Family is very important to me. After I lost my mother to liver cancer, it truly shook me that life is short and that we should cherish the important people around us. I make it a point to always spend time with my family now that my dad is alone, though my brother is living with him but he is busy with his own life.
Missing my sister who is in Singapore. Cannot wait to be reunited at the end of the year!
My younger brother's birthday is just 3 days after mine hence every year it's a combined celebration. We've been so busy with our own schedules and haven't caught up in a while to chit-chat and update each other with what's going on in each other's life hence last Sunday was prime time for it as we're all available, except for my sister who is residing in Singapore. Boy do I miss her! We're all very close and pre-pandemic and would meet up a few times in a year.
My bro and his girlfriend with a nice quote on the wall
We went to this Western restaurant near my dad's place called Swimming Cow. I've heard of them for awhile now but because they're located at a place where parking is hard to come by, I seldom make my way there. My brother's girlfriend planned with my husband to bring us there for dinner and I found out, the owner is actually my brother's hiking friend! Haha... Should have known this earlier! Why are they called Swimming Cow because they specialises in sous vide meats (both chicken and beef) which it is cooked at a controlled temperature than on high heat for searing.
Anyway, here's what had that night:
Burrata Tomatoes Salad - this was super duper refreshing! Real mozzarella cheese with tomatoes and rocket (arugula) and drenched with balsamic vinegar. I loved it so much!
Fish Tacos - Deep-fried crunchy fish slices with their special mayo-based sauce and some pickled salad. Everything tasted super balanced.
Swimming Fried Chicken - Specially marinated, crusted chicken! Super duper delish! Too bad I could only have a bite as I wasn't feeling that well to have the whole thing on my own.
Australian Black Angus Sirloin - this was the highlight!! A medium rare piece of meat that was sous vide hence there wasn't any "leaking blood" from the beef served simply with roasted garlic, mustard, confit butter, salt flakes and pepper. I had many pieces of this! It was nice to chew and super juicy.
Pappardelle Beef Ragu - This didn't taste like when I had Ragu in one of the European countries where the gravy was super strong and thick, this was less strong in its flavour yet still tasty and very hearty. Smart to serve it with pappardelle as it soaks up the sauce allowing it to be coated so when we have a bite, you get both pasta and lots of gravy.
Truffles Fries - I seldom order truffle fries because it either taste overpowered by truffle oil (which is not really truffles) or you can't taste any truffles at all. But this was super well-balanced!
Lastly for dessert, it was on the house! Warm brownies with vanilla ice cream! The chocolate liquid that they used for the Happy Birthday wording was very nice! It's dark salted chocolate.
Lastly, while we were chatting at home, Suwen, my brother's girlfriend came out with 3 slices of cake! She got it from Swich. The 3 cakes are Gula Melaka, Mangosteen, and Burnt Cheesecake with rum-soaked raisins. We took back the Mangosteen and Cheesecake, and boy was it a shocker on my tongue! Haha... I did not enjoy it at all! Mangosteen cake was weird in taste and texture while the cheesecake for me was way to sweet.
All in all, it was a nice night spent with the family as we bonded over good food and caught up with many stuff.