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Mum loves the food from this Japanese/Korean stall near our home. We patronized the stall often as their bento sets are very reasonably priced. Take for example, this Teriyaki Chicken & Ebi Bento (S$5.50+S$0.30) cost less than six bucks as do this Spicy Pork & Ebi Bento.

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Traditionally, the Dongzhi Festival (冬至) is a time for families to eat together. One activity that occurs during these get-togethers especially in the Asia and in Overseas Asian communities is the making and eating of Tangyuan (汤圆) or Glutinous Rice Ball, which symbolize reunion. The balls of glutinous rice are cooked in sweet soup or savoury broth but here in Singapore, we typically have them in sweet soup flavoured with ginger.

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On this special day, may you feel the warmth and love of family and friends as we celebrate the magic of Winter Solstice together. Wishing you a joyous Winter Solstice filled with love, laughter and good cheer.

人世间最感人的，是温馨的亲情，人世间最幸福的，是亲人的爱护，在这团聚的节日里，祝你和你的家人，冬至快乐，幸福永远!

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Picked up some sushi from Sushi GoGo (争鲜gogo) on the way home from work. This is the best budget place for sushi bento in Singapore. They have a new Salmon & Yellowtail Sushi Bento for S$7.50. Comes with four pieces each of salmon and yellowtail sushi in two flavours - plain and black pepper. As usual, I also went for my favourite Aburi Salmon Sushi Bento (S$6.50) with torched salmon brushed with sushi sauce and sprinkled with white sesame seeds.

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Since I was also tasked to buy back dinner for mum and sis, I made a detour to the coffee shop further down the street to buy from the Japanese/Korean stall. The Saba Fish Bento (S$5.50+S$0.30 for the container) comes with half a fish, white rice and kimchi. If you are dining in, you also get a bowl of miso soup.

On the other hand, for the Teriyaki Chicken & Ebi Bento (S$5.50+S$0.30) you get slices of fried chicken cutlet with teriyaki sauce, two crispy breaded prawns, white rice, pickled vegetables and mayonnaise.

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Was around the vicinity of Northpoint City for an appointment and since mum is not cooking, I decided to pack food from Feng Food (台湾味 “丰”). Both mum and sis asked for the Fried Rice with Specially Marinated Pork Chop (招牌猪排蛋炒饭). I went for the Fried Rice with Chicken Cutlet (脆皮鸡腿蛋炒饭) featuring a large piece of crispy and boneless chicken drumstick over the fluffy egg fried rice.

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Home-cooked meal of Royale Chives (Allium tuberosum) with tiger prawns. A member of garlic chives, they are called 青龙菜 here which literally translated as “Green Dragon Vegetable”. The second dish is mum's special Braised Pig’s Trotters & Egg. Drizzle some of the five-spice and dark soya sauce-based gravy over the rice to complete the meal.

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Mum is not young anymore so I told her not to prepare more than necessary if only the two of us are eating. Dishes like this Fried Noodles is good enough for me. She used mee pok (面薄) or flat yellow noodles for tonight’s dinner with tiger prawns and added stall bought roasted chicken.

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The dishes for Dinner are the roasted chicken and pork that mum bought for the morning prayer. The chicken is chopped up and roasted pork sliced then reheated. That hard-boiled egg is one of the red eggs that mum dyed, which I peeled and added some of the tangy chilli sauce for the roasted chicken along with a few slices of pickled daikon.

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There used to be this mini food court called Teng Sheng Food Gallery (腾胜) on the second floor of Sembawang Shopping Centre. Brought mum there a few times previously for dinner. Got the S$6.80 bowl of Salmon Don (三文鱼饭) with soup for her. A slice of pan-fried salmon with egg covered rice drizzled with teriyaki sauce.

My S$8 plate of Mexicano Chicken Chop (墨西哥鸡扒) came with a pan-fried deboned chicken drumstick drizzled with cheese sauce and French fries. The side dishes were pathetic though with just the tiniest scoop of mashed potato, a tablespoon of corn kernels and lettuce. However, the chicken was decent tasting with the ample cheesy sauce.

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Fluffy and soft Walnut Cake studded with plenty of chopped walnuts. Took two small slices for my morning snack with a cup of less sweet Milk Tea. The nut toppings gave this soft and sweet cake a crunchy texture and nutty fragrant with hint of buttery flavour.

