It’s been a while since I gravitated to one particular colour. My usual picks would usually rotate between whites and blacks, greys even. But I’ve discovered a new fixation with blue hues lately. The colour of the skies and the seas, deep blues speak in such great depths to me, while the lighter hues breathe a breath of life to an outfit. I suppose, right now, I’ll be on the hunt for cooler tones to add to my wardrobe.
Let’s face it, savoury or sweet, waffles are completely irresistible. I fell in love with warm waffles and maple syrup when I was a child, so whenever the “next waffle place” comes up, it really brings out the little girl in me. With it’s alluring beautiful copper decor, decadent cakes and waffle topping displays, you’d find this this little shop tucked away behind Chip Bee Gardens full at any given time. Though soft serve ice cream tends to melt a lot faster, the combination of unusual soft serve ice cream flavours and a soft waffle base blended perfectly. We had the Earl Grey Lavender, Roasted Pistachio and Dark Chocolate soft serve. Take it from me, you’ve got to give this place a go.
This has got to be by far the easiest recipe to make my favourite appetiser dish, Calamari. If you’re anything like me, you’ll order calamari at every possible opportunity. I’ve always assumed that it would be a hassle to make because you needed to deep fry it, but turns out all you need is a a couple of key ingredients and enough oil to get it going!
For this batch, we played it by ear. All we really did was throw in a bunch of herbs into a food processor with flour and blend. That was pretty much it. Season your batter well. You don’t want it to end up tasteless.
What you’ll need is (serves 8) :
sea salt
freshly ground white pepper
1 lemon
3 sprigs of flowering oregano
2 tablespoons fennel seeds
300 g plain flour
12 whole medium squid, prepared, with tentacles
vegetable oil, for deep-frying
a small bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley
So, that’s pretty much it for the ingredients. Simple right? Add more herbs if you like, the herbs listed on top is just for a general flavour. It’s really more about what flavours you would like from the dish. For the dry batter, mix all the dry ingredients into a food processor (cut away any stems from the herbs because you only want the leaves) and blitz it into a fine powder. Make sure it’s seasoned well with the salt and pepper!
What you want to do is to wash and pat dry the squid before coating it with the dry batter. Slice it whichever way you’d like to. Some people like the traditional calamari like how we’ve done, and others prefer to slice the squid with a criss cross pattern on the surface so that the squid curls up. After the squid is cut up, coat it well with the dry batter mixture.
You can use a deep-fryer if you have one, or just get a deep pan and fill it up with enough oil. Try to get the oil high enough so that it isn’t too shallow that the pieces of squid will fully submerge under the oil. Around ½ to ¾ of the pan should suffice. Let the oil heat up. For the squid to cook evenly, you need really hot oil. Drop a small piece of bread in to make sure that it’s hot enough. The bread should start to sizzle, float to the top and turn golden brown.
Shake off any excess flour and slowly lower the squid into the oil; don’t throw it in, it’s going to splatter! You’re going to need to do the squid in batches depending how big your pan is. Don’t over crowd it. Allow the squid to cook for about 3-4 minutes, or until it turns golden brown. Take it out and pat dry the excess oil with a paper towel.
Tada! Now you’ve got your very own calamari recipe to cook whenever you’re craving it! Enjoy!
Recipe from Jamie Oliver | Blue plate provided by: eatplatelove
I’ve gotta admit, I tend to chose what I wear based on the weather. Living in such a warm and humid place like Singapore doesn’t really leave much room for us to edit our wardrobe. The past month has been one of the hotter months of the year, and needless to say, I’ve given up on layering vests and cardigans while trying to maintain my sweat like a crazy person.
I opted for something a little more dainty and delicate than my usual tops. I was really attracted to the straps and the simple patterns. On days when I feel too lazy to put something together, something like this would be interesting enough to make a statement without being too loud.
Linen Wrap Cardigan from Zara | Ottoman Wrap Skort from Topshop | Scarf from Alexander McQueen | Triple Tour Bracelet from Balenciaga | Birkin from Hermès | 
Sarah
