EmmaGoodEgg

I Heart Tina Fey

The indomitable and very very funny Tina Fey reprises her role as Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live, with the equally talented Amy Poehler as Katie Couric interviewing her.

Ps/ Tina Fey for Veep!

New On Planet Frivolous

Some clever people have come up with a swell program that can transform your picture into a yesteryears 'yearbook' version on www.yearbookyourself.com. This is what I came up with:

MimiGoodEgg, 1962

And in 1984...

A good start to Monday morning I say.

Cupcake Fever

Unless you've been living under a rock, you must know that Brunei's been hit by cupcake fever. Cupcakes as presents, cupcakes as wedding gifts, cupcakes just because. And because I can't bake to save my life, I just wolf them down and/or drool over the enormous talent these cupcake chefs have...

Kitchen of Jasmine Hazel Cupcakes:

I've actually eaten (a LOT) of these cupcakes and can attest that they are indeed, deeelicious!

TT HZ Adorable Cupcakes for Aidilfitri:

These are simply swell!

Cits Cakes Mini Chanel Handbags & Shoes Cupcakes:

Girl, you've got uber talent!

Pssst TT and Cits, I haven't ordered your cupcakes because you girls must be busy doing Hari Raya orders. But you know, you could always drop some over at my house :)

Ps/ If you know of other Brunei cupcakes blogs, do let me know.

R.I.P Paul Newman

Oh dear, Paul Newman just died of lung cancer. He was 83 years old.

Rest in peace Mr Newman.

Co oo oo ool RIDER!

Dear Sisters,

I found it!

I heart you all muchly.

xx

Ps/ Apparently Michelle Pfeiffer is said to be embarrassed about her performance in Grease 2. She hated the film "with a vengeance and could not believe how bad it was".

Oh Michelle, we thought Grease 2 rocks and you singing Cool Rider on that ladder with the magic fingers move was your best role ever!!

Yves Rossy aka Fusion Man

On 26 September 2008 Yves Rossy a pilot from Switzerland successfully flew across the English Channel from Calais, France to Dover, England in about 10 minutes. When I say flew, I mean FLEW. He strapped on a $190,000-00 pair of carbon fibre 'wings' with small jet engines on his back (that he built himself mind you) and flew the 22-mile trip to Calais from Dover.

I can't wait for the day when these wings are sold commercially and we'd just fly ourselves to work or a holiday. Fly like a bird you say? Wind beneath my wings you'd sing? You betcha bippy.

The Tippling Club, Singapore

For the GoodEggs a trip to Singapore usually means embarking on a Food Odyssey.  And a chance to hang out with our dear friends who live in Singapore is a bonus.  So I messaged Marilyn to make dinner plans (and Bobby text his best mate SP, who made the call to dine at L'Angelus). 

For dinner on the first night, we settled on The Tippling Club , mostly because it has an amusing website. 

According to British born owner and chef Ryan Clift, The Tippling Club is "fine dining without the snobbery" so I fretted a bit having given a wide berth to dress.  Bobby said he could do without the snobbery given that he'll be dressed in his work clothes.

That Friday evening Marilyn, her darling Saik and I headed over to The Tippling Club which is housed next door to Spa Esprit on 8B Dempsey Road.  I was in jeans and a dressy top, with Louboutins on my feet just in case Chef Ryan lied.  Walking in we were warmly greeted by his wife Leesa.  She's petite and pretty, dressed avant garde chic in 'deconstructed' black apron, black tights and flats.  She's an interesting start to our evening.  The noise of the kitchen hits me as I enter a room filled with a large 3-sided bar.  In the middle of the bar is a steel island where Chef Ryan and his merry little helpers concoct food that surprises you.  His partner in crime is one Matthew Bax, a bad-ass mixologist whose unique cocktails complements the chef's food.  Ryan and Matthew are partners in the restaurant, as is Cynthia Chua of Spa Esprit.

We sat at the corner of the bar, two abreast.   

Chef comes over to tell us that they can only cater for one course per group of diners so every one must either have the five, ten or fifteen course menu. Bobby, raring to try the 15 course menu, was thwarted by his dining companions who decided to take on the 10 course.

