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About Budour

A food lover

Singapore: Episode 2

Today was my first day of work at the museum! I finally met all those people I’ve been emailing at the museum on a daily basis for the past year! So it was nice to see them in person.

I was still very much jet-lagged and only had a few hours of sleep so I barely concentrated. This is supposed to be a learning experience for me but all I thought about was going to bed!

A few hours into the day, the museum team decided to take a lunch break. They asked me if I had any preference, I said no just that I wanted to try Singaporean food. They took me to this shopping center, mostly electronic stores, just a few minutes walk away from the museum and we had lunch at the food court. See when they first told me food court, I didn’t want to be snobby and say I don’t do food courts, after all this is my first day! Anyway, so this food court turns out to be Asian style. There was a section for Singaporean, Indian, Malay and Japanese food.

I went to the Singaporean noodle section and ordered this…

It was called Seafood Hor Fun. It’s basically a seafood noodle in this very thick sauce. It tasted ok, just very slimy! My colleagues from the museum were talking about their love for MSG and how they put it in everything. That really put me off and I stopped eating the noodle. Yes, yes I’m a food snob! I just don’t like fake food or food courts.

After leaving the museum at the end of the day, the weather was beautiful! The humidity was lower and it was quite breezy.

I wanted to go check out a store (beauty products – another obsession of mine) and possibly find a place to eat around that area. I took the metro and stopped at the closest station to the area I wanted. The weather was still beautiful so it was just lovely to walk around. The crowd was different. It was younger and more trendy and then I saw an Art school and that of course explained everything.

The Cathay building to the left (small local boutiques and cinema complex) and the Art School to the right

Right next to the Cathay building, I saw the cutest cafe, Caramel. I sat outside to do some people watching and read Harper’s Bazaar (Singapore edition) in the breeze. I ordered an iced coffee and a grilled vegetable sandwich.

And here it is…

The sandwich was so good! It’s the kind of sandwich than when you’re done with it, you feel so content and good!

And then of course I had to have dessert.

Lemon Roulade at Caramel

It was citrusy and fresh. A perfect ending to a meal.

I took a long walk afterwards and now I am back in my hotel room, relaxing and sipping on warm jasmine green tea.

I hope I can discover new places tomorrow!

Until then,

Love from Singapore

Singapore: Episode 1

Greetings from Singapore! I am here for the next 20 days for “business”. Actually while I’m at it let me market the organization I work for. My colleagues and I are in Singapore to install and set up Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah’s world famous exhibition, “Treasury of the World: Jewelled Arts of India in the Age of the Mughals”, which is opening on February 12th to the public at the Asian Civilisations Museum  in Singapore! So if you’re in Singapore anytime from that date until June 27th be sure to check it out! For more information click here.

So back to the food business. Since I will be gone for so long, I thought that having a food diary would keep this place alive and its’s also a way to document my trip, through food nonetheless. My plan is to post once a day.

So now I give you day 1…

My days are all messed up. I am jet lagged. I don’t even know what day it is. All I know is that I woke up after 12 + hours and then some more sleep and I was starving. It’s Sunday and I wanted brunch, not hotel breakfast. So I searching online what’s the trendy place to go have brunch on a lazy Sunday and this is what I found…

It was a located at what seems to be a brand new shopping mall (ION Orchard) and the atmosphere at the cafe was quite lovely. Very chic! Also, excellent location for people watching.

I ordered an eggs benedict. It was good although the hollandaise sauce was a bit too tart for my taste. I will definitely take my parents for late lunch or dinner when they come visit in a few days!

After a few hours of walking around Orchard Road, I needed to drink my tea, relax and have something sweet. I went back to the Ion Orchard, as the metro station was there , and found JAMS, a small coffee shop in the bookshop Prologue with an endless array of delicious looking cakes and pastries.

I ordered mint tea, a raspberry crumble and my newly purchased book.

It was a much needed break.

I went straight back to the hotel, and needless to say I slept some more! I’m telling you, I am SO jet lagged.

