Showing posts with label FOODGASMIC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FOODGASMIC. Show all posts

Saturday, May 05, 2012

SCHOOL'S OUT!

Wednesday was the last and final day of school! But I spent the night before rushing for the impossible task of completing a production book + model that should have been spanned across 6 weeks in a single night! 

Had plenty of help from K, headed to Hobby Lobby after law class to shop for the materials! Hobby Lobby is an arts&crafts person's wet dream. It is HUGE, and stocked up high with anything to do with crafts. Aisles of different types of papers, woods, paints, stickers, omg stickers! 3 whole aisle dedicated to stickers of all sorts! 

Managed to grab most of what I needed from Hobby Lobby after 5 hours there, from fabrics to wood stains. And my bill amounted to a grand total of $25! Awesome! Got so much things at that amount, totally worth it! nothing like the sad crafts-of-a-store we have back home. :( 

Big mistake to head to Hobby Lobby before lunch, headed to Red Lobster on Hulen for a well-deserved feast. Interesting fact about this particular outlet, its kitchen is haunted by a ghost. It all began on Sunday night when we were watching The Others at S', and got to searching for haunted areas in DFW! Plenty of hauntings at the Stockyards which plan to check out after finals. Shivers~

Both of us were starving by the time we got seated, and attacked the bread bowl almost immediately that our poor waiter had to come back with a second serving!The biscuits were the yummiest I have ever had. Topped with cheese and garlic and smothered in butter, these biscuits were 'heart attacks' according to K, but so so yummy. When offered to our empty stomachs, it should come as no surprise as to how we polished off them biscuits. 

Our appetizer arrived first, awesome recommendation by our waiter, Lobster-Artichoke-and-Seafood Dip ($8.99) Surprised that it was a baked dip when it first arrived, but the bubbling goodness didn't sit there for long.It was a three-cheese blend with Maine and langostino lobster, peppered with chunks of artichoke. It was my very first time having lobster, and its a good thing it was all chunks in a dip, hurrah! Lobster tasted stringy (Is that how its supposed to taste like?), I loved the dip so much that the lobster was like icing on top! Definitely one appetizer I would order again.

Lobster and Artichoke Seafood Dip ($8.99)
Baked Dip!
Our mains arrived shortly after. I ordered a Customized Shrimp Feast ($17.99) which was part of the Festival of Shrimps menu. Shrimps must have been in season now, because mine were really fresh, albeit being a tad small. I was given three choices of cooking style for my shrimps. My first was the usual Cajun Shrimp, which was nothing special, just the craving of Cajun-style shrimps. The second was Wood-Grilled Shrimp with BBQ Glaze. Apart from the BBQ sauce, there was nothing wood grilled about it, and in fact, the heat must have shrunk the shrimp further. Wasn't too impressed with this one either, but the BBQ sauce was yummy. 

Customized Shrimp Feast ($17.99)

Shrimp Campi

The third left me the most impressed. Shrimp Scampi was a broiled dish, with a butter&garlic base. Shrimps were a tad tiny, but the broth was sinfully buttery and smooth, and served as a good dip for the biscuits as well.

K had ordered Snow Crabs! It was the funniest thing, because of my phobia for seafood in their original form, she couldn't comprehend how I couldn't take a bite out of her crab leg. She cracked open the shell, leaving a juicy chunk of meat exposed, and held it out for me to take a bite, and there I was, refusing it and it left both of us in bouts of laughter. She eventually skewered off a chunk of meat onto my plate and I tried it for the first time. Can't say I really like it that much, but I could taste the saltiness of the meat, even when it had no seasoning. According to K, its because they were deep-sea crabs, so the saltiness retains in their meat, even after it is cooked.

We were food-coma-ed after our satisfying meal, headed over to grab coffee from Starbucks, and I was introduced to DSW, which is shoe haven. The whole store was filled with so many shoes, I was truly spoilt for choices! Wandered around for abit, but the food was taking its toll on us, coffee hardly helped our sleepy states. 

Eventually, we left for Sprouts, which is somewhat like a fresh produce supermarket. The produces were fresher than Krogers, and cheaper as well. Its fun just to wander around, I really wish I had a kitchen here. :( K picked up some veggies, and we both picked up Almond Butter, which is an alternate form of peanut butter. Have yet to tried it but I sneaked a few slices of bread from MS, so will be having that for breakfast or late night snacks pretty soon!


