MONGABONG: foodporn

Recess Week Food Hunt Part 2 : Asian Market Cafe + Brunch with Girlfriends

Monday, March 03, 2014

Rose Macarons Recipe

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Hey guys! Many of you requested for the recipe I used for the rose macarons Matt & I made on my birthday last month. So here I am, providing the ingredients and instructions!

We adapted the recipe from here, but because we weren't making Rasberry flavored ones, we experimented with the buttercream and heat settings by ourselves. Continue on to read if you're interested on how to make these beautiful and yummy sweet dessert!

INGREDIENTS

3 Egg Whites

¼ cup white sugar

2 cups confectioners sugar

1 cup almond flour

pinch of salt

ROSE BUTTER CREAM

1/4 cup salted butter

3/4 cup powdered sugar

0.5 - 1 tsp of rose extract, depending on how subtle you want your rose flavor to be

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 300F degrees

1) Beat egg whites until foamy, then add salt, cream of tartar and white sugar for 8-10 mins.

TIP: #1 eggwhites should be room temp

Whip until they form a peak that stands upright. Think Seattle Space needle.

2) Then add the food coloring.

TIP#2 Color does fade as it cooks, so do a shade or two darker than you want them to be.

3) Sift almond flour, and powdered sugar. What remains will be the larger lumps of almond pieces. Just discard those, or use them to snack on :) You want a really fine powder mixture to create a smooth and pretty on top to your cookie.

4) Fold flour/sugar mixture into the egg white mixture.

TIP#3 This is where all your hard work can really go wrong. Under mix and your macaroons will be lumpy and cracked when the bake with no feet, over mix and your macaroons will be flat and won't have feet.

In my experience 65-75 turns of your spatula when folding is about the right amount of time. But again, it can be tricky, depends on how strong you are, Ha! So it can take a few tries to get it right. But when you do, the trumpets will blare and you will feel SO accomplished!

5) Transfer batter to a pastry bag.

6) Pipe out 1 inch rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. (DO NOT USE PAPER WITH COOKING SPRAY)

7) Tap the pan hard at least 2-3 times to release the air bubbles. This will prevent the tops of your macaroons from cracking. Use a toothpick to release the air bubbles.

8) Let them sit out for 20--30 mins, or up to an hour if you want. This will allow them time to dry out a bit before hitting the hot oven. They should be "tacky" to the touch, but not stick to your fingertips.

9) Bake for 20 mins. DO NOT UNDER BAKE, even if they look done! Otherwise they will stick to your tray.

10) Meanwhile mix the buttercream. Whip butter with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Slowly add sugar.

11) Add rose extract to buttercream, bit by bit and whip until combined and until you get the right consistency you want. It should be liquid enough to be squeezed through a piping bag, but not too liquid that it drips out of our macaron. If your mixture is too watery, add more sugar and butter.

12) Transfer to a pastry bag, cut the bottom of the tip

13) Remove macaron shells from the oven and let it cool to room temperature before you fill it up with the buttercream

14) Reverse cookie shells on their backs, and pipe a small mound of filling on one of them. Top with the other shell and there you have it!

If not eating right away, keep refrigerated. I think it should be able to store up to 4 days!

YES! Have fun and its really nice! Hope it benefitted you guys :)

Love,

mong

Family time at THW, Wild Daisies, rants & more!

Sunday, November 03, 2013

food

Food Post: Nana's Green Tea

Sunday, October 20, 2013

How I get fat + Hello mello!

Monday, October 14, 2013

Carlo Rino Winter 2013 Collection

Monday, October 07, 2013

{Updates} First August Weekend

Monday, August 05, 2013

Weekend + The prettiest rainbow rose i've seen

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Hello guys!

I'm back here again with another update post! Are you guys getting sick of my entries talking about clothes clothes and clothes already?

hahah so sorry for the hiatus because i've been so busy the whole week with so many shoots and advertorials :/

Matt and I finally found some time to have a proper lunch togther last Saturday!

LIKE FINALLY

Because my weekends are always packed with shoots, we hardly have enough time for each other.

He works on weekdays, while I shoot on some weekdays too, and on weekends when he doesn't work, he'll accompany me and sit by the side while I go from shoots -to shoots :(

But having said that, I had one shoot that day too la.

But just ONE! Woohooo (kinda rare for a weekend, usually I have 2-3 back to back!:( )

Hahah as usual, US BEING US, we decided to spend that few precious hours pigging out (Y)

What a better way to spend a beautiful saturday aint it, i'm so glad I found someone that appreciates food as much as I do :)

We picked out a cafe from our long list of restaurants/cafes we'd like to try, and decided to go for lunch at Hungry Chimps!

