Shami Banana Leaf Delights @ Northpoint

The first thing that came to many of my friends' mind after we have decided to eat at Northpoint's food court is the Nasi Bryani. I tried it once upon a time and I thought it was pretty good. And not too long ago, I was watching TXY eat while I was having some major gastric and only managed half a bowl of green bean soup. After that, I told myself, I have to go back to buy it for myself.

Boy, it is always having such a long queue. Like, ALWAYS!

The queue. I did not take the queue behind me.

The stall is a corner, which is good. Because the queue can stretch to the sink area where we will not disturb most of the people eating there. Haha.

And as I reach the front of the stall, I got a little more excited! Haha. Look at the piping hot rice! Hehs. The 'turnover rate' of the rice is so high that they have to keep cooking and cooking! Yums.

And oh, the meat. Haha. I think the most popular is the mutton and the chicken drumstick. I prefer the former. And I love it de-boned. BUT! It will cost you $2 more.

And the curry for the rice.......... >.<

I bought it home to share it with the man because I was in the mood of packing food for him. LOL!

Mutton bryani without the curry.

With the curry.

Ya. It's oh-so-good-for-my-weak-and-sensitive-stomach. LOL. But heys, the meat was really tender. And the flavoring was really great. The curry made the rice even better than it is. I have no idea how should I describe it to convince you that it is that good. LOL! It's just $6.50. Just try it and you will know. But, brace yourself for the queue. I took a photo of the people in the food court. Most of the tables were eating from this stall. Haha. But the photo was not so good so I did not post it up. Oh, did I mention that the crackers were really super nice! It's so crispy! Unlike some stalls which gives soggy crackers. Hehs.

I can only say. There's really good food in the tucked away north zone that's so easily forgotten by many people. The moment you source for good food, you start thinking about all the super famous ones or the town area. Haha. Please give the 'villagers' a little chance? Hahahahaha!

I must be living a second life now.

I had a drastic change in diet. Like a serious drastic change. One month ago, you probably would never ever imagine that I will eat it. And one month later, I'm enjoying it like I've never before. And I even questioned myself, why do I not eat these once upon a time. Haha.

First and foremost, vegetables. It has high fiber content and is good against diseases and also lowers blood pressure.

© vegetarian-nutrition.info

You can probably count the types of vegetables I eat last time. Long beans, french beans and spinach? The remaining vegetables is a serious no-no to me. You have to force me to eat it. And I would still refuse to eat it. But after hearing stories about what vegetables can help to have a healthy gut (I was that desperate to improve my gut's health), I forced broccoli and cauliflower down my throat. First impression was 'A! It's quite nice leh.' Mission number 2 was to start eating all the leafy vegetables that mama always cook. Mission number 3. I like all the coriander and spring onions now. Hmmm.. I'm now finishing like half of the plate of the vegetables all the time. And she told me she HAVE to cook MORE vegetables just because of me. LOL! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! I must be living a second life now! Haha. My mama is still very amazed with me. Hehs.

Oh, I have no problems with bean sprouts and lettuces and many more now. But I still cannot accept the taste of raw tomatoes (but I love tomato sauce) and capsicum and cucumbers. Hehs. I tried. I really did. I hope I can overcome it soon. Haha. They seem pretty nutritious to me.

Next, brown rice. This just occur to me because I was looking for high fiber food.

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I never really said no to it, but my mama will turn her nose to it. So, I seldom or never eat them. But because it still retained most of the shells of the rice, the fiber content and the nutrient content is so much higher than the usual white rice that we eat, I insisted on buying the multigrain brown rice home. Haha. Mama mix a little bit into the white rice, but I would cook it myself for lunch when I planned to bring rice to work. I thought it tasted better than white rice. =D

© HPB Singapore

Wholemeal breads. High in fiber too! The difference between wholemeal and white bread is the wheat flour again. Similar to brown rice, the wholemeal wheat uses the whole grain (refined products only contain the inner germ layer). So, the outer fiber rich bran will still be present! Which equates to a lot of B-vitamins, minerals, protein and phytochemicals readily available! Whole grain food had been linked to many diseases like heart diseases and cancer (colon cancer especially!). So, we have to consume as much whole grain food as possible!

