Honey spiced apple and persimmon with whipped cream

I was really delighted that friends are coming over for dinner. With starter cocktails, main courses and it was missing a dessert! The night must end with something sweet in remembrance of the wonderful night. I ransacked my 2 fridges and decided to make this. Its really easy!

Ingredients: (makes 4-6)
1 apple - skinned and chopped to small cubes
10g caster sugar
1 pinch cinnamon
10ml red wine vinegar
5ml balsamic vinegar
10ml honey
1 ripe persimmon - skinned and chopped to small cubes
150ml whipping cream
creme de cassis

Procedure:

1. Cook apple with the 2 vinegars, sugar and cinnamon in low heat until all liquid absorbed and the apple is soft. Add honey and stir. Add water to continue to cook if not soft enough. Make sure all liquid is absorbed.
2. Add in the persimmon and stir till mixed and place mixture in the fridge for 1 hour when cooled.
3. Whip the whipping cream till stiff peaks.
4. Place a dash of cassis in the glass, followed by the fruit mixture and top up with whipped cream.

note:

• ml = grams

Dee's burger

Ingredients (1):
100g fresh Minced prime beef
1 tsp mc commicks Italian herbs
1 egg
a pinch black pepper
a pinch sea salt
onions (small cubes)
1tsp olive oil

Ingredients (2):
streaky bacon
tomatoes
emmental cheese (can vary)
mini soft meal bun
mix vegetables

1. Marinade (1) for at least 2 hrs in fridge. Shape into a patty to palm size.
2. Bring patty to slightly to room temperature before grill/pan frying on med-low flame. 3.5-4mins for medium-rare, 5 mins for medium on each side.
3. Spread butter and toast bun in 200 degrees oven or toaster for 5 mins. Place the cheese immediately when its ready.
4. Top up with a slice of tomato, vegetables, beef patty and bacon!

Some recommendations:

• Caramelised onions can be added for the extra sweetness.
• Olive oil and balsamic vinegar can be mixed to the vegetables before plating.
  

ThirstyBear Brewing Co. & Spanish Cuisine (San Francisco, CA)

Another micro brewery! And its ORGANIC!
ThirstyBear is located at 661 Howard St and it is open from 11.30am to 10pm everyday. They have 9 different kinds of beer that includes Ales and Lagers. 9?! How to try all in one seating?

Do not worry. You can try all w/o getting drunk. They have sample set that is served from shooter glasses. A set of 9 different beers for only 9usd! Its really a good deal.

1. Golden Vanilla - smooth, with hints of vanilla
   
2. Brown Bear - coffee flavour
   
3. Meyer E.S.B - very smooth, malt beer. My fav.
   
4. Valencia Wheat - taste like a smoother version of hoegarden


5. Howard St IPA - hints of cinnamon, bitter aftertaste


6. Kozlov Stout - smooth, slight bittersweet


7. Seasonal Beer - can skip the seasonal beers as all tasted very bitter, abit like cigarette ash. Drinkable. Only for the courageous.


8. Seasonal Beer
   
9. Seasonal Beer

I had some Spanish Tapas. Gammas-prawns in spicy sauce (8.50usd). Flat bread with caramelised onions, rocket leaves and cheese (9usd). Good and tasty dishes to accompany the beer. Great service too! Check out their website at www.thirstybear.com. Call them at 415-974-0905 for reservations.

Taipei 豆浆油条

I was in Taipei for holiday and and was craving for authentic 豆浆油条, so I approached the concierge of Sheraton hotel (near 善祷寺 station) to enquire about the best one nearby.

永和豆浆 is situated at the 2nd road after exiting from the right of Sheraton hotel. It opens early in the morning which usually caters to working adults. It closes at 12 noon for cleaning and reopens at 1pm for the lunch crowd.

I wanted to compare between 油条大王 in Geylang (Singapore) and 永和豆浆 in Taipei, so I ordered the same food which 油条大王 serves. Their 小笼包's (steamed pork dumplings) skin is too thick and I can still taste the flour they used to make the skin, but, the minced pork inside taste very sweet and delicious. This was my 3rd 笼 of 小笼包 in taipei and I realised that it is normal that the skin is thick unlike in Singapore whereby the skin is thinner and the pork not as savoury. I still prefer my dumplings to have a slightly thinner skin as I feel that with thicker skin, it will over-power the taste of the pork, turning the main actor to a supporting role.

Next, I had 热豆浆 (hot soya milk) with 烧饼加肉松 (crispy bread with dried pork fibre). Wow! The sweetness of the soya milk is just nice. Their soya milk is made fresh in the store every morning. The soya beans is grind finely to a powder form before making to soya milk and I can still taste the soya powder when I drink it! Where else in Singapore, soya milk taste a little artifical.

The crispy bread is flaky on the outside and soft on the inside, unlike Singapore, which is much harder and thicker. At 永和, they make their crispy bread every day and they will not make extra onces it rans out. So, make sure to be there early if you want to try it. The one on the picture was the last few they had left. I was very disappointed when they told me it has ran out when I wanted another one. It was only 2pm! Arrgh!

油条 (fried dough) was made fresh for us. It was piping hot when it was served. The fried dough tasted light, fluffy and crispy. As compared to Taipei's version, Singapore's ones is harder on the outside but more tasty and flavourful. I prefer the slightly blander taste from 永和 as I feel if the fried dough is too flavourful, it will over-power the soya milk when you eat them together by dipping the fried dough to the hot soya milk.

Overall, I prefer Taipei's version. If you prefer food with more flavour, then the Singapore's version may be better for you. Both has different taste. But I would say the crispy bread at 永和win hands down. Try it and judge it for yourself.

The Beer station - Singapore (Lock Road)

The first Czceh microbrewery in Singapore is situated in 9 Lock Rd at Gillmen village along depot rd. It has been 1 of my favorite hangout place with T, because of the quiet and chill out environment with greenery all around and light breeze creeps in slowly as the night goes by. In short, I feel close to nature when I am there. But, there is just 1 comment about the whole ambiance, they should change their music to just 1 type instead of interchanging the songs with a mix of hip-hop, rnb, boyband ballads, techno, classics and retro. I feel they should just play either ballads or jazz to go with the whole atmosphere.

Tand I visited the place last night again. We ordered a jug(1.3l) of CIERNE PIVO - Black Czech Pilsner Brew and a jug of REZANE PIVO - Black & White Czech Pilsner Brew during their happy hours which is from 4-8pm(usually they will extend their happy hours to about 845pm and you can pre-order as much as you want during the happy hours and get them to serve them later even after happy hours ends). Besides that, they even serve the jugs of beer with ice buckets! Excellent service!

What I like about their beers is their light and smooth taste. I will not feel bloated after drinking because they use Singapore water(more alkali then other beers) to brew the beer. They do not use any carbon dioxide during the process. They use air! Last but not least, they use pressure instead of pumps to transfer the beer from fermenting tanks to dispensing tanks and that is why their beer is not broken up and tastes better and smoother. The mix is my favourite. It has hints of honey and lemon. Whereas the black one has hints of caramel and coffee. They do serve food like beef goulash, cheese steak, and sausages which are recipes from Slovakia & Czech Republic but I have yet to try them myself. Will update once I have tried.

Check out their website and give them a visit! http://www.beer-station.com/