One restaurant week meal I did plan to have was at Cha Chah for Mama Myint's House Salad. I first had the house salad a year ago at International Market where Mama Myint herself (Hi Patty!) taught me and Vivek and a few other people how to properly get the "flavor explosion" that is every bite of this salad.

How it works: you're presented with a smorgasboard of fillings like cilantro, kaffir, ginger, peanuts, pickled garlic and other pickled veggies, Thai chili (chili padi), carrots, pineapple, toasted coconut shreds, lime and a ton more. Each ingredient is carefully cut into equally sized pieces (knife skills ftw) and you fill your lettuce leaf with one or two of each and meat of some sort, drizzled with a sweet chili sauce. For restaurant week Cha Chah served pork and chicken to go with the wrap.

You wrap it all up into a compact package and consume it all in one bite to really get that flavor explosion which, if you can imagine, is fantastic - crunchy, sweet, sour, salty, spicy and refreshing all at once. Bear in mind, the lime has been cut into tiny triangles, rind included which you are also supposed to consume. You wouldn't expect it to taste good but give it a try at least twice before deciding because you will be surprised at the wonderful crunch and texture the rind adds as well as a strangely enjoyable bitter bite that complements the sour and spice from the other condiments.

My company that evening included The Husband, Vivek of Vivek's Epicurean Adventures (and my house salad mate the first time around) and Chris Chamberlain and his lovely girlfriend Lisa and we had a good time. This is a really really fun meal, it's interactive (which I enjoy) and how good it tastes depends on how well you construct each wrap/bite. You build your flavor explosion, and the best part is if you don't perfect it on your first try, you have lots of opportunities to work on it and find the combination that works for you.

Honorary mention goes out to the dessert we ordered - the "Brioche" with marmalade and cream cheese ice cream and the lightest Chocolate Mousse I've ever had the pleasure of eating. Heaven. The mousse came with rum-soaked raisins that are a LOT stronger than you'd expect.

If you did miss this abbreviated version of Mama Myint's salad during restaurant week you'll be happy to know that Cha Chah has added it to their tasting menu. Now, it's not something you can just show up and order, give them 24 hours and make a reservation (4 person minimum). For $35/person it's totally worth it - it's a ton of food, it's a fun experience and I'm ready to go if you are.

Cha Chah | 2013 Belmont Blvd, 37212 | ChaChah.com

Plus most of it's cheap (hawker centers and food courts), but there ARE some very expensive restaurants (Michelin star, top restaurants in the world lists and more) as well.

Here are some of the dishes I got to enjoy while home.

Clockwise from top left:

Cai tow kueh - carrot cake, the "white" kind, it's usually fried with sweet, dark soy sauce. I prefer it without because it's saltier and tastes a little lighter.

Roti Prata (with biryani, curry chicken and vadai) from our prata party where the guy made it right there for us. Video to come.

Kaya toast from Toast Box - check out all that butter!! Yum.

Wantan mee - the springy, deliciously textured noodles with char siew, veggies and wantans with extra chili sauce. I really want some now.

And this was all within the first two days.

Brace yourself, there's still more Singapore trip/food updates. Yes yes I know I'm slow and it's already almost February but I was there for three weeks and I procrastinate.

That, and, I'm drawing this out because I'll be seriously homesick once I'm done posting. Bear with me won't you?

My Mama would make these by hand every year, rolling the dough, delicately brushing them with an egg wash right before dropping the pineapple filling over which she spent hours laboring because she made it from scratch. I'd watch her, always eager to help and do SOMETHING but she (like I've become) was a bit of a control freak and perfectionist and needed to focus and no way was I going to ruin anything. Sometimes she'd give in and let me place the little diamond shapes of dough on top of the mound of pineapple but that was it. But I watched her, oh I did, and I knew how much work and care she put into her tarts and you could taste it too because there's isn't much that's better than home made and even less that's better than my grandmother's baking.

She'd make enough for our family to share when we entertained over the 15 lunar new year days, enough for close to 100 people who come through our door. Sadly, age has caught up with my grandmother who is much older now and the days of her making these tarts have come to an end. Now, we either buy them from Chinatown or the grocery, or my mom's baking enthusiast cousins bring them by. None could ever compare.

This year, I wanted to honor the Lunar New Year by making some myself. I research several recipes, and ended up adapting Rasa Malaysia's tart crust recipe. Side note: I'm so glad I found that blog because she makes food I've come to crave as time goes by, food that's familiar to me and that I find at home. If you haven't seen her blog, you must.

The filling was trickier and a lot of people who have made it before also use cloves, cinnamon, some even use maltrose (wha?!) but I kept things simple. You'll see why. Please to enjoy, Pineapple Tarts.

