Child of Order, Servant of Chaos

Cavalock and The Wildlife Photo Jam

2012-02-12T23:21:00.005+08:00

Damn, I wish I had the chance to eat out at some of the new places this week but unfortunately that ain't the case. A new gig kept me busy (and will be keeping me busy) for the next few weeks. Well, it did make me "appreciate" TGIF all over again and then spending a lazy Saturday morning, alone on the sofa putting the final touches to my comic book review while catching up on the latest TV shows on the iPad, and then sorting out my M:tG cards or reading my library books, it's soooo therapeutic! <^;^>

Something else I'm doing is helping my Dad download his pix. He's an amateur wildlife photographer, well, he has been shooting for most his life but stopped bout a decade ago. Since my Mom passed away last year, he has gotten back into his hobby and bought his first DSLR a few weeks ago. He's still figuring out how to use it so I thought I'd just post some of shots. Hmmm .... some better than others but not bad for a 77-year-old I guess.

Come on, you don't think I was gonna do a post without some food pix? Check this out! Popcorn + chips! Two of the best snacks in one, who comes up with these?!? Where else but at Meidi-ya.

Cavalock and The January Tabletop Takedown

2012-02-04T23:24:00.000+08:00

So many tables, so little time. January was all bout table top pix. I do recall doing a buncha stuff but just never really took a lot of pix or notes bout them. So I looked at my iPhone photo and saw that the ones I snapped were actually kinda neat table top pix so there you go for January! <^;^>

From my first homemade breakfast for one in the new kitchen, a taste-better-than-it-looks omelette with cheese and honey tomatoes to one with Paul's sesame baguette, and I dare say my omelette was better.

Still on my kitchen island tabletop, here's a shot of some groceries from Europe that I'm pretty sure you can't find here.

Been awhile since I had a giant paper thosai or dosa, this metre-long one was specially good at the popular Jalan Kayu outlet.

WARNING! TOTALLY GEEKY, NERDY GAMESPEAK TO BELOW!!!

To me, playing my favorite boardgame is not unlike dining in a Michelin Star restaurant (does this actually mean I have been to one? Don't ask!) It's an exquisite experience that you wanna share with your friends, only a whole lot cheaper.

My current fav boardgame is Kingdom Builder. Extremely simple rules that even a boardgame novice can pick up in less than five minutes. Terrific gameplay that requires more skill and strategy than luck. Players build settlements and try to cut each other off from meeting ever-changing random victory conditions.

Lunar New Year poker night at my place with Lord of the Rings playing cards! 'Nuff said!

Next up is me and the guys foray back in the land of 'cardboard crack' or also known as Magic: The Gathering. After the above late night poker session, some of the guys headed off the midnight pre-release of the latest Magic expansion Dark Ascension. I waited for the next morning session. Won 3 outta 4 matches, went home with 10 booster packs and one promo foil for S$40 plus the most highly sought after Sorin planeswalker in one of them. ;)

Cavalock and The Magnetic European Mementos

2012-01-30T21:28:00.001+08:00

For this post, it's gonna be bout two of my favorite blog topics so far, what else but my last European escapade and my new kitchen aka Stuff-I-Bought-In-France-And-Italy-That-Are-Now-In-My-New-Kitchen! <^;^> And a new fridge certainly deserves new magnets.

This little cup magnet from Paris came in real handy as a stopper as it prevented the fridge from hitting the oven switch. See what I mean when I talked bout making extra space for opening doors etc. in my last post.

Check out this cute magnetic sardine can clock from Italy. Unfortunately the magnet wasn't terribly strong and it kept sliding down the side of the fridge. So I decided a better for it, on top of the new washing machine instead.

But look at what I got to put on the side now! Found it at Galeries Lafayette in Paris and really, where can I find something like that back home? Of cos, I had to get it.

Finally, want to where else you can get Starbucks coffee besides their usual joints? Starbucks instant coffee sachets spotted at Meidi-ya last week. For S$39.90, you can make 24 cups of Starbucks brew at home or office. Used to be a fan of Starbucks but nowadays....nah, the taste, the aroma just don't seem to work on me no more.

Cavalock and The Eclair Extirpation

2012-01-29T22:19:00.000+08:00

I hope everyone had a great Lunar New Year. The new kitchen is still holding up pretty well so that's a good thing.

The new oven looking all nice and shiny

Like I said in my last post, when doing a new kitchen be sure you make some space allowances in your measurements. When you open your oven or fridge doors, is there still enough space to move around? And also check that the width of your kitchen cabinet shelves are wide enough for your biggest plates and bowls.

I finally have my own island!

Stuff comes in boxes! Don't forget that when they are delivering your big ass fridge, it's gonna be in a box that's naturally gonna be bigger than the fridge measurements so make sure that the box can maneuver through whatever limited space you have in your new kitchen.

I know it's a tiny kitchen but it'll do

A little foodie rant now. So I finally made my way to the new Paul bakery at Takashimaya. Ordered a lemon meringue tart and an eclair to go. Here's the shocker, my tart and eclair were indiscriminately chucked into paper bags. The eclair was ruined, the icing on top was gone. The tart was in better shape as it only cracked at the edges. Simply awful. :(

Now compare that with Maison Kayser and how they do their takeaways. I bought my eclair from Maison Kayser a couple weeks ago and the dessert was placed gingerly in a handy little box. Unfortunately I didn't snap any shots of the box but here's one of the eclair, still in one piece.

Cavalock and The Kitchen Reno Rodeo

2012-01-23T00:23:00.001+08:00

HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR!

Whew! It's finally done. Well, if you have been following my tweets, you would probably have noticed that I have been tweeting bout renovating my tiny kitchen and study. Started just before Christmas and almost three weeks into the new year, it was a excruciating experience to say the least. Mainly because I was still living in the apartment during the entire renovation.

The old kitchen

Where the old fridge was

And where I had my washing machine

After all that, I think I'm qualified to pen a little book on what to do and what not to do when your apartment is being renovated with you still in it.

First up, get ready for lotsa dust. Tons or volumes or whatever metric system they use to measure it, of dust will decent on every square millimeter of your apartment. Especially if you need to demolish your old kitchen. Remember that sandstorm scene in the latest Mission Impossible movie? That was a beach party compared to the scene in my apartment during the first two days of demolition work.

Work-in-progress

Next thing you gotta know when renovating is that plans will unequivocally change. Deadlines will stretch, somebody's blueprints is gonna be different from yours, materials you picked out earlier will be sold out when you need them and/or your existing furniture will be damaged by someone or something.

One of my biggest bugbears was not accounting for the extra space needed when you open a cupboard door or even the refrigerator door in my case. Bottom line is there will changes and there's not a damn thing you can do to prevent it.

Fortunately everything turned out ok, cutting it really close to the Lunar New Year. I'll post the completed pix in my next post. Meantime some interesting food finds in time for the celebratory period.

On the left, you got Creamy Pineapple Tart ice cream flavor from the best ice cream parlor on the island, Creamier. Every flavor they got is full of rich and natural ingredients, the Pineapple Tart has even got them little bits of tart crusts in it. Wanted to get a tub but they didn't have enough to fill one up, yes, that's how popular it was!

The Limited Edition Winter's Tale Sapporo beer on the right, where else but Meidi-Ya can you find something like that. <^;^>

Cavalock and The Pocky Grahams Encounter

2012-01-12T20:33:00.000+08:00

Been awhile since I was back at Meidi-Ya so naturally off I went to my favorite Japanese supermarket. As expected I was greeted by a several new goodies, well, they are new to me.

First up, some new treats from Pocky! Very tempted to buy but I think I passed my Pocky phase a couple years ago. I must say, the peanut one actually looks healthy to me.

And the bestest thing I found there? GRAHAMS FRINKIN' CRACKERS! I have been looking for this at our local shelves for like a year cos of all them baking recipes that needed Grahams Crackers, like pie crusts and s'mores. So finally I found them but they aren't cheap, like over S$7 a box!

So what local dish did I miss most while in Europe? Heh, below is my first dinner after touching down, crab noodle from Melban. Followed by an entire white pepper crab from No Signboard restaurant a few weeks later. That's right, I devour an entire white pepper crab by my loneself. <^;^>

Cavalock Says Thanks Again

2012-01-06T16:22:00.000+08:00

My little ‘expedition’ through Italy and France wasn’twithout …er… missteps. In Rome, I lost my beloved camouflage buff after dinnerone night. Strolled back to my room andthen I realized, “Dude, where’s my buff?” This was the freakin' buff that saw me through single-digit weather across Japan and England. Well, that left me no choice but tobuy a brown Italian handmade scarf in the small hilltop town of Sienna a few days later. The kindserious adults wear. Otherwise anything above my chest would have been frozensolid before my first week is over.

Another thing I had to say good-bye to was my big ass SwissArmy knife in Paris. Don’t ask me how or why l had to part with it. It ain’t apretty tale. Would you believe if I told you I lost it in an illegal gamblingden run by gypsies at the back of a French restaurant?

Now if you are into food and in Paris, you must check outthe market area Marché Montorgueil. Down the street, that’s where you’ll findnumerous bistros, boulangeries or pastry shops. And if you are there in thesummer or spring, I can imagine there’ll be much more fresh fruits andvegetables on display. The fruit stall in this post is from the area too.

If you bake or cook, you’ll definitely appreciate findingcertain ingredients that you can hardly find back home like 100% cacao chocolate. Outside oneof the shops was where a nice French lady struck up a conversation with us andadvised us on the finer points of preparing foie gras.

Well, this is my last post on my trip so I figured if youhave been reading all this, I just wanna say thanks! And here’s a little somethingto show my appreciation for sticking around, hey, that’s five minutes ofreading my stuff that you’ll never get back! <^;^>

Leave a comment and/or email in my comment box and at the end of the month,that’s January, I’ll randomly (using one them online randomizers) pick onewhere I’ll then email back to you for a mailing address. And here's what I’llbe mailing to you, four postcards depicting popular French patisseries andbread. Yup, one lucky person will get a set of four yummy postcards. I did a giveaway couple years ago (just so you guys know I'm legit!) and I hope to have another one in the near future too.

Got them from the famous Stohrer Patissier along Marché Montorgueil. So many to choose from....there were lots more mouth-watering food postcards, on all kinds of French food like summer fruits, different sorts of cheese, candies, honey (yah, I never knew there were so many kinds of honey) etc. I bought like ten different ones!

Cavalock and A Dinner Date with Josephine

2012-01-04T16:51:00.000+08:00

I kinda like how the some of the restaurants in Paris aregiven names like Angelina and Josephine, I think it makes a lot easier to remember. So on my last night in Paris, it wasdinner at another famous place, Josephine Chez Dumonet. So how hot was this joint? It was sohot that I had to call and make my reservations couple weeks before flying to Europe.

I made the reservations for 7.30pm, that’s when they opentoo. But we got there at bout 7.10pm. Place was still closed but we could see through the shutters there were cops in there. Waited in the cold foralmost half hour before the doors opened. No cops in sight. What I do see are nice white linen-draped tables and cool1930s light fixtures. Nothing too fancy but old world bistro charm that you just can’t find anywhereelse ...er... besides France of course.

