WHERE IN SINGAPORE TO GET THE BEST SINGAPORE SLING

                                                                 

Ask yourself a question when you are in Singapore, what to do and what to have in Singapore. Plenty... thats the answer. 

As this Country growing bigger you will find mostly anything here ,from mixed culture to entertainments, from eating to drinking place.

One of the famous cocktail drink invented here is  is Singapore Sling. 

After getting to know this country a little bit more and longer so far I found  2 places in which serves the best of the best Singapore Sling. The First is One degree 15 Marina club and the other is on board Singapore Airlines.  Don't believe me !!.... I suggest you try the drink yourself.

Many trial I did where ever I went and nothing beats those 2 places I mentioned.  The drink mix, liquor and cordial are mixed perfectly to my expectation. The cordial is balancing the others and the liquor is not too overpower so that you can still enjoy the other flavour.

Decoration of cherry and pineapple is standard, suit the drink. Price of these 2 place is very reasonable too for the size of the glass they use to serve this.

I had several places I could name but honestly those places are not worth visiting and this including Raffles hotel ( LONG BAR - upstairs ) which is the very first place of this drink invented from. At Long Bar I was shock to find the mix really bland and I could not taste the liquor as the other ingredients was just over power the liquor. 

It is important to balance the mix, a bit more of liquor always depending on what is the main ingredients of the drink. If the drink mix is not right then you will get disappointment like I had at that place and  with many places in Singapore when ordering Singapore Sling. Consistency of the drink has been spoiled by putting too much of juice or cordial and most of places a bit stingy using the liquor. 

With One degree 15 marina club you can expect to have the same consistency every time, and with Singapore airline too. The good thing with Singapore airline is you can buy the liquor mix on the plane duty free ( unsure with the airport  ground duty free ). It came with the instruction on what juice you need to mix with. 

Perhaps I like my Cocktail a little bit too much, so I am a little bit fussy with drinks I am going to have  on a night out. 

CHICKEN KIEV

This meal is simple for the family to enjoy. why not try

Ingredients :

- 4 Chicken breasts ( for 4 in a family )

- 4 Tbspn Olive oil ( for cooking the chicken ) 

- 2 Tbspn olive oil ( for cooking the rice )

- 2 Broccoli ( will serve 4 - 5 )

- 1 Packet of beef bacons ( chopped / diced )

- 2 Tbspn flour ( for the sauce 

- 5 -6 Tbspn flour for batter

- 2 large eggs

- 1 Tbspn Blue cheese for chicken 

- 1/2 Teaspoon blue cheese for sauce

- 250 gram butter

- 6 garlics

- 1/2 Tspn of thyme and 1/2 Tspn of rosemary

- 8 slices of old bread ( to make breadcrumbs, or you can buy this ready made from the supermarket )

- 1 1/2 cup of rice ( cook as normal )

- 1/2 onion ( diced )

- 200 - 250 ml milk

How to make :

=  Made the butter stuffing by leaving the butter in room temperature then when its soften mix with finely chopped / diced garlic ( use food processor if you like it to be more like a paste look in the butter ). 

After you mix the butter and garlic well then put the 2 Tablespoon blue cheese in it, then season with pepper and just a little bit of salt as blue cheese already has salty taste. 

= Pulse the bread in food processor to have a little bit fine grain result, make sure it is not going too soft like flour or too rough to have a nice finishing batter to cover the chicken with.

= Prepare the batter mix. You  need 2 flat dish. 1 for seasoned flour then another 1 for the breadcrumbs which you already make in the food processor or supermarket made. Then you also need a bowl for the whisks eggs.

= when all that ready make sure the chicken is clean and dry, cut the middle part of the chicken breast, enough for you to stuff with the butter stuffing, put aside then do the rest of the chicken.

= Chopped broccoli then put it in the pot with water enough to cover the amount of broccoli in it. Only boil it when you start cooking the chicken, so by then it will be ready to serve together with the others. 

= Heat the griddle pan or skillet or normal pan  then put in olive oil when the pan looks hot ( you can see by the smoke appearing from the side of the pan ). Dip the stuffed chicken breast onto seasoned flour then dip onto egg then dip onto breadcrumbs. repeat until chicken breast is well covered Then put in the hot frying pan. Do the same with the other chicken breast. 

