Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Singapore Polytechnic Masterchef 2014 (SP CLS Cookout)


Hi guys! You may be wondering what am I doing back in my school (Singapore Polytechnic) again since I've graduated this May.

Its because, SP Corporate Communications (CCOM), held a half-day blogger Masterchef-esque cookout competition in SP last week on June 18th, in collaboration with the School of Chemical and Life Sciences (CLS), using our very own SP-produced food products as some of the given ingredients during the competition!! And I got invited there as an blogger participant by the Singapore Poly's Corporate Comms team, in collaboration with Gushcloud. :)

During this event, I made some friends all over studying different courses in SP(total of 12 SP and secondary school participants) , as well as got paired up with a fellow blogger - Cheryl ;) and we were supposed to whip up 3 main dishes in total in 90 mins.

As this is an exciting first refreshing new project for Singapore Polytechnic, cause SP turns 60 this year, they had a filming crew to film and produce the entire event into a 20-min webisode on SP's YouTube channel. 
(Video below)


basically the event 'arena' of the whole event.
Where: Singapore Poly - Wellness Lab!!


me and dear cheryl whom I met during this event and surprisingly there was like no awkward silence between us at all since day 1 :D


the crew!


and the judges from this event are professors from food science & technology courses in SP, as well as the gushcloud influencer, Xavier ong! 


Basically, contestants will need to use at least ONE CLS-produced food product in their appetiser, main course and dessert. And we can whip up any dishes using our own creativity using the suggested CLS-produced food product in each course!!

and these are all the ingredients choices we had to go along with the CLS-produced food product!


table 6 for us, group 6, with a sneakily smiling cherylll


and thats us after the event with our appetiser, main and dessert! Unlike Cheryl, I RARELY cook, or even do any kitchen work at home. So I was quite surprised that I COULD cook. Thanks Rachel from CCOM for giving me this opportunity to discover my own talent, probably should have taken the Diploma in food science and technology right!! hahaha!


before showing you guys some of the (unglam candids) taken during the whole event, they had professional photographers other than filming crew as well, I shall briefly summarized what were the dishes me and Cheryl spontaneously thought of using which CLS ingredients!


For our appetizers, 
The SP product we had to use: Low fat and salt sausages 

Description
* Traditional processed meat products contain high levels of fat & sodium 
* Fat & sodium are associated with hypertension & heart diseases
* DFST students were involved in creating low fat & salt sausages 
(These sausages are less than <10g/100g in fat and less than 450mg/100g in salt!) 
* Awarded with healthy choice label by Health Promotion Board

basically I boiled and smashed the potatoes and added pan-fried mushrooms and the low fat and salt sausages in the mashed potatoes with butter and cheese. Pretty yummy and my favorite dish of the day since I thought of it!


And our Main,
The SP product we chose between Yamie Rice and Noodles were: Low GI noodles

Description
What is GI (Glycemic index)? 
* It is a measure of how quickly blood glucose levels rise after eating a particular type of food. 
* Low GI diet will lower the risk of developing coronary heart diseases and type-2 diabetes
* It also helps in weight control as a low GI suppresses appetite so that you won’t feel hungry easily 
- This low GI noodles by SP is a healthier take on traditional Asian noodles, made with lower GI flour

basically we pan-fried a marinated fish fillet as well as the Low GI Noodles adding some extra ingredients like capsicums!


Last but not least for dessert,
The SP products we chose between many choices were: Low GI Brownie & XO kaya

Description for Low GI Brownie
* This low GI cupcake mix and brownie mix can slow down the release of glucose into the blood stream, making it safe for diabetics 
* It also enables endurance athletes to stretch their supply of energy over a longer period.

Description for one of my fav SP product among all the XO Kaya
* XO Kaya is was produced as a Final Year Product by 3 DFST students 
* This kaya contains 20% less sugar, fat and cholesterol, but still is as rich and aromatic as traditional kaya 
* XO kaya also has a healthy choice label awarded by Health Promotion Board

We blended the kaya and bananas into like a filling sauce and added it between our brownie batter before placing it into the oven for a kaya banana flavored brownie cake!


hehe didn't know healthy food was so delicious tasting too!


selfie with my nametag LOL


the mess during the cookout


hahaha my favorite job of smashing everything together.


piping hot brownie from the oven!



hehe and these are some of the photos I got from SP dropbox!