I only arrived back at 9pm that night, and began to work on my model at once. It took longer than I had expected, and I was surprised I lasted the night without any coffee. The model had to be built to scale, and so each wall had to be cut to the correct dimensions, even the furnitures had to be printed to the correct dimensions. I never did so much math in a single night! It was tedious and long. :(

Worked through the night, and eventually headed for FrogPrints to print out my production notes, which had to be in color. So bloody expensive, 9 pages costs me $9!! Argh. the production notes itself costs more than all my materials because I had to get a huge ring file, and high quality clear protection sheets for each page. 

At 9am, I dragged myself to my very last biz media class. I tried my best to stay away, even had 2 cups of coffee before, but my eyes simply refused to stay open. Good thing I chose to wear my cap to class, cos I dozed off for most of the class, but my hands were still typing gibberish on my notes and my eyes were closed throughout. Headed back after that painful 50 minutes, to finish up on my model. Finally, at 1pm, it was done. 



Penthouse-inspired sun room.

Molly's workspace.

Really love the color for the walls.

Sofa set.

Stairs to level 2


Model to scale's a bitch to do!


Thanks to dad who got me to watch this show.

Production notes. Every piece of furniture had to be represented with the right material.


To celebrate our last day of school, met up with S for lunch at Cafe Brazil again. We've been going there so often its becoming habit. But food's good and environment's perfectly chill. 
We were craving their chili bowl, but was disappointed when it was a far cry from what we had the first time! What we were served was a watery mush of beans, grounded meat and peppers. It was BLEAH! Not worth what we paid at all. The chili we had the last time was a thick stew of beefy goodness. 

Tried their El Gordo Crepes, consisting of Chorizo, onions, peppers and cheese, with their signature spicy cream sauce. Its really the sauce that makes the whole crepe so awesome. Biscuit was normal, and potatoes were overly dry! Would still recommend their Hashbrown Casserole as a side.


El Gordo Crepes ($7.99), Cafe Brazil

Morning Treat! $1 at Krogers

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

HURRICANES- RIBS THAT WILL BLOW YOU AWAY!

Pardon the cheesy header, but i can't think of any reasons why they would name it hurricanes otherwise. This is LEGEN -wait for it- DARY BEYOND LEGENDARY!!
never in my life have I had more delicious ribs, but coming from me, the only other ribs I've had is tony romas, so maybe it doesn't take much to impress me. Butbutbut, from kate&krissy who have had tons of ribs before, if they say its good, trust them, its good!


Headed down to the Bondi Beach outlet! There is another one along Darling Harbor but this one is supposedly better? I couldn't really tell the difference, cept' the one in Darling Harbor had a rack which wasn't as good as the rest, so that one was just the slight bit of letdown!
Bondi beach was superrrr windy at night!! when we got outta the car, literally felt myself being lifted slightly off the ground- okay fine, not really off the ground, but nearly, just that little bit more!
Rushed indoors to duck the strong winds, and we were greeted by CROWDS OF PEOPLE, crowds, easily 20+ people in the waiting area with a full house. As expected, we waited nearly 45mins to an hour for our table.

The display of alcohols! I love it how the bottles shine and glimmer under the bright lights! Expensive upkeep to have this sorta displays in the house, sadly.

AWAITING THE RIBS!! the wait wasn't too long, and once you're seated, you feel satisfied with simply taking in wafts of grilled ribs with that special bbq sauce, it was so delightful, and wherever you turn your head, the other table seems to be digging it to what promises to be the most yummy ribs! you can tell easily, from the way they sink their teeth hungrily into the ribs, to mopping up the sauce on the plate with shreds of meat, oh gawd how i yearn for some hurricane's right now!! :(

ginormous knives used for cutting the ribs, nearly as big as our faces!

Starters: garlic bread!

Calamari in salt and pepper! I've grown to love the salt&pepper combination in food over there, combine two of the simplest seasonings you can find and make something taste sooo goood!


diggin' the bibs! :D for a messy eater like me! this saved me from splatters of bbq sauce!

wooooo. a moment to remember! my very first hurricanes rib!
we sure are HAPPY PEOPLE in hurricanes!

tata! we'll be back again soon! promise!
it was a reaaally enjoyable night at hurricanes! i had so much fun! not to mention a very satisfied stomach when i left the place!
hurricanes forever!

One Night at Vivid Sydney!

Finally i am blogging about my fab 10-days long trip to Sydney!
I haven't gotten the time to sort through the photos, but since I am down with a very bad case of swollen eye, I might as well use this time to blog!

Sydney is a beautiful city, and the weather was perfect when I landed! Clear blue skies with the occasional cloud, and SUNSHINE!
Kate and krissy met me right on time, even though I landed and cleared customs earlier than expected. It was a smooth drive back to their place in the city.
It is an AMAZING apartment they have there! all that space, not to mention the convenience. It is surrounded by everything you can ever need, and nothing's more than a 15-min drive away!

