Mahjong cupcakes

I have always wanted to do those fondant decorated cupcakes (since eons ago), but never never muster up enough courage. Looks just too daunting for me.
I "played" with fondant once, did a few really simple "faces" cupcakes but that was it. Never touch fondant since.

It's Mommy's Day today, and the village is having a celebration. My villagers are always so supportive, why not make them guinea pigs? :P

I made cake pops for Ashley's last birthday celebration, and I really love the moist texture of the cake. Decided to use back the same cakepop recipe but instead of making pops, I stuffed the cake into little muffin cups instead. Bought these cute little polka dot muffin cups from Phoon Huat, I added on yellow ribbons for the finishing touch ^^

My momma highness will be there.. so I decided to go with a Mahjong themed cupcake for today.

(errm, none of the rest of the villagers know how to play MJ)

Before decoration. The cake do look so moist & yummy, right? :P

I don't play mj.. I had to google for a set of winning tiles. I made a set of 3 Great Scholars (14 tiles), MJ players should know hor? There are chips + dices too ^^

My chinese writing is horrendous. Horribly horrendous.

I made the fondant decoration only last nite.. my chips are still a little droopy..

I made 18 cupcakes (14 tiles + 1 dice + 1 chips). Had 2 left, added hearts sprinkles ^^

All packed and ready to go =)

Have an awesome Mother's Day with your moms & children, everyone.

HUAT ah!!!!

iCook | STRAWBERRY CUPSICLES ^^

Had a punnet & half of strawberries left from the cheesecake session. Didn't wanted to batch freeze them for later usage, contemplating on making jam out of it but still had jars of jam left in fridge.

Guess popsicle is the best way to "rid" them berries, and frozen means mould won't invade so soon =)
And with the scorching weather these days, a frozen yogurt treat for the kids would be awesome.

Took out my popsicle moulds to wash & dry before I head to cold storage to get some strawberry yogurt, and saw these mini "party wine cups". So back on the shelf my popsicle moulds went and I made these cupsicles instead (=

Blend strawberries, add in honey to make strawberry puree.
Add a layer of puree in cup, freeze it, take it out and add strawberry yogurt and back to freezer again.
When the yogurt is firm (but not frozen), decorate the top with strawberries (and whatever u fancy) and back to the freezer it goes again.
Voila.. there u go, Strawberry Cupsicles ^^

iCook | STRAWBERRY HEART CHEESE CAKE

Saw this on some food blog many years back and has always wanted to try making it myself.
Finally did.. yay =)

It was quite a success except my strawberries were cut a little too thick and the jelly could not fully submerge them. But not quite an obvious flaw, looks pretty ok overall ^^

小豆An @Ion Orchard

I love my Ah Balling from Golden Mile, kids prefer these "Ah Balling" equivalent from Ion Orchard, at a much heftier price tag too  :S

Japanese Mochis! Rice ball dessert with red/white bean fillings. I don't quite fancy mochis, those I have tried so far has really thick gooey skin with hardly any fillings, tantamount to chewing playdough -__-

I bought these because they are so very pretty, but was skeptical about the taste though.
But these pretty mochis prove me wrong, they can taste as good as they look. Skin was firm (not gooey), thin (not inch thick) with ample bean fillings so I don't feel like chewing playdough  ^^

At $2 per piece ($12 if u buy 9pcs), and about 2/3 size of an Ah Balling, Japanese sure know how to package a simple rice ball dessert for a premium price.

*ps: with weekly classes near Ion, i have a hunch i will be contributing regularly to their sales.

Clockwise: すいか(Watermelon), こうばい(Red Plum Blossom), チｴリー(Cherry), あやめ(Iris), 青りんご(Green Apple), 红りんご(Red Apple), かき(Persimmon), さくら(Sakura)

PARADISE DYNASTY @ Ion Orchard

I first saw some 8-colored dumplings on Channel 8.. part of an advertisement or something. Been wanting to try it for the longest time and finally did today (:

For optimum tasting of these 8 flavors, savour them in numeric order. But, with 2 monkeys in tow, and not sure how they will take to the unusual flavors, I ordered only 1 basket to share.
Dang, BIG MISTAKE, should have ordered 1 for them and 1 for ME ONLY :S

Kids gaga over dumplings (they love Ding Tai Fung's) and these colorful bundle are just so pretty :)

SzeChuan flavor.. the thin dumpling skin, generous pork fillings and the abundance of broth was simply delish! Sadly.. I didn't get to try Black Truffle & Foie Gras  :( my boy has "exquisite" taste.. those were the ones he picked, and love!  :S

Baby Bamboo Shoot in Oyster Sauce- This is a MUST-TRY appetizer. Really Really Really good. Really. Can't describe. Just try it, you won't regret (:

Cold Tofu with Century Egg - No-frills, simple yet tasty appetizer. Just plain silky tofu topped with century egg and drizzled with sauce. Nicey too (:

LaMian in Signature Pork Broth Soup- Paradise Dynasty has 18 different types of LaMain with different toppings in their menu. Each strand of noodle (and their dumplings) are made from the open kitchen. The broth was flavorsome and the noodles springy and smooth.

