Thanksgiving is coming!

WOOHOO!!!

My Menu:

Cream of Mushroom and Roasted Chestnuts
Asian Pear Salad with Caramelized Pecans, Goat Cheese and Mixed Greens with Cranberry Vinaigrette
Garlic Butter Roasted Turkey with Maple Glaze
2 kinds of stuffing
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Scalloped Potatoes
Sauteed Green Beans with Almond and Garlic slices, drizzled with Lemon Juice and Olive Oil
Sweet Potato and Marshmallow Pudding  OR  Frozen Cassis Souffle
Double Fudge Brownie
Pecan Pie and Pumpkin Ice Cream  OR  Pumpkin Creme Brulee

I’m so excited!!

So, update on my little bistro.

Problems right now:

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!
Units in Singapore are ridiculously expensive. . . I know I won’t have a problem earning it back but sheesh! Well, I’m not gonna throw my money carelessly too.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?
I’ve got a few names and so far, these are the ones I’m sticking to. Which do you think has the nicest flow? I’m listing them accordingly from favorite. . .
a) A Simple Fare
b) A Simple aFare
c) Sofiana (named after my 2 beautiful nieces)
d) My Lil Bistro

MENU PLANNING
There are so many items I could put on the menu but right now I’m contemplating only listing soups, salads, sandwiches, and desserts. The Chef’s specials could be changed daily or weekly. In addition, I’ll also have a Guest Chef’s specials. Beverages will be Illy coffees, special teas, Italian sodas, and classics like floats and milkshakes.

Decisions, decisions, decisions. BUT this is soooo fun.
I hope y’all will come visit if you ever happen to drop by Singapore.

I’m finally doing it.
I’m going to open my own little Bistro.
Good food, good wine, good friends.
Simple food, simple look.

AND I’m gonna blog my entire process.  Might use a different screen name tho.  Weeeee!  So exciting!

Couple of weeks ago, a huge group of us went to Bali to dive in hopes to catch a glimpse of a Mola Mola.  Lucky us, we got lots of glimpses.  It was such great diving.  And food too.    Anyway, here’s a slideshow and some of my fav shots.

I love this shot.  I have no clue which one of my friends those two are tho.  haha


Not a great shot but this Mola Mola was literally right beside me. . . okok, 10 feet is close for a fish that’s 3 times your size. 
here are 2 links to give you a better idea of what it really looks like:
http://www.mola.org/mola/molamola.gif  AND  http://bigpicture.typepad.com/writing/mola_mola.jpg


Cuttlefish!!!  One of my buddies was lucky as she saw them mating.  This shot is right after the mating.


My favorite photo of a Manta Ray.  I love the colors.  ^_^  so inspiring, but alas, I’m no artist.


Its so peaceful watching the Manta Rays swim or glide.  I can almost imagine classical music in the background.


A cool seafan.  I always feel cold when I see this picture.  Wintery colors.


One of my buddies taking a side shot of a gliding Manta Ray


Another buddy who didn’t see the Manta Ray above him.


Another buddy at ascend


Underwater Phallic symbol???


Leaving Manta Bay.  Such a gorgeous day. . . nice and warm.  The water was soooo cold tho.


A local woman carrying our tanks and weight belts. . . approx 100 pounds of weight!!!


Local delicacy. .. Suckling Pig.


The Suckling Pig Special Combo Plate.  Pork skin, pork fat, blood sausage, pork meat, and chillies.  Yummy!!!


A street vendor selling peanuts and corn.


The yummy grilled corn glazed with honey butter. . . I’m craving another one now.


Fried Bananas.  They slice it thin and bias cut, then breaded and deep fried to a perfect crisp.  AND they eat it with birds eyes chillies.  Those things are SPICY!

Went with E and L to a fairly new restaurant in Singapore called Memolette.  It was so hidden that we were almost an hour late to meet the owner, who’s a friend of L.  The decor was so comforting and easy to the eyes that we almost immediately felt at home.

Anyway, on to the food. . .

1st Dish:  French Onion Soup.
Very nice and sweet. . . though probably not something a typical Singaporean or someone who’s not French Onion Soup savvy would enjoy, its definitely one of the best French Onion Soup I’ve had, and I’ve had a lot.

2nd Dish:  Long neck clams?  or something like that.  I forgot
I’m not a big fan of clams but these were perfectly cooked to a cross of tenderness and chewyness.  Love the sauce. . . some butter and lemon sauce, but not a beurre blanc.

Main Course:  E and L both ordered the Lamb.  I had a piece and was so overwhelmed with jealousy.  Perfect!  Tender!  Soooo yummy.  Not overshadowed by the sauce at all.

Salad:  Caesar Salad which was complimentary bc they forgot to place the order for my tenderloin.  SOB!!!  Never mind.  It was good.

My Main Course:  Tenderloin.  So nicely cooked.  The sauce was lovely with a slight mustard flavor.


Dessert:  Their signature dessert. . . the Angel Food Cake.  Restaurants so rarely serve Angel Food these days and its a nice welcome to see this on the menu.  So good that it got me motivated to make Angel Food Cake at home.

VERDICT:  Memolette is definitely going to be one of those hole-in-the-walls that will be successful.  The service, the food, the presentation, and the ambience add to its excellence.

A little change from my usual stint on food.
When we were walking around in Milan, both my brother and I stopped to gawk at this bag.
What’s so special about this is that we NEVER EVER stop for any BAG!!!