Headed down to Vivid Sydney on a saturday night! vivid sydney is the single-most fantastic display of lights I've ever seen. I've caught the one in Singapore once, but it was nothing compared to the one in Sydney! it was beautiful!
The weather was kinda drizzly, but that was easily solved by a short stop @ Max Brenner!

only one place they churn their chocolates and transport them through pipes along the ceiling to the counters! Just like a mini willy wonka's chocolate factory, minus the chocolate waterfall.


Hot chocolate by the pot!
I had a dark chocolate drink to-go, and it truly warms you right up! Not to mention the additional delight you get from munching the mini marshmallows bobbing happily in my hot choc! YUMYUM!

There were many events during vivid sydney, one of which was the fire show!
Basically just fire dancing to tunes, there was a classical tune, and Katy Perry's fireworks! Awesome to watch! and the blast of fire just warms you right up, also provided really good lighting for my camera! :D

All lit up by the 'dancing' fires!

Some nice dude that offered to help us take a photograph, and we were so worried he'll just take off with the camera! he was nice though! he didn't run off as we had thought!
& kate's spinach&ricotta ravioli in the picture too!

Before Vivid sydney, we headed down to rows of stores that were selling food, or rather, street food. But street food is nothing like it is in Singapore or Taiwan (which is the only thing that comes to my mind when I say street food), its really REALLY yummy food!
i.e. Kate's ravioli for example, that was SOOOO GOOD!

Some random meatballs thing which is just the biggest pot of stewing meatballs I have ever seen in my life.

Can't remember the name of this one, but they had it in beef/potato, piping hot!
Something like a cross between a spring roll and a non-spicy curry puff, if you can imagine. This was really yummyyyyyyy!
I also had KEBAB! my first kebab since I stepped foot in Sydney.
If there is one thing i missed so much about aussie, its the KEBABS! :((((((( Its never as good anywhere else, never as nicely toasted, never bursting with sauces, sliced meats and veggies, just never as good!! I think I had kebabs for my meals any chance that I had during my 10 days there, and for my lunch as well just before I flew back to Singapore!

Funny cloud umbrella man & woman, everyone was rushing to take photos with them! Part of vivid sydney & I want one of those umbrellas! I bet i'll feel happy carrying them around in the rain, cept' i might run the risk of getting an electric shock cos they have mini lightbulbs fitted on the inside, so maybe not.




cool car display made out of lights and blue wire! So pretty in the dark, and sooo outstanding!

Sydney @ night!

And one last stop @ St. Mary's! Looks prettier in the day though, but this picture looks as though it is snowing! <3
Wet and rainy weather for the night, but it was sooo worth the walk down to catch Vivid Sydney!
If there ever was anyone going to Sydney for holidays, this is the one thing you do not wanna miss!!

Monday, January 24, 2011

NANDOS really really good chicken!

Yes, i was made to sing that jingle ON AIR last year around June,
when the Muttons were hosting their Muttons to Midnight programme, I was jogging in the gym, listening to them, and just decided to test my luck to win this Nandos Hamper.
Moreover, I've never eaten @ Nandos. I always felt it was overrated, but thanks to 987FM,
i got a chance to discover Nandos & fall in love with it!
Bless you, 987! :D

collected the Nandos pack: inclusive of one meal for 6, my own Nandos badge(in red) & a bottle of my very own Extra Hot Peri-Peri Sauce!

If there's one thing that mattered in Nandos, its the sauce. Without the sauce, the chicken wouldn't be that great, but with the sauce, this chicken rules any other!


Headed down to the outlet @ Plaza Singapura, cos the one at Bugis is ALWAYS packed.
We came an hour early before the dinner crowd, and arrived at around 6pm.
We managed to get a table without having to wait! SCORE!
already rather crowded, Happy people enjoying their Nandos!
We were minutes away from enjoying Nandos too!! :D
I love our little corner, my dad said it represented a chicken cage, as you can see from the metal bars around our table, and the lamp is supposed to be the top of the cage.
HAHA. i felt the lamp looked more like a campfire, giving you the feeling of eating freshly roasted chicken, just like how you'd do roasting it out in the wild.
anyhow, chicken was still good, with or without the deco.
What should we get! The voucher entitled us to a meal of 6, more than enough to go around for us 6 people!
THE SAUCE!!!!!!!!