Well, it’s definitely more than just the interiors thatpeople are interested in. Their Grand Marnier soufflé has been proclaimed asthe best in Paris if not the world, in more than a few reviews. And you got thebeef bourguignon that’s also on the must-have list.

Started with an excellent pumpkin soup, followed by an all-star parade of delectable French cuisine including the above-mentioned beef bourguignon, crispy-skinnedduck confit, tender piece of veal and the foie gras that we all agreed wasbetter than the one we had at Angelina.

Then came dessert, what else but the Grand Marnier soufflé. It doesn't collapse like others do and pouring in the liquor, geez it's that good.

Now dinner was the best part of the night but the BESTEST part of the night was me discovering a comic boy toy shop on the way back to the hotel! Bought a bunch of action figures for myself and as gifts. <^;^>

Cavalock and A Lunch Date with Angelina

2012-01-03T18:04:00.000+08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A new year and I still got a couple more Paris posts to share so bear with me, and I promise you I'll make it all up to you with some of my best food porn to go.

So it was on a wet, drizzy afternoon that I found myself stepping into the famous Angelina Tearoom in the heart of Paris. As expected, the place was packed. But we were fortunate enough to be led into a more private area where we could at least hear ourselves talk.

If you ever find yourself in Paris, I think this is pretty good place to set a lunch date. Their speciality is Mont Blanc or chestnut, which you'll find not just in their pastries or desserts but also in their starters., like their chestnut cappuccino soup.

My soup od the day which if memory serves me right, was mushroom soup

Chestnut cappuccino soup and no, I didn't try it

Now they are also famous for their hot chocolate but my throat was already feeling a little worse for wear so I passed on that. I had the scared scallops served with creamy polenta. Very nice and no complaints. After the scallops, you got the beef fillet served with potato napoleon and below that is the duck foie gras.

Ah finally, zee desserts! Zee famous and much anticipated Mont Blanc. Gorgeous meringue covered with chestnut puree vermicelli. I also had the millefeuille, that's the first pix. Great food, good service but it didn't come cheap. Still, it's one of them once-in-a-lifetime foodie experiences that you just can't say 'no' to.

Cavalock and The Quest for Soupe de Poissons

2011-12-28T00:15:00.000+08:00

Just like in Italy, it was so much food but so little time. Throughout the trip, dinner was always about 7pm, before 8pm at least. I was told this was pretty early by local standards but that also meant we'll always get a table.

Here's what we had for dinner near our hotel. A nice and fresh seafood meal at a little roadside restaurant, sorry but once again I forgot the name. Yah, I really suck at remembering foreign names and places.

Now when I was in Cannes, Nice a lifetime ago, almost all the joints I been to had fish soup or soupe de poissons on the menu. It was the best thing I had there back then. So when I finally returned to France, I figured I must at least try a fish soup dish and see if the whole experience could be replicated.

Well, the one I had that night was definitely tasty with lotsa seafood flavors coming right at you, but I think after the tuscan soup I had in Florence, the Italian dish is now my new all-time favorite European soup.

Everything else we had was great. Fresh oysters, hot delicious mussels and a rather simple yet gratifying salmon meal.

A bunch of random food pix and other kinda pix too as I made my way across Paris. Hope you like them! Do leave a tick or comment below! <^;^>

Unlike Italy, it was awfully cloudy on most days in Paris

Awwww.... these just look too cute to eat

Of course I had to drop by an Apple store unfortunately I didn't get anything for myself

This here is a pretty famous escagot place that wasn't open for lunch yet when we were there

Game for almost €12 each, I thought that's kinda expensive

Now you can't be in Paris and not try some Vietnamese food, rite?

I kinda like the narrow European streets, don't ask me why

Great festive mood along the Champs-Elysees with rows of stalls selling holiday stuff

Ah, those crazy Frenchies, they just luv to hang stuff everywhere

Cavalock and The Parisian Breakfast Dilemma

2011-12-23T17:51:00.003+08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

With only four days in Paris to do what I gotta do and once that deed is done, find time to eat and shop, it was pretty hectic but fun! A breakfast in Paris can be pretty expensive, I mean compared to our local breakies. It's like over €5 for a simple breakfast consisting of a croissant or baguette and a coffee. I guess it's the minimum wage thing they have that kinda works for them.

Every breakfast I had in Paris was at a different little cafe near my hotel, and I throughly enjoyed every single one of them. It was too cold for some al fresco dining so I had it nice and cozy indoors, like everyone else. But I'm a big breakfast kinda guy so that miniscule morning set ain't gonna last me till lunch so I end up buying another pastry or two.

Yup, all that is available for breakfast too!

Now before I came to Paris, I had people telling me stories bout how rude or arrogant the French are. Fortunately my experience with the locals were all pleasant. Like when we were looking at some foie gras in a shop window and wondering out loud the best way to prepare it, a nice middle-aged French lady came up and offered us some advice in English.

The only negative experience with the locals was at Rome airport immigration. The guy gave me a barely visible chop in my passport and threw it back at me. Notice I said 'locals', I don't consider the numerous gypsies I encountered in both countries as 'locals' and that's another tale for another day.

Which is your favorite Paris tower??? <^;^>

Cavalock and The Les Cocottes Liaison

2011-12-19T16:22:00.003+08:00

Reached Paris in the evening and just in time for dinner at Les Cocottes de Christian which just happened to be round the corner from my little hotel, and I do mean 'little'. It's also within walking distance to the Eiffel Tower so it's definitely a nice dinner spot after a tour.

The restaurant doesn't take any reservations so you gotta start Q-ing if you want a seat especially if you got a large party. Anyway it's a pretty casual joint where if you are dining alone, there's a counter seat area not unlike a sushi bar counter. Even the regular tables come with high stools.

The thing bout this place is almost all the food is served in cast iron casseroles. It retains the heat and flavor of the dish. I ordered the day's dinner set. Mackerel and scallop (with a little puff pastry hanging on the side) for starters, followed by liver with caramelized onions and mashed potatoes. There's a better review here by another Singaporean!

Heh, I have more than a couple of Le Creuset pots and pans so I'm really tempted to try my hand at whipping up something. But that's gotta wait till next year, more on that in another post. ;)

Cavalock and The Pierre Herme Revelation

2011-12-18T22:57:00.001+08:00

I still got a bunch of stuff to writer bout Italy but I think it's bout time I headed to Paris instead. Well, if anyone wants to know how to get to some of the places like Sienna or even the ...gulp!... premium factory outlets around Florence, let me know and I'll do a post on them. :)

Now you can't be a food lover in Paris and not talk bout Pierre Herme's famous Macarons. I only got four days in Paris so I headed to Galeries Lafayette where I believe I was told I could almost everything under one roof. There are actually more than one Pierre Herme stand in the building.

And yes, they are as good as everyone said they would be.

So what else is good at Galeries? Lotsa stuff actually. Although they have a food basement like the departmental stores in Japan, it's not as big or sprawling as the ones in Tokyo. But they do have several fine gourmet food stalls on the upper floors so I guess that kinda evens it out. Like the stall selling Turkish treats on one of the upper floors and in the basement, lotsa prosciutto legs from the basement.

Cavalock and The European Home Shopping Experience

2011-12-13T22:50:00.000+08:00

Two kinda snacks the Italians and French are really nuts about are Kinder Bueno and Nutella. How do I know that? Cos it's everywhere! Kinder Bueno is available everywhere, in all kinds of flavor. And Nutella is found IN everything, in all sizes.

Tiny little bottles in a supermarket in Florence

Big ass bottle in Paris

Below are a few more interesting items I found along the way. Guess which one I bought! <^;^>

An electric bread warmer basket!

Multi-blade herb scissors!

The most expensive dice box any gamer can ask for!

Cavalock and The 1,000-Year-Old Inn

2011-12-12T23:46:00.000+08:00

One of the nicest ‘stopovers’ in Chianti, Tuscany was at alittle insolated cottage at the top of a hill and in the middle of nowhere,well alright, maybe not exactly nowhere but more like in the middle of fieldsof olive trees.

Torre di Ponzano is an extremely quaint place with anequally charming owner. He told me that parts of the estate were over athousand years old and the covers of my bed were like a century old. Surrounded by furniture that's hundreds of years old? I'm back in my element. ;)

Waking up to breathtaking views like these. Popping a freshly plucked olive, pip and all in my mouth. Damn frinkin’priceless.

Dinner was at a restaurant down the hill or was it halfwaydown? I can’t remember. I believe the English translation to the name of therestaurant is something like the ‘pissing monk’. Yes, I am not making this up.

This was actually where I saw my first Florentine steak, didn’torder it though. Instead I ordered my first hare. Yup, that there below was a wabbit. Was all right, a little toobony I thought.

Cavalock and The Obligatory Food Collage

2011-12-11T18:07:00.001+08:00

So many Italian food porn but so little time. Here are just some of the fantastic food I had back in Italy.

Couple of other things I noticed and found rather charming. Pet dogs are everywhere, in restaurants, luxury shops, trains, I like pets and I think it's great if we can bring dogs into places like that.

And you know how the stereotypical image of a traditional Italian restaurant usually features grandma or a matriarch figure working in the kitchen? Well, that's actually true cos I managed to take peek inside a couple of restaurants and there really is a motherly figure calling the shots in the kitchen!

Now what they say bout Rome being one big public museum istrue. Believe it or not, I took waaaay more pix of buildings and museum piecesthan of food. Like most geeks, I’m an ancient history buff and I kinda pridemyself with being able to name some of the statues on display at the Vaticanand around Rome before reaching the inscription.

Cavalock and The European Knockers

2011-12-10T23:49:00.001+08:00

What else did I eat in Italy, or Tuscany to be exact, that Ireally liked? Tuscan soup or ribollita I think, the first one I ordered waslike a warm bowl of hearty homegrown, homemade veggie goodness. From what Iunderstand (I could be wrong here), there are more than one version of thistraditional broth, depending on the season and availability of localingredients.

It’s mainly beans and other veggies cooked over a low heat.Then you pour it in a large ovenproof dish with a couple thin layers of breadin it although I think in some joints, they’ll serve the bread on top?Ribollita means ‘re-boiled’ and that’s what you do to the soup, reheating itover a very low heat. People were talking to me while I was having it and Ijust ignored them. :P

Someone ordered a sea platter that was just amazing. Likethe Florentine steak, it was a simple dish yet something I’m won’t ever forget.Some mussels, clams, baby squid, lemon, garlic, spices and I’m pretty sure someolive oil too. Thought I took a pix of it but I guess not. :(

But if you are looking for way cooler Italian and Frenchfood posts from Singaporeans, there are some here and here.

Besides taking a ton of food pix, something else caught my cameraeye too, Italian knockers! Some big, some small but all so eye-catchinglydesigned and every single one of them a work of art.

Hmmmm … didn’t see a lot of knockers in Paris. These three werethe more attention grabbing French ones.

Cavalock and The Rainbow Ride

2011-12-09T10:44:00.001+08:00

No matter how hard we try I don’t think we can never getsuch a vivid and vibrant display of fruity veggie goodness in our localsupermarkets or wet markets. I dunno if it’s the natural lighting or maybe theproduce were all just freshly transported from the fields or something, butthey just look so damn good back in Italy and France.

