Dear's Birthday

As I was sorting out my 2008 pictures, I realized that there's one particular folder missing from the collection -dear's birthday pictures! Worse is that we couldn't really recall how we celebrated his birthday last year.. And my dear has been complaining on how 'silent' his birthdays have been..

So this year, I decided to make his birthday 'merrier'! :p


Part 1
This year we had fine Japanese dinner for his palate at Zen's Japanese @ UE Square.
We started with collection of fresh sashimi -hamachi, toro, mekajiki, hotate.. And followed by fresh live abalone sashimi.. paired with sake..


Love the fresh sashimi -but for abalone, it's still best slow-cooked cantonese style.. :p

Main course was the finest wagyu beef steamboat, paired with dear's fave Sapporo beer!


*yummy* wagyu beef definitely taste different..

Look at my dear's satisfied look! :p



Part 2
The most important part of your birthday:


YOUR BIRTHDAY CAKE!




Part 3
Simple dinner celebration with family and friends at home. Main theme of the menu was CRAB. Menu includes steamed fish, steamed live prawns, stir-fried spinach, steamed flower crabs, steamed crabs and ABC soup. *yuummyy!! Nothing beats delicious home cooking, and good friends :p


Look at those happy satiated faces :p

Credit goes to dad and mom for preparing and cooking all these super yummy dishes..


A picture of wonderful blessed family ;p


HAPPY 29th BIRTHDAY DEAR... hope you have a wonderful time this week :)

Anniversary Degustation: The NEW Sage

As usual, we celebrate this memorable date at our favourite fine-dining restaurant, The Sage. It has moved to the new place at Mohamed Sultan, just the opposite where they used to be. The new Sage has modern and stylish feel, yet the ol’ personal warmth service standard remains –which is why it gets our highest vote for best fine dining place in Singapore.

To Manfred and I, The Sage is more than excellent food quality, romantic ambience and warmth personalized service. It is where our first love momento begins, from our first date to our first anniversary, and to marriage proposal. The Sage is a special place for both of us.

This anniversary, Manfred treats me to the new Degustation Menu, which is fairly reasonable priced for six-course dinner of four appetizers, one main and dessert. Kimberly had too arranged for every course to be crustaceans-free and shells-free as I’m still under diet restrictions. Nevertheless, it was a very thoughtful gesture of her.

Let's proceed to the menu for the evening :)

Complimentary hors d'oeuvre

This interesting dish is made of squashed tomatoes combined with onion and lime juice, topped with caviar. It gives off refreshing taste with subtle hint of spice and lime.. Perfect as hors d'oeuvre..

Gravlax of ocean trout with citrus marinade on vine ripe tomato foam,

fennel marmalade and tapioca pearls scented with orange essence

The fresh raw trout tastes sweet with no sign of fishy smell. The yellow jelly on top of the trout is the tapioca pearls blends with orange essence, and the white foam on the left is the tomato foam, which tastes quite bland.. Mix these three together and you get sweet smooth orange scented taste lingering in your mouth.. *mmmm... a fluffy french-sashimi appetizer..

Carpaccio of US naturally raised, grain fed and hormone free beef tenderloin

with jellied horseradish consomme and air dried Wagyu,

Arugula leaves and shaved Parmigianno Reggiano

Imagine Wagyu beef carpaccio with marble score of 10, then you know how this dish would taste! The jellied horseradish consomme was surprisingly tasty and blends well with the smooth texture of Wagyu beef.. Two words for this dish: IT MELTS!!

Seared scallop on Belgium endive au gratin with avruga caviar,
Normandy sauce and Parmigianno Reggiano lace

I purposely took a closeup of this dish so that you can look for yourself the amount of caviar that they put on that huge scallop!! Definitely not stingy for an appetizer! This dish was SUPERB.. It had fragrant smell when it arrived on our table, and oh boy how glad we were that the taste matched the smell! Manfred liked it so much that he wanted a main course version of this for our next visit! Memorable dish indeed!

