Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

10.31.2011

Another revival? Multi-blogging on food, life...and the Arts.

I was just checking my blog stats, and I'm actually getting more consistent page views on this blog than my food blog!

*pat on my own back*

I'm thinking it's because I've owned this blog for a lot longer, there's more content, and that I did more work in trying to promote it in the past - submitting to blog directories and search engines etc. Makes me wonder if I should also revive this blog as well... Just posting interesting things in my everyday life or on topics I am passionate about - still "creating new memories" to stick to the original theme.

Can't believe that I'm actually doing a lot now to get back into blogging. Despite all the new social media channels popping up now and then, blogging still seems to be a popular activity - the intensity of content, and being always readily available is hard to match up with with channels like Twitter, where there's usually an information overload due to the speed at how fast information comes and goes on your timeline. You really need to be there constantly to not miss a thing.

Went to the National Museum of Singapore yesterday with my family. First time there, and even though it's no where near spectacular like the MET museum, it's still worth a visit once in a while. A Musée d'Orsay Paris collection of masterpieces has definitely sparked an interest in learning more about the different art movements/styles in history. (Vaguely remembering all those big names like Renoir, Monet and Cézzane from an Art class in middle school.)

I had the urge to wake the artistic side of me - the side that had me choose Arts elective classes and eventually tried to study architecture in college. I seem to have lost that side after moving into business and marketing.

So I started a photo blog on Tumblr where I plan to document all the art pieces, architecture, and historical facts that I find. Hopefully, it helps others to learn a thing or two and get inspired as well.

3.06.2010

13 Lo Hei ingredients and their meanings

Of all the Chinese New Year food, I hate Lo Hei (Yu Sheng) the most. Gosh it's like randomly throwing everything together, give them a meaning, and give them a representative color to fit their meaning. They simply don't taste right to me. And raw fish is just not my type.

But this Chinese New Year, I had 3x Lo Hei. Once at Din Tai Fung, once in Malaysia, and once at Tung Lok. The coolest thing for me was just the procedure to pour the ingredients together. Then the actual "lo hei".

Do you know what are the ingredients and the meanings behind their colors? How many can you name?

I picked up a flyer from Ichiban Boshi with 13 lo hei ingredients, and their respective meanings in both English and Chinese. Of course the ingredients here are tailored for Ichiban Boshi's Yusheng set this year. I read on wiki that they are 27 ingredients in the original dish.


1. Chuka Kurage
Excellence, 锦上添花

2. Red Sweetened Ginger
Luck, 鸿运当头

3. Peanut Crunch
Wealth, 金玉满堂

4. Pickled Leek
Divination, 妙算如神

5. Sweetened Lime
Merit, 苦尽甘来

6. Pickled Cucumber
Advancement, 平步青云

7. Winter Melon
Harmony, 甜甜蜜蜜

8. Fried Sesame
Prosperity, 生意兴隆

9. Chuka Wakame
Youth, 青春长驻

10. Pickled Melon
Tranquility, 风调雨顺

11. Pok Chui Biscuits
Affluence, 遍地黄金

12. Five Spice, Cinnamon and Pepper Powder
Fortune, 招财进宝

13. Salmon Sashimi
Abundance, 年年有余

Do you like Lo Hei? What was your favorite or least favorite Chinese New Year dish/snack?

2.26.2010

Who says no money cannot eat?

Hmmm....it's been 3 months now since my last pay! What the heck... & Always in the last week, we try to scrimp and save. But who says no money cannot eat?

In times of need, we were so glad to have my Sakae Card around!

..with $55 Sakae Dollars from the e-journalists program. Just in time to celebrate wx's birthday too! Hehe

3 colored plates, $2.29 each + 1 red plate, $5.59

Nabeyaki Udon, $11.99

Tempura with Yuzu Soba, $13.99
Totals to $46.50. We paid only 50 cents!!

The yuzu soba was quite interesting. We were given this raw quail egg (poked with a small hole) and for a while we weren't sure what to do with it.


Do you know the correct way to eat your yuzu soba?

Rating: ★★★

12.17.2009

T for Teppanyaki

Finally found the chance to dine at Sakae Teppanyki @ Century Mall on Monday, been a long time! Everything looked strangely familiar - the chefs, the waitresses. In the past, I've talked about the food and I've talked about the service. I want to write about something different this time - the Teppanyaki cooking! :) Keep reading to also find out something new at Sakae Teppanyaki.

