The Sugar Bar

Mid-week: I’ve finally got down to updating my iTunes library with the latest toon-age. I might have taken it a little too far and induced a banging headache that now pounds in tandem with my electro/house/rock beats. This sort of abated when I opened my dashboard to find a nice little tag from Deeba of Passionate About Baking.  I know bloggers may (or may not) be fearful of such tags but it’s fun and I’m really never too bothered when I get a little tagging-love from my fellow blogosphere friends. Spread a little lovin’, boys and girls.

This tagging thing demands 7 random facts about myself so here goes. Hear ye hear ye…

1) I hate pâté and think it is freaky shit.
2) Vivienne Westwood turns me on…like a lot.
3) I adore well-cut clothes, beautiful shoes and will go manic with nice eye make-up.
4) I am often mistaken for a dog-person but really am a cat-lover.
5) Definitely not a pyromaniac, just really like burning pretty candles.
6) I occasionally think I’m a rockstar – the urge to smack that shit hits me at the most random moments too.
7) I freak out if someone touches my wrist. Press hard and I feel faint.

If you’re not possibly disturbed by my random facts, you’re more than welcome to come back for future visits. Kid Diva’s positively delighted to have you sniffing round her food blog, especially if you’d like to share some gastro-knowledge, observe the hysterical foodie rants of a randomer and so forth.

Now, I’d like to pass this watcha-call-it to another 7 bloggers. How it works is just tag; 7 random facts; pass it on to another 7 by commenting on their blog; enjoy. To set forth the tag:

1) Ann of Velvet Lava
2) Manggy of No Special Effects
3) Celine of Black Salt
4) Laura of Hungry and Frozen
5) Toontz of Okara Mountain
6) Shari of Whisk Blog
7) Cakewardrobe of My Cake Wardrobe

A little lovin’ has been spread. Think it’s time to wrap up that M&S Advent Calendar and send it to my sister in the post. Maybe a little lazy nap thereafter? Sounds just about right! Here’s a recipe for yaki udon that my mum makes now and again. It’s definitely not as good as the way she makes it but she’s away holidaying in South Korea, so it was a bit of a toughie trying to figure out what exactly she puts in her lovely dish. My version was a little dry but nothing that a little more sauce couldn’t sort out.

Here’s a recipe for 1.

Mum’s Yaki Udon with Shimeji & Shrimp
Ingredients

1 serving of fresh or dry udon
1/4 fresh red chili, finely chopped
1 1/2 stalks spring onion, chopped
1/2 shallot, chopped
1/2 garlic clove, chopped
1 free range large egg
1/3 cup king prawns
1/4 cup bunashimeji mushrooms
1/4 cup bunapi shimeji mushrooms
2 tsp teriyaki marinade
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbs soy sauce
2 tsp mirin
olive oil, for cooking
black sesame seeds, for garnishing

If using dry udon, cook about 10 mins (or depending on your make) in hot water and a few drops of sunflower oil. Drain away water and set aside covered as you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Or you could use fresh udon that come in sealed packets and which are always very handy to have.

Place mushrooms in a bowl with teriyaki marinade and let sit for a while.

In a hot wok, heat some oil. Add the shallots, garlic and half the prepared chopped chili to the oil and sauté. When shallots are brown, add the marinade and mushrooms and prawns. Now add the cooked udon and spring onions and fry on high heat, adding the rest of the chili and sauces to the wok, stirring quickly as you go. Turn down heat a little, make a well in the centre of the noodles. Crack the egg into the well. Now turn up the heat again and stir vigorously so the egg cooks almost immediately as it breaks and mixes into the noodles.

When the noodles have all come together and it looks well covered in the sauces, remove wok from heat. Serve and garnish with black sesame seeds and some Japanese ginger pickle if you’ve got any lying around.

Last Wednesday, my brain blacked out – short-circuited for a few seconds before it jumpstarted back on again with full sugar power – on a slice of Chocolate Blackout cake. A customer of mine had highly recommended PS Cafe’s chocolate cake and after having a spoon of the warm fudginess soaked in warm chocolate fudge (or ‘soup’ as I prefer to call it) with a little of that just-beautiful vanilla ice cream, I very gladly label it one of the best chocolate cakes out there.

The menu spoilt me for choice and it came down to splitting two dishes between my mate and I since we were both pretty torn between all the choices available. The Big Nihon salad was top-notch with very fresh perfectly-flavoured sashimi and a beautiful mix of salad leaves, thinly sliced vegetables, edamame and soba noodles. The dressing was lovely as well and not too heavy or greasy. However, I wouldn’t be hyping about the salad in days to come. Despite how delicious it was, it wasn’t something that left a great impression on me and I’d pass it up for Mum’s Japanese homecooking any day!

