Very Good French Food

It's my in-laws' 37th wedding anniversary today, and my F-I-L asked for a restaurant suggestion to bring the whole family for dinner. I cracked my head for the one place I knew would never diasppoint. Infuzi, at Biopolis, run by my good friends Purdey and Chef Freddie, used to be a part of the most renown French food chain in Singapore, so the food is undoubtedly top-notch.

Before dinner, Chubbs wanted Purdey to carry him so he could look through the "hole in the wall". He got a great view of the goings on in the kitchen and Head Chef, Freddie (extreme left), really liked playing with Chubbs.

My favourite part of the restaurant. Purdey hand-made these lamps with recycled old wine bottles, and custom-made frames.

The happy couple pouring over the menu.

The amuse-bouche for the night was seared tuna in anchovy sauce with eggplant and zucchini. It was one delicious mouthful that seriously whetted our appetites. For starters, we all ordered the specials of the day. Fuzzy and I shared the white asparagus with poached egg and truffle sauce, and the morels (French honey-comb shaped mushrooms) with Parma ham. Both were divine. Its amazing how "meaty" the white asparagus and morels were; bold, earthy and full-bodied flavours. I savoured every last bite. My F-I-L ordered the hand-picked mud-crab salad with a yuzu (Japanese citrus fruit) dressing, which he said was lovely. We were all so keen to pig-out that the task of taking pictures went out the window :/

Purdey very graciously sent us a bottle of Chambolle Musigny 2006 to further celebrate the occasion. The main grape is Pinot Noir (my favourite red) and it went wonderfully with all the seafood dishes that we ordered. She even provided complementary portabello mushroom salads for the couple of us who didn't order starters.

Shan's bouillabaisse main; French fish stew of lobster, fish, prawns, scallops, and crab. Served with croutons, mustard and grated cheese.

Fuzzy's black truffle risotto with mushrooms, asparagus and fried egg. The rice was al dente, the broth was light but flavoursome, and the egg gave the trademark richness and creaminess to the dish. I loved it.

In the running to be my death-row dish; Maine lobster capellini with konbu and lobster oil. A must-order for anyone eating at Infuzi for the first time. The lobster was extremely fresh and succulent. And they were so generous with the portions! I can't not smile while chomping of huge mouthfuls of lobster.

The other mains were really outstanding too. Gong Gong's lemon sole in caper butter was very delicate, sweet, moist and most importantly, not overcooked. I might actually consider forgoing my default order of lobster pasta next time, and have this instead. Fuzzy's aunts ordered a Kurobuta pork rack and the pan-seared Challans duck breast. Challans ducks are initially bred free-range, but as they get older and ready for the table, they are penned-up and intensely fattened. The story intrigues me, and despite not being a fan of duck at all, I had a few slices, and found myself really enjoying it. There was no gaminess, and the flesh was melt-in-the-mouth tender.

My M-I-L's dessert was the baked chocolate with vanilla ice-cream. The intense mound of unadulterated, warm, 70% cocoa chocolate is hard to beat. But there's one thing that makes Fuzzy and I go "oooh" and "ahhh" more so than a dense mass of chocolate. It is their souffle. The first time I brought Fuzzy here, he had this for dessert, and he has never looked at souffle in the same way since. I can't think of any other restaurant, other than Purdey and Freddie's culinary Alma mater that can top the souffle here. If you can believe it, it is mandatory for this dessert to go from oven to guest table in 10seconds or less.

Raspberry flavoured, served with vanilla ice-cream and vodka cream. To die for.

Chubb's berry creme brulee with hazelnut brittle ice-cream.

There are too many chi-chi French restaurants out there that churn out less than mediocre food with flavoured foams, decorative wafers/ tuilles and squiggles of sauces around the plate for the sake of pure embellishment. The fact that Infuzi doesn't go down that road is one of the reasons why I adore them so. For your next romantic night out, if unpretentious and perfectly executed, truly gourmet food at un-exorbitant prices, served by eloquent and friendly wait-staff in an elegant, chic room, framed by lush greenery, away from the hustle and bustle of the city is your cup of tea, then please do yourself a favour, and head to this little place called Infuzi.

It's easier for me to get Chubbs to take a good photo than the hubby. Go figure.

Our Hangout

I love Guthrie House for many, many reasons. 1) Parking there costs as much as public parking; about a dollar per hour. 2) There's a great supermarket that very few people go to. 3) Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf is available for the much needed caffeine boost. 4) Simply Bread! Need I say more? This is the place we get our weekly hit of sticky buns and cinnamon loaves for ourselves, and wholemeal rolls for Chubbs. Fuzzy especially enjoys their scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. 5) Last but not least, it houses an Italian gelateria.