A roadside rainbow from a little town called Siena in Italy

I think It’s also how the Italians and French display theirfruits, see how there’s a little color coordinated arrangement or with thebright French fruit display. Notice the berries on sale in Siena are like,red, blue, red, blue, etc. Know what I mean? <^;^>

Fruit stall in Paris

Anyone likes cars out there? Here are some fancy car pixjust for you. Being in this garage in Florence was pretty surreal. It’s all hushhush, can’t talk bout it but it was like Grand Thief Auto meets The ItalianJob. ;)

Cavalock and The Florentine Steak Fascination

2011-12-08T00:02:00.001+08:00

One of the cool things bout travelling is you meet somepretty interesting folks. Met two nice American couples on separate occasionsin Tuscany, both in their 50s or early 60s I think. One couple was from theeast coast, the other from the mid west. You can tell they are professionals,maybe retired. Remarkable thing is the guys or gentlemen are Asians (Chinese).I mean they probably got married bout 30 years ago and I just kept wonderingwhat was it like for a young white American girl to marry an Asian guy backthen. Blame the anthropologist part of my past. ;)

Anyway, back to food again, one of my favorite dishes whilein Florence was its famous Florentine beefsteak. Here’s what I was told bout itby the locals, young beef steak weighing a kilo (bone included), at least 2cmthick and you are supposed to share it with another lucky person. Cooked simplywith salt and pepper over a charcoal fire, followed by a trickle ofextra-virgin olive oil.

Well, Osteria dall’Oste is a restaurant in Florence near theCentral Railway Station, where I had my first (and hopefully not my last)Florentine steak. They had a slightly smaller portion for one on the menu sothat’s what I ordered. Saw other tables having it too so I knew it had to begood. Tender, juicy, delicious, just bout everything good you can say bout a steakare just gonna come outta your lips when you take a bite. I believe lotsa otherjoints around Florence has it on their menu too so if you are into meat, don’tforget to take a stab at it when in the city.

Excellent moist Tiramisu. Others I had in Italy were a little 'harder' and drier.

Your steak before it shows up on your table.

More meat on display!

Hungry yet?

Now if you are young and in love in Florence, you might be tempted to do something like this, write your names on a padlock, then lock it on some public property and your love will last forever. There are times like these when I wish I still had my old lock-picking toolkit with me.

Cavalock and The Magnum Manifestation

2011-12-07T09:54:00.001+08:00

At this rate I'm going, it'll be one food post a day. Hah, still on the topic of sweet Italian munchies. Snapped these all over Rome and Tuscany, I didn't have a chance to try all of them so I don't know which is sweet or savory. Now this is just the ones from Italy, I ain't gotten to the ones from Paris yet! ;)

Then a quick pop into an Italian supermart. Saw these that I have yet to find in our local marts. But really, in a land filled with wonderful gelato, would anyone still want this?

Now for something not exactly food related but I thought these were kinda amusing. Long shopping Qs and you thought they only happen around this part of the world.

The folks below were Q-ing for limited edition action figures. Not! It's a place where you get to meet a lot of nasty, rude people from China. They may be young and rich but I think we all know how they or their folks got their $$$.

Remember how we got young people Q-ing at H&M? In Paris, we got lotsa little old French ladies Q-ing outside Marks and Spencer under dark clouds and single-digit temp! Eat that, local teens! I bet none of our hipsters can stand in the cold like these aunties!

OK, I'm not sure what they were lining up for but I did notice some of them left carrying bags of food items, not knickers. :P

Cavalock and The Italian Dessert Trail

2011-12-06T00:18:00.001+08:00

Needless to say, I seriously upped my 'gastronomical' experience in Italy and France. Had wonderful food that I could never ever savor back home. This wasn't my first time there actually, was in Nice, France (and a little Italian border town) for a week a lifetime ago on my first overseas assignment. But I was totally still wet behind the ears and a virgin in every sense of the word. Not a really a foodie, oblivious to certain elements but some things never change. After all these years, only English channel on French and Italian TV is still CNN! :P

Well, I sure as hell enjoyed my meals a whole lot more during this trip. I ain't kidding when I say everything looked incredibly tempting. Don't believe me? Take a look at these desserts and snacks I snapped in Rome and Florence.

You can't talk bout Italian desserts without Gelato. I actually went to Gelateria di Piazza, the Gelato World Champ shop in Siena, Tuscany but that was closed till Spring next year. :( So I had to settle for these other gelato shots. Yah, poor me! ;)

Some ice-cream cakes in Rome that I had no chance of trying.

And after watching all those episodes of Cake Boss, I finally had my first canole in Italy. It's basically a piece of rolled up fried pastry dough filled with sweet cream containing ricotta. Seriously, where can I find canole back home here?!?

Cavalock and The Italian Cappuccino Connection

2011-12-05T16:31:00.001+08:00

If there's anyone still reading this, I know I haven't updated it but I'm back from Italy and France!

So would you believe a special invite from the Vatican to check out certain 'forgotten' tomes and manuals? Hah, anyway check this out. First night in Rome and I woke up to several unexplained bruises and scratches on my arm. Such paranormal manifestations were expected as some of the places I was at would have set a PKE meter off its dial.

OK, I know no one really wants to see that. Rome was my first stop and it was simply a freakin' delight to drink cups and cups of cappuccinos with delicious Italian pastries everyday. What really impressed me are the Italian coffee joints with the baristas working the long expresso machines. People on their way would come in, order a cup, stand and drink it at the coffee/bar counter, then leave. Fast and easy, why can't we have something like that here? Screw Starbucks! No wonder I couldn't see one at all in Rome or Florence.

My first snack on a very sunny morning in Rome

That's the counter where you stand and drink your cuppa (or to go), then you scram!

Geez, I got so many food pix to show, it's gonna be pretty tough to pick them out. Alright, how bout these cappuccino shots to start things off. Lotsa more yummy food pix and some crazy stuff coming up real soon. Leave a comment or tick below! <^;^>

Cavalock and The Creamier Ice Cream Congruence

2011-11-17T18:20:00.001+08:00

My friend's ice-cream joint Creamier has finally opened! I have been looking forward to this for a long time now. Lots of exciting flavors, from the expected like good ol' vanilla to the unexpected like Ginger Masala! And it's made in the shop too so well, you can't get fresher than that.

Naturally I tried little wooden stick spoons of every single flavor in the shop. The flavors are all very rich and strong. And I finally decided to settle for a cup of Ginger Masala. It was something I wasn't prepared for when I first tasted it. There's a strong ginger taste initially but the creamy ice cream kinda takes over but there's still the tiny little bits of ginger that give you spicy kick. Definitely my new favorite! <^;^>

Although the shop's new, my friend has been making ice-cream for a few months now. She did weddings and even an F1 party in September. It's a really cosy little shop and they got beer from Japan too.

This Saturday 19th November is their official opening and they'll be having a 20% off storewide, just for that day. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it for the event and as to why I can't make, well, hopefully my next post ought to be able to explain why.

Oh, but check out my Twitter, I hope to be able update it on what's coming up!

Cavalock and The Photo Collage Experiment

2011-11-13T17:58:00.001+08:00

Hey, my first photo collage! Downloaded the free app from the App Store to my MacBook Pro and here are some highlight pix from this week, all snapped by my new iPhone 4S 8 megapixel camera. It's called Collage Creator Lite and I think it turned out pretty good. Yummy food, a new watch, latest TV shows on the iPad and a meeting with legendary Green Lantern artist Joe Staton. What a week!

Cavalock and The iPhone Inevitability

2011-11-06T18:16:00.002+08:00

I guess it's no surprise that I bought the new iPhone 4S. There are already 6 working Apple products in my apartment right now including a new MacBook Pro I bought just 2 months ago. Also I have on more than one occasion gushed over them like here and here. Anyway it was almost 2 years after I got the iPhone 3GS and my teleco contract was up so like I said, no surprise here.

Naturally I took as many food pix as I can remember, after I have placed my order or stumbling upon a new joint, like this one at 313 Somerset at Orchard, Yomenya Goemon. It's apparently the 2nd largest food chain in Japan with 2,500 outlets. They are new here and are tucked in the little corner on the ground floor. Their local website does have all the info/menu you need right there.

Well, like the sign says it's Japanese spaghetti and you eat it with chopsticks. I ordered the spaghetti with sesame sauce and shabu shabu pork slices. I got a weak spot for shabu shabu and this dish came up spades. The sesame sauce is pretty rich, which naturally means the shabu shabu slices are just so full of the flavor.

What else did I snap with my iPhone camera? We got corn beef sandwich at Seah Street Deli, stingray and mussels rice set at Lavender Food Court, Toffee Nut Latte from Starbucks and finally a look at things to come from Mos Burger and Marvel Comics! Anybody else collecting them?

Cavalock and The Oreo Variety Variance

2011-10-30T15:39:00.000+08:00

After last post on all them crazy Oreos, look what I found today at Meidi-Ya! More packs of yummy Oreos from Japan! This looks like it's going to be my favorite, coffee caramel Oreo. These are soft cookies, I believe softer than your regular Oreos so don't think bout dipping them in milk just yet.

Another flavor that caught my eye was this lemony one. Not a big fan on all things lemony so ...er... there you go.

From where I come from, Teh-O or tea-O means tea with sugar only and no milk or cream. But in Japan, it looks like with Tea O On The Rock, you still get your (royal) milk tea with it or not.

Cavalock and The Oreo Odyssey

2011-10-26T22:20:00.000+08:00

A day spent shopping for a cause. More on that another time when things are more 'concrete' (hint, hint). Well, I saw lotsa pretty cool and zany stuff but didn't buy anything of them. The last pix at the end of this post, well, that ought to explain why I have't got any money left for anything else. <^;^>

First up, would you pay S$50 for a pair of goggles that allegedly prevents you from weeping as you are slicing onions? Nah, I don't think I would. And if I wore them, I'll still be crying cos I just wasted 50 bucks.

The coolest Oreos in the world are from Japan?!? Apparently so, just like Japanese Kit Kat bars, there are all kinds of new and interesting flavors to choose from.

Finally, guess which brand just blew a hole in my bank account? :P

Cavalock and The Le Creuset Carrier Goodie Bag

2011-10-23T00:55:00.001+08:00

Now I don't usually pay much attention to those Japanese magazine bags, you know the ones that come with a free branded fashion accessory, usually a bag, (there's a proper name for them but I can't remember it right now) on sale at Kinokuniya but this one caught my eye.

It's from popular cookware Le Creuset! Looks like everyone's getting into the act. Anyway I think it makes a pretty neat gift to anyone who loves cooking. That little cast iron French oven doubles as a magnet too if you wanna stick it on your fridge!

Inside pages feature a nice catalog and yummy recipes, all in Japanese. Well, you can always enjoy the food porn if you don't read Japanese. Spotted more than a couple of Le Creuset that are already in my kitchen too. ;P

Been reading quite a bit on the Occupy Wall Street movement. After all the articles I have read, I can safely say I do know what's going on but I just still don't get beyond the 'why bother' bit, as in do they really think they can make a difference? I guess it's easy to hit on giant faceless institution like Wall Street when one is down on one's luck. For all the students protesting, I bet more than half of them wouldn't be in college if not for the money daddy made on Wall Street. And all of them sure as hell wouldn't be coordinating the event on their iPhones or BBs if Wall Street hadn't invested in those companies. You don't bite the hand that feeds you. Sure there are some bad apples on Wall Street, just like there are bad cops, bad teachers, bad doctors in just about every profession but you don't plan mass protests outside their workplaces. I can understand the problem but what is the point of protesting? The time, energy and money spent protesting could had been used for something much more constructive.

