Singapore's gelato gem

romantic realities, brookies

A whirlwind month, time pressed thin.

I’m behind with many news snippets, but it’s been a very fruitful month, full of steep learning curves in both my personal and professional life.

Food news of the week:

Best gelato I’ve had in Singapore by far goes to Cotta (above), a hidden gelato and waffles café in Outram. Get hearty Korean food along Tanjong Pagar nearby then hit this smoky hojicha and pistachio combo, or take it away to have on my fudgy marriage of a brownie and cookie, which I talk about in today’s recipe. Now am pretty desperate for their ‘crisp, airy’ waffles for the next visit. Then there was this fantabulous crab roe with mung bean noodles at Peach Blossoms, sweet and milky with softly chewy noodles. Finally: I had the most generous extra serving of pork lard on Thai wanton mee here, which sent me straight to heaven and back. The noodles are bouncy, the chilli savoury and punchy. Finally, I practice extreme exoticism at Kafe Utu ,for today’s little review.

a sweet and icy milk tea with Soi19’s Thai wanton mee screaming with lard is the definition of the occasional weekday lunch treat

Science of the week:

Came across this short and sweet piece on the connection between gut health and mental wellbeing. It highlighted how change is a gradual process for all of us as we navigate daily challenges with health (e.g. eating and drinking choices) amidst. Yet, it emphasised that even small, consistent changes can foster growth and significantly improve mental wellbeing, which is important for getting through turbulent life stages with strength and resilience.

Insight of the week:

I’ve experienced my share of heartbreaks, and this past week has been a sobering reflection on those harsh emotions and realities. It’s a reminder that while you may cross paths with countless people in life, true, deep, understanding connections are rare and reserved for a special few.

Recipe of the week:

ideally don’t use chocolate chips like me– I just had to use up some leftovers. You’re better off coarsely chopping some dark chocolate and spraying those everywhere, to let you dig into molten pools of varying sizes when hot out the oven.

Brookies have been my weekend star. Had the impulse after seeing an Instagram reel to make a cookie layered on top of a brownie, aka a brownie+cookie=brookie.

Ingredients:

For the brownie layer, adapted from my old recipe here:

105g dark chocolate, chopped, or bittersweet chocolate chips

150g unsalted butter

1/2 tsp fine salt

2 eggs

70g brown sugar

130g white sugar

130g plain flour

For the cookie layer:

110g (half a stick) butter, melted (salted or unsalted)

160g (3/4 cup) brown sugar

1 egg

80g (1/2 cup) chopped dark chocolate or dark/bittersweet chocolate chips

110g (slightly less than half a cup) of self-raising flour, or mix the same amount of flour with 1 tsp of baking powder

For the molten middle:

Two bars of dark chocolate