I think teppanyaki is awesome! It's really fun to observe how they prepare and cook, then slowly enjoy the food. Wx and I would even discuss different chef styles. You know, like gourmets :D

For instance, how many eggs and how much soy sauce to use for 3 servings of the garlic fried rice...




To get...




This!!

Even the shrimpy topping can make a difference in the overall taste. Some chefs will heat it up a bit after the rice is done (this I think is optimal); some set it on the metal plate longer (but I feel it makes the shrimps too dry); and some just sprinkle directly onto the rice without extra heating.

Remember, what is the one best ingredient in teppanyaki? Garlic!! There is the garlic fried rice and seafood stir-fried with garlic. Seriously I think there needs to be more more garlic :p




Besides stir frying, there are other styles of cooking in teppanyaki. Try the lobster stew! Prepared and served in nicely folded aluminium foil trays. These trays are also used in making beef sukiyaki.




Then there is the steamed kind like chawanmushi. Just spray some water and cover it up with a big round lid!

Here's something cute from Sakae:




Green tea icecream served in Sakae froggie trays!! Hehe I took home the trays :p

12.05.2009

Eating @ Hand in Hand

Lunched at Hand in Hand Beijing Restaurant (手拉手京华小馆) - dad saw it on the newspapers I think, so he wanted to try it out.

A variety of Chinese dishes - Hunan, Beijing, and Sichuan flavors in dim sum, noodles, soup and traditional style. But was quite disappointing, judging by the few dishes we tried.

In reverse taste rating:

5. Tianjin Goubuli (Go Believe) steamed buns
My dad always boasts about how yummy Goubuli buns are. But I've never tasted any up to standards. Sad to say, it's the same for this. Not enough filling and doesn't taste "hot and fresh" (still newly steamed though).

4. Suan xiang niu rou
There wasn't much "sauce" and the beef I felt was a little bit less than tender.

3. Fried dumplings
Not "fried" enough. It's halfway between boiled dumplings and fried ones.

2. Fried spring onion pancake
Not much of the spring onion flavor. But still quite acceptable IMHO.

1. Pork and cabbage dumplings
Taste quite good. It's just dumplings. I recommend adding mushrooms to the filling, will taste better.

Perhaps I should have tried their noodles. I believe they are known for that? Anyways, highly unlikely that I would go again. If you do go there, tell me if you like it there :)

Rating:

11.30.2009

Teppanyaki chef exercises favoritism

I actually planned to talk about this in my long pending post along with few other recent happenings until I realized that I actually have a lot more to say for this.

This actually happened at Sakae Teppanyaki, Bugis Junction. Before I plunge into the story, just want to make it clear that this is by far the first time I had experienced such unfair treatment at Sakae. (Favorite branch still in Tampines!!) It's not a total big deal, but it's very unprofessional, especially coming from a teppanyaki chef, where everything is transparent - customers see everything you are doing.

So wx and I were seated at this booth with another family of three. They were there before us, already served with some food, and were chatting with the chef quite frequently. After the chef confirmed our orders with us, he started making our garlic fried rice. For the next 10 mins, the chef only prepped food for that family. In fact, we literally finished our rice before we were served with ours. I really wondered how much food that family had ordered, because even when the chef was finally cooking for us, he was still cooking for them! Then here's where it got worse...

First dish up is the squid. Squid is a common dish in both seafood and beef set. Apparently, that x amount of squid was to be split amongst the five of us at the table - ie. 20% for the each of us. To get an exact even split is tough, but I've always seen the past teppanyaki chefs try their best at it. Do a rough split first then spread the remaining bits among those who got a smaller portion. Seriously, I think I got 10-12 pieces, plus what wx got, we got only approximately 15%. The chef, in his dear judgement, served the remaining bits (1%) to the man of that family. Okay..he is a lot bigger in size but that does not make him deserve more food than I do. We pay the same price, and the chef has no rights to deprive me of what I should be getting for him to suck up to his other customers!!

And... Should teppanyaki chefs talk while they cook? Some hygiene concerns here eh.

In direct contrast, I have seen very nice teppanyaki chefs. Not those chatty slash "friendly" type, but real service. Chinese chef at Plaza Singapura branch, very polite and the only person who bothered with us when the Malay (?) waitress was busy trying to appear occupied - slowly laying out plates at an empty table instead of serving customers first.

Maybe a training program would help? :p Would strongly suggest studying the customer service at Din Tai Feng. Even an appetizer is weighed for every customer, and waitresses are usually friendly.

