Making a Return...for REAL.

I decided to remove the previous post and scrap all my pending drafts so I can have a clean start again. Yes, I can feel that an urge to come back now, after a whole year of no-blog. I've also been increasing my activity on Facebook and LinkedIn, hopefully for Twitter as well. I took up Instagram photography lately too! More cat and food photos. I've had plans to link up a FB page to this blog, posting from FB will a lot easier and less resistant for me, so going to make that happen as well.

Finally, a comeback photo to kickstart it all. These days I need a milk tea (teh-si) a day to keep myself going at work.

This was taken with Instagram @ The Prata Place

This might be old news to you, just because I have been MIA for so long - but have you seen the new Blogger interface and template design (am using one now)? Foodbuzz is not going to like this - all my ads are gone now. :p

I'M ON A DIET (!!)

Hmm I have not updated my foodie adventures for over two months now. Getting busier with my day job and have no time to keep up with the updates. And sadly, you will see less and less good food recommendations from me for the next month or two (at least), because I am now on a special DIET, which just doesn't allow me to anything and everything I want anymore. In the meantime, I will try to compensate with some mouth-watering food shots that has been piling up all this while. :)

Now a little more about the special diet! I heard of this from my sister, proven to be effective by big-size colleague of hers, who successfully lost 19lbs in 3 weeks just by following the diet framework. But before I share any details of the framework here, I shall take on the challenge and see for myself the effectiveness. The overall idea is simple: Each day you would have something more to give up (eating) for the rest of the week - mainly sugar and carbohydrates. (Yes, no carbo!!) The best part - NO EXERCISE REQUIRED and you are free to eat ANY AMOUNT you like.

Starting my 2nd week on the diet today (it begins on a Sunday, ends on Friday. Saturday is a Free-to-Eat day!). 1st week was just tough. Inexperienced and lack of preparation, there was hardly anything left for me to eat by Friday. This week, I made plans - bought lots of veggies and mushrooms (the best duo for this diet) from Fairprice earlier. Oh, and eggs too!

Erm don't ask me the result from 1st week just yet. Because the "sotong" (blur) me forgot to weigh myself before I started on the diet! Hehe but according to my sister, who is also experimenting the diet with me, she has lost 3kg by Friday. This was really a great encouragement for the both of us, because we were almost giving up by the end of Friday. Seems like our determination is paying off. Now we just need to persevere.

Lets keep it up!!

Paradise Inn @ Thomson Plaza

Wanted to have Sakae Teppanyaki the other day, so headed to the nearest location at Thomson Plaza only to find out that the Sakae outlet there had already closed down. :( The storefront had been replaced by a Chinese restaurant - Paradise Inn. I dined at Paradise Inn @ West Coast Plaza before, but the food was not too impressive. Anyways, since we were already there, we thought we would give it a try.

Whenever we dine at a new place, we love to try the special and the new. So this was our first pick - Fragrance Tea with Lavender, Rosemary, Chrysanthemum and Dried Longan for a refreshful start!





Next, we went for a typical Chinese dinner setup - 1x vegetable, 1x meat, 1x tofu or egg, 1x soup.

For soup:




As you can see from the photo, soup at Paradise Inn looks professional - big pot, continues to be heated while you dine, plus lots of ingredients ("liao") in it!



The egg trio refers to: chicken egg, century egg, and salted (duck) egg. A usually very flavorful vegetable dish, but we find this one a bit too watery and bland. The Soup Restaurant serves the same dish and is a lot tastier.




Looks good, taste good - Soft and not too oily!



Here's a mistake we tend to make whenever we see Ma Po Tofu on the menu. Bottom-line: If you like your Ma Po Tofu to taste what the name suggests (ma po), then never order this dish in a non-Sichuan style restaurant! You will only be met with disappointment. To us, this was just a normal tofu with minced meat dish.

All in all...

• Old Cucumber with Pork Ribs Soup, Rating: ★★★★
• Chinese Spinach with Egg Trio, Rating: ★
• Dong Po Pork, Rating: ★★★
• Ma Po Tofu, Rating: ★★

Sakae Adventure: July's Special Seafood Promotions

This month's Sakae Adventure...

It has been a while since we dined in at Sakae (we usually call for delivery), so we went to Sakae Sushi @ Junction 8 on a week night just to try something new! Ehh actually it was because they don't have Sushi Buffets at this branch lah... Well, it was a good chance for us to explore a different part of the Sakae menu, plus I could use some of the Sakae Dollars that I had accumulated on my Sakae Card :)

We were there at the right time - July's theme for the Sakae Signature promotion is on Seafood!



We could hardly give this a miss, so we ordered the Special Ika Maki ($9.99).



You might wonder what about this grilled ika (squid) is so special.. and why do they call it a maki (rolled sushi)?

Well it is just as the name suggests. The ika maki is special because it's sushi rice wrapped up in a squid! And it's not just the usual white sushi rice though, it's sushi fried rice.



That didn't taste too bad at all! It was a lot lightly flavored than the color might suggest. The sushi fried rice was slightly sweet (I think it's tomatoes) and complemented well with the not-too-chewy grilled squid in a thin layer of teriyaki sauce. I would like to point out that it was quite professionally done too - the rice didn't just fall out of the squid rings when you pick it up with chopsticks.

On top of that, we also had some side orders, sushi from the conveyor belt, plus 5-pc gyoza on offer ($3.99)! For our entrees, wx got a Unagi Don ($14.99).



That was a huuuge portion even for someone the size of wx :p I was a lot smarter of course hehe. Since Sakae Delivery Menu does not offer any noodle dishes (except cha soba as side order), I settled for some soupy noodles to end my occasional craving for udon - the Niku Udon!



Sprinkle some Japanese chili powder and the soup becomes perfect. I would prefer if the beef were in thinner slices. But the udon noodles were very Q. sluuurpy!

Total: $67.05
I paid just 5 cents for this meal. The rest were deducted from my Sakae Card :) Don't you wish to be a Sakae eJournalist too?

Rating: ★★★

Crispy Fluffy Waffles

YAY It's waffles time again!

Do you like your waffles crispy or chewy, crunchy or fluffy?

Well, I like mine like this:



Yes...crispy on the outside, but soft and fluffy on the inside!

So this is what we had:



The Passion Fruit Mango ice cream was a little too strong taste (sour & sweet) for me - some might like the rich passion fruit sorbet-like mix in it though.

If you like the crunchy type of waffles, read my post on the Waffle Place Cottage last year.

Gelare is still around! They serve the fluffy type of waffles too. And I think they still have half-price waffles promotion on Tuesdays. A little out of reach for me though, so Haagen Dazs @ Junction 8 is my best choice. Plus, for every $10 you spend at Haagen Dazs until 8 August 2010, you get 5 letters to complete the crossword puzzle for the Haagen Dazs Word Hunt Contest! Hehe.. I just like little games like this. Fun, simple to do, and a chance to win great prizes :)

Rating: ★★★