Little boy ordered the LaMian with scallops,prawns and crabmeat toppings. Half boil egg, crabmeat, prawns, scallops (not pictured), fishmaw and vegetables were tossed together with the noodles.

Ash had the LaMian with shredded pork and preserved vege. The bowl looks HUGE.. though the noodles fill up half of it only, but definitely ample for one's fill.

Cheese dumplings - Kids love it so much we specially ordered 1 more basket of cheesey dumplings only. Each dumpling is generously filled with mince pork, broth and just a right tinge of cheese for the flavor.

Service was thumbs up too (and I think service plays a major part for returning customers). I will definitely be back again for a basket of 8-colored dumplings... and no, I am not sharing this time round ^^

SABOTEN @ Parco Marina Bay

I often gripe about the vast difference in the service locally as compared to Japan. Boy, I was bowled over by the amazing service at Saboten. The staff attending to us courteously bowed at every of our request and attended to us promptly. Considering we had 5 jumping, climbing and yakking children, we were definitely not an easy table to serve.

Saboten is supposedly Japan's (Shinjuku origin) largest tonkatsu specialty chain. With unlimited refill of salad, miso soup, rice and green tea; the basic set meal which cost around SGD$22+ is definitely very worth it (:



DIY grinding of the sesame seeds. This was fun. Kids were painstakingly grinding every single seed, ensuring that each and every sesame was perfectly grinded to powder.

The grinded sesame seeds.

One of the reasons Saboten claims that make them stand out from its competitors. Home made Tonkatsu sauce. Sauce is made from scratch using generous amounts of  fruits and vegetables, crediting the sweetness as natural, without any sugar added.

 Mixed the sauce with the grinded sesame seeds and tadah.. we have our dip (:

I don't remember the name of this set I ordered  :(

This neither, can't remember but it was some creamy roe thingy?
But the katsu are good  ^^

What really awed me that evening was this innocent-looking bowl of shredded cabbage. It was so amazingly fresh, crisp and with a choice of either the citrusy yuzu-based vinegar or creamy sesame sauce, this salad definitely beats all its competitors hands down.
This salad was so good we asked for multiple servings that nite :P

Ended the meal with a matcha ice cream which was delightfully yums ^^

I used to satisfy my tonkatsu cravings at Tonkichi, but Saboten has now top my list of favouritEST tonkatsu restaurant in Singapore ((:
(ps: will return to try other items and get the names of the Katsu I ordered :P)

MAD FOR GARLIC @ Suntec

The name says it all. Only for garlic lovers :P

DRACULA KILLER - Soft bread serve with garlic cooked in olive oil & anchovies *loads of cheese sprinkled*
This is literally "garlic bread", serve with whole garlic and not garlic cream spread.  This is one of the recommended appetizer; the bread was really soft, topped with one of the garlic which is so fragrantly cooked in olive oil. The kids love this and garlic is still one of the "miracle food" I swear by till date that credits to my kids' good health.

MIXED CHEESE PIZZA - Pizza topped with 4 different kinds of cheese.
Thin crust 4 cheese pizza serve with dollops of cheese. Nothing special, though I kinda of like the dollops of cheeses melting in my mouth :P

GARLIC SNOWING PIZZA - Special sweet garlic pizza topped with shrimps and pineapple dice.
One of the toppings was slices of garlic fried to the crisp. The garlic adds a tinge of unique fragrance to the thin crust pizza.. and yes, its thin crust, I am already won over (:

 SEAFOOD RICE - Fried rice with spicy pepper seeds and different kind of seafood.
This is one spicy dish! Menu indicate 2 chilli at the side (max is 3) and I love the generous serving of seafood. They should go easy on the oil though.

MUSHROOM RISOTTO - Risotto cooked with spinach and mushroom topped with grilled chicken leg.
This has 2 chilli indicator as well. Chicken portion was huge abd the risotto was nicely spiced.

GARLIC STEAK - Special Ribeye steak topped with various kinds of garlic serve on a hotplate.
Where is the steak? This dish was really drowned in garlic, garlic and more garlic.

The only disappointment of the nite, steak was a tad too tough (it was a bad cut of meat), medium doneness instead of medium rare and too many veins.
The over-generous toppings of different kinds of garlic was the only consolation (oh yes, I love my garlic).


Their selling point is Garlic (of course) and I might just return to try the rest of the menu (but I will skip the beef the next round, there are definitely better choices for good old steak).