Traditional Italian Cake

IL Pandoro ($29.90) and Perugi ($22.90)

We saw a Post-Christmas sale on these Italian Cakes at Cold Storage today and can't resist not buying them for a try.

It was at a +50% discount!

A strong whiff of lovely aroma swept us as we unpacked the IL Pandoro Cheese cake! It comes with a Sugar icing pack which we sprinkled on generously.

A week later, we had the Perugi Candied fruit cake. It tasted even better than the IL Pandoro as its recipe includes candied fruits; lots of it too :)

Tasted like our common Fruit Cake but zeroing on the oiliness.

Traditional Italian Cake changes our perception of cakes to be oily. Rather, it has more of Bread texture and is wonderfully aromatic. Leaving it in the fridge makes it a cool Dessert on a hot day.

We should be looking forward to all future Post-Christmas Sales of the Cake :)

Christmas Presents!

Following our Dinner at Brother's house, it was a surprise the couple prepares some fun Christmas presents for the individuals.

This 204 mini pieces of Jigsaw Puzzle was Sis's. But i volunteered to put it together this very night in under 2 hrs. Had worked till 2am on Christmas Day.

Hay! Hay! I love details like Jigsaw. It's fun, challenging and satisfying :)

The 3D Doraemon Jigsaw for Ric and me! We spent the Christmas afternoon piecing it up together :)

I can't wait to post you this cute pic of Doraemon. I adore his silly, innocent look :)

Christmas Dinner :))

Merry Christmas to ALL!

May you be surrounded with your loved ones; just like i do today, with brother putting together a Christmas Dinner for the family. Thank you, Bro!

It was a dinner of mainly purchased food as we planned for all cooking adults to enjoy the evening as much as we does and do less of the cooking & washing.

A Potluck Dinner.

Mum prepared her easy Oven-baked Portobello Mushrooms, while Ric and i bought in the Roast Duck & Roast Pork.

Brother bought the Christmas grilled Turkey ($70) from American School in Woodlands. Came neatly sliced up with Chestnut stuffing and Giblet gravy side.

Excellent serving standard but not much of its taste that we fancy.

There were also Pizzas and grilled Chicken Wings from Sarpino's Pizzeria, Swedish Meatballs with Lingonberries Jam from Ikea and Shiitake Mushroom Soup prepared by the In-laws.

Rounding off the meal is the Chocolate Truffle Log Cake from The Royals.

Tasted light yet dense, none extremely sweet or over chocolaty. Sees nobody rejects this dessert despite our really heavy dinner :) Yeah, we love Log Cakes!

Baileys with Coke

Back from our 9 days holiday in Guangzhou, China. Had spent the day doing my laundry of a wardrobe full of new clothes!

Now drinking with Ric by my wet washing as the weather wasn't helping. But am grateful for the cool day as we began missing Guangzhou's coolness.

Ingredients:
1 Part Bailey's Irish Cream
1 Part Coca Cola

Pour over ice in a lowball glass (pour the Bailey's in first or it gets too foamy). Tastes just like a Coke Float.

Maybe, just Baileys on-the-rock tastes best :)

Guangzhou Shopping!

Ho! We were back from holidaying in Guangzhou! This was our 2nd visit there, mainly for food and shopping. During our 1st visit, the tourist attractions had already been covered.

Guangzhou is famous for its many Wholesales Centre of all sorts. Clothes, Shoes, Toys, Stationary, Souvenir, Tea leaves, Dried Sea Goods, Tidbits and Snacks. You could easily recognized the area of Wholesales as you travelled around in the city public buses.

Visit the Wholesales Centre for an eye opener, but a good shopping experience would be recommended at their many Shopping Malls/ Shopping Streets.

Shang-Xia Jiu Road (上下九路)

This is one of the two pedestrian shopping streets in Guangzhou, the other being Beijing Road (北京步行街). Our hotel nearness to Shang-Xia Jiu Road makes here our popular dining venue.

上下九路 stall vendors peddled mainly cheap goods of poorer quality. But come here for the many food outlets and the colorful night lights.