While waiting for our food I was taking pictures as you do but was politely discouraged by a Filipino waiter who told me the restaurant's No Pictures policy.  I can of course take pictures of my friends and if I wanted pictures they will email me the pictures from their stock.  I made a moue at this rebuff but its reasonable, I guess, to want to control your images online. So much for the the new non stuffiness.

The food however was a breath of fresh air.  Each of the 10 courses was paired with a drink.

Butter nut squash soup was a frozen butter nut foam with goats cheese and bitter chocolate, it came with a "teachers tipple", a bitter sweet cocktail served in a flask hidden in a book.  The container for the soup, an upturned squash, by some trick of the science lab and not the kitchen - melted into the soup at room temperature.   

"Satay" was pleasantly reworked.  Quail brushed with a sweet sauce in a green curry paste, the coconut  not only dessicated also freeze dried.  All taken together, this tasted like the classic street side food, though reworked so that each of the elements of the dish came from some where else, the crunch for example not coming from the peanuts (which you taste but do not feel), but from the coconut. The satay sauce coming not being a chunky brown, but a vibrant green.

42* egg.  A poached egg came in a bowl, with fried bread and a cheesy foam, complimented with an amaretto based cocktail served in a plastic bag.  Kopi-o with the breakfast, yes we get it.

Two types of foie gras, cold and hot. The cold looks like its hot, having been shot through with liquid nitrogen so that it steamed and the hot liquid foie gras deep fried in a casing and looking like a cold  dessert.

Pickled ray, was skate cooked in vinegar with picked veg. Kudos for the local ingredients. Bobby liked this, but a bit fishy for me.

A plate of wonderful fresh vegetables with mushroom soil, a star. We are wholeheartedly carnivorous, so who would have thought that a simple plate of vegetable could move you so?

To end the seven savories a plate of very nice barramundi .   

The pictures are courtesy of The Tippling Club.

Teacher's Tipple and Butternut Soup to start...

Foie gras, freeze dried and deeelicious.

The vegetables.

42*s Egg came with a Kopi-O.

You get to figure out the 1+2=4.

3 desserts, all with their own cocktails. Strawberry, banana and pistachio textures.

The food was quite lovely, in delicate portions. Some courses, especially the early ones make you think, and others thankfully, simply showcased good ingredients and cooking. 10 courses in all, and by the end a bit hard going. It was more to do with the large number of drinks, which never the less came in quite small pours. 

The food that Chef Ryan came up with is kinda like his website and his wife's apron, different and cool.  Imagine a laboratory, in a university cafeteria, in dark wood and steel.  Everyone, including the diners, busy and the atmosphere hip and happening.  Was it fine dining, yes I think so.  Was it snobbish?  A little bit, you know you can't imbibe progressive food and not feel a tad pretentious.

Four hours later I was bursting at the seams and delectably entertained.  Having a 10 course dinner late is no mean feat but I gladly suffered some indigestion while trying to sleep because The Tippling Club was kinda worth it.

Would we return? Have to say, yes. Bobby says bring on the 15 courses.   

~ Food bits written by BobbyGoodEgg

Little Gordon Big Gordon

What's more entertaining than seeing '12-michelin stars' Gordon Ramsay telling a cook, "You're pulling my plonker now aren't you?" and almost pop a blood vessel on his hit TV show The Kitchen Nightmares?

The answer is a 9-year old 'Little Gordon' mimicking the acclaimed chef's fiery temperament and use of expletives in a series of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares spoofs: 

[WARNING - Content may offend if you don't have a sense of humour]

Here's Little Gordon going rabid at his school dinner lady for her awful sausage.

And, Little Gordon scolding his own mother for making white bread sandwiches for his lunch. 

Aaand, Little Gordon furious at a restaurant manager for slow service.

Hilarious and spot on.

Saturday Night Live: Sarah Palin & Hillary Clinton Parody

I'm not one for confrontations so I'll steer clear away from the treacherous waters of commenting whether Saran Palin Governor of Alaska deserves her Republican VP nomination.

I will however post Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as Sarah Palin & Hillary Rodham Clinton in a non-partisan message about gender issues surrounding the American Presidential Campaign. Their skit on Saturday Night Live is fabulous.

Ps/ Tina Fey for Veep!

Ramadhan Specials @ Simpur

Just what we need during the fasting month, a listing of restaurants in Brunei and their Ramadhan Specials!  Click here to satisfy your cravings.