Hey friends!

Wow, I haven't done a food post in the longest time. I apologise. 

Today I'm going to be blogging about our trip to Blu Kozina for Greek food! We went to the Siglap branch. There's also another at Dempsey Hill.

It's actually my first time trying Greek food! By coincidence I just finished reading a novel about a culinary competition (and some romance) called 'You Had Me at Halloumi", so I was really hyped to try some Greek cuisine!

The interior was really pretty with traditional Greek accents and little 'caves' for seating and decor. There was wall to ceiling sliding doors which brought in a lot of light and accentuated the iconic white and blue aesthetic that people associate the Greek islands with. 

I also enjoyed all the fish motifs! 

Yeah, things are kinda pricey but it was a special occasion for us so we hoped that the splurge would be worthwhile.

First up, 3 Dips Platter ($39.50) and Grilled Pita ($4.60). There is a variety of dips to choose from, and two types of pita (crispy or soft/grilled).

We chose the soft grilled pitas (4pcs), which were warm and delicious. The dip portion is large - we ended up having to dabao some home!

(from top to bottom)

1. Harissa (Spicy tomato, greek yogurt and walnuts) - pretty spicy with a good kick!

2. Taramasalata (white cod roe and capers) - our favourite. A little bit salty - cod roe is like mentaiko for those who are unfamiliar with it

3. Tzatiziki (greek yogurt, cucumber, garlic and EVOO) - the most neutral tasting out of the three, a good start for beginners to Greek cuisine

*EVOO = extra virgin olive oil

Next was Talagani ($21.50), or grilled Halloumi cheese with blu sauce. This is my second time trying Halloumi! We bought some in Switzerland and my sister calls it the 'squeaky cheese', because it truly squeaks when you munch on it 

😂

. 

The Halloumi has a very delectable, softer texture. The sauce was a little tangy and was served with honey/something sweet (correct me if I'm wrong). Yum!

BTW, according to the book, ancient Greeks took their cheeses very seriously and were even the first to invent cheesecake. 

Fried Calamari ($26.50)

It's refreshing to have whole pieces of squid! While tasty, we found this a little oily.

Beef Kalamaki ($27.50)

This is a beef skewer that is so much larger than I expected. I thought it would be served kebab style with a literal stick and in bite sized pieces. We ordered it Medium Rare and this was pretty delicious! Don't forget to enjoy it with the lemon, yogurt dip and onion!

Xtapodi ($41.50) - Grilled Octopus that is served with vinegar and EVOO. 

(I can't pronounce this but the word looks and sounds cool)

The octopus pieces came in huge, tender chunks. They are softer than what I expected and 'wetter' than i thought too. I think I'm very much used to a 'drier' version of Grilled Octopus (maybe Japanese style). Still, it was lightly flavoured which let the freshness of the octopus shine through. 

We saw someone order this so we followed suit because it looked fun. These are the Koulouri Sesame Bread Rings ($4.60). 

It was really fragrant and soft! It looks like a pretzel but is soft enough to tear easily. We ended up getting another serving (2pcs) of this instead of more pita bread to enjoy with our dips.

Now, to end off our night, I chose the Greek Kataifi Roll ($15.80), a dessert with homemade syrup and pistachio. I thought this would come in a piece or slice but it one serving turned out to have four pieces!

This dessert was really sweet. The little strips are crunchy and presumably fried. The chopped pistachio centres was interesting but the syrup was way too sweet and the bottom of the dessert was utterly drenched in it. Found it hard to stomach after the heavy meal, lol. Ancient Greeks do be living it up. 

From what I read in the novel, Greek people prefer lamb over pork too. I also saw another family digging into a $100 seafood platter. That looked scrumptious so maybe you would be interested to order it!

Also, if you have keen eyes, you will see that they also served us some watermelon and ice cream! I think every diner receives this at the end of the meal for free. There's also a bowl of mints at the door. 

They also surprised us with a birthday cupcake and a song. Aww!!

The de-candled cupcake which will be my breakfast. Hehe. 

Also I saw some interesting drinks on the menu:

Nescafe powder from Greece? 

😂

 The Freddoccino sounds real good, doesn't it?

Well, that concludes our visit to Blu Kouzina! It was pleasant indeed! They have quite a lot of seating but if you book through Chope, you can enjoy some vouchers~

Final notes: Beautiful place to have Greek cuisine. It doesn't have a friendly price tag (because most of the ingredients are air-flown from Greece) and the menu is kind of unhelpful because it has zero pictures, but the service and food are pretty good! The ambience is super fun and lovely too. 

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Blu Kouzina (Siglap)

907 East Coast Rd
#01-01
Singapore 459107

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Lol, here's another very late Switzerland post. I thought it would be useful!

Bring some Food Clips 

We stayed in Airbnbs and enjoyed cooking! We often bought stuff like chicken, cheese or bread and these come in some kind of plastic packaging. Food clips come in very handy if you do not use everything at one go! 

You don't need a huge water bottle.

