Matcha Azuki Avocado Milkshake

Had a sucky tuition, so here's a happy sweet milkshake to make my day:)

Matcha Azuki Avocado Milkshake

Makes 1:

200ml of milk 

1/2 avocado, fully ripe

1/2 tsp of matcha powder, dissolved in 2tbsp of hot water

3tsp of azuki bean paste

A drizzle of honey

Throw all ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth

_______________________________________________________________

The best smoothie I've made so far:) Happy how it turned out to be of a thick milky consistency with no taste of avocado:) Now I can make matcha milkshake at home with low costs and low fats! :P

Angel Food Smoothie

Smoothie King sells this for $6 but I can make it too, with a bit more effort and a bit less sugar without having to travel out of my house:)

Ingredients: Strawberries, banana, yogurt, topped with chocolate chips for added happiness^^

Love this mix and how fuss-free it is. Sweet pink treat to end off Monday blues

Happy Father's Day: Matchamisu success!

Happy Father's Day to my beloved personal chauffeur, insect-catcher and kopi kaki:)

Since I dont know what my father wants, I decided to make something special for the special dad-- Matchamisu. It's totally self-improvised and I didnt follow any recipe hahaha. I'm glad it turned out fine and my family enjoyed it:) Here's some snapshots of my proud creation and recipe:

Decorated with marshmallows and chocolate chips

Layers of mascarpone cheese, matcha-soaked ladyfingers and azuki beans

Recipe for Matchamisu (serves 5)
500g Mascarpone cheese
12 ladyfingers (the biscuits, not the plant:P)
2 heaped tablespoons of sugar (to taste)
1 teaspoonful of vanilla essence (to taste)
Boiling water 
3 heaped teaspoon of matcha powder
1 can of azuki beans
Marshmallows and chocolate chips

1. Mix mascarpone cheese, vanilla essence and sugar together until well combined 
2. Prepare matcha liquid by adding matcha powder into around 200ml of boiling water in a wide bowl
3. Dip ladyfingers into the matcha liquid by coating it in the liquid on both sides, then lay as the base in the baking tin (don't soak it too long as it'll disintegrate)
4. Spread a layer of mascarpone mixture over it
5. Spread a layer of azuki bean over it
6. Alternate with layers of ladyfingers, mascarpone and azuki bean.
7. End off with a layer of mascarpone cheese (make sure it is not too thick) and dust with green tea powder/cocoa powder. 
8. Decorate as desired
9. Chill for at least 12 hours before serving.

*The proportions above are what I used. Depending on your tastebuds, you may want to add in more sugar/matcha or experiment with different ingredients:)
**As it is a chilled non-bake recipe, it is quite tricky getting the tiramisu out of the tin. One good way will be to scoop it out using a spatula:)

Preparation for Father's Day Present:)

Green Tea Azuki Bean Tiramisu

Made green tea azuki bean tiramisu as Father's Day present:) I totally didn't follow any recipe and all the ingredients and proportions were self-improvised. Hopefully it turns out fine and that he'll like it:) Can't wait for the tasting session tomorrow! ^^

#eatclean

After listening to my friend raving about all the benefits of a clean diet, I decided to embark on this special challenge- green smoothie for breakfast. Shall see how long I can sustain on this green smoothie brekkie:)

 Personal favorite for now: Celery + Carrots + Mango.
Some people may eew at the thought of a green smoothie and the addition of veggies may scare away many. But trust me, this is not that green afterall. Especially since mangoes help to enhance the sweetness of the drink, making u happy in the morning ^^

Bringing raw vegan diet to a whole new level, she made a RAW VEGAN fruit pie for my family:D The crust is raw, made from walnuts, dates and dessicated coconut. Instead of the usual fattening custard filling, she used mango puree which added sweetness to the pie. And finally, an array of colourful fruits for aesthetic purposes:) The pie was quite chewy and crunchy because of the coconut. The pie was generally a great attempt which received good review from my picky dad:P

Who says healthy diet and desserts have to be mutually exclusive?

Impromptu Meetup cum Shopping Date: Saveur

Meetup with my bestie from hall once again for a shopping trip at Bugis and catch up session:) But this time, we jio-ed Miauw for dinner after he mentioned twice that we "cafe bojio" :P The two of them really make a good company as we just sat there chatting non-stop, discussing korean guys and korean dramas. Really thankful for the awesome evening. Food may not be superb, but the awesome company made up for it:) Moving on to the food!

