Garlic Linguine With Black Truffle - A Tribute to Mr. Chiam See Tong

On Sunday morning, Mr Chiam See Tong was no longer an elected Member of Parliament, and that in itself, was a sad event, for he has served an unprecendented 27 years as an elected Opposition MP.

To Mr Chiam, who contested in my GRC this year, I was both moved and inspired by his courage and sincereity, two factors that contributed to his immense popularity in Potong Pasir all these years.

Lemon Butter Chicken Breasts With Shrimp and Celery - A Singapore General Elections 2011 Special Dish

The general elections was upon us Singaporeans this past weekend, and after nearly 2 decades, I finally had the opportunity to cast my vote as a citizen.

Indeed, this year's election has been somewhat of a historic one, with the first ever victory by an opposition party in a GRC, and the use of social and new media by the parties in an effort to win the votes of the younger generation.

Pan Roasted Snapper with Lemon Celery Puree

Seems like I have been doing quite a fair bit of pasta cooking the past few weeks, so this past weekend, I decided to play around more with protein based dishes.

A lot of cooking is about understanding flavor profiles, and being creative about mixing different flavors to create something new and fresh, and this week, I would like to make something out of lemon and celery.

Classic Spaghetti Vongole

For those who have noticed, I have a recent fetish with pasta dishes, and I have been honing my pasta skills and for that, I have a special mentor too.

The thing about pasta is that cooking it is really very simple, but mastering it and creating genuine tasty pasta dishes is really something else.

Truffle Penne With Garlic Bacon

I was so enchanted with the penne dish I had at Sky 57 that I had always wanted to recreate this dish at home someday, and finally that day has arrived.

But alas, I did not have the luxury of Alaska smoked bacon nor white truffles, so had to make do with far modest ingredients for my own penne dish. Surprisingly, it turned out far better than I had hoped.

Ice Edge Cafe With Video

Part of the fun of writing this blog is to really discover gems that would have totally escaped our eyes, if not for enthusiastic friends who fervently bring new and excellent eateries to our attention.

Ice Edge Cafe at Simon Plaza in Kovan, is one such cafe that exudes joy and satisfaction. Thanks to a very special guest, who took the trouble to bring winekaki and myself there.

Mushroom Ragout Breakfast

This past weekend, Pauline and I were both down with the flu and basically stayed at home the entire weekend. While it was a rather dreary time, it also gave me the opportunity to do a bit more cooking.

I had this idea for breakfast on Sunday, as I just had a nice tea buffet at Lawry's a couple of days earlier, and they had this simple but delightful mushroom ragout with garlic toast, and I decided to replicate this somewhat.

Mushroom Linguine

It was at Rubato's that Pauline and I had this terrific mushroom tagliatelle made by Chef Peter Neo that had me mesmerised for days.

It was off menu and is still so, though I had suggested to the owner to make it part of the regular menu as it was such a beautiful dish of pasta.