Pastry (Recipe adapted from Rasa Malaysia)

• 2 1/2 cups (350g) all-purpose flour
• 2 sticks butter/8 oz./1 cup/225 grams butter (cold)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 egg yolks
• 4 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
• 2 tablespoons corn flour
• 1 tbsp of cold water
• 1 egg yolk (lightly beaten for egg wash)

Pineapple Filling

• 4 fresh pineapples
• 200 - 250g sugar
• Powdered cinnamon to taste or 2 cinnamon sticks broken into inch-long pieces
• 1/4 cup of pineapple juice

Make the filling first:

Remove the pineapple shell and core. Finely grate the pineapple over a cheese cloth over a sieve to let the juice drain into a large bowl. Squeeze as much of the juice out of the grated pineapple using the cheese cloth. Cook the grated, squeezed pineapple in a pot (I used my le creuset not because I'm fancy but because the enamel helped keep the pineapple from sticking too much). Cook over low heat to start with the pineapple juice and pieces of cinnamon if you're using fresh. STIR NOW, don't let it sit too long in one spot to keep it form burning or sticking.

Add about 150g of the sugar to start, adding a little more as you go to make it as sweet as YOU want it. Sprinkle cinnamon (I used about 1/2 a teaspoon of the powdered cinnamon for a bit of a spice but not overwhelming) and stir. Stir some more. Turn the heat up a little but not much once you hear the pineapple sizzle you've turned it up too high. Turn it back down. Keep stirring.

You will do this for at least an hour, more if you increase the portions. Be patient. You'll be done when the consistency is very sticky, dry and it's a golden orange.

Let it cool before rolling into 1" rounds. You can even make the filling and roll into balls the day before.

Pastry:

Pre-heat the oven to 325˚F. Sift the flour, corn flour, salt and confectioner's sugar into a large bowl. Add the cold butter and, using a pastry cutter or a fork, start blending the butter with the flour mixture till you get a corn-meal texture. You can use your fingers to break up the little lumps of butter if you want - wash your hands with water as cold as your tap can manage to cool them down a little.

Add the egg yolks and mix it in with the flour to create a dough ball, adding the cold water bit by bit till you form a dough ball that's pretty firm.

Break the dough into two, if it's warm when you're doing this wrap the one ball in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill while you roll out the other on a floured surface. Roll it to about 0.5cm thick. Using a pineapple tart dough cutter, cut out the shapes and place on a lined baking sheet.

Using a small brush (I now have a dedicated brush just for tart egg wash, it's just a little, clean paint brush) apply the egg yolk wash to the surface of the pastry. Place the dough balls in the center of the pastry. I like to flatten them a little at the bottom before placing them on so they're more dome shaped than a sphere. If you're adding little shaped pieces of pastry on top, cut them out before you apply the egg wash. Dab the egg wash on your shapes as well.

Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes till the pastry is golden brown.

Let them cool completely, store in an air-tight container lined with parchment paper. If you're stacking them, line each stack with parchment paper.

TIPS:

Let the tarts cool COMPLETELY before eating one. Now I know why my mama never let me eat them till almost an hour later because that pineapple filling will scald your tongue. Give it at LEAST 30 minutes but more to be safe.

Fresh pineapple is a bitch to grate. It has tons of tiny seeds in it that you'll be picking out. I had a lot of advice from people telling me to use canned pineapple and while I do see the convenience, there's this really nice tang to fresh pineapple. Plus, now I have a lot of fresh pineapple juice my husband can use in his smoothies and that I can add to club soda for a refreshing beverage. Win.

My filling recipe is a lot less fancy than many other recipes you'll see online. Traditionally, cloves are used but I personally don't like how they taste. Mine's probably the simplest recipe you'll find and I assure you, it tastes just as good. I did squeeze half a lemon in there but I don't have much of a sweet tooth and this may have helped a little. Oh also, I like less filling in my tarts so I rolled them into slightly smaller pieces.

Do not, as tempting as it is, turn the heat on your stove up. The pineapple can sizzle a LITTLE but not much. Low heat, patience, it'll come together. You don't want to burn it, least of all after you went through all that work of grating and what not.

Thank you also to a spoonful of sugah for responding to my email about the filling. VERY helpful!

Enjoy and Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Before New Year's Day:

Out with the old ~ Spring cleaning is a must to make room for new energy. Everything has to be scrubbed, dusted and swept out before new year's day because anything swept out over the threshold at that time means you're also getting rid of new fortunes and some even believe it means you're getting rid of someone in your family.

Once you're done cleaning, put all brooms, cleaners, mops, dust pans and whatever else you used away.

Read more on HerNashville.com

Untitled from Tabitha Ong Tune on Vimeo.

Thanks to my mother who sent this to me.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!