Afternoon Tea at Ciao Cafe

I was trying to orientate myself here in HCM city. But switched off completely after a while since Hoa was with us. ^.* We walked around the city center a bit & stopped for afternoon tea at Ciao Cafe. :)

I like the coconut ice cream served in any Vietnamese cafes. I call them the guiltless ice cream because unlike the ice creams we have anywhere else which is rich & creamy, the coconut ice cream in Vietnam is light, yet flavourful. Oh there are also some coconut bits in them. :) 

And of course I had pomelo juice again. It was slightly better than the one at Wrap & Roll, but still not as great as the one we had in Hanoi. Hoa ordered Tiramisu to share. It was pretty light & fluffy and before we knew it, we cleared the plate. :)

Details of Ciao Cafe:
74-76 Nguyen Hue Street
Ben Nghe Ward District 1
Ho Chi Minh City
T: +84-8 38231130



Chào Saigon

Finally, we made a trip to visit Hoa in Saigon! :) It's Lin's maiden trip to Vietnam & my second. :) Hoa took us to Wrap & Roll for our 1st meal in Ho Chi Minh. :D

We had goi ngo sen tom thit (lotus shoot salad with shrimps & pork) & cam goi (wrapped crispy rice with sun dried squid and flavored ham). The lotus shoot salad is such a refreshing appetizer as it had a citrus tang to it.

The wrapped crispy rice with sun dried squid and flavoured ham was lovely too. It's actually burnt rice (锅巴饭). I ate the rice on its own rather than wrapping them in lettuce as it's kind of difficult to savour it without making a mess. ^.*

A dish not to be missed has to be Banh xeo (shrimps, pork, bean sprouts & mushroom wrapped in a crispy thin crepe). It can be found easily in any eateries in HCM. This one by Wrap & Roll is yummilicous! :D We love the crispy edge of the crepe.

Pho cuon kieu nuong (steamed rice crepe rolls with pho flavored beef) is another of our fav. The rice crepe is soft and goes extremely well with the beef. :)

I thought I was munching on sausages until Hoa told me it was clam. Hahahaha... :))) Cha ngheu cuon (grilled clam and grounded pork rolls). Oh well, it's still sausages of some sort isn't it? :) I prefer not to wrap the "sausage" in rice paper as the rice paper is a little tough to chew.

I have been longing for Pomelo juice & I think it's only available in Vietnam. But the one by Wrap & Roll was way too diluted. :( Thank goodness I've a few more days in HCM to search for a really good one. Pomelo juices, here we come! :D

This 1st meal in HCM serves as an energy booster. Lin & I had been very busy the last few days at work. So yes, a much needed Vietnamese treat indeed! *.*

Details of Wrap & Roll:
W: www.wrap-roll.com
T: +84 08 3837 1231

Domestic Diva in the Making

Pauline requested we do something meaningful for her hens nite. So Emma organized a cooking sesssion at Cookyn Inc. :D

Cookyn Inc's herb garden greeted us upon our arrival! :) Don't you love the greens?

It was a nite of girly talks, cooking & savouring our own creation with the help of instructor Dexter. ^.^

The dinner menu for the evening is as follow:

Chicken leg stuffed with honey feta cheese

It’s actually a simple recipe anyone can create easily at home. We felt the portion was a little huge for one. Point to note: Do not be greedy by overstuffing the chicken leg with feta cheese! ^.* 

Laksa Cashew Pesto Pasta

It’s a Singa inspired pasta. The laksa leaves smelt gorgeous, tempting us to N bowls of laksa anytime! But we ain’t eating traditional laksa. We’re having pasta. I couldn’t manage too much cos it’s a little heavy due to too much olive oil in the recipe.

Vietnamese rice roll with special peanut dip

My trick to making them pretty is to put everything in the center of the wrapper, fold the sides in, followed by the top and bottom. I folded the top and bottom into half before pulling them over to cover the fillings just so that I can see all the prawns, veg, etc on the top of the rice roll. Practice makes perfect.

