2009 April | Healthy and Sane

Singapore – Anthony Bourdain’s way

April 28th, 2009

Sorry for being completely MIA since the end of last week. I honestly don’t know what happened. It was nice out, we were busy, then I was tired and thought that if I blogged it would be a really boring post. My dad actually called me this morning asking if I was ok because I haven’t blogged in a while. Oops My loyal readers, you know I’m usually much more consistent with posts, and new readers that came after finding out about the Country Bob’s sauce giveaway (btw, don’t forget to enter, if you haven’t already… only 1 day left!) – I promise I’ll be better in the future. I don’t want you to leave me

So anyways, let’s move on to the fun stuff. I can pretend I’m back in Singapore. Actually it was over 90* here in Boston today (gorgeous weather!), so it was a little bit like Singapore Did I ever mention why we went to Singapore? If I did, here is a reminder:

It’s 90* there during winter (when it’s freezing cold in Boston)
Anthony Bourdain says Singapore is a foodie heaven.

Hey, we’re foodies and we like warm weather – winter vacation spot picked! :D By the way, Anthony Bourdain is my husband’s idol. I’m not kidding – the man changed the way my husband eats. So yeah, we take Tony’s (we’re on first name basis here – why not ) word and recommendations very seriously. That’s why our very first chicken rice (probably Singapore’s favorite dish!) had to be from the hawker center seen on No Reservations, and the lunch from today’s post was also Tony inspired.

But first, we had to have breakfast. Not just any breakfast – a locals’ favorite – Kaya toast at Ya Kun Kaya Toast (hehe, do you think they sell Kaya toast there?). Kaya is a coconut jam made of coconut milk, sugar and eggs. Ya Kun had so many different toast combos with kaya. I was indecisive but finally got the kaya french toast and coffee.

Kaya french toast

+ coffee

I was expecting a strong coconut flavor, but instead this was just a sugary jam. It was a very unique (and pleasant) flavor, but I would not say it was coconuty. I guess because there is only coconut milk and not actual coconut flakes in it. Anyways, I enjoyed this breakfast and it fueled me well for lots of window shopping and walking around Singapore.

shopping on Orchard Road

inside one of the malls

gorgeous weather!

And then it was time for lunch! Straits Kitchen at the Hyatt by Orchard Road looked so good on No Reservations, we knew we had to go there. What we didn’t realize at first is that it was buffet style food. Good thing we were hungry because we needed to get our money’s worth This is the most beautiful buffet restaurant I’ve ever seen in my life… just look at it!

the Hyatt decor

mmm rice

last pic of the decor (+me)

the juice bar

The juice bar was so cool. I tried rose petal juice (it definitely tasted like rose petals but it didn’t taste like I was drinking flowers – it was just mildly sweet and delicious ) and barley juice (yum!).

And then I got to business. Food!! It was glorious. I definitely concentrated on the Indian fare although they had a good variety of other Asian foods.

my first plate - mostly Indian food

second round

+ this roll (didn't eat the other stuff)

roll closeup

I didn’t eat all those desserts – just tried little bites of everything to pick my favorites. And by the way, that’s the rose petal juice on the right. Good stuff!

dessert tasting plate

The little round cookies were warm (what a great surprise!) so I went back for 2 more + little scoops of ice cream.

mango + coconut ice cream and 2 warm little cookies

And just to be extra adventurous, I decided to try the durian ice cream. I knew I mostly likely would hate it so I had it in a separate bowl. Good thing. This was the most disgusting thing that’s ever touched my lips. I was curious. Never again.

durian ice cream - ewwwwwww

Have any of you tried durian? Do you like it? The stuff stinks so bad, they don’t even allow it on the subway or in hotels. It’s actually illegal!

no-durian

So yeah, let’s just say I ate more than my fair share. We ate lunch at around 1pm and I couldn’t even think of food until the next morning. This never EVER happens! The food was high quality, and was clearly made with love. If you’re ever in Singapore, I’d definitely recommend this spot! And if you don’t believe me and want proof that this is also an Anthony Bourdain approved spot (despite being in a hotel restaurant!), watch this clip. Yep, we had to go to both of those places!

