(Recipe) Cooking Savoury “Muffin” and Westernised “Sushi” using the Panasonic Awasewaza Oven

The Panasonic Awasewaza Oven (NN-SV30) is a highly capable and multi-purpose oven, boasting multiple features such as the microwave, steam and grill functions. Without having to look at the user manual, I played around with the oven settings and it didn’t take long for me to get chummy with it. I soon discovered the convenience and ease of creating meals with it, and it has since been incorporated into my daily lifestyle. Continue reading

(Recipe) Cooking Beef Stew using the Panasonic Microcomputer Controlled Fuzzy Logic Rice Cooker

The trivial mention of rice cookers rings bells of convenience, ease and zero intricacy. The first electric rice cooker was first invented in 1945; it is a very basic aluminium pot with a heating coil inside, with no automatic turn-off facility, and required constant monitoring during cooking. The first commercially successful automatic electric rice cooker was placed on the market in 1956, which uses a double-chamber indirect rice cooking method. Initial models did not have a keep-warm feature.

In the last decade, thanks to the ever-advancing technology, higher-end and deluxe models start appearing on the market, characterised by improved and added functions. The electric rice cooker is now a standard appliance in kitchens in most households.

As the modern generation steers away from traditions with novel ideas and cravings for the avant-garde, rice cookers nowadays are not only about producing quantities of cooked rice quickly and cheaply anymore. You can cook stews, soups, cakes, and you can even use it as a steamer if the rice cooker comes with the necessary accessories.

The Panasonic Microcomputer Controlled Fuzzy Logic Rice Cooker (SR-MGS102) awes me with its multiple features. The Pre-Program Control Panel gives you the option of cooking white rice, brown rice, sticky rice, porridge or cake, with more precise cooking alternatives such as quick cook, slow cook and steam.

Here’s the recipe of a beef stew that I made, out of the mere hankering for comfort food. The quick cook function allows me to sauté the onions and garlic like how you would over the stove (except no fire is required here). The depth of the pot also means less splattering of oil. This dish has been stewed for 6 hours (with the help of the 24-hour preset timer, without having me keep an eye of the cooking process), and kept warm overnight till ready to devour. This cooking method yields tender chunks of beef that you can easily pull apart with no effort, and intensely flavoured potatoes and carrots that’s inherited all the natural beefy goodness. Continue reading

Recipes from the Panasonic Cooking Workshop at Onaka

Honoured to be selected by the panel of judges to be one of the top 10 finalists for Singapore’s Best Cooking Blog in the Singapore Blog Awards 2013, I was also given the opportunity to attend an enriching cooking workshop held at Onaka.

Chefs Jason and Benson demonstrated several recipes utilising appliances sponsored by Panasonic, which include a rice cooker, the Panasonic microwave oven NN-SV30, and the Panasonic mixer grinder MX-AC300 / 400.

In this post, I will be recapping on the recipes we’ve learnt, supplemented by a multitude of pictures for better comprehension. Do try these recipes at home! Continue reading

(Singapore Blog Awards 2013) Something from the 60’s that inspires me

In line with the Singapore Blog Awards 2013’s 60s Fever theme this year, finalists in the Best Food Blog Category are to submit a blog entry on something/someone from/about the 60’s that inspires us.

Melicacy has emerged as one of the top 10 finalists in the Singapore Blog Awards 2013, in not one, but two categories –Best Food Blog and Best Cooking Blog. I’m exceedingly thankful for this opportunity, and will continue churning out vibrant posts on my blog accompanied by loads of food-porn –whether victorious or not.

Play-Doh is one of the several things from the 60’s that inspire me.

It’s been around on the market way long before the 60’s (it was first manufactured in the 1930s), but its popularity grew tremendously and generated lots of hype since its launch on the toy market in the mid-1950s.

As a child, I loved playing with cooking and food toys. Parents and teachers taught us never to play with fire, so I never did. I turned on the stove for the very first time at the age of 18, and the very first thing I attempted to cook was scrambled eggs. Instant noodles came to a close second, but it was usually out of desperation.


I’ve always wanted a kitchen play set when I was a kid!

Talk about the 60’s and the words ‘old’, ‘vintage’ and ‘antique’ come to mind. The only things that have retained their youths, in my books, are the toys. Toys have always been a big inspiration to me. Not only have they been a huge part of my childhood, even till date as a young adult, toys have never lost their appeal to me.

