Posted by
gie_chloe
|
Comments:
Posted in
hunger management
,
photoholic
,
workaholic
Inside a lift at Hard Rock Hotel
It wasn't long ago when I visited Resorts World Sentosa. The colleagues and I were invited to a food tasting luncheon at restaurant Chinois by Susur Lee. SUDUP!
A few restaurants at RWS are already in operations and I highly recommend Chinois by its excellent high quality Chinese cuisine. I'm still drooling over its kampung chicken brewed soup. Simple traditional Chinese dishes made exquisite. An absolute delight.
Two nights ago, we were invited to the launch opening party of Rang Mahal Pavillion, a spin-off of well-established Rang Mahal. Well done with the finger food, but unfortunately the golden bubblies ran out a little too soon. :(
More pictures to come.
Posted by
gie_chloe
|
Comments:
Posted in
c'est ma vie
,
hunger management
,
photoholic
Fresh strawberries, creme, crunchy cereal, cinnamon and almond - all my favourites combined into one mighty awesome dessert!
I lost count the number of servings I had over the weekend. My arteries are probably cursing me mad. Dearie aJ bought a pot of creme anglaise to Cindy's potluck Christmas dinner and since I couldn't stop replenishing my cup with more strawberries and creme... it's highly addictive. To honour her hard work, I volunteered to take home nearly the entire pot of creme. To add some crunch to the bite, I improvised with almond cereal and layered it below the fresh fruit and creme in a champagne flute. Mighty pleased~!
Judging at the results of our culinary skills put to test during this festive season, I say dear Archie now doesn't have to worried about catering food at his store's launch reception. ;)
Basic recipe for Fresh Strawberries with Almond Creme Anglaise here.
Posted by
gie_chloe
|
Comments:
Posted in
c'est ma vie
,
hunger management
,
photoholic
Birthday celebration was part of the Christmas party and being a December baby *ahem* for obvious reasons, I was excited at the thought of... the cake! Dear Lesley my partner-in-crime at work was in charge of the party's planning and she asked me where we should get the birthday cake from.
"The Patissier!!" I squealed. The confectionery is one of my few favourites. It's true. I don't fall in love with cakes as quickly / easily as I do with dark chocolate.
Anyways, a turn of events had us scrambling for alternatives as things didn't work out with The Patissier. We suddenly thought of our good friend Chef Roberto whose Garibaldi group of restaurant recently opened a confectionery shop, DeSte. We were told that Chef Stefano Deiuri was really busy but he gamely agreed to do us a... 10kg(?) cake.
100 points!!!
The November/December birthday celebrants.
I'm still trying to find out but I'm guessing that the cake served was the Piedmont Pave - Chocolate sponge and cream cake with praline and Piedmont hazelnut cream. *Slurp~!*
I am just trying to say... it's damn farking good. It's high time we take notice of better quality cakes, up the standard of our expectations for cakes. Move away from neighbourhood cake shops once a while and venture into the likes of The Patissier and DeSte. It's worth every penny you pay for. ;)
Posted by
gie_chloe
|
Comments:
Posted in
high-jink
,
hunger management
,
photoholic
Hanging out with my beloved writers from the Publishing team. We share everything, including gossip, chocolates, instant noodles and laughs.
Poolside at Park Hotel Clarke Quay.
Lesley getting busy with Cherrie with the decoration. 
Homemade dark chocolate orange custard ;)
Archie, the master of stirring. Together, we make deliciously wonderful chocolate custard.
Posted by
gie_chloe
|
Comments:
Posted in
hunger management
Probably a prelude to trip to Madrid Fusion next January, Chef Janice designed a celabratory menu featuring the signature sweets of Spain.
The platter menu features a dark chocolate block infused with smoked red pepper (aka chocolate chilli), churros sized like mini ping pong balls and crema catalana*. Needless to say, I was fighting off Archie's dessert spoon to grab most part of the dessert. ;) Oh Executive Chef Adam Ashe from Marriott Hotel was seated next to us at the counter bar. And he too, was clearly enjoying himself with the 10-course degustation menu. Who wouldn't??
Archie's menswear label is going right on track and soon, he wants to be able to do a launch party. Wouldn't Chef Janice's dessert be just absolutely wonderful for the occasion?