Dinner was at Saveur. After seeing many people posting photos of Saveur and not jioing us to Saveur, we decided to pay this shop a visit. It does look posh and classy with its white and simple interior. The menu was also elegant, with no pictures. So here's a tip: go to instagram and check the photos that people posted:D We ordered the signature Saveur Pasta, Chicken Roulette, Seabass and Duck Confit.

The pasta was not as superb as what we expected, abit disappointing. "It tasted like wanton noodles" (Miauw, 2014). The sakura ebi added on the top was an interesting idea, but the taste wasnt superb. So was the seabass, for I am not a fan of seabass because of the fishy taste. So no comments for that. The chicken roulette looks like some chicken sausage sitting on a bed of butter rice. Despite the rice being overly hard and too much butter, the chicken was awesome as it was soft with a crisp outer skin. However the best dish of the night goes to the duck confit. Although it looked dry on the outside, it was soft and juicy on the inside:) No wonder everyone posts the photo of the duck confit on instagram!

What is a meal without dessert? After much discussion and debating on desserts, we landed up in Ah Chew's desserts:P The black glutinuous rice with vanilla ice cream was on our checklist once again. All-time favorite, possibly due to the ice cream:P Novi, feeling adventurous after her HK dessert spree, daringly ordered the steamed milk pudding with chocolate cookies. It was surprisingly good, with a strong egg taste topped with chocolate crunch. I think Ah Chew generally wont fail to disappoint in terms of food taste and quality:)

Having met up with my awesome friends who are always so spontaneous in saying yes when I jio them out for 4days straight, I miss my homecooked dinner;( As such, tomorrow shall be a guai guai stay at home day:) Time to spend time at home and enjoy my mummy's cooking! 

Counting down: 4days to internship

Happy 21st to my high frequency gal Jops:) : The Little Diner

Just 2 months ago we were at PoTeaTo celebrating my 21st and in a flash, it's Jops 21st:) Scary how fast time travels, nonetheless I had a great night catching up with my beloved friend:) We chose this cozy little place called The Little Diner. It is located along Bukit Timah Dunearn Road. Funny how we didnt know of this place back in NJ days.

The place has a very old feel, with little furnishing except for blackboards at the sides showing the menu for the day. However the tables were nicely decorated. If you make a reservation beforehand, they will specially hand-write your reservation card on the table. That's so sweet of them. The service staff were also very approachable and friendly and makes you feel really at home. One of the best service I have ever received I must say.

Special request to write the note on the reservation card

We ordered the Truffle Fries, Old-Fashioned Mac and Cheese (+bacon bits), Risotto balls and Apple Crumble. When the truffle fries came, the smell of truffle oil was overwhelming. It was handcut and every single piece of fries was heavily coated with the taste of truffle oil. Good recommendation BUT it's for sharing:D The Mac and Cheese, seemingly suitable for portion of 1, will get too cheesy after a while, so make sure to share it! But it was really a good choice because I love the top crispy cheese layer:P The risotto balls were deep fried on the outside, but inside there is a layer of mozerella, centre filled with risotto. Interesting combination of ingredients, but not exactly superb. The apple crumble put a nice end to the meal, with its base lined with apple wedges that perfectly complemented the vanilla ice cream. I like the crumbs (as always):P

For the service and nice ambience of the place, it was really a great location for catching up session with friends:)
_______________________________________________________________________________

Really grateful how this birthday girl always makes an attempt to catch up with me despite her busy schedule. She had a long hard day at work, and having to travel all the way to Bukit Timah is super tiring especially after work. Yet she set aside time for me to update me on her life. It's really friends like these whom you know you want to keep for the rest of your life. As I always say, people who want to be part of your life will always make an effort to do so. Even a simple text message is a sign of putting in that extra effort of maintaining a friendship. Is it really that hard to maintain a friendship in spite of heaps of school work, work and CCAs? Time management and geographical boundaries are issues, but should never be barriers hindering a friendship. Thank you friends for constantly making the effort to keep in touch with me even though I may be slow in replies or unable to meetup:)

Happy Birthday once again Jops. I'm really glad to have met you in NJ <3

Vegan Day: Yixin Vegetarian, The Living Cafe

After hearing much ravings about healthy living and vegan diets, I decided to embark on a vegan diet today and here's my journey...

