Brunch & Co Event #13 - Magdaline's Birthday Brunch

It turns out that having a Hubby in the construction industry can be especially handy when planning an "architecture" inspired brunch as we did to celebrate Architect Magdaline's birthday today.
From coming up with the name card idea designed like mini building project signboards to helping search for drawings of the SwissRe headquarter building in London - otherwise known as "The Gherkin" - I especially couldn't have done today's brunch without him!

For starters, we "constructed" an antipasto platter of homemade goodies including ricotta (interesting - will try it with organic milk next time), Jambon Persillé (ham & parsley) terrine (inspired by a recent trip to Daniel Boulud's restaurant to celebrate our friend Rachel's upcoming wedding - Chef Boulud has collaborated with a famous third generation master charcutier, named Gilles Verot, for one of his restaurants in New York....Google is an amazing thing... whilst reading about terrines I stumbled across this recipe from the master charcutier himself so had to give it a go http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/8217/Jambon-Persill233.html).  I also made tea cups filled with chicken liver paté and served these tasty treats with proscuitto, organic cherry tomatoes drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper, slices of crusty bread and some big gherkins of course!

    
For our main course, we served up lamb shank pies inspired by the current tallest building in the world - the Burj Khalifa standing at 828m.... ok so our lamb shank pies only stood about 20cm tall but I reckon they looked pretty cool! We served this with sweet potato mash and minted peas.

After a short tummy stretch we served up a double sorbet of green apple & raspberry - it was really pretty (and yummy)!!!

Finally, for the Birthday Girl, we served up a chocolate hazelnut meringue cake with an espresso mascarpone frosting.  Totally decadent and chocolatey as Magdaline LOVES chocolate.

Well that's it for another month! Stay tuned for more Brunch & Co events coming soon. Until then happy brunching to one and all.

Mark & Louise xx

PS. Thanks again to Haf for being star photographer today!

Brunch & Co Event #12 - Elaine's Birthday Brunch

What do Indonesia, Texas, United Kingdom & South Africa have in common? They are all places that Elaine and her family have lived over the years - apparently Elaine has packed up and moved the family home 10 times!  Now that is what I call a global traveller and an amazing woman!
Well today Elaine's husband Jeff & Elaine's daughter Leigh arranged a very special brunch with Singapore based friends to celebrate Elaine's birthday.

Jeff arranged 4 beautiful floral table arrangements & knick knacks to represent each of the locations while we designed a menu focusing on these places close to Elaine's heart.

Jeff also arranged a special surprise consisting of birthday messages from other friends from around the world complete with photos of each of the friends' faces mounted on sticks. Each message was read out by the guests present at the brunch - so touching!
So back to the food - for starters, we served an Indonesian inspired prawn satay with a homemade peanut sauce & a spicy jicama salad served on a banana leaf. (Sorry - no photo!)

Next up we swiftly jetted off to Texas for an ultimate breakfast burrito - a gluten free tortilla (brought back from Australia as Elaine is gluten intolerant) wrapped around grilled bacon, slices of portobello mushrooms & creamy scrambled eggs, served with homemade spicy baked beans, guacamole, cherry tomato salsa & some Route 11 potato chips - you can't get more American than that!

After a quick seat swap, followed by mango sorbet palate cleansers we jetted off to our final destination, the UK, for some dessert - Traditional Burnt Cream, otherwise known as Creme Brulee. I had planned a tropical twist but was not happy with my first attempt that incorporated coconut cream so instead went all out British with a Jamie Oliver recipe that incorporates some surprise raspberries hidden in the creamy custard.

Hwee Yin and I had two blow torches on full blast to prepare the individual dishes for our 14 guests - the smell in the kitchen of sugar burning to become the crackable toffee surface was divine - almost as good as the smell of grilling bacon! Despite losing the coconut twist, we couldn't help keeping our planned tropical decorations though - I love those little cocktail umbrellas!
Today's courses were complimented by Jeff's carefully chosen South African wines, and of course Brunch & Co's homemade iced lemon tea and freshly squeezed lemonade.
Well, we hope everybody was happily transported to destination Foodie Heaven today and that Elaine had a birthday celebration to remember! Happy Birthday Elaine!!