I woke up a couple of hours later hungry and still very tired. I ordered room service…

I wanted to try something Singaporean so I ordered their Signature Laksa, a coconut-based soup noodle, with bean sprouts, fish cakes, prawns, quail eggs (which were too heavy!) and some other mysterious ingredients that I couldn’t figure out.  It was delicious!

Ok I need to go to bed now, first day of work at the museum tomorrow (umm today)!

Enjoy!

Mom’s Carrot Cake

This has become quite the hit wherever my mother takes it. It’s a no-fuss cake that you enjoy with your morning or afternoon tea.

Many people have asked for its recipe so here it is! Of course this will make my dear mother quite happy as she is already excited that her famous shakshouka is on my blog!

Mom’s Carrot cake

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 ¼ cups sugar
  • 1 cup oil
  • 6 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon orange zest
  • ¼ cup orange juice
  • 3 cups shredded carrots
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 160 °C
  2. Beat eggs until frothy and then mix in the sugar until thick (ribbon-stage). Add oil and mix.
  3. Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture gradually.
  4. Mix in the orange zest, cinnamon, walnuts, shredded carrots and orange juice.
  5. Butter and flour a 10 or 12-inch cake pan and then pour the batter.
  6. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden.

Enjoy!

tips and tricks

Sometimes when I have a sudden urge to bake, I use some shortcuts and tricks to use what I have already (since I can’t be bothered to the run to the co-op to buy any missing ingredients) or have no time or the patience to wait hours for a dough to chill/something to cool, etc. I also realized that when I post recipes here, I never let you know of some of the tricks and substitutions I learned along the way.

I have complied here a list, although short, of my tips and tricks. Continue reading

Brunching in Dubai

I am back in Kuwait for a few days now and so I apologize for the lack of updates! Time just passes by so quickly that it feels like I have no time to post, although I have content and images for at least 3 different posts! I will have to eventually post them. So please be patient with me.

This is my second post on Dubai. As I said before Dubai’s food is mediocre at its best but when our friend Rahab told us she’s going to surprise with a new breakfast (that later turned to a brunch) place that will surely turn into a post, I knew it had to be good, and it was. Continue reading

Midnight feasting in Dubai

The Oven Experiments has been on a pause since I’m in Dubai and have been busy stuffing myself! Mostly forgetable kind of food but after a midnight “snack” at Carluccio’s at Dubai Mall, things are looking good, food-wise.

We had a cheese platter as dessert and since it was already past 12, we thought that should be sufficient, but it wasn’t. We also ordered an antipasti platter. You can see them below. And it was so good. So we bought two fresh mozeralla balls and some more bresaola and asked them to just serve it to us!

Tomorrow is limetree cafe! Can’t wait!

Express: Shakshouka

Shakshouka: A North African dish that consists of vegetables sauteed in olive oil and a poached egg cracked on top.

My mother introduced this dish to me years ago! My parents lived in Libya in the 70s so my mother learned so many North African dishes from her friends and neighbors (lucky for me!). Continue reading

Al Rahaa bakery (الرحا)

Dinner from al Rahaa bakery in qadsiya*: sun-dried tomatoes with some kind of crumbled cheese pizza, accompanied with my friend’s Noaf yummy chilli pesto maabouch!

Perfect way to end my weekend…

P.S. experimenting with the wordpress application on my iPhone

*A bakery that specialize in organic and alternative ways of bread-making

Express: Spiced Fried Tomatoes

Another express post!

This time from my all time favorite cookbook ( I have many, I am sort of a cookbook-aholic), Savoring the Spice Coast of India: Fresh Flavors from Kerala by Maya Kaimal. If you are looking for a simple, introduction to Southern Indian cuisine then this is the right choice for you. I have tried many recipes, almost all actually, and each one is more delicious than the other but then again I love Southern Indian food!

Almost all of the wet and dry curries that are included in this book can be made in less than 30 minutes, and the ingredients are nothing fancy, they are most likely already in your fridge and/or pantry. All you need is bread or rice and you have a meal. For last night’s dinner, I felt like having some fried tomatoes.

fried tomatoes 1And now for the recipe… Continue reading