Bintan - Nirwana

It has been quite a quiet month. i didn't bake much. except for a Chocolate Mango Mousse cake.

What to do with the spare time? GO ON A HOLIDAY!!! haha..well it is just a weekend getaway but but it is the first trip with my dearest girlfriends since College and it was plan waaaaaaaaaaay before.

Since it was a long weekend, due to Hari Raya (a Malay New Year), the girls and I decided to head to Bintan for a relaxing time (Chilling, 'Nuaing', whatever you call it). We booked 2 rooms at Nirwana Resort which got 'upgraded' into a Suite (hmm not sure if it is the right choice to accept the offer in monetary terms but we accepted anyway). So we had a living room with 2 extra single beds prepared - there were 4 of us in total), bedroom with a King (or was it queen) size bed, a spacious bath area (with 2 sinks, a bath tub for soaking - no shower head, a shower area and a shitting toilet area) and a balcony. I think staying in a Suite like this is a much better idea than having 2 rooms as we are able to do everything together without having to move from room to room. It is so FUN!!!

I was responsible for the snacks and this is what I got based on the 'orders' 

Let me tell you...unless you are rich, please bring your own snacks. Seriously!!! SGD7 for a pack of fried fish balls, SGD4 for a pack of random brand potato chips?!!! 

Friend V was responsible for sandwiches to be consumed as lunch before we depart at noon! Nom Nom. Thank you V for the yummy and healthy sandwich! and also thank you V's Mom for the fruits to keep our digestive system working well during the trip :)

Let's check out the Suite shall we?

The brightly lit living room is what you see when you step into the Suite. Beautiful right?!!!

This is the other side of the living room.

Say hello to Mr Ele

Then we see the bedroom..romantic!

The changing area which i didnt mention earlier. And the big spacious shower area.

Check this out! Reversible FLAT LCD screen TV (random note: one of my friend CLL always check upon entering a hotel room. hahaha)

Balcony! that a cat passed by during the night which freaked me out! TT

Not forgetting Stich speaker to get us 'lancing' dancing through the night.

While exploring the resort, we found this!

FYI, we had instant noodles for lunch and went for Spa after that.

Dinner at pasar Oleh Oleh which ermmm I can say is food court standard but restaurant price.

This is some special drink that Friend C ordered which tasted not bad just a tinny bitsy sweet.

I was lucky to have ordered Olive rice n stirred fried chicken which tasted the best out of the dishes my girlfriends ordered. This cost SGD8 btw.

The next day, no picture of the breakfast because they aren't that great. :( We chilled out at the beach and pool before heading back into the room to nap. I love how clear the water in the beach is. So blue and pretty. I was so immersed with its beauty that ermmm oppsie...i didn't take any photos of it. =x I will try to get my hands on the photos at the beach from my gf and post it in the future post. We were lucky with the weather in the sense where when we were out, the sky shone brightly with Mr Sun smiling at us but when we headed indoor, the sky darkened and started to drizzle if not pour without warning. I guess we are blessed. ^^

After lazing around in the pool and beach, we cleaned up and had instant noodles for lunch again, then massage followed by dinner at Nirwana Kelong Restaurant. The best food we had eaten in Bintan. Please remember to make reservation beforehand as we almost couldn't get a table. The pricing is similar to SG. It cost us SGD96 for these 4 dishes including drinks and 2 bowls of rice. They have set dishes for 4 pax which cost SGD148++ but it seems too much for us to finish.

Then we had some fun with lips tattoo on our last night at Bintan!!!!

Then that is the end of the trip :( As usual fun time passes really quick. Before you knew it, it is over. sob sob...

The ferry ride back was quite bad, I felt slightly nauseous and had a bad headache. Probably due to hunger (i didnt had lunch) and ermmm me watching too much drama via my mobile on board. But I reckon the ferry ride contributed partly as well because a little girl was puking badly in the ferry. *green face T.T* So when I got home, I was super hungry. To the point of ermm fainting? hahaha.. I found no human in sight, not a single living thing (except the plants -.-). Hence, I whipped up pasta just to satisfy my growling stomach. Pasta with endame, onions, garlic, cheese and omelette.

Since it was Hari Raya the day before, as usual, I got invited to my one and only 'Malay' friend's (a friend for 12 years and counting. also a neighbour for more than 12 years) house for Hari Raya visiting. These are the yummy food prepared by her mom which I always look forward to. kekeke...The homecook ketupat! Yummy chilli sauce / gravy, etc...<3<3<3!!!