Cookery Magic – learning how to cook in Singapore

April 23rd, 2009

Remember my Asian vacation? Seems like it was SO long ago, but it’s only been a month and a half. I left off here with the recap of our first day in Singapore. It was a great first day, but we had an even more unique day planned for our second day there – a cooking class on the remote island. How cool does that sound?! Cookery Magic was recommended as the #1 activity in Singapore on Trip Advisor (that’s how we found it) and now I see that nearly every guide book mentions this class. Ruqxana, the chef and owner of the business, provides cooking classes every day in her own home and on the last Saturday of every month the class is held on a small island. All the reviews said it’s absolutely worth it, and we just happened to be in Singapore on the last Saturday of February. Of course we had to do it!

I took a million pictures so I’ll give you the quick and dirty of what happened and then you can check out the picture gallery below. You can scroll over for descriptions and click on individual pictures to see them a little bit better or comment on them. So here is how it went… The class/tour started with a boat ride to Palau Ubin island (maybe a 20 minute ride). After arriving on the island we got into a van that brought us to our hostess’ home. The whole island does not have any electricity, so everything (naturally) is done manually… and yes, it’s very simple living but somehow also seemed so rich. The hostess was joking that they have to work for their food and that’s how they stay fit. I bet if you had to go get water for your cooking, then pick the herbs and whatnot, then cook without a real stove, you’d be fit too This made me appreciate the feast she prepared for us for breakfast- traditional Malay fare. Yum!

After eating some delicious food (it was absolutely amazing!!!!) and walking around her house, we finally went for a walk in the jungle. Ruqxana was showing us all sorts of plants (picking some of the herbs for our rice). This is how the people on the island get their food. They walk around the island and pick whatever is available. The government actually plants new trees all the time so there is plenty of variety. It was so educational (and fun). Adam was jealous of the mango tree our hostess had right outside her home. And we both loved seeing lemongrass growing. So many foods I’ve seen just in my dishes at restaurants (or prepackaged in fancy grocery stores) but I never even thought about how/where they grow and what their natural form is. Very very cool. This definitely appealed to the (green) foodie in me

And then after a full demo of all the dishes, we got to cooking in small teams. I guess we worked for our food a little too On the menu for lunch:

1. Butter prawns
2. Sambal belachan tumis (chilli sambal)
3. Nasi kerabu (herb rice using 25 different types of herbs and spices – we used 40!!) – Ruqxana called this dish a medicine pill in a bowl
4. Dessert – ice kachang (ice shavings with syrup and jelly)

We had such a great time! The food was delicious and the experience was unforgettable. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip! Later on our trip we even bought a jar of sambal to take home. This way we can enjoy a taste of Singapore (and Malaysia?) right here in Boston

Country Bob’s sauce review + giveaway

April 22nd, 2009

Hi bloggies – how has this hump day been for you? Mine was very busy but we did get a glimpse of the sun for the first half of the day, so I got a 5+ mile run in. Yay! Makes the whole day that much better!! I am really loving my runs lately Anyways, let’s cut the small talk, ha. Tonight I wanted to finally write about Country Bob’s all purpose sauce and my experience with it.

(from their website) Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce is in a class by itself. It is more than a steak sauce, because of its unique flavor and the variety of uses. You can grill, cook, and marinate with it, or put it in your soups, stews, baked beans, and your other favorite dishes.

Use Country Bob’s all purpose sauce on: steak, chicken, barbeque, fries, hamburger, fish and so much more!