The last part might be Chubbs' favourite. I take a short walk with Chubbs on some evenings to Guthrie House, carrying him in his harness, to do some supermarketing, and of course, replenish burnt calories from the walk. Yesterday was no different; after paying for groceries, Chubbs charged into the gelateria before I could stop him, planted himself in front of the big fridge, and stretched out his arms out for me to carry him, so that he could look at the gelato flavours available. The default flavour is vanilla, and I got a large serving to share with the little one. Fuzzy joined us on his way back from work, and picked yoggi and dark chocolate flavours, which were both excellent. Chubbs helped himself to more than half of the bowl of gelato and was most pleased. Thankfully, he still managed to eat his dinner fairly well after that. Dessert before dinner? Why not.

Banana and Spelt Pancakes

I've posted about these spelt pancakes before. But I've since simplified the recipe, and trust me, it is one of the easiest, quickest things to make for breakfast, brunch, or snack (Chubbs gets to eat them about twice a week). The thing to note is that you can use many different kinds of more nourishing flours in this, than plain flour. Spelt and kamut are my favourites because these grains have less gluten and a higher protein content than wheat, and the pancakes cook up to be deliciously nutty, and wonderfully light and fluffy. I'll be experimenting with teff and oat flour next. Also, when cooking for Chubbs, I try my best to omit/ reduce raising agents like bi-carb and baking powder, so I make the extra effort to beat the egg whites to stiff peaks instead.

Ingredients:-

1/3 cup flour

1 egg, separated

50ml milk (75ml if using kamut flour)

1 small, ripe banana (I use pisang mas)

Method:-

1) Mash the banana. Add the egg yolk and milk to the mashed banana. Stir to combine well.

2) Add the flour and stir until all the flour is incorporated. Do not overmix.

3) Whisk the egg white until stiff peaks form (I use a handheld beater).

4) Gently fold in the egg white to mixture.

5) Ladle over a hot non-stick pan. Cook for a few minutes on each side, until golden brown. Enjoy with pure maple syrup, honey, jam and/ or butter.

Makes 5-6 3-inch pancakes.

Chubbs had four of these pancakes for lunch, together with a handful raisins and pumpkin seeds on the side. He didn't need any honey or maple syrup because they were so fragrant and sweet on their own, thanks to the added banana.

Looking down on purpose when I asked him to smile for the camera...

Looking up on purpose... :/

Finally! Got you!

Jap Noodles Dinner Date

Last Saturday, we had initially planned to hit Marutama for our dose of ramen, but the queue outside the restaurant was unbelievable. There were at least 10 tables waiting ahead of us. So we changed our plans and ate at the restaurant that we've been meaning to try, everytime we pass it, enroute to Marutama. Botejyu is a Japanese chain that was founded in Osaka, and specialises in okonomiyaki and yakisoba. Fuzzy has a particular weakness for these foods, since many years ago, when his housemate in the US, Naoki, used to make it from scratch.

The restaurant takes a lot of pride in their "matured" noodles, that are a match made in heaven with their trademark sauce. The noodle dishes were all very commendable; al dente and flavoursome, with a good amount of cabbage and meat included, and the dishes were very fragrant because of the use of lard. However, I would have enjoyed things a little more if the food was less salty, even though Fuzzy thought otherwise. But there's very little some ice cold beer can't fix.

Playing with the little one before the food arrived.

It was a lot of salty carbs. We over-ordered, as usual.

Perfection, with huge glasses of Sapporo beer.

The aftermath; we'll be back soon.

Boys and Their Toys

Chubbs received a Tonka portable fire station as a gift sometime back. The little one was very happy when I finally opened his new toy. The set included a fire truck, to add to the other five Tonka vehicles Chubbs has been playing with. So now, he has a yellow school bus, a purple tow truck, a white ice-cream van, a green tractor, a red ambulance, and the fire truck. I've grown to love Tonka trucks because the amount of detail that goes into the aesthetics of each truck is amazing, they zoom around really well, and they are small enough for me to pack the entire posse into my handbag for Chubbs' entertainment on-the-go.

Fuzzy and Chubbs had a good time playing with the three-storey fire station, which features a helipad, a truck lift, a slide for the truck, and a platform that swivels from the third floor to the ground floor with the fire truck on it. It's a pretty cool toy.

