Continuing the story of my soups for the sickly, I dropped by the supermarket after seeing the doc’s and grabbed a kilo of tomatoes. Only to realise, upon coming home, that I only needed about 500g of it to make a tomato soup that serves four.

Gah.

Anyway. I was inspired by Laura Calder’s French Food at Home, which I had watched on telly the night before. She’s gorgeous, isn’t she? She makes cooking French food look so easy and breezy. In that episode, she was supposedly making a birthday champagne lunch for a friend and on the menu was Summer Tomato Soup with Basil and Croutons.

Did someone say tomato? Ding!

Chilled tomato soup for warm evenings

• 500g of ripe tomatoes, chopped and deseeded
• 1 can of stewed tomatoes
• Half a cucumber, rough chopped
• A handful of breadcrumbs
• 1 clove of garlic, smashed
• Half an onion, roughly chopped
• A handful of basil leaves, preferably fresh
• 1 cup vegetable stock or tomato juice
• Handful of croutins
• Truffle oil, to taste
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste
• Cayenne pepper, to taste
• Slice of bread for croutons
• Butter, a knob, for croutons

• Mix the tomatoes, cucumber, onion, breadcrumbs and garlic in a glass bowl
• Add the stock and basil leaves and leave to marinate in the fridge for 3 to 4 hours
• Make your croutons just before pureeing the soup: dice the bread into 1cm thick cubes. Heat a knob of butter into a frying pan and add the bread cubes. Fry until they turn crispy.
• Puree the tomato mixture, and season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper
• Add a drizzle of truffle oil and top with basil leaves and croutons

I didn’t have the time to marinate it for 12 hours as suggested, nor did the NTUC Fairprice I went to sell red wine vinegar. These two steps would probably lend a richer taste but for someone who lacked time, this was good enough.

Mr Thick thought that it tasted a bit raw, which it does since nothing was cooked or fried. Except for the croutons, which he didn’t have because I ate up every piece by accident. He was not a happy camper to see just one small scrap of bread that I had missed sitting in the frying pan. Oops.

It made for a strange bedfellow with my rice and chicken dish, since it was chilled and slightly on the bland side. On its own, however, it was a nice appetizer for the insufferable hot evenings we have been having.

We are probably late to the game but we’ve just recently discovered a wonderful Japanese restaurant that serves mid-priced food and delectable fresh sashimi (thanks to me bestie). Well, calling it a “restaurant” would be a misnomer because it’s not quite a restaurant since it’s located within a food court.

Yes, you heard right, a food court. I hate food courts and think that the food served there is usually overpriced crap. But this is different, I think I may be patronising Koh Grill & Sushi Bar a lot more now.

Tucked near the escalator of the Wisma Atria Food Republic, this stall may not be dressed very prettily or have service staff that shout out iraishaimasu in mangled Japanese but boy, does it serve awesome Japanese food. According to the sashimi chef, they get their seafood fresh from Tsukiji market every Tuesday and Friday. He loves to recommend fresh picks to the patrons, something that I appreciate greatly. Plus, they have some truly great value bento sets that can put your typical conveyor belt sushi chains to shame (coughsakaesushicough).

Fish & Teriyaki chicken bento set

This was what Mr Thick had – a bento set that had a slab of saba fish and teriyaki chicken. It even came with chawanmushi and a soup. Yummy! I don’t tend to like teriyaki sauce because many restaurants ruin it by drowning their meat with the sickly sweetness of it but this one was just nice. Can’t remember the price but it was probably a princely $15?

Inari

Sashimi/nigiri bento - $16.90

I ordered the most “expensive” bento – a mix of sashimi, maki and nigiri. It cost me all of $16.90 and came with a small bowl of soba. It was incredible! The sashimi – tuna, salmon and swordfish – were deliciously fatty and fresh.

Otoro - $24

This has to be the highlight of my meal (Mr Thick doesn’t like sashimi, that poor man) – OTORO! Four decadent slices of the fatty smooth meat…just check out the marbling! Isn’t it gorgeous? Every bit of it just melted in my mouth. Mmm!

Of course, this being a food court means you have to put up with the noise, the smell and the crowd. But for such bargain prices and great tasting food, I reckon the trade-off is well worth it.

435 Orchard Road
#04-21 Wisma Atria

Kyoto is a most beautiful place and we really enjoyed our very short time there. We didn’t stay in Kyoto because the ryokans cost an arm and a leg. Instead, we took the train over to Osaka – just three hours away from Tokyo and 30 minutes from Kyoto – and stayed there for two nights.

The main thing with Kyoto is that you can get “templed-out” very quickly since the area is known for its shrines. We had very little time, just one day and one morning, and we didn’t want to waste it on similar looking temples. Luckily for us, I had a friend who is a Japan fanatic and gave me a list of must-visit places when we are in Kyoto.

The first is Golden Pavilion, or Kinkaku-ji. It sits by a river and the top two levels are covered with gold leaf. By the morning light, the shrine looks really majestic and elegant. It’s a pity, though, that we weren’t allowed to go nearer to it.

Majestic under the morning light

For more pictures of our Kyoto-Osaka trip, click here.