Ah can't wait to have my grand teppanyaki feast in December! How grand? I should have $90 to spend on my Sakae Card soon :) That's roughly 2 meals for two at Sakae Teppanyaki.

10.31.2009

Sakae Sushi not ideal for Family Dining..

So I finally took my family to Sakae Sushi @ Wheelock Place earlier this month to use my $50 voucher. Picked this location particularly because I saw on the website that it has tatami rooms!

But we didn't get the tatami room :( It was all dark as if that part of the shop is not yet open for business. What's worse was that one of the waitresses actually told us to not put our stroller beside our booths (my niece was still in there at that time). A little disappointing but understandable, as I really thought that the waitresses should offer us a tatami room if they didn't want us to have the stroller in the walkway - could be dangerous with them serving hot food. (We should have requested then too :\) Reason is simple. We were a big party with 4 adults 1 child 1 baby plus a baby stroller. It's very inconvenient to eat while carrying a baby, you know. Instead of asking your customers to adjust to your store plan, you should be trying to accustom to all your customers' needs at all times. That's what customer service is about, right?

So then we ordered 2 unagi-don, 1 gyuu-don, some side dishes, and some colored plates off the sushi train. I must say that the Enoki Niku Maki is quite disappointing - overflowing with teriyaki sauce, too sweet! It's a lot darker (black sauce) than in this picture. But the Saba Shioyaki is not bad for my dad - I think he enjoyed it.

The meal totals out to be $95 - $50 (voucher) = $45. This is my first time ordering ala carte at Sakae Sushi, and I believe it would be my last LOL. To be honest, Sakae Sushi's food is not top grade, though still lot better than those really cheap ones. Ala carte..sure, but cost-wise, is a little too pricey for me. So their buffets are the best - value deals especially if you eat a lot or eat a wide variety! & you have my honest opinion here :)

Just one thing to note when eating buffets:
If you want to use Sakae Sushi vouchers or if you want to benefit from 10% discount and/or 12% rebate from your Sakae Card, then you have to go ala carte. Sad, but the buffets are in fact a "promotion", so not valid with any other promotions.

Oh, and why Sakae Sushi is not ideal for families?
Sakae Sushi's primary seating areas are the booths, because of the sushi train. But not great for a big family with kids. That's why a tatami room is perfect! Best to come in twos, so both can get their hands on the sushi train running by them :D

If you're interested in trying out at Sakae Sushi, check out Sakae Sushi's on-going promotions!
Oh, I noticed that there's a Sakae Pasta Shop @ Wheelock Place! Worth a try next time :)

9.23.2009

Sashimi Buffet @ Atrium

note: check out all the Sakae bloggers here! and err sorry no photos this time round lah. :\

Remember that I won a $50 Sakae Sushi voucher sometime early August? Well, I am now also officially part of the Sakae e-Journalist programme where I get to eat and blog at the same time.

So here is my first post of my eat-n-blog venture! (2nd if you count my entry blog post on Sakae Teppanyaki)

A few weeks back wx and I decided to use our $50 Sakae Sushi voucher. The idea was to eat well and still save money. So wx suggested that we try the Sashimi Buffet at The Atrium @ Orchard. Ehh we sort of did our calculations beforehand: if we just had the normal sushi buffet, it would cost us $18.90 per person ($37.80++ total) - ie. we lose out on $12.20 voucher value and we are only entitled to only 2 'red plates' (sashimi) total; sashimi buffet costs $24.90 per person ($49.80++ total) and we get unlimited 'red plates'!

3 Reasons Why Sakae's Sashimi Buffet Is Better Than The Sushi Buffet
1) 'Red plates' are more than just sashimi! Though I don't fancy them all, it's always good to bring along someone who loves them. *points at wx*
2) Sushi buffet has more limitations. For example, 1 'red plate' per person and 1 'mini udon' per person. Most of items (except a few) are unlimited in sashimi buffet.
3) To be charged at the sushi buffet value, you need to finish your food within an hour! Anything beyond that time period is charged additionally. Whereas for the sashimi buffet, no need to rush - you can just eat at your own slow pace and eat MORE! muahahaha

In the end, we realized we couldn't use the $50 voucher because buffets are considered as promotions (T&C states that voucher is not valid with other discounts or promotions). Okay, that's what I didn't quite expected. The buffets have been on-going for so long that I thought it was a part of the usual menu. >< Quite a wasted trip in that sense, but I've decided to bring my family to Sakae Sushi instead! Planning for sometime next month (Oct), in time just before the voucher expires. And that would be the highlight of my Oct's Sakae blog post. Good idea eh?

