Raffles Long bar

Hi,

I bet you're Surprised, I'm sure you weren't expecting this so soon.

On my travels in the summer, as you are aware, I went to Singapore. You're all acutely aware I love cocktails too so, it was impossible for me especially not to visit the birthplace of the Singapore Sling. The Long bar itself is an experience, it's like stepping back in time. From the colonial facade to the interior teakwood bar and wicker chairs not to mention the traditional reef fans. You can really imagine this being the hub of socialites back in the day. Real nostalgia visit. 

The bar isn't really one of the bars you eat food apart from peanuts. Not the place to go if you have a peanut allergy at all. PEANUTS EVERYWHERE. The idea is that you nibble on the sack of peanuts on your table and then chuck the remains on the floor. The clean organised person that I am thought that the bar needed a clean when I first arrived, but after realising it was on purpose it was kind of exhilarating. 

The Singapore Sling was created in 1915 by Niam Ton Boon at Raffles long bar. At the time women were not allowed to drink alcohol in public, so he decided to create a drink that would not scream alcohol and looked more like a fruit punch. Saying that doesn't mean now it's thought of as a girly drink. However, when we were there were plenty of both genders.

It was just an amazing experience that you must go to, I can't stress that enough. As you can see from the picture below we didn't go in the evening, for us, it was more of a pre-dinner drinks. We had a relaxing girly day prior shopping at the Orchid ion mall, followed by the cinema and a photoshoot for the blog. And after we moved our cocktails and nibbles to a Tapas bar near, also delicious with a great outdoor atmosphere.

So that was my experience at the long bar, and I hope you enjoyed reliving the experience with me. I'm also sure I have adequately wetted your appetite so for the people that don't live in Singapore or can't afford to travel there immediately he is a recipe so you can attempt to make one at home.

Good luck and share the outcome with me on Instagram (@solvingmaria) if you give it a go. I hope you enjoined and feel free to comment down below.

Maria x

Singapore

0

Hibiscus Cocktails

Evening all,

Well, I'm writing this in the morning but it's only socially acceptable to drink in the evening after 12 pm at a push if you've had a hard day or your celebrating.

Anyways who cares. As many of you, many of you may know I quite like drinking but I also like experimenting with cocktails. That sentence took longer than it should have, writing what I had in my head without sounding like an alcoholic rather difficult apparently.

Getting distracted! The point is recently I was experimenting is a hibiscus cordial I had acquired from the Great East India Tea Company, and they were amazing if I don't say so myself so I thought I should share. They are good either for everyday or special occasion.

left- Hibiscus Cooler               Right - Hibiscus G&T

So let's get into it...
(warning none of these measurements are precise or technical)

Hibiscus Gin & Tonic

Kinda self-explanatory, a G&T with a twist.

1) Pick your favorite Gin, mine being Tanqueray, and depending how strong/weak you want it, add 1/2 shots 

2) Pick your favorite Tonic, I strongly recommend the fever tree brand especially for this recipe the one with a hint of elderflower. Then add to make the G&T strength you like.

3) Then the new bit, add in the Hibiscus cordial. This is also to taste and how you prefer it. I probably added 1/2 tablespoons. 

4) Add some ice, and enjoy.

Hibiscus Cooler 

A tall and longer drink. Which usually means; easier to drink. In the picture, I did not serve on ice but I would recommend crushed ice as an extra touch. 

1) Add 1/2 shots of your preferred spirit, either in a shaker or chosen tall glass alone with ice. I used Gin again but I have tried since and used vodka, so they are interchangeable. 

2) Then add the mixers into the shaker/glass, which are tropical fruit juice (preferably with passion fruit included) and lemonade of equal amounts. These are the main liquids so add appropriately to fill the glass/glasses.

3) Add the cordial, depending on how big your glass is 1/2 tablespoons and maybe a bit more. Now shake/ stir.

4) Now serve into the glass and add a straw. At this point, I also added a dash of Grenadine slowly down the straw to get the separation effect. And Enjoy!

Now your all set to make an hibiscus flavored drink. Have a go and enjoy, post your experiments on Instagram and tag me @solvingmaria or use the #solvingmariafood

I look forward to enjoying them with you,

Maria x

Food

0

I made Gyoza!!

Hello again,

So as you may or may not know, Utsunomiya is quite famous for Gyoza. They eat the most Gyoza in the world, they once lost the title to a small Chinese town, they weren't having that, so the council had a campaign for people to eat more Gyoza.

So it's fair to say I've had quite a few in my time in Japan, seeing as if you walk out of Utsunomiya station there are gyoza restaurants left, right and centre. But I never knew you could make your own until last week. Well obviously I knew you could but, too much effort.

I was just doing the usual weekly shopping (that's another interesting thing I'll have to tell you about) and I noticed you could buy the pastry things that you wrap the meat with, I had to buy them, I live in the town of Gyoza I had to at least try. Right?

I was surprisingly not that difficult, it was kind of like making little Cornish pasties... so I guess a tad fiddly. All I did was add pork mince, leeks, spinach and Japanese coriander and mix together and put into the parcels that we pre-bought. Seal them up with a little water and they fry them in the frying pan. Gyozas can be eaten in several ways; steamed, fried and baked. Seeing as there is no oven in our apartment we fried them, which is probably better because I like them better that way.

As with everything me and my mum tend to do, it turned in to a sort of competition, who could make the better Gyozas'. Mine on the left and hers on the right (photo). Well obviously you can see that mine are more uniform and in my eyes I won. But when I took to Facebook to seal my victory, it didn't go as planned, apparently mine are green and Gyoza are not meant to be green. However the only difference between the two was the shape of the parcel.

Anyway who really cares, they tasted amazing and i will definitely be making them again although I do fancy trying so other dishes so maybe another post will be heading your way of what I make next. If you have any ideas or requests comment down below, i'm up for anything.

Thanks for reading, talk soon,

Maria xx

Living in Japan

0