Sweet in Singapore

It's rather shameful to be posting pictures of my visit back home to Singapore 2 months late, but oh well...the last visit, which lasted 3 weeks, was another wonderful visit where I got thoroughly spoilt by family and friends. It felt harder to leave this time, and the feeling of homesickness took a little longer to leave me. Luckily there are always the pictures and memories of sweet things back home.


The sweet finish to a decadent high tea at the Shangri-La


A pretty setting for cake at Barracks in Dempsey. Sadly the cake didn't live up to my expectations.



Tantalising display of pastries at my favourite bakery Bread Society


I got hooked on Gong Cha bubble tea. 



Sharing desserts at Ootoya


My favourite Japanese dessert is cream anmitsu. This is from Sun with Moon at Wheelock Place.


A taster plate at Osvaldo

Early birthday dinner at Sushi of Shiori

I might not have mentioned this before, but Sushi of Shiori is my favourite sushi restaurant in London. If I could afford it, I'd be eating there omakase every week, but as it is, I've had to settle for monthly visits. I never get tired of the beautifully crafted and delicious food there. And it helps that the owners are so incredibly friendly and charming. My friend brought me there last night as an early birthday present. What a treat!


Starting off with abalone with aubergine


Tuna tataki, followed by seabass soup, which I didn't get a picture of


The sashimi plate never fails to delight me with its prettiness


Nigiri


Hitomi said this was a new dish. A neatly wrapped parcel to reveal...


Steamed sushi rice with tamago, unagi and bits of chopped mushroom. Very satisfying for this snowy weather.


Wagyu nigiri - one piece per person


Off the omakase menu, but we decided to have some uni because it's back in season


Finishing off with homemade chestnut ice-cream and ginger tea

Oishi!

Sweets from Pasticceria Ascalone, Galatina

It was the shopfront that attracted me first. The old-fashioned door, lace curtains, enticing baked goods on display and a tantalising peek of the interior's equally old-timey counter and patchwork floor had me hovering outside for a few minutes. I watched as people went into the shop and came out with little neatly-wrapped packages. The village shuts down after lunch for siesta. Was the place still open? Finally, I gathered my courage and went in.



As it turns out, my fear of speaking Italian was unfounded. Much can be achieved by pointing and using your fingers. The lady at the counter was very smiley and friendly, and the baker himself, a big man in white with his apron still on, came out and wrapped up my purchases himself. In 5 minutes, I walked out with a little neatly wrapped package of my own. They'd tried to explain to me what the pastries were, but with my masterful command of the language, only got as far as understanding they were cream-filled.


Little biscuit with ground almonds and dates

Later on, I found out that almonds are used a lot in desserts in Puglia, and this pasticceria specialised in old recipes passed down from generation to generation. The Ascalone family has been baking these almond biscuits and cakes and pastries for years and years, and have not changed the recipe in any way. Everything I tried was delicious, and I wish we had more bakeries with such a history in London or even Singapore. There's a lot to be said in heritage and keeping it alive.



Delicious cream-filled tarts

La Tana del Lupo, Galatina

The best meals we had were at a tiny family-run restaurant a minute's walk away from where we were staying in Galatina. It feels like you're eating in someone's home, what with the warm welcome from the husband (who does front-of-house and all the entertaining) and the wife (who does all the cooking), and fabulous home-cooking.


There's no menu here. Instead, just walk in and trust that you'll be well taken care of. When we went in for lunch, the husband plonked down a freshly chilled bottle of rose on our table. The wife came out and asked us in Italian if we had our appetites. That was a sign of things to come. Lunch was a good 3 hours, but oh, was it worth straining our tummies for.

Antipasti: ricotta, aubergine, zucchini, pumpkin, artichokes, green beans, potato cakes, white bean mousse eaten with toast. That was like a meal in itself.




Primi: A deceptively simple but totally tasty orecchiette eaten with a huge cake of fresh ricotta.


Secondi: The star dish was the beef, but the polpette (meatballs), meatloaf with pancetta and veggies were also bursting with flavour.



Dolci: A massive bowl of fruit was placed in front of us. I decided to have kaki (persimmon) and an apple. A bottle of homemade coffee liquer was also brought out for us to enjoy


We enjoyed lunch so much that we went back there again for dinner on our last night in Puglia. While lunch was very meaty, dinner was all about seafood. It was a beautiful way to finish our holiday.

Antipasti: Prawns, mussels, langoustines, oysters, anchovies



Primi: A huge basket of seafood linguini was placed in front of us. Although I'd vowed to take it easy on the pasta, I couldn't stop myself from slurping up more and more of the linguini. How can you say no to perfectly al dente pasta?



Secondi: Whole orata (gilthead seabream)


Pure seafood heaven.

Breakfast the morning after

The tea party was a great success, but now there is a lot of food left in the house. Slowly starting to get my way through it all. Breakfast today is a chive omelette with rocket, tomatoes with basil and a slice of Poilane country loaf.

Preview of a bakefest

The kitchen is filled with the smells of baking in preparation for tea tomorrow. First item made: ginger peach muffins.

Super deluxe lunch from Atari-ya

Have I ever told you about Atari-ya? It's my go-to place for reasonably priced and delicious sushi. True, there are places that serve better quality sushi, the place is very small and no frills, service can be slow, but that doesn't stop me from having lunch there every time I'm in the Selfridges area.

My favourite dish to order is the super deluxe chirashi. At £14, it's a bowl filled to the brim with beautifully vinegared rice and generous portions of sashimi of the season. Everything is fresh and so flavourful. Ah, I'm salivating already.

Atari-ya
20 James Street
W1U 1EH

iPhone 4 picture fun

I got my first iPhone a couple of weeks ago and have been enjoying it ever since. It's made life so much easier, especially the maps function. And I don't have to worry about having nothing to do on the tube anymore - I've got reads and games to play while waiting. I've also been having fun with the camera function and a great free app called Pudding Camera. You can get great lomo-style shots without any effort on your part. Here are a few pictures I've taken while out and about over the last couple of weeks:






All pictures taken using the Pudding Camera app except for the last photo, which was using the standard iPhone camera.

Breakfast project

Breakfast for me is always a hurried affair taken at my desk at work. Seeing these photos from Flickr user bamsesayaka's Breakfast project makes me want to wake up earlier, slow down and enjoy the morning sun and prepare a nutritious, delicious and fun meal to start the day.

Another two blogs I love for their photos of breakfasts (and other meals) are Simply Breakfast and It will stop raining.