♥ Experiencelism & Experimentalism ♥ A Singapore food blog on dining experiences and cooking experiments by PinkyPiggu 小粉猪姑姑 who loves all things pink and can't stop eating!
It's time to say bye bye to the Year of Snake and usher in the Year of Horse! Continuing our family tradition, we had our all-important Reunion Meal ~ 团圆饭 on the eve of Lunar New Year during lunch, instead of dinner which is more common among the other households. Why is that so? Because, the meal is always laden with delectable auspicious dishes, we can't wait till dinner time to start the sumptuous feasting as early as possible lol!!
Hello everyone! How is your Sunday? PinkyPiggu is getting all sentimental as this food and cooking blog is a year old today! I'm so happy that the decision to start blogging was finally made after reading a daily devotional on this day a year ago, and after spending the weekend working on the template, setting up PinkyPiggu's facebook page and of course writing, the first post was eventually published a few days later. TYL! (Read: About PinkyPiggu).
This post is specially dedicated to Joey Lo and Desmond Tay.
May 25, 2013 ~ It was a most touching moment as I witnessed my best friend exchanged marriage vows with my cousin. The solemnisation ceremony and wedding dinner was held at Seletar Country Club in the company of family, relatives and close friends. A simple and cosy affair, the few of us who has comrade the bride and bridegroom through their love journey were all present, including Diana and Margaret whom I have not met for a long time. Amid the congratulatory tosses of wine and shouts of yum seng, I held back tears of joys, for the union of two persons in love is the most beautiful, even more especially so as they are two people whom I loved.
Just one call was all it took for the few of us to ditch our evening plans and make our way to NamNam NoodleBar at the basement of Raffles City Shopping Centre instead, simply because it's The Hungry Cow's birthday! It was a rather impromptu gathering as the cow managed to finish all his work that evening, thus freeing himself up for a celebration. Arrangements were quickly made in a frenzy among us as the cow's Blackberry whatsapp decided to fail him on this day of all days. I shook my head in disbelief as I'm back in town after leaving office and commuting in the train for 1.5 hours. Cow, see how we he♥rt you! Got 感动 mah? :p
"Spend a night with me at MBS". When I received this invitation which was sent to me via Facebook events, I thought it sounds rather saucy lol. Well, I did accepted the invitation. Lest you think this is an indecent proposal of any sort, I shall clarify and made known to you all, of what I did at Marina Bay Sands that night.
While many of you might still be doing your last minute Chinese New Year shopping, this PinkyPiggu has already taken her reunion lunch with family, waved goodbye to her brother who left for reunion dinner at his in-laws place with his wife and son, and said "去休息lah" (go have a rest) to her mum who is now taking a nap. Hehee, some ME-time now to nua blog!
The Reunion Dinner (团圆饭) is definitely the most important event on the eve of Chinese New Year. No matter how one might be tight up with work or any other commitments, all the family members will make it a point to gather together to have their reunion dinner. It symbolizes family unity and great emphasis is placed on the importance of this Chinese tradition. The meal is usually very sumptuous to signify an prosperous year ahead.
For the reason ~ Father gave his most precious Son to us ~
Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! ♥
We have received the greatest present of all because of His love for us. This is a season of love and there is no better way to celebrate it by being with our loved ones. With our family, with our friends, with our fellow brothers and sisters in church, all amid His presence.
This is what makes the season meaningful!
This year, I'm blessed to be invited to a potbless celebration on Christmas eve, which is organised by my friend, Joey. Yes, you've read it correctly, potbless, not potluck. It has nothing to do with luck, but everything to do with the blessings our Lord has showered upon us.
That's why we called it potbless :)
As Christmas eve draws near, we began finalizing the event details. Alena is always the most organized person. She actively posted on our facebook event page, listing the food each of us is bringing to make sure we avoid any duplication.
So on this wonderful Christmas eve, we gathered at Joey's place, lay out our wonderful potbless spread and spent a blissful evening with friends.
Here are some of the food we had:-
Turkey
Most of us are not a fan of this bird as it's usually on the dry side but somehow, a Christmas feast wouldn't seem complete without this traditional poultry. It made its appearance with courtesy of Alex.
Curry Chicken
Featuring my favorite part, chicken wings! I can't say no to this even though I'm having a very bad cough... oops :p
Fried Bee Hoon
Joey got her helper to prepare this dish for us. Not a Christmasey dish, but very very Singaporean lol. Who cares, as long as the food is good :)
Satay
Our reserved area had a barbeque pit, so we might as well make full use of it and barbeque some satay!
Mini Hotdogs & Angry Bird Fishcakes
BBQ Prawns
Pasta Salad
Doris made this delicious salad. Light and easy on the palate, we enjoyed it soooooo much!
Country Pie
Made by Alena, this is another star dish of the evening!
Pork Knuckles & Honey Glazed Ham
Thanks to Joelle who brought these over.
Chocolate & Hazelnut Cream Logcake
A touch of festivities from PinkyPiggu
This potbless celebration is made possible because of everyone's participation! Thank you!
Here's Joey, our gracious host.
Edwin, the helpful guy who carved the turkey and cut up the pork knuckle for us. May the knife be with him.
