The Marmalade Pantry & TWG Tea @ Ion Orchard

After the wedding was over, it's time to take time out to catch up with friends since I'm clearing my leaves too:) 

I finally get to meet my used-to-be 'online' friend to catch up over a lunch session. Come to think about it, it's amazing how we came to know each other.  From complete strangers to one who read my blog and asked me more about my bridal package. And from there, we became friend. 

We were also part of a 'bride-to-be' group on FB hence we have lots of common topic.We talk about anything under the sun from topics like our occupation, wedding planning, house renovation and etc. 

We had our meetup somewhere in the central area and decided on Marmalade Pantry. Since I have a appointment nearby and she work near that area too :) I've actually dined in at Marmalade Pantry years back and I remembered the food was not bad despite the price is on the higher end.

I was late and Sharon managed to chop a seat first and even ordered the food for me. So by the time I reached, food was served :)

I ordered the Crabmeat Linguine - $24

It's my first time trying it though (didn't have it on the first time I went) and it seems to be a popular choice at Marmalade Pantry

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Sharon ordered the Seared Scallop Linguine - $24

She's down with cough so nothing spicy or too strong taste for her. It looks delish too :) 

Our first photo together haha! 

Despite everything being so pricey, we still have a good time dining at Marmalade Pantry. The ambiance and food was good and not forgetting the service. But definitely not a place whereby I'll return so often.

The Marmalade Pantry

#03-22 Ion Orchard

2 Orchard Turn Singapore 238801

After our lunch, We went to TWG Tea for some sweet treats! There's always space for desserts :)

We ordered the scones and macrons. Not forgetting a pot of tea. I can't remember which tea we ordered as we asked the waiter to recommend us. 

Everything thing cost roughly 20 bucks.

One last picture of us together! 

TWG Tea @ Ion Orchard 

 2 Orchard Turn, #02-21 ION Orchard, 238801

We had a great time catching up with one another and not forgetting accompany each other to do some shopping before we part for our appointments thereafter.

I've always love such meetup with friends especially over a weekday lunch because there won't be much crowd and a escape from the stressful work environment :)

Homemade Beancurd Tart

Alright this post were meant to be up last year because I made my own Beancurd Tart around Oct/Nov period. Pardon for the delay! For those who have my FB/Instagram would have already seen it way back then, oh well life's still busy even after the customary wedding is over. 

Nevertheless, I shall share recipe I used to make Beancurd Tart and also my personal experience.

The very first time I did the Beancurd Tart, it was a ultimate failure. I used those ready-made tart crust from phoon huat and to my horror, I bought the wrong type -_-". The tart crust was meant for Portuguese Eggtart (cripsy cripsy kind) and the tart crust don't taste similar to those being sold outside. I think I sort of under-cooked it. Anyway, I threw all away(even though the beancurd part was successful) on the first attempt.

Oh well, when it comes to baking, it really needs lots of patience just to get it right and with that I meant by attempting it again and again. 

I continued searching for recipes online and I came across quite a few recipes which involves making the tart from scratch. It doesn't seems difficult hence I attempt to do the tart myself this time round then. 

Here's the recipe for the tart crust adapted from: http://mymindpatch.blogspot.sg/2014/08/soya-milk-tart.html

Ingredients

90g unsalted butter, softened

45g icing sugar

30g beaten egg

150g all purpose flour

20g corn flour

1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Loosen all purpose flour, corn flour and salt by stirring with a hand whisk.

2. Cream the softened butter till it becomes pale yellow. Add in the icing sugar and whip for about 5 minutes into a light cream. 

3. Slowly add in the beaten egg and mix well.

4. Fold in the flour mixture from (1) using an spatula till the mixture turns into a soft smooth dough.  Transfer the dough into a plastic bag and shape into a long dough. Let it chill in the fridge for 1 hour before moulding.

Avoid over mixing which will result in a tough crust.

5. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions.

Just some side information, I used a hand whisk throughout.

Anyway, I used Method 1 to create the tart shape instead of Method 2 as I do not have a cookie cutter at home.

1) Roll the dough into a ball and place inside a 7cm round mould.

2) Use your thumbs to press the dough to shape to the contour of the mould.

3) Scrap off the extra dough.

4) Use a fork to prick some holes at the base. 

5) Bake the tart shells in a preheated oven set at 180 degree Celsius for about 15 to 18 minutes, or till the tart shells turns slightly golden.

So that's how my tart shell look like after baking..

They smells really good. To be exact, it smells like baking biscuits :)

Derp and I took a few bites to try and we were very satisfied with the taste and texture.

All the crust made that day.

