Secret Recipe 3-in-1 edition

white chocolate macademia

Mango delight
buttersotch pecan

"gluttony is a sin... god thy sinned... forgiveth thy once more"

how can one resist the temptations of early pleasures when the price is halved? i want to be forgiven please..... (the pics speak for itself already?)

these cakes are simply to be adored and savoured upon... i want MORE! this is considered my second attempt on Secret recipes and they wow you in another aspects in terms of texture and their sponge. Art, I would call their sponges because, sponges do make your tongue go boring if overdone. nuff said!

they're all nice except the Mango delight which i think its left too long... i din think twice ordering it despite it was the last piece on display since i din manage to eat it the prev time during its promotion and i should have known better :( nvm, there's always a next time to try a Fresh piece. the nicest of 'em all is white choc macademia! lovely~ :)

Genting-Mmm Yum Yum Bak Kut Teh

was away in malaysia sometime ago during the wkends. it is nice to haf a short getaway anytime, away from all the hectic lifestyles and tight schedules. i love it when i can literally forget everything about work, studies and most importantly, forget who i really am. Taking a seat back from all that awaits you is simply breathtaking.

anyway, most importantly, i managed to try this expensive bak kut teh at genting. i had my doubts although i read about it coz it was a tourist location and things tend to be overpriced and poor in quality. regardless, during the wait for the bus down to KL, i decided to try it coz i know i will "regret" it later if i don't :p

yes, it is nice because although u see that the frivolous effort inside out the kitchen. and God! im paying for the goods & service taxes! yes... call me the typical cheapskate singaporean :x its very cold and thus the yummilicious-ness of it. overall, not bad will be a good rating and its still ridiculously overpriced though you've to accept it since its a tourist attraction. have to try traditional bak kut teh in JB which my friends raved about to conclude malaysia's effort :)

Oreo Cheesecake

it was Shimin's bday and we celebrated it at Bark's Cafe... still a fine place to chill, talk and enjoy! i love it coz we had good food, good cakes and good compay! :) my 1st try with Oreo Cheese and bakerzin's was fantastic, rive would be equally good and indeed it takes great skill to cut a nice pcs of cheesecake! lol~ anyway, the cake's great and i think bday gal enjoyed herself coz it was not an easy year for her! fret not! the latter rain will always be more glorious den the former! huat ah~! :p

Abiding and Winning

abstracted from: http://www.konghee.com/www/2009/08/abiding-in-gods-presence/

"God wants to protect you from all intentional and unintentional dangers. But the loving care and protection of the Lord are conditional upon three “becauses.”

Firstly, “because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place” (91:9). You have to decide to draw near to God’s presence. When you choose to continuously dwell in the presence of God, you will continuously experience His protection over your life.

Secondly, “because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him” (91:14). This conundrum can be clearly understood from the example of a family. Parents have disavowed their children because of their disobedience and lack of natural affection for them. It is the same with our heavenly Father. He wants His children to love Him, and if you do, you will be guaranteed of His protection.

Thirdly, “because he has known My name, I will set him on high” (91:14p). Obviously, this does not speak of knowing His name in an intellectual capacity, but experientially. And although God is known by many names, possibly the most important name is “the Father.” In one sense, “Father” is an all-encompassing name from which fl ows all the other qualities and names of God. The Father’s ears are always open to the cry of His obedient child: “He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him” (91:15). More than that, you will inherit and experience the precious promises of the Father in heaven (91:16)."

i was pretty discouraged some time ago and was reading pastor's daily devotion. i think bad things happen to good people and sometimes we wonder where is god and why this and that. read this GODISNOWHERE. the first immediate reaction from most will be God is nowhere. but pastor made an important statement that we needa have a paradigm shift that the term is instead, God is Now here!

i'm glad that it my discouragement, i found my peace and strength. People no doubt will let us down and sadly, thats something i detested. At the same time, god purges our relationships to find the true friends that stick by you and i thank god i found them :) no doubt, it was saddening but yet, i was brought to another level once again and i know for sure, with god, my victories are guaranteed. i love it because, its either u be on god's side or be against him which i think its really a scary sight.

