To-gather cafe at Bedok North

A short post before I fly off to Bangkok later with the boy. Finally!

oh, and I crossed my probation of 6mths in my new company (wow!)

 

This growing café was introduced by Carole (yes, again haha).. and GGH and I went there for 2 times in a week!

 

Well, we went there the first time for light dinner meal so it was good (GGH actually says yum!), and decided to make time to try other mains.

 

What I love about this café is the decorations in the café. Very cheerful and positive feel.

All very picture worthy, but it is crowded (on both times) so didn't get to take much pictures.

 

 

The Pork Cordon Bleu ($10.90) - One of their best sellers.

GGH loves this... the cheese was oozing out. I love the salad dressing! Wonders what sauce is that.

The portion may be small for a big appetite (considering I think I can finish all by myself :p)

 

 

The 2nd time we went, he tried the Spaghetti Carbonara ($7.90) which wasn't very milky.

Not much sauce, but you can taste the carbonara. Not a favourite if you like lots of sauce.

 

My main was Grilled hamburger steak ($11.90). It didn't felt like steak, but really like the meat in the burgers. Very soft, don't even need a knife to cut. I preferred the carbonara to this - even though I'm not a fan of carbonara. I hardly order carbonara for the fear of too milky taste.

 

A must try!!!! Warm chocolate lava cake with vanilla gelato ($5.90)

MY FAVOURITE!!!!

I can have this all by myself!!!

Worth the calories. :)

 

 

To-gather café

Blk 84 Bedok North Street 4

#01-25/27

Closed on Mondays

Lemon Cupcake Recipe

Made lemon cupcakes during the public holiday!

And to me, it was a success! Cause it came out good looking, and had the lemon taste.

Was kinda worried don't have the lemon taste.

 

This recipe is adapted from Sallys Baking Addiction

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/04/11/homemade-lemon-cupcakes-with-vanilla-frosting/

 

Perfect recipe for me!

I skipped the vanilla frosting because I don't like frostings. hehe.

 

So, anyway, here's a summary of what are the ingredients.

 

Anti-clockwise from the butter (bottom right):

(1) 115g unsalted butter at room temperature, 200g fine caster sugar

(2) 190g all-purpose flour , 2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt

(3) 2 freshly squeeze lemon + zest; 2 medium eggs at room temperature with 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

(4) 120ml milk

 

 

They are in sequence of how I make the batter.

So beat the eggs and sugar for 2 full minutes (per Sallys guide) using medium high speed. I'm using Kenwood electric beater, present by the RSVP girls. :) use speed number 3. 

Add in (2) slowly in portions, keeping speed number 3. This takes another 3min.

After that add in the eggs, another 1min medium high speed, then switch to low speed.

With low speed, I added the lemon juice and the milk.

 

Per the guide, the batter should be thick and cannot over beat it.

So, after I added the juice and milk, I just made sure it blended into the rest of the batter and I stopped.

It should feel thick and difficult to spoon it for the cupcake filling.

 

Bake at 278 degree Celsius, for 20min.

I used mini cupcakes, but I still kept it at 20min and still okay.

For the standard cupcake size, I had to prolong the time to about 23-25min.

 

 

 

Because mine didn't have any frosting, I was worried that it might taste sour by itself so I added oreo cream on top.

For me, I like it sour lah so without the oreo also can.

But GGH prefers with oreo topping.

 

 

This is by far one of my best made cupcake. hahaha.

Making another batch now for my girls, but I didn't add too much lemon cause worried too sour. haha..

Anyway, hope to hear good comments from them. :p

 

First Bento Try

My first bento try was a success! So pleased with myself!

I joined the Bento workshop organised by Naturel and managed to make a decent looking bento!

 

So here's an overview of the ingredients.

We were told to make one sample for teaching purposes then another one to bring home ourselves.

It was really fun and turns out to be quite easy!

Easier than I thought! But of course, there are some things are tougher to create!

 

My sample - Snail Bento. Cute ma? :)

 

The bento workshop, organised by Naturel was taught by Christine Neo.

 

Proud to present my first bento!!!  Love my end result, was really surprised I could do this without much assistant!

Shall make more !! :):):)

 

Tips: When the rice is hot, keep it moist so that molding is easier and will stick.

 

GGH approves!

 

 

Arteastiq x Dancing Crab at the Grandstand

Happy Birthday Karin! What I love about second half of the year is i'm celebrating something almost every month! haha isn't that something to look forward to?

 

Anyway this month, is Karin's celebration!

Our friendship isn't very long, I knew her through Ed cause Ed and I were close colleagues in Abbott.

And as more outings came along, I knew her more and she's not that sort of bitchy girlfriends if u know what I mean.

Easy to get along and not fake!

 

This year, we decided to do something different! which is....

 

Painting & drinking tea. hahaha...

 

Arteastiq is a place for tea lounge and art jam.

It's main boutique is at Mandarin Gallery, but we went to the one at Turf City Grandstand because of our dinner reason. hehe.

 

You can check out the website below.

 

http://www.arteastiq.com/TeaLounge.html

 

 

So before we began, we shall start with a tea break cake!

 

 

We abruptly started singing her birthday song publicly. hahaha..

Glad that arteastiq people were nice enough to even lend us empty tables for this. :)

 

 

Love this group shot. Dunno is Karin's new camera or the lighting.. we all look good! hehe..

 

Arteastiq at grandstand is slightly smaller and not as private as Mandarin Gallery. It's an open concept where people can walk around and look at what you are doing.
So we sit like a zig-zag which makes is more spacious cause you can put your drinks on the seat beside you.
There are templates of drawing that you can choose to draw, or you can always bring your own picture and draw it there.

