whine & dine

Unless I’m throwing a dinner party (where, more often than not, one of the guests has made a request for what I’ll be cooking that evening) or have some intense craving for some dish or other that I’m attempting to satisfy, I’m the sort of person who wanders into supermarkets, markets, grocers and the suchlike looking for inspiration of what to make.

After lunch on Wednesday, with only the vaguest inclination that I wanted something comforting, I wandered into One Stop, a food supply company that has a little retail store in my neighbourhood. I’d been in here before, and their prices seemed pretty cheap for what looked like decent quality meat (mostly frozen), so I’d been wanting to give their produce a shot. This time, I found a (maybe one kilo) bag of oxtail going for the ridiculously low price of HK$64 (I’d wager a pot of this stew that the same amount would have cost me at least HK$2-300 in Citysuper), and dinner was sorted for the night. Keep reading →

I’ve never been the biggest fan of Korean food. A big part of this is probably because I don’t like kimchi, and – I know this is probably going to make me sound like an ignorant fool, but – half the meal always seems to revolve around the stuff! The one exception I can’t get enough of, though, is Korean fried chicken. Not just any flavour – I tend to find the sweet and spicy sauce (which is the most commonly available flavour) way too sweet and sticky for my liking – but the spicy soy garlicky sort. I love it so much that I always make sure that I get at least one or two meals at Kko Kko Nara in whenever I’m in Singapore. Keep reading →

Summer in Hong Kong is coming to an end, but my love affair with iced coffee is an obsession that transcends all seasons and temperatures. Since writing that previous post on cold brew, I’ve finally admitted to being lactose-intolerant, given up milk (and sugar) in my coffee, received a Hario V60 set for my birthday last year (almost severed my right thumb when I didn’t realise that I had chipped the serving pot), and become a firm pour-over convert. (Wow – a lot can change in under three years!) Keep reading →

Oh wow. I just realised that this is my first ever National Day Post! Yikes, now I’m starting to feel rather unpatriotic. Oh well. It’s never too late to start! And what better way than with what I feel is one of the most iconic Singapore dishes ever. Not chilli crab, not even chicken rice, or bak kut teh, cai dao kway, Hokkien mee, ice kachang, or any of those dishes. Nope. To me, the most quintessentially Singaporean dish that comes to mind isn’t even a dish – it’s a condiment. It’s chilli sauce. Keep reading →

Tell me that concept didn’t just blow your mind. Seriously. When I first saw this post on the Cookie Monster column on Serious Eats (sidenote: how did I not notice the Cookie Monster column until last week?!), my head almost exploded. And if there exists a one-stop solution to all the problems of the world, my gut (and taste buds) tells me it’s this cookie. World peace? Put a plate of these out the next time there’s a meeting of heads of state, or any other conflict-resolution situation. Rapist, thieves, abusive spouses and all manner of criminals will surely be deterred by the promise of these delectable morsels. Failing that, the would-be victim could probably use the cookies as a distraction whilst making his escape! The only problem for which I couldn’t think of a cookie-related solution is poverty. Keep reading →