And finally Thought of The Day from this week's Big Bang Theory vanity card, "The reason you suffer is because you think your identity and worth as a human being are inextricably tied into your career. Don't think that."

Cavalock and The Steeples Sandwich Sanctity

2011-10-12T14:50:00.008+08:00

Having said good-bye (for now) to a regular desk bound gig, I finally found the time to visit an old food haunt last week. Strolled into sandwich joint Steeples Deli at Tanglin Shopping Centre last week for lunch and well, some things were the same, some weren't.

Good news is that the food is still as good as I remembered. Had the corned beef sandwich and it was done just right, slightly toasted wheat bread and not too dry and tender beef strips. The Waldorf salad was alright, didn't really stuck in my mind.

There were also the vanilla milkshake and the classic club sandwich. Although I didn't have them, was told all were delicious. It's still the best and only place in Orchard to go to for a truly outstanding sandwich.

Now the bad news is the place was almost empty at lunchtime, on a weekday! I thought that was just sad. When I was first there over a decade ago, brought there by a couple of older reporters. I remembered how pack the joint was. It's just counter seats and some days you gotta wait outside the deli. And you got that toasted bread aroma whiffing through the joint.

Man, I gotta start hanging out there again before it's gone or something. But to be honest, I kinda prefer the less crowd and all. Really great deli food at a reasonable price.

Finally, check this little monster out! From our Japanese burger chain Freshness Burger here in our neighborhood. The 'Bo Lo Ti' one is pretty funny. <^;^>

Cavalock And The Gaming Gene

2011-10-05T20:31:00.006+08:00

Life is short and you got to enjoy it while you can. That's something I learned this year with my late mom. Besides good food, I'll always have time for a good ol' boardgame session or two or three with friends. Trash-talking away as we try to outwit and outsmart each other, you can't find a better time (without the use of illegal substances or services) than that!

Then there's our regular DnD role-playing game sessions, that is frickin' FUN! That is why I can never understand guys who are younger than me who take life too seriously and who only know how to think about making money and stuff, don't they remember what it was like being a kid and having fun? But that's another post or rant for another day....

Anyway these aren't kiddy boardgames you find in our department stores. Here are just some of our current favorite games. Kingsburg below is great dice game where you total the points on your dice roll and buy resources to build your kingdom. Very luck-based if you are into dice rolling.

Another dice game is the best-selling new Quarriors. Released a couple months ago only, it's already sold out around the world. Roll a set number of special creature dice, use the results to 'buy' more dice and beat the crap outta your opponents!

If you don't like the luck factor of rolling a dice, there's the multi-award winning 7 Wonders. A card drafting game where you are in charge of an ancient city, and each card plays as a different resource or building. The card drafting is the fun part where you try to outsmart the guys sitting to your left and right. More strategy here than most other games which also means more fun for all!

And then there's the ol' classic Dungeons and Dragons, the role-playing game that has driven women away from us geeks for centuries! Now updated for the 21st century with the iPad!

A final parting shot of me and former DC Comics President Paul Levitz while he was here a couple months ago. That's yours truly moderating a panel with him (er, can you still call it a panel if it's just the two of us on stage like The Actor's Stage?). Biggest geek thrill of the year! And a big thank you to Red Dot Diva who snapped that shot. Check out her site over the couple weeks as she hangs out with some Hollywood celebs at New York Comic Con later this month.

Alright, the next post will be about FOOD! Promise! <^;^>

Cavalock and The Pesto Peculiarity

2011-09-19T16:04:00.002+08:00

After days of fussing and 'fessing, I finally bought the ingredients I needed to make some pesto. So why pesto? To be honest, I think in my entire life, I only had it a couple times. Well, I was reading an article bout it in Saveur magazine, its colorful history across not just Italy but all over Europe. Really nice read. It made me wanna put something together.

Then I found this simple recipe in Food Network magazine. A simple one that I think anyone can whip up in less than 10 minutes.

Blend 8 cups packed basil leaves, 1 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts, 2 to 4 garlic cloves and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a food processor until almost smooth. Stir in 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese.

I didn't follow the exact recipe, I depended more on what I liked or more comfortable with. Of course, you can use other greens besides basil. There were more interesting pesto recipes in the Saveur magazine.

It turned out pretty good! The basil came out a tiny bit stronger than I expected but still a pleasant spread for my bread buns. My mussels recipe can be found here. Although the Food Network magazine suggested I stir the pesto with the mussels, I didn't and used it as a spread instead.

Heh! Yah I know that below ain't exactly the most appetizing iPhone shot ever. :P

Cavalock and The Homemade Ice Cream Surpise

2011-09-14T12:11:00.002+08:00

Just wanna say a big 'Thank You' to the local food blogger who made this beautiful tub of white chocolate ice cream. Got it through a third party, it's creamy yummy!

I way prefer white choc than dark choc so I was extremely delighted to receive this. I have never met this or any other local food blogger before, still haven't. I hope the person enjoys the latest three episodes of Top Chef: Just Desserts Season 2, that I passed over in a thumbdrive. <^;^>

Cavalock and The Birthday Vinegar Loot

2011-09-10T17:34:00.001+08:00

Paul is finally here! Had my first taste of Paul bakery while in London couple years ago and it looks like they'll be at Takashimaya before the end of the year.

And some pix I took of Paul while in London. I only have delicious memories of the place so you can't go wrong with it.

Now just to show that even though I'm a year older today than I was three days ago, I can be as hip as the next teenager in town. Alas my H&M loot from not this local outlet, but Tokyo and London.

Two pretty thick black hats or caps, one from London the other from Tokyo that I only wear when I'm outta this country. Yes, I think any guy who wears a hat in this weather has gotta be nuts. I know, strange thing to say especially when I'm responsible for this. :P

14 different pairs of socks from London! One set has the days of the week on them while the other set consists of different color combos. Luv them and they are now the only socks I wear all the time.

As usual, it's either all bout food or all bout geeky stuff on my birthday. And since I didn't buy a single item made outta plastic this year. Here are some of the yummy goodies I got instead and yes, they are from the Kyushu Fair at Isetan.

Ok, I might have got just a little overboard with the vinegar drink here but damn, they really taste great. Mix it with Sprite or on the rocks. That's over a hundred bucks of (lime black vinegar, brown rice, brown rice with apple, plum) vinegar right there!

A Maple Syrup with Pudding Fresh Roll (Birthday?) Cake by Japanese Iron Chef Sakai. I know it sounds terribly sweet but it isn't. It's light and not too sweet, the pudding gives it a nice different texture to the sponge cake.

Cavalock and The Sashimi Still-Life Snag

2011-09-04T17:34:00.001+08:00

Looking back at some of my older posts and I mean really older posts, like this one back in 2006, lots have changed in my life and surroundings. Well, no longer is the Sentinel action figure guarding my wine rack in the living room is gone and replaced by a more subtle display.

I thought the autographed O-No Sashimi display would also make a more ...er... interesting conversation piece if I ever, ever, EVER have any guests drop by. :P

I'll also be posting shorter pieces too I think, like when I first started. Besides I'm twitting way more these days and that's where you'll find all the food pix too, plus the geeky stuff of cos. Remember now, life is too short to be spent doing the things you don't like!

Cavalock and The Stingray Mussels Duality

2011-08-26T23:21:00.014+08:00

Let's see now, my 2-month freelance gig has just ended but that doesn't mean I got nothing to do, not by a long shot ... well, not till the end of the year at least I think. Although they did asked me to stay for a couple more months, I said 'no'. Well, it's never too early to stop and smell the roses, and do the things you always wanted to.

I read this in the papers earlier this year, "Retirement is about taking a break from work pressure, it's about having time to do all the things you have had to put off, it's about freedom.

It is not essential to retire rich, but it is important to enough to retire carefree."

Since my mom's passing, I learned that there are waaaaaay more important things in life than work and getting caught in the rat race. Family, friends, doing the things you have always wanted to do and experiencing new things, I'll try to pack them all in or maybe I'll just veg out. <^;^>

Alright back to food talk. Here's my new fav cheap food stall, at Lavender food court.

Their combo meals are what I go for. For S$4.50, you get one seafood like stingray or squid with rice and a sunny side-up egg. And for S$7.00, you get two seafood and rice.

I think these combo meals are a great idea. If an entire BBQ stingray is too much for you, you can have a smaller piece here with almost any other kinda seafood, and yes, I have asked for my own combo that wasn't up on the board. So does anyone know of any other seafood BBQ stalls that serve such combo meals???

The S$7.00 BBQ Stingray and mussels combo is my regular pick for dinner. I like mine with a little less hot sauce, thank you. The pix below is one I 'ta-pow' or a takeaway order so trust me, it looks more appetizing on a plate than in a styrofoam box here. :P

Cavalock and The Moderator's Fear

2011-08-24T21:18:00.016+08:00

This year's Singapore Toy Game & Comic Convention was last weekend and boy, did I have an incredible time there. So many memorable moments, all good ones.

Without a doubt, best experience of all was me getting on stage and moderating a one-on-one panel with Guest of Honor, Paul Levitz, former president and publisher of DC Comics. Let’s see now, how should I put this…imagine asking a die-hard Beatles fan to interview Sir Paul in front of a camera and a hundred Beatles fans. So you can tell how I felt. Helluva nervous when I was first approached to do it couple weeks ago but really, for someone as high up the geek food chain as he is, he turned out to be one of the coolest and most genial person I have ever met. …Now keeping fingers crossed for own talkshow offer to come… :P

Despite several regular toy and comic shops pulling out of this year’s convention (for rather selfish reasons from the rumors I heard), the event was still seen by many as a bigger success than the last one. Rental was up but you got more overseas guests, larger Asian presence and from what I gathered, the feedback from exhibitors and guests were generally positive.

Besides my moderating debut, I managed to score some great bargains too. Mostly action figures plus a limited edition vinyl display toy, the O-No Sashimi by Andrew Bell. A hot seller at the convention, I thought it was funny and cute. Hey, I like sashimi, the designer Andrew Bell was there to autograph it so why not. Now all I gotta do is find a suitable place to display it. ;)

Other amazing bargains I got was the Classic Avengers figure set for S$45, spotted the only box less than half hour after I entered the hall. Great deal, grabbed it immediately. On the second day, bought the latest Batman Inc. figure for less than S$20, another steal at that price. Plus a lovely Catwoman sketch by the talented Wendy Chew.

Another thing that really, really stood out for me was how nice and friendly everyone was. From stall owners to convention guests, almost everyone was cool bout everything. Had a nice short chat with the wonderful folks at the DC Comics and Kinokuniya booths.

And the next thing I knew I had these little babies in my possession; a couple of San Diego Comic Con exclusives like a loose Zoom action figure and a Wayne Casino poker chip.

And finally, let's not forget that this convention is and always will be for the young and young at heart.

Oh, you gotta luv how the convention takes care of any 'lost and found' kids. No way you can miss them here. ;)

Cavalock and The Geek Food Odyssey

2011-08-23T14:55:00.005+08:00

What an incredible weekend! Oh, next couple posts are all nerdy, geeky stuff so turn back now or forever be nerdified.

