Overcoming the bitter taste of sadness

From the young age of 13, when I started secondary school, I was introduced to the fine arts of pastry, eating them and not making them. I thank Delifrance to the afternoons doing homework with a cup of cappuccino and a flaky, buttery and rich chocolate croissant. Essential elements that combat the stresses of life, my comfort food.

Decades have past, and yet my love affair for pastries and desserts have never gone away, perhaps it’s because they are the only constant bites of sweetness I could ever manage. I guess my post today sounds rather depressing, perhaps because I am. But nothing that sweet silky spoonful of vanilla bean panna cota that Meatworks serves could help overcome. In minutes, a serving is gone. But the lingering taste remains on your tastebuds just like a memory of what something beautiful was. Another dessert I ordered was the tiramisu, a pick me up, that’s what it means in Italian. Just simple ingredients, mascarpone cheese, cocoa, coffee and cake. A melange of sweetness and bitterness balanced to bring a delicate sensation to you. Just like life is, it can be both bitter and sweet, although right now I just really need the sweetness to overwhelm the bitterness. The last dessert I tried was the chocolate trilogy, simply perfect, layers of mouse, cake and dark chocolate ganache served with raspberries. Sounds simple, but in it’s simplicity one tastes the complexity it took to assemble it. And like the complexities of life, things just turn out right sometimes and sometimes they do not, and so we should just have our cake and indulge in that temporary bites of sweetness that comes to us.

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Brick Dome Pizza

I travel quite often to the states and one of the best finds of halal food places I found there was the Brick Dome Pizza.  It tastes so different from the typical pizza’s we have had in Singapore, with pesto chicken pizza  and so much more. ‘Nuff said, I’ll be back there again. Owners are Muslim, Algerian if I’m not wrong, coz they were speaking in French in the kitchen. But the pizzas nontheless were tres fantastique!
Ariff and Uda enjoying the Chicken Pesto Pizza

Ariff and Uda enjoying the Chicken Pesto Pizza

Waiting for Ariff outside the Brick Dome

Waiting for Ariff outside the Brick Dome

Brick Dome Pizza  is located at:

7905 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90046-5107

Badoque









I turned 28 on the 14th and my brother treated me to dinner at Badoque, a Halal cafe serving yummy Italian food. We started with tapas: gambas pils-pils, calamari and baked mussels. We tried the combo brushetta, different types of bruschetta with toppings like the classic tomato/garlic/basil, prawns with bechamel, mushrooms with bechamel, simply sedap. We had also tried the Steak Pizaioli, Lamb Shank, and the snapper with a really yummy citrusy sauce on a bed of greens and the tortelli and pizzarotti..really yummy fillings. I had hoped for gnocchi, cause I hadn’t had fresh ones in a long while since my last visit to Rome. What was really outstanding was the lamb shanks cooked in bamia style, gazillions yummier then other lamb shanks being offered in other restaurants. The meat practically fell of the bone and melts in your mouth. We had to try the tortelli with the lobster filling and the pizzaroti with the mushrooms and cheese filling, scrumptious. The deserts were superb, we tried mango gelato with summerberry sauce which was served with half a ladysfinger biscuit..yummy! We requested for a selection of 12 slice of cakes, so cute and so tasty especially the mango mousse. The service is fantastic and the decor so cozy and chic at the same time.I know I’ll be back there to try the other dishes on the menu.

Badoque (S) Cafe Pte Ltd.is located at:
298 Bedok Rd
Bedok Shopping Complex
Singapore 469454 Tel : 6446 6928