© HPB Singapore

But my top favourite is currently bonjour's wholemeal bread. It has extra 100g of bread orh! That made it extra long. Haha. And I love to steam it (I have to because I refrigerate the loaf to ensure the freshness). The bread will be SO SOFT~ Argh.. I'm yearning for it now.. (Haha. Currently my food cravings had been the soft soft bread or fruits. Haha! And that's my motivation to sleep earlier and wake up earlier so I can eat them faster. Call me a glutton. Yes I am. LOL!) Anyway, I just bought wholemeat pasta not too long ago. LOL! Call me a wholemeal addict. Hahahahahahahaha!

Digestive biscuits. Haha.

© hongskitchen.blogspot.com

I have no idea why I had not been eating this biscuit since long time ago. I'm a great fan of biscuits you know? I thought it tasted really nice! Haha. You can always find me with digestive biscuits in my bag because I use this as the cure against sudden hunger pangs. Haha. Each biscuits is around 70 kcal though. I've been trying not to consume too much of it. Haha. I've already given up buying other cookies/biscuits, unless they are high in fiber.

Like, this! Currently the offer is $1.90 per box. Haha. Each box contains 7 packs of 3. LOL! *I feel so auntie* But original price is $2.20, so, no worries. Each pack is around 145 kcal, so they recommend not to exceed 2 packs per day. Haha.

© globalfoodshow.com

Cereals are good too! I just bought banana nut crunch from post today. It has the highest fiber content per serving. LOL!

© thesun2118.blogspot.com

Last but not least, fruits! I love fruits ever since I was born ba. What I eat and like usually revolves around the common fruits that you can purchase easily, or mama can buy them easily. But currently, I have new favorite fruits!

First one is blueberries! It's one of the power fruits around! Don't underestimate its tiny size! It contains high amounts of anti-oxidants (important for good complexion? Haha. And against cancer of course. Since it neutralizes the harmful oxidants in our body.) It has high vitamin c as well as fiber too. (Calorie content is low too!) Hehs. Good for cardio and our eyes! And I read somewhere that is's good for gastric too. Lowers peptic ulcers chances! Wooooo. I love it. Oh, other berries are good too! Cranberries, strawberries!

© oregonberry.com

And why is that I only started it was because, mama never buys them. And, it's very expensive as compared to other fruits. But after going to Giant, my view has changed. Haha. Currently, I realized that the place that sells the cheapest blueberries around has to be Giant! Haha! It's around $2 for a box. The price can hike up to $3-$6 depending on the supermarket you go to! Craziness. But ya, I only buy them when I go Giant. Haha! I haven check Careforre though. Hehs.

Another one is the prunes. My mama keeeeeeep asking me to eat them but I find them too sweet for my liking. But, I dunno why, I sudden took an interest to it recently. Hehs. It must be because of mindset problem. Haha.

© macro-biotic.blogspot.com

Antioxidants level is even higher than the blueberries! Fiber content is also higher than the blueberries. Plus calcium and copper (?). Hahaha. Which means, it's better than blueberries hor? Haha.

I always like bananas. But it had never helped in gut motion for me. ;( But that did not stop me from liking this fruit. Haha. The sweet taste and texture is perfect. Oh, top it up with nutella maybe? Ohhh... Haha. Well, other than high fiber content, bananas also have high potassium and low sodium content. Good for our heart! Haha. The yellow really appeals to me. But once the bright yellow is gone, it would lose the appeal le.. Hehs.

© cclic.com

Papaya is good for us! Good for cardiac as well as gut health. Woooo. You will often see papaya in my lunchbox most of the time! =D The color attracts me too. And I love the juice and the taste of the papaya. But I bet it tasted wierd to some other people. Hehs. My papa love it and will always want to make me eat it. Lol. I haven't been eating so much papaya in my entire life before. I'm so serious! Haha.

© topnews.in

Kiwi is also my favourite now. I like to just cut it into 2 and then scoop it with a spoon. Hassle free. And I feel that it would retain its freshness more than when it's skinned ba. Hehs. They are high in vitamins and fiber and antioxidants. Something that I've learned today is that kiwi is also good against wheezing cough (it is not just because of the vitamins. there's unknown compounds in the kiwi that did it.)