I actually brought an empty 1.5 litre bottle for hikes, but this turned out mostly to be useless! Water is available readily in most places in the form of public fountains. You can also drink from the tap, so any bathroom would also do in a pinch. 

I found that water in different regions of Switzerland taste different. The water in Zermatt was the sweetest to us, while Zurich's tasted more salty for some reason. 

Hiking Shoes?

We got away with wearing sports shoes from New Balance and Nike. While hiking shoes offer more ankle support, they also add more weight and I would probably tire even more easily. For 'easy' hikes and beginner trails, you can probably just wear your sports shoes. You may want to invest in a good pair of hiking shoes however, if you envision yourself hiking often in the future. The terrain in Singapore doesn't really require hiking shoes, and we have no idea where else to hike after seeing these seemingly unbeatable views, so we decided to go without. It turned out fine.

Map app

A very handy offline map is the https://organicmaps.app/. Great when coverage isn't super good when you're high up in the mountains or trekking in who knows where.

From my record I seem to watch maybe one film a month.

Here's what I just watched on Netflix! I was missing Taiwan and wanted to watch something made there. I just wanted to hear the TW accent, see TW roads and everything.

It's nice to get to watch a movie! Oh, forgot to mention that this film won a bunch of awards too. Hope to find another good movie to watch. 

If you watched it, what did you think of it?

Love,

Skye

~TRENDING IN CHINA NOW!~

This Green Tea Sprite recipe has been making its rounds on TikTok and the rest of the internet platforms. 

It looks easy and fun to drink, so let's have a go!

The basic ingredients are:

1. Sprite

2. Green tea sachet

The idea is to let the green tea sachet infuse the Sprite. Just let it sit in the fridge so you can enjoy a cold drink. The video uses a bottled sprite but I only have the canned one. 

Other variations include adding lemon slices and also passionfruit. 

I had problems trying to find fresh passionfruit from the supermarket. Not every fruit shop carries it too, so I had to forgo that.  

Anyway, I always considered Sprite as the soda that plays second fiddle to coke. It's nice that it has its moment in the limelight too! It being J-Hope's favourite drink doesn't hurt either 😜

Another trending drink now is the Espresso Soda. Yes, it means coffee and soda. Have you tried it?!

Love,

Skye

Update: We found passionfruit!

They're sold at about $2 for 5 in a tray at Giant!

Yup, we're back with the comparison posts. Today's theme is Grass Jelly, also known as Chin Chow, or in Chinese, 仙草。 

First, let's address the elephant in the room.

Is grass jelly made of grass?

Well, you make it by boiling a plant called Chinese mesona along with starch and potassium carbonate (source: thewoksoflife). 

So I consider it to be a byproduct, like tea. You boil the leaves but you don't eat them. 

What does it taste like?
To me, grass jelly tastes a little herbal. I like that it is unsweetened. It is refreshing in a bowl of dessert or in an iced drink. 

So what's this post about?

Back story: We had this wonderful grass jelly milk tea in JB once upon a time and we have been raving about it ever since. It was ridiculously smooth, soft and jiggly and you can use a bubble tea straw to suck it up and enjoy with the beverage. 

Objective: I wanted to recreate this at home. We are looking for a grass jelly that is unbelievably smooth and slightly soft so that it travels well in a large straw. We're also going to limit the search to supermarkets because the goal is to stock up on the grass jelly and use them when needed. Fresh grass jelly is great but it's a bit of a hassle to leave the house just to get it all the time. 

Without further ado, let's hit the streets to get some grass jelly!

1. 陈顺美 Tan Soon Mui Chin Chow

Price: $1.15 from NTUC
Weight: 500g
Origin: Product of Singapore
Texture: Extra firm and hard

As you can see, there's only a slight give when you press on it with force.

Smoothness: Average, 3/5

Experience: I tried cutting these into big pieces and put them in a homemade iced latte but the bubble tea straw had a hard time doing its job. I gave up and used a spoon instead. 

Recommended for: Cutting into cubes or smaller pieces for a traditional iced dessert. 

2. Grass jelly from the market

Price: $1 per block
Weight: Did not weigh. Probably more than 500g per block though.
Texture: Medium firm
Smoothness: Average, 3/5

Jiggle test: More jiggle than the first grass jelly.

I think there's one more brand that I saw in NTUC, but it looks quite firm as well so I just ignored it. Had too many false starts... guess I'll stick to getting large, soft grass jelly from bubble tea shops until I find one with the desired texture. (Or maybe you guys have a recommendation for me? *hopeful*)

There was a silver lining from these grass jelly tests though...

I had grass jelly in many ways, such as:

Grass jelly with ice and honey

Grass jelly and milk

Grass jelly and soy milk

Grass jelly and milk coffee

But the best one is a recipe by my dad 😂

Have you ever tried 100 Plus grass jelly?

I was super skeptical but it didn't stop me from trying. With some squeezed lime, this was actually super refreshing. The 100 plus adds some nice fizz to it. 

HOW TO: Cube your grass jelly into desired size, add some 100 plus (ours was the zero sugar one but the regular one probably works too). Add lime for extra zest. ✨