Pan-seared duck foie gras on pear and walnut chuney,
Muscat poached fig with spiced port wine glaze

I always love foie gras here -it's pan-seared until crisp on the outer, yet it's soft on the bite.. Needless to say, they are very generous with the portion as well. The port-sweetened fig compliments the foie gras very well, leaving taste of sweetness lingering in your mouth.. Definitely an interesting experience..

Charcoal grilled Kurobuta pork loin with orange marmalade on slow cooked terrine of

pork cheek topped with tomato fondue and aioli, white bean mousseline and basil pesto

I am more of a beef person, so I seldom order pork loin for my main. Didn't really expect much of the dish initially, yet this dish gave me a new revolution of pork loin dish, or to be exact Kurobuta pork loin.. :p

It is the finer version of chinese roasted pork, with elegant dish presentation.. The pork cheek was soft and tender as it is slow cooked, but I still prefer the charcoal grilled pork loin.. The white bean mousse was smooth and neutralized the porky taste. So you can enjoy the dish with porky-free feeling! Overall, this is a wonderful dish to order for a change!

Chocolate souffle with Amaretto ice cream and vanilla bean custard

Hot choco liquid + vanilla custard + icy cold amaretto ice cream = SUPERB DESSERT!!
Do I still have to explain more?

This time round, Kimberly had prepared an anniversary gift from The Sage for us!! Blessed with favor and abundance from God indeed!! (We were already full to the max during the Kurobuta course!)

Mascarpone and cream cheese cake with compote of
strawberries and nougat, caramel sauce and chocolate sorbet

Best cheescake I have tried so far! The cheescake was smooth and soft, with no cheesy taste. Basically you can eat a lot and still don't feel sick of it! Very wonderfully made cheesecake.. Good job Chef Jusman! :)

End the whole meal with beautiful tea set of English milk tea.. *satiated

Two happy loving customers :)

Happy anniversary my dear.. *muackz!

Osaka: Kobe Beef

Day tour to Kobe for only two reasons: shopping and kobe beef gourmet! :)

Kobe Sanda Premium Outlet contains 80-100 of branded outlets at bargain price.. This is where you can find label like Coach, Gucci, Kate Spade, Hugo Boss, Hamilton, Valentino at 35%-80% bargain!




Kobe beef has always been described as soft, chewy and melt in your mouth.. Unfortunately, the one being presented to us has lower marble score, around 8-10.. It's still good though.. The one on the right is proschiuto ham..

Visit to Kobe Farm to have a close-up look on the cows.. *mmm yummy ox-tongue :p

Osaka: Food

Before I came to Japan, I always heard about how expensive the expenses are and how good the sushi-s, sashimi-s, ramens and all the snacks are.. I find some of the comments are true, and not -depending on your own expectations.

The sashimi can't get any fresher!! The raw seafood are sweet, delicate and fresh, with no slightest hint of fishy smell nor taste.. If you're a fan of sashimi, Japan is definitely the best place! Price wise, it's much more affordable than in Singapore, given the quality of fishes and freshness..

For a decent meal of Otoro (high grade tuna belly), Hotate Sake aburi (scallop & salmon), beef aburi, fresh king ebi (sweet king prawns), the price tag comes up to be only $25! A plate of Otoro in Singapore may cost up to $50-$80 depending on the location, yet the freshness can't be compared to those in Japan!

I shall let the pictures be the judge! :) click on the picture for high resolutions





Right? ;)

The First Evening of 24

Dear invited me to a simple yet elegant dinner celebration at our fave restaurant, The Sage. Walking in to the restaurant made me realized why this place is special for us -this is where we hold most of our memorable events, such as first Christmas date, first anniversary, proposal, and now my birthday dinner.

It's difficult to get bored of The Sage. First of all, the menu changes periodically. Even for the same menu, the food art is always new. Bravo to the creativity and dynamism. Secondly, I can't help but to applaud on the professionalism of the server yet the warmth personal touch they give to each customers. Last, the food is non-questionable -flavorsome, sophisticated, artistic and best of all -affordable. This place gets my no.1 vote for French fine dining.