Much excited because it was a success. I was more motivated to continue making the beancurd part then because I'm half way there

Moving on to making the beancurd ...

Again, the recipe was adapted from: http://mymindpatch.blogspot.sg/2014/08/soya-milk-tart.html However, I did made some modification to it because I do not have all the ingredients stated if not different ingredient being used to substitute it.

Here it goes..

Soya Curd Filling

It is recommended to use those non-refrigerate types of carton soya milk. From my past experience, those soya milk which need refrigeration, have problem coagulate using this recipe. -> I used Yeos Soya Milk(those 1 litre type, costs around $1 if I never remember wrongly)

Ingredients

450g low sugar soya milk
10g sugar
1 tbsp milk powder ( I didn't use this as I do not have any milk powder at home)
1/2 tsp agar agar powder (I used instant jelly powder from Phoon Huat)
50g low sugar soya milk
1 pandan leaf (optional) (I didn't use this too)

Instructions 

1. Heat 450g soya milk in a pot at medium low heat.

2. In a bowl, mix milk powder, sugar and 1/2 tsp of agar agar powder together. ->As I mentioned earlier, I omit the milk powder and for this step, I add in roughly 2 tsp of the instant jelly powder.

3. Pour 50g of soya milk to mix with the mixture in (2). Let the mixture stands for about 10 minutes to allow the agar agar powder to absorb the moisture.

4. Pour the mixture from (3) into the pot of hot soya milk. Stir regularly to facilitate the sugar and agar agar powder to melt. The agar agar powder will melt around 100 degree Celsius. Ensure there is no tiny grains of undissolved agar agar to give a smooth texture curd.

You may add in a piece of pandan leaf to enhance flavour.

5. To test whether the mixture is ready, scoop a tablespoon of the soya milk mixture to a cool saucer. Place the saucer in the fridge to chill for 2 minutes. If the mixture coagulate after 2 minutes, you can stop heating the mixture.

6. Pour the warm mixture into the tart shells and allow them to cool to room temperature before transferring to the fridge to chill.

7. Allow the tarts to chill for 15 minutes. The tarts are best consumed about 5 ~ 10 minutes after leaving the fridge  :)

Keep the unconsumed tarts in a closed container to prevent the bean curd from drying up.


Just to take note, how 'q' you want your beancurd part to be depends on how much instant jelly powder/agar agar powder you add. Initially, I only added in 1/2 tea spoon jelly powder and they don't coagulate that well.

Hence I had to slowly add in till I get the texture(making sure they harden after it's being placed in the fridge). No harm adding in a little more rather than not enough because those powder needs time and heat to be dissolve.

After pouring the filling into the tart..

Before putting them in the fridge :) 

The very next morning, I can't wait to try it to see how it turns out..

The overall taste was good (especially the crust), texture of the beancurd can be improved as I find it to be slightly too soft but I'm glad they did 'harden' up. Perhaps I've to experiment putting in more instant jelly powder so as to get the texture right. 

That's all for the beancurd tart making process :) I'll need more time to perfect the tarts and if I ever did it, I will share it here then! I personally feel beancurd tart is a manageable homemade dessert for beginners. So do try it if you are like me who loves beancurd much! Who doesn't right? :) 

14/11/2015 - 安床

安床 was a simple affair for us. I'm glad these days 安床 does not necessary means kids jumping on our bed and there's a 好命婆 present to say all the good words during 安床. Master Long way of 安床 was pretty simple and straight forward.

Years back when we approached him, he did suggest us to have our 安床 before we proceed on to our 过大礼 all in a day. However, we reckoned it will be too rush for us to squeeze everything all in a day hence we separate the 2 must-dos for a Chinese customary wedding on 2 different days. 

As usual, we chose a auspicious date from the list of dates Master Long has provided for 安床. 安床was held on 14/11/2015, 2 weeks before our actual day wedding. 

We love  Master Long way of doing things because he mentioned one must actually sleep on the bed after 安床 so that the bed will have 人气. There are many other feng shui masters who don't allow anyone to sleep on the bed after 安床 so I'm glad we approach the 'right' feng shui master haha! 

On the week of 安床, we started preparing the items needed for 安床. 

Four different kind of fruits to be place at four corners of the bed, 1 pineapple and also a hong bao containing $12/$120/$1200 and etc (Money can only be spent after the wedding day). Huat Kueh is also needed but it's not shown in the picture because my mum bought it for us and brought it over on 安床 day.

On 安床 day, we woke up before the auspicious time which is 11am - 1pm (calculated byMaster Long) . Once the auspicious time arrived, we changed our bedsheet to a brand new bedsheet. We then start placing all the items accordingly and leave it there. We were advised to leave it a few hours before clearing it away. 