The funniest/ best part for me was when Chubbs tried to slide down the fire slide. I had a good laugh when he wouldn't give up and kept trying. Guess he figured if he could slide his trucks down his big boy slide, he could play on theirs too. It's only fair.

Truck on his slide.

Him on truck's slide.

Chilling out with Daddy in front of the TV after playing. I love how he rests his small foot on Daddy's.

19-Months and Baked Potato Fries

My 19-month old darling is finally starting to eat potatoes; in the form of baked fries. Previously, I have tried feeding him white, yellow sweet, orange sweet, blue potatoes steamed, mashed with butter, with cheese, baked in their jackets... nothing worked. He would take an occasional bite, but was definitely not fond of them. Then I came up with this simple recipe. Bingo!

Ingredients:-

1 medium sized sweet potato

1 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper for seasoning (optional)

Note: Different potatoes yield different results. My personal favourites to make baked fries with, are Aussie Gold potatoes and organic sweet potatoes (purple skin and peachy-coloured flesh). Both are so sweet and fragrant, and bake up to be crisp on the outside while soft and fluffy inside. Perfect! But they are a tad pricey; double the price of the more common Vietnamese/ Japanese yellow sweet potatoes. Although tasty, they are a little too dense in texture for baking; so they end up being too dry. I like to bake with blue potatoes from the USA too. They are a deep indigo colour (packed with antioxidants) and bake well. However, these (as with any white/ yellow potatoes) weep after you cut them, so be sure to dry them with a paper towel before dousing them with oil so that they crisp up nicely.

Method:-

1) Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

2) Peel and cut potatoes into batons about 1cm in width- I'm not talking about French cooking school precision here, just the general concept similarity in shape and size so that they cook in the same amount of time.

3) Coat the potato batons evenly with olive oil (and seasonings if desired).

4) Place onto a baking tray in one single layer, and some space between each fry.

5) Bake for 20-25min, or until golden and crisp on the outside.

Last night, Chubbs' doting Pseudo-Godpa, A, bought him a pair of training chopsticks for lefties (Chubbs is primarily left-handed). It has the penguin Pororo (Korean cartoon character) on it, and that thrills Chubbs to bits. He has recently started watching the cartoon, and it quite taken the dance moves of the characters (when the theme song comes on). Anyhow, he has been practising picking up biscuits and such with the chopsticks, and I must say he is coming along rather well. I'll see if he can pick up sweet potato nuggets next.

Caramelized Apples and the B-O-Y

This recipe for a sweet, fruity treat is dead simple, and utterly delicious. Fuzzy, baby and I ate the whole lot as a pre-dinner snack with dollops of luscious Greek yoghurt. Sublime.

Ingredients:-

4 small apples (Use any tart variety you fancy- I used organic Fuji.)

1 tbsp butter

1/3 cup water

1 tbsp demerara sugar

Method:-

1) Peel, core and cube apples.

2) Heat the butter in a pan till sizzling.

3) Toss in apples, and cook over medium heat until slightly yielding.

4) Deglaze the pan with water (or any other liquid- I figure white wine or rum would be delicious, but I kept it virgin for Chubbs.)

5) Add the sugar and let apples steam in the syrup for a short while. At this point, you can add ground cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, ginger, or whatever spice you like. I left my version plain because the apples were very good, and the sugar I used is already vanilla-infused.

6) Once the caramel thickens and the apples are softened to your liking, they are done! Serve with vanilla ice-cream, pancakes, crepes, waffles, plain yoghurt, a croissant, and even something savoury like pork chops. They basically go well with everything; I recommend you double the recipe, because they would keep well in a fridge for a day or two.

On a side note, my boy can spell urm... B-O-Y! He has been particularly familiar with the letters "B" and "O" for a while, and proudly spelt out the name "Bob" (part of some random slogan on Fuzzy's shirt) on his own, some time back. And when we play our daily session of Pictionary (I draw on the doodle board and he guesses the animal, shape or object), he has been requesting that I spell the word out as well. So I just go along with it, writing the words out after he correctly guesses, never thinking much of it, not even believing that it might actually help him spell. But this morning, he learnt a new letter, "Y", together with the picture of a boy; he has been spelling B-O-Y since. I thought it was a fluke, but he has done it too many times that I'm convinced it isn't. And when I ask if he can do it backwards (I hadn't taught him this), he doesn't even blink and goes, "Y-O-B". Super cool!

Chubbs and a part of his animal council.