Brasserie Les Saveurs @the St. Regis Singapore

Brasserie Les Saveurs

salad-fresh baby greens and grilled prawns w/walnut dressing

sashimi

clam chowder

fresh oysters

dessert

beverage

eggs benedict

eggs and sausages

We went to Singapore last wknd.  Both dh and I had to do some banking there.  Plus, dh had 3 nights of SPG redemption left.  Had to use it by the end of the month.  We chose the St Regis again b/c it’s convenient for me to walk from the shopping complexes.  This time we had lunch and brkfst at the hotel-Brasserie Les Saveurs, an intercontinental restaurant with French brasserie favorites.  It was raining and we were hungry after checking in.  Dh checked out the spread and it looked very good.   The restaurant had his fave French oysters from Quiberon Bay.  He had a dozen of those.  Loved them with raspberry vinegar w/onions.  They were $3 a piece.  I never had them and have to admit they’re the best oysters I’ve ever had.  The sashimis were perfectly cut, not cubed, especially the hamachi.  Had a second helping of those.  I loved my baby salad greens with walnut dressing.  Will have to look up a recipe for that dressing.  Grilled prawns were perfect with my salad. The clam chowder was too creamy for me.   My main course was pan-seared Pacific seabass.  Dh had the wagyu beef cheeks. I almost got that too but we were going to Lawry’s for dinner that night.   Dessert was ok.  I had creme brulee, choc mousse, and cheese cake.  Didn’t have any of the yummy pastries.  I had to control myself.   We will try hightea or dinner there next time.

We usually have breakfast at the hotel.  I have my eggs and sausages and dh has to have his eggs benedict.  This time I also had muesli with fresh berries.

Girls making pizza

Cousin Emma was staying the night on Sunday, so I let the girls help with making pizzas after their swimming classes.  They each made their own pizzas selecting their own toppings over flaky crust.  I made one for Justin cause he wasn’t interested in making his own.  I had diff  meat toppings of bacon, pepperoni, hotdog sausages, and smoked chicken;  three cheeses, mozzarella, light American cheddar and Galbani Italian  cheese and also  onions, mushrooms and pineapples.  Besides their own mini pizzas they can also have the chicken/sausage and bacon/pepperoni that I made.

girls making pizza

smoked chicken/sausage pizza

3 cakes in June and July

Aly and DH had b-days in June and Justin’s was in July.  And I just now have time to post about it.  Been awful busy.  Aly wanted a black forest cake so I attempted to make one.  Turned out pretty good.  She said it was definitely better homemade. I made choc mousse for DH again.  And this time I put brandy on the whole cake instead of half  like last year.  Justin wanted a  forest cake but with blueberries.  I made him  one like a blackforest cake but with blueberries instead of cherries and used a blueberry cake recipe instead of choc sponge.  Fresh blueberries were sprinkled on top of the batter b/f baking.  The “blueberry”  forestcake had 4 layers of cake with cream in between and frosted with cream cheese frosting.  He was so tickled by seeing blueberries on his cake.  For some reason I couldn’t find fresh blueberries that week and had to go to 3 stores to find some.  Will post the recipes when I have time.

Aly's b-day cake,

Aly is 11 years old.

Made 3 layers instead of 4.

Dh's chocolate mousse b-day cake with raspberry sauce

Choc mousse cake

Justin cutting his cake

Yummy

Aly’s lunch

Alyssa has extra classes (tuition) on M, W, and Thu after regular classes and since last month has been taking lunch from home.  I will pack what I’ve made  for lunch that day or give her left-overs from the previous night’s dinner.  She was ok with buying lunch from the school canteen.  Pretty simple stuff that she likes(tofu, chicken, green veg and rice).  Now, the rules have changed.  Children have to line up in single file and pay at the end after selecting the food.  And her main teacher has been making her class copy 2 essays after their last class.  They are always the last class to come out.   She said by the time she gets to the canteen, most of the good stuff is gone and left with yucky food.   I can actually leave her lunch at the guard house and some  ladies who volunteer  bring  them to the canteen for the children to their designated tables.  Did that a few times and she couldn’t find her Thermos.  Now, I’m forever waiting by the gate for her to pick up her lunch.  I guess I don’t mind so much as long as my child has a good lunch.  She only wants rice with meat and veg from home or fried noodles.  She won’t take anything soupy.  My firstborn is very picky.  I few times I had to buy her chicken rice from the hawker shops by the school cause I made porridge or soupy noodles.

