

"Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid."

This is Noona's current favourite bible verses because recently all the things that she has experienced are really not good for her heart. So many uncertainties, unknown challenges and question marks which left to be answered and yet, there is no point thinking so much about these problems until losing sleep. Or losing appetite to eat. Hahaha. 

And with that mindset plus one very supportive friend, here we are at TWG Tea Salon one stop away from our office. That was the day where both of us got an approval to leave office two hours earlier than usual. We had actually made dinner reservation at 6PM but since we were early, we decided to just chill at TWG Tea Salon. Contemplating on what to have without jeopardising future dinner, we ended up ordering two scoops of tea-infused ice cream (SGD 9) and a pot of tea.

"I think I was so happy without anything."

 Currently listening to Big Bang's One Last Dance and reading news about TOP being hospitalised. The life of these Korean idols are tough up to the point they need to consume drugs and get high. Hope he recovers soon and well. He's really a great artist and Noona thinks Big Bang will not be complete without him. Haiz. Such news making Noona feeling so blue. 

One fine afternoon, Noona's unnie at work invited her out for lunch. Since she happened to be free, Noona just agreed to the invitation and the Unnie wanted to try out vegetarian food at Fortune Centre, which is not located not near to our office at all. But Noona is not Noona if she is not up for a lunch time adventure. After changing MRT line and walk for a few minutes under the sun, they have finally reached New Green Pasture Cafe at level 4 of Fortune Centre.