Cook for about 4 minutes each side or until the inside part is no longer pink. Make sure you do not burn the breadcrumbs

= While chicken is cooking you make the wild rice. Heat up another pan, put olive oil when its hot fry the bacon and onion fry for  2 minutes or until onion caramelised then season, put the herb then rice stir fry for about 2 - 3 minutes.

Serve the rice and chicken with broccoli then make the sauce using the oil from the chicken. Sift the oil onto a small pot then add little butter and put 2 Tbspn flour and milk pour onto the side of the plate or on top of chicken if you like and serve.

Bon appettite

BATAM VIEW BEACH RESORT

Last week during the deepavali holiday I decided to head for this resort for a mini break. 

No plan at all,  previously my intention was staying with one of my friend in Malaysia but all gone havock as plan change. This really was a last minute plan which I had as a back up. 

Getting to Batam can be reach from Tanah merah ferry terminal or Harbourfront ferry terminal. It all depending on where you are going to stay. Since my resort is near Nongsa pura ferry terminal so I had to start my ferry journey from Tanah merah. It all stated in a very their useful website. 

It only took over 40 minutes to get to Batam from Tanah merah and it is very easy procedures from Singapore end. If you bought the ferry ticket via ferry website then you need to go to check in desk ( even if you already have boarding pass ), this to help you if you have luggage for them to store on the ferry. 

After that all you need to do is go through the immigration and security then you wait for your ferry.

Arriving at Nongsa pura ferry terminal was help by the resort staff who was there ready to help. Sadly I was not given immigration card by the ferry staff  or who ever responsible to distribute that, so I arrive having to wait for all the immigration card to be filled. 

Again when all that finish the other staff outside the terminal was ready to help me collect my luggage. I was so happy and impressed by the service up to this point, Then the surprise arrive as the Transport ( mini bus the resort use to collect and drop guests to and from the terminal was no aircon facility. You can imagine how annoyed I was sat there waiting for everybody in the heat of the day.

I know its not really a long wait but still very inconvenience for me and 2 my daughters even when the journey to resort only took 10 minutes ride. 

At the resort I had the impression of an old resort look which I did not get that from the website.  The resort looks tired from the outside ( front definitely ) and really in need of improvements. a little bit of paint might do better to welcome the guests.

Entering the resort was a bit bland with welcome and the resorts staff seems in need of more training to handle guests. Resort system was a bit  weird for me but I was prepared with few uncertainty. Resort required me to settle the bill in full plus deposit ( a bit confusing I know ) in which I book the room via website, then anything adding to the room will be settle later, and this part I was ready to accept.  

Check in process went but reception staff very limited in giving us info afterwards in term of where to head for our room, where is the lounge to collect our welcome drink, facilities..... etc.

Anyway.... finally got my room with my daughters in tow and as usual we all checked on what's in the room and what we don't have.  This is when  our experience in this resort start. Not to pin point mistake but we are not happy that the bathroom a bit smelly which clearly an easy way to say that drain system was not working properly. Knowing I book the room for 3 person in 1 room to be given 2 Single bed made me question the ability of the reservation to handle this, then I had to request for extra towels too. ooo dear. 

No Tea and coffee facility in room, Considering this day is a normality for resort or hotel to have in every room. Room I book was a superior internet offer.  what ever the different, the rate wasn't so bad to stay for a mini break. I had to re arrange the position of the bed for 3 of us to sleep without asking for extra bed. One thing I was surprised about the room was the shower holder was actually not fitted properly so it kept on falling off the stand when ever we were having our shower. 

When all that done we change our clothing to more beach wear and start our holiday and trying very hard to forget all the unnecessary annoying little stuff and left it behind us. 

We start our day there with exploring the resort to get some idea on what we could do for the next 2 nights and 3 days there and what facilities we could enjoy in the process. 

Went around the resort with no body on the beach was really unusual for me. Water sport facility was there open but nobody that we could ask which later on we found out the water sport was belongs to separate company and they went out to bring customer from other nearby resort who were using the facility. 