I think this was my first time peeling a potato LOL and cheryl claims that I bragged about my potato peeling skills HAHA



with our very helpful helper for the day :)



this cheryl looks more professional than me




#wifematerialcheryl #eventhoughimolderthanher




a shot with the judges and other groups!


with the people directing this whole event behind the scenes busily - Rachel and Sandy from CCOM  :D



interview timee


judgement time, our group's dishes was probably the most coldest among-st all by our turn!




but I was very surprised me and cheryl came in second for this event bringing home a Tefal Toast N' Egg machine hahaha!


hehe hope you guys enjoy this post, stick to this space for the SP Cookout episode on youtube!


Visit SP DFST Page here:
&
SP's facebook page:
Follow SP's Twitter & Instagram
@singaporepoly

and rmb to check out this hashtag on instagram! 
#SPmasterchef


Tuesday, July 15, 2014

The Fat Cow + Au Chocolat + Bloomsbury Bakers + Sonar + Nanta (Cookin') + Kin Kin Chilli Pan Mee + Han Kook Gwan Korean Restaurant + Tian Wai Tian Fishhead Steamboat + Garden Street Kway Chap


HI GUYS, ladies, dudes, whatsoever. Haha, shall just give my blog a quick weekly update before going out with the twin later, like F-INALLY.

Recently I have been over-eating (ok you guys have eyes to see that) and I feel that my complexion suckssssssssssss :( I hope I can lose like at least 2 kg before I go on my cruise trip to tioman in like around 2 weeks time... If not i'll look so fat in my swimwear! But I am so lazy to exercise #firstworldpains
Anws, I am currently planning a trip to korea SEOUL I can't wait!! hehe pun intended. I'll prolly visit jeju as well when I am there. But I hate planning the itinerary I swear...

Oh well, enough with the complaining, recently I finally went to fat cow located at a medical centre as they serve veryvery yummy Japanese food~ which I recently started to appreciate more than my usual fav thai/korean cuisines hehe.

The Fat Cow
1 Orchard Boulevard
#01-02 Camden Medical Centre
S(248649)

Opening Hours:
Mon-Sat: 
12pm - 3pm, 
6pm - 11pm

Tel: +65 67350308





they have private rooms for those company dinners I suppose!


Usually dining at these type of Japanese restaurants can end up with a large sum for bill, so I guess their set lunches would be more affordable and value for money in that sense. So I happened to pop by during lunch-time!




Their set lunches each comes with miso soup, salad and chanwanmushi hehe the usuals.





And the first set we had was
Fat Foa-Gura Don ($42)
Glazed foie gras and grilled wagyu beef over rice
recommended! esp if you love foie gras and sweet japanese sauces! Its really the bomb alongside with my fav jap sticky rice!


Another raved lunch set
The Fat Cow Donburi ($38)
Charcoal-grilled wagyu beef with onsen egg and shiro negi

Another popular lunch set choice at the fat cow! The beef was so good and this would be great if you love yolky egg-yolks like me so you can burst them and mix it with the sticky rice yumyum!


mixed & yummy


bill came up to around 102 SGD for two lunch sets and hot teas, ended off with a cookies n cream icecream and they actually gave me an extra scoop. hehe, I will be back! I believe the rest their food selections and quality should be great too with an authentic chef serving you!


Another day after filming under the super hot sun -___-


Went to MBS and decided to dine at au chocolat again since the first visit was pretty good!

Au Chocolat
2 Bayfront Avenue
#01-03 The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands
Singapore 018972


re-ordered their truffle fries once again cause its really one of my favorite places to have truffle fries at! But beware, the portion is rly huge at au chocolat!


whats a relaxing afternoon without a strawberry banana milkshake and 


a oreo milkshake! ;)


tried their nutty nutella banana french toast (forgot its name) and I think it wasn't that great compared to the other food selections I tried at au chocolat the first time!


and under the savory section, I actually had a chicken and mushroom crepe which was better than the disappointing french toast, so their crepes are still worth a try! But I will recommend the other mains I had there the other time!
Click HERE for the previous visit!



