Sauce, sweat, and sticky pudding

Scarpetta is one cannoli short of perfect

Full plates, full hearts, full download.

Food of the week:

Plentiful highlights: Between the punchy chai-poh kuay teow and gelatinous short rib melting into steaming rice at San Shu Gong, the perfect beer snacks of braised eggplant and squid innards at well-hidden Nobu-ya, and the wobbly juicy pizza middles at Casa Vostra, it’s been something of a sensory rave recently. Finally tried Birds of Paradise because I live under a rock, but if we’re talking gelato, nothing yet quite holds a candle to the likes of Cotta– their smoky hojicha ice cream is a dream come true. Choosing a restaurant for today’s review was hard, but I settled on the island’s hot new pasta chick.

Scarpetta showing off flavour and colour, for today’s review below.

Science of the week:

I was at Sports SG recently to help give a talk on how gut health affects athletic performance, a link I don’t think many people are yet aware of. There are indeed certain bacteria strains which help athletes with different outcomes, be it for strength, endurance, or the focus and agility required in team sports. BCAA production, for example, helps regulate muscle protein synthesis, which is controlled by certain Lactobacillus species.

Insight of the week:

Psychological ageing is a thing. In a study on octogenarians, one group reminisced about the 1960s, another fully immersed themselves in living as if it were the 1960s, and a third did nothing. Those who fully ‘time travelled’ showed physical improvement, including increased height (?!), while the reminiscing group experienced better wellbeing. Your perception influences the mind and even shapes physical health.

Recipe of the week:

Made this over the weekend for a house gathering, and it’s a longtime reliable favorite in the Lim household. My mum has been making this for years, too. It’s dense enough to actually be called a pudding, but fluffy enough to soak in all the sauce or cream it will be drenched in. Forget PS Cafe (below), make this painfully easy sticky toffee pudding yourself at home in less than an hour.

make PS Cafe-style sticky toffee pudding

Ingredients

For the cake:

280ml water

220g pitted dates

60g butter

1 tsp baking soda