Mr & Mrs Epicurean

I’ve been away for a very long while, but this time it’s for good reason. The Jman and I have been in Singapore for the last four weeks to become Mr & Mrs! We promised each other our love and our lives on the Fourth of July (hey, at least we can boast that the US of A celebrate our wedding anniversary every year with fireworks!), and it was an incredibly beautiful and memorable day for us.

So yes, we’ll be out of action for a while, but stay tuned as we now whip up Dinner for Two – something I anticipate to be more exciting in the years to come.

Nutella in Winter

I woke up to a cold, cold morning. Rainy, dreary (but thank God for the rain!) and the chill found me gravitate towards nowhere other than my bed.

Deliberating between cheese and tomato on toast and Nutella, I opted for Nutella. Very wise choice. The thick, oozy, creaaamy chocolate is the perfect antidote when you can’t be in bed on a cold, cold morning.

I’m feeling all warmed up and toasty (excuse the pun!). It’s just absolutely divine! Oh how I wish I could be the lady in the tub:

What’s For Lunch?

Just some leftovers from last night’s dinner, but with leftovers like these, it sure looks like I’m having a party at my desk!

Clockwise from top-left: Ricotta cakes; roasted beetroots and carrots; homemade mushroom soup; beef braised in a rich passata sauce

That Massive Tomato-Cheese Sanga

I love my tomato & cheese toasts. In fact, I am currently obsessed with them. I have them every morning for breakfast, toasted, fresh from whichever sandwich shop I decide to pay a visit to in the morning. Most of the time I wind up at Urban Deli, where they have a $5 toast+coffee deal – these are the mornings when I have my coffee.

Other days, I’m at the humble sandwich shop from the food court downstairs where I get a tea and sandwich for a mere $3.50! And what a MASSIVE sandwich it is! It’s lasted me through breakfast and lunch, and now I’m doubtful I can even eat dinner.

I Thought Mellie Might Like To Know That…

I went to Espressino for my coffee this morning and lunch this afternoon and was suitably impressed with their spinach panini (with pecorino and free-range sunny side up). I thought the milk for the coffee was done really well, but the coffee tasted a little weak for a cappuccino. I might ask for a strong one next time.

Enak Eco

Thank God for pre-made sauces that are artificial-preservative free, chemical-free, and are almost as good as their homemade counterparts. I was introduced to the Enak Eco satay sauce by the Jman’s mom, who in her own right is a cooking goddess, and I have learnt that whatever the cooking goddess says, goes. So no sweating over complicated spice mixes and proportions for this Saturday’s party!

Enak Eco does peanut sauces for gado-gado (a Malay vegetable salad with peanut sauce), pecel, and satay. For the satay this Saturday, I’ve decided against making the sauce from scratch and go with the pre-made one instead. I bought the pecel and satay sauces from the Great Eastern Asian grocers on Russell Street to figure out which one I liked better, since they are all peanut-based sauces.

The verdict: I actually prefer the pecel sauce over the satay one because of the addition of kaffir lime leaves (also known as limau leaves). The tang of the kaffir lime leaves is a fabulous twist and gives an otherwise stodgy sauce an instant lift! There are also more crunchy peanut bits in it, whereas the satay sauce is more pasty. It’s like crunchy peanut butter versus smooth; the satay sauce tastes more like sweet peanut butter to me. And personally, I am tempted to pick up a packet of the gado-gado sauce today just for the heck of it, and decide which one goes best with my stay.

For my party this Saturday, I have decided to mix the two (pecel and satay), then add more sambal and freshly roasted, crushed peanuts to up the OOMPH factor. I think it will be perfect – slightly sweet, crunchy, and tangy all at the same time. SCORE!

Next up: preparing the sambal and seasoning the satay…

Undercover Geek

Planning a menu for a party of 10 is not an easy task, but with a little bit of planning and some geekness, it probably isn’t so daunting after all. More planning = less stress.

An Epicureal Epiphany

I don’t know what’s taken me so long to do this – starting a food blog, that is. Hailing from the melting pot of cuisines from all over the world, Singapore, I was also born into a family who loves their food, is happily attached to one of the coolest baristas/chefs around, and have derived more joy from making breakfasts than attending breakfast meetings.

Nothing is more gratifying than putting together a meal that uses the freshest ingredients available. Being a bit of the health freak that I am, I am against heavily-processed foods as they are either high in saturated fat or have little nutritional value; I am also partial towards organic and GMO-free food, but you’ve got to live life a little and organic’s not always an option (or it’s too expensive an option), so I end up using whatever’s available in the markets and make most of my foods from scratch. But most of all, I like food that is real – fresh and unpretentious. None of that fake stuff, please.

And so I begin my journey of documenting my gastronomical experiences at home, around Melbourne and Singapore, and hopefully everywhere else in the world.

Bon appétit!