All the very lovely ladies
The guys
Doris' daughter, Ashlynn! She's so cute and lovable! Her favorite color is pink too! We have great taste lol.
After the feasting, we ended the potbless Christmas celebration with gift exchanges. But wait.... the evening is not over yet!
Joey and I had planned earlier to attend midnight Mass, which is also one of the reason we ended the potbless celebration a bit earlier. It was Joey's first time at a Catholic Mass and it has been quite awhile since I last attended one. We went to Church of Saint Teresa which has captivated us with her beauty during the numerous times we passed by in the day. Her white facade is just as beautiful under the cloak of night. Beautiful hymns echoed throughout the church as we entered and joined in the caroling. We ushered in Christmas at stroke of midnight with the holy sound of church bells resounding all the tidings of joy!
Happy Birthday, Jesus Christ! ♥
Blessed and Merry Christmas to All!
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given;
There's no denial that Korean singer PSY's "Gangnam Style", with its addictive music and comical horse-riding dance, is making waves way beyond Korea. Its music video draws more than 130 million views from 220 countries around the world in less than two months! This is not counting the countless parody video clips that is being uploaded onto YouTube everyday.
I was not spared this globally-viral song when WABAR, a Korean-pop concept bar, is decided as the venue to hold a surprise birthday celebration for my friend,Joey. Gangnam Style was played throughout the night, sometimes even being repeated consecutively. Not a bad thing to some customers as they were cheering whenever it comes on. A good thing because the birthday gal like the song.
The stunning neon-lighted display of beer bottles captured my attention as I entered the bar. Very aptly decorated, as this is where you can enjoy Korean beer and Soju, as well as a wide variety of beer from around the world.
Korean music videos dominates here, instead of the ubiquitous sport matches usually played in bars. Numerous flat screen televisions adorned the walls, blaring the top K-pop hits of the moment.
WABAR also serves a variety of food ranging from Korean classics to western bar snacks. My friends, Alena, Jay and I decided to meet earlier and have dinner here, before the birthday gal and the rest of the gang arrives. The food menu is rather extensive for a bar. It would be helpful if it is segregated into sections like appetizers, mains, desserts, instead of having a long list of items numbered from 1 to 50. We ended up ordering a few popular items as recommended by the waiter.
Kimchi Pancake (S$12++)
No Korean meal is complete without kimchi. While being great on its own as a staple side dish, it can also be added into pancakes and pan-fried into a hearty snack. Unfortunately, the kimchi pancake here came out dry and hard instead of crispy.
Crazy Garlic Chicken (S$15++)
Garlic generously accompanied the chicken pieces, which is covered in a sweet and not-very-spicy sauce. Caressed by the gentle aroma of garlic, my hopes for this dish went up. It was dashed immediately when my teeth sank into the soggy chicken.
Samgyetang (S$15++)
This is a Korean classic which is not too classic here. The chicken here is prepared with ginseng, liquorice and garlic, but missing the glutinous rice. While the chicken is not as dry as it looks and falls off the bones easily, it couldn't save itself from drowning in its bland tasting soup.
Bossam (S$16+)
The Bossam (Braised Pork) came sliced in uneven thickness and was not tender nor well-marinated. The meat was tasteless with a strong pork smell.
The pork smell still came through very strongly even when wrapped in a fresh lettuce along with kimchi, hot bean paste and onion. I was hoping all these condiments can masked the smell but I was wrong. Very disappointed by the promising looking dish.
Magners Pear Cider (S$15++)
What makes the meal a lot more bearable is this Magners Pear Cider from Ireland. I managed to wash the food down with its crisp, light and refreshing taste.
Spotted this popcorn machine at the corner of the bar! Popcorn is freshly made and served with the drinks.
Despite a very bad start with dinner, we had a great celebration! The birthday gal was visibly touched by the surprise we've planned for her.
Joey likes ice cream. Joey likes cake. So we got her the best of both worlds... Ice Cream Cake! Midnight Delight from Cold Stone Creamery ~ Layer of moist devil’s food cake and chocolate ice cream wrapped in a rich fudge ganache! Doesn't that sounds amazingly yummy?
Here is the very pretty birthday gal (L), Joey, and Alena, the super friend (R) who coordinated the whole surprise.
To keep with the Gangnam Style theme, we were all dressed in black and gold to reflect the cool and classy image of a rich lifestyle.
We do feel very pampered by the great service here. Not only do they help us reserve the private room, they took the extra step of decorating it with the 'Happy Birthday' signage. They played a special birthday song when the cake is brought out, and pro-actively provide the cutlery without us asking. Oh, did I mention that the waiter served me a glass of ice water when I was waiting for my friends earlier as I was the first to arrive? He did it even though I did not request for it and had not ordered any food yet. I mean, can you even count the number of F&B establishments that are so stingy with water nowadays? I was impressed by all the little gestures which made us feel welcome.
This might not be a good place for food, but is certainly a great place to have a drink or celebration.
Maybe I was just unlucky that night to order all the wrong food items, but sometimes......
It's Not Just About The Food, It's About The Company.
Thanks to Joey, Alena, Ruth, Jay, Jason, Derek, Doris and Byron for the wonderful company!
A Very Blessed Birthday To Our Angel, Joey!!
Here's your favorite version of Gangnam Style for you!