11, 15, 17 Dec 09 - China Plaza (中华广场)

A popular Mall among the locals. JUSCO was having a moving out Sales which really draws in the crowd, even before the Mall opens at 10am, everyone was already waiting outside the main entrance...

12 Dec 09 - Simgo City Plaza (新光城市广场)

It houses the Carrefour Supermarket where we love to shop for the local products. And Simgo Departmental Store that features many of our favourite local brands.

13 Dec 09 - TeeMall (天河城)

TeeMall is a big and expensive up-market shopping complex that houses many international brands offering very limited discounts. Its surrounding shopping malls across the road offers cheaper buys and dining options.

13 Dec 09 - GrandBuy Department Store (广百百货)

We found one of our favourite China brand 自然元素 here!

13 Dec 09 - Guangzhou Dongfang Baotai Square (广州东方宝泰广场)

Guangzhou latest Shopping Mall below Guangzhou East Station with Uniqlo 2nd outlet in Guangzhou opening here on 19 Dec 09. Across the road stands Guangzhou IKEA!

14 Dec 09 - The Plaza (天娱广场)

We had our 1st meal of Ajisen here and some shopping. Forget movie watching in Guangzhou, as mentioned in my earlier post, it's more expensive than in Singapore.

14 Dec 09 - MoPark (摩登百货)

More Shopping at Mopark that's next to 天娱广场.

16 & 17 Dec 09 - Beijing Road (北京步行街)

Be here! The ultimate shopping street in Guangzhou! You wouldn't return empty handed.

But try to avoid shopping here during the weekends; no salesperson would be free to give you a proper service! The pedestrian walk would also be too jam packed with the local weekend crowds for any leisure window shopping!

********

This Guangzhou shopping trip was my most rewarding visit to China as we had gotta familiar with their many good local brands from our past visits to various China's city. The brands were offering tempting seasonal discounts!

14 Pants & Jeans, 4 Skirts, 1 Dress, 1 Belt, 1 pair of Shoe, 2 Spectacles, 2 Jackets, 2 Shirts and 6 DVDs are my buys!? My booty that could last me for the whole year, or even my extended stay in Guangzhou. Ho! Ho! Ho! But I do admit having 14 new Pants is a little overboard ;)

MapBar.com is ALL we need to locate the shopping malls or shops, it's even linked up to China's public transport system to help us plan our route! We relied heavily on MapBar on all our China's holiday. Hope you have an enjoyable trip too!

Guangzhou D9 - 大同酒家

We amazed ourselves with an early breakfast (our earliest since here) at the Guangzhou Da Tong Cantonese Restaurant after a late night of packing our return luggage.

The weatherman had forecasted a low of 7 degrees C today, with new lows in the coming 2 days! We sure are glad to be flying back to warm Singapore this afternoon.

Dumpling Noodle Soup (￥11)

Tea was complimentary if you come before 9am; we heard from our hotel lady. And you get to choose from a range of popular Teas.

Pan-fried Glutinous Rice in Bean Curb Skin (￥12.50)

Century Egg and Meat Porridge (￥11)

Phoenix Feet (￥9)

The Porridge and Phoenix Craws were ordered from the Push-cart; it was just mundane.

It came as no surprise as good Chef might most be headhunted to helm overseas restaurants ;) Sad to admit, Singapore does offers better Dim Sum than here.

Forgive this blurred image; the general public of China aren't too earnest about being photographed. So, just a stolen shot to bring you the crowd at the ordering counter.

They have push cart, but the self-service ordering counter offers much interesting Dim Sum items and cooking demonstrations :)

Guangzhou D8 - Cafe de Coral

We had a leisure day, finishing up our shopping.

Tonight's our last dinner in Guangzhou, and it was decided at Cafe de Coral (大家乐) for its French-styled Spring Chicken. We are going to miss it.

法式玉米烧春鸡 (Half Chicken, ￥10 - promotional price)

The chick was cut up this time for ease of eating :) It makes no difference though, the well done Chicken can be easily de-boned by a chopstick! Yummy.

泰式香茅猪扒，马拉盏炒饭 (￥25)

We were rather disappointed with this Thai fusion dish as it tasted very different to what we had here, 2 years ago. Only the Lemon Soda drink that comes with the Rice set was memorable.

