The Great Kenwood Breadmaking Challenge

Okay, so my mum bought a Kenwood BM450 Breadmaker on impulse a few weeks ago. It was left untouched until she nagged at me to try it cos she's always busy with other stuff. Anw, I decided to give it a go ytd and prove Mr Promoter wrong that "On your first try, your bread will DEFINITELY be bitter and hard to eat".

Here's the breadmaker with its lid open. It's Kenwood's latest model of breadmakers and has a 15 hr delay timer. This means that you can add the ingredients before you go to bed, set the timer and it'll bake and prepare the bread just before you get up the next morning so you can have freshly baked bread for breakfast :) It'll also automatically keep your bread warm for an hr after it has been baked. The touch screen buttons allows you to select the programme (the recipe book will state the programme you have to use to make a certain type of bread), the crust colour, the weight of the loaf etc. There's also a button for the internal light to turn on for 60 seconds so you can view the progress of your bread :) There are icons on the screen that light up to mark your progress though, so no worries.

This is the bread pan which you have to take out of the breadmaker to add the ingredients in. You have to manually attach the small mixer thingy at the bottom of the container. Haha just press it on.

The breadmaker comes with a recipe book with 20 bread, dough and jam recipes, from rustic bread to brioche to croissant dough to pizza dough to a variety of jam :)

It also comes with a measuring cup and a measuring spoon for your convenience xD I love the measuring spoon hahaha you can measure from 1/2 a teaspoon to a tablespoon just by it. Haha I'm a very meticulous baker and must measure everything exactly so I do appreciate such stuff xD

Weighing scale's not provided though!

The instruction booklet states that you must add the ingredients in the order stated in the recipe book. I'm baking a 500g loaf of Brioche Bread btw. It uses programme 6. Let's see, definition of Brioche - 'a highly enriched French pastry, whose high egg and butter content give it a rich and tender crumb' (wiki) (it also contains a small amount of sugar in this case) Hmm the recipe says 'butter' and I guessed it should be unsalted. Too bad I couldn't find unsalted butter at home, so I had to use salted :X I was afraid that the bread would turn out salty despite the sugar so I didn't add the salt as required by the recipe.

Through the viewing window! The ingredients are being mixed :) The BM450 also has an automatic dispenser for releasing additional ingredients such as fruits and nuts directly into the dough during the kneading cycle :) So you can make cranberry bread and such!

Ding ding! The bread is done at last! (It took 3 hrs...hahaha but I didn't do much so it's alright) Oh boo, looks kinda weird! Hmm I do think the milk wasn't warm enough when I added it in (though I tried a hot waterbath). Either that or the just-melted butter's too hot. Haha have to get the yeast's optimum temperature so the bread would rise nicely! (feels like a bio experiment zzz)

Hmm doesn't look tooooo bad afterall! Just slightly mutated at one side -.-

Sliced it when it has cooled xD WHEE! Look at that! Tastes really great too (not salty or bitter at all!) xD a bit like cake, I guess that's how brioche's supposed to taste like! It's rich, not too crumbly and moist, you know there's some milk in it, and it has just a tiny hint of sweetness :D I had a slice with nutella MHMM :D

Presentation of the loaf, not so good. Presentation of a slice of it, the same as the photo in the recipe book! Taste, yum-my! Overall I'd say it's a success haha! xD

ATTEMPT 2 (by my helper Josephine!:D)

Awesome!!! It's brioche again, but this time it came out almost perfect! Kudos to Josephine! xD

She wouldn't let me take a photo of her and the bread so it's just the bread anw! Nicely rounded with a light golden crust :D I'll try it for brekkie tomorrow haha (and maybe figure out what changes she accidentally made!)

Hairloom & Caramel :)

A cute and quirky shop at Shaw Towers :) It's a salon AND a cafe! The decor's really interesting, mismatched furniture and wacky looking stuff (like a creepy giraffe lamp with light shining out of its sockets). Some of the things are for sale as well! (like bags and pencils and really random stuff) xD There're also board games for you to play with if you're bored. Haha anw it kinda reminds me of Alice in Wonderland, just look at the photos below!

The store window (haha flamingoes!)

Every table had this :)

Their popular warm bread and butter pudding! Limmy tried this xD Haha I tasted more bread than pudding, but still good, esp with the cold ice cream xD

I had their must try carrot cupcake! Super good, cream cheese and all! The cake was really moist and light. The carrot gummy's a really cute finish too hahaha :D They serve a variety of other cupcakes too. I think they have diff ones on diff days to make you come more often hehe xD

Limmy and I AND the creepy giraffe lamp!