Its only (ONLY) Euro 117,000.
Right.
Only.

 The Drool-worthy Diamong studded, Dark Charcoal Grey Croc Berkin

  
Cracco-Peck
A super classy restaurant in Milan.  Supposedly very well-known.  Very high end, very expensive.  Soooo very worth the visit.  We got real lucky as our friend knows the chef well; we got to sit in the very sought after table in the kitchen.  Got to see the rush!

1st Course, Part 1
Deep fried many things:  Zucchine flower, black squid, pork skin, etc.
Sooo. . . yummy, tho a tad salty.  Not a bit greasy feeling at all!

1st Course, Part 2
A medley of small little things
The only one I recall are the golden risotto balls, and that they were delish!!

1st Course, Part 3
A box of dehydrated veggies: beets, zucchini, zucchini flower, potato, carrot, sweet potato
Surprisingly delicious.  I could eat a bag of these if they sold it in the supermarket.

Dehydrated Beets and Courgette, up close.

 
2nd Course
Caramelized Russian Salad
This was by far our favorite of the whole entire night.  As you can see, the inside is creamy and gooey, yet the outer part is caramel.  I’m thinking that they might have froze the custard/salad first, then caramelize it.  Salty, gooey, creamy, sweet, crunchy. . . what’s not to like??  NOTHING!  It’s perfect!

WINE!!
This was soooo yummy!  eh. . . and pricey.  Let’s just say that if we didn’t get this, we wouldn’t be broke (and satisfied).  Got the dough?  Get this wine.

3rd Course
Crawfish with cocoa bread crumbs and a circle of spinach puree
The crawfish was cooked just nice.  The spinach wasn’t very exciting but the cocoa breadcrumbs was out of this world.  Buttery, sweet, almost chocolatey.  It was magnifique!

4th Course
Salad of edible paper and seafood
No kidding!  The chef even showed us his little book of edible paper!  The clear one is fish, the orange one is shrimp, the black one if squid ink, and the pink one (I don’t remember).  Some mussels accompanied the dish.  The green sauce is some kind of pesto.  The result was true genius.  The paper has a nice slightly chewy texture.  Its like eating a calamari carpaccio with many other seafood infusion.  Its hard to describe, super easy to eat.

CONTINUED. . .

5th Course
Crab Bisque over Seared Tuna with Garlic Croutons and Edible Paper
The Crab bisque was a tad bit too crabby for my taste, but the combination of the tuna, croutons, paper and bisque was just lovely.  Problem lies with the tiny spoon that can’t fit all that.

6th Course
Mayonnaise-filled Ravioli with Clams and Green beans in a pool of Passion fruit
This was my least favorite.  Mayonnaise as a filling for Ravioli just isn’t very appetizing.  However, forming Ravioli into a ball, that’s cool!

7th Course
Risotto with Ginger and Anchovies
Sounds weird too, right?  But it was rather pleasant.  Though, by now, we were way too stuffed.

8th Course
Liver of Veal with Fungus
This has the grossest sounding name but the taste was out of this world.  I like liver so wasn’t too put off by it.  This was my 3rd favorite dish.

9th Course
Breaded Veal Cubes with Eggplant Gratin and Tomato
My 2nd favorite dish!!  Perfectly coated, deep fried and just perfectly cooked veal cubes.  Not too salty, not too oily, this was just soooo comfy to eat.  All we were missing was ranch dressing or tabasco sauce.  It was like chicken nuggets but very good veal.  Very very good veal.

10th Course
Seared Bone Marrow with Lima Beans (??) and a dash of cocoa powder
By now, we’re already filled with so much wine and champage that I’m starting to forget what I was eating.  I do remember that I liked the beans more so than the bone marrow which was very tasty too.  But the hit of the dish is the Cocoa Powder.  It simply completes the dish.

11th Course
Watermelon cube filled with Green Tea
If you look closely, you’ll see that the top has a round cut in the middle.  It acts as a cover.  This is like a watermelon box with Green Tea inside.  You pop the entire thing into your mouth and you get watermelon and green tea.  It is that simple. 

12th Course
Raspberry sherbert with Gingko nuts and Oxygenated Marshmallow balls
I wish I could show you a video clip of it.  It looks like its got dry ice in there some where.  And when you pop it into your mouth, you start smoking through your nose and mouth.  Its so fun to eat!  Tasty too.

13th Course
Seedless Lychee pastry with Almond Tuile and Truffles
Yummy!!!

Mignardise #1
Cashews with Powdered Sugar
Nuts?  Yum!  Sugar?  Yummier!

Mignardise 2
Truffles with almonds inside
Sweet, salty, bitter, chocolatey. . . and CRUNCHY!!

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PECK
The Deli / Supermarket connected to Cracco Peck
The manager invited us to try some of their dishes at the deli.  How can we refuse?  So, we had this for breakfast on our last day in Milan.

Lasagna
The Ragu sauce had the prefect amount of ground meat and tomatoes.  Not too garlicky, nice and cheesy.  I was happy.

Seafood Soup
Fish, mussels, shrimp, clams. . . how can you go wrong?  And the tomato based soup was lovely.  Though, I could use a little bit more lemon juice.

Bacon-wrapped Veal Tenderloin with a cube of Vegetable casserole
This was my dish.  I was the lucky one.  hehe  The bacon was great!  and the Veal was maginificant!  I was too stuffed to touch the veggies.  TOo stuffed and TOo happy.

A Medley of FREE Cookies!!!
Need I say more?