Last Saturday and Sunday was the Singapore Toy Game & Comic Convention and boy, did I have a blast! More on that in another post.

Well, the fun actually started on the Tuesday before the convention when I met up again with Marvel Comics’ C.B. Cebulski (who’s also an avid food blogger at his Eataku) at Oriental Mandarin and brought him to Old Airport Road for a late breakfast or was it early lunch? Anyway you can find those pix at his food blog. It’s his second trip here and this time he wanted at least a day away from the posh touristy food joints. We were joined later by those great, crazy guys from HereBeGeeks, Red Dot Diva and Ryan.

It was a non-stop feeding odyssey! 20 dishes in 10.5 hours across the island! And as for the lack of food pix ...hmmmmm... just felt more like eating than clicking that day. <^;^>

From Old Airport Road, we had lor mee, wanton mee, prawn mee, chee cheong fun, bean curd, sugarcane drinks and a big plate of kuay chap and pig innards before 2pm!

Then a cab ride to Joo Chiat for bak kut tay, one regular pepper bowl and another with their special herbal soup. Followed by Chinese desserts like pomelo mango pudding at Katong and we are off to Hong Lim Complex in Chinatown for more! Too bad the popular crayfish hor fun was all sold out when we got there but we soon found ourselves staring at more wanton mee, minced pork noodles, sour plum lime juice and curry noodles.

A short break at Café Iguana. Well, I didn’t drink for obvious reasons. Next and final stop, the open air East Coast food centre, think that’s the official name. We had prawn paste chicken, oyster omelet, chicken wings, satay (pork, pork belly and mutton) and sambal stingray.

And that’s a wrap! Burp!

Cavalock and The Miette Mini Mistakes

2011-08-13T23:16:00.007+08:00

Hah! My first public service announcement! If you have bought this beautiful baking book Miette: recipes from san francisco's most charming pastry shop, like yours truly here, then this little PSA definitely applies to you.

It seems like publisher Chronicle Books made a couple of mistakes in it and there's a link to all the amendments right here. Don't start baking until you read this especially if you are making Vanilla Buttercream on page 185. Anyway, it's still a great looking book with lots of yummy-looking pastries. No regrets getting it. I could visit the place one day.

Now since almost I know is posting kitty pix over the Internet, I thought I'll do my bit and post some edible ones. Probably the best looking doughnuts ever! Yup, of cos it's only from Japan.

They are from a doughnut shop called Floresta Nature Doughnuts. Time Out Tokyo has this to say bout them in their Top 7 doughnut shops article:

This shop offers what they call ‘nature doughnuts’. Floresta has its main shop in Nara and its owners are a husband and wife team who wanted to make guilt-free doughnuts that they could feel good about giving to children. The flour, eggs, salt and sugar used in these doughnuts are all organic and domestically produced. Floresta avoids the large batch production that many other outlets use, and only makes doughnuts as needed. Other aspects of the doughnut-making process are also carefully executed with a conscience, right down to their choice of washing detergent, making their doughnuts both good for people and the environment. Floresta is take-away only.

Damn, I really miss the country. Pix are from floresta mama and here's a whole buncha other little critters too!

Cavalock and The Return of The Arctic Roll

2011-08-05T22:34:00.007+08:00

How many people out there remember this from his or her childhood? Birds Eye Arctic Roll ice cream cake. Its been back in the local supermaket frozen aisles for like a year now. Well, when I was a kid I had them almost after every other meal.

Cold, sweet creamy goodness plus thin layer of yummy sponge cake round it. It’s like a little slice of my childhood back in my mouth. Now here’s the slightly bizarre thing, just about everyone I spoke to never had it when they were young. No one remembers it or has had it before. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone of desserts. Look, it even says "It's Back!" on the box so that means it was sold here some time back.

A futile attempt at a sepia shot of a slice of Arctic Roll here. But still tastes as good as ever. <^;^>

Here’s something I snapped on my way back from lunch. Quite possibly the most useless or redundant public campaign ever. Or maybe the very first campaign that I that fully support? Really, who needs convincing?

Cavalock and The Okinawan Two-Pronged Maneuver

2011-07-27T20:33:00.009+08:00

Here's a joint that's been around for years but I have never stepped into until couple weeks ago. It's the Nirai Kanai Okinawan Restaurants in Tanglin Shopping Centre and Liang Court. Yup, I hit both places in two weeks so that ought to tell you how much I enjoyed it.

The one in Liang Court is kinda small, bout half the size of the Tanglin one I reckon. One thing you gotta know is that the Tanglin joint doesn't serve set meals for dinner like in Liang Court so just watch out for that, plus they don't have a couple other items on the menu like kurobuta or black pig pork. Thankfully their simmering pork belly is readily available at both venues.

Here are some of the a la carte dishes we had. All very tasty and the portions were just nice for our party of four. The Tanglin place filled up real fast on a Saturday nite with mostly Japanese patrons.

Alright, enough of the food porn. It's that time of the year where we drop in our favorite wash pole patriot.

After taking this first pix a few weeks ago, it looked like someone must have complained to the authorities bout it. Today after years or even decades, it's draped against the wall like the others. BUT I bet on some days you'll still see laundry all over it!

Cavalock and The Mars Muffin Combination

2011-07-18T22:13:00.005+08:00

Back to your regularly scheduled posts and my neverending quest to be a freeloading food blogger.

After a long hiatus, we'll start with something small and sweet. I heard bout them sometime back but finally found them here at, where else but Meidi-Ya, Liang Court. Introducing the Mars Muffin!

I'm not a big Mars fan. Whenever I think of Mars bars, I think of my army dayz. That's when you'll see me grabbing and munching on either a Mars or Snickers bar in the afternoon. I really needed the sugar rush I guess. After leaving the army, I don't think I have touched another Mars bar since, well, I think I did have some of them little mini-ones now and then. <^;^>

Anyway, I didn't get the Mars Muffin, not into muffins and not into Mars (anymore) so there you go. But it does sound pretty yummy. Like it says on the wrapper, only 356 calories (like I know what's the recommended limit!) and there's soft caramel filling!

Cavalock and The World's Greatest Mom

2011-07-09T23:52:00.009+08:00

I want to thank everyone for their prayers and thoughts for my mom over the last year when she was first diagnosed with leukemia.

Despite all the pain she went through the last year, she kept her sense of humor, always smiling and never complained about anything right till the end. She always put everyone else first before her, especially me. I was fortunate to be right at her bedside when she breathed her last. We were also lucky that we had the time to say everything we wanted to each other and I stopped working to be with her, I guess not many people were that lucky as I had been.

Right now I can so totally relate to Anakin Skywalker and Doctor Doom, when their moms died and how they flew into this murderous rage. If you ask me would I commit genocide and kill off an entire population of innocent men, women and children just so my mom would be back alive and healthy. In a heartbeat. Well, that's geek part of me talking...

Young Liz and Audrey Heburn aint got nothing on my mom!

My mom put the 'gal' in 'frugal', that's for sure. She strongly believed in saving at an early age. She stopped working when I was in primary school to be a housewife. She never spent a cent on luxury stuff, saved every dime she made and hardly ate out. Although she did say to me not long ago to eat whatever I wanted and never be stingy about food. She was a housewife and a fantastic cook, best damn steak and spaghetti and meatballs ever, made this unbelievable tomato sauce from scratch. I'm just bummed that I never got the recipes.

Back to the frugal part, it's cos of her that I firmly believe that if you started saving as a kid, you can afford to buy your own apartments without a mortgage or a loan, I seen it myself. She never believed in loans or mortgages. Being in debt was a fate worse than death.

Well, I'm eternally grateful and blessed to have her as my mom. It's all becos of her that I can do the things I wanna do and not worry about money. Worked in creative jobs I enjoyed even though the pay and hours sucked. I got a whole bunch of cool memories and stories to share maybe one day. I loved her so much.

Cavalock and The Calpis Vodka Counterbalance

2011-06-13T21:55:00.008+08:00

Talk about a match made in heaven. One of my favorite drinks Calpis now comes with added booze or vodka to be exact! I'm quite surprised that they didn't change the packaging cos it looks just like their regular Calpis can. Anyway so how does it taste like? Well, you are not gonna get pissed drunk drinking one can that's for sure, and drinking more one a can of milk culture, well, that'll sort of give a whole new set of problems, if you know what I mean.

So really, it's a nice little vodka drink. You can definitely taste the vodka, the (in)famous Calpis tang isn't as blatant as in a regular Calpis drink, so I guess if you were never into Calpis this could just right for you. :P

The weekend was rather therapeutic as I became the designated photographer for a making-of-macarons pix collection. They really taste great, you got your texture, rich flavors and everything, there's raspberry, earl grey and caramel but unfortunately they aren't for sale. They are all gifts but maybe one day they will be...

Cavalock and The Gnocchi Discovery

2011-06-04T23:02:00.007+08:00

It took me a long time but I finally found myself some gnocchi! Maybe it's the Italian joints I used to go to but gnocchi is not a dish you often see on their menus. Anyway, thanks to epicurative's post on Da Luca, an Italian restaurant at Goldhill Plaza, I got to have my first taste of spinach gnocchi. It was pure melt-in-your-mouth goodness. I guess there's not much in terms of texture but the taste was just right with a light sweetness to it.

The rocket salad with pear and cheese was also a nice choice before the gnocchi main course. You got the cheese and sweet slices of pear in a right combo with the crunchy rocket leaves. Yah, the shots aren't that great cos of the dim restaurant lighting and all.

All right! Now that I got the gnocchi ticked off my list but doesn't mean I don't want any more gnocchi, but the next thing I got to try is a Philly Cheesesteak. Just like gnocchi, I read a lot about it, seen a lot of it on TV but have yet to try it. So wish me luck!

Cavalock and The Freshness Burger Overload

2011-05-29T22:32:00.010+08:00

Finally found the time for a quick foodie blog! It's a difficult month, daily trips to SGH meant almost no time or energy for whipping up a home-cooked meal or dining at any fancy new restaurant.

But all is not lost! My new favorite fast-food joint is now Freshness Burger, at The Central near River Valley not cos it's just few bus stops from SGH, it's also cos the food is great and they play music from the 50s' and 60s'! <^;^>

I know I did a short write-up on them a couple posts back, but here we got a whole post just on them cos I like them that much.

It's not everyday you get a burger joint that offers HP sauce. One gripe is the size of their burgers, a little smaller compared to McD and the rest. I thought their beef burger was a little too dry. So I guess you can tell, that's not my favorite thing on their menu.

This is what I like up there, their Spam Burger. Yup, that is a slice of spam in the bun but that's not the star. The star's the gorgeous runny egg that oozes out yummy yolk upon your first bite. What other fast food burger joint serves that???

As for my ultimate favorite thing on the menu, that's got to be the Cheese Dog! Lotsa beautiful melted cheese on a hot dog, top it up with mustard and ketchup. Can't go wrong with that rite? And did I mention you get to listen to Elvis while eating a cheese dog?

Before and After pix! After I top it up with you-know-what. :P

A couple of their sides stand out too. I thought their popovers were pretty good. Simple, fluffy enough for me and the cream cheese was alright too.

Their Hokkaido potato slices, very nice as well. Thick tasty slices and not to be confused with their French fries which were just average.

