Kueh Lapis

As a little girl, I loved kueh lapis. I grew up with the rainbow coloured sticky version as a breakfast or tea time treat.  It was a game to me, peeling layer after layer of the soft, stretchy sweet dessert, folding each layer to bite holes in the centre creating patterns. Yeah, I played with my food more than I ate it as a kid.

As I grew older, the nonya version appealed more to my tastes. Each in typical, elaborate nonya style comprised of fine layers of cake baked one on top of the other. The composite cake is sliced to expose the thin yellow and brown layers of cake.

At a reunion dinner, an old friend brought the nonya version of kueh lapis. Tried it, loved it.

Beard papa chocolate lava

Lava oozing out of a chocolate lava cake on chocoholics has the same effect as blood on sharks . It sends us chocoholics into a feeding frenzy.

I had a bummer of a morning and could use a little chocolate to cheer me up. Guess what, Beard Papa's first batch of chocolate lava cake had just come out of the oven.

Unlike some places which forbid you to take photos of the food, the ladies at beard papa, bugis mrt station, when they saw me trying to photograph my lava cake from the bag, took out a tray of fresh chocolate lava delights for an impromptu shoot.

Got my photos, got my cake and the morning's disappointment was quickly forgotten. An awesome breakfast was in store for me once I'd a chance to savor it.

I couldn't wait. The rich melted chocolate in soft pastry made my day.

Mom's cheese cake

Since I was a little girl, I loved my mom's cheese cake. As a teen, she taught me to make it too though I've forgotten the recipe. It's been years since I moved out and had the time to bake.

The cheese cake starts with a crumbly biscuit base. I remember smashing Marie biscuits with the mortar and pestle years ago. Til this day I prefer that to the blender. The rhythmic pounding is therapeutic to me.

Next comes the cheese cream base. Philadelphia cream cheese if I remember correctly, dissolved gelatin in hot water, I think. Memory gets fainter with time. If I don't write about it I will forget altogether one day.

After the 2 layers have been firmed in the fridge, on goes slices of canned peaches followed by dissolved jelly crystals.

Refrigerate and serve cold.

Delicious. Mom still makes these and my kids love it too!

Chendol

On a day so hot the heat triggered a headache, a bowl of ice chendol was a welcome sight.

In this bowl, there's killney beans , green jelly that's a tad salty and attap chee, covered in coconut milk. A mountain of ice shavings go on top if the concoction that is topped with gula Melaka liquid.

It tastes better all mixed up when the sweet brown syrup mixes with coconut milk and the rapidly melting ice for an excellent thirst quencher .

Nice :)