I saw these on the shelf and since I’m not sure about the different between muffins and crumpets, I bought both of them to try. They were $4.90 each. I toasted one of each and buttered them. After eating them, I realized that my parents bought unsalted butter. Sigh.

The crumpet is spongy with lots of nooks and crannies. The texture is more more cake-like and dense, somewhat like a thick spongy pancake.

The muffin is more bread-like in texture. Marks & Spencer sells butter muffins and when I toasted it, it gave off a fragrant buttery smell. It was soft and fluffy. Even with only butter (I added some salt to the butter), it tasted quite yummy.

The packet of double chocolate chip cookies from Marks & Spencer cost $9.90. There were 10 cookies in the pack. Even though they were larger than normal cookies, I felt that it was a bit expensive. I also felt that the cookies just taste like normal chocolate chip cookies and not really that full of chocolate. To me, double chocolate chip must mean something like Famous Amos’ double chocolate chip cookies.

After Mr Tuna’s wedding, I met Bell and we went to the Games Convention Asia at Suntec. It was quite a small convention and looks somewhat sad as that is a big empty space at the back, as if they couldn’t fill up the exhibition hall. The EA booth made the most impression as it showcased a few good-looking games that are currently in development. Bell and I checked out that games and added them to a list games we want to buy after we finally get a Playstation 3.

There was also an auction going on and people were bidding for rare items found in an online game. The proceeds will be given to charity but it was still amazing that people are willing to fork out that much money to pay for a virtual item. We lingered on for a while, checking out all the games and then left.

Next, we went to Boat Quay to buy mooncakes and then walked along the river to The Central at Clark Quay. Since I was still full and Bell was also not very hungry, we shared a USA Kobe steak at Fine Cuts. It was nice but quite expensive so we were glad that we shared.

We asked for medium and it was grilled just right. The steak was very juicy because of all the marbled fats. It was also full of flavour and there was no need for any sauce.

It was dark when we left The Central. We wandered around Clark Quay, looking at all the interesting restaurants. We came across Nectarie le’Dessert Patisserie, a dainty little dessert place. Bell had heard good reviews about it so we decided to give it a try. There were many pretty little cakes on display at the counter but we did not feel like eating them. Instead, we ordered from their menu.

We had their signature caramelized banana with white chocolate cake. The cake was firm and dense with several different layers. There was a layer of white chocolate, a layer of caramelized bananas, a layer of cake and a crispy, crunchy layer. There was also a bitter tinge which felt like hard liquor so I didn’t quite like it. The funny thing was Bell felt the liquor taste was quite subtle while I could taste the liquor quite strongly.

We also had a pear in red wine strudel. I like this and would gladly finish the whole plate by myself. The pears were sweet and the strudel was very light and crisp. This time, Bell felt the alcohol taste was quite strong while I couldn’t taste it.

I also ordered a hot chocolate drink. While they added a lot of cocoa powder, it was nothing like the hot chocolate drink I had at Koko Black in Melbourne, which was made with real chocolate rather than cocoa powder. I’m quite disappointed. It seemed that nowhere else makes hot chocolate like Koko Black.

Fine Cuts
6 Eu Tong Sen St
#B1-44/45 The Central @ Clarke Quay
Tel: 62242101

Nectarie le’Dessert Patisserie
3C River Valley Road
#01-05 The Cannery, Clarke Quay
Tel: 63056728

I bought a pancake mix and a bar of cooking chocolate. Couldn’t find hershey’s chocolate chips so bought a bar of chocolate instead. I used half the pancake mix and made some chocolate chunk pancakes on Saturday. As Si Hamil said, it’s really quite idiot proof. It’s just pancakes with chocolate chips. The pancakes were not good-looking but they tasted fine. I ate them with some mascarpone mixed with a bit of honey.

Today I made my second batch of chocolate chunks pancakes. I cut the chocolate into smaller pieces this time. The pancakes looked nicer and the last pancake I made was the best-looking pancake I had to date. It was just a plain pancake as I had ran out of chocolate by then.

I learnt a few things from this, like don’t eat food hot from the pan. I found out that I’m not a big fan of pancakes, I just like chocolate a lot. And never, never attempt to do any cooking when my mother is around.

I will be bringing some to office so the rest can have a taste. I wonder if they will still taste nice when they are cold and whether they can stand reheating?