Hidden Gem - B Bakery

I was introduced to this neat little bakery many years back when I was working at Beach Road. Many of us know of the shops in Arab Street for their wicker basket items, lush fabrics and even semi precious stones and embellishments such for sewing/crafting.

But not many know of Bussorah Street. Whenever work gets a tad too much, this is where I would head out for lunch / for a quick cup of Teh Tarik. B Bakery is one of my absoutely favourite places to chill. :)

The quaint charm of Bussorah Street

B Bakery is tucked neatly along one side of some eateries. As the name suggests, B Bakery (soon to be renamed I was told), bakes all of its bread. It even cures the salmon along with roasting its own beef. I was also told that the delicious vinaigrette which it uses for all the side salads was also its own concoction.

On this lovely afternoon, I headed out with a colleague for a nice breather and we sampled their set luncheon. And as luck would have it, roast beef sandwich (U.P $10.90) was on the menu!

I am not really a sandwich or a bread kind of person. B Bakery, however, is one of the rare places which I actually would purposely head out for a nice lunch. 

This is one of my 2 favorite sandwiches - Roast Beef. 

I really love the bread here. Freshly baked, it is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The bread is also not too dry and the slices are just nice - not too thick. The bread seems to also be buttered with lemon butter as there is a nice tingling zest to it. You are also offered a choice of bread for your sandwich - white / brown / focaccia, etc. 

The sandwich comes with a generous amount of grilled vegetables - capsicum, onions, eggplant, etc., certainly a nice change to the usual lettuce. The roast beef was cooked just nice as it was moist and not overcooked.  

The side salad (included) comes with a nice drizzle of the tangy sour-sweet vinaigrette which I love. 

My colleague and I ordered a slice of cake each to finish off our lunch. The popular choices are tiramisu and sticky cinnamon bun (which they only bake a very limited quantity each time hence this runs out very quickly). 

I have tried both before and hence for the afternoon, we ordered something different - sweet date cake (above pic) and passion fruit cheesecake (below). 



I do not have a sweet tooth but the sweet date cake was surprisingly good. Moist and warm, it has a dense texture without being overly sweet. Simple and wholesome. 

The passionfruit added a nice edge to the cheesecake with the slight sour-sweet flavour. The cake was also 'well balanced' with the generous strawberries as its flavour cuts through the rich cake.

At this moment as I am writing this post, I am still "lusting" over the grilled vegetables in the sandwich and the warm crusty bread. I will definitely be back again to satisfy my craving - cured salmon this time. :)

I am a proud mama :)

My helper has been away for home leave for a week and I have been slowly easing into a new routine trying to juggle everything from cooking (all meals) to cleaning, to handwashing Dumpling's clothes (am anal I know) to homeschooling. It has been a tiring week but I am happy to say that we are doing well.

Being an only child, I am very mindful of the privileges Dumpling has - all our free time with her, being able to bring her to plays and performances regularly and to bookshelves full of new books (termed Project #4 - major cleanup). 

The gramps of course dote on her dearly and there is not one trip that they would return empty handed without getting books / souvenirs / snacks, etc., for her (latest loot bag was filled with Disneyland's memorabilia and 2 bottles of her favorite Furikake).  

So for the entire week, I have been introducing more and more quiet time for Dumpling and explaining to her that I have chores to do and meals to prepare. For the first two days, she was whiny and needy, always constantly calling out for me.

But surprisingly, when it came to Day 3, she was getting used to it and would sit on her own to attempt puzzles / read new titles which we borrowed from the library.

More than that, when she saw that I was truly busy and asked me "Mama, what are you doing? Can I help?"

Wow, that was music to my ears!

Day 3: my little "ah-sum" helping me with vacuuming

Day 4: while I was busy chopping and washing vegetables, Dumpling helped me with scooping and washing of rice

Day 4: (above 2 pictures) Helping me out with our fresh laundry

Initially, she did not understand why I was so busy ALL THE TIME and even promptly asked me why I needed to do all the chores. Why not wait till "Kakak" is back. :) I was certainly not surprised with the questions as I have a helper before she was born and so, Dumpling grew up with our helper attending to her since birth.

For me, over this past week, it has been indeed a good 'break' (Ha, if you can even call it that!). Though I am not able to give Dumpling dedicated attention all the time, I believe that we did spend a lot of quality time together. Importantly, I am glad Dumpling has this chance to help out in all these things.

On a weekly basis, it has always been my habit to reflect as a parent on things which have happened for the entire week - incidents when I lost my cool and incidents when I feel that I could have done better. I also often reflect and think through Dumpling's activities for the week (which we sometimes would chat on) - what we enjoyed most and what she enjoyed least and why.

For this week, I am very glad to say that I am a PROUD MAMA. My little Dumpling has hugged me for the past few nights to thank me "for being a good mama and for all the nice yummy meals" I made. When I was frustrated with myself for being slow with the chores, Dumpling actually walked over calmly and hugged me and in her words, "It is ok mama. You can do it again." :)

My Dumpling has matured. Despite that she does throw tantrums once in a while, she is showing signs that she is turning into a young sensible lady. For that, I am very very thankful.  *misty-eyed smiles*

Linking up with Sandra for Talkative Thursdays  



Pledging our love - Tau Huey, Tau Huey!

Dumpling loves dessert. Her sweet tooth is as bad as the man's and it is definitely his genes because I do not have a sweet tooth at all preferring my cheese to chocolates and Yu Sheng porridge to Pancakes.


Being the Nazi mum that I am, I am very fussy her choice of snacks and this is especially so when I rarely snack. The only 2 desserts which I actually like are Ice Cream and Tau Huey .

