Foodie Friday: A Soho Lunch at the Side Alley.

Every trip away from Singapore, we always return with a dish that we rave about, and will haunt us till the next overseas trip. Like a couple of years ago when we were on one of those honeymooney trips to Kata Beach, we had some very amazing grilled calamari. I am not the squid kind of person, but that calamari actually had me try it for the first time and made me fall heads over heels with squid. Then there was the brilliant Rendang Sapi we had at Como Shambhala Bali that we fell head over heels over that no other Rendang has been able to beat to date. In Bangkok, we would never forget the club sandwich we ordered in for room service. It tasted so so good after an entire day of shopping! Of course there were the many other Thai food we had during our yearly Phuket escapade too. The last trip down under had us raving about the Beef and Turkey Panini at The Chocolate Factory at Swan Valley.

This trip to Western Australia was no different. Our holiday had ended two weeks ago, yet we are still raving, craving and salivating for the dishes we each had at SOHO. The husband had Spicy Prawn something topped with lots and lots of cheese, while I had Meatballs Napolitana which was honestly the best spaghetti meatballs I have ever tasted. The beef meatballs were tender, moist and tasty and the spaghetti was just well done. The husband's spicy prawns were really moist, succulent and nice too, I had a couple of noms myself! The best part, the waiters came around to serve mozz cheese in big bowls instead of those tiny shakers. So trust me, they were very generous with their cheese!

We sat at the side alley instead of the main restauranty area, because we had children and we prefer the outdoors so that the children could be free to explore while we lunched. I liked that they had the alfresco dining option, that came in a side alley that was rustic and so funky. It even had a small side stage that hosted music artists from time to time. That afternoon, our boys were our entertainment for the day. They went up the stage, sang and danced for us while we dined. Now, they can safely say they have tried their thing with singing onstage in a public place and it was not too bad at all!

I guess even though we missed a chance to dine at Jamie's Italian, we still managed to taste some pretty fine Italian downunder too!

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So we went Wimbly Lu by Lu...

I've heard of Wimbly Lu and their famous chocolate delicacies since I was a mother of one. Since then, it has been in my mental note to go there and have a chocolate truffle or two, a Nutella mud pie or even their hazelnut butterscotch bar just to keep my chocolate levels safe. Sadly it took me two years to actually venture my way to Jalan riang, and get my hands on those much heard of delicacies. Good news is I'm glad I did, even though I was two years slow.

Staring at their menu, I wanted to order everything! But I restrained myself to just a main dish and a dessert. I had the chicken and mushroom baked rice and some Eton mess for dessert. I eventually decided against the usual chocolate and settled for meringue biscuits topped with raspberries instead. It was a gooooood choice for the sweetness kept me up all night. Ok no, I'm pretty sure it was the quality oh a good chat and some great company that kept me up awake, anot not the sweet meringue! 

Set aside from the usual hustle and bustle of our lion city, Wimbly Lu is located in a quiet estate off serangoon, and it's not that difficult to get to even if you are going by public. 

The area space is pretty small though, and I'm pretty sure they only have about ten tables, a mixture of two and four seaters. I loved the cosy and rustic ambience, yet I'm not so much a fan of the closely spaced seats. It made talking a little difficult, due to the lack of personal space but unless you are just randomly chatting about nothing too serious or personal then the lack of space is not a problem because I am quite sure the patron sitting next to you will be able to hear it all.

I shared a little off my friend's salted caramel ice cream waffle and it was really good too. I always am on the lookout for salted caramel anything, and the ice cream did not disappoint though the waffle is obviously not Wimbly Lu's specialty and definitely not something I would make a second trip for. 

I am actually surprised that I managed to go on a no-chocolate order, given that chocolate has always been my dessert  priority. Having said that, I have absolutely no regrets having what I had. 

I did notice at the corner of my eye, a little rattan baby chair at the corner of the cafe and a bookshelf filled with Madeline  books and other whimsical children reads which clearly meant it is child-friendly. Super yeay for all of us mommies, as this would mean another chill-out cafe added to the list of places we could go with our family and children!

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An easy 4-step Apple Pie Sandwich for tea.

You know what they say about apples keeping the doctors away. We always keep an abundance of apples at home, not just because of healthy eating, but because we really do love apples! Apples are the easiest to find at the supermarket or at any fruit store, and there's never a season to look out for. Apples are always in every season, that's the best part of it!

While we often have simple cut up apples for after-meals, we also sometimes indulge in extravagant apple dishes. Today I am going to share one of our household favourites. My favourite at least, given that I am such a fan of grilled sandwiches!

This is the perfect combination of grilled sandwiches and apple sauce! And this is called the grilled apple pie sandwich. It is really simple to do, with the hardest part being chopping the apples into nice small cubes. The rest is just dump and mix, dump and grill.

Ingredients:
2 cups peeled Apples and diced
1 cup water
1/2 cup tablespoon sugar
5 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons lemon juice
12 slices bread
3 eggs
2/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Step 1: Cook apples and water in saucepan and bring it to boil. Make sure the diced apples are tender before moving onto step 2.

Step 2: Combine sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cornstarch into apple mixture and stir. Keep it to a boil or until mixture thickens, which is around 2-3 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice.

Step 3: Spread the apple sauce mixture onto cut up slices of bread. The best part of this is you can be very generous with how much apple fillings you want your sandwich to be.

Step 4: Dip the apple sandwiches into a bowl of egg, vanilla extract and milk mixture and grill it.

That is all, in four simple steps, you get your very own home-made healthy apple pie sandwiches which tastes just like the MacDonald's apple pie, only better because the whole family gets to enjoy it too :)

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365 days, 524 recipes kept in a vintage recipe box.