Now that I am a responsible adult living in my own place, I can no longer whine and sulk when I am sick. Instead of the Matriarch making me a hot meal, I have to make my own food. Sobs.

Thankfully for leftovers then. One fine evening after work, I decided to make roasted pumpkin soup and as usual, being the great chef that I am, I overestimated our appetites and ended up with a large pot of radioactive orange pumpkin soup. Which would have been fine, except that husband is not a fan of pumpkin. (cue horror movie music)

It worked out fine though. Less than a week later, I came down with that dreadful infection and wanted something comforting: soup. Heated it up, mashed a potato that had been sitting in the fridge for a while, and blended some fruits (again, long-time residents of the fridge) and tadah! a meal for the sickly.

Meal fit for the sick

The soup was easy enough to make, it was the handling part that made me perspire and cuss. By handling, I mean skinning and chopping it to bits. It took all of my strength and a sharp cleaver to deal with the dratted vegetable. After I had roasted it, however, I realised my folly: the skin came off quite easily then. Someone say el stupido? (I just made that up, I don’t know any Spanish at all, can you tell?)

• Pumpkin, about 500g
• Chicken stock, 500ml
• Butter, 1 knob
• Garlic, minced, 1tsp
• 1 onion, minced
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste
• Olive oil
• Truffle oil, a dash
• Fresh herbs like basil or sage (optional)

• Preheat oven to 200 degree Celsius
• Wrestle with pumpkin and chop it down to bite-sized chunks
• Drizzle olive oil generously over pumpkin pieces and sprinkle some salt and pepper
• Bake for 20 minutes, until the pumpkin become tender
• Add some oil into a pot, followed by butter (so that the butter doesn’t burn) over medium heat
• Fry the onion until it becomes soft and translucent. Chuck in the garlic and fry till it becomes fragrant
• Throw in the pumpkin pieces and fry for about 5 minutes
• Add the chicken stock, cover the lid and let it simmer over low heat for 30 minutes
• Let the soup cool down for about 15 minutes and then puree it using an immersion blender
• Drizzle some truffle oil and add some herbs for that luxurious taste!

I can’t really tell you how much this soup will serve but let’s just say I had three servings and husband had two so it makes five servings, I think? Have never been good at Maths. The only thing was, I hate using cream in my food because of the FAT content so I threw in a potato, a trick I learnt from my friend The Apprentice Housewife. The soup ended up becoming a puree. If I am a baby with no teeth and just starting on solids, I would have loved it but unfortunately, I am not so the soup was a little too thick. Each time I heated it up, I had to add some broth or water to thin a bit.

You can make your own chicken stock too but I am lazy and rely on my Mum for stock. For this soup, I used Heinz ready-made chicken stock. It’s a little pricier than your Maggi stock cubes but I chose it because it had the lowest amount of sodium per serving.

And what can I say? Keeping it in the fridge just seems to enhance its taste. Not bad for a pretty cheap meal.

Topped with fresh basil

I’m currently down with a nasty throat infection that had my doctor shaking his head and asking why I did not go to him earlier. What can I say? I have my mother’s mentality when it comes to doctors and medicine – self-medicate first! In this case, it was epic fail.

Anyway, Mr Thick and I, being food lovers, have been trying out new places to spend our money on. One of the places that he had discovered was The Garden Slug. I’m not quite sure how he uncovered this little nook next to the kitties’ vet clinic, it’s possibly thanks to the iPhone app BuUuk. I quite like the place because firstly, they serve all-day breakfast and places that serve all-day breakfast are cool and hip in my books. Secondly, you feel happy and relaxed there, there’s no buzz in the air that makes you want to jump out of your seat and GO GO GO. Am I making any sense? Blame that medication that makes me drowsy!

The food was pretty good too. I wouldn’t say it is FABULOUS but it’s good, hearty stuff and priced decently too.

Bruschetta - $4.90 for two pieces

I love tomatoes! Nom nom nom. This was alright – fresh tomatoes with crusty bread.

Greek salad - $12.50

This was quite a large serving – we didn’t manage to finish it, although I made sure all the cherry tomatoes were demolished. Told you I love tomatoes. I liked the zesty dressing.

Buttery Garlic Glaze topped with Grilled Chicken strips - $14.90

I’m actually in two minds about the pasta. I liked the subtle garlicky taste of it, liked the spiciness of it (you can choose to have it spicy or not) and liked that the chicken did not taste like dried cardboard, not that I have tried cardboard before. But the down side was that it was drowning in oil, which made me feel urghs towards the end. I know, it’s olive oil, but you do know that olive oil is FAT, right? Fat in any form is still FAT.

The Ultimate Steak Sandwich - $18.90

Mr Thick is not called Mr Thick for no reason – he likes his meals hearty and meaty. This was done pretty nicely, the beef was tender and I liked the bread.

When we went there at 8pm on a Sunday night, the place was not packed and service was prompt. Lovely, for we were starving. It’s a great place to go if you are living in the east and not in the least interested in jostling with the crowds in town.

The Garden Slug
55 Lorong L Telok Kurau, #01-59/61 Bright Centre
Singapore 425500
6346 0504