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If we don’t feel like going somewhere far for dinner, I will just walk over to the opposite coffee shop to buy them. Mum wants the Saba Fish Bento from the Japanese/Korean fusion stall. As for me, I buy my meal from the Economy Rice (菜饭) stall. As per the usual, I picked three dishes starting with the crunchy peanuts and crispy anchovies, sweet and sour French fries & hotdog and lastly, savoury sweet pork with sesame seeds.

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Had to make a trip to our office in Johor Bahru, Malaysia with my colleagues. Was invited to lunch with him and another colleague from the Malaysia office. He brought us to Awana Asian Kitchen which occupied two shop units. We walked pass the open dining area and straight to the air-conditioned section. My other colleague ordered the Nasi Beriani Ayam (RM12.80) or Chicken Biryani in English. The chicken is cooked rendang style with long grain basmati rice and served with pickled vegetables, papadam and curry gravy.

Asked my Malaysian colleague what he usually ordered here and he told me Nasi Ayam Penyet (RM12.80). The dish came with a fried whole chicken leg, tempeh, mushroom, bean curd and rice along with raw long bean sections, cucumber and cabbage plus sambal chilli. The chicken is fresh off the wok and is so tender and juicy with crispy savoury skin. I love everything on the bamboo serving dish except the raw and hard long beans.

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My brother got us some desserts from Four Seasons Durians. This first is a six-piece tray of Mao Shan Wang Durian Mochi (猫山王榴莲麻糬). Kept it in the freezer and thaw at room temperature for approximately 20-30 minutes before serving. Somehow, I think they look like balls of mozzarella or our local fish balls. Still on the frozen side when I took a bite to show you the filling inside.

Next up, a 20-piece box of frozen Mini Durian Puffs (迷你榴莲泡芙). On the outside, the airy puffs look good but when I popped one into the mouth, I instantly knew the durian filling is adulterated with cream and not pure durian puree.

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I don’t like the taste of fresh bananas but I won’t decline that piece of freshly baked banana bread or this deep-fried crispy Banana Chips. My sister’s friend got this homemade snack from his hometown in Malaysia. Unripe bananas are sliced into thin discs and dried before marinating in sugar and spices then deep-fried to a crisp. This addictive snack is crispy, sweet and lightly spicy that you will want to keep popping it into the mouth.

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As part of its Christmas festive menu, KFC Singapore brought back the Parmesan Truffle Chicken for a limited time from 27 Nov 2024 to 1 Jan 2025. On the menu is a new Parmesan Truffle Burger and Salted Caramel Mochi Ring to celebrate the holiday season. A specially arranged Christmas jingle is also available to enhance your Parmesan Truffle Chicken experience. Created by consumer neuroscientist Professor Gemma Calvet from Nanyang Technological University, the jingle is designed to amplify the natural savoury flavours of the chicken. You can scan the QR code below for the jingle.

I didn’t go for the fried chicken as I had prior warning from a colleague who had eaten it. Instead, I went for the Parmesan Truffle Burger Box (S$12.80) consisting of a burger, a piece of fried chicken, regular cheesy whipped potato, regular fries and a drink. When I bit into the burger there was no truffle aroma nor parmesan cheese taste. All I got was the good old Zinger Burger! Lucky for me, my camera had “eaten” first so now I have got proof to go complain to KFC.

The very next day after work, I approached one of the staff at the counter and showed her the pictures. I told her I had bought the Parmesan Truffle Burger Box armed with the receipt but it came with Zinger Burger inside. She looked at the pictures and told me Zinger is correct. I got a little annoyed at her reply, I know it’s a Zinger Burger except mine had no truffle or parmesan cheese in it. Luckily, another staff member stepped forward and let her know I had been given the wrong order. She took a freshly made burger off the shelf and passed it to me. Case closed.

The Parmesan Truffle Burger is basically a Zinger Burger drizzled with truffle-infused cheese sauce and sprinkled with grated parmesan. Although I enjoyed the juicy fried chicken patty and the earthy flavour of the truffle, the powdered parmesan is overwhelmingly salty! But eaten with the buns and shredded lettuce, kind of balanced out the brininess a little bit, however, it is still salty. Now you know why I didn’t go for the fried chicken version as according to my colleague, she had to peel away the chicken skin just to make it edible. And here I was wondering if KFC even do quality testing before they released these products.

Selected image and video courtesy of KFC Singapore.

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Broccoli & Cauliflower Stir-Fry with chicken meat and tomato wedges for dinner. There is also Scallop Omelette on the menu tonight. I swear that this is the last bits of bamboo shoot stew left in the pot that I managed to scoop out. :D