So I made the "sacrifice" to share some sugar with her and bought her a tub of Tau Huey this morning as a surprise for her after I pick her up. I had my camera ready for the moment and here she is! ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED. :)

The silky smooth texture of the bean curd and the sweet after taste. I love mine chilled where it slides down the throat, especially on a hot afternoon. What's not to love about Tau Huey?

Nothing warms my heart as much as seeing the happy faces on my little one :) We certainly love this local delight, what about you?

Birthday Blast! A Meeska Mooska Mickey Mouse birthday party

Mickey and Minnie Mouse are certainly 2 of the world's most well-loved characters and for this week, I am pleased to have guest blogger Susan Koh, one of Lifebuoy's ambassadors, guest post here on her daughter's recent 3rd Birthday celebration! :) 

Hi everyone. My daughter just celebrated her 3rd birthday and like most kids, she’s charmed by the classic Mickey Mouse and requested for that as her birthday party theme.

 


Party decoration
For decoration, we opted for a simple Mickey Mouse clubhouse banner from Toys R Us.

We also picked up the party ware from there which came with paper plates, paper cups, a table cloth and napkins.

We also brought out her Mickey and Minnie plushies and had them greet the guests as they arrived.

Having a Mickey Mouse theme is probably one of the easiest themes around as there is no lack of decoration ideas! If you’re feeling crafty, there are plenty of ideas from Pinterest, flickr and of course Mr Google :)

Cake
For her cake, Sophie specifically asked for a Mickey Mouse cake. Since she had two celebrations, we ordered two different cakes – one ice cream cake from Swensons and another regular chocolate cake from Bengawan Solo.

These are the two main cake shops that you can purchase Mickey Mouse cakes off the shelf without customization.

Games
For games, I left it pretty much to my sister who was a gymnastics coach. And being a natural with kids, the children enjoyed the games very much.

We play simple games like freeze, duck, duck, goose and follow the leader. To inject some musketeer fun into the games, you can tweak classic games like Simon says to Mickey says. Or how about a hotdog dance off? It’s bound to be a hit with lots of fun and laughter.

Party favors
For the party favors, we got coloring books for them. We got two different versions of them for her friends in school and guests at home.

One version was from the Value shop in our neighborhood shop where they also sold other Mickey Mouse stationary, from photo frames, pencil cases and even notebooks all for under $5.

For the guests who came for the party at home, we included stationary like Mickey Mouse pencils and erasers for them. The little girls even received a red bow hairclip like Minnie Mouse. For her friends in school, we bundled the coloring book with markers and crayons.

Dress up
Last but not least, in your birthday, don’t forget to remind the guests to come dressed for the party. A Mickey Mouse theme party is a relatively easy that kids and adults will have no problem pulling off.

Susan is a full-time working mum to 3-year-old Sophie. As a working mum, she’s always doing the juggling act between the family and work, being a nurturing mum, a loving wife and a career woman all at the same time. So it’s no wonder that she’s titled her blog, A Juggling Mom.

This is part of a Birthday Blast series where blogger mum friends hop on over to share their birthday party planning tips and ideas. Next up, we have Elisa from http://loveourchildrennow.blogspot.sg who will be sharing with us a cowboy themed birthday party!

 

DIY Teacher’s Day Gift – Yummy Homemade Jam!

Yup, Dumpling and I did the unthinkable. We actually decided to make Jam. But that is not all, we made it without Pectin! Pectin basically is the gelling agent which gives it the sponginess and makes the jam less watery.

At the time of this post, I basically searched through for pectin at Giant (3 branches), Phoon Huat (OOS) and Cold Storage (2 branches) without avail. I know that it can be done without pectin but I was worried that I’d end up messing it up!

With Dumpling’s insistence (and vote of confidence I must add), we decided to take a plunge. Here’s how it turned out!

I made 2 batches. Batch 1 was Blackberries and Blueberries mix while Batch 2 was with Raspberries.

Tempted to try making your own?

Here's what you need:

1) The fruits of choice (below - blueberries and blackberries)
2) Lime / Lemon Juice (this is something which I always have in my fridge)
3) Sugar (not in picture but I had left over from the scrubs we made)
4) Honey (without the use of pectin, the honey helps to gel it better and gives it a really nice flavour)


 

Steps:

1) Wash and drain berries well

2) Blend it lightly (I prefer my jump to be a tad chunky)

3) Pour into pot

4) Add honey - I used about 4 to 5 tea spoonfuls

(based on the amount I have above - 2 boxes of 4.4oz + 1 box of 6oz) 

5) Add 2 teaspoons of lime/lemon juice

6) Add 4 - 5 tablespoons of sugar

(you will need to experiment with this as it depends on how sweet/sour you prefer your jam to be)

7) Cook over high heat for about 5 mins stirring constantly

(you can see it thicken slightly while bubbling)

8) Then simmer on low heat for about 15mins

9) For Raspberry Jam: I also added about 2 - 3 teaspoons of gelatin powder for the raspberry version as the fruit has very high water content and I found that it did not gel as well as blueberries

10) Scoop them into the bottles and cool down thoroughly before putting them into the refridgerator (this step is necessary for it to 'gel')

Note: all bottles need to be sterilized properly and dried thoroughly before use as it may turn mouldy otherwise)

And voila!

From this

to this:

Pretty them up in nice jars + ribbons :)

Looking for more yummy treats? Susan (my guest blogger for tomrrow's post BTW) from A Juggling Mom shares her recipe for cake pops here!

This is part of a DIY Teacher's Day Gift series. For the other gifts we made, click here!