Breakfast

Someone commented not too long ago that food had the power to lift my spirits. I was surprised how well she knew me — I had no idea until she pointed it out — but she's right.

It is not food per se, not how good it tastes even, but the ritual of eating that gives me comfort. It is the zen -like notion that when all is said and done, after all the achievements, heartaches and grief, everybody needs to stop and eat so that they can carry on. "After you eat, wash your bowl," the Zen Buddhists say. Life is as simple as doing what you need to do to keep going.

Sharing a meal is an intimate thing for me. The native Americans had the tradition of showing their ultimate acceptance and inclusion of guests into their society: they ate them. I don't get that intimate. I met an old friend yesterday evening for a late dinner at Whampoa Hawker Centre and we went about ordering food the way we used to when we used to hang out every weekend — Hokkien mee, Oyster Egg and Sugarcane. It felt familiar: him heaping the prawns and sotong (squid) onto my plate because he's allergic to seafood. Lucky for my cholesterol levels, I don't meet him for Hokkien mee and Oyster egg that often!

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and maybe a snack in between. The nursing homes got it right — a snack of tau huay (curdled soy bean desert) and a snack of milo and biscuits in the afternoon. I love the word "snack". Right now, my appetite has shrunk so I can barely stomach a full meal, but still, the idea of three meals will keep me sane.

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What I am having for breakfast

Coffee and saltines. I love saltines. :)

(Obviously, I'm not very good at creating the curved cropped effect on my pics.. Aw well.)

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Yu Sheng for Christians

Singaporeans eat a lot of Yu Sheng during Chinese New Year. Yu Sheng is a salad of shredded carrots, cucumber and various spices, crackers and plum sauce, topped with slivers of raw fish. I love the taste of Yu Sheng, but it is not for how it tastes that Chinese people eat it. It is because of what it symbolises.

If you go to a restaurant, the waitress will speak many auspicious words as she pours each ingredient on the plate. I'm always very bemused at how good and lucky everything sounds and how each auspicious word is matched with an appropriate ingredient. For example, when she pours in the sweet plum sauce, she says, “甜甜密密” (sweet and intimate); when you pours out the crispy crackers, she says, "财源滚滚" (wealth rolls down).

After every auspicious ingredient is on the plate, every one at the table takes his chopsticks and tosses the salad, the higher the better, symbolising better things to come. (步步高升: rising higher).

It is all very fun and interesting, except that some of the words will make a Christian uncomfortable. Stuff like 金银满屋 (gold that fills the house) or 满地黄金 (gold all over the floor), or even 大吉大利 （to be very auspicious) or 恭喜发财 (get rich). So I decided to try my hand at writing my own script for Yu Sheng, with (a lot of) help from my dad.

What to say while serving Yu Sheng
Place Yu Sheng on table: 主恩满溢 and 万事神意
Add limejuice: 年年蒙恩
Add raw fish: 福杯满溢 and 龙马精神
Add five-spice powder, peanuts: 主内平安 and 年年有余
Add crackers: 年年快乐 and 原主带领

Rough translations:
主恩满溢: Abundant grace
万事神意: Everything in God's will
年年蒙恩: Blessed by God yearly
福杯满溢 : Abundant blessings
龙马精神: Good health
主内平安: Peace in Christ
年年有余: Abundance
年年快乐 : Happiness
原主带领: God's guidance

Any suggestions for improvement?

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Al Forno Trattoria

Need a place to bring a date? Craving pasta? Try this cozy and intimate eatery at Goldhill Centre which serves very good pasta. (By `very good' I mean better than I can ever cook on my own, for example, I like Pastamania but it isn't `very good' because I can reproduce their pasta in my kitchen.)

Over two visits, I've tried the Pasta alla Carbonara (rich and creamy), Lasagna Emiliana (yum!), Pappardelle alla Venexiana (my first pasta in a saffron sauce; won't be the last), a tomato cream pasta with bacon and mushroom (very rich and filling; it was served with a flat and fat homemade pasta that filled the belly) and a penne pasta with crabmeat and tomato sauce (this one didn't have as much wow! factor as the others but it was a lighter pasta, and good for offsetting the richness of the others).

Wholly satisfying.

This yahoo user thinks Al Forno Trattoria is snotty. I thought it was very nice actually. Dim Sum Dolly recommends the Tiramisu. I'm not a dessert person so I wouldn't know. Al Forno Trattoria also specialises in traditional thin-crust pizzas baked over a wood-fire oven. According to this source, it was the first restaurant to introduce thin-crust pizzas to Singapore in 1992.

