Simple but Deliciously Tender Roast Chicken

Ingredients :

1 whole chicken about 1.5kg - cleaned and gutted (pat dry)
1 whole lemon (poked throughout)

Spice rub :
1 tbspful salt
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
1 tsp paprika
4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)

Heat oven to 180 deg C.

Mix spice rub ingredients together well. Rub all over chicken and remember to season the cavity as well. This can be done a few hours ahead.

Place lemon in cavity and place in roasting pan. Roast for about 1 hour.

Serve chicken after at least 15mins of "resting".

It really is simple (except that fat on chicken skin may spatter and the oven has to be cleaned after).

Enjoy!!!

Sweet Nectarine and Rocket Salad

Ingredients :

1 nectarine (remove stone and sliced as thin as possible)

a handful of rocket leaves

a handful of mixed salad leaves

8 cherry tomatoes (sliced thinly)

1 small red onion (peeled and quartered)

Dressing (mied in a screwtop jar) :

1 clove garlic (chopped finely)

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp sugar or Maple syrup

a pinch of salt

dash of freshly ground black pepper

Pour dressing onto salad and serve cold.

Happy 2009!

It has been an activity-filled past few months. Major events at home :

1. Moved to a new place (moving ain't fun)
2. Pre-Christmas/New Year short break - Pangkor Laut
3. Christmas/New Year makans
4. A sad loss
5. Best yet : Barry's 2nd clinic at The Curve opening soon!!!

"Opening soon" board designed by Barry himself. When not working as a chiro, he spends his time at the PC working on educational posters, leaflets, postcards etc. I did tell him he would do well if he was in A & P. Ha!
We are very excited!!

Results of Karen's Latest Affair with the Oven...

Saintly Carrot Walnut Cake... made Sinful with Cream Cheese Frosting Perfumed with Pure Vanilla...
Chocolate Moist Cake... Slathered with Rich Chocolate Ganache... Death by Chocolate...

Lunch at Majestic Restaurant, New Majestic Hotel, Singapore

Please do not let these poor quality pictures fool you (it's from my phone camera which I hardly use ever, so settings a bit kaput). I left my camera at home. Bummer! This restaurant is simply amazing. SIMPLY AMAZING! No frills yet superbly done! Highly recommended!

Checout this quaint and chic hotel and also its bar (try it if you are looking for something new than the usual Raffles Long Bar).

Its a stone's throw away from Outram Park MRT station. Taxis can be quite hard to get in this area.

Majestic Restaurant


Strawberries, mango, grapes and pink rose apple lent a fruity sweet and mildly tart bouquet to teh lovely duck - all crispy on the outside yet juicy-fleshed. There was a hint of plum and sesame in the dressing. Well-balanced in terms of flavours.
Marrow soup - I really don't know what goes into the soup to make it thicker than usual yet light in taste. Ahhh.... just perfect!
Our fish dish : perch with beancurd and gluten topped with sliced mushroom. Fish was fresh and sweet (am not a huge filleted fish fan but I loved this one). The beancurd was silky and gluten was soft... all soaking up the fragrant sauce....
Close-up of the perch/beancurd/gluten
Boston lobster noodles : The noodles were very fine and the lobster cooked just right (not overcooked which happens pretty often). Again, very fresh and sweet. The small amount of spring onions and sliced ginger really add another dimension to this dish.
Elaine chose crispy durian ice-cream (I took a spoonful and goodness! like eating good quality frozen durians!)
I chose "or nee" : yam paste with gingko nuts. Came piping hot, smooth and creamy. Best I have had in my whole lifetime thus far.

Every dish that was meant to be hot, arrived piping hot as they should. We were greedily downing our food. It didn't matter that they were hot.

My only complaint : The food is so good that the portions seemed small.... wished there was more of everything....

Bei Ping Restaurant, Shah Alam

My brother bought us lunch over the Eid holiday - his birthday was the occasion. All 22 of us family members were treated to a huge spread at Bei Ping Restaurant! He picked the RM388/table set menu with an addition of Beijing roast duck (which was later changed to roast duck/yam dish at my suggestion - I regretted a bit as I went late and did not find out that there were already yam dishes in the set).

Bei Ping does not serve pork which is great for my brother as he is pretty averse to pork."Three season" - appetisers of a yam basket, shrimp stuffed chicken fillet and vermicelli-wrapped shrimp balls topped with a dollop of mayo each. These were so good... good yam baskets are hard to come by and here at Bei Ping, it was beautifuly made - fluffy mashed fragrant yam with no oily after-taste despite being fried.
Sharksfin soup - light broth with loads of crabmeat (I got a whole de-shelled claw!) and crab roe. So comforting with a few drops of black vinegar.
On the side of the plate is Beijing roast duck and meat with plum sauce while the centre is yam topped roast duck. The family loved it though despite the many yam dishes they had to eat because of me.
Steamed red snapper - I actually prefer their assam fish using siakap (with okra and pineapples) but mom can't take spicy food so we had this instead. Fish here have been fresh every time we ordered. The owner, a Chinese national who is married to a Malaysian said that they bring in fresh supplies every day.

