Frannywanny

The cold weather is really making me crave for soup, congee, noodles.. basically anything that's hot and comforting to match the rainy day. Unlike Paul, I'm not really a big soup fan but if I were to have soup, I would rather have it steamboat-style. I really enjoy being able to cook my own meal and filling my soup with the ingredients of my choice. Luckily, Singapore has a lot of steamboat options. From the traditional Chinese steamboat to the interesting Thai Mookata, then there's  GoroGoro  which specializes in Steamboat and Korean Buffet all in one. What sets GoroGoro  apart is that they have not one, not two but seven different soup bases which you can choose from! There's ginseng chicken, collagen, mala, tom yum, tomato, bah kut teh  and vegetarian . Normally, steamboat restaurants would allow you to choose two soup stocks but at GoroGoro you can have THREE different soup flavors to enjoy. After all, the more the merrier, right? 

It's no secret how much I love cheese . For me, it's that one thing that can never go wrong regardless of what type of dish you add it in. Cheese on crackers. Cheese with Pasta . Cheese on sweet Pichi Pichi . Cheese Sandwich. Even Cheese on my Milk Tea ! I'm totally crazy about cheese and most especially the soft cheese kind. Cheese is indeed a very versatile ingredient and recently, I attended a lunch affair where Chef Emmanuel Stroobant showed us four different dishes where he made use of cheese. Before that though, I got to try a mix of European cheeses with a very varied taste profile and history.

How often do you eat out? If you're like us who goes out every weekend, that would mean that we visit an average of 4 restaurants a week or 12 restaurants a month. Don't you wish that with every time you dine out, you get rewarded too? Well, Shangri-la Hotel and Resorts  heard our wish and they're finally making it come true. A month ago, I was invited to attend the media launch of The Table  -- a food and beverage loyalty program that's applicable across all Shangri-la Hotels in the region (or maybe in the world). What sets this loyalty program apart from all others is the fact that every member can earn points regardless if they dine at any F&B outlet in Shangri-la, Hotel Jen, Traders or Kerry Hotels in the world. That gives you so much flexibility especially if you're the type who loves to travel and eat. As you earn points, you can easily redeem rewards too without having to wait for any vouchers to be sent to you. This was one thing that I love as I...

Right after we've pretty much settled down into our 1st home here in Singapore, one of the first things I did was to create a list of restaurants to try based on reviews shared by local food bloggers and from recommendations given by our former flatmates. I'd say, living with foodies was really fun as we would talk about food and restaurant all day long and for all of us, that's perfectly normal. One of the cafes that was part of my initial list was Marmalade Pantry . Then with only one branch at ION Orchard, I made it a point to visit this during my first few months here as I heard that they got an impressive selection of cakes and brunch items. I'd say that the recommendation was spot on and it was indeed a good dining experience. Sadly, I wasn't able to go back as often given that we make a conscious effort to avoid Orchard Road especially during the weekends. Yes, it's the busiest district in Singapore and normally we just try to stay as far as from the c...

What's your favorite meal in the day? For me, it just got to be dinner. Wanna know why? It's because dinner is the only meal wherein I consistently get to have with Paul. Breakfast is definitely out of the question as we're always rushing and busy in the morning as we get ready for work. Lunch, I only get to eat lunch with him during the weekends so... dinner is really when I look forward to enjoying a nice home-cooked meal (+dessert/fruits/after dinner snack) as we update one another about our busy work day. So, often times, I would have to make a mad dash home in order to prepare dinner since Paul normally ends work late. My goal is always to make sure that the food has to be on the table by the time he walks in the door. So given that I get off work 2 hours before he does but it takes me a couple of minutes to get home, this means I have more or less an hour to prep, chop, clean, cook and plate everything. Not to mention, I make it a point to clean as I go too. We...

It has been 6 months since ... our amazing trip to Tokyo and boy do I miss eating Japanese food every day for a week and the whole  kawaii vibe. I have a feeling that Paul feels the same way too as he would still talk about our trip every now and then. Luckily, Singapore has a lot of good Japanese restaurants should we suddenly have the craving for ramen, gyoza, katsudon and more. Recently, we traveled all the way to Serangoon Gardens to check out Hajime Tonkatsu & Ramen , a new Japanese restaurant that's said to serve really good tonkatsu and  ramen. Was it really worth our trip? Let me tell you more about it below. Hajime Tonkatsu & Ramen  is a casual eatery that promises to serve you authentic Japanese dishes at really reasonable price. Let's face it, Japanese food is really delicious but eating it repeatedly can definitely cause a dent on your budget. That wouldn't be the case at Hajime  as I was surprised to see that most of the dishes ar...

Matcha (抹茶) is green tea in fine powder form. It's a very popular tea blend in Japan and today, it has evolved from being in your cup of tea to all sorts of desserts and even in noodles and savory items. I just love the earthy, rich flavor of matcha most especially when I have it in it's pure form. No milk, no ice cream, just pure matcha and hot water. A couple of months ago, Matchaya opened its first ever stall in Icon Village which is just right next door from my workplace. It took me a while to really go and try as I normally just eat in our pantry and I rarely go out for dessert or coffee. It was when I went out for lunch with my friend S that we agreed to head to Matchaya  for dessert. Matchaya  is a homegrown Singaporean brand that specializes in all things matcha. They're very famous for their Matcha Milk and recently, we're all going crazy with their matcha toast and soft-served ice cream. Just keep the matcha coming, pretty please!

Time surely flies when you're having fun and if you're extremely busy too. Look at that, I just realized that September is over and October has just quickly rolled in. This just means that, in a few weeks, Paul and I will be celebrating our 13th year as a couple! If you put things into perspective, 13 years is pretty much how long a student (at least in the Philippines) takes to finish his elementary and secondary studies. Why is it that 13 years seemed like forever when I was still studying and it has just zoomed so fast when it comes to me being in a relationship with Paul? OMG. Anyways, I have been mentioning on and off here how terrible my backlog is and today I'm going to prove just that. Let me talk about that amazing romantic dinner that Paul and I had... last year . I'm really sorry! I can't believe it took me close to 365 days to tell you all about it. For something this good, I should have went straight to writing about it. Anyway, we were so lucky to ...