Cavalock and The Maddening March Munchies

Figured I'll let the pictures do some of the talking this time. Some good stuff I had in March. Now despite the lack of Japanese food pix, I did have some Japanese food. ;)

Table for four for dinner at French joint Absinthe in/near Chinatown. Took the tasting menu, good choice.

Something spicy for lunch at Katong. What else but the famous 328 Katong Laksa.

Dinner was spicy too with an S$8 stingray. Been ages since I had one, it was alright but not as much meat as I hoped it would have.

Finally! The 'Lock has come back to Tom's Palette! (Bonus points to anyone who knows the reference there). You are looking at a delicious scoop of Kampong Kueh flavor ice cream, that's coconut, banana and gula melaka! I luv all three by themselves but together, it's like a crazy little ice cream party in your mouth!

Spoke to the owner, well, I think he's the owner or maybe he's Tom or maybe they are the same...anyway, he said they are gonna be having waffles to go with the their ice cream soon. There'll be garlic and cinnamon waffles (separately, not in one gawddamn waffle!) and it sounds interesting.

Some very, very yummy homemade macaroons and a cup of Nespresso here. Good afternoon coffee break there. Don't forget to give a tick in any of the little boxes below! <^;^>

Cavalock and The Surf n' Turf Experiment

I finally found the opportunity to try out my surf and turf dish, as well as a chance for pork chop redemption. And I did it! My surf and turf was pretty awesome if I do say so myself. :P

The pork chop was way more flavorful than before. I tenderized the meat then marinated it in soy sauce, sake (yes, the same bottle again! It's almost empty now!) and pepper. And when I grilled it, I used butter instead of olive oil. The only thing I felt was missing was some kinda sauce, tasted good but it was a little too dry. So my project is to come up with new sauce, no?

As for the shrimps, I just tossed in some garlic and shallots and sauteed them all in the same pan as the pork chops. Well, I think the overall result was decent enough to at least get me through to another week if I was a contestant on Top Chef or any other cooking reality show.

Yah, so is anyone else out there watching/downloading Top Chef All-Stars? This week is the finals. Am also watching/downloading the other reality food show, America's Next Great Restaurant. That's not bad. Only four episodes out so far.

So last weekend was Earth Hour and we were supposed to go green and save the Earth. It got me thinking, just who am saving the Earth for? Someone said 'the future generation' but everywhere I look, all I see are a bunch of spoilt, rude and ignorant kids. Really, am I going to deny myself things or food that I like, put myself at some inconvenience just so these loudmouthed young punks can enjoy 'something' in the near future? I don't think so.

Ok, enough ranting, back to work. <^;^>

Cavalock and The Rosemary Rebound

Tried something earlier for lunch today when I was home alone, and I'm just freakin' glad that it came out great. Simple little dish, rosemary chicken with steamed veggies and caramelized onions. Reason I'm glad is cos I tried something similar earlier this week with pork chops instead and that didn't turn out good. Yah, I only post the ones that turn out good, there are lots of meals that I did that didn't turn out as good as I hoped. :P

Like I said, it's real simple. Seasoned the chicken by shoving a stalk of rosemary and some salt and pepper under the skin, before folding it back. The flavors came true and it made all the difference. Man, will definitely make it through to the next week if this was on Top Chef! Although my presentation and plating needs a lot of work. <^;^>

The steamed veggies, seasoned them with salt before putting them in the steamer. Turned out very nice too.

Now while the veggies were steaming, I was grilling the chicken. Sizzling away for bout 10 minutes. When it looks a little brown, put it away on plate. Next on the same skillet, toss a piece of butter before throwing in the onion (one whole yellow onion). Add a splash of Japanese sake, yes, it's the same sake from my other favorite dish.

After like 8 minutes, when they are lightly caramelized, transfer them to a plate then bring back the chicken! Now get that skillet in the oven for 10 minutes at 240ºC. By now you should be smelling something real good. Whole thing took bout 40 minutes.

