Marina’s Bloggariffic

Ahem, another backdated post

I only knew about Pagi Sore when my ex colleague, Sumi recommended the place and brought me there for lunch. I love the food there. I think that its worth to travel all the way to Jurong for. Its just too bad that now I’m a little too far though

The Place

Situated in Jurong Superbowl, Pagi Sore might be a bit cumbersome for to travel to for those without their own transportation. But having said that, the surrounding area invokes a sense of retro 80’s feel that is getting harder to find in Singapore. And apart from the occasional few shopper around probably heading to Sheng Siong, the area is mostly tranquil.

Jurong Superbowl brings memories to me during my school days - it was one of my stomping grounds. Countless of days I spent too much time in the arcade playing Golden Axe till my dad had to drag me back home.

Loads of things have changed since then. The arcade is no more, and instead is replaced by food kiosks and restaurants.

It was lunch time when Sumi and I arrived. Inside, there were already a number of people having their lunch.

The Service

We were greeted by the usher and soon after, we were seated.

Personally for me, being the first time there, I was not too sure about what to order. But the staff were very friendly and gave suggestions of to what to order. Sumi, already being a regular at the place, knew beforehand what to order.

We had a basket of keropok to munch on while waiting for the food, which arrived about 15 minutes later.

The Food

I like Indonesian food. I love my food spicy! From Ayam Penyet to Gado gado. I enjoyed everything that I had that day.

This is the Cumi Goreng Istimewa.

Literally translated as Special Fried Cuttlefish. This was extremely tasty to me, the marinate was lovely, with a sweet smoky taste, while the cuttlefish was tender and juicy. Its just too bad that it was not stuffed.

This is Tahu Telor

This is a very common dish for Indonesian restaurants. While this might not look spectacular in picture, but it is totally yummy! Tahu telor is a dish made by deep fried bean curd with egg and then showered with savory peanut sauce.

This is Terong Tau Chio

This is brinjals in soya beans. While I’m not so sure if its so ‘chio’ and that I’m not too big with dishes with whole soya beans this dish is pretty good to eat although, personally for me, I don’t think that its anything too special.

This is Udang Mentega

These are stir fried buttered Prawns. A tad oily, but still yummy!

Sumi was a little surprised to see this dish appearing on our table as we did not order it. We found out later that we got it for free for ordering the number of dishes that we did. Yay!

This is Ikan Goreng Balado

I love fish. And whole fried fish is like a special treat to me. This dish uses whole seabass deep fried and lathered with a special chilli sauce. The fish is wonderfully crispy and succulent with the sauce has sweet and hot mix to it. Yummy!

And finally Ayam Panggang

Spicy grilled chicken with herbs, this dish, as the rest of the dishes was delightful. Smoky, rich sauce with tender and juicy chicken meat. I loved eating this.

At first, I was a little puzzled by this.

Is this Tapai? I dont like Tapai, it smells wierd, has a really mushy texture and I really didnt liked the taste.

Turns out that it was rice all wrapped up in banana leaves to make it fragrant

At the end of our meal, we were both very satisfied, full and happy women. I was blissfully happy and was looking forward to eating here again. Pagi Sore is a little bit on the expensive side with each dish ranging about $6 to $20 but to me, its good eats

I wonder when I will eat there again?

Related link :

• Pagi Sore Official Website

If you liked this post you might also be interested in :

• Anjappar Chettinad Restaurant - Better than Muthus Curry!
• Ramen Ten - Yummy Japanese Food
• El Sheikh - Delicious Lebanese Food I want to eat again!
• Siam Kitchen - Delicious Thai Food
• BBQ Chicken - Better than KFC

Sidenote : Now that most of the backdated posts are up, I should be ready to blog about the wedding. Its just so daunting going through over 2GB worth of images and videos

Some while ago I was invited to the Canon Camcorder launch and was given a review unit to try out. This is my brief overview video.

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In a nutshell : Wonderful videocam. Pity about the design.

Somewhere in September last year I amassed a collection of Pure Luxe eye shadows and just for fun, my friend Juli and I did a simple review.

Its only about 6 months later do I have the chance to sit down and edit the video. That took a while huh?

For me personally, I quite like how bright and intense the colours are. Even light colours turn up well on my dark skin. But the item that I love the best would have to be their blushes which just looks super pretty.

Kind of itching to get more stuff

This is a cat with a foot fetish :

Apologies to Paolo and Bruna and Betta the cat

Sidenote : This is what a HP Touchsmart is for

January

May

Almost 5 months I’ve been here. Slowly easing in. The homesickness pangs are not as bad as before.

I still miss Singapore though.

I wonder how everyone is doing. Wish I could be there with you all.

At first glance, Circo Massimo might not be of any interest to any foreigners visiting the area. While its true that first thing that you would see is mainly a large and uneventful patch of land but I think that there is more that meets the eye.

Large plot of land where there used to be horse races

The first time I was here was with my friend Narima. We were walking towards the Circo Massimo subway when I noticed an area full of roses. I was intruiged. However, as Narima and her friends were in a hurry to return back to their dorms, I did not get a chance to admire the flowers.

Now that its spring, and flowers were appearing, I thought that it would be a good idea to visit the area again. Thus, last weekend, Cart and I headed to Circo Massimo.

Hey! Why are you staring at my boobies?!

It was a lovely and cool day in Rome. Circo Massimo felt peaceful and tranquil. Cart and I were fooling around the statues when we noticed a large group of priests and nuns. And then we walked towards the gardens.

The entire area was full of beautiful roses of a multitude of colours. It was breathtaking to see.

There were already a number of people were there, admiring the roses. Unfortunately for all of us, the gates were locked and we were not able to enter the gardens. We could only peer at the roses through the gates. It was only with closer examination that the gardens be open on the 10th May.