I first stumbled upon this cafe when I saw a friend Geotag a photo of her food on Instagram and the decor of the place looked so chill and relaxing over the photos

So i went to read up on their reviews and decided to give it a shot:)

One tip guys, ALWAYS ALWAYS check out reviews first before heading to any restaurant/cafe, you definitely want to try what others have recommended! (Y)

This is no a paid advertorial by the way, just sharing with you guys cause I'm such a foodie and I think i'll be wasting it if i didnt share.

No, juzzz kiddingzzz.

Hahahah just wanted to share some love withyou guys okieezzz?:)

When we reached, at around 12.30PM on a Saturday afternoon, the cafe was surprisingly E.M.P.T.Y

Perhaps because it rained (& was still drizzling when we got there).. or maybe because this cafe isn't that well-known yet (?) Idk..

But this cafe is definitely worth trying! They serve pretty good food and the ambience is really calming too.

Let the photos take you through the rest of this entry!

Secondth; CafeBiz

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Hello guys!

Just a quick update: We celebrated our 2nd month yesterday (15th) and guess what we did on that special day (no prizes for getting it right)

None other than the both of our favorite.. EAT!

And yes, not a normal meal but at an international buffet restaurant! *hooray!*

After searching for the best international buffet restaurant and factoring everything like Distance and prices, we have decided to give CafeBiz @ Traders hotel a try.

We even looked through pictures on Hungrygowhere prior to that and the spread looked pretty decent so that was a HUGE incentive too. I remember looking through the photos and salivating at them, not kidding.

;P PLUS, those photographs are taken by normal customers like us who have decided to post their reviews on the site, so more likely than not, their reviews are the more accurate ones.

I know people would usually go for the bread and cheese first as starters, but I couldnt resist the cold food section when I combed the entire place first. Hehe. Decided to give my tummy more space to fill the rest of the food up and skipped having bread.

Their dinner spread was awesome, especially the cold seafood section.

There were no oysters though, for you oyster lovers out there.

Matt and I don't eat oysters so it didn't affect us much. hehe

Instead, they had clams, crabs, scallops, and prawns!

The prawns that day were.. Fantastic. Big, sweet and juicy. Chilled just right too.

Scallops were massive as well, and it was so worth it (for the price we paid)

I then moved on to trying different cuisines. The picture below was actually a mix of chinese and western cuisines.

The Kueh Pie Ti was pretty good, while the rest were.. Okayyy.

Onion rings were pretty gross though, soggy and chewy? aahahha ew tell me im not the only one that likes my rings crispy and soft inside.

MMM PRAWNS

Japanese section

Look! There was even a big fresh salmon at the side

The local food section includes chicken rice, charsiew rice, congee, laksa, chicken noodles, oyster omelette as well as carrot cake.

only got to try the Chicken Rice and Laksa, both so nomz~

Matt who tried the Chicken congee said it was not bad, but oyster omelette was a let down :/

Chicken rice

Chicken Congee

Laksa

Dessert corner (MY FAVOURITE SECTION)

LOVE THIS FAIRY DUST SPRINKLES

I had sooo much food that night and I could barely walk.

Woke up today and gained a kilo >< HAHA

But it was a good meal, with awesome company. Always love food outings with my co-foodie boyfriend :D

Always a good thing when you have hobbies like this in common. Although I wouldn't really count eating as a hobby.. but we both are so similar in that aspect.

We eat alot, and alot of junk. But people wont be able to tell that we can actually eat THAT much based on our sizes :'D

Pardon the weary eyed photo of me above, was suffering from a flu towards the end and that photo was taken after sneezing like 121435 times.

Nevertheless, we had an awesome date night that day and I can't wait for our next food date again!

CafeBiz is located at:

1A Cuscaden Road,

Singapore 249716

Traders Hotel

Happy second official month sweetie, thank you for being the best I can ever ask for. I love you!

Here's ending off this entry with a video I took of us, when matt was unaware of it for the first half.

He was nibbling ('eating") on my cheeks (as usual), which he refused to admit once he realized I was filming it LOL.

Sorry for the bad quality guys, it was taken with the front camera on my iPhone and the lighting of the cafe was really dark, which appeared really red in the video, dont ask me why.

Enjoy!

food

Food places I love + updates!

Tuesday, July 09, 2013

Hello guys!! Missed me?

[Grrr so annoyed I typed a whole long chunk before my Mac decided to crash on me and EVERYTHING HAS GONE MISSING D:, so i'm typing everything out again]

Anyone out there can get as annoyed by such stuff like me? OMG I wanted to kill somebody. Hahahah juzzzz keeding.

Im terribly sorry for the lack of updates recently, and for leaving this space for some time. I blame it on my uneventful and ever so peaceful life right now. LOL.