Cost: about $25-30 per person without wine, appetizer or desert.

Al Forno Trattoria (map)
203 Thomson Road, Goldhill Centre
(S) 307638
Tel: 6256 2838
Opens: 12 - 2pm; 6.30pm - 10.30pm.

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I need a place for lunch

Right now, I have three possible posts in my head. One starts with the line: "Gone are the days of the wind-up clock, where time moved languid and slow." The other is about gadgets. And the third, is this:

I'm taking my boss and department out for lunch next week. There will be six of us in total. Any suggestions on where to take them? Right now, these are the options:

1. Pete's Place ($26+++)
2. Tang Court (cost?)
3. Jack's Place
4. Seah Street Deli

I'm thinking of a set lunch place that is nicer than Jack's Place, maybe $15-$20pax.

Update:
Leaning towards Foster's set lunch. ($15.90+++)

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6:07pm

A Monday Chronicle.

It's about time to head home. I'm craving Bibimbap. When I first tried it at an authentic Korean restaurant, I didn't like it. I think mixing a runny egg that I suspected was raw into my rice just didn't do it for me. (Is it raw by the way?) But after I traveled on Korean Air on a long haul flight and eating Bibimbap at least three times there and back, I think the taste has grown on me.

(The entire paragraph above was written by my stomach.)

What a day. Handed in my resignation letter today and it feels strange. Neither liberating nor sad, just strange. I forget who I was I said this:

I am not only between the proverbial devil and the deep blue sea, there are sharp nails under my feet. You can make a home of sharp nails, you know, the way a salamader makes a home of consuming fire. I have uncannily made a home of this uncomfortable place: where there are no ambitions, no dreams, no principles, no hope for a future, just today, tomorrow and everyday after.

I don't think I was talking only about work there, but I can't remember.

I don't think I've ever been so keenly aware of the calendar year as I am right now.

Anyone up for Bibimbap?

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Tip #1

You should not have an over-ripe banana for breakfast, followed with by coffee and milk (somewhat cuddled curdled from swishing around in the bus), the morning you are in charge of a company function.

Just don't do it.

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Room service at Sptw. Park

My parents are sweet. This is the note my mum left me this morning: "E- Prawn mee for you. No duck mee." In case you think I'm a duck noodle fanatic, the reason why she wrote "no duck mee" was because she asked me what I wanted last night -- I get room service on Saturday mornings ;) -- and for once I actually knew what I wanted: duck mee.

But prawn mee is good too. :)

My grandfather used to buy prawn mee from this very same Tanjong Pagar stall for my mother for breakfast too. Imagine that. Now the lady running the stall is much older but she still does it single-handedly, and it packs a good four half-prawns, one-eighth egg, and a smattering of fishcake and beansprouts for $2 a packet (I think, or maybe it is $2.50, I have to ask my mother. Heh.).

If I have to do an audit of my life about the things I have and the things I don't, I think I still have to conclude: I am very blessed.

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Possibly the best Tom Yam Soup

you can find in Singapore is at Tyrwhitt Road.

The soup is spicy with the slightest tinge of sweet. The broth is somewhat milky -- it isn't one of those clear watery soups with bits of chili floating on the top -- and it fills a belly in a wholly satisfying way.

For $3.30, you get two prawns, two pieces of silken soft tofu, one large piece of fried fish, and many pieces of fresh fish and mushrooms. The whole thing is topped with succulent onions and lime leaves that gives the dish that extra bit of oomph.



Alternating between spoonfuls of soup, large mouthfuls of steamed rice, and nibbly bites of ngoh hiang (fried meat roll), there was no room for conversation.

Be warned, this soup will make you want to come back for more. But as with all good things, it is not easy to get. The location is practically inaccessible by public transport, and the stall is open only between 10:30am and 4:30pm (closed on Sundays).

Northern Thai Restaurant
1 Tyrwhitt Road (S) 207522
10:30am - 4:30pm (closed on Sundays)

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A very good prata at tekka market

I'm stuffed with prata and teh tarik and I'm absolutely brimming with the pleasure of discovering a VERY GOOD prata stall at tekka market.

I used to patronise a stall facing the Chinese side of the market because it was the most convenient, but after they served me a really lousy and chewy kosong (plain) prata, I decided enough was enough, and ventured to find a different stall the next time. And this is what I found:

Muhd Ani Rafi
#01-301
(My camera battery is kapooted so I won't be posting pictures for a while.)