Lastly - a shoutout to Sakae Sushi - wx and I suggest to have the Sashimi buffet across more Sakae Sushi outlets in Singapore. Currently only available at The Atrium, which is kind of out of the way for us. :p

The Sushi & Teppanyaki buffet ($24.90 per person) sounds cool. Eager to try it someday - Funan DigitaLife Mall only.

Sashimi Buffet
Rating: ★★★★

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More Sakae Sushi's promotions at sakaesushi.com.sg.

8.01.2009

Magic of garlic - Sakae Teppanyaki

update:
Sakae is awesome~ Not only did I win the $50 Sakae Sushi Cash Vouchers, they are also offering me free Sakae card, topped up with $30 monthly!! :D All I got to do is blog about my Sakae experience every month. Haha so nice, I can save up on my food expenses :)


You would be surprised that my favorite foodie places would most seldom appear on my blog. Well, 1) because I eat there very often, sometimes 2-3 times a week and 2) because each time I'm there, I just want to EAT. But ultimately, being my favorites will have to make their way to my blog some time. Here, you get to hear about the first. :)

Sakae. The Sakae chain has a very cute froggie mascot. In their sushi bars, they even have froggie mouses hooked up to a monitors that display promotions and a navigable menu (possibly click-to-order as well?). I wondered, do they actually sell those froggie products? The fact is, they do! I think you would have to ask them at their counter if you're interested in purchasing any of the Sakae mascot merchandise. I've seen a number of them displayed in glass windows of some branches, though haven't seen the mouse in display before. I hope they sell that too. I should ask that next time. :p (Am a keen collector of cute computer mouse..)

Less presence of the froggie mascot at Sakae Teppanyaki, but the better of the two imo! It is where wx and I would always complain about my garlic breath the day after. But as always, rather inevitable as garlic is what makes the best of Sakae Teppanyaki. :)

(I used to ask for an extra dishful of really-spicy-garlic, but wx has forbidden me so because of the aftereffects :\)




A Teppanyaki Night

wx and I have our standard menu :)
1 Beef and 1 seafood set. Change both rice to garlic rice. Change assorted vegetables (for seafood set) to assorted mushrooms (add $2). 1 hot and 1 cold green tea. Each set comes with a salad, miso soup, and a dessert (ice-cream). - Total $52++

For starters, I would eat 2 servings of salad! Why 2? Because wx never liked veggies and tomatoes, so I get to eat his share too.

If you know me, I hate salads. All that Caesar's dressing, Ranch and Thousand Island just makes me puke. The only kind I would eat is the Japanese style salad dressing, with a unique sweet and sour taste. The first time I had it was in a Jap restaurant in Atlanta.

& While finishing up my salad, we would watch our teppanyaki chef cook..

Garlic rice!! Sprinkled with Japanese dried shrimps. (I like to top mine with extra scoop of fresh garlic!)

Next up, squuiiidd! (Dip dip, more garlic!)
Hmmm, I eat the seafood set because of this..

Bamboo clams!! (Tastes even better with extra garlic!) :D

Oooh, jumbo prawns.. (Moree gaarrrrlicc!!)

Original seafood set comes with assorted vegetables. But mushrooms is just much better, don't you think!!? (& I need more garlic!)
By this time, my tongue's usually scalded by the spiciness of the garlic. I could almost taste nothing else! Now, a hot miso soup really helps to soothe my taste buds.

Oooh ahhh~

Finally gulping down a cup of warm green tea or two to neutralize the overwhelming taste left in my mouth.
But that is not all!

A scoop of cookies & cream ice-cream served in an iced bowl. Usually good to have another cup of green tea at this point.

:)

Rating: ★★★★


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Dedicating this blog post to Sakae's Monthly Bloggers Affair :p chance to win $50 Sakae voucher!!

6.25.2009

NEW Cheap eat near HDB Hub

Lunched out today with wx at Toa Payoh Central, and found a new Chinese food store called Origins (aka 元庄). It's right behind the row of shophouses facing the HDB Hub/SPH Buzz pod. Features Laksa, Curry/Vegetable Rice, soups and desserts! Not bad and is cheap.

We ordered:

Hainanese Curry Rice - curry chicken, cabbage, bean sprouts plus a sunny-side-up. This is so-so.

