An additional surprise for Marky...

It's cool, it's refreshing...

and best of all, it's healthy*!
*Depends on ingredients added*

This was the surprise dessert for Marky after our lunch on my birthday. It is extremely easy and can be very healthy depending on what you add.

Ingredients:

• Strawberry yogurt
• Mango yogurt
• Chocolates, crushed lightly
  (chocolate rice crispies are recommended)
• Nuts, chopped
• Fruits (if you want to make it healthier)

Method:

1) Find any shot glasses/small glasses

2) Pour a layer of yogurt into the glass.

3) Top with crushed chocolates/nuts and pour another flavoured yogurt.

4) Repeat procedures in any way that you like.

5) Once the yogurt reaches the top, cover the mouth of the glass with a piece of cling wrap and poke an ice-cream stick into the middle of the glass.

6) Freeze for a few hours till frozen.

7) Immerse the glass into warm water for easy removal of popsicles from the glass.

ENJOY!

My Birthday Lunch (for Marky)

Don't ask me why I am cooking on my birthday for Marky when it should be the other way round. Haha...I just missed cooking, so he was in a treat when I made him grilled chicken on the IKEA grill pan (Marky bought it for me on my request =) ) I mentioned to him about the soba salad that I made the other day and he asked me to make that for him too, as he hasn't eaten my soba in a long time. (IN the end, I made udon salad for a change. It turned out great!)

So there I am, busy preparing everything on my birthday...

In my grill...

• 1 Yellow capsicum
• 1/2 Carrot
• 3 deboned chicken thighs (Marinated overnight in teriyaki sauce, chopped garlic and ginger, a sprinkle of sugar and a splash of sesame oil)

*Teriyaki sauce and black pepper are added to vegetables as they are being grilled*

What's in my udon salad...

• 2 bundles of dried udon sticks (duh..)
• Japanese cucumber, julienned
• A small bunch of edamame, remove peas from pods
• Salad dressing (Double the amount from my previous post + additional chopped parsley and toasted sesame seeds)

What can be easier than to just toss everything together!

The resultant plate of food...
















Let us zoom into...

The grilled chicken. Perfect combination of the sweetness of the teriyaki sauce and flavourful ginger & garlic.



Udon salad
Tinge of spiciness, sweetness & saltiness from the sauce to add an extra oomph on the originally tasteless udon & greens. The addition of sesame seeds & chopped parsley makes this version even better than the previous one.


Grilled vegetable
Brushing on teriyaki sauce on the vegetables brings out their natural sweetness. At first I thought that I'll just put the carrots as garnish, but I ended up eating up all my carrots. =)

Finally, I had a positive feedback from my dearest Marky! That makes all efforts worthwhile. (Yuppie!)

Awon BBQ and Steamboat Restaurant

Tucked away on the 4th level of Excelsior Hotel is a family style Korean BBQ and Steamboat restaurant, Awon, which was recommended by my dearest woman, Char. She got to know this place through the fantastic online reviews , thus it was chosen for my birthday dinner.

When I first stepped into the place, the first thing that caught my attention was the mouth watering smell of BBQ meat and this further confirmed Char's choice of place! Despite having very simple decor and not much ambience, I would say that it is really worth going. Why? Simply because of the value-for-money food that's healthy yet Mashinun! ("Delicious" in Korean)

Awon BBQ and Steamboat Restaurant
#04-01 Excelsior Hotel
5 Coleman Street 179805

Opening Hours:
Mon - Sun 12:00 - 3:00 pm and 6:00 - 11:00 pm
Tel: 6336 7337

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We were first greeted by unlimited flow of authentic Korean appetisers e.g. Kimchi, Ikan bilis, green vegetable, Chilli beancurd cubes and an unknown vegetable (above ikan bilis). They were so appetising and hungry us just kept on eating them with soft white rice. The hit among Char, Eileen and I was the beancurd. My personal favourite was strangely the green veg.

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The BBQ Steamboat was served together with the appetisers and it came with all the ingredients as you see in the picture. Stupid us didn't know how to BBQ as there wasn't any butter/ fats to spread b4 BBQing the meat. So as not to appear stupid, we didn't asked for help either. In the end, we charred the "metal hump" and the friendly waiter had to change it for us. He even showed us how to do it the right way.

The right way: Spread meat on the "metal hump" and pour the soup over the meat to cook it as well as to prevent charring. The soup that flows down from the meat also flavours the soup. The resultant soup is really tasty and sweet!

The downside: Although this is a buffet, the choices are really limited. There's only chicken, pork, beef, special vemicilli, vegs, mushrooms prawns and fishcake.

Something to rejoice about: UOB credit card is entitled to 50% discount off the buffet and you just need to pay around $13 per pax.

All the smiling faces after finishing dinner.

Must try!