Selamat Hari Raya!

xx,

Pam

Something Delightful

Finally i had time to work on TEA cake. A friend of mine suggested to me a month ago to bake something that is  infused with tea especially Earl Grey (her favourite). In order to motivate and ensure that I bake it, she brought a paperbag of tea bags. there were Chamomile Tea, English Breakfast Tea, Earl Grey and Peppermint Tea.

Previously i had tried using the normal Lipton red tea (i think it is called black tea in the US, i have no idea why the difference). Although the recipe did not call for honey, I added what I thought was a tiny bit of Honey which turned out to be more of Honey Cake than Red Tea Cake. However, I secretly like it. Shhhh I do not want you to think i am such a bragger. Anyway it tasted in my opinion, just like the Bubble Tea (from Koi or Sweet Talk or any bubble tea shops) - Honey Red Milk Tea Flavour. On the otherhand, yes i agree that the Honey is slightly overwhelming and overpowered the fragrance of the Tea slightly and i really meant slightly as you are still able to taste Tea just that Mr. Tea who was supposed to be the main lead was being kicked out of the drama and Ms. Honey had became the main lead.

I like how the fragrance of the tea provides a light and subtle happy aftertaste where it lingers on your taste buds after eating. It is like Mr. Tea and Ms. Honey is happily prancing and dancing on your taste buds. :)

No pictures of this Honey Milk Tea Cake as they were ermmmm not very pretty to look at. they were not pretty because I mixed the tea leaves into the batter and the cakes had tiny specks of black dots everywhere. Not pretty at all. I am afraid u might lose faith by looking at how ugly it looked =x well never judge a book by its cover i know but i rather not risk that you will not visit my blog again would I? keke..just kidding about the previous sentence but not about it being ugly =x

From this baking experiment, I had learned that Honey provides moisture to baked goods as it is made up of glucose and fructose which has similar properties to inverted syrup.

okie time to show you something delightful <3

This is the Vanilla Earl Grey Cake that I had made yesterday morning. :) there were quite a number of likes to it. keke.. DELIGHTFUL! hehe This is by far the best photos i had taken of my creation. I used the table mats that my sister had recently purchased from IKEA. cute right? ^^V

xx,
Pam

Happy Birthday Maximus!

okay. confession first. i messed up the cream -.- :( however, on a positive note, it doesnt taste grainy or 'rough' (opposite of smooth). i wondered if i over-whisked the whipping cream or due to the powered gelatine that i added...but i m 90% sure it was the latter reason.

anw just hope that the cake doesn't taste bad. it's just the typical genoise sponge with creme chantilly layered with mango and kiwi at the center.

tadah....here is the final product. it will be more kiddish and nicer if i were to make colourful royal icing and pipe them on the sable letters. hmm the white cream just look....kinda plain doesnt it. hmmmm...

xx

Mango + Cassis = Yummy and the many delights this week.

I had just tasted my new creation and I will be thick skin enough to say it is GOOD! :) ain't too creamy, ain't too sweet, ain't too sick, refreshingly delicious =x

Biscuit soaked with cassis (blackcurrent) syrup, filled with mango mousse with black current jelly centre and mango compote. Topped with cassis glaze.

this week is supposed to be tart week. however, i only managed to work on 1 tart which is the Frangipane Tart. SG is not know as sunny SG for nothing. Hence, with the hot weather in SG, i had to keep putting flour to my pastry dough when moulding to prevent it from breaking even though i sort of 'froze' the dough (i already tried to minimize the amount of flour by working as quickly as possible). The tart is slightly hard as compared to the ones i usually make when i was in London but it's still acceptable. i filled it with almond cream which was slightly too sweet. but when topped with persimmon, it was just right. texture is good with persimmon. i like! :) 

had an order form a friend who wants something fruity. she had seen the cake topped with piped roses and loved it. hence, requested for me to decorate this fruity cake as such. 

the cake might look as though it was filled with super a lot of cream! but fret not i dislike overly creamy cakes as well. only the top is filled with cream due to the rose piping. to neutralize the flavour and texture, the side of the cake is only being spread with a very thin layer of cream which is then surrounded by chocolate sticks. the inard is filled with a layer of kiwi (slightly tangy) and a layer of mango. the verdict will be out tonight when my friend had it cut. praying hard that it will be good :)

that's all folks. have a great weekend. <3 u ;)

xx