Summer has been all about food, and eating. If not, it'd be sourcing for new cafes to try. Basically my life revoles around food right now! hahaha. I know i've probably said this wayyy too much, but i really need to try to improve on my ridiculous diet and do something about my lack of discipline :(

Where's the drive to workout/gym/be healthy??? :O

Nevertheless, today's blog post will be sharing on the good food places that i've visited/have returned to the past 2 weeks. Note that i'm not paid for anything below, good things are meant to be shared right?:) Always loved it whenever people share their favorite restaurants and cafes with me :)

First, Ice Edge Cafe!

Where do I even start... #icanteven #lookatphotoalsosalivate

This little cafe was first introduced to me by a close friend who lived nearby, back in.. 2010? Visited that place once, and I absolutely loved everything there. From the food, to the portions, to the ambience and the music they played.. They are also famous for their GELATO.

I'm sure you guys know how im such a sucker for ice cream/gelato and I need to get my daily fix of them.

Been trying to cut down on that, though it seems like the world's hardest addiction to quit. DAMN

IEC is one of my most favorited food place and I love the fact that despite returning to that place SOOO many times, and trying out different main dishes each time, non of their dishes have disappointed me yet. How rare is that? What are the chances that someone walks into a particular cafe (perhaps 6 to 8 times) and not tried any dishes that are only "so-so" yet.

This was what we ordered the last time we headed back to Ice Edge, and their BUFFALO WINGS are a must-have.

Need I mention that it was after I tried IEC's buffalo wings that started my crazy hunt for the best buffalo wings in Singapore? Hahahaha yes, food addict over here :D

Still one of the best i've tried in my life. But that having said, their wings are prepared pretty differently from the conventional wings, and I love it!

It's a little more crispy, and sweet (Y)

Corden Blue

Buffalo Wings (must try)

Seafood Baked Rice (not too bad)

Ice Edge Cafe is located at:

2 Kovan Road,

Simon Plaza, #01-10

Singapore 548008

Next, Matt brought me to Salt Grill & Sky Bar with his friends + partners for a mini get-together.

Heard many people rave about this place and seen too many great photos of the place on Instagram! A place i've been wanting to go.

Plus, it's situated at the top of Ion orchard and yay to an awesome view over the Singapore skyline. It was exceptionally beautiful that night as we managed to catch a few glimpses of the fireworks over at the floating platform from where we were.

Of course, food prepared by top renowned chefs will never go wrong right? Haha their prices too LOL.

Caught their 1-for-1 Happy hour deal at the sky bar and we decided to whack 12 glasses of cocktails at one shot.

Singaporeans.

Sex on the beach

Fluffy bread as appetizers
It's so fluffy, im gonna die!

Matt's 300g Ribeye

My 200g worth
Look at that.. OMG :OOO

After looking at all these photos, its starting to make me wonder why i'm writing this at 1 am, torturing myself all over again :(

For those that are wondering, yes I love my steak super rare! hahaha I hope the photo didnt gross you out, for those that doesnt share the same tastebuds. hehe

My failed OOTD lol. Shaky hands!

Overall it was such a great night, again again!

Salt Grill & Sky Bar is located at:

2 Orchard Turn

ION Orchard, #55-01 & #56-01

Singapore 238801.

The next place I'm gonna be introducing you about, is called The M&Ms Kitchen. HAHAHHAA

Okay don't take me for real guys, whenever i mention or hastag #M&Ms kitchen, it simply means that Matt and I both whipped up some food together. Hahaha just trolling :')

We made Lasagne for lunch the next day, and it was both our first attempts.

Turned out really well I must say, and the best thing about homemade food is always being able to tweak dishes to your liking!

Matt and I are both fans of Beef (esp him), and we added in more minced beef than what was required. hehe

But it was only that day that I realised, it's sooo expensive to make lasagne! We spent close to $30 just on the ingredients to make it..

Blame it on the insane prices of all the different cheese we used, but well it was all worthwhile :) It's no wonder restaurants sell lasagne at such insane prices

Spam Mozerella

AH YUM YUM

The M&Ms kitchen is located at:

Nah Just kidding,

I made this cafe up myself

LOL LOL LOL

A big thank you to all my readers who are still reading these silly posts of mine! Stay tuned for more posts coming up soon!

Next up will be a video on my Everyday make up look (above) hahaha.

Have a great Tuesday and i hope july has been treating everybody well so far:)

On a ste note, do you guys think that I should rename my blog URL to mongabong instead of Smilelikeidiots?

Love

Mongabong

PS. A shoutout to KY, if you're reading this, a big thank you to you for always being there. Even though I dont know who you are, but I can certainly feel a connection between us and I love hearing from you on my ask.fm :) Stay happy! XOXO

Ruby Rouge, Chillax Massage Cafe & TopAzette

Thursday, June 27, 2013