Barcook Bakery

My plan for today was to go Burger King and take advantage of their $1 burger deal. I had been looking forward to this promo since last week when I received a message on whatsapp from an ex-workmate of mine.

However, while waiting for friend to confirm if she can meet me, my plans were thwarted by a post I saw on FB. A friend was raving about these super decadently delicious cream cheese raisin buns from a certain bakery which has branches at Hong Lim Park and UOB Centre. Yup, that's right. For you Shenton Way peeps, if you don't know yet, tucked in the basement of UOB centre is a bakery by the name of Barcook. My curiosity aroused, I was out of the home in 2seconds to make my way there. While there, I love to browse a certain favourite shop in the same building, but before that, I had to get my hands on these yummies. I heard the queue can get quite long. Read this. While on SMS with a good friend working there, she shared that she loves the floss hotdog buns and could devour 3 at a go. That's it! Number 2 on my list of buns to try. She also said not to miss the bubble tea from a certain shop there. Oh how I envy these Shenton Way peeps. They get all the best foodstuff, all tucked in little corners that only those in the know, will know. ;P

Fortunately, when I got to the bakery, there were only 2 customers ahead of me. The staff were nice and friendly (maybe at this particular outlet), and even thanked me for my purchase. Wow, ok. The shop space is occupied by an open kitchen where you can watch the pastry chefs go about their job. The choice of buns were not that many, but I guess if they are all winners, there isn't a need to make a wide variety. I saw trays of buns on cooling trolleys waiting for their turn to leave the bakery.

I love love the plastic bags. :)

For myself, I ordered a red tea with sour plum as suggested and it's awesome! The pearls are of a really good quality and has a lovely bite to them. I can't stand those cheap ones which taste mushy. I believe these pearls are of the same quality as those you get at Koi. And for the girl, she gets a green apple ice-blended (non-tea based).

The hotdog buns were yum too but I don't think I could eat 3 at a go. I love the bread, but I find them quite solid as in not airy, which is excellent. Or maybe, I was already full from breakfast to begin with. The cream cheese raisin buns were lovely too, but I would have liked the cream cheese to be a little less runny. Give it a try when you are next in the area and you won't be disappointed.

Breakfast bento

After last evening's very light dinner for the princess, I decided to fix her a heavy breakfast else I know she'll wake with a very empty tummy & demand her breakfast pronto.

She found me in the kitchen when she awoke, commenting that I would normally be in the computer room but she couldn't find me there (guilty, guilty :P).

This was a very quick to prepare bento. The first thing I did was to put a pot of water to the boil for the sausages. I then washed a banana & cut it into pieces with skin attached. I did cut slits on each one of them so that it is easier for her to peel them. Strawberries were just washed and sliced in half. I also made use of this 2-tone cheese which I made some time back, and decided to use my gingerbread man cutter for that. The hotdog bun was cut open in the middle and the man stood right in the middle of it. I filled up the gaps inside with bits & pieces of cheese.

I love these little hotdog buns from one of those small local bakeries. I especially love them with a piece of otah within. Yummy! They are a good size for kids.

P.S. For those interested in learning how to do the striped cheese, do refer here.

More buns

I was told to try out another nice recipe, and no regrets. This one resulted in super soft buns, unlike the ones I made last week. Those were nice too but not super soft. I'm happy with this and it's easy to handle. Will surely be using the recipe again.

Various buns

Just haven't made bread in a long while and thought of making some today. So I used this recipe. I really need to sit down one of these days and sort out my labels which are kind of messy. I know I've made buns before but can't find them anywhere in my cloud label. Going to bring some to swim class today. Hope they pass the taste test.

Cheese Sausage buns

Ham & Cheese buns with spring onion garnish

Chocolate Chip buns

Otah buns

Mish mash

These were some stuff I cooked in the last couple of days. Really not in the mood to blog, or pretty much do anything, as my joints are acting up again and I feel so miserable waking in the mornings and not being able to walk on my hurting feet. It gets to me a lot, not being able to just up and go, or get things tidied in the house as much as I want to. Of course it takes a few hours for the medicine to kick in, each morning, after consumption. I'm usually feeling better by early afternoon but by then I'll be busy with other stuff, plus the girl will be back from school, so housework has taken a backseat, and I just can't wait for the cleaner to come tomorrow. Also, can't wait to see the doctor tomorrow to see what she says about my current condition.

On a happier note, I finally booked my air tickets and hotel in Europe for our holidays. Took advantage of the offers at the NATAS fair over the weekend to get the specials. And yippee, we'll be going on Singapore Airlines, and if not mistaken, will depart from the very new Terminal 3. :) On one hand, it's exciting, but on the other, I do dread it as I do not know how my condition will be like at that point in time. There'll be lots of sightseeing = walking, so am not really looking forward to it. I can imagine the suffering already.

Also keeping me busy are ballet classes in preparation for the exams next week. Can't wait for that to be over.

For dinner last night, I prepared the following :-

Pumpkin Curry

Syrian Chicken with apricots and figs

I tried cooking Basmati rice, but it turned out to be a disaster, and I wasted a teaspoon of saffron. *sob sob*. So in the end we had plain white rice.

This morning, I baked a loaf of Cream Cheese Bread. Got the recipe from a forum pal. I'm not sure if there was something wrong with my yeast, but I tested a few packets out and it did not bubble and, thus, they were very inactive. After about the 5th try, I gave up and thought to myself, whatever, we'll just try it out since I already measured the flour, butter, etc. So I went ahead with it and realizing the dough wasn't exactly rising, put it in a low oven to let it rise, but I guess it wasn't enough, since the result was a rectangular loaf like HK's. But no matter, it's the most successful bread I've ever made and it is yummy. Hope I have better luck with the next packet of yeast. I'm happy that there is no strong smell or taste of yeast unlike the last loaf I baked. Could it be the milk powder that offsets the yeast?

For dinner tonight, I cooked this Fettucine dish using a recipe from a magazine and will update the recipes tomorrow.

Going Italian

For the Irishman, I made a Western dinner tonight to celebrate his special day. Been meaning to use the white sauce which I brought back from Ireland but it expired two months ago. Boohoo! This is what happens when you have stuff which you keep in the pantry and hope for some special day to use them, and not bothering to check when they expire. Sigh. However, I managed to get a substitute for it. I wonder why they do not sell white sauce here in Singapore. Maybe lasagna is not that popular a dish to cook? Anyway, it's been ages since I made the dish...

I wouldn't dare call these bruschetta as they aren't really. Other than the topping that looks authentic enough, the type of bread used, and the spread, weren't. I found a tub of Boursin herb spread (I had bought the wrong thing at Christmas, meaning to buy the cheese instead), and used that as a spread over the focaccia which I then baked and topped with my seasoned tomatoes. Tomatoes were cut into small pieces and drizzled with good olive oil, seasoned with sea salt, black pepper, and some dried herbs.

For the second lot of focaccia topping, I sliced thinly portobello & brown button mushrooms and saute them in olive oil and garlic till soft. I then placed them on the bread with some mozarella cheese and put to bake. It was so yummy. That was my favourite of the three items.