Batam view beach resort  not only has hotel room but it also has beach villa which seem beautiful but neglected. It was surprising for me and daughters to see the villa's empty,  beach jacuzzi was empty. Stuff after party or what ever they have was still on table and seems no one ever tidy the area on the beach front as it was looking so forgotten, glasses, plates and serviettes was still uncollected ......etc. 

We carried on walking and exploring to find a building looks like an aquarium or something for a water show abandoned, further walking we found something we like that resort kept lots of turkeys, Persian cats and parrots too. This is good as my children loves animal this will keep them entertain definitely. 

Afterwards we decided enough with exploring so we head for the swimming pool. On the way there I found out that there are 2 pool bar, 1 was on the pool itself and the other was not far from the pool or more or less near the stage area. I love the pools and the set up with the sun  lounger and dining tables scattered around the poolside garden with the stage set nearby with the purpose or entertaining guests now and then. 

Sadly the bar near the stage was not in used and unused serviettes was piling up on trolley as well as empty dirty glass or what ever bar stuff seems like never been moved for sometimes. hmmm....... I was not happy to see all this around. 

Overall decorations I would say the resort need to spend a lot of money to improve their image, this is really the most important thing to do. 

I could see the impact of lack of improvement and lack of attention and uneven distribution of staff working places affecting the number of guests in this place. Low number of guests was not good especially in the busy holiday time of the year and the weekend should always have good turn up especially people living in Singapore and other part of Indonesia likes to go away during this times.

Further to my experience in this resort was my dining experience. The food menu all the same from the poolside, lounge and some in the restaurant too. That was good at least we could choose where we are going to have it.  Unfortunately the price for the main course was seem over priced. Since this is a mini break so I didn't really think it will break the bank but I did not feel hungry after poolside snack. 

The morning after, I use it as my big chance to sample the chef foods from the buffet selections. 

Continental and Indonesian selections were fairly put on the table. For not a lot of guests, the selection of bread, cereals and pastry were reasonably displayed. Hot food too as well as Egg station which always draw attention of many guests in every hotels or resorts around the world. 

Good selection will go better with good flavour / taste of those savoury foods. For me Seems like the flavour / taste were not so important in this resort. Don't get me wrong it is not tasteless or bland but could do with more powerful stuff put in it for me to be able to recognised the flavour. I also think the chef should put meat ( chicken, beef, prawn etc.. ) in their fried noodles / fried rice. Lack of attention in detail could make a big different in people's opinion, and to be able to get the best opinion we should be able to be brave to put something in the recipe to give a good end result. 

At last our break has finally come to an end, felt relax even with all those stuff needs attention. We did Mangrove tour on our last day. was enjoyable trip we did. I would recommend anyone who are visiting nongsapura to go for watersport at this resort as this will fill up your time and you dont realise it that you actually enjoying the trip. The price was also reasonable and people dealing with this were excellent and friendly.

Even with major issue the resort has I managed to relax there with my daughters and wish could enjoy more if the resort improve their image and the obvious decor.

BAKING DEMO AT COOKING STUDIO

I felt so lucky to be one of the guests who was invited for this event who was organised by Indo connect magazine and Sun media.

This event was held at the AFC ( Asian food channel ) studio at Orchard central on the 14 November 2012, Wednesday.

From the start to end I was impressed with the whole concept of demonstrating and introducing baking demo to mostly Indonesians who are living in Singapore. This obviously also open to everyone who are interested and having involved or having the connection with Indonesia.

Upon arrival, I was greeted well and well organised. Sat amongst others and to have a clear view of the whole show made it a special night for me.

The first baking demo was from H.E. Mrs. Ferial Hadi, the Indonesian Ambassador's wife for Singapore, whose passion for baking is unbelievable. She is an excellent baker, friendly character and has the best smile ever seen.
This time Mrs. Hadi was baking Banana chocolate cupcake. The whole process actually did not seem difficult to try so it is a good idea to do it for our own family.
The cupcake was yummy and very moist inside, and to be able to have it fresh after the demo was a bonus. At that time guests also given the chance to try their hands on decorating the cupcake which make the cupcake pretty and even yummier to eat.
Near to Christmas it is really a good idea to bake this, simple and easy also yummy and nothing will go wrong with this recipe.

