Supperclub Strange..

Out for dinner with The Gang last night. We went to this new place - Supperclub. Great concept and food wasn't too bad, but OH BOY it was spendy!! Bit of a giggle at the beginning too as they had been warned there was a pregnant lady in our group (surprise set menu, so they needed to know!) and when I ordered a lime and soda they immediately asked if I was "the pregnant one." My soda arrived in due course and I took a sip, thinking to myself, "this is a pretty tasty lime and soda" only for the waitress to come screeching back saying, "I hope you didn't drink that yet - we've made you a G&T by mistake!!!" Yikes!

The next lime and soda wasn't quite so tasty.

On the up side, The Bump seems to be more bumpy and noticeable this week so that was fun :)

Feasting with friends

Mike and I got the idea for this salad from the Domestic Goddess Herself, watching Nigella Feasts one morning on Discovery Travel and Living. I tweaked her recipe a bit, substituting marsala for pear juice because a) I'm pregnant and b) I can't find marsala in Singapore anyway, and adding avacado - because you can't have chicken salad without avacado.

The first time I cooked this I had a friend over during the preparation and tonight she's staying for tea, having specially requested this salad!

Roast Chicken Salad

3 or 4 chicken breasts, skin on
200ml pear juice
olive oil
Mixed lettuce leaves (crunchy ones! But whichever you like, really)
1 avacado, chopped
Handful golden sultanas, soaked in water/a little pear juice
Handful pinenuts, toasted in fry pan for a couple of minutes
Balsamic vinegar

Pre heat oven to 180C

Splash a couple of slugs of olive oil around the bottom of a roasting pan. Place the chicken breasts in the pan, skin side up, and splash a bit more oil over the top. Pour over the pear juice.

Roast chicken for approximately 30 - 40 minutes in the middle of the oven (will depend on your oven and how many chicken breasts you're cooking). Check chicken is cooked all the way through by cutting into the thickest part of the breast. The skin should be looking nice and crispy! Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before cutting into chunks. Set aside pan with juices from cooking.

Meanwhile, rinse and roughly tear lettuce onto a platter. Add chicken and avacado, sprinkle with soaked sultanas and toasted pinenuts.

Add about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar to the juices in the bottom of the roasting pan and stir. Pour over salad. Try to get the salad to the table before you start eating ;)

Japanese Ginger Pork

I caught up with a couple of fellow tai-tai girlfriends for coffee this morning and we got to talking about what "staple" meals we like to cook. I discovered that most of mine involve ginger! Possibly to do with the pregnancy thing - ginger supposedly being a cure for the nausea and morning sickness - but I have to confess this has been a favourite since the good old days of Yoshinoya hangovers in Tokyo.

Ginger Pork
Buta no Shoga Yaki

Serves 4 (ie pregnant Mrs B, Mr B and enough left over for lunch the next day)

3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons mirin
1/2 - 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger (to taste)
2/3 lb sliced pork (I used "suki yaki" sliced pork today, sometimes buy "shabu shabu" pork)
sunflower or vegetable oil for frying the pork

Mix together the soy sauce, mirin and ginger and dip the pork into this marinade briefly just before cooking.

Heat a little oil in the frying pan over a medium heat. Remove the pork from the marinade and add to the pan, making sure it doesn't stick together or curl up (I can fit in about 4 slices at a time). Turn over after a minute or so and cook until both sides are browned. Don't leave it too long (it's v thin and will cook quickly) but make sure it's cooked through.

Serve on steamed rice. The book I got the recipe from suggests serving with lightly stir-fried beansprouts (trim off the ends) - stir fry them in a little oil and about a tablespoon of garlic. Mike and I prefer very very thinly shredded cabbage, but the sprouts are nice, I've tried them before :)

2nd trimester at last!!!

Finally able to announce our "baby to be" on Facebook and later in a group email home to all our friends back home. Left me wondering what on earth people did before the internet ....? Or even how I communicated with people before I joined Facebook last year ... the mind boggles.

I'm still very tired a lot of the time (and having a good chunder most mornings) but am trying to make the most of being able to nap during the day. I'm also going to pre-natal yoga a couple of times a week which is really helping. I'm enjoying the classes a lot, it's just the getting there on the train that's a bit dicey :S

Mike and I went to see Dark Knight this weekend. Was pretty good although a bit long for me - particularly since it didn't start till after 9 and we had Gold Class seats .. very nice but a bit too easy to fall asleep when you have a La-Z-Boy and a blanket. I think I missed the ending .......

Snap!

Omigosh (yes, again) ... my friend Yoshie's Hens Night was this past weekend. Fantastic day at Spa Botanica followed by drinks at the marina and Japanese for dinner at Satsuma at the Gallery Hotel.


As we were all about to toast Yoshie and her "last night" as a single girl she said she had an announcement to make ... she's pregnant! LOL, yes a couple of weeks before their wedding. But here's the amazing part .. later in the night, when it was just Yoshie, Maz and I in a cab on the way to dinner, I broke the news to Yoshie that I too am preggo .. and guess what .. we are due within one day of each other. Wow. Very excited to have someone else to go through it all with and to be yummy mummies together next February ;)

I have to say, I was so so so impressed by Yoshie's effort on Saturday night. She'd never even been to a Hen's Night before and yet she was such a good sport - despite being on the waters all night.

BFP! (Big Fat Positive)

Omigosh. Sooooo ... we really are going to be parents! Well, in about 8 months time if all goes well. Hard to believe when it's all happened so quickly, I was just telling Aunty Shirl when she was here that we might "wait" a few months .. big fat lies but that's because I wasn't sure if we would get lucky so soon.

Over the moon at the moment, have rushed out to buy new books already. Can't find Up The Duff anywhere in Singapore, but am now the proud owner of What to Expect When You're Expecting, What to Eat When You're Expecting and, for Mike, The Pregnant Guy.

Broke the news to John and Elly just before they hopped on their plane back to Melbourne (sorry about that!) and I have dropped the G-bomb on Mum and Dad as well. I *think* they're excited to be grandparents ;)

I joined up at Pure Yoga this week as well, good timing really as I will be able to do prenatal classes with them right through, although I am sticking with regular classes for now. Not too impressed with old Rick, the Aussie sales guy, who stuck both feet in his mouth when he spilt the beans to my girlfriend who had referred me to the yoga centre! D'oh! So he was left feeling a little embarassed and Maz and I left feeling rather stunned .. didn't get angry till later at lunch when I had to say "OK, pretend you weren't there earlier and this is a surprise ...." Not cool.

Still. At least that's one less person to tell big fibs to about why I'm not drinking!