Cavalock And The Flashback Dome

2011-05-08T10:39:00.009+08:00

No time to visit any new joints or cook a meal at home so I thought maybe I'll just do a little flashback post here.

I said this before bout me starting this blog, it's all bout me talking bout the things I like, stuff that makes me happy but right now...geez, I really need to feel good again. Anyway always funny to see the different things that would put a smile on my face over the years. Here are some of the things that kept me busy in early May for the last few years.

2006 A toasty morning is always welcome

2007 Missing royalty

2008 Trigger-happy dayz

2009 And they are still in their boxes today

2010 Japanese lunchbox for the win

Oh wait, I did managed to drop by Natsuttei ramen at Millenia Walk and snapped this pix of my chashu ramen lunch. Yes, I really needed that drink.

Cavalock and The Cup Noodle Election

2011-04-28T19:47:00.008+08:00

Well, really how could I NOT put 'election' in the title? It's time to vote for your favorite Nissin cup noodle! It's Nissin's Cup Noodle 40th Anniversary and if you check in their website, you'll see over 70 different flavors of cup noodles over the years. There are some really wacky flavors in there, like Cheese & Garlic, Bacon and Pizza & Margherita (I have no idea how that tastes like).

The only time that I remember wolfing down cups of noodles was when I was working on a ton of late nite projects at an agency in Suntec City. So dinner would be from Carrefour and that would consist of a cup of noodles and a can of sardines or mackerels.

Geez, we never get to see of the crazy flavors here. There's even a limited edition skeleton one. Nah, it's not all bones in the cup, it's just a see-through cup. This Japan Trends site has more details like how the top three cups would be brought to the shelves.

Cavalock and The Confectionery Causeway

2011-04-24T16:46:00.012+08:00

Here's another reason for me to visit Takashimaya these days! There's a new food or rather confectionary zone at Basement Two that's home to about seven confectionaries from Japan.

I remember some of them when I was in Japan. I definitely recall seeing the rotating 'tubes' from Juchheim. Didn't buy it back then cos I was already out of luggage space whenever I see it. But here they are now so of cos, I grabbed one ...er...wheel? Mine was the smallest and it's a little bigger than a CD-ROM for S$14.90.

Was pleasantly nice and reminded me of Polar's sweet rolls except less sweet and a tad denser. Some might find it a little too dry but I think having it with coffee or tea would be perfect.

Making or baking it looks like a pretty tedious process. You see the baker guy doing it layer by layer kinda like our local kuah lapis.

And yah, I will be posting more Made-In-Japan stuff in the coming weeks. I may not be heading there anytime soon but I hope what little I do here would help their economy.

Cavalock and The Uniqlo Collaboration

2011-04-23T15:27:00.009+08:00

Whenever I'm back in Tokyo, there's one shop that I sure as hell would sure to visit and spend like an entire day there. That's Tokyu Hands and they'll be opening a store right here real soon. When I heard that, I immediately signed up as a store clerk and here's my uniform!

Nah, I'm just yanking yer chain!

Tokyu Hands ain't opening a chain here. Got the t-shirt at Uniqlo last week, it's from their Corporate Collaboration line of t-shirts, where they jointly come up with a bunch of t-shirts with logos of major Japanese and foreign companies. The other t-shirt I got on the right is one with Fuji Soba.

Managed to hit a couple of new joints this and last week too. Finally found myself at Smiths Authentic Fish and Chips at Tanjong Katong on a hot Sunday afternoon. Heard good things bout their cod but decided to go for the dory (S$10) instead. Now I wasn't exactly being cheap but S$17 for the cod does sound kinda steep.

Anyway, the dory was nicely done, fresh and not too oily plus the batter was crisp and light. The side order of mushy peas was good and not too mushy.

Next up was dinner at Freshness Burger at The Central along River Valley. Had the Bacon Omelet Burger meal, yah I know bacon and omelet for dinner does sound kinda weird.

Now if you are looking for a big juicy meaty burger then this ain't it. It was heavy on the lettuce and very light on the egg and bacon. Normally I would complain but it tasted rather yummy, cos of the sauce in it I think. As you can see, the side order of Freshness Salad is huge and I guess that's what kept me from going hungry that night. They got a Spam Burger on the menu, now that's next on my list!

Cavalock and The Carrefour Curiousity

2011-04-19T14:37:00.005+08:00

A couple of months away from Carrefour and look at what they got! Never thought I'll be seeing this. Frozen macaroons, and I think they are Carrefour house brand, from France too. Nope, didn't buy them. For S$14 nah, I'll pass although they do look pretty good.

Next up, wine ice-cream or ice-cream wine, there's merlot, port, etc. Anyway, was very tempted to pick up a tub until I saw the manufacture date, they were like made back in 2009 and 2010. I mean, is that normal? Sure seems like a really long time to be on the shelf. Hey, I know there's wine in them but come on...:P

Yah, they take the alcohol content very seriously here. Remember now, you can get busted for buying ice-cream at Carrefour.

Cavalock and The Pasta Sauce Quest

2011-04-08T23:39:00.013+08:00

Now where does the time go? It's April and Top Chef All-Stars is over and Top Chef Masters has just started. Me and the guys, my gaming buddies and partners in all things nerdy, have our own little forum page and we were listing all the weekly TV shows that we follow or rather download to be exact. Mine was like, over a dozen. Looking forward to the new season of Doctor Who and the TV debut of Game of Thrones.

Time for a long overdue supermarket update. A couple of cool goodies spotted at Meidi-ya. Tubs of Haagen-Dazs smoothies. I don't think I have seen them anywhere else. Well, I ain't a smoothie fan so I don't think I'll be picking them up.

Next up is some chocolate cookie dough. It says Limited Edition on the pack so I guess that means something special, non?

Well, I'm still keeping myself busy in the kitchen. Experimenting on some pasta sauces. My problem is I'm always cooking for one and I can't make 'normal' portions which are usually for two or more, know what I mean?

Anyway it's kinda fun trying to come up with your own unique sauces. Some of the ingredients I pick up from food magazines I downloaded, others from TV shows etc. Mix them up and see what happens. :P

I try to make my own tomato paste instead of getting them from a can. Takes more than an hour if you count the prep work. Yah 'prep work', that's another thing I picked up from watching Top Chef. Hah!

Did a couple of different sauces over the week. Not bad, could be a little thicker. I like to use penne pasta cos of the way it's shaped you can get your sauce or ingredients like minced meat into it. It's better that way.

Cavalock and The Maddening March Munchies

2011-03-30T16:23:00.011+08:00

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

2011-03-29T09:05:00.010+08:00

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

2011-03-18T17:47:00.005+08:00

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

2011-03-14T11:41:00.003+08:00

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

2011-03-04T22:59:00.011+08:00

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.

Cavalock and The Meringue Formulation

2011-02-22T20:57:00.011+08:00

Making meringues is probably the easiest thing to bake. Anyone can do it and you really can't go wrong. Did it before and the results were pretty good so when I saw a book just on making meringues at Kinokuniya last week, I immediately grabbed it! Besides it's their 20% off weekend.

Now this is a crazy ass book. I mean, there are all kinds of weird meringue recipes here. Garlic meringue minarets with beetroot borscht, meringue sushi and Mexican meringue chili chips are just some of the more lip-smacking, eye-popping ones.

Anyway, decided to try the conservative cover recipe chocolate swirl meringues.

You got your eggs, sugar and a half bar of Verona dark chocolate. Well, after the above pix was taken, I started doing my stuff, the phone rang, bake, wash, clean and I forgot to take any more pix until I popped them in the oven below. :P

Fortunately everything turned out good. Light crunchy exterior with a chewy yummy inside.

Next time I'm doing it, I'll use less sugar as the dark choc is already quite sweet. Like I said before, am not a big fan of dark choc but this looked simple and quick enough to do in half an afternoon plus them swirls looked damn arty to me.

Chocolate Swirl Meringues

Quick rundown of the recipe from the book, this is freakin' easy, you are gonna need 3 egg whites, 150g of caster sugar ad 140g of dark chocolate. I know there are 4 eggs in the above pix but I only used 3.

Preheat the oven to 90ºC. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment.

Melt the dark chocolate over a pan of simmering water.

Whisk the egg whites with an electric whisk on medium speed, for about a minute. Then increase the speed till soft peaks begin to form. Still whisking, start adding the sugar a few spoonfuls at a time. Keep whisking till the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is stiff and shiny.

Now that's all the regular meringue making part, here's the unique chocolate part. Gently pour the melted choc into the mixture and with only one or two folding motions, fold the choc into the mixture. DO NOT mix it up otherwise you ain't gonna get them cool swirling patterns.

Spoon on to the baking sheet, making cloud shapes about 10cm round. Put them into the oven for about one and a half hours or until the meringues are dry to the touch but have not changed color.

Let them all cool completely before removing them from the baking parchment. They should keep in an airtight container for 3 days.

Cavalock and The French Connection

2011-02-20T14:33:00.009+08:00

Not bad, two memorable Saturday nite dinners in a row. Last nite was at Cocotte restaurant at Wanderlust Hotel, charming little French joint in a very colorful neighborhood.

Started the nite with some mushroom soup with truffle oil. Very rich and smooth, no mushroom chucks here, although I was hopping the soup of the day would be soupe de poissons, something I had a lifetime ago while on an assignment in Cannes, north of France.

Two mains came next. A very tender and delicious Boeuf Bourguignon, 'grass fed beef marinated overnight and braised in red wine, served with sauteed mushrooms, pearl onions and roasted baby potatoes.'

Followed by a creamy and flavorful serving of Roast Pork Collar, 'cooked in a creamy Dijon mustard sauce. Served with brussel sprouts amandi ne and sauteed forest mushrooms.' I actually preferred this to the beef, the taste is something new to me and the different textures all make this winner.

And finally dessert, Basque Cake with dark chocolate filling and Creme Brulee. Not a fan of dark choc so the cake wasn't really my kinda dessert. But we are talking bout real rich dark choc here, so order this only if you are into that.

Now let me just 'go off' a little on something here, just a very short rumbling. My iPad has been a godsend ever since I got it last year. I watch and read stuff on it everyday, and before someone yells 'pirate!', let me just say that I PAY for all of them. I ain't no pirate.

Although as to how I feel towards piracy, well, let's just say I am more in NYT best-selling author Neil Gaiman's camp where he comments about Internet piracy "it's people lending books." Exactly! I have borrowed hundreds of graphic novels from our National Library and read about a dozen new ones every week on the iPad, what's the difference? I sure don't see any. In both cases, an individual pays for one and then allows others to read it for free.

Award-winning graphic novel editor and writer Mark Waid has this to say when asked about creative folks who complained about being 'robbed'.

I get emails and message board posts and tweets from fans who are like, I didn't even know Boom comics existed because my mom and pop comic store that's a hundred miles away from me only buys the top 100 comic books. But I found Irredeemable or Incorruptible online, and now I want to buy the trade paperback. That is a valuable market. That's not a lost sale to me.

