Chocolate Banana Cake

I really cant remember when was the last I baked and I totally miss baking so much.

I NEED to get my baking mojo back!!

Here's my first bake for Year 2010 - Chocolate Banana Cake. I was supposed to bake this on Monday but I was hit by the lazy bug. Then I was hit by the flu bug yesterday. Yikes! Today, I forced myself to bake the damn chocolate banana cake which I had been meaning to bake since the start of the week.

So with the assistance of my ever so helpful little helper, Tihani, we started to bake. Tihani helped mashed the ripe bananas and mixed the dry and wet ingredients. This was rather easy to put together, just like any other foolproof recipes I ever tried.

Well, this was the result - a rich, moist, chocolatey cake with tender crumbed top and subtle hint of banana.


Ingredients

1 3/4 cup self raising flour
1 1/2 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Preheat oven to 175C. Grease a loaf tin.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa and salt.
In another bowl, combine eggs, mashed bananasm water, milk, oil and vanilla essence.
Pour the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk well till everything is combined. Note that batter will be thin.
Bake in preheated oven for 40 - 50 mins or until a toothpick inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.
Allow to cool.

I actually baked half of the mixture in a loaf tin and half in 6 standard sized paper cups.


Tihani is asleep now and she hasnt tried them. Will put some in her lunch box so she can eat them during recess. Will also bring some for colleagues and see what they have to say about my cake :-)

J's Wok & Grill

I decided to take half day today to fetch Tihani from school. I then brought her to lunch at J's Wok & Grill for lunch.


J's Wok & Grill is actually the defunct Jeewa Restaurant at Joo Chiat (if anyone can remember). It is managed by Jeewa Ltd and in cooperation with Jamiyah Singapore.

The cafe is really nicely decorated with a little touch of class if i might add. They serve both Oriental and Western cuisine. Just outside the cafe, we saw a recession lunch special banner. There're only three items to choose from though - Char Bee Hoon, Kampong Fried Rice and Fish & Chips. The place was quite packed when we arrived.

We chose Prawn Fritters (S$6.90) for our appetiser. It was a generous portion. The prawns were de-shelled, fried with batter to perfection and served with Thai chilli sauce. Oh, by the way, what you see in the picture below is not the real portion. Could not resist eating them before I could even take pictures.


For mains, we ordered from the recession menu. We had the Classic Fish and Chips(S$3.50), which was served with fries, coleslaw and a wedge of lemon.


We also tried the Kampong Fried Rice (S$1.95). I thought that they might skimp on the portion but I was wrong. Portion is standard. Wow!


The fried rice was really nice - spicy and served with fried anchovies, slices of cucumber, tomatoes and sambal belacan. I took the first spoonful and I discovered that this wasn't any plain ordinary kampong fried rice. It has ingredients such as fishcakes, squids and even small chunks of chicken in them. Amazing!


So where else can we expect normal portion food at really dirt cheap price?

The lunch special is served on Mon - Sun from 12 - 3 pm. Only for dine-in and subjected to the prevailing GST and NO service charge.

J's Wok & Grill - Blk 527 Bedok North St 3 #01-514 Singapore 460527

Blic Ice Cream Cafe

It's exam week! Just as I was getting ready to leave home for my exams on Monday, I found myself texting my buddy for ice cream. I just felt a sudden urge for sugar rush and I knew that could possibly be because of a wee bit of stress + anxiety. Urgh .. I totally hate that feeling.

So after my papers, I found my way to this new ice cream cafe at Tampines that my buddy and I chanced upon when we drove past a couple of weeks back.


Blic Ice Cream Cafe - a simple, clean ice cream parlour with orange and white decor and yummy flavoured ice cream to boot!

I swear I could smell that distinct smell of the king of fruit as I entered the cafe. Some may find it repulsive but I totally find that inviting. My buddy and I sampled a few flavours before we settled for our ice cream. Blic serves unique flavours like lychee mint, chunky peanutella and seasalt malt. Classic or premium. You're just spoilt for choice.


I was there for my sugar rush fix and hence I settled for double scoops. Yeah, call me greedy! I chose Double Chocolate and Durian "Mao Shan Wang". I swear by the durian ice cream for it is rich, creamy and oh-so-yummy!

By the way, that's my buddy who had double scoops too - a scoop of Seasalt Malt and Ferraro.

I am sure I will be back for more!

Blic Ice Cream Cafe - Blk 802 Tampines Ave 4 #01-23 Singapore 520802.

====================================

Did I say I will be back for more??

Yesterday, just two days after our first visit to Blic, Has and I went back for more. This time with another friend, Win. As usual, we did our samplings before deciding.

Actually I had already decided what I wanted before I even stepped into Blic :-)


I got myself a single scoop of Seasalt Malt. This is my other favourite. I just do not know how to explain its taste, seriously. That horlick-ey saltish flavour is just way too awesome! Well, at least for me :-)


Has had the Chunky Peanutella. I bet anyone who has a major obsession for peanut butter would be perfectly contented with this.


and Win chose the premium Durian flavour.


Win's verdict "This is even better than Scoopz" and I couldnt agree with him more.


With an ice cream parlour just near home and school, I bet I would be making regular visits whenever I have a sweet tooth craving.

Zac's Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Cuisine

Today, two colleagues and I decided to give our other colleagues a treat. The treat was the for long service awards that my two colleagues received and also for my promotion :-)

So we decided to go to Zac's Cafe for some middle eastern and mediterranean fare. I had been here quite a number of times and had never been disappointed.

Reservations and confirmation of menu for 8 of us were made a week before. For appetisers, we had Mixed Salad with Feta Cheese.

Hummus

with Arabic Bread


The other starter that we had was Foul Madames. This was also served with bread.


For mains, I ordered Arabic Rice.

Rice was fluffy and light and it went well with the thick and rich Lamb Bamiya.

And for desserts, we had Cream Caramel.


And what better way to complement our middle eastern and mediterranean cuisine with Iced Mint Tea. Simply refreshing!

Zac's Cafe - No 17 Jalan Pinang Singapore 199149

M3rNi3 is Still Aliv3

Dear readers

I truly apologise for being on a hiatus.
After almost two years of not blogging, I decided to be back again.

I kept looking at my blog and wondered why'd I stopped.
I swear I miss blogging.

Today on, amidst work and school and life, I will try to blog.
And yeah, nothing's gonna change.
m3rni3 is still gonna be about food, food and more food!

So look out for updates alright!

Yours truly
m3rni3