Down to our evening experience..















Complimentary green pea mousse with lemon zest and caviar.

Strong flavor of green pea with subtle hint of lemon. The caviar neutralizes the flavor of green pea and makes this dish totally refreshing! Perfect as starter.
















First dish on the list is pan-seared duck foie gras with roasted Granny Smith apple mille-feuille crusted with walnuts, fig compote and spiced glaze of port wine and balsamico.

The foie gras itself is crusty yet soft with its own flavor. The sourness of apple sauce and sweetness of port wine make this dish interesting to experience on its own. Every bite produces different taste depending on the amount of sauce that you put in!















My soup dish was veloute of butternut pumpkin topped with pistachio froth, confit of foie gras and Navel orange marmalade.

Pumpkin soup is one of my favorite soup dishes. Coupled with confit of foie gras? BEST! The soup itself is creamy and thick with strong hint of sweetness of orange marmalade, while the confit of foie gras is too creamy on its own. Take them together and you find the best combination of pumpkin soup with foie gras! The sweetness of the hot soup blends perfectly with the confit of foie gras causing it to melt in your mouth!















Dear's soup dish is chestnut mousseline topped with double boiled consommé of oxtail, parmentier of oxtail meat with shavings of black truffle.

I didn't know that chestnut goes well with oxtail until I tried this! The first layer at the bottom is the chestnut mousse, the second layer is the oxtail soup while the top layer is milk froth. Mix them together and....... *speechless*! I would say it's complicatedly interesting. Imagine sweetness of chestnut mix with oxtail soup. Funny? Yes, but apparently the chef was able to pull it, not only well, but perfectly well! The oxtail meat is hard and tasty on its own, but taking it with the soup apparently neutralizes the strong favor of the soup and makes it easier and more enjoyable to savor.

Oh by the way, did I mention that I love the visual display of the soup?















Finally my main: charcoal grilled U.S. Black Angus beef sirloin resting on pommes gratin topped with horseradish cream, glazed vegetables with smoked bacon and jus gras

We ordered this dish in our previous visit, however; this time it comes differently! I mentioned that the chef is creative didn't I? The meat, cooked rare as per my preference, is juicy sweet tender and succulent on its own. The sauce smoothen the succulent taste of the meat. On top of the change in the visual display, it has additional Brussels sprouts with smoked bacon which has completely opposite taste to the meat. Its strong saltness acts like ginger to clear the palette and... VOILA!! You're ready for the next piece of the meat!















Dear's main: Australian grain fed lamb short loin with a cassoulet of summer beans scented with garlic, thyme and lardons, crispy Parmigiano Reggiano and carrot puree

The lamb, cooked rare as to dear preference, is interestingly tender and succulent! The flavor of thyme has overridden the strong scent of lamb. Bland carrot puree helps to ease the meaty taste and sweetness of the summer beans helps to neutralize the flavor. So far, this is the best lamb dish I have ever tried -with no strong scent of lamb at all!

Our satisfied look says it all!















*mmmm... I'm in Heaven... :p















YUMMY! *hehhehe...

We are both too filled after the whole course to eat desserts. This is the first time we skip desserts. Even Misa, the captain, was surprised! So I requested for the bill.

She then returned with ....















A chocolate cake with happy birthday stand!

Apparently, dear has made arrangement with Kimberly on this. It's a piece of thick dark chocolate cake, complimentary from The Sage for my birthday. Lucky we didn't order desserts!















Praying and thanking God for His wonderful blessings on me, and requesting for special wish..




















*fooh.. blowing candle..

Dear asked if I like this small surprise.. in fact, I love this simple sweet surprise from dear. This is one of the reasons why I love him dearly. His thoughts and actions on these small little things touch me.. Dear's doing massage for me when I'm tired, fetching me after whole day work, sending my blazers for laundry, cooking good meal for me when I'm in lousy mood, especially arrange a shopping day for me on weekends and other countless small little things..

All these little things he does add on to great love he has for me. I love you hubby..

and I wish to myself: HAPPY BIRTHDAY :)