Moreover, this is something that drives me insane when we talk about how illegal downloading is the enemy of all things good and noble and pure. The thing I didn't say during that speech because I knew I had lost the audience, but that I really wanted say was, look. I understand if I say, "people want to download our work," your kneejerk response is going to be "then pay me for it." Everybody wants to be paid for their work, if for no other reason than so they can keep doing it. But for the love of God, give me 1/16 of a second between saying that and your kneejerk reponse to take in and revel in the fact that people all over the world are hungrily downloading our stuff because they have a hunger for it and they want it. I wanted to say, I guarantee you that down the street, at the poetry convention, no one is giving this speech. No one is talking about illegal downloading because no one downloads poetry.

You can read his entire interview here.

What's more, you can catch the latest episode of Top Chef All-Stars plus a whole bunch of sitcoms and crime dramas a few hours after they are shown in the US, it's amazing! Nothing wrong with that. The shows will be shown on TV eventually and I'm sure the people watching them are already paying for their cable.

Cavalock and The Milk Tooth Extraction

2011-02-13T18:49:00.006+08:00

Gosh, this is like my first proper sit-down meal in a decent restaurant in over a month. So there I was at the very popular Artichoke. Don't ever come here on a Saturday nite without a reservation. Yup, it's that good. A big thank you to M and Epicurative for their wonderful recommendations, be sure to check out their blogs for some really mouthwatering food pix.

Everything was as good as can be. From the hummus to the grilled haloumi cheese to the whole cooked chicken, it was all perfect. The dessert date pudding was so yummy, we ordered two! I'll let the pix do the talking.

Well, this weekend was also my first back to the ol' Orchard Road shopping belt. Saw lots of new DC Comics action figures but here's something that really caught my eye at Daiso. Now if only I still had my giant wisdom tooth....<^;^>

Cavalock and The Sausage Utilization

2011-02-03T20:34:00.005+08:00

GONG XI FA CAI! HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR!

Have a great Year of the Rabbit everybody. Well, still not much new stuff but I managed to spot some interesting additions in town.

Now instead of having fries WITH your burger, MOS Burger lets you have them IN your burger! And no, I haven't tried it yet. :P

Boston lobsters are now available at your NTUC Finest.

Very, very tempting sausages! Kurobuta pork and wagyu beef sausages! Yes, I saw them at Meidi-Ya. So what's the best way to prepare them? In a hotdog bun?

Well, looks like Wagyu beef bangers are more popular than Kurobuta!

Cavalock and The Meidi-Ya Multiplication

2011-01-29T20:03:00.007+08:00

I know I said this before, that I started this blog to write bout the things that make me happy, happy stuff that I like, from food to collectibles. Well, I know my mom would definitely want me to continue writing cos it's something I like. But some days it gets hard not cos I don't like to write it's just hard when I feel sad. But she would want me to be strong and living my life fully is the best thing I can do for her.

So there I was, back at Meidi-Ya supermarket and looking at what's new. Well, I haven't been to anywhere new or fancy to eat, just not in the mood. And no, I ain't a spokesman for the place either. They just seem to have cool stuff that I don't see in other supermarkets.

Limited edition beer, 'nuff said.

Kosher cheese. Not something you would expect to find in a Japanese supermarket.

A couple days after I took this pix, they were almost all gone! And these are in the cold section.

All the way from the U.K., Skinny Cow milk mixes!

Finally, giant crab parts from Japan for only S$128! These guys were bout a foot long.

Cavalock and The Tiger Mom Complex

2011-01-18T23:19:00.010+08:00

There's this new 'game' I like to play. Whenever I'm alone in the kitchen whipping up something new, I like to pretend I'm on Top Chef, the TV reality show. I'll try to cook a dish or a full meal as fast as I can. And yah, I get a kick outta it. Hey, when you are alone in the kitchen, you try to have as much fun as you can.

What you got here is a simple but yummy hot lunch for one, all done in a little more than half hour. Corn beef with shallots, boiled asparagus and rice.

One little mistake I made was cooking the corn beef for too short a time. I used to have corn beef quite often when I was a kid but not for some time now, so I figured I'll do something bout it. They started turning little too mushy, I got kinda worried so I tried some and they tasted damn good so I stopped cooking it.

Later I found out that I should have cooked it longer, the corn beef would have been dryer like the way I had it when I was a kid. But it all turned out rather good, the shallots added that extra crunch to the corn beef, the boiled asparagus was simple and nice, with just some salt in the water.

Now I'm sure most people here have already read or heard of the Tiger Mom article in WSJ and the subsequent fallout, controversy, hoohaa or whatever you wanna call it. As expected, you got folks who agree with Amy Chua, excuse me, Prof. Amy Chua, and you got folks who don't. And for those who don't, I'd like to say ... WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO CRITICIZE SOMEONE'S PARENTING AS HORRIBLE JUST BECAUSE IT DOESN'T FIT INTO YOUR PRECONCEIVED VALUES OF WESTERN PARENTING?

Ok, now that I got that out of the way, I suppose someone reading this would probably wonder if I was brought up by a Tiger Mom. Well, my mom's the best and greatest mom in the world and well, she did do some of those things that the Professor did. I did live through some of those 'child-rearing techniques'.

Let's see, I was made to take piano lessons cos every other kid in the neighborhood was either on the violin or the piano. Hated it but had to grin and bear it for like an eternity.

Was constantly compared to other neighborhood kids bout how they could boil an egg or cook instant noodles at an early age.

My mom did tell me that I was picked up from a dumpster as a baby or was she threatening to leave me in the dumpster if I was bad? I forget. Heh!

Was never the top student in anything. So you can guess how that turned out in the Cavalock household. <^;^>

Oh, the list goes on! But I don't mind it at all. Now as I look back, I know she did everything for me cos she loves me. I don't think I would change a thing. Also, don't forget to read this other take on the whole thing, it's funny and true on so many levels too.

Cavalock and The Miracle Mussels

2011-01-06T00:05:00.017+08:00

Man, some days I really amaze myself. I been dying to whip up my own mussels meal ever since my London trip and then there was the visit to the local Brussels Sprouts. So when I started having more free time and doing my own stuff, I figured it's also about time I finally tried doing the mussels thing. Well OK, having a new saucepan in the kitchen also helped nudge me in the right direction. ;)

And how did it turn out? Damn! It was waaaay better than I expected it to be! I didn't follow any exact recipe. I just copied the technique, the ingredients were my own ...er...selection.

After getting rid of the mussels that were already opened and cleaning up the rest, there really wasn't much of the original 500g left, so I added in bout half dozen prawns. My little variation also used shallots instead of chives. The only thing that I think I did wrong was not chopping up the garlic really fine. I just smashed them with my blade.

The other secret ingredient was Japanese sake! I know some places use beer or whiskey, I figured why not sake then? I got a big bottle sitting in the fridge for like ages, yah, I was afraid that it could have gone bad or something but it didn't! Hah!

After adding like three big splashes of sake into the saucepan, I then toss in them mussels and prawns. Now I'm at that stage where I don't do no exact measurements no more, cos that's how I roll! (negative and negative and negative and positive equals negative, rite?)

Next comes the cream. I found this at a Cold Storage, I don't think FairPrice has it. Anyway, this is great and once again I just poured like a quarter of a cup in there. Then I turned up the heat for like three minutes. Once it starts bubbling, turn off it off, your kitchen ought to smell really, really good now.

The flavors were all there and the broth was fantastic, I think the cream made a huge difference. I almost cleaned it up with my multigrain buns. Everything was perfect, I was at first so afraid that the mussels would be bad or the sake would be bad, but it all turned out better than fine. I was thinking what made it taste so good, the sake? The cream? Good mussels? I dunno.

The whole thing took less than a half hour to prepare and I dare say it tasted better than the ones I had Brussels Sprouts but definitely not as good as the ones in the London. <^;^>

Cavalock and The New Year Champagne Lunch

2011-01-02T10:12:00.007+08:00

Am I too late?!?

Well, Happy New Year!

2011 got off to a yummy start with lunch at Por Kee Eating House. It's apparently a pretty popular joint although it's my first time there. Situated almost in the middle of a Tiong Bahru carpark, it's a rather little nondescript zi char restaurant.

It's got all the usual dishes you would expect from a zi char but what you want, I mean really, really want is the 'champagne pork ribs', that's what it says on the menu. Geddit, champagne = new year?

Now I seriously doubt if there's any champagne in the preparation since I can't taste any booze but damn, the ribs are just heavenly. Tender with a sweet flavor that just leaves you begging for another piece. The ribs are served individually, one big chunk per small plate. Trust me, you would wanna order more than one plate.

Other stuff we ordered were like the asparagus, venison, steamed fish (don't ask me what kind) and of cos cereal prawns, all decent dishes but nothing compares to the ribs.

After lunch, we finally made it to the new and popular cafe 40 Hands, that's around a couple blocks from Por Kee. I have heard a lot of good things about it especially their flat white. So was it worth braving the afternoon storm for it? Yah, by that time, I was so wet and desperate for a cup of hot beverage, I would have settled for almost anything.

A very welcome cup of flat white although I would have preferred it to be freakin' hot, not lukewarm. Plus the orange Jaffa Swirl cake is very good too.

Cavalock and The Post Boxing Day Post

2010-12-27T23:55:00.003+08:00

Post Boxing Day saw me meeting up with ex-colleagues in the media industry. Dinner was back at Food for Thought, next to the Singapore Art Museum. I was the only one who had the Garlic Prawns Linguine and I liked it. The prawns were cooked just right and not too garlicky. But not everyone enjoyed their food, the risotto didn't score very high marks that nite.

I know, the brown pasta doesn't look very appealing but it tastes way better than it looks. Anyway, as expected the conversation always veers towards who's cheating or sleeping with who, yes folks, the local media and advertising industry is that dirty.

Thought I'll just do a quick pictorial rundown on some new goodies in the apartment the day after Christmas. :)

Cavalock and The Christmas Day Post

2010-12-25T18:40:00.004+08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!

Geez, I thought that since I stopped doing a regular 9-to-5 gig, I would have more free time to do my own stuff but that sure as hell ain't the case.

I have been pretty busy this last couple of weeks, maybe I bit off more than I can chew by taking on too many projects, maybe it's the holiday season and everyone wants their stuff done first, or maybe I just suck at time management. Yah, I think it's the latter. I really suck at managing my time. Oh, and I blame my iPad too for all those magazine and TV show downloads. Hah!

Anyway I finally found time to check out Food For Thought, next to the Singapore Art Museum. Had the banana and walnut pancakes, with the oh-so-heavenly gula melaka. And of cos, a cup of flat white.

Had all the guys over at my place for an early Christmas dinner last week. I bought more stuff from the supermarket instead of making some of my own like I did before, cos I don't think I have time to make enough for like eight or nine of us. Well, there were some homemade Christmas gifts for them, hope they like it. ;)

And this is what they got for me for Christmas! The giant-sized Marvel Universe Galactus figure (with Silver Surfer)! I was totally not expecting this! You can't find this baby in any of the departmental stores here, you can only get it at one them specialist toy stores here.

Hope to get in some year-end posts this week before the new year! Look out for them or it!

Cavalock Eats Like A Food Blogger

2010-12-14T21:12:00.017+08:00

I think this is how it feels like to be a professional food blogger! Free food, fine dining, your own personal little table and waiter, I mean the table that's little, not the waiter.