7 kinds of sufferings we all go through:
1) Storms of Life-the nature of life is stormy coz life's never a bed of roses
2) Chastening (dealings of god)-sonship and chastening goes together
3) Temptations-be tempted and do not sin
4) Spiritual warfare-mainly discouragement and condemnation ranked highest
5) Afflictions-physical sufferings and mental anguish
6) Persecution-attacked for doing the right things
7) Trials of Faith-a test of our capacity of obedience and endurance

the above taught me to be strong and follow the footsteps of Job. (Job 13:15-"though He slay me, I'll trust in Him."). I went into the book of Job during my very trying period of life this year and Job is an amazing man because he lost his entire family and wealth and yet, he didnt curse and take it out on god; even when his wife ask Job to curse god and die. lol~ to surmise, in the end, God restored to Job double of everything that he lost in the beginning. indeed if god, is for me, who can be against me. :)

Far East Plaza Chicken Rice

I had a hard time take a pic of the chicken rice coz the table is shared amongst others and i gotta be subtle about it :x anyway, this is the famous chicken rice many people rave about that's situated at Far East Plaza.

i think the entire dining experience is nice and it gives off the typical crowded hawker centre feel although its air-conditioned. the food is very fresh and i have to say, the ginger sauce is fantastic. the chilli was nice but not wow coz i loved the ginger so much that i had 3 helpings :p i think my neighbours were like 0_o" lol~ i was abit shy but i could still see their looks discreetly~ wahaha~ the salted veg duck soup (咸菜鸭汤) was really amazing... it was raining for few days and soup does wonders to your body... and i really love having soups be it, lunch or dinner... I guess cantonese people loves soup :)

the bill worked out to be $8 i think. $5bucks went to the soup but well-worth every penny i paid and i finished the soup to the last bit, pity the salted veg they used was not so pretty and they din cut it nicely, i guess, most people just enjoy the soup rather than the ingredients. probably, they wanted the ingredients to make the soup more tasty and appetizing! i would love to come back here again! thumbs up!

Big O's Irish Bailey Cheesecake

thks trisha once again for her highly recommendation of this amazing cheesecake. i've always boasted of Canele's and Bakerzin's Cheesecakes and its richness and YET! Big O's cheesecake is inexorably irresistable... *slurp... blogging on this is already making me salivating... :x

i also wanna kill Trisha coz she's been boasting about this cake to me and jus yakking away and away lor... dunno how to have some "initiative" lor.... :( and i jus couldnt resist all her yakkings and decided to drop by during my breaks when i was on duty at APEC. hefty pricetag BUT amazing texture, taste that really gives you the ohmmmm... i think i've been having too much of good cheesecakes/cakes that its been awhile since i almost reached nirvana and this have certainly booked a place on my favourite cakes/pastry list. HAHA~

exaggerating? try it. $8+ after the GST. well-worth every penny and the pricetag reminded me of 1 caramel's and this for sure, wins my vote :)

Bread Papa

i have never tried bread papa before although i love cream puffs. i think its quite expensive and i've always settled for Prima Deli's sinful cream puffs since young when my mum would always buy 1 cream puff and 1 chocolate eclair for my brother who detests vanilla cream. anyway, everything will have its first! and it was a week for feasting during the intensive lectures when a few of us combine our goodies and take picture!! lol~

its nice and indeed it takes as sinful as Prima Deli's but its cream is different. its nice and would serve as a once in a while treat given its pricetag $2.50/pcs and buy 5 get 1 free (i think). anyway, i like some of what my good friends who have always been very encouraging; telling me to pamper oneself occasionally :)

i think its easier to give better gifts to others than ownself. but i believe this is probably the beauty of most of us. anyway, kudos to Bread Papa for its lovely creamy puffs, not for the "weak-hearted", simply love the oozing of the cream when you eat half of it. i'd love to try its ice-cream mua-ji soon ;p

我的美容秘诀

from top left: honeydew sago w vanilla ice cream, yam sago w vanilla ice cream, chestnut sago, ginko nut w barley (clockwise)

desserts! i love desserts... i read this on Ladyironchef's blog that you know a man's a keeper when he loves desserts :x

anyway, i love to have traditional chinese desserts exceptionally and it has been my beauty therapy since young when my mum always bring my siblings and i to chinatown's 二姑糖水. i love the almond paste and occasionally fathom on the sesame paste. still the almond paste is my no.1 favourite till today-credits to mum for telling me that eating almond paste keeps my looks. yes, im a vain man :x

its a wonderful dessert session after some dim sum at my fav royal china @ raffles hotel. i think maybe its about time to engage Yanting @ st regis soon since its no.1 regardless of its hefty pricetag lol~ we shall see about it!~ Desserts and more desserts please!~ :)