Not wanting to leave so soon, Cart suggested to explore the area a little more. Initially, I was a little doubtful. What could possibly be anything interesting besides this? But I was game enough to explore and together, we walked towards an almost hidden small road beside the gardens where we found a very charming area.

We had a very tranquil and relaxing walk past regal looking buildings and I noticed a couple of people wearing formal clothes. There must be a wedding going on.

And finally I noticed the bride and groom. How romantic :)

As much as I wanted to gatecrash the wedding, Cart was feeling self conscious in his very casual clothes. Hence we continued walking where were saw something very curious.

Whats this? A queue? What could possibly be so interesting in the keyhole?

Being busybody myself, I couldn’t help but to find out for myself. Maybe it could be a holy vision and with one peek, I would suddenly find myself into a Roman Catholic.

Poor Joan of Arc, she rescued France and yet got burned at the stake

Uneventfully, I wasn’t.

Instead, I saw a long row of trees and in the foreground was the dome of San Pietro.

Too bad that it wasnt picked up by my Ixus but It was still pretty cool to peek in anyways. This lady managed to take a better picture :)

We then entered the Santa Sabina Church nearby. What was interesting to me about it was that there were decorations on the floor. Cart tells me that they were tombs for the priests and we were careful not to step on top of it.

The inside of the church was large, with huge pillars and lights streaming in. It feels somewhat like Saint Peter and I’m contemplating to fool our next house guests into believing that it is

Right at the far end of the church, I saw a small locked gate which lead down. Was it a catacomb? Did I have to be at least level 1 in Diablo to enter?

Guess I’d have to find out when Diablo 3 comes out

We then headed to Aventine Hill right next to the church where there were a bountiful of trees with bright oranges.

It was such a lovely day, almost like a Magritte painting.

There were people strolling along and when we reached one end, you could see Saint Peter and the Vittorio Emanuele monument in the distance.

In the background is the dome of Saint Peter

This dude is pointing to Vittorio Emanuele monument

And that pretty much concludes our exploration.

Probably seems very mundane, but it was such a lovely lovely day and we enjoyed ourselves. It was just something that you have to experience for yourself. Circo Massimo is an interesting place to explore, regardless of what some people might think.

Moreover I found a Porsche! Lets just pose and pretend that it was mine!

F1 and the Grid Girls has got nothing on me, man!

Nice or not? Hahaha!

My mother is one of the most admirable women that I know.

She could single handedly cook for dozens of people and still look as fresh as a flower afterwards. On a regular basis. And she was happy and proud to do it! I still remember how she orchestrated Cart and my wedding solemnization, wedding lunch and dinner. Just looking at her burst of energy made me feel very tired.

See, we both have the same grin :P

So when Cart asked me to cook for his colleague and his family, I felt genuinely excited at playing host. I thought about the recipes and decided to share some of the foods that I loved eating in Singapore. Besides, Italians know and are better at Italian food than I would be :)

Getting the ingredients for the dinner however, posed a challenge to me. With the help of my in laws, while I was able to source out a couple of halal butcheries, and asian vendors there were a few ingredients which was shockingly absent and I had to make do with substitutes or go without it.

So far, I have yet to see :

• Fresh or canned baby peas
• Fresh or canned baby corn
• Curry leaves
• Mixed dried whole spices
• Kara coconut milk
• Pandan leaves

Now how would I make Nasi Lemak?

But coming back to the dinner, I started at about 4pm with the preparation of the food - washing, cutting, frying et all before starting to cook. And Cart was busy with tidying the house. Together, we were so engrossed that we did not realise that time was flying by. All of a sudden, it was already 8pm and the guests were already here.

And I still wasn’t ready! And I looked completely unglamorous in my tshirt and trackpants. And the kitchen was like a war zone.

But at length, all the food was ready and I was ready to serve.

And for dinner I made Chicken Curry!

Actually, its a fallacy that all caucasians are not able to take hot food. Italians for example, enjoy eating Arrabbiata where one of the main ingredient is chilli. Cart’s colleague and his wife in fact, enjoyed the Chicken curry. Unfortunately, their daughter found it a tad bit too hot.

And I made Roti jala which was supposed to be eaten together with the curry. In Malay, Roti means bread while Jala means net. Roti jala is supposed to have a lacy pattern. Unfortunately, my batter came out too thick and I couldnt make the pattern, so there is no jala in the roti jala.

And then I served Sweet and Sour fish with some basmati rice where the family enjoyed a lot. My mum taught me to use tomato sauce and chilli sauce together but can you believe that I did not see even one bottle of chilli sauce in the supermarkets of Italy? What a shocker!

By the time I served Chap Chye, everyone was already too full to even touch it. I’m not too happy with how it turned out anyways since it was lacking in the baby peas and baby corn. It doesnt look as colourful as it was supposed to be.

And since Cart was vegetarian, I made vegetarian versions of the Curry

I substituted the battered fish with battered eggplant instead for the sweet and sour fish. Turned out fine since Cart liked it :)

And for dessert, I made bananas in santan. Forgot to take a picture of it though. In any case, all of us were too stuffed to eat anymore. I think I was a little bit too ambitious in preparing the dinner.

Nevertheless, I was happy that the dinner went smoothly.

After the guests left, I still had to clean up and do the dishes. And I went to be exhausted. Its tiring! How on earth does my mum do it on a regular basis?

But it does gives me the confidence of hosting more in the future. And I’m looking forward to host more. But the next time, I would definitely be better prepared.

Finally I feel more adult and actually married if that actually makes sense.

p.s : My mum in law likes my cooking too! Kah! Kah! Kah!