Pocket Full Of Posies

A really cute restaurant with a really cute name xD We tried the one at 313 but there's another outlet at the basement of Vivo as well! The one we went to had chair-swings suspended from the ceiling by a pair of thick ropes embroidered with pink and white flowers :) A really interesting substitute for chairs I must say, but not too good for peeps with motion sickness hahaha. This shop sells flowers and gifts as well, like a florist. I think it IS a florist. The atmosphere's really warm too, with yellow light and jazzy/latin music. It's a really sweet place :)

See the mini stage up there? Performances are held here ocassionally.

The swing :)

The hungry

Cream of something

Mushroom burger with fat fries, my fav xD I didn't really like the bun though, it's pretty average...

Meatballs Pasta, a very generous serving of pasta :)

Fish & Chips! A not so artistic shot by Natalie xD Apparently the fish is really good though!

The very popz grilled chicken chop :) I think it was featured on radio or something, according to the really nice and friendly aunty who attended to us :)

They have some ladies night drink promotion (I think it's one for one), but you and your buddies have to be wearing hats though haha! xD Oh those above are mocktails btw, really syrupy and sweet :X See the one in the middle? The greenish-clear one with the black straw? Hm honestly, not our glass of mocktail :X It has a really strange taste hmmm...

Cass and Wen Man here's your pic! xD

Oh Cassandra made this really awesome chocolate cupcake! The frosting's super good (not too sweet, at least for me!xD) I wish the whole cupcake was dipped in the frosting hahaha! The cupcake's crumbly but not too dry and the round chocolate ball's a malteser yum! xD Kudos to Cass!:D Actually I have an even prettier photo of a pair of the cupcakes, but Cassandra said it looks wrong so I shan't post it -.-

Whee!:)

Marutama Ra-Men

I went to the one at the basement of United Square, just past the food court :) (though they have outlets at Liang Court and Central) It's quite a large restaurant and has a traditional Japanese look. As its name suggests, it's famous for its ramen! :) Haha honestly I wouldn't have known it existed it if it wasn't for my sister who used to work there. Plus I wouldn't have tried it cos the ramen looked like maggie mee in some pictures. BUT it's really good, seriously xD The boss's a Japanese guy and the receipe's authentic with no frills and blah that'd conceal the true taste of real Japanese ramen and broth. Of course, I had to get their specialty, the char-siew ramen. Amanda got the 'aka' version of it ie. the spicy version hahahaha (it didn't look spicy surprisingly though, kinda like the dangerous thai clear tom yam soup :X)

A generous serving of ramen :) The ramen's the really fine kind, fine as in thin, and prob fine fine as well. The chicken broth is amazing, not too oily or bland. The brown-pink char siew is cooked to perfection; the lean soft and tender, and the fat simply dissolves in your mouth. The lean part was delish, great flavours but not too salty. I'm not such a fan of fatty meat but I tried it anw hahaha. Thinking of the pork and fats after eating it made my stomach churn though :X but that's just me. Well anw, the star of the dish is definitely THE EGG (tamago) though it's a buck more! :D Let me break it down for you. Firm egg white layer->soft egg white layer->almost-jelly egg white layer -> firm sunset yellow-orange yolk layer-> soft yolk layer->yolk that runs a tad layer :D This is definitely not the ramen egg you get in airtight packaging at NTUC and such!

Ah, the yaki (grilled) char siew. Best Jap char siew I've ever tried. So tender and juicy and everything yummmmmm xD

Salted Caramel Artisan Ice Cream

Yet another ice cream parlour at Upper Thomson Road! It's right next to the 24 hr Prata House xD It's quite a quaint and modern looking shop (white walls, white tables, white chairs) and is usually quite crowded on weekends and on weekday afternoons. They have a variety of interesting ice cream flavours, like earl grey, chocolate sorbet (super rich dark choco ice cream), tim tam horlicks, peanut butter, SALTED CARAMEL etc as well as classic flavours like vanilla and cookies and cream :) It's really affordable, $2.50 for a single scoop and an additional 30 cents for a topping! They also have freshly baked waffles as well as brownies, apple crumble, pecan pie and delicious looking cakes. Hmm I think it's more of an ice cream cafe as they serve espresso, pot of tea and other cafe-ish drinks as well. Oh and I really like the lemon-water you can help yourself to, quite refreshing after a scoop of super sweet ice cream :)

Salted caramel ice cream with caramel biscuit topping! Haha I always get this! In case you're wondering how salted caramel ice cream tastes like, it's like seasalt vanilla with a hint of caramel :) sounds familiar? Magnum Gold hahahaha xD

Super tasty pecan pie! Just look at those pecans xD looks sweet, but it isn't very. You could eat 2 slices at a go:)

Kay and I infront of the ice cream counter! :D

Oh and I like their service too! On normal days, it's self service, but on busy days, you get a number tag and they'll serve your order to your table. This is what I call flexibility, thumbs up! :)

Zen Japanese Vegetarian Restaurant :)