That's how it was when I went cruising the high seas earlier this month. Was my first time onboard a Royal Caribbean ship and every meal there was free, enjoyed all of them. I only paid for the cruise and the food was free and I'm not talking bout some cheap ass buffet spread here. Strange how everyone I spoke to or know never seemed to enjoy their cruise experiences. I had a blast! And I'm not even gonna start on this except to say it works!

Some meaty main courses , for dinner you got some steak and pulled pork sandwiches for lunch below.

And as much dessert as you like! Really, you can just keep calling them out. Like they say, there's always room for dessert.

My favorite meal of the day is still breakfast and this is something I always fix myself whenever I'm faced with a cereal bar. I mean 'bar' as in a cereal selection, not one them bar-shaped snacks. Heh.

My own creation. Sugar frosted cereal with prunes and pears. Followed by yummy banana pancakes.

Lots more cool food shots like my usual dinner glass of port, fishies, chicken and other neat stuff. ;)

Cavalock and The Hunt in Malaysia

2010-12-12T21:59:00.013+08:00

Oh wow! I'm finally in front of my MacBook well, that's not entirely true. I been in typing away for a few days now but I'm back blogging.

Long story short, the official version is I took a boat ride to Malaysia to 'hunt' for food and action figures. Had a blast, the food was good, well, some better than others. Did I find the action figures I wanted? Not exactly, the ones a friend spotted in KL weren't there when I got there. I mean, it's a long shot to expect it to still be there but you know, you never can tell. But I did find a couple others that were on my to-buy list. And yes, I am fully aware of how lucky and blessed I am to be able to do stuff like that, as in drop what I'm doing, go places and enjoy myself. I was actually gonna write a little Thanksgiving piece last month but I digress...

First stop was a rainy Penang. Where the food was almost as bad as the weather. Alright, to be fair, I'm not saying all Penang food is bad, just the ones I had at an amusement park-turned-food-court. Sorry, I forgot the name of the place. I never remember bad places. ;)

Their versions of oyster omelette and popiah, not that good. But their famous white coffee on the other hand, damn good.

The next day and I'm in sunny Kuala Lumpur. This is only my second time in the city. First time was with the guys on a LOTR (Lord of The Rings) game tournament years ago. Luv the street food there. This time, no street food but I did try some of their best-of-hawker food that's under one roof in a mall kinda thing, not unlike our own Food Republic.

The food court is at the basement of the Lot 10 shopping mall. There were so many stalls I wanna try but I was there for only one meal. Hah!

Other quick shots of KL goodies that you may or may not find in Singapore. Great sweeeet french toast with condensed milk and from KL Isetan supermarket, Hershey's Japanese ice-cream choc nut balls and Ginseng Tongkat Ali in a can.

Next post, ship food in all its glorious colors! Leave a tick or comment to let me know what you think! Thanks a gazillion for reading!

One Week in Sillypore 8

2010-11-28T18:59:00.012+08:00

Late to bed and early to rise, that pretty much sums up how last week went for me. Been busy with a couple projects that had me hammering at the keyboard way into the nite and early morning. Well, alright I kinda prefer working at nite so I did 'internationally delayed' some stuff till almost midnite.

When your life is just too booorrrring to blog about, or when you are just too busy to try putting together anything new or trying out a new joint, it's time for that mixed-up, anything-goes, filler post I like to call A Week in Sillypore! :P

As busy as I was, I still managed to pick up an heirloom of sorts. A customized iron kueh bulu mold that's like over 50 years old. Notice how the molds are smaller than the ones you find in the shops these days and there are different shapes too. Plus you need a flaming charcoal fire burning, below and on top, to get this thing working, no on-switch here. Neat huh?

A bunch of stuff I'll be mailing to an American ex-boss in Hoboken, New Jersey. Wonder if she knows Cake Boss?

Something new at the supermarket again. This looks nice. Holiday Chocs from the US. First time seeing it at NTUC FairPrice. Anyone picked it up?

Call it obinmushi or dobin mushi, it's that familiar and hearty Japanese teapot soup. Besides the seasonal ingredients, you got your basic stuff like mushrooms, shrimp or chicken, and you squeeze a little slice of lime in it.

Another thing I like bout is that each teapot is an individual serving. It just seems so neat and tidy that the little cup and pot are all that. Here's a recipe, looks alright although I haven't tried making it myself. Saw a selection of them at Takashimaya, made me hungry just by looking at them.

What am I reading on the iPad this week? December's copy of Food Network magazine, too bad they didn't include the special Xmas Drinks booklet that came with the actual magazine. Yah, I know, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

So what did I do once I'm done with four straight days of writing? Celebrate Friday with an entire day of gaming with the guys. Up there's my character for an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons campaign, below you got Dice Town, Power Grid (Central Europe map) and Chaos in The Old World, all fun games.

Oh, and here's another great way to end a week. My little tub of custard vanilla ice-cream from Hokkaido. It is pretty eggy but that's the way I like it. <^;^>

Cavalock and The Meidi-Ya Hokkaido Fair Temptation

2010-11-21T20:19:00.011+08:00

Guess what, I was at the Hokkaido Fair but it's not the one you would expect. Instead of the usual fair at Isetan (like every four months?), the other Japanese supermarket on the island is having its own Hokkaido Fair too. Yup, Meidi-Ya is having its own two-week long Oishii Hokkaido Fair till the end of the month.

I don't think it's their first time having it but anyway there I was this afternoon after an Iron Man related event earlier that day. They got the usual Hokkaido ramen, milky confectionary and crabs, crabs and more crabs!

Lots of cool stuff like these eye-catching roll cakes, great packaging! They got white chocolate (my fav!!!) as well as the usual vanilla and I think strawberry.

I didn't buy any this trip maybe next time. So what did I get from the fair? Six little tubs of Naganuma Ice Cream. At S$5.30 per tub, it's like the most expensive ice cream I have had for awhile.

So here they are sitting nicely in my freezer. :) Flavors picked were Pumpkin, Hokkaido Pumpkin, Red Bean, Hokkaido Milk, Potato & Butter and Custard Vanilla. Don't fret now, I'll be back at the Fair for more stuff later this week. So look for more updates later!

Now here's something I thought might be interesting to do. I'll post cool gift idea stuff that folks out there might like to get as Christmas gifts starting with this. Spotted these upstairs at Kinokuniya Liang Court. Pac-Man moleskines! Aren't they cute? <^;^> But I have no idea how the inside looks like.

Let me know what you think, leave a comment or give me a tick in one of the little boxes! Thanks!

Cavalock and The Mediterranean Dessert Deception

2010-11-18T23:09:00.010+08:00

Need an exotic yet easy and fast dessert to impress someone? Here's one I picked up from an episode of Chef At Home, with my own modifications of cos. Hah!

Alright, it's not really a Mediterranean dessert, I'm saying it is cos it sounds kinda exotic and the ingredients do give the dish a certain flavor from that part of the world. And come on, it also works if you wanna impress someone, tell them you can whip up a Mediterranean fruit dessert in seconds!

Real simple to make, all you need is bout half a watermelon, olive oil, basil, sea salt and pepper. Cut the watermelon into cubes or just small pieces would do. Mix the water melon with a 1/4 cup of olive oil, sea salt and pepper, all in a bowl. I say don't be afraid to go crazy with the salt and pepper. Now here's my switch, grape seed oil instead of olive oil cos that's what I usually use. And also, I don't have any basil with me so no basil. :(

Mix and stir everything up real good. Put it in the fridge and serve it cold. Tastes better than I expected, well to be honest, I didn't know what to expect. I mean, it looked real easy on TV so I figured why not? I must admit, it takes a while to get used to grape seed oil if you haven't had it before but by the third piece of watermelon, its gonna be a burst of cool flavors, you got juicy sweetness, savory and a bit spice all in there. It's good, it's easy, what's not to luv bout it?

Now here's something that I saw at Canele in their outlet at Paragon basement. It's their strawberry shortcake and how they displayed the strawberries.

Look at them, why have the pale, characterless inside of the strawberry facing out when you can have the red, luscious exterior instead? I don't get it. <^;^>

Cavalock and His Hot Italian Date

2010-11-15T23:01:00.010+08:00

Oh, who am I kidding...I was home alone when I whipped up my version of an Italian pasta salad for lunch. It's been awhile but I figured instead of talking bout somebody else's joint, I'll do a post on something I did, that I'm happy with.

What you got here is a little pasta salad that I came up with. Having downlo...er...I mean, gotten a whole bunch of food magazines on my iPad, I decided to take bits and pieces from different pasta salad recipes, put them together, improvise here and there and see what comes outta it.

It's really, really easy and I did it in like 45 minutes, most of it were spent just waiting for the the pasta, prawns and broccoli to cook.

You decide how much macaroni, broccoli, cherry tomatoes and prawns you like. Next, prepare the other ingredients and here's where I start doing a little 'free-styling', like when the recipe calls for extra virgin oil, I use grape seed oil. Just two tablespoons of grape seed oil and a teaspoon of sugar when mixing everything up later, the only time I added salt was when boiling the macaroni.

The other major thing I subbed out was the parmesan cheese that most recipes asked for. I decided at the very last minute to use some raisins instead. Turned out to be a great move, I thought the taste of the raisins complemented the other vegetables nicely.

It was quite a huge bowl and I thought there was no way I was gonna finish it. Guess what, I wolfed it down while standing in the kitchen. If I do say so myself, I thought it was that good that I literally couldn't put the bowl down. <^;^>

And what better way to complete an Italian date than with my popular Affogato. You just can't go wrong with that. ;)

Cavalock and The Docomo Delay

2010-11-14T10:10:00.008+08:00

Got to admit I haven't been eating out at any new joints lately. Thought I would free after that last gig but ended up spending most of last week at home writing more stuff. Anyway I did managed to find some time to finally make a return visit to Liang Court or to be more specific, Meidi-Ya supermarket.

But before that, you can't visit Liang Court without dropping by the basement Tampopo Deli for their ever popular cream puffs. That's them on the bottom row and that's the Pont Neuf top left and banana caramel tart top right.

Walking to the supermarket, look what I found. Looks like Japanese mobile phone operator Docomo has finally decided to open a store right here in Singapore.

Talk about too little, too late. From like five or six years ago till last year, I was praying that we could lay our hands on those cool, crazy ass Japanese handphones here. That is until I got my iPhone 3GS, after that nothing even comes close.

Didn't take any pix in the shop but yah, they do have those stylo Japanese flip handphones here at last. A recent survey showed that iPhone in Japan is like 40% of the smartphone market. So I guess since they are losing market share back home, they finally decided to go global? Too late bub.

So in Meidi-Ya, I saw this new Kit Kat pop choc. Looks yummy but almost S$9 for it? Nah, I'll pass especially since there's a tag that says it's only £1.99!

The other new thing I spotted, beer! Japanese LUXURY beer to be exact. Yah, it does sound pretty cool.

Umenishiki beer comes in a bunch of different flavors, six I think. And a few have won some local and international beer awards. They aren't cheap but then again, it does say 'luxury' beer so I guess you are expected to buy more, from S$10.50 to like S$11.50.

So did I get one? Hell yah, have yet to try it. Just one bottle first, if it's good and I like it, I'll go try the rest. See, it promises a 'luxurious time', can't wait for that. <^;^>

And here's another shot of it so you can see exactly how big it is. Check out the bag of brains behind the can of Sapporo beer!