Most of my Foodie Friday posts have been about... Food! This week, I take a break from sharing what is cooked or brewed in the kitchen. Instead I would like to share something I recently bought that goes into the kitchen, is food-related, and is absolutely gorgeous!

When I first saw this recipe box from Typo, I knew I had to get my hands on it for sure. The rustic wood, the pink stencilled on fonts, and the whole vintage feel was just my kind of thing to house my favourite recipes.

Now I am thinking, I should re-watch Julie and Julia and perhaps embark on a 365 days, 524 recipes and 1 tiny apartment challenge. You think my pretty vintage recipe box can hold that many recipes?

"I love that after a day when nothing is sure, and when I say 'nothing' I mean nothing, you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. It's such a comfort." 

--Amy Adams as Julie Powell

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Foodie Fridays: Leftover wraps with fruit toppings.

What do you do with leftover wraps from a previous pizza party?

Well, just the other day we bought gardenia wholemeal wraps to make simple pepperoni pizzas at home. The thing I love most about wraps is the versatility that you can actually use it for. One day, it can be used as a pizza base, and another just eaten with the goodness that it comes naturally in.

We had a picnic going on one of the Sundays and we decided to use the leftovers for some healthy yet yummy breakfast wraps. My children absolutely love their fruits, so I thought making a fruit wrap would be ideal, not to mention delicious too.

It was as simple as heating the wrap on a flat pan for a minute, two minutes if you prefer crisp wraps. Then, take a generous scoop of nutella or peanut butter and spread it all around. Lastly, add in slices of your favourite fruits, which in our case were a mix of strawberries and bananas. Fold it into half, and if you prefer cutting each wrap into smaller pieces for easier bites for the kids then by all means do so!

I promise you, the children will be begging you for more!

These Gardenia wraps come in plain, wholemeal and garlic flavoured, and are sold at most supermarkets under the bread section. Just keep a lookout for them the next time you head down to the supermarket. I promise you, it's one of the cheapest range of wraps around. There is no need for home-made wraps made from scratch with flour any more and this is what I love about convenient cooking!

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Foodie Fridays: Bringing healthy into the fast food, Chicken Tofu Burgers

Most children have this innate ability to love fast food, they almost take an instant liking to it whether or not the parents introduce it to them. So while I crack my head to ensure that my children eats healthy, while still tackling what exactly appeals to them, I came about attempting to make burgers that are actually all healthy.

These chicken tofu burger patties taste almost like your regular burger. Only the children does not actually taste the real healthy ingredients being infused into it.

- Spinach, a nutrition superstar which contains good sources of iron.
- Broccoli, high in vitamin C and dietary fiber.
- Tofu, very high in protein and low in fat
- Parsley is rich in many vital vitamins, including Vitamin C,  B 12, K and A. Parsley keeps your immune system strong, tones your bones and heals the nervous system, too.

With all these super foods lumped into a single patty that looks like the regular burger patty from the fast food joint, it is the only way we can get our kids to eat healthy while actually enjoying what they eat! I took the test with my boys, and they gorged down every single bite of this healthy tofu burger, not once but twice in a day for both lunch and dinner! Best part of it is that these tofu burgers are so simple to prepare!

How to cook?
Mince the chicken,
Drain the tofu and mash it,
Mix the minced chicken, drained tofu, parsley, bits of broccoli and spinach
and add a dash of ground pepper. 
Lump them into nicely sized patties,
and grill them to a golden brown.

Enjoy!

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Banana-ish Saucy Rolls for an afternoon snack!

I love afternoon tea, snacks and pastries and am always on the look out for quick bites to go along with the afternoon sun. I was browsing through the kids' Roald Dahl Revolting Recipes book, which had quite a good variety of recipes that go along with his stories, and found one that I was inclined to try out.

1 cup sugar + 1 cup spice + A giant dose of Roald Dahl's imagination = Hours of fun in the kitchen

Because we did not have pastry roll in our grocery cabinet, we substituted it with our local flavor instead! We used popiah rolls to wrap our carefully mixed banana and maple sauce, and left them to bake golden for twenty minutes. Our end product looked somewhat like apple pie, and it tastes banana-ish sweet! I must admit, this could give our good ol' banana fritters a run for their money!

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Roasted Star Potatoes

I am quite the potato lover. I love my fries, I love my wedges, I love potato balls, and I love my mash. I found some potatoes in the chiller today, and decided to make afternoon snacks with it. Something light and delicious yet simple to do because I have tons of chores to clear before the weekend.

My son and I did the shape cutting together, after which it was seasoned in olive oil, ground pepper, and caraway seeds. It was simple enough for a twenty minute job before leaving it in the oven to roast it golden. Serve these up with some good-to-go sauce if you'd like, but we like it naturally baked and eaten.

These were snapped up by the boys in a jiffy, makes me want to make a second serving just for myself now!

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Peanut Butter and Honey Lego Bites

Children has this knack of playing with their food, and what better to make their food inspired by toys that they actually play with on a daily basis. My boys love their Lego pieces, I mean why not? Lego is a whole load of fun and so natural to play with!

This morning, I turned their regular breakfast into some Lego fun!

It was a really simple process of spreading pieces of wholemeal bread with peanut butter and honey topping. Then cutting rectangular bread pieces, followed by little circles to make up the Lego knobs. I stuck the knobs on with some sticky honey, and cut up slices of bananas to complete the meal because my sons cannot do without their daily dosage of fruits. 

This was really simple to do, and I promise you it will be a hit with the children, especially the boys!

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