© zesprikiwi.com

Had zesperi dominated the kiwi market in Singapore? They seem to be the only ones around. Hehs. The golden kiwis are really nice (and expensive as well)! Sweet and juicy. The green ones are not too bad too. But it should be sour to some people ba. Lol. NTUC having offer now. 8 kiwis for just $4.95 I think. I forgot the price (even though I just bought it today!).

I realized that fruits like apples, oranges and guava are not that often found in my diet anymore. They are good of course, but I chose the new fruits to target what I want to improve on. Lol. And I really enjoy softer fruits more than these hard hard fruits now. Hehs. My teeth must be dropping le la. LOL!

You should see how much fruits I have each day. LOL. Instead of snacking away, I'm always fruiting away in the office. Lol. And that's another reason why is my bag so heavy in the morning! Fruits are really heavy man! Gosh!! And I realized fruits are seriously contributing a lot of calories to my daily diet! LOL!

© nutrition.sg

I realized I don't like meat as much as not too long ago anymore. Haha. I found myself eating vegetables and vegetables and sometimes fish during dinner. I don't pick up the meat as much as before anymore. Muahahaha! I am really in my second life now right? I would love to see the man doing this. The world maybe coming to an end at that point of time. Haha.

It does feel good that I know that the food that I love so much nowadays is really good for my health. Haha. It gave me more excuses to eat them. LOL! But of course of course of course, I have been trying to watch my calorie intake. Hehs. I've been starting to exercise all over again. I am really very very determined not to keep popping medicine down my gut. I'm sure natural measures will be good! Well, it have sorta helped I guess. I use to have gut motion once every week (terrible right?). It improved to everyday or once every 2 days. It helped right? =D

Healthy living starts from healthy eating and exercising. I hope I can slim down at the same time too. Hehs. =D =D =D And I hope by buying these, my family (especially mama!!! she still refuses!!) would start eating them too. I want everyone to be healthy, not by eating supplements, but by doing the natural way round!

Rasa Sayang @ AMK S11

I said I'll go back and try the western food stall at Ang Mo Kio (S11 along the road). I only have to say, I regretted my choice.

In my memory, it was really great. And the queues were always very long. But I was so disappointed. It used to be so good.

I had the black pepper pork chop. Mama thinks that the black pepper was not very peppery. I thought that the meat was not soft enough.

Ah Dear had the chicken chop sphagetti. He thought it was ok, I thought it was so normal. I thought the meat was tough was I tried it. And the spaghetti was pretty normal.

I think the photos look better than it tasted.

But I have to say. The weather was pretty cold and windy and we were sitting right in front of the fan. So that could have made the food cool down TOO QUICKLY. And as a result, all taste is gone. I was so digusted by the fries that I actually lose my appetite the moment I thought of fries and potato was I was buying Popeyes for my brother. (If you had known me well enough, you would know that I love potatoes so much that I cannot live without it right?)

But urm, I have no idea if it is the temperature of the food or the real taste of the food. No, I don't think I would patronize it in any near future. =( Where was the nice western food I was going back for?

Eat Healthy

There's only 2 reasons for this. One, I want to cook and I'm getting a little sick eating the same thing over and over again. Two, I have to solve the problem of constipation. High fiber diet could be a way! =D

So, I set out to start thinking of lunch ideas. I tried to be as balanced as possible. But the most important criteria is to have as much fiber as possible. And I try to put as much vegetables as possible into my lunch because I'm so sure that vegetables is the best!

After a few days of cooking, I realized that these 2 gave me the highest satisfaction. =D

Japanese curry with brown rice

Added loads of carrots to make it healthier. Haha. I think the healthier part is only the brown rice (fiber fiber fiber!) ba. Hehs. I just had this craving to cook this, so I had to do it. My gosh. It took me 40 minutes! I only planned 20. So, I was a little later at work as a result. Lol. But, I think it's really nice! =D Even my parents said it smelled really nice (ok, no one except me tasted the dish). I used baby carrots and one potato and cut a few pieces of marinated pork. The curry was initially pretty diluted but I cooked till it thickens, so the ingredients all absorbed quite a lot of the taste. =D

Colorful vegetables with brown rice below

I always wished that I can make a very colorful bento. So, I tried to have green, orange and yellow around. And, I only managed to find these 3 to make up the color. SO BRIGHT RIGHT?! Haha. All the vegetables are only boiled because I don't like stir fried vegetables recently. But they were marinated with Mummy's recipe (she purposely add some sesame oil in to make sure I eat some fats!). It was realllllly nice. Especially the brown rice below. LOL!

