three's a crowd.

People always say it takes two hands to clap.













Tuna Tartare













Pancetta & Pea Risotto














Banana Tart Tatin

In my home, it takes three.

my gardening project part 2.

2 weeks on and this is how my project is turning out so far.

















The only thing growing well now is basil and that's dill growing out at the back so I'm rather happy. I am wondering where the parsley and fennel went though.

brunch @ riders.

Riders Cafe
51 Fairways Drive (Within Bukit Timah Saddle Club)
Tel: 6466 9819
Website: http://www.riderscafe.sg/index.html

















It's rare that I get out for a nice brunch with D. As the family was out of town this weekend, I spent some time last night online looking for nice breakfast/brunch recommendations. I wanted to find a place which I'd never visited; somewhere quaint. I found Riders Cafe.














Nestled within the Bukit Timah Saddle Club, the black and white building which houses Riders Cafe reeks of nostalgia and old school charm. The decor is simple and suits its surroundings perfectly. It was lovely to see the horses grazing and a lonely little black cat perched under a large tree. I loved the atmosphere and it felt good to be away from the hustle and bustle of the city. I'm just glad that there are places like these left in Singapore.














The menu is pretty simple and fuss free which I like because I always have the toughest time deciding what to have. After a little deliberation, I decided on the Norwegian Benedict; Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon & Asparagus. The eggs were well poached, the muffins were nicely toasted and I'd say, this was probably one of the best Eggs Benedict I've had in a while. I do feel that the potato side could have had more salt but it wasn't something I was preoccupied with.














D was rather hungry and decided on the Riders Breakfast almost right away. You get a choice with the type of eggs and a choice between bacon, ham or sausages to have on your breakfast plate. D chose his favourite scrambled eggs and sausages. Whilst the eggs were nice and creamy, he did comment that they still weren't as good as the ones he had at the Australia Dairy Company in Hong Kong. He did love the baked beans though as he always found the canned ones too sweet for his liking. The ones he had on his plate which the chefs might have re-cooked, were not.

Service was a little on the slow side as it was full house but it didn't really bother me since I was enjoying the laid back atmosphere of the whole place. Prices are reasonable and I know that a return visit is definitely in the cards. Plus, this place has cute coasters.

my gardening project.

You're currently looking at my new project.

















Yep. D bought me this for my birthday in advance. My very own herb garden. Thanks D!

It's going to be a whole lot of work but hopefully I'd be able to pick fresh parsley, dill, basil or fennel from the garden in the future.

Wish me luck!

easy peasy potato salad.

I finally made it to my pasta and risotto make-up class after 6 months today. Class was fun and I did learn a couple of new things but I'm probably going to stay away from pasta for a while. Anyway, I couldn't have a proper dinner after all the food during the class and since Mum needed something to eat, I whipped up a simple potato salad.

Potato Salad (serves 2)














Ingredients
5 medium sized potatoes
8 small pink radishes, thinly sliced
3 tbsp light sour cream or crème fraîche
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1½ tsp lemon juice
chives, chopped
mint leaves, chopped
salt
pepper

• Boil potatoes in salted boiling water under tender.

• Run the boiled potatoes under cool running water and remove the skin. Cut the potatoes into large cubes.

• Mix the sour cream with the olive oil and lemon juice. Coat the mixture evenly over the potatoes.

• Add the sliced radish, chopped chives and mint leaves and mix well.

• Season with salt and pepper.

hotcakes for breakfast.

You won't usually find me in the kitchen on a Sunday morning because they're always spent with the family scouring around the island for good food. Since Dad didn't seem well enough this weekend to spend his day outdoors, I decided to make breakfast for once.

Whilst thinking of what to prepare, I recalled the ricotta hotcakes that I had at Bill's when holidaying in Sydney more than a month back. I've always wanted to try making them because D liked them so much.

Bill Granger's famous recipe calls for the all essential ricotta but I couldn't find it at my friendly neighbourhood store. In its place, I added dried cranberries. I also added a little bit of maple syrup to the batter just to give it the fragrance and a tiny bit of sweetness to its otherwise, sugarless batter. Instead of milk, I used buttermilk as I've read that it makes the hotcakes taste better. As a result, the baking powder had to be replaced with baking soda to neutralise the acidity in the buttermilk. I also smashed a Cadbury Crunchie Bar and mixed it together with butter as some websites had suggested, to make the butter for the hotcakes. Bill's hotcakes recipe is a great base and I say, be creative with the ingredients. Most likely, you won't go wrong.

Cranberry Hotcakes with Chocolate Honeycomb Butter & Maple Syrup (makes 8 hotcakes)















Ingredients
handful of dried cranberries
1 tbsp maple syrup
¾ cup buttermilk
4 eggs, seperated
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
butter, for cooking

To serve
chocolate honeycomb butter
maple syrup
bananas, sliced (optional)
dried cranberries (optional)

Chocolate Honeycomb Butter
150g unsalted butter, softened
50g Cadbury Crunchie Bar, smashed

• Prepare the butter first. Mix the softened unsalted butter with the smashed Crunchie Bar and store in the refrigerator. If you like a bit of crunch when eating the hotcakes, smash the Crunchie Bar coarsely.
  

• Place the maple syrup, buttermilk and the egg yolks in a mixing bowl and combine well.
  

• Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together into a bowl and add to the buttermilk mixture. Mix until combined.

• Place the egg whites in a clean dry bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites through the batter in 2 batches.

• Fold the dried cranberries into the batter gently.

• Lightly grease a non-stick frying pan with a little bit of butter and drop approximately 3 tbsps of batter per hotcake into the pan (I used a small non-stick pan usually used for frying sunny side-ups). Cook over low to medium heat until both sides of the hotcakes turn light golden brown.

• Transfer to a plate and assemble with sliced bananas, dried cranberries, the chocolate honeycomb butter and a splash of maple syrup. Be careful not to drench the hotcakes with the syrup as the butter already gives it quite a bit of sweetness.

Bon Appétit!