Chocolate tartlets
























The tarts didn’t come out from the oven looking pretty. But the chocolate fillings, strawberries & blueberries covered all the flaws.

In the midst of our lesson, we were treated to dishes created by neighbouring classes. What a fabulous way to promote the other courses available.

The bride-to-be was given additional dessert to sweeten her celebration. :)



Dexter shared with us a number of tips to make cooking fun & efficient. I don’t take mangoes but I love the tip on getting perfect thinly sliced mangoes best!

Can a single lesson transform Pauline into a domestic diva? I doubt so. Beside learning to cook, she has to learn housekeeping too! Lin has volunteered to teach Pauline FOC. Hahhahah...Emma & Jade might already be domestic divas. They seemed to know so much from watching TV!

In any case, congratulations Pauline & we're counting down to your BIG DAY!

Details of Cookyn Inc:

Block O GardenHub

60 Jalan Penjara

T: +65 6748 4848

W: http://www.cookyn-inc.com/

Chocolaty Chocolaty Treat :)

I'm thinking of chocolate. I'm craving for chocolate. I need chocolate. But I have no id what chocolaty stuff to satisfy the sudden crave. Valrhona chocolates? Royce chocolates? Rive Gauche's chocolate cake? Sara Lee's chocolate pound cake? Chocolate ice cream?

So in the end Lin bought me a Super Stacked Chocolate Cake from Awfully Chocolate. It's a meaner version of Awfully Chocolate's signature chocolate cake. Did it squash the chocolaty crave? You bet! *.*

It's a gorgeous chocolaty cake. Super chocolaty & ain't sweet at all.

Good stuff needs to be shared. Fats need to be shared. So we divided the cake into 5: Mom, Beanie, Lin, our helper - Lidia & myself. Of course mom gave me the biggest slice! Heh! :D

Details of Awfully Chocolate:
ION Orchard
2 Orchard Turn #B4-50
T: (65) 6884 6377
W: http://www.awfullychocolate.com/index.php

Mini Mid-Autumn Celebration

We had a really mini but fabulous mid-autumn celebration this year. :) A pity Tina couldn't make it. She was on the plane home while we were celebrating. : /

We go gaga over dumplings! I wanted to make jiaozi from scratch but because we were busy running errands & because mom, Lin & Wendy didn't seem very confident they would be edible, we cheated again. We BOUGHT pork & chives dumplings from No.56 Boat Quay and shrimp dumplings from Imperial Treasure Steamboat Restaurant. Mom made minced fish & apple wontons as well as some wonton noodles. :D We lost count on the number of dumplings we each had. It has to be double digits!!! :O

Mom forgotten to get pomelos. *.* We made do with Mikan jellies instead. :)

Despite being overloaded with dumplings, we kept a seperate compartment to store moonies. This evening we savoured custard mooncakes from The Peninsula and durian mooncakes from Goodwood Park Hotel. :) Many thanks to Edwin & Wendy! :D

The durian mooncakes got Koka crazy... what's new right? ^.* Blessed mid-autumn. We hope you had a fabulous celebration too!

He Melts My Heart

Another random posting. But he melts my heart! :) Can't help falling in love with him. Little Aidan at 5 months. :D

In Search of Egg Benedict

Amber loves egg benedicts. So off we go to Canopy for some! :D Lin & I love Canopy's egg benedict. They are always so well done. :) Fingers & toes up! :)))

Lin had Earl Grey to go with her egg benedict, Amber opted for ice Latte without ice (?) and I went for apple juice. :)

The weather was breezy. Love love love. :) Koka was happy to be out too!

I love my weekend! Don't you? :)

Details of Canopy Dining & Bar:
Bishan Park 2
1382 Ang Mo Kio Ave 1
T: +65 6556 1533
W: http://www.canopydining.com.sg/index.html