Another thing that I love is my wholemeal bread! =D Especially with my pork floss and nutella and scrambled egg. =D

Fiber fiber fiber! I had never ever love fibers so much in my life. Vegetables and wholemeal products. =D

台湾卤肉饭 (Taiwan Braised Pork Rice)

All because there were talks about going to Taiwan in Sept, I thought of my last Taiwan trip in June. Lol. And I think I missed nothing but the food there. Haha. And the first food that actually came up to Ah Dear's mind was the 卤肉饭! Lol. And suddenly, everytime someone talks about Taiwan, the image of the 卤肉饭 will come into my mind automatically! Haha.

The first encounter with the rice was when we ordered bento at the synchrotron. Back then, I had absolutely no idea what I was eating. I just thought it tasted nice. Haha. *Ignore the lack of colors! Great food doesn't mean colors all the time! Hahaha!*

 

And shortly after I ate this, my dear friend told me that I have to eat the 卤肉饭 when I'm in Taiwan. So, haha, I ordered it for dinner! And tadang! This is what I got! Exactly the same thing as what I had for lunch! (It tasted better than the lunch! I think it's from different stores.)

And because it blown my heart away, when Ah Dear met me in Taipei (which is just 1-2 days later), I told him, 卤肉饭 is a must try! Well, because of this, I faced 卤肉饭 almost everyday!! Right after I told him, we had it for dinner near where we stayed.

Before we left Taiwan, we have to have a last bowl.

And before this, we actually had another one as bento. Haha. No photos were taken because the main character was supposed to be the yummy 猪血汤 (Yes, pig blood. Go ahead and gag. Haha. It won't stop me from loving this dish since young. Haha!) Although it did not show the rice, I put this photo to stress how many bowls of 卤肉饭 I actually had for a short 1 week at Taiwan. Lol.

How should I explain the taste? 

I would think that the sauce made the meat really nice. Without the sauce, it is nothing. That's why they called it 卤肉 ma.. And I have absolutely no idea how they cooked it till you cannot really taste the presence of the fats even though you can see it staring right at you. But the stalls who does not cook it well will let you have the gagging experience you have something really fatty (the last photo). The best one I had was the 2nd one at Hsinchu (I wonder where they order from. Hmmm....) and the best Ah Dear had was the one near 牡丹居 (3rd photo).

And something that we had realized was that. The rice (except when you order as bento) is usually sold in very small servings. So, you almost have to order other dishes if you want to eat it. Haha. So, no worries about being overloaded with the meat. And they are usually just ard NT50 (S$2.50). Great taste does not have to come with high price! Haha. Well, it is actually very expensive if you were to include the air tickets. Hehs.

*There's a reason why I came back with extra 2kg after just 1 week in Taiwan. I wonder how the girls there get themselves so fit, or rather, so THIN!*

**Dear, if you are reading it, does it give you more motivation to earn more money and save up and go back there next year with the whole family? Haha.**

Chong Pang Nasi Lemak

I think this place is famous enough. Right? Or was it because we live at the North Area? Haha. I've heard about it so many times but I had never ever tried it. And so, we decided to buy it for supper!! =D

Took a bus to Chong Pang and then walk down the road to the place. Oh, it was not as far as I had assumed it was. Either that or I had great company. =D


Like expected, there's a queue. Lol. But because we went around 9, it was not that bad. Hehs. Soon, I get to look at the selection of dishes!


Seriously, I assumed nasi lemak to be just great rice, great chili, great chicken wing and great ikan bilis. But hohoho, the Chinese version had made it into a wide selection of dishes! Haha. Which is good, because we can try new things. But it is bad too, because I'm bad at selecting dishes because I want everything! Hehs.

Heh. Their fried stuffs look really great you know?! And they just cook and cook and cook nonstop behind the scene.


My stomach was not receptive to food at that time, so we packed it home. Hehs. That was a crazy move because the smell of the chicken wing keep disturbing us on the bus ride home. Hahahaha. We will converse a while and end up saying '很香吼？' (smells great right?). It's so disturbing!! LOL!

