Personal blender - My best investment in years

Ever since my favorite fruit and juice shop moved out of the Goldhill shop, I no longer have a regular juice supplier. Back in those days at my ex company, I drank at least one juice a day, sometimes 2!

When I came across a personal juicer called shake and take on qoo10, I was really tempted to buy it. Not sure what stopped me, fear of more gadgets? 

Until I came across a mistral naturai personal blender while shopping. I was contemplating whether it would become another white elephant, but decided to go for it as I think I am really lacking the juices I used to enjoy. Turned out the machine was on offer, $26 instead of $89! An absolute steal!

That night I wasted no time in shopping for fruits at the supermarket.  But I forgot something very crucial. That it is a blender not a juicer. So it basically can't handle any fibrous fruits and vegetables. I actually bought celery cucumber apple and starfruit! 

No choice, dad to the rescue. I borrowed a juicer from my dad, which is coincidentally the juicer I bought for him but he hasn't used.

And so began my blending / juicing journey. I am so glad that I would not waste those expensive peaches that didn't ripen properly (生番薯) and that I could make yummy strawberry and fruity blends for my daughter and husband in an instant. 

I even made frozen margarita!!!

Strawberry peach smoothie

Simple fast healthy recipe that will excite and involve your kids anytime! 

I had a peach that was 生番熟... Meaning couldn't ripen enough. Instead of throwing it away, i decided to use it to make a smoothie. Since my girl loves strawberry we added it to enhance the taste.

Ingredients :

About 5 strawberries

1 peach

Directions :

Cut into small pieces and place in blender. Blend till smooth. Add ice and serve!

Makes about 4 small treat cups for kids! :)

Review : Dulukala Peranakan

We were craving for Peranakan food but really didn't know where to go, short of heading to Joo Chiat's Kim Choo. Guan Ho Soon used to be our favorite but fell out of favor because their standard dropped drastically these 2 years. 

We came across Dulukala after googling for Peranakan which had very good ratings but hub was very hesitant about going to beauty world plaza. He had no choice but to concede when there were no better alternatives (Ivins at brinjai park had such bad reviews).

The small restaurant was located at 4th floor of beauty world plaza and it was already quite filled up by the time we reached at around 645pm. Luckily we could get a table because they somehow didn't get our reservation.

Looking at the menu, we knew that one of the attraction has got to be the relatively cheaper pricing. The dishes are mostly around the $10 range, some higher some lower. 

We ordered the fried fish with stuffed sambal which was my hub's fave type of fried fish. $9 for 2 meaty fishes, and tasted quite fresh and succulent. I was gobbling down my rice and the fish at the start because of a minor nausea which resulted from drinking the iced lemon tea on an empty stomach.

And oh ya, gobbling down the fried squid in own ink too. We thought cooking squid in its own ink was Spanish but this Peranakan does it REALLY well. The flavor was brought out by the addition of sweet onions. Sedap!

The otah came along with the first 2 dishes and had whole fish chunks in it, the kind we like. 

For veggie, we ordered the lady's finger fried with anchovies, simple yet flavorful. Hub told maid that she too can recreate this dish very easily. Well...

Finally the reason why I crave for Peranakan - ayam buah keluak! For the uninitiated, the buah keluak nut is actually poisonous but can be made edible by fermenting it for 40 days. Thereafter they still had to dig out the flesh, mix it with spices then stuff it back into the nut before cooking with the chicken. So much work goes into the dish and it shows. The taste is robust without being overpowering, and Dulukala does it well, just the way I like it. Some versions are way too watered down. I can finish one bowl of rice on this and it's gravy alone! 

We ended our meal by sharing a chendol which was rather mediocre and didn't have enough red beans. But after such a satisfying dinner, we couldn't complain. And without burning a hole too, 5 dishes 2 drinks and 1 dessert cost us about $56 only. I am thinking when I can go back again even as I'm writing this! 

Review : Masons

Friday dinner is always a big question mark to us. Traffic is soooo bad yet we really do want to go out for dinner. afterall, thank God it's Friday right? 

Hub suggested mason at Gillman barracks which serves European cuisine. I didn't have much of an opinion so went along with it. But I'm glad we chose it because traffic in that direction is rather smooth and we managed to get there in about 15 mins.

Babe was still asleep so we walked around the art galleries around the area. Hmmm too avent Garde for our liking. 

For starters, we had the lobster bisque and the lobster and prawn carpaccio. Lobster bisque was flavorful and robust, reminds me of the seafood bouillabaisse that my friend perfected. The lobster and prawn carpaccio was mediocre.

For mains we had the duck confit and the pan seared turbot. While both came along with risotto, the duck confit's butter risotto lacked the saltiness to bring out the flavor. Also the duck confit meat was so so dry. Turbot was ok but didn't wow.

We ordered sticky date pudding for dessert and were disappointed as well. The caramel sauce was a tad burnt and the centre of the pudding was dry.

Such a pity because I love the ambience and the proximity to home. We might not be back.