Louise & Mark xx

PS This time last year we launched our very first official Brunch & Co event - so much has happened since then and we have learnt so much from this experience. We are extremely thankful to all our friends, old & new, who have been so supportive & encouraging and have helped to make Brunch & Co such a success - we love you all!!

Brunch & Co's COVERT CAKE CLUB LAUNCH!

Bryan's picture of Mark's delectable Carrot Cake!

There was definitely some magic happening in quite a few ovens in Singapore over the last few days with the launch of our Covert Cake Club. What better excuse to pull out those favourite cake recipes (or new ones that you've not had the opportunity to try), wooden spoons and baking pans?
Our Brunch & Co tables were again heaving with lovingly prepared goodies. In total, we had 13 bakers/eaters plus 3 junior bakers in the making in attendance at today's launch - thanks so much for coming! It was so great to get to know everybody over a cup of tea and a slice or two of cake (ok, maybe more than two slices...)
Here are some pictures to whet your appetite! We hope the covert cake club will be a regular feature on the Brunch & Co event calendar so hope you'll be able to come along next time!

Photo by Bryan Lim

Photo by Bryan Lim

Photo by Bryan Lim

Su Yen's Savoury Pita Chips, Su Ling's Date Cake & Louise's Persian Almond & Yoghurt Cake at the back!

Nithia's Lemon Syrup & Pistachio Cake

Hwee Yin's amazing Chocolate & Passionfruit Mousse Cake - she's a Professional so has a distinct advantage!

With so many yummy distractions, I didn't manage to take photos of everybody's cakes - Ooops!

Here are a few that will live on in our yummy cake memories:

Nikki & Bianca's "Easy" Tiramisu & Lemon Syrup Loaf Cake
Nithia's Chocolate Beetroot cake served with lusciously whipped cream

Off to the gym to work off a few of those calories, hope to see you all again soon!

Cheers,
Louise & Mark

PS. Thanks so much to Bryan for helping with all the washing up - you made Mark's day!!!

Brunch & Co Event #11 - Brunch inspired by recent travels....and a trio of birthdays to celebrate!

Well, June was a busy travel month for Brunch & Co as we made a quick trip to Sri Lanka with my sister Jen as well as squeeze in a fly by visit to Australia.... It never ceases to amaze me how many more new cafes there are in Melbourne each time we visit. Just when you think it has reached saturation point, up pop 3 more totally awesome places! A bit like cafes & bakeries in Singapore! This time in Melbourne we managed to get to Pope Joan, Hoboken, The Foodrinkery & Seven Seeds - all jam packed with hungry patrons, each individually decorated with cool, quirky interiors, & each with their own individual take on the food they have chosen to serve the eager masses.

One of the MANY lattes consumed on this trip along with a brulee tart at Bourke St Bakery, Surrey Hills Sydney

With so many amazing new discoveries, Brunch & Co was inspired to recreate some of the fabulous dishes that we had whilst we were away for our July brunch.

We welcomed two lovely groups of brunchers today and enjoyed seeing the underground restaurant newbies come to grips with where they were and what they were doing in some stranger's apartment! It was great to meet such a fun loving and interesting bunch! 

For starters we served Matt Wilkinson's creamy rice pudding infused with vanilla beans I brought back from Sri Lanka, served with a tart rhubarb compote. We got to try this dish at his restaurant called Pope Joan in Melbourne. One word - divine!

Photo by Ron Lee

Next up, we served my idea of brunch heaven on a plate: 15 hour meltingly roasted pulled pork, served with a homemade spicy tomato sauce, chunky avocado salsa, sourdough toast (from Tiong Bahru Bakery) and the piece de resistance - a poached egg crumbed and deep fried but with a satisfyingly still gooey yolk centre.  It is not often that we are asked for seconds - but our brunchers couldn't seem to get enough!

