Cavalock Explores Magic in The Middle Ages

Quick round-up of some new grocery goodies I spotted at Meidi-Ya last week. Star Wars cereal sure makes me wish I was a kid again, only problem is I don't think it comes with a toy (like all cereals should!). :( Or if you prefer, there's always the more nutritious version for adults. Never seen this Country Store variety in other supermarkets before.

And now this. So earlier this year I went and took an online course on something I have always been interested in ever since I was a kid. From medieval knights to witchhunts to magical jinn, I just can't get enough from devouring stories about them and I'm not even going to start on my collection of fantasy themed games. Well, I now have a piece of paper which states that I know more about Magic in the Middle Ages than the ...er... average Shenton Way office drone. I do I can see it coming in handy when I'm putting together some stories in the very near future.

Cavalock and The Football Club Cookie Challenge

Neither of us are sports fans which made this cookie order more challenging than others. Hours were spent online looking for the correct colors and design. We even considered the possibility of getting 3D printed cookie cutter because of its unique crest sharp. Instead the baker-in-house decided to do it freestyle on regular round butter cookies. As each piece had to be traced and painstakingly hand-drawn, she really had her work cut out for her (pun intended). 

Frankly I can never understand the appeal of being a sports fan. The idea of cheering for millionaire sportsmen from halfway across the world who doesn't know or even care about you is simply beyond my understanding. But I digress. The family who got the cookies all loved them and that's good enough for us.

Great Shades of Storage Wars! It was just like a scene outta the reality show a couple of Sundays ago when I was invited to a private boardgame sale held at one them storage facilities. Only about five of us were allowed in at a time and I spent almost an hour combing the racks in the dark. Yes, it was so freakin' dark that we had to rely on our smartphone torchlight apps. Everything in there was going at half-price! Quite an unforgettable experience and fun too as we went around discovering some pretty cool old games hidden in the corners. Found and bought over S$180 worth of games and expansions.

Cavalock and The Poppy Seed Incursion

Besides chewing gum and pirated CDs, we can now add another to the list of illegal items to smuggle from Tijuana Johor Bahru. Poppy Seed Bagels!!! Yes, you can now purchase these contraband pastries from Lavender bakery over at City Square JB. It's a chance for strait-laced Singaporeans to travel across the border and get high legally. This is a popular mall that's just across the border and often filled with Singaporeans. I had to see who are the Singaporeans who would actually deal in such illegal substances so I hung back and observed for several minutes. Within seconds, I saw an elderly hippie liberal left-wing couple purchase them! Poppy seeds are banned in our fine city for a good reason and I hope everyone is knowledgeable on the evil effects of this gateway drug, yes, let's not kid ourselves as we all know the dire consequences of just one bite! First you lose your inhibitions, leading to disorderly behaviour, then casual sex, unwanted pregnancies, inability to purchase a HDB flat etc. It's a slippery slope to lower income hell.

Now if you are wondering if I bought any, of cos not! As a law abiding citizen, I would never dream of breaking of any laws. Please don't narc me out!!! In other news, you also don't have to travel as far as Penang for their famous roadside Teochew Chendul as they are now at City Mall too. Had their Penang assam laksa, rojak and their popular chendol, all extremely cheap and good.

And now this. Just when you thought you have seen all kinds of instant 3-in-1 coffees, there's now in Malaysia a 5-in-1 with a goat's head on it. I'll leave you to guess what the five ingredients really are.

Cavalock and The Fluttershy Experiment

The baker-in-the-house was pretty busy over the last couple of weeks turning out cupcake and cookie orders. Now I ain't a My Little Pony fan at all but I thought these really looks good. After we got the request for a little girl's birthday party, the baker-in-the-house headed immediately online to research the colors and design of the character, Fluttershy. She especially wanted to get the eyes right.

As always, every Fluttershy butter cookie piece was painstakingly hand-painted. Lots of attention to detail cos that's what she does best. Hope we got the right shade of pink and yellow too. *whew*

And now this. Hey, the baker-in-the-house ain't the only creative person around here! ;) Presenting my prize-winning Lego early 20th-century seance scene! Submitted it to an online Lego creation contest last month and won me a small limited edition Lego winter box set.

Cavalock and The Dinosaur Porn Excavation

If anyone wants to know how dinosaur porn looks like, look no further than our local NTUC FairPrice. Yes, it's exactly how I imagined it would be.

And if you want to know how premium Japanese beer tastes like, then head to Meidi-Ya for this. I have not seen Asahi Premium sold anywhere else so I guess this could be an exclusive thingy.

And now this. They called themselves a Japanese-inspired desserts cafe and are just a short walk from my apartment. There are already more than a few write-ups about Karafuru Desserts since I was there early last month. Not that crowded back then but I suppose things could have changed after that publicity. Even though we had a couple desserts, I'm betting that everything in there tastes as pretty as they look. Now at $16 for the larger parfait, I thought it was a better deal than the smaller $6 or $7 eclairs. The ume soda drink was in fact the fav. Mixing the Perrier with the ume shiso leaf gave the drink a cool fuzzy choya flavor with a little minty kick to it.

Cavalock and The Izakaya Replication

From my feeble attempts to pen a buncha stories, geeky gaming events and eating out, it sure was a crazy busy birthday month. One of the highlights was the baker-at-home hosting a Japanese dinner for her girlfriends at our tiny little apartment. Most of the food were purchased from Meidi-Ya with desserts from Dulcet & Studio, all at Liang Court. The rest were delivered by Zairyo or prepared by the baker-at-home.

It was an opportunity to finally whip out the cool Japanese table mats we bought at Tsukiji Market in Tokyo months ago as well as using the (almost) 100-year-old European shot glasses and whiskey glasses from the old family home. Nice to at last put the lot of them to good use. The idea was to make it like a night out at a isakaya or Japanese bar.

Now the above is my attempt to recreate one of my favourite dishes, the Nogizaka specialty that I had at a Tokyo izakaya in August. The ingredients were more or less all there. Not exactly a bad recreation IMHO.

I like to think that everyone had a great time cos I did enjoy playing host (and dishwasher). A totally entertaining night of good food and great friends.