So tadang, this was what we had chosen. I simply love that ikan bilis look alike thing. So crunchy and delicious. Haha. The otar was pretty normal. And the prawn, we were quite shocked that they gave us 2! Most places will only give one, isn't it? Hehs. But the first bite was great, the second bite onwards, no, it wasn't that great anymore. A little nua I would say. Too much flour that was not well fried?


But the chili was good!!! I always say that so long the chili is nice, I can just finish my whole plate of plain rice with the chili. =D


And the rice. Gosh. It's so fragrant and yummy!! This is another determining factor of a great nasi lemak!


And the main character has to our chicken wing. Haha. Although we've decided to share a pack of the rice, we were determined not to share our wings. Lol! So we got one each. Haha. It's still so crispy after a bus ride home. And even until papa came home, it was still crispy! The meat was succulent. The skin was nice. Wah, I wanted to finish all the wings myself! Hehs. Of course I did not. Lol..


Yes, I would definitely go back again. Haha. Oh, did I ever mentioned that the whole supper only cost $9.60? We got 2 packs of the rice and 4 wings. Boy, I was surprised that I can pay every with just a $10 note. Hahaha! I expected more! LOL!

=D

Aston @ Sembawang Shopping Center

I do not understand the hype over Aston across Singapore. Seriously, there's always a long queue! I began to wonder if the food is that nice? But heys, I think it's more because of the price. Lol.

But to test out the hypothesis, we have to try it (we are getting pretty poor anyway). And of course, I picked the branch that's in the most perfect location to us! Sembawang Shopping Center! Haha. We can go home easily from there and the queue will not be as long as the town area. Lol! So, we traveled from Suntec back to Sembawang again. =D

I would say, I would not want to go back there again.

The deco of the place was not too bad. It does gives a better environment that the warm warm hawker center. But heys, the air-con does not seem to be working well on the day we went though. Haha.


Since sometime back, I've joined my dear in ordering steaks when we go to places that offer that. Haha. So, he ordered a sirloin steak and I ordered a ribeye steak. And keep in mind, we requested for it to be done to medium.

Dear's sirloin. Like many of the places who don't do their steaks well, this one has only the middle part done to medium. The rest are all 100% cooked! As a result, the meat is so tough. I don't like it.


Every set comes with 2 side dishes of your choice. I have to say, the side dishes are so much better than the main dish itself. But the onion rings were too soggy for our liking. No, onion rings should not taste like this. The mash potato was pretty good though.

And I have a lot a lot of complains for my ribeye steak. Remember I said, I want it medium done? Look at the blood on the surface of the steak! (Ok, it was not that obvious here. Haha. I also did not take the photo of the cut steak before we ask for a new one. Lol!) But it was medium rare and below ba. It's like only the surface is cooked! Gosh.


So, we asked for a new one. Can you see a little color difference? Anyway, this new piece was so much better. And it was really medium. If they had recooked the old piece, I swear, I'll do something to them. Luckily, they did not. But I half suspect that they reuse the side dishes though. Because the fries at the bottom had blood stains. Lol.


Come to think of it, why didn't someone came and apologize to us? Lol. Even when they represent us the plate, they did not actually said sorry. It's not that difficult and it doesn't take so long right?

But heys, the corn is really very very nice! And I love the fries too! That made me forgot about any bad things I wanted to think about Aston. Lol. Please order the corn even though it gets super messy and unglamorous to eat them. LOL! You know that it's so juicy that the juice will squirt out?! Haha.

Something I don't like is, they charge us for ice water. Ok fine, it's not a lot of money but I don't like restaurants to charge for ice water. Because they are just tap water with a few pieces of ice. Haha. But wells, since they are not charging us a lot and that no service charge was paid, ok fine. Lol. I cannot complain much anyway.


At the end, we only spend $27. Haha.


But no, I will not return to a place just because it is cheap. I would seriously go to the hawker center for their western food instead. There are really some places that sells really very nice ones. Ang Mo Kio for example (their queue is horrendous can?). Ok, that's it, I'm going there soon! =D

Chocolat N` Spice II

=D

I had an entry on the muffins from the Chocolat N` Spice some time back. But I have to do another entry! Because, I just bought MORE MUFFINS from there!