One of the favourites of the day - 2-style chicken wings. I didn't have any as the night before I made Lemon Pepper and Cajun wings over the BBQ. So, Barry and I were pretty "winged" out. More me than him though as he did try a few and gave the thumbs up.
Butter prawns - I find these just OK. Not very outstanding. Probably a little bit over-done.
One of my favourites : Vegetarian dish of broccoli, dried bean curd and mock abalone in superior stock. Refreshing after all the meat dishes.

This was followed by a small bowl of fried rice for every person. We were stuffed but still game for dessert.

Fresh fruits

Caramelised taro and sweet potatoes (we get to dip these into icy cold water and voila! crunchy caramel-coated hot yams!)

Also, I got for my bro a chocolate peppermint cake which was finished off despite our full belly.

Bei Ping has a lot of other choices in terms of food - I would go for their a la carte dishes - even their garlic baby bokchoy is delicious!

Restoran Bei Ping Sdn Bhd

No. 6, Jalan Utas, 15D 40000 Shah Alam

Tel: +603- 5519 9291, +6012 2016 116

Canele, Singapore

My boss who knows I like to buy macarons (what he doesn't know is that my hubby loves them!) egged me to visit Canele at Shaw Centre which is just a minute's walk from our regional office in Singapore. So, I did go after a scrumptious lunch at New Majestc hotel! (more of that later!)

The 6-piece macaron box (SGD2.30 a piece of macaron - comparable price to that of La Duree - so, macarons are an indulgence)
My selection for Barry (2 framboise - raspberry, 1 pistache - pistachio, 2 praline noisette - hazelnut praline and 1 milk chocolate feuillitine). Barry likes the framboise as he is a natural berry fan. I had one hazelnut praline which is hazelnut macaron sanwiching praline cream with roasted hazelnut. I find Canele macarons a little drier and airier though thicker (maybe more cream) than that of La Duree I bought last September. To me it is less sweet too, which is perfect for me. I could really taste the fresh fragrance of the hazelnuts.
I bought 2 caneles just to try (SGD1.50 per piece) - though I rarely have caneles, I can vouch that these from Canele (so, this is where the name came from) are very good stuff! See my other experience eating Canele here (incidentally the same Les Amis is the people behind Canele).

You can see from their website they offer a wide range of patisseries and chocolates. Sweets-lovers would love this place. As for me, I am happy that I do not have to queue to make my purchase!

Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie

11 Unity Street, Robertson Walk, #01-09 Tel. 6738 8145 Fax. 6738 8146

Email : canele@lesamis.com.sg

#01-01A Shaw Centre, 1 Scotts Road

#B1-25 Paragon, 290 Orchard Road

#B1-81/82 Raffles City Shopping Centre, 252 North Bridge Road

Mr Baoz!

Barry brought home Mr Baoz buns... It is a Taiwanese franchise - very attractive looking buns! Great as gifts and for sharing.

One of his friends' daughter just opened up an outlet at Pavilion KL. We had the whole 12pcs box of bestsellers (RM36) and so far have tried 7 of them since we were away for the weekend.

Curry Mutton Baoz
Curry Chicken Baoz
Roast Beef Baoz
Chicken Sate Baoz
Curry Beef Baoz
Potato Cheese Baoz
Onion Chicken Baoz
Squid Roll
Sweet & Sour Fish Baoz
Viennese Cheese Baoz
Crispy Fruits & Butter Baoz
Snowflake Sesame Baoz

To be honest it was difficult for me to match the buns in person to the pictures but in general, I prefer the beef and mutton ones (as I am not a chicken fan). Personally, after 2 baozs, I cannot eat my meals anymore. They are quite filling.

One tip when reheating (personally I prefer to use the steamer than to nuke them) - cover the cover of the steamer with a clean kitchen cloth to prevent condensed water from dripping onto the buns. Soft, fluffy hot buns in no time!

Checkout its website for more details!

Happy Birthday to me!

Just came back from a weekend stay downtown (my birthday!) - away from home, away from 3rd wheel, our pup (missed her a lot though). We had been so busy from before the wedding and wanted a bit of quiet time.

Had Italian dinner last night - freshly shucked oysters with Veuve Clicquot, my fave creamy mushroom soup with a dash of truffle-infused oil, freshly-made tagliatelle with spicy huge shrimp sauce and rounded off with terrine of trio chocolate. Barry had his garden greens with a twist - crunchy walnuts, crusted mackerel and vanilla ice-cream parfait on layers of blueberries and strawberry jelly. All these food and no pictures... didn't want to kill the mood :o)

It started with a bouquet of a dozen red roses which arrived on Friday at work... totally surprised me. Anonymous but from the message, it had the style of the hubby stamped all over.

Today, we had dim sum breakfast at Ming Room, BSC before heading home. It's hard to catch breakfast by 10.30am at hotels when on a holiday... Just found out that Ming Room offers a 20% discount before 12pm.
That's the pearl stud earrings I got from Barry... Picture from Mikimoto site. Been wanting to get a new pair since I lost one side of my previous set down the bathtub some years back.
New vs Old
Silver white - Pink undertones
18KWG - 18KYG
6.5mm - 8mm

Realised that my taste has changed over the years (prefer white over pink and I like bigger pearls now). It must be age.....

It was a great weekend! I love birthdays!

P/S : Just loved the comfort of Crocs Rx Silver Fox that Barry got me... His clinic, Back In Motion Chiropractic Centre carries the Rx range. I got the tan one... It helps a lot to support the arch of my (flat) feet.