Posted by
gie_chloe
|
Comments:
Posted in
c'est ma vie
,
hunger management
,
photoholic
Vic's last day...
Still, we wish her all the best in her future endeavors!
Apple Tart Tab Tan @ Barossa, Esplanade
The crowd watches with awe as the Bombe Alaska was 'set on fire'.
Bombe Alaska dorsed with chocolate sauce...
The week didn't pass without us thinking that how nice it would be if Victoria didn't have to leave. Albeit a short stint in the company, Vic's been such a wonderful desk buddy. At first you don't know each other, but one look at each other's shoes, you suddenly have tonnes to talk about. We would swirl our chairs 90degrees and start bitching to each other about ahem. Fun times when we share quirky fashion tips and drool over each other's stockings. Halloween, she would ask me for costume advice*. Together with Cheryl, we'd make a band of stockings-lovers. Other days we would simply crackle up during tea break while savouring her gluten-free chocolate cookies. The girl's been fun to work with and I'm gonna miss her.
*I'm may not be big on Halloween, but I can still offer sound fashion advice. ;)
Will see Vic again on my birthday,
Gie
Posted by
gie_chloe
|
Comments:
Posted in
hunger management
According to a colleague, Amedei from Tuscany, Italy is probably the world's best chocolate ever. Hence, I didn't hesitate to pick a box of it up when I spotted a whole range of Amedei's products at Jones the Grocer. I have to give it a try!
According to Wikipedia:
Amedei is a chocolate manufacturing company located in Pontedera in Tuscany region of Italy. Their products range from chocolate bars to truffles and pralines. Their award winning chocolate bars use single origin and single varietal cocoa beans. One of its products, Amedei Porcelana is known as the world’s most expensive chocolate". They obtain the cacao from a Venezuelan region called Chuao; this cacao has been called the best of the world.
So, I ask my colleague, "Any rituals I have to observe before tasting 'the world's best chocolate'?"
Because I don't just wanna eat a cocoa bar; I want to savour it the right way. Like tasting wine, savouring good chocolate requires all five senses. The colour of the chocolate, the snap of the bar, the aroma of cocoa beans, the richness of the melted chocolate on your tongue...
Okay, actually I already know what to do. =) Excusez moi, while I go brush and floss my teeth. The palate must be cleansed before I could taste nirvana.
Posted by
gie_chloe
|
Comments:
Posted in
grousings
,
hunger management
,
workaholic
The week has gone by in a jiffy. Needless to say, it was seven days full of madness, agony, torment and (think of the worst word you know).
With reference to my previous entry dated 02 Oct 2009 (damn, me still in work mode), I learnt that that on my office level alone, there are at five Indian head chiefs whom I have to simultaneously report to. Everyone of them has to review and approve (not before inputting their comments) almost every email I send and proposal I write. The only damn sure thing I don't have to knock on their doors to seek approval is to go pee.
Well, writing to chefs - Michelin-starred ones no less - is a tricky business. Some have a heart of gold and berth of [patience as wide as their bellies while others are... well, prima donnas. My boss apparently knows the best. And hence, he becomes my highest authority for approval of sorts. As always in a typical company with more than 30 head counts, one or two would stick out like sore thumbs to resist that 'authority'.
And long story cut short, a Higher One's decision to bypass the Highest One, I got the shitz. The shitz literally rained on me. And then I spent one afternoon breaking down in a manager's room. The irony is, the manager who comforted me and gave me some sound advice isn't from my department. But we connected well in the few after-office hours dinner we had. Her level-headedness advice and gentle egging to get me back on my feet were just what I needed. To stay sane, people-management is imperative. You can say it's playing politics. Unfortunately, I learnt the hard way and there are no two ways about it - in this little mental black book in my head, I've noted the quirks and what-nots of everybody in office.
It's a jungle out there. And my advice is serious.
In the interim, I'm still having fun salivating and unbrashly discussing about cuisine from 9am to 7pm.
Posted by
gie_chloe
|
Comments:
Posted in
hunger management
If Pierre Hermé is the Picasso of pastry, then Oriol Balaguer is the Dalà of desserts. When I was looking through Gourmet Abu Dhabi's archives, the pictures of Chef Balaguer's chocolate creations already got me salivating.