Katong Laksa - Tastes quite good, my favorite. :)

Watercress Soup - Okay. A good amount of ingredients used, but I would prefer using ribs than chicken feet as the soup base. :x

Beancurd with Ginko Nuts - The beancurd is not bad, but ginko nuts were a bit "old" (not soft enough) and not fresh.

Almond-flavored Soya Milk - Not too sweet, which is good. A little bit dilute, but still much better than what we can get at most hawker centers these days.

All for under $15!

Rating: ★★★ for the laksa!

NEW Triple Prawn Burger!!

Went to J8 to pay my Singtel bills after work today, and bought MOS Burger back for dinner. Try their latest addition:

TRIPLE PRAWN BURGER!

Three deep-fried prawns topped with XO and tartar sauce plus shreds of lettuce.
Ermm didn't look as glamorous as this eh?

IMO not really worth the 40cents "upgrade" from my favorite fish burger. Although the prawns were fresh, I couldn't taste much of the XO sauce which was also a highlight of this dish.

Rating: ★★

Nevertheless, MOS Burger remains to be one of my favorite burger place locally! A little small portioned and expensive, but love the fat fries, croquette, and minestrone soup! (I give high ratings to those :D)

& Oh! New Scallops Rice Burger... wx might just like it :)


PS: MOS Burger needs delivery service in Singapore :x

6.22.2009

Feifei Wanton Mee @ 72 Joo Chiat Place

I think no Singaporean who enjoys good (& not necessarily expensive) food would not know about FeiFei Wanton's Mee (aka. 飛飛雲吞麵). But beware, because like other food chains, not all Fei Fei outlets taste the same or as good.

I was highly recommended by wx to this particular 24-hour outlet at 72 Joo Chiat Place. I finally went with rather high expectations. :)

Rating: ★★★ to ★★★★

This was my type of noodles :) and FeiFei takes pride on that being handmade. The wonton was superb! Soft, thin and smooth skin, and makes a *slurping* sound when you eat it!

Disappointment #1: Noodles were not as QQ as I thought. :x

Soup! wx was telling me how you need to finish your noodles before going to the stall front personally to get your soup. The case here is, soup is not served with noodles by default. You need to ask for your soup. Wow (so dao), I thought the soup must be DA LEET!

Disappointment #2: And a rather big one. The soup was...tasteLESS. :o

Well, at least this side dish (prawn roll) was pretty good. I would visit again for their silky wonton skins but skipping the soup part hehe :D

Personally, I think I'm quite picky with the type of wonton noodles that I eat. The HK style (noodles and sauce) is just not my type! My favorite wonton noodles still remains - after my visit to FeiFei - to be in Malacca. :p & The closest version found in Singapore so far is either FeiFei's or Pontian's. But I'm not a fan of Pontian's fried wontons. Well, rather subjective pertaining to the style of wontons, noodles and sauces for different individuals.

PS: Not sure of the location in Malacca, will update later once I ask my parents. Photo first!

Last eaten: Jan '09

6.21.2009

Father's Day dinner @ ChongQing Hot Pot

Happy Father's Day
to all fathers in the world!

Rating: ★★★

Went for a dinner celebration at ChongQing Hot Pot in Tanglin Shopping Centre!

Not bad at the start, it really has the 麻辣 ("numbing spicy") taste to it!

And look at all the ingredients we have! All included in the buffet. Approx. $38 per person, comes with desserts (eg. sticky rice cake, water chestnut jelly, ice-cream) and some special snacks (eg. spring roll, dumplings, 1-slice abalone and salmon)!

One complaint:
The place is quite small and cramped, and the soup base is bit too salty. I didn't get to enjoy the soup in the end. :\

6.17.2009

Just Noodles @ Suntec

Simply cheap and yummy :)

Rating: ★★★

[prologue]
So I thought I could grab some ice-cream waffles at Gelare (Tuesday's 1/2 price offer) then head to a Singtel store to fix my mobile plan upgrades...

Happily cabbed to Suntec (bearing $2 ERP cost), found out that Gelare is closed from June 16-18, and realized that the Singtel stores there are only "dealers" NOT "Hello Singtel". Change of plans. So what's for dinner instead?
[/prologue]

Came to Just Noodles in B1 - the fountain area. If you've never heard of this name, Just Acia might just ring a bell to you. (There's a huge chain at the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station..) The food may not look very appetizing at first, but don't run! If you are not so picky, this restaurant will serve you the best food at the best bargain!

