Coffee Shop Western Food place

HH and I often go around looking for good western food joints served at coffee shop prices. There are those usual places that offer very pedestrian chicken chop (no such thing as a chicken chop - but that's another story), lamb chops, fish and chips or chicken cutlet. These are usually served with cold tomato baked beans, some very plastic tasting coleslaw and greasy chips for about S$3.50 to S$5 depending on what you eat.

However we found a western food joint worthy of the calories and money spent. At Ang Mo Kio Central in a coffee shop next door to the large standalone Courts Mega Store, there is a western food joint that is really a cut above the others that we have tried.

I think it is called My Dad's Kitchen, but you really cannot miss it - it is the only western food place in the coffee shop.

So far, HH and I have only eaten the New Zealand rib-eye steaks. The first time we went there and discovered the stall, HH was wicked - he demanded to see how thick the steaks were before even considering wasting the calories.

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Duly satisfied that the chef knew what he was doing, we both had the rib-eye steaks for dinner. They come with your choice of potato (baked, smashed, wedges or chips) and veg (coleslaw or steamed veg of the day) and a choice of topping - either black pepper sauce or mushroom sauce. HH always has mushroom sauce and I have mine topless to taste the meat.

These steaks are not cheap by hawker stall standard (the rib eye is $10.50) but they are excellent. The guy also has a version of apple salad that is also good - light mayo and a scattering of walnut and raisins.

We would highly recommend this place if you are in the area.

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Valentine's Day

What is the hype about Valentine's Day?

On Saturday 14 February 2009, in The Straits Times, there was a full page article on the mating and copulation styles of animals - the black widow spider that eats her mate's head in the throws of passion to the extreme large equipment of the elephant and the practically non-existent equipment of King Kong. That's why when he climbed the Empire State Building, you didn't see his phallus!!!

My sister V said that's why King Kong climbed the building - it was a huge phallic symbol for the large ape - hmm ...

In The Sunday Times on 15 February 2009, there was an article about a man who set up a candlelight dinner by the beach for his girlfriend and how he cooked cabonara for her and how he got a friend to help with logistics.

Hey - everyday is Valentine's Day. No need for some Hallmark reminder to make it into a big thing.

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Technology Klutz

I don't think I am very good with technology - I just use what I want or need, then leave the rest unless there is a dire need to figure it out.

Here's an example of how technologically inept I am: last year my sister V complained about the rice cooker that we have in the kitchen. It was a regular old fashioned cooker that did the rice in about 20 minutes or so. The heating element wasn't so great, so if it was left on "keep" for too long, the rice would burn a little. I took to setting the kitchen timer to beep at 20 minutes so that I would remember to switch off the darn thing and fluff up the rice. V said that it was not a good rice cooker.

So she went off and bought this new fangled rice cooker with some microprocessor that could detect what sort of rice we were cooking (regular white rice, brown rice, sushi) and our preference (regular cook or porridge). This new thing could also be programmed to start at a certain time or keep the rice hot till we wanted to eat it. Apparently, it could also bake a cake in there as well. Very advanced huh?

Anyway, I am not very good with the rice cooker - I don't quite know how to start it but I am a good cook, just technologically challenged by the rice cooker.

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Thank you Lord

I finally found this song - the video is just a bonus!

Food

Yesterday, we had the largest plate of yee sang salad (raw fish salad) for Chinese New Year celebrations. It was so large that there was no plate. The entire thing was served on top of a pink plastic table cloth on top of the glass table. I wish I had taken a photo of the glorious sight for you!

It was served up by the Chinese congregation in church. They spent hours grating the carrot and radish and whatever else that goes into it.

The wonderful people also made dumplings - there were hundreds of dumplings being served for lunch in church yesterday.

All I can say is THANK YOU VERY MUCH - I really appreciate it when someone else does the cooking and all I do is eat.

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Mom's Song

Sounds like any regular mother yelling away!