Author: Charmaine

Charmaine considers gluttony the most beautiful sin, and enjoys exemplifying it as she goes about her daily activities. Luckily for her, she currently lives in Hong Kong, the purported greatest city in Asia for everything to do with food (it’s a close fight with Singapore, where she was born and bred). These days she can be found (over)eating, thinking of what and where to eat next, and attempting various recipes in her kitchen.

Restaurants26 December

A very nice couple of days in Shanghai

Shanghai is my very favourite city in China, and I’d even go as far to say that I prefer it to Hong Kong in many ways. As some of you would have read from Joanna’s posts, Shanghai is indeed a city that is full of much yet-unexplored discoveries and is perpetually brimming with energy, and I like to find any excuse to visit. When it’s for work, it’s usually in and out, with hopefully a nice meal or two squeezed in. When it’s play, I often zero in on a few choice destinations. During a recent play visit over a long weekend, I visited my usual fave spots, and explored a couple of new ones.

Restaurants30 October

Eating Tokyo

It’s been a while since I’ve been to Tokyo/Japan, so I was super thrilled and honoured when my friend E invited me to his wedding to the gorgeous H, held last weekend. It took place in the beautiful gardens of Happo-en, and I happily jumped on a plane last weekend to spend a couple of days in the land of sushi, uni, and more uni.

Travel23 April

The fabulous Chimelong zoo

I’ve heard from various trusted sources about the fabulousness of the Chimelong Safari Park, just on the outskirts of Guangzhou city – though admittedly I was still skeptical about how fabulous it could be, especially compared to my beloved Singapore Zoo and Night Safari.

Recipes24 March

Dark chocolate covered digestives

It’s been a while since I have baked or cooked – between work, baby happenings and numerous other social going-ons, the best laid plans kept getting postponed. Lately, however, I have become increasingly conscious that it’s about time to begin to cultivate baby J’s awareness of how things end up at the table for our eager consumption, and I also thought it would be a fun activity to do together with the 18-month old toddler (how time flies).

Style14 February

Galatee – A Divine Taste: a haute couture collection of wines in Hong Kong

Ms Galatée Faivre comes from a family of winemakers and merchants, and grew up among the vineyards in Southern France. She has been a chief wine maker, consultant and wine critics for the past 15 years in France on the most famous French wine regions, and her family has been making or selling wine since the 1830s.

Restaurants13 January

The barbecued oyster and other food delights from the San Francisco Bay Area

Northern California is one of my favourite destinations in the world, and nothing makes me happier than spending a week (or two or twenty) exploring the countless gustatory delights, interspersed with some fun activities and fab shopping of course.

Style10 October

Punch Detox – a juice cleanse

Over the years, I have often heard and read about the benefits of a juice cleanse. All this time, I’ve dismissed it as simply too mar fan (troublesome) – after all, I could just eat healthier or just have fruit and veggies directly for most of the day.

Style2 October

Diner en Blanc in Singapore this year!

I first heard about Diner en Blanc in an article from a magazine some years back, but by the time I realised the inaugural one in Singapore was going to take place, it was too late to even vaguely think about trying to get onto the guest list. This year, I was slightly better prepared, and was all excited about taking part in the much talked about gourmet flash mob in a secret location – coming up in October (next month!). Happily, I also managed to grab some time with organiser Clemen Chiang.

Restaurants10 September

Our lovely contributors & hello to Lizzie Loel

As the editor of Aun’s fantastic blog here at Chubby Hubby, one of the things I enjoy doing most is getting to know our fabulous contributors. Our contributors come from all walks of life – including marketing and creative folks, working mums (including S, Aun’s wife) who juggle a full time work schedule and still manage to turn out restaurant quality meals, as well as people who work in the corporate sector – all of whom take time out from their busy schedules (no doubt eating all the way) to share their eating and travel experiences, varied recipes and life in general with us and our readers.

Recipes21 August

Chocolate biscotti

I made biscotti for the first time when I was looking for a baked good to whip up that didn’t involve butter (I’d run out and was too lazy to run out for some) and utilised whatever ingredients I already had in my pantry. What’s great about biscotti is that the options to customise the flavours and additions to suit your current fancy are really quite myriad. Pistachio, cashew or almond; dried cranberry, apricot or orange zest; chocolate dipped or otherwise, etc etc etc. My first couple of attempts at making biscotti was the classic almond recipe from the Kitchenaid recipe book that came with my little red baby; and subsequently, I moved on to this more decadent version that would be chocolatey enough for a post-meal sweet.