Ubon by Nobu

Went to Ubon by Nobu for lunch today. M's treat for my submission of my thesis and finding a job at last. This is probably the most expensive Japanese meal I have had in my life. Thankfully, its one of the best. We had miso chips with tuna and scallops for starts. Interesting mixture with a sweet sauce. Ingredients blended well and I quite like it. Its just for 4 such pieces, 7 pounds is just too exorbitant. Luckily, the mains were much more value for money. I had the Ubon In and Out Bento box. Its 31 pounds and yes, it is pricey but you get so much in the boxes that the price is worth it. There's tempura prawns, black cod with miso, tuna sashimi, 9 pieces of sushi, rice with some sauteed vegetables and miso soup. The tuna sashimi was absolutely amazing, with a shallot, wasabi and sesame sauce. M's main was the beef and tempura luncheon set for 25 pounds. For that, you get a mountain of beef, i am not joking, I can see two steaks in those beef slices. I am not a big fan of it though. The beef was not very tender and you could not taste much of its natural taste. The sauce reminded me too much of Southern American cooking and I am never a fan of that. The tempura was good though although with tempura, you can tell if its poorly cooked easily but you can't tell the difference between good tempura and mind blowing tempura. For dessert, we had the chocolate bento box, a chocolate fondant with green tea ice cream. I quite liked it although the price was a bit steep, 9 pounds.

I would go there again, just to try out some its more unique dishes, like the wagyu skewers and the crab claws. oh another thing, do people use spoons to drink miso soup? M says they do. I have never done it

Oh go catch Borat. Its hilarious. Well, Borat just makes me cringe a lot but the reactions of his American victims, in relation to homosexuals, the Iraqi war and Jews, absolutely priceless.

Creamy boscaiola

The Italian (or more specifically, pasta) craze continues. But before that, M is on leave today and we went out to the city to satisfy one of her many cravings. KFC. She's been talking about sinking her teeth into a chunk of fried chicken since she got here and finally today, we had the chance to get it for her. We ordered initially, a variety meal: 3 pieces of chicken, 2 hot wings, 1 crispy chicken strip, 1 large fries and 1 large coke. I have to admit, it was good. I haven't had KFC for at least a year, if I am not wrong. Amazingly, it wasn't enough for her even though we divided it evenly. I had to get two more pieces of chicken, shared between us of course, to satisfy the craving. Well, at least she's happy and sometimes thats all that matters. I wonder what her next craving is.

Anyway, for dinner, we had creamy boscaiola, another recipe from my Cooking for one cookbook. Its really simple and its like carbonara without the eggs. Fry bacon and mushrooms in olive oil. Add cream and boil for 5 minutes till the sauce thickens. Mix in chives and pour over cooked spaghetti. Serve with parmesan cheese (not for me), parsley and black pepper.

Roasted butternut squash fusilli

I think I am getting bored of cooking French food for my western dishes, been doing that for quite some time and I decided a change of cuisines was necessary. Since L was saying how she had an italian cookbook and that she wanted to use it, this gave me the impetus as well as the inspiration to move into that field as well. So yes, its pretty much official. I am going to cook more italian food from now on. So to start with, I made Roasted butternut squash fuslli today. Roast the squash in the oven at 200 degrees for 40 minutes or till its soft and mashable. Blend the squash with chicken stock, cream, parmesan cheese and a pinch of nutmeg till you get a smooth sauce. Mix cooked fuslli with the sauce, add some chopped chives and spring onions, warm it a little and serve.

M absolutely loved the dish and parmesian cheese actually, she added an amount way beyond that stipulated in my cooking for one cookbook. I am not really a fan of parmesan cheese, I am more a cheddar and mozzarella person and so i found the taste of the sauce way too overpowering for me. I think the next time I cook this, I am going to leave the cheese out from the blending and add it only on top of M's plate.

Chicken and vegetable soup / Tuna souffle

Getting bored of using the same cookbook for most of my dishes and so I decided to use a cookbook I haven't really read for a long time. Was at Junction 8 Bishan NTUC, waiting for my mom, browsing through cookbooks and I thought this wasn't too bad. Cooking for One and so I got it for my student days. For today, as we had a heavy lunch at Tiffinbites, we decided to have something light. Just a soup and something special.



The weather is changing and so chicken and vegetable soup was on the menu, to make sure that M doesn't fall ill while braving the cold. She is rather susceptible to invisible organisms especially since she's been putting in a lot of OT these days. So all I did for this soup is to throw in some chicken meat, peas, carrots, cauliflower, onions and potatoes into chicken stock, simmer till they are all cooked and you have a really healthy meal.



To prevent this meal from being too bland, I whipped up something special from the cookbook. Tuna souffle. This is my first time with this recipe and I honestly didn't expect anything to happen, i.e. the souffle to rise and puff. I was staring at it through the oven glass initially. I went to check something on the internet. I came back and I was astonished to find that it was actually rising. The recipe involves mixing bread crumbs, cream and spring onions and letting it stand for 2 minutes. Add in tuna, lemon juice and eggs. Mix well, season and pour it into the ramekin dishes. Cook for 20-30 minutes in the oven at 200 degrees till the souffle is golden and well puffed. Serve with spring onions on top. I am really really happy with this dish.