Traversing through generations, Play-Doh still remains a popular toy in major toys stores, though kids these days have the privilege of the latest inventions and fanciful dough-assembling kits. Often used as an educational tool in schools, this kid-friendly toy stimulates one’s creativity –for the manners of interpretations are limitless. You can mould it into anything you want it to be.

When I get inspired, I get motivated to try new things. Writing a blog post on how Play-Doh inspires me has now inspired me further to fabricate a ‘three course meal’ using play dough.

To make your own play dough from scratch, here is a simple recipe I found online (compiling and adapting from various sources), using just a few simple ingredients that contain no harmful chemicals. Continue reading

Cooking with Tefal: Experimenting with Korean Pancake Recipes

If you’re a fan of Korean pancakes, here’s a basic recipe that you can easily replicate at home and customise to suit your own taste. Adapted from Sarang Korean Bistro’s pancake recipe, I’ve experimented with three variations that I all enjoyed to the last bit. If you’re just like me, who enjoy a modest amount of starchiness with a crisp crust without excessive greasiness, you won’t be disappointed with the outcome.

I’m using a Tefal non-stick Comfort Touch Frypan for this pancake recipe, which I find yields much better results with little effort as compared to regular pans. I don’t have to worry about the batter sticking to the pan, and having problems flipping the pancake. It slides off the pan with ease without breaking apart. This recipe requires just enough batter to fill up the 28cm-diameter pan. You may adjust accordingly to the size of your pan. You don’t want the pancake to be too thick or too thin.

You can experiment with lots of other ingredients, such as Parmesan or mozzarella cheese, caramelised onion, smoked salmon, scallions and kimchi. Continue reading

Food Trail at Bugis+ with Omy bloggers

Last weekend, a group of Omy.sg bloggers were invited to a 6-hour-long food trail, covering over 10 dining establishments in Bugis+. With an empty stomach and a voracious appetite, we sampled a wide range of cuisine from American to Chinese, and Korean to Thai, available in the promising mall.


(Hashtag for the event: #BugisPlus; follow me @melicacy on Instagram)

Regrettably, I had an event to cover earlier in the day, hence I missed out on several restaurants. Nevertheless, I’ll be featuring some of the restaurants I’ve visited at Bugis+ during the past few months, in addition to what we’ve sampled during the food trail. Continue reading

Vote for your favourite blogger to win the Tefal Blendforce Glass worth $79.90!

The month-long Tefal campaign is slowly coming to a close, but this is only the very beginning of my cooking and experimentation with Tefal appliances. For someone who once relied heavily on convenience products for quick fix meals, I’ve learnt so much from this experience and I never knew I could create so many dishes from scratch.

Here are some of the beverages and dishes I made using the Tefal Blendforce Glass.

Strawberry ‘Cheesecake’ Milkshake

Click here for the recipe: https://melicacy.com/?p=4681

Creamy Vegetable Soup

Click here for the recipe: https://melicacy.com/?p=4689

Carrot Purée

Click here for the recipe: https://melicacy.com/?p=4742

Mooncake Milkshake

Click here for the recipe: https://melicacy.com/?p=4719

Non-bake Fusion Mooncake

Click here for the recipe: https://melicacy.com/?p=4719

Would you like to own the Tefal Blendforce Glass too? Here’s how you can win it!

Simple vote for your favourite blogger at http://blog.omy.sg/tefal-triplax-challenge/vote-and-win-phase2/

You are allowed to vote ONCE a day. Vote daily for a higher chance of winning!

The Tefal Blendforce Glass comes with a mini chopper too! You can use it to blend nuts into fine powder, or make chilli pastes with it.

The top blogger (determined by number of votes and judges’ scoring) gets to win Tefal appliances worth $350! I would really love to win the products and churn out more delicious recipes to share with you! If you enjoy my posts, do cast your vote for me, Melissa. :)

Best of luck to my fellow participating blogger friends! I like Moonberry’s Sambal Sauce recipe and would try making that one day! :)

Thank you omy.sg for this wonderful opportunity.

Cooking: Brown Rice Risotto using Tefal Intensium non-stick cookware

Do you remember your first-ever cooking experience?

