Musings of a Virgin: January 2009

Thursday, January 29, 2009

My S'pore Trip - Reflections

This was an excellent trip for me. It was great knowing that the folks are financially and physically secure and still hale and hardy in their early 60's.

I'm also glad I spent quite a bit of time with the niece and nephew. After all, very soon they will have their own lives and I'll just be 'that' uncle that lives in the States.

I also like the new condo that the folks moved into. The house itself is nice, but the real gem is the pool area. I swam almost every day that I was in Singapore. This is very amazing because its been over 5-8 years since I've swam. Part of it was physical insecurities, the other part was simply not having a pool readily available.

Heck I even got sun burn after my first day swimming and was peeling the next day. That's just how fair my skin was and now I'm tanned!

And now for the final post before I log off and finish packing. Most of the loot that I'm lugging back with me. Lots of DVD's and pre-mix spices.

Posted by emyln at 6:36 AM | Permalink | Comments

My S'pore Trip - Day 22

This morning for the 4th day of the New Year and the last day of my holiday, we drove to Whampoa Market yet again, but this time the curry store was open for breakfast.

This whole feast only cost $16 for the 3 of us.

After breakfast we had to rush home as we were expecting guests for lunch.
I won't list everything but I will say that the Satay Chicken (fried this time), the Chilli Prawns, and the Pong Tau Hu, were exceptional.

And for desert, we had Pulot Hitam (Black rice) with coconut milk. It was not a fave of mine, and my mom cooked it salty but I prefer mine sweet, after all it is a desert.
You might not be able to see it, but the dishes and spoons for the Pulot Hitam are the antique Nonya dishes passed down from my grandmother's mother. Mom really pulled out all the stops.

Dinner was a special affair. Not only is it my last night in Singapore, but we're also celebrating my Dad's birthday which is less than a week away.

My sister suggested Straits Kitchen at the Grand Hyatt Singapore, and it turned out to be a fabulous choice. It might be on the pricy side, but the theme was upper class hawker food and it was excellent!!!

Here are some shots of the various food stations (its a buffet) before I was told no photos allowed.

And here's what I had. I started off with Chicken rice, both steamed and roasted, it was soooo good.

Poh Piah which I shared with my Mom

Satay. I know I had satay at the family reunion BBQ but professionally cooked satay beats irregular heat cooked satay any day.

An assortment of items, the fish with blachan was damn good.

This round I had Ayam Bua Kulek which was good, and a side of soy sauce chicken.

For desert, it was almond jelly and logang with a variety of nonya cakes.

My niece also got Ice Kachang.

There were some tears at the start of the meal, but by the time everyone was on their first course, the water works had stopped.

And finally the family portrait. (29 Jan 2009)

Posted by emyln at 6:12 AM | Permalink | Comments

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

My S'pore Trip - Day 21

The folks took the week off, so I'm spending lots of time with them. We went back to Whampoa Market to try and get Curry Rice since it was so good, but it was closed so we had noodles instead which was also very good.

The main reason it was so tasty. Lard.

Oh and some carrot cake too.

We popped by NTUC and I had to shoot this. They sell fish in a super market much like a wet market. This must be a recent thing cos It was not here when I came back about 15 months ago. There's even a basin for you to wash your hands after selecting the perfect fish. This seems to me the eventual death of wet markets.

Oh and Pomfret. A fave fish in Singapore but practically unheard of in the States.

had to take a picture of this. The Four Seasons Durian store at Ang Mo Kio HUB. Its soooo good. $12 for a box of 4, its a pancake with real durian in the center. Soooooooooo good.

This is another product they sell, Durian Mochi.

Lunch was eaten by the pool. We had Wanton noodles and Hokkien Mee.

Here's the old folks joining me for a swim.

And here's a fun and relaxing past-time. Feeding the fishes in the pond.

Evidently my dad likes to to this every morning. So he bought the fish food in bulk and stores them in the trunk of his car for easy access and grabs a bag each morning.