Grilled Chicken Rice & More!

N didn't even bother listening to me and told me and the husband to just turn up with empty stomachs. When she was flying out the next day, we didn't want her to cook. But she did. She said it was easy chicken rice. Riiiight, with a ton of side dishes. Okaaaaay. Our stomachs are happy about it, but we felt bad that she made so much effort. To appreciate that, we ate LOADS. Teheheheheh. 

N was experimenting and the chicken was grilled instead of steamed. That worked too. Prawn omelette, stir-fried greens, tofu and a soup. There was even a plate of Hakka abacus that I had no idea why it was included, but it was rather tasty. Wheeeee. The homecooked food was fabulous lah. What a feast!

We had drinks — champagne, reds and whisky as a digestif. Might have overdone it a little. I was so stuffed that I couldn't really finish the dessert of homebaked brownie with Hokkaido milk ice-cream. I ate all the fruits though. Heh. Before we knew it, it was 10.45pm! Totally time to go home, otherwise our poor friends would have to stay up till 2am to clean up. The kiddos were just faffing around being derpy. They were quite happy to chill out near us. And asked for bits of cheese.  

Oh Hello Naked Finn

Since I'm pumped full of antihistamines for two weeks, and the immune flare has subsided, leaving only remnants of hives, I bravely had dinner at Naked Finn. I had forgotten about this restaurant till a few friends mentioned it two weeks in a row. So I thought I should pop by.

It had been years since I stepped in. Well, it's a seafood menu right? So I need to be able to eat it and ensure my shellfish allergies don't flare too badly. I subconsciously avoid full seafood meals. The restaurant also has no al fresco tables, so it completely fell off my radar. I rarely dine out without the dog nowadays. And even if I do, I have no more interest in sitting down for a long dinner lasting beyond two hours even. 

Now the restaurant is hosting a yakitori menu on Wednesdays. The regular seafood menu is suspended, and they only do... yakitori, plus one pork item and a prawn tsukune, and beef steaks of grain-fed Aberdeen Angus striploin and a grass-fed Kuroge-washu A3 wagyu. Okaaaay. I hope they have rice on this menu, otherwise I'm not interested. For carbs on Wednesdays, I only saw chilled beehoon, focaccia with clam XO butter and chicken somen. If I overdose on chicken, this protein does make my eyes and lips swell too. I'm not fond of the taste of chicken as a meat. Unless it's just hatsu and skin. Hahaha.  

We took the $80 per pax tasting menu. I still love that chilled beehoon, but I dislike the sakura prawns. Next time, I'll tell them to put those annoying little prawns on the side. The mushroom XO donabe of binchotan-grilled yellow croaker with dragon chives, aonori and unsalted butter was delicious. Well, I do like rice. As long as the kitchen does a donabe well, it's hard for me to dislike it. I ATE SO MUCH RICE. 

The man was very pleased with all the food, prawns and the shellfish. He liked it so much that he added on a wild-caught gamba carabinero. It kinda went well with the rice at the end. There was no more rice to tapau home. Hahahaha. He even had the space for a dessert bowl of chendol. 

A Great Night at S's

Stopped by S and R's new home to wish them well. There wasn't a point to do a large housewarming party, so they did them by batches. Anyway S sees all of us regularly, so we could always split up into smaller groups to visit and it isn't so taxing on her and R. 

S wanted to cook for us, but it was a mad busy period for her. We firmly told her not to. She obediently agreed, but refused to let us order in food. She went to pick it up instead. She got Ipoh hor fun from Shan Cheng, and even kept the soup warm separately in a pot. Chicken and prawns. There was a platter of fried items (like tofu and fishcake) to go along with the hor fun. That sambal belachan was delicious. She also got us a portion of lamb shank biryani too. 

I brought a bottle of sake and a bottle of easy red. Since she does have many friends over for meals and such, the alcohol was mostly to add to her stash. But the table wanted to drink the red tonight. Okay. A bottle is easy when shared among all of us!We didn't want to get her any 'housewarming gift' till we have seen her place properly all done up instead of its raw state. Nobody wants unnecessary gifts that they can't really use. So in a few weeks, I'll ask S again what she needs. Meanwhile, we gifted her succulents that are easy to care for. 

I passed by Messina that afternoon. There were no queues. Ha! So the husband had a scoop, and I sent the dog to get a small 500ml tub of 'Italian Nougat' for me to bring over to S and R's. I wanted to get two 500ml tubs, but I wasn't sure if her freezer had space. So I didn't. Prudently stuck to one tub. Everyone had a scoop. R had two scoops. He has the sweetest tooth at this table!