Category Archives: Food

October Babies Bash: [Review] The Private Kitchen Catering

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The Private Kitchen Catering set up

With every event, obviously we’d need to think about food! Our catering decision was a little last minute as we had to see how much budget we had left.

So so so thankful that The Private Kitchen was able to take us in at such late notice! And if you are looking for good food and awesome service? They have got it. Mind you, this is not a sponsored post hor. We paid for the catering, though Lynda, the founder, was kind enough to provide us with some freebies!

Firstly, service. When I first looked at their menu, I was a little crestfallen. None of the packages fit our budget. Hahah. Like damn cham can. Like how were we going to feed 65 adults, 21 kids and 43 toddlers! Okay, granted the mummies would have prepped food for the toddlers lah. But still a significant number of people.

I spoke with Lynda about our event, the number of adults, kids and toddlers. We discussed the menu according to our budget and I thought I’d try my luck and ask if they could cook a simple dish and cater to the toddlers. To be honest, I have never heard of anyone doing it before. And oh my tian, Lynda decided to step up to it. She informed me that she will prepare something for the toddlers.

Woah. Okay!

As we went through the menu, she also made sure that the menu she suggested would be suitable for the kids. Instead of a sweet & sour fish, she suggested a fish fillet and fish balls as finger foods for the kids. She also proposed that we did 50% noodles, 50% fried rice so that we would have more variety.

For the toddlers, it was something very simple. A porridge cooked in chicken stock, potato and carrots. No msg. And she even asked if around 200ml per toddler was sufficient! That morning of the event, she went and taste tested the porridge, took a picture and sent it to me.

So much love!

morning taste test

It was genuinely a pleasure liasing with her. There was a lot of thought going into this catering process and the mummies definitely appreciated it! There were a lot of cheer going on within our chatgroup when they found out they didn’t need to wake up early to prep food for the toddlers! Hahaha, extra sleep is a bonus hor!

Soo, let the photos do the talking and there is a Christmas & Lunar New Year 2018 promo that I’ll share with you after!

yummy food!

Top left to right: No MSG! (must stress that!)
Set up, Fried Rice, Emperor Noodles
Chicken Curry, Spinach Tofu, Fish Fillet
Fishballs, Complimentary Cream puffs,White Fungus Apple Longan Dessert,  Porridge

We also had pink guava juice which I didn’t take photos of.

Close up!

The spinach tofu, chicken curry and noodles were a hit! I loved the dessert cos it was so refreshing after emceeing/yelling my head off hahaha.

Yummy porridge suitable for our palate and tummies!

Nyuuum

Mummy gets to enjoy too!

I have to give it to the crew who climbed up 2 flights of stairs to the function room. Just two of them and they were lugging it and down. Xin ku ni men le!

All empty!

Were the portions enough? To be honest, we can’t tell. We did feel that they weren’t enough cos some of us didn’t get to it much, or didn’t get to eat any at all! But we can’t tell if there was enough and there just wasn’t any food left cos the food was too yummy that people ate more than what was enough for them. Hahaha. So you know ah, if you order from The Private Kitchen, fastest fingers first hor! We had mummies tabaoing the curry chicken home (oh the bottom bits were the best, cos all the good stuff is at the bottom!), and porridge too! I didn’t even get to eat the cream puffs! Lynda had so kindly given us some cream puffs as desserts for the kids!

GO WHERE AND FIND SUCH THOUGHTFUL CATERER?? The committee members were very impressed. I am really glad we went with them.

So yes, for the Christmas & Lunar New Year promo! The Private Kitchen is offering the following:

Christmas Promo
– complimentary Delightful Christmas Chocolate Cream Puffs with orders above $250

Lunar New Year 2018 Promo
– complimentary Fortune Ingots with orders above $388 (the ingots are like fried dumplings)

For more information:

Website

Facebook:

Contact: 6659 1418

Category: Food, Reviews, Special

eating healthy

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Ever since I got discharged last Wednesday, I have had to watch my diet. Doctor’s instructions.

Top of it was: cut the oily food.

See, removing the gallbladder would solve all future possible pain associated with the gallstones. But it also meant that I wouldn’t have anything to hold bile to help with the digestion of food, which meant that my stomach would not like it if I ate too much oily food and it would result in loose stools, ie. lao sai. Well, at least for a few weeks (duration unknown), whilst my liver worked things out.

Yeah, our bodies are cool that way. Missing one organ? Pffpt, another organ will make up for it. Heh.

So, cut the oily food, amp up on the water, fruits and vegetables. Gotcha. 

I decided to meal plan for the weeks ahead, seeing how I might be out of action for a bit post surgery and I also cannot trust the husband’s grocery shopping skills. Why so? Lemme digress a bit and recount a little incident that occurred back in 2008/2009.

Then boyfriend had offered to do grocery shopping on behalf. His instruction to me was to be as precise as possible, as in 100g of mince beef, a can of diced tomatoes, a bunch of 3 bananas. That kinda thing. I was going to make a watermelon granita so I asked for half a watermelon.