LOVE YOU MUTTONS!
*kaching!* The meal was worth $118 & we just saved that amount!
Dad: "Finally a meal that doesn't require me to take out my wallet at all! "
HOHOHO. look at that, a true-blue genuine feast!
The 4 flavours of chicken that they had.

Thinking of ordering some extra sides.
THE FAMOUS 4. <3
Extra Hot: LOVES!, HOT: for those who are unable to handle Chilli, Tomato Sauce: BORING when you're in Nandos, Garlic Peri-Peri: LOVESS!!!!!! this is not too spicy & i love anything garlic! its soooo yummy! i mixed this with extra-hot peri peri. OMG. ORGASMIC.
Chilli is my life! i can't imagine it without anything spicy!!! :D

Close-up of lamp that is over-interpreted by yours truly & dad.

YUMMERS!!!!!!
Nandos=good chicken=nice family meal.
My mom, who really isn't up for all this 'ang moh' food, or so she calls it, surprisingly finished a large portion of the chicken.
She doesn't really like Chilis, says it makes her tummy feel funny. She orders Chinese Food @ Swensens/Jack's Place. So for Nandos to actually win over a customer like my mom, congrats & 5 thumbs-up!! :D
Lemon Juice! this really quells the spicy-ness of the chicken & is so refreshing!
Its not too diluted, yet not too concentrated, mixed just well so that the zesty-ness whets up a voracious appetite, & a nice drink to settle the spicy chicken after a full meal! Yums!
Nandos obviously has done some serious food pairing! :)




First Dish that arrived: Petisco ($21.90)
its some cousin of the egg tart, albeit a sweeter, thicker & crustier version. It doesn't slice nicely apart like a hot knife thru butter as with normal egg tarts, but it has a chocolate fudge texture to it. Stiff & sticky.
Perhaps we didn't do it justice because we only consumed these after a FULL meal, so we were too full to properly enjoy its taste, but found it too sweet for our liking.
Funny thing is this dish is listed under Starters but we just presumed it to be dessert.
The second dish that arrived: Peri Hummus & Novo Pita.
My ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE DISH! my dad said he had this in Dubai every single day,
& it was like their staple. WHY CAN'T I HAVE THIS AS MY STAPLE??? *whines*
I completely fell in love with this when i took a bite.
Pita bread that has been nicely toasted in a coriander-ish garnish.
I am no food expert, but it definitely had garlic! garlic makes everything yummy!! :D
Served with hummus & olive oil, it was absolute loves to bite into one of this crispy slice.
It also had a serving of olives, but i wasn't a fan of that.
Just gimme the pita & hummus/olive oil mix & i'll be satisfied!!
I finished 3/4 of it on my own, even fighting for the last slice!
I couldn't get enough of it. This was such a winner.


The main dish: Nandos Chicken!


Personally, i loved the extra-hot one the most, it was spicy & tangy, yet not too spicy such that you have to gulp down glass after glass of water, it was just right!
That is the spicy-ness I'm lovin'
But once you get tired of it being a tad TOO spicy, switch to the HOT one, that one's just fine for chilli-lovers like me, if not stick to the mild one. Lemon & Herb tasted like plain chicken without any sauce, not a very strong tinge of lemon/herb.

oooooh look at all that sauce!! they served it steaming hot!
Even when I was on my 2nd piece, the chicken was still warm to enjoy! :D
i really love Nandos. I wish i could eat it everyday.
This really tops Kenny Rogers, but don't get me wrong!
I still adore Kenny Rogers with its mac n'cheese/pasta salad,
just that i like my chickens spicy! :D
Last Dish: Grilled Veggies! (red/green capsicums, mushrooms, carrots, onions, cucumbers grilled to perfection!)
This was LOVES, but my mom termed this 'ang moh vegetables', just because it wasn't cooked in oyster sauce like the Chinese love to cook it.
But i was a sucker for this dish. Nobody touched it, they just nibbled a piece or two, and if it weren't for the chicken there, I could have easily finished this on my own.
Still, yours truly managed to clear 3/4 the dish alongside my Nandos Chicken!!

Nandos, thanks for the FABBBBB dining experience. (plenty of credits to 98.7FM!!)
I will definitely be back, even if its not for the meal for 6!
meanwhile, i have my own bottle of peri-peri sauce which I trust will complement my meals perfectly! :D


Outing with 0720 because dear Eunice is leaving for Queensland!! *CRIES*
She is gonna have sooo much fun, but we're all gonna miss her badly! :(
Don't worry bout e crocs/floods!


S.V.E always & forever! :D
This isn't goodbye man, this is just a see-you-really-real-soon!

[[ baby, you're a firework. ]]