I-PHONE UPDATES

Recently I got to try a newly opened bakery cakes as well, and they really have a great selection if you view their instagram! I loved their passionfruit cheese cake, strawberry tart, peanut butter carrot cake as well as their signature lychee martini shortcake! I would love to try their strawberry shortcake the next time round.

Bloomsbury Bakers
Blk 30 Bendemeer Road #01-889 
S (330030)


A sonar night with tricia, shaun and other peeppps


vanida came to find us afterwards and she was already gone hahaha



xx


Another place I would recommend for family steamboats as the food there is sooo good, rmb the bugis fish soup I tried? If you love these kind of food you have got to try their fishhead soup here too! Really yummy and they serve many popular dishes as well like; cuttlefish kangkok, pork ribs & tofu chilli prawns!! (like the crab ones but with tofu and prawns instead)

Tian Wai Tian Fishhead Steamboat
1382 Serangoon Road (Opal Crescent)
Tel: 91722833
5.30pm to 11pm daily
(business is quite good so sometimes they already open at 5pm)

they have a few different outlets, and one at Ang mo kio area. But I have always frequent this outlet since young!


at planet Jupiter one day after work w the usuals!


spot my twinnieeee



and my hunt for kway chap continues!

Garden Street Kway Chap
Serangoon Gardens Food Centre
8am to 3pm
Closed on Mondays


what I like about this stall is that this place's pig skin and intestines seems to be more healthy and less sinful for consumption because you can taste that all the fats and oily parts are scraped off thoroughly and the still tasted very flavorful!! Although I thought that their kway chap could be more tastier but its still worth a try! 


Rainy work day!


and me and the girls (chloe, constance, me, shan) after work in the car otw for some yummy korean bbq treat!


extremely hungry me and conzy


Super surprised there's still a korean bbq restaurant opened at 4/5 am in the morning!! and this is one of the oldest korean bbq restaurants running in SG and people love going their to try the raw korean crabs!

Han Kook Kwan Korean Restaurant
26 Tanjong Pagar Road
Singapore 088449

we were spamming their side dishes before the mains came cause we were starving hahaha. their potato salad is actually made out of sweet potato which conz hates!


selfie with the girls, and I found a new buffet partner- chloe she can really eat as much as me and I am rather surprised HAHAHA


finally eating a steam egg which I have always wanted in a korean bbq restaurant hahaha


we really over-ordered as we were too starved to bbq ourselves, so we actually asked the waiter to cook our meats in the kitchen before serving and I think we ordered like at least ten plates of meat that day!


my fav chicken bulgolgi, I am a very chicken person LOL


more beef and more pork


and pork belly which only I liked?! LOL weishan hates fats


and hey conz greedily took all the meat here on the plate before I snapped


bill came up to 300 plus so imagine how much we ate.. but thanks mel & eugene for da treat!


saturday's dinner
Kin Kin Chilli Pan Mee
534 MacPherson Road
Singapore 368220

Tel: +65 6743 1372
Opening Hours: 11:00am – 8:00pm


had their clam pan mee which only different was the clams which made the bowl 3 dollars more overpriced? hahaha


but yeah, do spam their chilli while dining there! ordered meatball soup as well. quite yummz!


cause I am a fat pig, I went next door and ordered my fav teh cino iced (tea with loads of condensed milk) and had like a variety of prata with my dad that night, think we ordered about 10 pratas in total? Haven't had pratas in such a long time, LOL so much so I had a bad stomache the next day because, imagine eating korean bbq for supper at 5 am in the morning then all these for dinner the next moment?

-sobs-


Sunday was spent at rws for lunch and caught Nanta (Cookin') they only have like 4/5 shows in Singapore and they are really popular in korea, those who went korea may have watched it before alrd! Cause I watched them in korea before, but their performance have slightly tuned throughout these years!


hehe me and my love for long skirts, and HAD another of my fav chendol dessert at malaysian food street at RWS cause of the sunny weather!





tea-break at ka-kun like an auntie and I love soft-boiled eggs!


and the traditional kaya bread! (I actually like to dip them in my smashed eggs, am I the only one with this habit? hehe)



their matcha frappe was good too, have no idea why I love ordering ice-blended drinks so much!


thats it for my weekly short iphone updates! will be back xx