Two days ago, the office had the great pleasure of savouring Chef Balaguer's chocolate confectionery. Freshly imported from Spain, solely on sale at Jones the Grocer - Chef Balaguer presented 'The Best 6'.
Mascleta - a delightful concoction of hazelnut praline, maldon salt and pop rocks. - is the prized flavour everyone was looking for. Remember the citrus flavoured (sometimes Coke Cola) 'popping' candies we used to eat as kids? Once in contact with liquid substances (i.e. the saliva) the candies would 'explode' in your mouth. Hence the 'popping' or 'exploding' sensation. Yeah, that's the prized praline everyone was coveting for. One colleague got lucky and perhaps this is the most expensive and delicious praline she'd ever had. She took a long while to savour her praline; it's approximately $5 per piece.
Like every other chocolatier, Chef Balaguer doesn't miss the opportunity to showcase his mastery of chemistry of chocolate and various ingredients, in this case, such as olive oil, yuzu, passion fruit, salted corn and saffron. In my very humble opinion, all of them were fantastic.
I've tasted enough pralines to declare I would prefer truffles instead, for the rest of my life. This was before my tongue touched the smooth, wildly fragrant praline of Chef Oriol Balaguer. Just the well-rounded crackling snap of the praline shell got me excited. The ultra-smooth praline centre was a breeze to swallow. Many too often, off-the-shelves pralines' fillings are either too sweet or overly sticky. I exclaimed, "C'est suffice!" But I guess I would have to take back my words, seeing that decent quality pralines are now available for non-royals like myself.
It is a tad costly for a box of 6-piece pralines (about $30). Then again, if consumers are already willing to pay this much for a tiny-puny bit of truffles from Godiva, I could tell you your money's definitely worthed with Chef Balaguer's pralines.
Posted by
gie_chloe
|
Comments:
Posted in
grousings
,
hunger management
I have to apologise to those who have visited The French Stall after reading my previous post. It was mentioned that the food was pretty tasty. Well, I thought the food was okay for that price. The price I saw on the menu.
However just last week, I found out that Archie paid over a hundred bucks for that meal. My bad. It was his treat and thus I didn't find out the total cost of the meal. In retrospect, a hundred dollars for a meal at a coffeeshop-style restaurant, sans air-conditioning and table-side service is a very ridiculous price to pay. We could have gotten much better service at Senso (Italian cuisine) with that same amount of money paid.
Archie couldn't remember what 'plus plus' he had to pay that night. Whatever it is, I was appalled at the exorbitant price we had to pay for the mediocrities .
Not going there anymore,
Gie
Posted by
gie_chloe
|
Comments:
Posted in
hunger management
,
photoholic
Best Friend agrees with my recommendation
Chocolate H2O72% Valrhona cocoa, Evian Mineral water, Caramel wafer, Yuzu sorbet & Pink Ginger Syrup
Strawberry and Sweet Milk
Yums~
Finally, pictures of desserts from 2am : dessert bar!! I didn't have a hard time convincing or justifying to The Best Friend on my intense raving of Chef Janice's brilliant epicurean talent. After servings of dessert and a cup of nice warm peppermint tea later, Chef Janice graciously treated us to Yuzu chocolate ganache - citrius-infused cubes of heaven. ;-)
this is my new mecca,
Gie
Posted by
gie_chloe
|
Comments:
Posted in
c'est ma vie
,
hunger management
,
photoholic
It's my last day on the current job. Will be missing certain people and things, but I'm also looking forward to hopping onto another lotus leaf in my life. ;) I have about a week of break before I start my new job. I've jotted down a few appointments and stuff to do in my free time. Come Tuesday, Archie's taking me to a picnic - something I've been wanting to do since last year but never got to materialise due to my frequent flying schedule.
I'd be meeting up with some friends, catching up on life, remodelling my room (more like 'defragmenting' it to make space), getting my exercise mojo back and also, researching and writing a few articles on my other passion. :)
(@ Magma) Karen taking visual evidence of her food, in case of stomachache later.
Archie's Olympus OM-1
Vintage hair pins with emerald stones (H&M)
Time over a good cuppa cafe latte
Coffee-tasting at Papa Palheta