He came back with NO watermelon. How could it be?? Surely the supermarkets could not be out of watermelons!

But ohhhh, they had watermelons alright. They had watermelons cut in quarters. They had whole watermelons. But because my instructions were half a watermelon, and they did not have half a watermelon, so he came back with none. You would have thought 2 quarters make half right?? but noooooooo, Urgh. Men.

Anyhoos. So yes, meal planning again, and I came across this recipe for a really healthy looking cake/bread. And surprisingly, it tasted really yummy! There was no butter involved at all and the recipe used bananas and apples to sweeten and moisten the bread!

banana-bread

Yum! It smelt heavenly and even the kids loved it. Waah..happiness. The bread also freezes well, which means we can bake in bulk and slowly enjoy it. To be honest, it was a breeze to bake it, cos there was minimal preparation and also minimal washing. So really really simple to bake it.

So here’s the recipe to try out!

One-bowl Banana Bread – BBC Australian GoodFood, November 2011

2 cups (300g) plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup (75g) brown sugar
3/4 cup (105g) pecans, chopped
3/4 cup (185ml) low-fat milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup (2 large) mashed bananas
1 large apple, peeled, grated
1 tbsp natural seed mix (I used pine nuts & sunflower seeds

– Preheat oven to 190C or 170C fan. Grease and line a 14cm x 24cm loaf pan.

– Sift flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda & cinnamon into a bowl. Stir in sugar & pecans. Make a well in centre. Add milk, egg, banana & apple. Stir gently until combined.

– Pour batter into pan & smooth surface. Sprinkle over seed mix, if you like. Bake for 50-60 mins or until a skewer inserted into centre comes out clean. Stand for 10 mins in pan, then lift out onto a wire rack to cool.

– Slice & enjoy!

Note: To freeze: slice & wrap pieces in plastic wrap. Place into an airtight container or resealable plastic bag and freeze for up to six months.

Category: Daily, Food | Tags: ,

food of the week: snacks

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Following my meal planning, err if I do remember to take some photos of the food. This is more for me to remember what I actually ate and the recipes so I don’t have to keep digging them out months later!

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We had ripe avocados..so of course, we had to make guacamole. I love chunky guacamole, with some red onions. Nyums. Err, at your own risk hor, cos it will stink up your breath a little! =P

3 ripe avocados
juice of 2 limes
1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley or coriander
1/2 red onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt & freshly ground black paper

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Then the kids had this! I roasted some chicken thighs that were marinated in Morrocan seasoning (unfortunately unavailable in Singapore, but if you have friends going to Australia, get the MasterFoods version!). Made our own fries..that were soaked in chicken fat. So unhealthy but sooooooooooooo tasty. =P But please do a healthier version with olive oil! haha We used Russet potatoes for our fries, and baked them on aluminium foil. They got stuck on it. FML. So next time, I’m gonna try it on baking paper.

Whilst the kids had that…the adults had this version, with boiled baby potatoes in a maple-mustard dressing and guacamole!

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maple-mustard dressing (just mix well!)

2 tbsp maple syrup
6 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp heaped wholegrain mustard

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I also spotted a very very simple recipe for a homemade strawberry ice cream, using creme fraiche. 3 ingredients! Surely cannot go wrong right. And you don’t need an ice cream machine to do it too (says the recipe, though we definitely used our ice cream machine to save time!). You can find the recipe here.

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after freezing overnight

 

yummmms.

yummmms.

The boys have also been bugging me for food multiple times a day. And I don’t want to keep giving them biscuits and crackers. Oliver has also been on a cereal streak, and requesting for Post’s Banana Nut Crunch. $$$$ my pocket! I do make granola for the kids..and I add some dried fruit in, but they only want to eat the oats. FML. Then I am left with little granola with LOTS of dried fruit for myself. Wah piangs.

Oh just in case you would like to try making your own granola (which is so super easy, I promise!!), this is the recipe I use:

maple almond granola 

2 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup slivered almonds
4 tbsp unsalted butter (about 56g)
4 tbsp maple syrup

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Combine oats, sugar, cinnamon, raisins & almonds and toss to mix. In a saucepan over low heat, melt butter, add maple syrup & stir to blend. Pour over the oat mixture and stir to blend.
3. Spread the granola out on a baking sheet to make until golden & crunchy, 25 to 30 mins.
4. Cool to room temperature before serving, breaking it up slightly. Store in an airtight container, the granola will keep up to 10 days. 

but I digress. I decided to make little granola clusters so that they are bite sized and easier for the kids to binge on. And I suddenly found my first granola bar recipe, which was in the BBC GoodFood Australia magazine. The recipe can be found here. I put the mix into mini cupcake holders.

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Viola. Perfect mouthfuls for the hungry kids. And healthy too! You can cut down on the sugar, but will need the honey to help stick everything together.

Hope these recipes give you some ideas for some really simple recipes! This momma ain’t got so much time to cook too elaborate meals!

Category: Food | Tags: , , , ,
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