Started off the morning with a fruity smoothie specially prepared by my "dasao". It was really fast and hassle-free. Just pop mangoes, bananas, a squeeze of lime, ice cubes and a handful of Kale veggies into the blender and it's ready to go. The veggies only added the green coloring to the smoothie, with no taste of it luckily:P So I still find it manageable:D Tip to smoothie lovers who aspire to make their own smoothie: a wide variety of fruits can be thrown into the blender, including apples, dragonfruits, oranges, papaya. But rmb to add in a fruit that is thicker to give a thicker milkshake-like consistency, such as mangoes, bananas and avocadoes:)

PS: she also added in organic raw chocolate nibs for added crunch and chocolate taste:) 

Lunch was at Yixin Vegetarian Restaurant at Chinatown. I was quite doubtful of the taste of vegetarian food initially. But this place changed my mind. They had bak kut teh, assam laksa and hor fun BUT ALL VEGETARIAN. Yes, it was all vegetarian mock meat. Although the texture was quite obvious and there is only a hint of "meat" taste, I have to admit it is really a good attempt. The bak kut teh had a strong herbal taste which was well-liked by my brother. But to me, the best dish was the hor fun, maybe because of the fried beancurd sticks:P They have a wide variety of vegetarian dishes, including vegetarian dumplings and vegetarian "meat" bun. Really impressed by the kaleidoscope of choices provided. 

Following which, dessert was at The Living Cafe. Promoting a relatively new concept of raw vegan living, it is one of the rare few restaurants in Singapore selling raw food. Yes, everything is raw and vegan. This means that the food is not cooked and made fully from vegetarian products. Pasta, burgers, desserts are all raw. That's right! I was quite amazed at this and so decided to give this special diet a go.

2nd Floor selling organic raw products

We tried the lemon pie, chocolate cake and blueberry cheesecake (left to right). The lemon pie was a tad too sour for our liking. The chocolate cake was quite deceiving. One could not differentiate this from a normal baked chocolate cake. It can easily pass off as a chocolate fudge cake because of its fudgy and moist texture. It was topped with dessicated coconut for additional crunch. The best, in our opinion, was the blueberry cheesecake. The base is similar to our digestive biscuits base, just that it is abit more chewy. There is a strong blueberry taste in the top layer and the best thing, no artificial colouring is added:) The cheesecake layer is also light in taste, so making it guiltfree. The best dessert to end a meal because it is not too sinful and yet you feel happy^^

How do they make pastas, burgers, and even cakes without cooking?! How is it possible to make the pie crust without baking?! Mystery solved: they used dates, coconut oil and walnuts and process them in a food processor. Walnuts provide the crunch needed for crust (sometimes dessicated coconut is added too) while dates provide the thick consistency needed to bind the ingredients together.

The Living Cafe has a really interesting fun concept of providing food for those on raw vegan diet. This diet, although considerably new and not widely embraced in Singapore, is really a great concept worth expanding. It is difficult to stick to such a diet for long period of time, but a raw food diet once a week may be worth trying:) This is a new area of interest for me, not that I will embark on this diet, but hopefully I can learn more about it:)

Who says dessert and healthy living does not go together?

Department of Caffeine

Finally got to try DOC with my beloved cafe hoppers, Novi and Cynthia:)

Maybe because we're noobs in directions, so we had a hard time trying to figure out the directions to the place. The layout of the place was quite unexpected. It had little decorations and the seats were quite cramped together. Because of the close proximity between seats, it wasn't a particularly nice ambience as it can get quite noisy at times. Perfect place for chilling with friends, but not so for some alone time.

We ordered the Shepherd's Pie ($15.50), Chicken Fillet Burger ($15), Smoked Salmon Scrambled Toast ($16) and Waffles with Rum Banana ($14) for dessert. The Shepherd's Pie is not the ordinary kind of pie you would expect. It comes in a glass bowl, with unbaked mashed potato sitting atop a thick layer of what tasted like rendang. However looks are deceiving as it was really hearty. I did not hear much comments about the burger, but it looked and tasted normal though. The scrambled toast was awesome as the scrambled eggs were slightly runny and moist and the smoked salmon added a touch of salt to the dish. However the choice of bread was not to my liking as I found it a tad too tough and too thin.

 The highlight of the day: Buttermilk Waffles with Rum Banana. It was really one of the best waffles I've ever eaten. The waffles were thick and fluffy, and had a tint of cinnamon flavor in every bite. The ice cream drenched with maple syrup complemented the waffles perfectly as its sweetness was not too overwhelming, with a touch of maple. Crunchy bits were added to provide a new dimension to the taste. However I found nothing special about the bananas. No rum tasted. Overall it was a sweet happy ending to the meal:)

Mandatory shot with the signboard. One more cafe checked off the list:) Looking forward to exploring more cafes:) Really amazed at how we manage to bond together and talk about anything and everything. I'm really grateful to have these 2 sweet girls in my life, listening to all my rantings and incessant complaints. And of course being trustworthy friends whom I know I can rely on to share my deepest thoughts, troubles and secrets with. Cheers to more cafe hopping adventures ^^