The Reason for the Absence

This is the single reason why I have not been updating my blog.

 

Luna Esa’s Delectable Durian Puffs

This is a photo of the Durian Puffs which Luna Esa shared with me and Mydaemon last week. This is also my first try at an ‘artistic’ shot. Owing to the lack of proper equipment (setting, backdrop, flash etc) and software (for most, Photoshop CS), here’s my best shot out of 10 plus shots I spent trying to capture the texture of the deliciously beautiful puff skin. It wasn’t easy having to crane my neck to table-level to see if the shot has a good composition.

Enough about the photo. Here’s what I think of Luna Esa’s very own D24 Creamy Durian Puffs. Made with D24 durians, the cream filling was smooth and packed a punch to the taste buds with the powerful and aromatic taste that one have come to associate with D24 durians. The puff pastry was a tad hard for me. Told Luna that making it a touch ’lighter’ would have made the puff perfect. But taking a bite, one can forgive the ‘hard’ puff pastry as the cream and pastry combined well to get a nice balance texture. With the D24 durian cream giving it a nice strong taste without overwhelming the senses, it was a wonderful treat indeed!

I am looking forward to Luna Esa’s next creation.

Crocodile in Carrefour!!!

Fanatic Avid movie-goers would immediately draw a parallel between the title of this post and the crap movie – Snakes on a Plane. In my younger days, I would have already watched the movie, since I have a soft spot for B-grade horror flicks.

So what is this thing about crocodiles in a respectable hypermarket like Carrefour. Well, a lot! Did some quick shopping at Carrefour Plaza Singapure during lunch yesterday. As usual the place was packed with smartly dressed office crowd, ehem, including myself, a dribs and drabs of teenagers, aunties and uncles.

Being the highly focused shopper, I zipped directly to the fresh vegetable section to get my hands on a lettuce. As I was choosing the lettuce, I became aware of a small crowd just lingering off my line of sight. Being the kaypoh adventurer that I am, I trooped over to get in onto, whatever it is, the action.

At first, I just this guy skillfully clobbering a whole animal, which at first glanced looked like a pig, since the flesh was pinkish and the size was around 1 odd metre in length. Further inspection revealed the unskinned limbs having an ugly, appetite zapping, greenish leathery scales with dark black and sharp claws. Yucks.

 

It was only then I realised that the ‘butcher’ was actually deboning a CROCODILE!!! I have seen many things being butchered in my life. There’s chicken, ducks, pigs, cows, lambs, and even sharks. But never a crocodile. There you have it, Carrefour’s very own Fresh! Crocodile Deboning Demo (these were the exact words used on the cart, if I remember correctly). Apparently, the croc’s meat is on promotion. I bet the late “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin wouldn’t have approved. Btw, this post was drafted sometime last week when Steve was still hale and hearty. Just got news that he passed away yesterday. Great loss to the conservationist world. God Bless his soul…

Once that set in, all my senses, especially my olfactory sense, kicked into overdrive. Guess my brain was hardwired to sense new smells when encountering a new experience. Taking huge LUNGFULS of air, I hoped to catch a whiff of how raw fresh croc meat would smell. Much to my disappointment, there’s not a whiff of anything. I found that hard to believe as the pinkish flesh looked like exuding tons of ‘fragrance’ which would have put the famously pungent Rafflesia flower to shame. Guess that’s the power of perception. In this case, perception is not necessarily the reality.

Should your mum decides to cook crocodile curry one of these days and asks you where to get fresh croc meat. Let her know that Fieldmarshal’s recommendation is Carrefour. The only place which debones a crocodile ‘live’. It’s even fresher than all the pork, beef and poultry we see on the refrigeration racks. Beat that!