rice with roast duck and left-over vegggie beef stirfry

Grand Imperial Restaurant

This is our new favorite Chinese restaurant in Bangsar.  Went there for dim sum one Sunday after Dhamma Sunday school.  We got there 1:45pm and the place was so busy.  We had to wait 10min for a table.  The manager came to sit and chat with Dh, so he’s been going there quite often with his friends.  Hmm…this is our only 2nd time as a family.  Oh well, the food is great.We ordered a few favorites like prawn siew mai, prawn dumplings, fish balls, radish cake, yam dumplings cheong fun, kai lan and chicken feet.  The chix feet sounds gross but it;s actually quite tasty.  The one here was a bit too sweet.   The kids didn’t like the pan fired fish cake.  Dh and I had to eat those.  I quite like the sauce that came with it. It’s a lot like the Thai sour sauce for seafood(lime, hot chilli and ginger).  The kids love the friend squid tentacles with mayo sauce.  Dh had to double the order.  The dumplings and chee cheong fun were average.  The radish cake and fried yam dumplings were excellent.  We would have dim sum there again.

 

Fried carrot(white radish) cake

Sauteed Kai Lan w/garlic

Deep fried squid tentacles

Steamed cheong fun w/prawns and bbq pork

Pan fried fish cake

Steamed praw dumplings, Shanghai xiao long bao,steamed fish balls

steamed chix feet

Deep fried yam dumplings

Epicurean walk

Dh and I indulged in a gourmet “dine around” at the Laguna Resort  on our last night in Bali. We started  the 5 course meal at 7:30pm at the bar with cocktails and canapes to salad and soup, a couple of entrees and ending with dessert, coffee and liqueurs at the gazebos by 9:45pm.   The food was a good sample of the restaurants available at  the Laguna.   By dessert time, we couldn’t eat anymore.   The ending at  the gazebos was nice.   From one restaurant to the next, we were escorted by a butler.   Dh made it a point to get the chefs’ names from each retaurant.  We got very friendly with the staff.  I think we were the only couple signed up for this dinner special.  We started at 7:30 and didn’t see anyone else having the same things, unless they started much earlier.  The menu included strawberry mint mojitos, canapes of salmon sahimi,  cauliflower parfait topped with prawns, mutton balls at the Cascade Bar;    Dumplings in tomato consumme and carpaccio with mango and baby greens at SariMayan(Indonesian fusion cuisine restaurant);  Grilled barramundi with mashed turnips, 2 ways lamb(ground mutton battered slices and grilled lamb steak with red wine shallot sauce at the Seaside Cafe.  Very interesting dishes.  The barramundi was excellent.  I loved the baby greens with mango and carpaccio.   The assorted desserts were ok.  I think we were too full to appreciate those after  eating so much.

 

 

Valentine dinner

roast pork

 

fried potatoes

mixed veg

Since having children, we’ve been having the Valentine dinner at home.  Last year, dh made a steak dinner.  This year, I made a pork roast.  I wanted to try a recipe that I saw at Bon Appetit.  The cut I bought was actually a loin with skin .  I thought it might be tough, but it turned out so tender and tasty.  I also made fried potatoes with onions and rosemary.  Kids love d that.  For our greens, we had a mixture sauteed with Italian herbs.  A very simple satisfying meal.  And of course, we had that lucious lemon layer curd cake with mascarpone.