Photo by Ron Lee

Photo by Ron Lee

Whilst a few guests did the obligatory seat swap/inbetween course tummy stretch, we served up a homemade coconut sorbet topped with mint leaves.

Styled by Ron Lee - taken by me!

For our finale, we served individual Bombe Alaskas - homemade chocolate cake doused with butterscotch sauce, topped with homemade vanilla ice cream swirled with blobs of salted caramel sauce and then covered under a layer of toasted meringue. Totally decadent and one of my all time favourite desserts - especially if you have leftovers and eat it the next day when all the ice cream has melted into the cake.... so good! 

Photo by Ron Lee

Well another bunch of happy brunchers fed and watered. Thanks so much for coming along - we really enjoyed ourselves and hope you all did too!  Happy Birthday to Linda, Sam & CY!

We look forward to seeing you all again sometime soon - perhaps at our exciting new event later this month - the Covert Cake Club launch on Saturday 28th July??!! (Check out the details on the events tab of this blog or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/460742890602914/)

Special thanks to Ron Lee for allowing me to post his amazingly beautiful photos on our blog - check him out at https://www.facebook.com/pages/EyeDeas-Photography/16253572012.  And, as always, thanks again to Baker extraordinaire Hwee Yin for all her support & help!

Until next time, Happy Brunching,

Louise & Mark

Brunch & Co Event #10 - Yasmin's Surprise Birthday Brunch

Photo by Jen

On Her Majesty's Service, Queen Elizabeth II and Brunch & Co warmly welcomed 10 lovely ladies to a surprise Jubilee party to celebrate Yasmin's birthday over the weekend.  The brunch was arranged with military precision by Yasmin's wonderful husband Shams. Boyfriends & Husbands take note - the bar has been raised!!

Photo by Jen

Our brunch was extra special today as we had my sister Jen over from Melbourne to help out - she is a true gourmet foodie and much more talented in the kitchen than me, so it was wonderful to have her working her magic on all the dishes. Thank you Jen!

Photo by Jen

To start, we served a special amuse bouche of Heston Blumenthal's mushroom soup.  Velvety smooth and enhanced with a powder of crushed porcini & shiitake mushrooms made by Jen.  Delish! We served this in our special vintage tea cups and saucers to bring a more British feel to our Jubilee Brunch.

Photo by Jen

For our starter, we served organic free range soft boiled eggs (hand carried from Australia by Jen especially for Brunch & Co) with gruyere cheese melted sourdough toast soldiers and spears of organic Nepalese asparagus. We also served this with a little pinch of pistachio dukkah for our guests to sprinkle on their eggs once cracked open.

Photo by Jen

Photo by Jen - oozy, cheesey goodness!

For our main course, we prepared Yotam Ottolenghi's fluffy "green" pancakes made with lots of spinach, spring onions & green chillies!  Here are a few cooking - sooo good!

Photo by Jen

We served these with golden pan fried cubes of haloumi cheese....

Photo by Jen

...smoked salmon, lime & chilli butter and a salsa made with organic Nepalese tomatoes, cucumber, red onion tossed in a zingy dressing.

After our obligatory seat swap/tummy stretching exercise, our lovely guests tucked into a palate cleanser of lychee & coconut sorbet. We then had a very special birthday cake handmade by one of the very talented guests, Judy. As Yasmin is a keen photographer, the red velvet cake featured an SLR camera made with fondant & edible paint!! Totally amazing!!

Photo by Jen

For dessert, we served a deconstructed apple & rhubarb crumble consisting of stewed apples with a hint of rhubarb, crispy flaked almond crumble & homemade calvados (apple liqueur) ice cream. We made the crumble separately and served it in our little tea cups to ensure it stayed extra crispy! I think we pushed the alcohol content to the limit with the ice cream - I was worried I had added too much for it to freeze properly but it turned out creamy, smooth & deliciously calvadosy!

Photo by Jen

Well, another 10 lovely guests happily fed from the Brunch & Co kitchen. We are so glad to have been part of the surprise birthday celebration for Yasmin, it was a real pleasure.

Until next time, happy brunching!

Cheers,
Louise, Mark & Jen