 

 

 

The social painting is 3 hrs, and ggh was so eager (more eager than the birthday girl) then he began first to draw. #likeaboy

 

Below is the "true" picture of what we should be drawing. 

 

 

First time we looked all so serious...

 

 

3.5 hrs later.... we extended a 30min cause we couldn't finish! Never underestimate painting itself man. I thought drawing was the toughest part. But I was wrong! Painting itself look close to 2hours! Need to remember those small little details must use the fine tip paint brushes...

 

Ed finishing touches - his name. lol...

 

 

and our wonderful painting! Isn't it pretty?!

I think all of us did a great job!

As the outlet at grandstand closes at 6pm actually, they were so nice to wait for us till 6.30pm and packed our painting for us!

Wonderful service and super friendly people! Thumbs up!

P/s: You are allowed to bring home the brushes when done, if you want.

 

After such a peaceful (I hope!) session, time for dinner!!!

Much awaited for (at least for me!)...

 

Dancing Crabs!!!

 

We booked for 7pm and had to get out by 8.30pm. Therefore, without hesitation, we quickly ordered our food.

Having done my research, I knew sort of what to order.

 

 

While waiting for our food, photobomb, with our disposal aprons. hahhaa..  

 

THE FOOD!!!!!

 

Cornbread $5.00

It was so-so by itself, but good for dipping sauce and eat.

 

Spicy Cajun Fries $7.00

This was good and crispy!  

 

The main!!! We ordered the Combo Bag #1 $80.00 which consist of Sri Lankan Crab, 300g prawns, 250g mussels, potatoes, corn and sausages. For the sauce, we tried their Spicy Dancing Crab Signature sauce. They have mild, spicy or extra spicy.

 

The spicy kicks in after awhile when you keep eating the sauce. So if you cannot take spicy, choose the mild one.

But the sauce was awesome! We used the cornbread and fries to dip the sauce!

It has that spicy tanginess in it. Shiok.

 

We also ordered the Crab Cakes $13.00

The best under their snack list!!!! Chunky juicy meat!! I could have re-ordered this!

 

Also, the lobster roll $23.00

the lobster meat is cold, while the bread is hot.

I felt the meat was so-so only. But the bread was tasty by itself!

I could skip this next time given the price and the so-so taste.

 

 

Having not enough of seafood, we ordered somemore! But this time we ordered 1kg of Sri Lankan Crab with Herb and Butter sauce $58.00

 

The sauce was alright I felt. Abit too oily in my opinion.

I preferred their Signature sauce.

 

Nonetheless, we felt satisfied with the meal and it was great!

Would definitely go back again to try their other food!

Best for big groups where you can order more and share!

 

Our total bill for 4 pax came up to about $240 and there was a 15% discount for DBS/OCBC thereafter which gave us a bit of savings!

Promotion for DBS is valid till 31st Oct 2014 (Not valid for eve of PH, PH and special occasion) 

 

Below is the menu.

 

http://www.dancingcrab.com.sg/#1

 

Go on their website to make reservations!

 

 

 

 

Pulau Ubin + Chock Full of Beans

Quick update before my dinner. Today was an exercise day! Went to Pulau Ubin for cycling early in the morning!

Woke up earlier than my usual work days ... hahaha...

But was glad that the rest are also onz to have breakfast together!

 

Met at 8.15am for breakfast at change village before taking the boat to Pulau Ubin.

The boat ride cost $2.50 (single trip) and additional $2.00 for bicycle.

 

Think we too long didn't ride slopes.. this time round it felt tougher than my usual ECP cycling... haha... I came down and walked with my bike for those steep slopes. hehe...

However, we all felt that we rode faster to Chek Java cause it took less than 30min.

 

Took a shot along the way back after Chek Java; peaceful mangrove.

 

 

 

Selfie with a good camera by Sylvia!

So tempted to get such camera!!! But I'm sure it cost quite a bomb. bleh... :(

Shall save up for next year purchase (hopefully!)

 

After burning fats, we went to Chock Full of Beans which is nearby for brunch! It's famous for its 3D art lattes! :)

 

 

 

 

We ordered a few to share since we weren't really hungry..

 

Buttermilk waffle with caramelized banana. It's okay, not too sweet, but I think Udders waffles are still the best. haha.. But this was good enough for me cause I didn't expect it would pass.

 

 

Nachos cheese. No need to order this. I think GV nachos are better.

 

 

Chock Full of Big Breakfast.

This was big. Good for sharing. The bread actually taste good on its own! The sausage weren't salty too. But the eggs were..... soso only. Had better ones elsewhere. 

 

 

Portobello Mushroom!

It looks black and burnt, but it was surprisingly good and juicy!

 

 

We actually order a salad but I think we were busy taking pictures of the coffee that we neglected the best food!

The chicken mesquite salad was the best! The sauce with a little spice marinated was so good!

Must try!!!

 

And here comes the 3D art we requested!

Note that 3D art is subject to availability of the barista, and it takes about 30minutes for them to come. Also, a table cannot have all 3D art, you will need to ask the waiter to check with the barista.

We had 7 people, and 4 had 3D art. Fair enough I felt.

Oh, and the 3D art is only for Ice coffees (excl. black coffee and rose flavoured).

 

 

 

 I think the bear is the cutest!!!! :)

 

 

I think the food and the coffee is not bad to come another time. And no need to queue too!

p/s: they sell ciders and beers too! ;p

 

Chock Full of Beans

Blk 4 Changi Village Road #01-2090

Singapore 500004