Second demo was by one of cafe who famously serve chocolate spoon. Not just that the duo also demonstrating how to make peanut butter cookies which again I was lucky to have been able to sample all the finishing result.

At the end of the whole event, my head was full of idea on what I want to do on the coming few weeks before Christmas and party I am going to go to.
Thank you very much for the opportunity given to me by the Indonesian Embassy and Indo connect magazine as well as Sun Media. Wish to have the future event a success always.

List of Baking Supplies Stores in Singapore

When you first move to another country, you need to know where to get your supplies. whether is baking, cooking, painting etc. Thats just what I did want to know here, So went around to look and review the place after looking at it from the internet. Sometimes it really  a good place but all and all depend on what you actually expect in a shop.

Here is the list I found from internet and I like to share this information so that you can go and visit the place and find stuff you need to get for your baking.

Have fun


Not the Kitchen Sink!: List of Baking Supplies Stores in Singapore

COFFEE MORNING

Finally managed to have coffee morning after planning it for such a long time. Since we move to Singapore over a year ago I always have a doubt whether to host a coffee morning or not.

Most decision I made always involving space in our condo. Having such a small place I felt so trapped and felt like I can not move freely. Being used to live in a house and now to live in what I can call match box really took me a while to decide to invite anyone.

Now it finally happen and I was so glad.  Just over a week ago on Friday small number were invited as a start and they came and enjoying each other company.
I made Meatball soup with noodles ( mie bakso ), chicken and rice porridge ( bubur ayam ) as well as fruit salad ( rujak buah ) and red velvet cupcake with butter cream toppings.

Chatting amongst friends, eating of course is the most enjoyable time you can ever think. We all share stories, experience and just getting to know each other better.
Having my friend who was previously living in the Northwest of England on coffee morning, you wouldn't think that ever happen. Well it did. Sosi was there and Elsa a friend from a Mandarin class I went every week was also there.

The best of all was getting a big chocolate cake from  a friend of mine who spare her time in her busy daily diary and schedules and to come with this lovely cake was the best. I really do appreciate this. Thanks you very much to Mba' Ferial hady. It such a bonus to have that day.

It's nice to be able to meet up in everyone busy time. So I really appreciate everyone who came to that coffee morning. It gave me more time to get to know each other.
I really have to make it happen this time as I am going to move just about 3 miles from where we are living at the moment and that move is going to make me busy.

I just wish the day was longer and so everyone can stay longer bust it has to stop right at the time we all feel comfortable. Sadness not the word. Not really because we all  will meet up again soon and hope we will have another coffee morning.

Perhaps another time will be my house warming party. Let see.
Thanks everyone's Hope to see you all soon.

GINGER BREAD BISCUITS

Not a clear picture, I know. Honestly looks better in reality than here. I made this often for children and their friends who came over or might come over to have a play day but ended up their dad having this and finish them more than the children. It is really nice to have with cup of Tea or coffee of just to have it just like that. If you like it try to be more braver and put more ginger powder little bit more or even if you dare to put fresh ginger even better taste. Trust me, you taste the real homemade ginger biscuits and beter than buying it from the shop.

Ingredients:

- 150 gr butter 
- 70 gr soft dark brown sugar
- 125 gr golden syrup
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- 300 gr plain flour ( sifted ) 
- 2 Tablespoon ginger
- 1 Tabelspoon bicarbonate soda


What to do :

- Pre heat the oven 175 degree celcius or 350 degree F. Grease rectangular baking tin and line with baking paper. If you use non stick tin just grease the tin and no need to put the paper.

- Beat butter, sugar and syrup in a mixing bowl until light and creamy Then add the egg gradually.

- Put flour, ginger and bicarbonate into the butter mixture and combine all then use your floured hands to knead until all combined and move to floured surface and keep kneading for another 2 minutes until it make a nice dough.

- Use rolling pin to create a smooth and exact thin size of biscuits and cut out using whatever shape you like to do. Put it in trays make sure you give good space in between each biscuit to avoid getting sticky to others, then bake in oven for 10 - 15 mins depending if your oven has fan assist or not. 

- You can decorate it when its cool with butter cream or icing sugar as you like.

Good luck for trying.