We finally got this up after buying it from Tao Bao more than a year prior to our AD. So much love for velvet looking stuff instead of the traditional kind of 喜 sticker.

And that's how our bed look like after 安床

The four fruits were placed at each corner of the bed and the remaining items n the middle of the bed.

That's all for our 安床 day. So if you intend to approach Master Long, this is more or less what you should be expect on 安床 day. I hope I've not missed out any important info if not that should be all :) 

04/11/2015 - Birthday Celebration Part 2 (Wedding Food Tasting @ Mandarin Orchard)

The part 2 of my birthday celebration was spend by going for food tasting at our wedding venue :) You may read part 1 of the simple birthday celebration here.

Food tasting were arranged 1 month prior to the wedding day as set by the hotel. And it can only be done from Tue-Thur. So we decide to set the food tasting on my birthday then since we don't have ang fanciful celebration in mind. I'm totally fine with meeting all our family members on my birthday. 

After we were done with collecting Derp's suit for the wedding and also selecting my MIL's gown, we made our way down to Mandarin Orchard.

We were early so we went to do some shopping with my MIL at Orchard area. We were supposed to meet our hotel coordinator to finalized the actual day details but he were so caught up with another client. We waited quite awhile for him to be done. We were glad we came prepared so when he's finally free to meet us, we got all the details sorted out within 15 minutes. 

By then all our family members have also just arrived, hence the food tasting proceed on without much delay.

The signage 

The Menu that we chose for the food tasting..

Prawn Salad, Smoked Duck Breast, Deep Fried Spring Roll, Marinated Jellyfish and Shoestring Prawn Roll. 

My favorite has got to be all the prawn related stuff because I'm a big prawn lover :) If I didn't remember wrongly, we didn't change any of the items from this dish fter much discussion. 

Braised Shark Fin with Three Treasures 

Needles to say, we didn't change this to other available options.

Stir Fried Prawn in Chilli Crab Sauce with Fried Buns

Our favorite dish and also it were our guests favourite too! For those couples who are going to hold their wedding at Mandarin Orchard, this is a must choose dish especially if you are are a chilli crab lovers yourselves :)

Steamed Sea Bass "Hong Kong" Style 

Initially we wanted to change it to Soon Hock, but the top-up per table were too much (it wasn't mention by the chef at that point of time). We stick to using Steamed Garoupa instead. However, it's the Black Garoupa and not the Red Garoupa because changing that to Red Garoupa will incurred extra costs. 

I will recommend couples to take note of their fish item because to serve anything better than sea bass will looks 'nicer' for the guests. The elder generations are usually more particular about it. 

There's a number of hotels who served Soon Hock as part of their menu for the wedding banquet. Do look out for those then because according to both Derp and my parents, Soon Hock taste much better and the fish's meat is very silky and smooth.

Crispy Roasted Chicken with Prawn Crackers

A very normal dish and the chef actually told us they do served roasted chicken with pork floss mixed with egg or something along the line. We think it's something different so we went ahead to change to that instead. This option wasn't given to us when we choose our menu for the food tasting.

Braised Voluta Served with Mushroom and Seasonal Vegetable

The voluta and mushroom were braised till perfection. They were much softer than what we have imagined. We kept this dish in our menu.

Fried Rice with Dried Sausage in Lotus Leaf

Our idea was to make our guests feel full so we reckon rice will be a better choice lol. We kept this dish in our menu too.

Cream of Red Bean Paste with Glutinous Rice Dumpling 

Derp chose this because it's his favourite. In the end, there were actually Yam Paste option and once again it was not written down in the list that they have given us. We only knew about this option after talking to the chef. We changed to serve Yam Paste because it's a popular choice.

So my mum got me a birthday 'cake' from Famous Amos.

Technically speaking,  it's a gigantic cookie and it's not meant for huge consumption because it can gets really sweet if you eat in big portion. But still, my Mum knows I love famous amos cookies since young (but not really now because they get way too expensive) hence she bought this 'cake' foe me. 

Family members singing the birthday song for me. 

The angle of the photo taken by Derp is just so unflattering and it's a #fatarm angle.

Before the night ends, we took a group photo before we parted ways.

All our family members present except my little niece. 

Many decisions made/ things we do throughout the whole wedding planning pretty much involve our family members. 

Hence, I've always believed marriage is a union between two families and not just the couple themselves. And do bear in mind, family members are the ones who will be with you through thick and thin and all the various important milestones in life :) 

That's all for now, I will blog about other aspects of the wedding preparation soon!