Blueberry Pie @ Hans

I went to Hans with Andy @ Far East Plaza. It was almost dinner time, instead of ordering those usual meal, I had ordered blueberry pie. Hoping that it will gives me an idea of how to bake it in future or even teach me the different ways of baking an apple pie. I believe the way to bake an apple pie and a blueberry pie is similar.

Blueberry Pie	Side View of Blueberry Pie

In fact, I am not sure of the correct naming of this blueberry pie. But it has crumbles on top and decorated with chocolate chips which enhances the taste of the blueberry pie. Yum yum, I love it. Is there any peach pie since apples and blueberry can become a pie. Oh, how about a durian pie too? Lol.

Apple Pie – 1st Try

This is my first time trying baking an Apple Pie. What’s the result? Haha, its an edible yet unpresentable apple pie. I guess is because my pie crust is too thick, both on top and below. In order to make it edible, you know what I did? I flipped the whole apple pie upside down and bake it again, resulting in the upper crust smash into pieces. Omg. Since its my first try, I rather make it edible than presentable.

The second time I gonna make it, I better learn my lesson. Lol. Thinner crust. Oh yah and smaller cubes of apples. My first try was thick slices of apples which I find it alright but my “testers” all recommend me to make it smaller.

I will put my recipe here since I will still follow the measurements given. You can twist a little bit after knowing my problems, like smaller cubes of apples, thick crust ==> either use a bigger pan size or reduce the amount of flour. By the way, the size of my pie pan is 6″, which explains the overloaded crust.

Recipe of Apple Pie

Ingredients: Pastry: 532g plain flour 3/4 teaspoon salt 150g unsalted butter 118g vegetable shortening 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar Filling: 177g sugar 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg powder 2 to 3 teaspoons tapioca flour or cornstarch 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 big apples (sliced) 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 30ml unsalted butter 1 tablespoon sugar Preparations: Combine the flour and salt in a big mixing bowl. Cut the butter into smaller pieces and add it into the mixing bowl gradually. Following, add the vegetable shortening and apple cider vinegar. Keep mixing until the dough gathers into a ball. Divide the dough into half, separate it by putting into different bowl or wrap it separately. Put it into fridge for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven. While the dough is chilling in the fridge, we prepare the filling. Peel and sliced the apples. Add in all the ingredients for the filling into another mixing bowl. After 30 minutes, take out the dough. Spread the pie pan with oil. Spread one portion of the dough into the pie pan, well spread. Add in the ingredients. The other half of the dough, use a roller to make it round and flat first. Cover it above the apple mixtures. Do a nice closing for the apple pie. Bake the pie at 200 degrees for 50 minutes. Observe it while it is baking. Tips: For the filling, make sure the tapioca flour is well mixed, otherwise you will be able to taste “glue” in your apple pie. Finishing: Cut the apple pie into smaller pieces. Scoop one slice out and served.

When baking the apple pie, there are alot of small details to take note of. Continue reading my blog for my successful apple pie. =)

Simple Food @ Tampines (The Food)

In my opinion, I would still prefer Roma Deli as compared to Simple Food due to the ambience in Roma Deli. The first time I went to Simple Food, I take away lagsana for dinner. To my dismay, I brought back a sour-taste lagsana. I called them back to “complain”, they suggested for one-to-one exchange. But I rejected because I had already reached home with a hungry stomach, no more energy to go change again when I still need to take 2 buses to get there.

Despite this scenario, it didn’t stop me from visiting them. However, I was resisted to order lagsana again. Other foods like chicken chop and such, which is freshly cooked, should not have this problem unless they did not keep the mock meats in the fridge.

The 2nd time I visited them, I lunched in together with my cousins. Simple food has a special offer menu. They had a standard set meal that comes with a drink, soup of the day and main course. I ordered a set meal with vegetarian seafood chicken chop as my course. The soup of the day is creamy mushroom soup, which tastes quite bland and watery. I feel that my creamy mushroom soup is thicker than theirs just that mine is not creamy.

Take a look at the food I had ordered on my following visits to Simple Food:

Special Offer Menu	Soup of the Day
Seafood Fish Chop	Hawaiian Fish Chop
Baked Rice	Mango Salad

The different flavors of fish chops are something which Roma Deli did not provide. So if you wish to eat some western food, you can go to Simple Food. In fact, Simple Food sells cai fan that you can order dishes and eat together with rice. In addition, they are selling Zi Char like hokkien mee, fried bee hoon, etc.

Read Simple Food @ Tampines (Introduction & The Shop) again.

Simple Food (Introduction & The Shop)

Simple Food is another foodstore that sells oriental, western and italian cuisine just like Roma Deli. As compared to Roma Deli, Simple Food’s ambience is like a coffeeshop. Simple Food serves more variety of food in the menu as compared to Roma Deli. Price wise, both are on par. In addition to the western food served like Roma Deli, I think they served chinese Zi Char food too.

Address: Blk 462 Tampines St 44 #01-64 Singapore 520462
Telephone: 65 6782 6142
Email: contact@simplefood.com.sg
Operating Hours:Tue to Fri. 08.30am-09.30pm
Sat & Sun. 09.00am-10.00pm
Open on alternate Monday, on every public holiday, and on every 1^st & 15^th day of Chinese calendar.
Website: www.simplefood.com.sg

Simple Food is not near to any MRT station. The nearest MRT station is Tampines MRT and you need to take a feeder bus before you can reach the destination. Simple Food is located diagonally opposite the side of Tampines JC, this landmark is easy for you to locate Simple Food.

Front outlook of the shop	Posters pasted on the wall

The outlook of the shop looks just like a coffeeshop. First glance, the front view of the shop is decorated with the menu on top. At the side of the walls, it has been pasted with posters all around.

Continue reading Simple Food @ Tampines (The Food).

Piao Xiang Vegetarian @ Fortune Centre

Piao Xiang Vegetarian is a very old stall. I had always tagged along with them to their new location.  Last time, they were located at bedok coffeeshop. Their new location is at Fortune Centre, Bugis now. Everytime I visit the stall, there are always alot of people.

Address: Fortune Centre Level 2, go up from the escalator and turn left

Piao Xiang Vegetarian is known for their zi char. In the past, Xing Zhou Bee Hoon, Hong Kong noodles are their signature dishes in my opinion. Till now, these are still their signature dishes. Today, they came up with new dishes like Claypot rice, Nasi Bryani and Baked rice. Well, I hadn’t got the chance to try all their new dishes yet.

Andy tried their Claypot rice today, his comments is “it tastes normal”. I guess claypot rice is still new to them, so not as good as other places yet. More improvements to be done.

Ever since Piao Siang moved to fortune centre, the food initially tastes as good as before. However, recently, I realised there is a drop in their standard. Nowadays, the food tastes salty, feedbacks were given to the store owner and he mentioned that there was a change in the chef. Well, last time, the foods were cooked by the store owner himself. I guess he’s near the retirement age, he wishes to pass it on to someone else to cook while he stays in the frontline tending to the customers’ needs, easier job.

Last time, I used to like their Bak Kut Teh. The smell of mushroom and the amount of pepper in it tastes superb. It tastes like they had boiled the soup for a very very long time. But now, it no longer have the strong smell, only smell of pepper. The Bak Kut Teh doesn’t taste as nice as last time too.

Alright, it wasn’t really too bad comments for them, overall their food is still quite good. For instance, their Hong Kong Noodles, Mee goreng, etc still tastes as nice. Do visit them if you pass by.

Pictures of the food that I had ordered before:

Mee Goreng	Claypot Rice