I used this rub for my pork- http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roasted-Double-Rack-of-Pork-with-Morel-Mushroom-Pan-Sauce-233397?sisterSite=bonappetit.com

Christmas Dinner

Christmas came and went really fast. Seemed like ages ago. We had a simple pasta dinner for Christmas Eve.  My sil, Angela made the pasta. I made caesar salad with grilled chicken. For the Christmas day dinner we had the full works.  I had to have turkey this year.  I had a side buffet table with Christmas goodies like yule log, cookies, candies and fudge, plus a spinach quiche and toast grilled with sliced tomatoes and cheese for those who came earler and couldn’t wait for dinner.    For the main menu, I made scallops with asparagus as our starter,  roastbeef, roast turkey with stuffing and roast red potatoes,  broccolini with roasted walnuts.  I made a strawberry jelly custard trifle for dessert. We had some wine the Aussie cousin brought.

 

Christmas goodies

raspberry/pineapple punch, spinach quiche and grilled toast with tomatoes and cheese

roast turkey with roasted red potatoes, baby carrots celery and onions, sage bread stuffing

broccolini w/roasted walnuts, roastbeef, scallops wiht asparagus

strawberry jelly custard trifle

Two cakes for the Valentine weekend

My sil was turning 50. We were all invited including her friends for a special dinner to Grand Imperial  in Bangsar. I told my bil I would make her a b-day cake. Turned out one of her friends bought her a cake too. It so happened that another friend had  a b-day on the same day.  His wife bought a cake for him and there was a spare fourth cake, carrot cake from Secret Recipe.    Altogether, there were 4 b-day cakes plus the cupcakes. I made the velvet cake as the main b-day cake for my sil and extra 25 cupcakes. The lemon curd cake I saved for our Valentine cake to eat at home. I love decadent cakes and this one was very rich. I didn’t think the guests at the b-day dinner would appreciated it after such a heavy 10 course Chinese dinner.   I had spent so much time and money(the 3 tubs of mascarpone cheese was quite expensive) on this cake.  I just couldn’t take it if people took a bite and just let it sit on the plate.  What a waste!  And I didn’t think it would be enough for 20+ people.   The velvet cake and cupcakes were more appropriate. It was more pretty with cream cheese frosting with berries  and Valentine’s day was the next day.  I told my sil we would eat the cupcakes at the dinner and the main velvet round cake, she can take  back  home.  The thing was, this sil came from England and was going on a short trip to Penang, so she gave the velvet cake  to one of the friends who bought her the cheesecake and gave me the cheesecake to take  home.  That particular friend and family really loved the cupcakes so I knew they would appreciate it.  My efforts didn’t go to waste.  I actually went to 3 hypermarkets and one store to look for raspberries and found them at Cold Storage.  They were Rm19.90 /8-12oz.  I  needed 3 containers so I just skipped the raspberries and topped the cake with strawberries and blueberries.

The lemon curd cake was so rich and so so delicious.  It actually was supposed to be 4 layers of cake  and then the layers of creamwith lemon curd and mascarpone cheese in between.  One cake layer was a disaster and it was the top layer.  As I was doing the top, it started to tear and I almost threw the cake away.  It started falling apart pretty fast.  I had to think fast.  Luckily, I made extra cream/lemon curd and mascarpone cheese.  I got rid of the tearing layer and redid the top.  Phew, it was still a high cake, but not so neat looking as I wanted it.  The top resembles the choc mousse cake I made for dh’s b-day last June.

The velvet cake was from Epicurious, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Red-Velvet-Cake-with-Raspberries-and-Blueberries-108256

The lemon urd layer cake  was also from Epicurious

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Lemon-Layer-Cake-with-Lemon-Curd-and-Mascarpone-107898?sisterSite=bonappetit.com&src=1

Christmas baking

All packaged and ready to distribute

 

Kids helping mommy decorate or rather sneaking the frosting and sprinkles

 

Decorated cookies, kids got silly wiht gingerbreadmans towards the end

Sheet pans of butterpressed cookies

I know I’m so behind in blogging. Since the school year started, I rarely have time for the computer. I still have to feed my family though. I’m still cooking and baking goodies when I can. This past Christmas, I baked the usual butterpressed cookies, gingerbread man, choc fudge and Christmas sugar cookies.  Instead of lime melt aways, I made rum slices instead.  Got them all distributed in time to the usual friends and teachers.