Charcoal BBQ-return of Yakiniku

i love Yakiniku, We love Yakiniku!~ yes! we all Do!! :p its lovely to come here and dine and eat and i simply love the ambience coz its not crowded (never?) and best of them all is that service is fast, prompt and excellent!~

some starters that i din see/try on the 1st occasion: COLD tofu, kimchi, octopus

ooolalala~ cook and eat, cook and eat! never stop, never give up!~ :p

it was once again, a fantastic experience eating, chatting and laughing our hearts out! din take much pic this time as we had cam-gal, trisha! :) thks and photos way on my facebook long time ago! almost grossed out when i unintentionally ate a pcs of cow-tongue... *puke~

this time the promotion was over BUT thank god coz stanchart has some discount think 15% off? i cant rem... the bill works out to est. $36/pax. good food + good company = happy outings! :) looking forward to the next outing alrdy! :)

Blueberry Cheesecake

thks to xiuxiu and eugene in class during our intensive lectures, i got a nice slice of blueberry cheesecake from bakerzin's! :p i had my fair share during my birthday but i think the cake-cutter was "poorly-skilled" that he/she kinda "squashed" some of the cake... @,@ i think it takes skill and lots of details plus patience to cut a beautiful slice! ;)

as usual, bakerzin's never fail to impress my taste buds and the goodness of the cheese makes you go ooolala~ :x plus with the blueberry covering on top, nice~! blueberries are alzheimer fighters! so, DIG IN w/o filling guilty! lol~ yum yum!~ thks xiuxiu n eugene!~

Chocolate Indulgence by Secret Recipe

typical "kiasu-ism" =X
a slice of happiness~

I saw the ad somewhere! i cant rem where tho but! who careS~ :D lol~ this is gonna be a little controversial FOR some people but it doesnt really matter to those who knoe nuts!~ :p my 2nd tryst with secret recipe...

the cake is really huge and i think even if its the original pricetag, its really well-worth it. when i say huge, its really huge, fit for a king!! roar~ i couldnt resist the temptation and cut a slice that day in the office and one for my brother... hehe~ i think you have to love cream to love this cake coz its rather gelare and i think 1 slice will cause the law of diminishing returns to kick in... =x

tasting-wise, its still good but, my opinion is that, its very very filling and when i had 3/4 of the cake, i felt full given the fact i skipped lunch... i feel the sponge is a little too much so i guess that what makes it very filling... i guess the girls will proli stop at half. best to share 1 slice. moreover i was very stingy when i cut the 1st slice. hmmm~ken told me that, Chocolate Induglence, the original, does not contain too much sponge. it is due to promotional season that they made it this way, i guess i will have to try it again! :)

overall, its a nice piece of art here and i'm a cream-lover thus the preference for it. i think i proli needa visit canele soon for valrhona detox ;p ;or some bailey's irish cheesecake-this is thks to tricia... :(

Boo Boo Cake~

this piece of cake is heavenly!~ even the whipped cream taste awesome!~ =X

i was out to have pig organ's soup at lavender. i shall post this GREAT pig organ's soup soon man!~ don't have the pics now tho... :x i tot my friend was playing with me when she was describing about Boo Boo cake... i tot was some sort of emo codes?morse codes? or whatever and guess what! i was in bewilderment when i saw it with my very own eyes!~ lol~ think when u mix around too much with crappy people, your brain begins malfunctioning and becomes equally crappy or..... >.< oops!~

anyway, this cake is quite rich and i love rich chocolate cakes especially Canele's. its been awhile, Ms canele, i shall visit u soon.... lol~ and NYDC has really created something i would give a thumbs up and a "out of this world" rating! :) Boo Boo cake it is! one that wont make you go boo hoo!~ :)

shd i get a digital camera? hmmm....... i wonder......... :x