Guangzhou D7 - Saizeriya Pizza

After collecting my new spectacles, we took a queue number with the many others outside Saizerya.

It was full house on a Wednesday night!? The young powerful spending population in China is amazing.

薰相培根匹萨, Hawaiian Pizza (￥20)

We decide to try Saizeriya Pizza as Ric was pointing out that many tables ordered them. And it really looks delicious to him :) So we did. And it was very good indeed.

菌菇利梭多饭, Mushroom Risotto (￥10)

This our 1st try of Risotto, the traditional Italian Rice dish. Creamy starchy and served warm. For lovers of Mushroom creme, this Main is definitely for you.

Actually, our plain purpose here was to enjoy its tasty and affordable Wine :)

Guangzhou D7 - Teabreak at Cafe Coral

It was just after our meal at Ajisen that we scuttled into Cafe de Coral for some hot Coffee as Ric wasn't feeling too well. The sudden Cold Spell probably got him, so we avoided the outdoors; gotta take care in this Influenza pandemic year.

Bun with Butter, Coffee Set (￥11)

This is one place in China that serves really good fresh brewed Coffee. Better than McDonalds that's it. And it kept us coming back.

Spicy Minced Meat Noodle with Soup, Tea Set (￥10)

This noodle set is like a Chinese Spaghetti set :) A little too spicy though, else it tastes great and was a really value for money item. (We later found out that a non spicy version was also available)

We love this promotional signboard for its Coffee!! Cold weather makes you wanna eat forever; and a quality fresh brew at such economic pricing is a definite God sent :)

Guangzhou D7 - Ajisen al carte

Hit by a sudden cold current from the North of China, the temperatures of Guangzhou dropped from the lowest 18 to 9 degrees celsius overnight!

Boy, it was freezing. We were such under dressed creatures who scrambled to the indoors whenever the wind starts blowing... it was biting cold!

Only Ajisen rich warm soup can save the day. My only craving today!

Ajisen Ramen (￥18)

Vegetable Ramen (￥19)

Ajisen simplest Ramen bowl surely warms our bellies :)

Guangzhou D6 - Cafe de Coral

It was raining today with the temperature falling.

Ric and i struggled back to our hotel for our windbreaker before heading to the Spectacles store and our late dinner at Cafe de Coral (大家乐), the Hong Kong Cafe.

We are always happy to see the appetite whetting signboard at Cafe de Coral.

And their pleasant waitresses who are standing by, patiently taking your order as you roam the board.

法式玉米烧春鸡 (Half Chicken, ￥23)

Oh, heavenly soft roasted Chicken! Aromatic, soft, juicy and flavorsome.

It was fun eating with hands using the supplied plastic gloves :) Why don't we have this gimmick play in Singapore? I love it.

The set that usually costs ￥23 with Corn cob and a drink was discounted to ￥10 (only the Chicken) after 5pm at this branch!

一哥炉猪扒饭 (￥25)

Forgive my poorly taken photo, but this dish is without a doubt the most popular item in Cafe Coral!

You just got to have this Tomato sauced Pork Chop Baked Rice!! At least once!

Guangzhou D6 - McDonalds New Puff!

McDonalds China always seems to come up with new ideas...!

Their value lunch set at S$3 from 11am -2pm, daily.

Breakfast, Egg & Ham McPuff (￥6)

Savory Egg & Ham Pie from McDonalds! It tastes great; a good change from the regular Apple Pie. Though i still loves their Apple Pie very much :)

Chocolate Pie (￥7 for 2)

And the marriage of Chocolate and Apple Pie was on promotion for a limited period only. Stocks often run out. This, we finally have it today!

Guangzhou D5 - Saizeriya 萨莉亚

Today, we found another Japan eatery also offering very value eats, other than Ajisen. Its pricing was fantastically affordable!

Our complete meal with Wine that costs less than S$10!

Grilled Chicken with Vegetable Salsa (￥12)

Five-patten Sausages (￥12)

Chilled House Red Wine (￥12)

Quality of food at Saizeriya was the same as in Saizeriya Singapore.

One thing we note: Red wine drinking wasn't popular in China!? Returning twice, we were the only table having Wine.