So everything turned out better than I expected, and in case anyone wants to see, here's the pix of the pork chops that kinda sucked. Well, it didn't suck that much, the dish was merely alright. Well, if this was an episode of Top Chef, I'll be up for elimination but will still slip through to next week, Hah!

FAIL!!!

I hope everyone reading this has already done his or her bit by donating to the Japan Red Cross. I used to visit the country once a year if I can, I guess it'll be awhile before my next visit. I miss the place already.

Check this out, I signed up for Formspring some time back. Don't ask me why, I think I was terribly bored. Er....and then again, maybe you should ask me.

Cavalock and That Burning Sensation

Hah, I got that burning sensation but it's not down where you might it is. Finally got a one them creme brulee torch and put it to good use over the weekend.

Was fun but had a bit of trouble attaching the gas can to the torch. Gotta twist it a bit. But it works fine and I can't wait to try it out again. What else can I do with it, any suggestions?

Posted a pix of it in action to my gamer friends. Now this is a bunch of ultimate geeky guys who wouldn't think twice about paying a grand for the latest gadget or game. This was what most of them got (some more than one), actual size light sabers from this site. So I sent them a pix of the torch in action and challenged them to a light saber duel. :P

Cavalock and The Chew Connection

Finally found the time to try something in the Martha Stewart's Dinner At Home recipe book I borrowed from the library, hey, the only reason I got this is cos the Marine Parade Library's comic book section is right next to the cookbook section. Every other library I been to, the two sections are like a mile apart. :P

Baked Cinnamon Apples, another freakin' easy and yummy recipe that you can whip out in less than half hour. Just a few ingredients, a cast iron pan, oven and you are ready to go. Below is the recipe too but it's for 4 but I got the measurements for 2 servings right next to it.

Serves 4

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (I only made 2 servings so it's bout 29g butter)
• 1/4 cup sugar (4 tablespoons here only if you are making for 2)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (1/4 obviously)
• 4 whole cinnamon sticks (2 sticks)
• 4 small Granny Smith apples, halved lengthwise, seeds and stems left intact (2 apples)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (180ºC). Melt butter in a large ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Stir in sugar, ground cinnamon, and cinnamon sticks. Place apples in skillet, cut sides down.

Transfer skillet to oven. Bake apples until tender, about 17 minutes at least (original recipe called for 12 minutes but I found my apples still a little hard, so I'm pushing 17 here). Place 2 apple halves in each serving dish, cut sides up, and drizzle with butter mixture from skillet. Garnish with cinnamon sticks from skillet. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

Since January, I got a little gig being a weekly guest writer for a local geek site Here Be Geeks under Mel's Muses. Comic book reviews, action figure news and all that kinda stuff, I guess you could say it's all the other things I like besides food.

Normally I don't do anything bout food there but there's this great comic book on the shelves right now about food. It's called Chew and here's what I wrote bout it.

Chew Vol . 1: Taster’s Choice. Deliciously twisted and scrumptiously funny, Chew is crime-fiction like you have never seen or tasted before. I heard lots of good things about this offbeat but best-selling title but never had the urge or loose change to grab a copy at the shop, thank goodness I found the first trade paperback at the library.

Published by Image and written by John Layman with art by Rob Guillory, Chew is about the adventures of US Food and Drug Administration Agent Tony Chu, who also just happens to a Cibopathic, which means he gets psychic impressions from whatever he eats. Anything he takes a bite out of, from animal to vegetable, he’ll know its life story immediately and that includes human body parts. I’m sure you can see where this is going. This is one detective whose job description includes taking a nibble out of a murder victim to see who’s the killer.

The five chapters here introduce the refreshingly original cast and a world that’s been ravaged by the bird flu. Millions were killed by the avian flu (or not?) and chicken is now the latest black market drug. Character-driven and with lots of action, you are definitely in for a treat with this Eisner Award-winning series.

Still wanna how hot this series is? Well, the production company behind The Walking Dead series is planning to adapt Chew for TV too.