Brunch @ Graze

i had a hard time deciding what i should be blogging next. i just hv too many backlogs of restaurant reviews and none of my own bakes & makes. basically haven't been cooking nor baking much. note to self : must bake something this week.

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Dessert Outing Once More

nope not recently, it was early last month. figured that if i don't do this soon, i'll eventually forget about it.

outing was held at our lovely claire's place again, and this time sihan, fen/yuan got desserts for us from two places - perla's pastry boutique and centre P's (read : centerpiece). the above, flowers aside, were bought by sihan. there were the crostata al frutti di bosco (fruit tart), bignes (cream puffs), chantilly al cioccolato bianco (light sponge cake soaked with rum and milk with custard and chocolate cream filling) as well as torta valentino, a choc fudge cake. the cakes were not in the pics coz i didn't manage good pictures.

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Wild Rocket @ Mount Emily

fusion food has always been given a bad name and it doesn't take a genius to understand why. most of the time, they're badly done using some weird east & west ingredient combinations that you'll never dream of using in your entire life - think chinese style carrot cake with balsamic vinegar *gasps*. and while i hadn't had that much fusion food to begin with - just two places 2b exact, mykii and persimmon are just reasons enough for me to avoid them like plague altogether. as the popular saying goes, when badly done, fusion becomes confusion and i hv to agree! but its my visit to wild rocket that changed the perception of fusion. for the better of coz. well, kinda.

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Broccoli & Blue Cheese Soup

not too long ago, i finally plucked up the courage to try blue cheese and i fell in love with it immediately. i wished i tried it earlier but i just didn't hv guts to. while extremely strong & pungent and definitely an acquired taste, it's really addictive. i love the savory scent and the yeasty beer-like aftertaste that lingers in my mouth. while good on its own, i love them with crackers, grapes & dried figs. i must try it with wine one of these days and perhaps come up with my own antipasti & cheese platter :p and then, i've been dreaming about making a creamy, chunky soup for a long time now but never really gotten around it. i actually had a few options in mind - cauliflower, pea & ham, clam chowder, mushroom, pumpkin & carrot etc but when i came across this recipe, i knew i had to try it.

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Goma Black Sesame Ice Cream

a continuation from the previous topic on ice cream, this is something i made quite sometime ago. i promptly forgot all about it (actually its more like i didn't wanna post it coz this pic is really ugly). one blogger commented that it looks like century egg on 1st glance :( well, i hv to agree! the shape & color i guess, plus i couldn't really get a good picture in this sweltering heat. that is why i hate to photograph ice cream coz i can't take my own sweet time! then again i must post this coz its a really really good recipe. i've seen some black sesame ice cream recipes that use just ground sesame seeds but i think the flavor would be very mild, judging from the looks of it. whereas this one, it uses black sesame paste so its really potent & concentrated, as u can see! i like to order this whenever i'm out for japanese, or when i visit meidi-ya. so yes i think it comes very close to the japanese version.

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The Daily Scoop Ice Cream Cafe

not sure when it started but a surge of ice cream parlors hv sprouted out everywhere out of a sudden. previously i don't think i even seen much places serving ice cream except for swensens or maybe, haagen dazs. then i started hearing & reading about ben & jerry's, island creamery, tom's palette, udders, icekimo, haato, the ice cream gallery, marvelous cream, azabu sabo hokkaido ice cream etc. just too many! and thats not inclusive of the gelato counters littered all over the malls.

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