Cavalock and The Okinawan Two-Pronged Maneuver

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

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

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 was the bravest and strongest mom ever and 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 say to each other and I could stop working for a year plus to be with her, I guess not many people were as 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.