1) Great value.
Free Flows!! If you love free flow drinks, how about some free flow ice-cream!? XD It's self-service, like the drinks, with 6 flavors to choose from. Definitely try mango and vanilla! Be surprised, they don't taste as cheap as they appear to be. Set meals include both free flow drinks & ice-cream. For ala-carte, you can also add $2.75 for the free flow offer. Entrees range from $6-$18 approx; side dishes from $1-$6 approx.

2) Decent food.
If the ice-cream is good, the entrees can't be too bad right? A mixture of korean, japanese, and some chinese style, their kimchi soup is actually much better than those you can get at food courts. Although not the highest quality, it's definitely good enough considering how much you are paying for. Also try their Unagi Kabayaki and prawn rolls!

3) Fast service.
It's really a come, eat, and go place. Well maybe stay longer for the ice-cream :p but guaranteed low waiting times. Since drinks and desserts are self-served, it helps with reduced serving time too. You can change to a different drink and a different flavor of ice-cream anytime you want.

I would definitely go there again. :)

Read more reviews here.

6.09.2009

Dinner @ Manhattan Fish Market

(Another overdue post. ><; Actual day: June 2 - the night I bought my Monopoly Deal.)

Rating: ★★★★

This was my first time at Manhattan Fish Market. Not bad!

Soup of the day was Seafood Chowder. My only complain was too much of tomato taste (bit sour) for my preference. I would try their Cream of Mushroom or Clam Chowder on next visit.

I ordered black pepper grilled salmon with chips. Salmon was fresh and the fries were tasty too. Anyways, I felt this was a little too expensive or "not worth it" (~$18) when I saw wx's platter for 1 below...

His plate was that much fuller than mine - 2 jumbo prawns and a catch of the day, dora fish, plus both fries and baked rice! Only $3 more (~$21)

On second thought, I should have ordered baked rice - which tasted a bit like the garlic rice from Sakae Teppanyaki. I even DIY-ed and added more garlic to make it "asian"! :D

6.08.2009

Where to find crispy waffles in Singapore?

Rating: ★★★

Yum yum yum. Went to West Coast Plaza with my family and found this great waffle place:

the Waffle Place Cottage!

Ordered strawberry ice-cream at Qiqi's request (I was sharing it with her). $6.80 for single scoop. Wanted to add strawberries, but was told that they ran out of them (there's a Cold Storage right downstairs you know!) >
  • West Coast Plaza, #02-27
  • Suntec City Mall, MY PLAYground, #03-05G/071A
  • SMU, School of Economics & Social Science, #01-74
Their website is in the making.. Hope to see their menu and pictures of their delicious waffles soon!! XD

I recommended Gelare's waffles to @nikipaniki sometime last month. Personally, I prefer the Gelare's waffle type - the softer and fluffier kind, or if you still remember, the A&W waffles kind.

There are 4 Gelare locations in town:
  • Citylink Mall, #B1-26B
  • Far East Plaza, #01-23
  • Plaza Singapura, #05-20
  • Suntec City Mall, #02-084
Visit their website for a full list of outlets in Singapore.

And while surfing their website...

Look what I found!
TUESDAY! That's tomorrow!!! :D

5.26.2009

Cupcakes Night!

Here's a recommended weekend activity for families with kids:

Note: These were decorated by my sis and niece.


BAKE YOUR OWN CUPCAKES!

My 3-year old niece enjoyed it. It's almost like playing Cooking Mama on Wii or the iPhone!
Instructions were very simple from a children's cookbook. (I'll add the recipe next time)

*imagine the missing cupcakes recipe*

Ta-da! Yummy cupcakes, but a little plain eh? Here comes the fun part of decorating your cupcakes!
The cookbook featured really cute ideas using marshmallows to turn your cupcakes into sheeps and pigs. We skipped that part because it would only make my niece even more hyper than she usually is. Lets make our own icing first. :)

*icing recipe in the works*

Add a bit of coloring! We had pink and green.

A DIY icing bag!

Look at all the cupcakes I decorated!
And the adults (me, sis and mom) decided to have a cupcakes deco competition. Each of us submitted 2 cupcake designs. Judges were my 2nd sis and bro-in-law.

I was proud of my Doraemon idea. But nobody picked it! T_T
My other design (face with spectacles) was more successful, nominated twice. No one knows about this but guess what? It's a face of wx's.

:)