Cavalock and The Pasta Sauce Quest

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cavalock and The Surf n' Turf Experiment

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cavalock and The Rosemary Rebound

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

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

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

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

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

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

FAIL!!!

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

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

Cavalock and That Burning Sensation

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

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

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

Cavalock and The Chew Connection

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

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

Serves 4

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cavalock and The Meringue Formulation

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

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

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

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

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.