Spaghetti with Vongole

Who says you need expensive ingredients and top range cookware to produce deliciously exciting food?Spaghetti with Vongole should not be a difficult recipe to dish out in our humble kitchen. You do not need top of the range kitchen ware, raw material. The focus here is technique to dish out a flavoursome pasta dish. All you need is spaghetti, generous portion of vongole especially if you them, lots of garlic thinly sliced and of course oilive oil.

Heat up the pan with oil and add the thinly sliced garlic. When you could smell the aroma of the garlic in the kitchen add white wine to taste. Let the white wine burn off for around a minute and add the Vongole and start tossing. Add more white wine during this time and continue to toss the vongole. Be mindful not to lift the pan off the fire during the tossing motion lossing the heat in the process.

Add a knob of butter and continue to toss the vongole. Add freshly chopped basil and freshly grounded pepper to taste. Finally add pre-boiled, drained spaghetti and allow the spaghetti to be infused with the sweet aromatic juices of the vongole with white wine. Pasta now is ready to served on a plate, drizzle extra virgin oil over the spaghetti and garnish with dry basil or parsly to taste.

Voila, now you have a aromatic plate of tasty, delicious Spaghetti Vongole ready to be served.

Vegetarian Pine Tree Cafe 長春橱

Who says that vegetarian food has to be bland and not tasty to the palate? To locate this cafe, all you need to do is to look for the escalator. The cafe is immediately visible on the left at the end of the escalator ride. The first sight to welcome you would be the spread of vegetarian Yong Tau Foo. Since it is vegetarian, the filling shall not be fish paste. The Tau Kua is soft and juicy and bitter gourd not cut to smaller pieces so that the fillings does fall off.

Another dish that we like is chestnut with brown rice. This dish is served with a generous portion of Kai Lan stem sliced and cooked to perfection. A delicious and healthy vegetarian meal.

The wonton noodle is really springing or in our local lingo "Q". Sauce is tasty but you need to give the noodle a good stir with your chopsticks and spoon to enjoy all the goodness of the sauce. In fact, it so good, I almost fogot that it is vegetarian.

Vegetarian Bak Kut Teh was also on the menu and we decided to give it a shot. Soup was tasty and yet not overpowering with herbs. A great soup to drink on its own or to eat with rice. Ingredients include mock meat made with mushroom stems, sweet corn, bean curd skin, black fungus and goji berries or wolf berries.

In general, a vegetarian cafe with a good spread of dishes to appeal to vegetarians and non-vegetarians wanting to try out a vegetarian meal. Business was good with a steady stream of customers. According to the name card, they have another outlet at Blk 29, #01-52 Bendemeer Road (Hawker Centre), Operating Hours: 6am - 2pm. Rest on Saturday.

190 Middle Road
 #02-13/ #02-09
Fortune Centre
Tel:  9815 4940 / 9681 5457
Operating Hours: 9am - 9pm

Sharpening Your Competitive Advantage in French Wines

“Sharpening Your Competitive Advantage in French Wines” on Sat 29 Oct, 9am – 12pm at Suntec Singapore  in conjunction with Wine For Asia 2011 and Wine Fiesta 2011@WineforAsia.

If you like French wine and want to articulate French wine names and terms correctly with Basic French Phonetics training. Understanding more of the label with the knowledge of French wine terms, French AOC system and its reflection of its geography. Understanding the growth classification of Bordeaux and Burgurdy. This course includes a French Wine Style Mapping Wheel which is your guide to the taste profile of French wines.

This course is particularly relevant to those who deal with French wines, whether to advise on Purchase of French wines or just as a consumer. The course is now open for registration. Only 50 seats are available for open registration, please register on-line at http://www.sp.edu.sg/.

The two speakers are Malcom Tham whose accolade is not limited to Accredited International Bordeaux Wine Educator, Bordeaux Wine School and Fernard Klee who was voted Best Sommelier 1985 for Wines and Spirit of France in Belgium.

Niu Che Shui Famous Glutinous Rice 牛车水著名糯米饭

The owner was once well built and muscular. Through the many years of assiduously working in the kitchen and serving. The stress has taken a toll on his back and now he has a hunch. However he still bounces like a teenager as he serves his glutinous rice to his customers.The glutinous rice served can either be sweet or salted or one could request to have a mixed of sweet and salted. I was also told that many such stalls sprung up after the war as it was considered a daily staple or comfort food.

I was not particularly fond of glutinous rice but my encounteer with Niu Che Shui Famous Glutinous Rice certainly made me return for more...

牛车水著名糯米饭
Niu Che Shui Famous Glutinous Rice
Blk 335 Smith Street
#02-40 Chinatown Complex Food Centre

Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tau Fu

The yong tau fu here are freshly made and steamed at the adjacent stall. One could taste the freshness of the fish paste. The tofu presents itself and tender and fresh. The queues are long, but fast moving. Be prepared for a 15-20 minutes wait.

The signature taste comes from the sprinking of ikan bilis on the noodles. This gives cruch and sweetness while one savour the noodles, fresh yong tau fu accompanied with ligh sweet broth.

The chilli sauce adds extra acidity to the noodles and makes the experience more appetizing. The frequent customers here simply pour the chilli sauce next to the noodles to save time. I did the same and loves the kway teow infused with the chilli sauce and it makes an excellent photograph too.

Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tau Fu
Blk 335 Smith Street
#02-87/88 Chinatown Complex Food Centre
Opens Daily 5.45am to 3pm