Country Bob's all purpose sauce

label closeup

It seems to have been all over the blog world, so if you haven’t tried it yourself, you probably have seen it being used in many ways. I received mine in early February, and because I’m a procrastinator I wanted to give you a really thorough review of the sauce, I’ve been trying it in all sorts of ways for nearly 3 months! Let’s see what I thought…

Taste #1: marinaded turkey tips

The day after receiving the sauce, I went over my parents’ house and brought them a bottle. We were hanging out there for a while until dinner time was fast approaching. My parents are not meal planners, so of course there was nothing on the menu. Everything they offered did not sound healthy at all, so I quickly brainstormed and came up with a quick salad with turkey tips they had on hand. I figured this was the perfect way to test drive the sauce, so I cut up some turkey tips and let them marinade until I was starving.

salad with chicken marinated in Country Bob's sauce

marinated chicken closeup

This salad was pathetic! I felt like I was being punished, eating my healthy food. I used cabbage instead of salad greens (all my parents had on hand) which made for a bitter base. Unfortunately, the turkey tips didn’t save the day either. The sauce flavor was extremely mild. Perhaps I should have marinaded them longer?

Taste #2: pulled chicken

pulled chicken sandwich with grape tomatoes and corn on the cob

pulled chicken in Country Bob's sauce closeup

This was much better than attempt #1! This time I cooked the chicken the way I normally would, and then mixed it in with the sauce right before making this little sammie. The sandwich was delicious, but I wasn’t in love with the sauce yet. Barbeque sauces seem to be quite strong, and this (as I realized later) is not really a barbeque sauce. They’re different animals (although it looks like Country Bob’s sell bbq sauce as well).

Taste #3: baked tofu

salad with baked tofu, carrots, grape tomatoes and hummus

baked tofu closeup

Now we’re getting somewhere! I cut up the tofu and spread it on the baking sheet. Then I brushed it with some Country Bob’s all purpose sauce. After baking it for 20 minutes, I turned the tofu on the other side, brushed it with some more sauce and baked it for another 10 minutes or so. The sauce really caramelized… it made the tofu so sweet! This was a fun way to “dress up” the tofu without marinading it for a long time. Yum!

Taste #4: turkey burgers

turkey-cheeseburger

This picture is not attractive, but this turkey burger was fantastic!!!!! I added 1T of the sauce per quarter pound of ground lean turkey, added some S&P and that’s it. It was so incredibly flavorful. I could not believe it… and not to mention, SO juicy. The sauce had absolutely everything to do with it. Best turkey burger I’ve made to date! In fact my husband even emailed me mid-day telling me how much he loved his turkey cheeseburger. I think this is truly the best use of the sauce.

Taste #5: sweet potato fries

sweet-potato-fries

Yeah, I thought I just wanted a few fries, but I definitely went back for more. These things are addictive with this sweet sauce around. I drizzled the sauce all over the sweet potatoes before baking. Just like with the tofu, the sauce really caramelized on top of the fries. The fries tasted like dessert.. and we all know how much I love dessert

Overall, I think the sauce is great! It’s all natural (no junk ingredients in there) which is something that’s very important to me. The more I tasted it, the more versatile it seemed. I think it really brought out the true flavors of the ingredients (sweet potatoes seemed sweeter, turkey seemed juicier and more flavorful). You may want to play with it and find your favorite way to use it. Want to try the sauce? Here is your chance to win 2 bottles! Here are the rules to enter (3 chances to win):

1) Comment on this post from now until Wednesday, April 29th at 6pm EST. Please leave only 1 comment on this post to be fair.

2) If you have a blog, let others know about the giveaway and link back to this post. If you don’t have a blog, shoot me an email at elina@healthyandsane.com and mention this giveaway. I’d love to know how you’d use the sauce if you won.

3) If you have a blog, add Healthy and Sane to your blogroll. If you don’t, shoot me another email and give me some feedback on my blog. I’ve been changing things up a bit (well temporarily). Do you love it/ hate it? Anything else you want me to know?

I’ll have a random drawing from all the entries, and will announce the winner next Wednesday night Good luck!