But before we move on to the muffins, I have to complain a little about finding this shop. Okay, it was my bad that I had assumed things. Haha. Well, the address says Tanjong Pagar Plaza. So, after staying in Singapore for so long, I've already grown to assume that something something plaza means a shopping center that's air conditioned. God. No. I went to the wrong building. Haha.

Next, after finally realizing my mistake, I followed the trail of the people holding the plastic bag from choc and spice (Yesh, there's quite a few people who bought the muffins back to the office.). I end up at the neighborhood place. WHAT?!! You call this a plaza?! Ok fine. I end up walking the wrong direction. After drenching myself in sweat, I found out that, okay, I'm at block 7 and the place is at block 1. !!!!


So, please get the address of the Tanjong Pagar Branch properly! Take the train to Tanjong Pagar and then exit from the exit to the plaza. And walk towards the old old neighborhood kinda structure. And then, blk 1 is towards your left. Haha. DO NOT WALK TO THE RIGHT! Lol!

Blk 1 Tanjong Pagar Plaza #01-18

Ok, enough said.

Well, the first time I tried the muffins, it was bought by Ailin. So I had absolutely no idea what I would expect at the place itself! Haha. When I FINALLY found the place, I was so amazed! It was just a small little shop that is mainly set up for baking. And the people take our muffins right down from the racks (this means it's freshly baked!) and into our boxes. No wonder there's a such a long queue waiting for their muffins!! Woohoo! (Oh, a thing to note is that the queue should be the longest around lunch hours as people buy the muffins back for coffee break! Lol!)

I seriously did not want to buy a lot. But I was really very frustrated by the sweat I have, I bought 10 in the end. =D Most of the muffins cost $1.20. I think it's pretty cheap compared to the other muffins you find around Singapore and which did not taste half as nice.

This time round, I tried other flavors! I bought blueberry.


The texture of the muffin is the selling point of the muffin. Haha. It's so soft and smooth. *Salivate* And another thing that had me hooked was that they put the right amount of ingredients inside the muffin. Too much of the ingredients will make you feel that you are not eating the muffins, and too little will make you yearn for more! Haha. Look at the blueberry! (I admit, I took the side with most berries. Hahaha!)


Another thing that I had realized was that, the cup of the muffins can come off really easily. Haha. Ok, it's a plus point to me (and maybe just me). I love to take off the cup first so that I can bite into the muffins directly! Haha! See how neat the peel off of the cup is. Haha.


I also tried the orange peel with raisins (and almonds).


Initially when I open up the muffin, I was thinking, oh, the ingredients are pretty little huh?


I swallowed my words the moment I bite into the muffins with that orange peel. Haha. The taste will stay in your mouth for a while, at least until you bite into the next orange peel. Do you understand what I am saying about the muffins having the right amount of ingredients? If it had loaded more orange peel in, the entire muffin will be destroyed with too much of the orange taste! Haha. Yums!

The first muffin I tried was the banana and walnut muffin. I was totally blown over by it. =D


Don't be deceived by the plain look. I was really amazed when I started eating it. There's alot of banana inside! And the crunchiness of the walnut just perfected the taste. Woohoo! Erm, no photos of the inside because I had no hands to take photo of the first one I ate, and I have no idea who ate the second one. Haha. This is one of my top top flavorite! =D

And I also bought coconut, pumpkin and cheese. I have no idea who ate which and when they ate it and no one gave me reviews over it. So, next time! Haha. They actually have 18-19 flavors all together I think.

And of course, I did not forget about buying the chocolate chips and the double chocolates that will never ever go wrong. YUMS! You can be sure it's nice because even dear's mummy says it is. LOL! And that my muffins are missing one by one without me knowing it. Lol. And of course, because my dear says so too. The chocolates that melt in your mouth. Wah. My god. Slurps. I prefer double chocolates over the chocolate chips. Hehs. The chocolates. OMG! (The reason why I am having a sore throat now. BOO!)

Anyway, the opening hours are from 930 to 530 on weekdays and it closes at 230 on Saturday and it is not opened on Sunday. You can also visit the Shunfu road stall. It's at the hawker center.

This is really the best muffin in Singapore. =D