Memories of cooking are not all pleasant and encouraging. If not triumphant, did it turn out to be an utter disaster because food got burnt and stuck to the surface of your cooking pans?

Quality pans are especially crucial for novice cooks; you don’t want to be scarred (mentally and literally) so bad that you will shun the kitchen and shirk the duty of cooking completely.

I speak with experience, because I was once scalded badly due to a pot handle that broke while I was carrying the pot of boiling water across the kitchen. Lesson learnt: always check if the handles are wearing out, once they do, it’s time to get new pots. Get good quality utensils with higher durability.

Tefal is one of the quality brands that I trust.

Also, health concerns are reassured with Tefal’s safe non-stick coating, recognised by public health agencies in Europe and the United States. The non-stick coating is made from an inert material that does not chemically react with food, water or household cleaning product.

With the top quality Tefal Intensium non-stick Resistal Sauté Pan with Lid, I attempted my version of Brown Rice Mushroom Risotto, inspired from several risotto recipes that I gathered online.

Using fresh ingredients is key to healthy cooking.
Continue reading

Sentosa BBQ by the Beach

Sentosa celebrates its 40th Anniversary with a spanking BBQ by the Beach extravaganza, featuring various BBQ techniques such as the regular barbeque grill, vertical grill and the traditional Hawaiian underground oven that is known as the ‘imu’.

The open-air environment with unobstructed views of the sea is accompanied by cool sea breeze and therapeutic sounds of waves breaking on the shore.

As night falls, it gets utterly romantic. Catch the spectacular sunset and bask in the moonlight whilst dining with your loved ones.

On to the food….

Continue reading

SHINE Youth Festival 2012 (30 June – 29 July)

20 Omy.sg bloggers were invited to the SHINE Youth Festival Media Conference, held at Scape Warehouse.

The session kicked off with a performance by John and Deniece Glee Studios.

Celebrating July as the month of Youth, the SHINE Youth Festival has orchestrated a series exciting activities throughout the entire month.

The theme for this year’s SHINE Youth Festival is ‘Aspirations’, accompanied by a new tagline – “Fire up your passion!” – inspiring youths to dream big and take risks.
Continue reading

Resorts World Genting with omy.sg (Day 1)

5 lucky omy.sg bloggers were chosen to go on a 3D2N trip to Genting!

The theme is ‘love’ and our mums were invited along for a pampering retreat.

I have been to Genting once, when I was a toddler –so young I can’t even recall.

Mum is an ambitious woman. She is my heroine; someone I admire; someone I idolise; someone I look up to. But because of her hectic schedule, we hardly spend time together. She drives me to events in between her meetings and appointments, but that’s about the amount of time we spend together: the journey in the car.

The objective of this trip is to spend more quality time together, take many photos and videos for memory keepsakes, and to also share with you our wonderful memories in Genting on my blog.

I’ve compiled snippets of videos to summarise my Genting trip, split into two separate videos: Day 1 and Day 2-3.

Day 1

1.30pm: Check in at First World Hotel
2pm: Lunch at Ming Ren (Check out my review of Ming Ren here: https://melicacy.com/?p=3864)
3pm: Free & Easy
7.30pm: Dinner at Genting Palace (Check out my review of Genting Palace Restaurant here: https://melicacy.com/?p=3856)

We boarded a Five Stars Travel coach that departed from Golden Mile at 6.30am, with two stopovers for refreshments and toilet breaks along the approximately-5-and-a-half-hour journey.
Continue reading

Resorts World Genting with omy.sg – Day 2 and 3

The trip was indeed memorable. My impression of Genting – a casino gaming destination – is banished. It’s a holiday destination that panders to people from all walks of life and a wide range of activities to cater to people of all ages.

Apart from 3 casinos, there are 2 theme parks, countless shopping avenues and over 90 F&B outlets spanned across the mountain resort.

Check out my video from Day 2 and 3!

Day 2

8am: Breakfast at Coffee Terrace (Omg this place is awesome. Not to be missed!)
10am: Theme Park
1pm: Lunch at Hainan Express
3.30pm: M Spa
6pm: Dinner at Happy Valley
8pm: Sam Hui Concert

Day 3

10am: Breakfast at World Club Lounge
11.30pm: Visitors’ Galleria
1pm: Onboard coach back to Singapore
Continue reading