The Crab Tart scored beautifully in my books. It sure outdid the Nihon for me as the tart pastry was quite well done and the chef was awfully generous with the crab meat. It was warm, creamy, so delicious with just the right amount of bite in the pastry. Topped with slightly crispy grilled cheese on the top, served with a prawn bisque sauce, a few drops of an accompanying lemony sauce and a belachan of mild heat, I was completely blown away. One, I HEART CRAB. Two, I believe tarts are beautiful creations and are little edible pots of joy. Three, crab + tart + belachan??? is genius! It was so good I’m almost convinced to always have my crab tarts with belachan now.

At the end of the day, Chocolate Blackout was still the best 30minutes of my life. And yes, the cake was massive enough to be shared amongst 8 persons. Hence, the length of time that was needed to consume this gorgeous piece of work. Cake consumed, every drop of chocolate ‘soup’ licked and scraped off the plate and not a bit of evidence of the existence of vanilla ice cream on the plate was how we left it.

Desire Satisfied is Us.

And that very evening, the second birthday cake of the day was a Matcha Adzuki Bean Cake with loads of gorgeous sweet Japanese pastry cream. It was heaven. My birthdays are sweeeeeet!

PS Cafe
Palais Renaissance #02-09A
390 Orchard Road
Singapore
Phone: 6887 2207

Great news – I’m finally back in England. It’s autumn. I’ve had chocolate for supper.

God bless the freezer.

As just about everyone’s moved out of the grey and grim Selly Oak, the ones left behind aren’t forsaken but presented with leftover food and freezable/perishable products. You wouldn’t believe the amount of food that everyone stores in their freezer and then, just forget about. It’s awesome. Of course, just about everything’s still within date and what with the number of pals who are heading home for mum’s homecooked food, you get a lovely range of goodies. Coming my way was a pack of Aberdeen Angus Beef Sausages and king prawns. No way was I passing up on that. Spending my last night as a second year in this damp, cosy house of mine, this dish is the product of an equation of donations from fellow friends and my leftovers. Hence, please forgive the very lack of any sort of fresh herbs. I was particularly intent on adding lemon zest and juice to the pasta, ala Ina Garten’s Linguine with Shrimp Scampi which I saw on the Barefoot Contessa. But I’d packed almost all my clothes (rolled them up tight) into my suitcase and wasn’t suitably dressed (really, I just couldn’t be arsed) to head to the off license for a lemon. Sue me for lack of dedication.

Sausages and shrimp are quite the combination. It may not be very flavourful a pasta dish but the mascarpone was so comforting and the sausages packed quite the oomph. Ben and I were happy with the results. It did drive away the post end of term sulkiness. Plus, we can’t complain with food given to us.

Cheers to good English sausages and pasta.

Cheers to the goodwill of friends.

Depending on the amount of pasta you use, this recipe yields quite a lot — it fed the bottomless pit we know as Ben Brown and I.

Aberdeen Angus Beef Sausage & Shrimp Scampi Fiorelli Pasta
Ingredients

250g fiorelli pasta (this is about 2-3 servings)
4 Aberdeen Angus Beef sausages
250g king prawns, shelled and de-veined
3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
3-4 tbs mascarpone cheese
a good knob (think Jamie Oliver’s cooking measurements) of butter
3 tbs olive oil, for cooking
1/2 tsp dill
generous sprinkling of hot chili powder
1 tbs kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

Get the grill ready in your oven. Place sausages in a deep dish filled with water up to a centimeter from the bottom of the dish. Do not prick sausages as you want to keep all the juices within the sausages.

Place under grill to cook about 20min or so. Halfway through, turn the sausages so it browns on the other side. When the water has evaporated completely, it’s roughly about time your sausages would have cooked through completely.

Remove and when it’s cool to touch, slice into 1.5cm thick pieces. Be sure to save the juices and not chuck them away when slicing up the sausages.

Cook pasta in hot water.

For shrimp scampi: In a large frying pan, heat some olive oil. Add the chopped garlic. When golden brown, add the prawns and sautée. Add the butter and let it melt into the oil. Give it a good stir.

Once pasta is al dente, drain and return to pot. Add the shrimp scampi (all of the olive oil buttery goodness), sausages and a little more olive oil to loosen up the pasta. Stir through the dill, chili powder and mascarpone. Mix through well. Season with salt and pepper. Serve.