What could be healthier than Vegetarian AND Japanese!? haha don't say salad, salad has incredibly few or no carbs, it's not a well balanced meal, so to peeps trying to lose weight, don't just eat salad ding dongs! You'll feel like sleeping all the time! :X Okay anw, this is a really really awesome and cool MUST-TRY place for vegetarians and not. For peeps who think vegetarian food is just plain boring and can't beat the real thing, this place will change you :O You won't regret spending twenty bucks on a set meal I tell ya, cos the portions really huge and the variety's just fantastic xD plus, you're saving the earth at the same time by cutting down your carbon footprint! Even one veg meal a day or one no-meat day a week will make a difference. You don't have to be vegetarian all the time! Kk anw this restaurant's located at Middle Road, Midlink Plaza, on the 2nd floor. It's a building with dark windows. Haha err there're alot of those at Bugis right, mm but you'll find it! It's a 5 min walk from Iluma actually. Aiya, just Google Map it.

The entrance, traditional ish

The menu's full of really colourful pics of their dishes :) You can find practically everything you find at a non-veg Jap restaurant here! Oh and they have chinese dishes too! Jap tea's 7 bucks btw, for a pot, so be nice and share :)

'Salmon' sushi! The sauce is amazing! It has the authentic Jap fish sauce taste but there isn't any fish! The rice is also super soft (a bit stickier and mushier than usual) and the blanket of crunchy bits is simply delicious :) Haha my 70 year old grandma who's an awesome cook kept praising this dish! That must say something xD

I ordered their tempura-soba set :) It was abt 14 bucks I think? The bowl of warm soupy soba was huge! There were tempura flour bits floating on the soup's surface mhmm :D The assorted tempura consisted of eggplant, carrot, sweet potato AND PRAWN. Veg prawn of course, and a mighty large one I must add. I've never seen such a huge veg prawn before :X it must be a tiger prawn. And of course, what is tempura without the sauce? Yea and it tastes just like sushi tei's xD A little bit more on the sides, there's white carrot, dried seaweed and fresh seaweed in a kinda light sesame sauce (the green stuff). All the sets come with a dessert. That's a pudding with a few azuki beans and topped with a strawberry slice :) I couldn't figure out what pudding it was though, prob azuki, or something Jappy hahaha.

A close up on the tempura xD

My mum's Unagi (eel) set :) The 'unagi' was a softer version of the usual veg fish (made of tofu, beans etc). It was flavored really well in some special sauce but just a tad salty. The Agedashi tofu was crispy on the outside and meltinyourmouthish on the inside, loved it xD 

My hungry sister's set. There are sooo many things in here as you can see from the pic. There's yakitori (chicken skewers), chinese mixed veg, fish, some tomato cheese tempura, deep fried prawn and pork cutlet! and it comes with rice and dessert. Wow :O

Lastly, my dad's tempura-unagi-agedashi tofu set hahaha xD Oh yes their salad side's pretty good too with its dressing :)

They have really good service too (nice waitresses, food served promptly) so I'd DEFINITELY RECOMMEND this restaurant! I'd give it 3 thumbs up if I had 3 thumbs xD Can't wait to go again!

 

Spice Junction

Indian food! One of my favs xD Can't take too spicy though hahaha but of course at most Indian restaurants, there's always a LESS-SPICY option :) Thank Kay for bringing us to such great North Indian restaurants!

This one's at Race Course Road, pretty near one of the exits of Farrer Park MRT station. The waiter was nice and the food was served promptly (we were one of the few peeps there for an early lunch though!). Here are some pics of the food, but haha honestly, all curry gravy look the same from the outside. :S

NAAN!!!!! hahaha the naan here's more crispy than most (eg. Dawaat, Muthu's Curry, Soup Spoon)

Mixed vegetable curry :) I think it's called Navaratan Khorma. The veg was really diced up, but it's not bad.

HAHA I fogot which one's the meen curry (fish curry) and which's the butter chicken. Hmm I think the butter chicken's the 2nd pic. Btw, butter chicken is spicy! Don't be fooled by the name! haha cos butter sounds really harmless right xD Okay but butter chicken's usually not intolerable like some really spicy dishes, survivable with a glass of water :D Mm the butter chicken was quite good, esp the sauce, went really well with the naan and plain rice xD though not as good as the butter chicken at Dawaat (I'll introduce this awesome north Indian restaurant when I actually rmr to bring my camera!:X). The fish curry's a liiittle bit fishy and there're small bones in it btw, must be careful.

Yupps, and we went to Spice Junction to celebrate my and Edwards' birthdays haha! Kay got the cake! xD It's an oreo cake from Prima Deli :) 

So unthreatening -.-

very creaaaamy

Wm in specs hahaha and strategically sitting on our right xD

Tada! Stuffed with spices ><