Nestled behind the row facing the Chinese side of the market is a narrow corridor of Malay food and nestled in the middle of that, is this store that sells heavenly prata. The 60 cents kosong is crisp, soft and hot. The $1 egg prata is tasty, light yet substantial. $1 is a rockin' good price! I even had a piece of potato in my curry.

The prata man chopped up my prata for me, handed it to the server, looked at me and said, "Bagus" (`good') with his thumb stuck out and the widest grin plastered on his face. And, you know what, it was lagi bagus! (very good)

I'm hooked.

Technorati tag: Prata

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Graveyard dining

My mind deceives me. It feels like I have been gone at least a week. But perhaps it is because I misplaced my stomach while walking the streets without a map and it decided to remain behind at one of the many roadside stores we found an excuse to stop at every chance we could.


Mee Rebus with crispy muruku. The plastic sheet over the plate is brilliant. It keeps the plate clean as there is no running water at the roadside store. This Indian seller's gravy has a tinge of fish curry in it. Different from what I'm used to in Singapore, but just as good.


Graveyard dining. Two roadside stores sold RM2 Mee Rebus and RM1 Chendol in the middle of what looked like freshly dug graves.


BBQ pork and rice balls, this time at a proper "restaurant".

We ate a lot more - mee goreng, curry chicken bao, fried chicken, roti prata, penang prawn mee, etc., but sad to say, we didn't pause long enough to take pictures. :)

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A sandwich

I want a sandwich. With grilled chicken, avocado and alfafa; and cheese, the big-eye kind that has holes large enough to stick all your fingers through and wiggle them about. I would like it on fresh bread, any kind, just as long as it is not so dry that its tastes like crackers, and not so empty that it floats on water.

Tomatoes, not those generic plastic tasting ones you get from NTUC at $0.20 a hundred grams, but the succulent sweet fresh variety that is bursting with the taste of, well, tomato. Oh gosh, what would I do for a tomato! And possibly olives and green peppers, a light dressing, a dash of pepper and maybe salt, and I'll be a very happy camper.

Now who wants to buy my a subway lunch? :)

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Breakfast

Teh tarik and thosai. They give me a plastic fork and spoon because i am chinese.

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Your morning dose

I know it is only a matter of time before you guys get sick of looking at what I'm eating for breakfast, but hey, it is better than me ranting for a good half page. This isn't even a particularly good picture and I would take another one except I can't because I ate it all up already.

Can you see the steam from my coffeecup? Cool eh? Today's breakfast: Kopi-O (black coffee with sugar), freshly baked jiam tao luo ti ("sharp head bread", or simply, french loaf) with melted cheese and a dollop of butter. Ooh. I can't get the cheese to melt enough without the bread burning though, as you can tell from the photo.

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Breakfast

Everybody ought to have a photogenic coffeecup.

Ok ok, here is a wednesday morning riddle.

A little boy ran to his father in a fluster and yelled, "Gong Gong gong gong gong gong gong Gong Gong gong Gong Gong gong gong." And immediately his father ran out of the room. What did the boy tell his father?

Clue:
Gong3 Gong3 gong4, "gong4 gong4 Gong3 Gong3!" Gong3 Gong3 gong4, "Gong3 Gong3 gong3 gong2."

Answer

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(: Smiling like an idiot :)

Han's is my favourite restaurant in Singapore!

I love everything about it: the variety of food, the outdoor seating at the Central Library branch, the happy balance between self-service and service, the price, the taste, everything. Some restaurants, in a bid to focus on their niche, cut their menu down to a few core dishes of a certain genre. Not Han's. You can find everything there, from Western set meals like Chicken Chop (better than their fish and chips) to Chinese favourites like Hor Fan to sandwiches (good deal) to hamburgers (try the yummy superburger!) to pasta (increasingly popular), and get this, it is all good.

They do all things well!

On the way to work this morning, I stopped by the Central Library to return a few books and decided to stop by Han's for breakfast. For $4.50, I bought their breakfast set called "Scrambled egg bacon". For the same price I could also have bought "Scrambled egg ham", or "Scrambled egg sausage", or "Fried egg bacon", or "Fried egg ham", or "Fried egg sausage", you get the idea. I collected my coffee with milk and sugar and sat down to wait for the food.

When the food came, it looked ordinary: a lump of egg, 4 half pieces of toast with butter, and two strips of bacon. But when I first bit into the egg, it was heavenly. I'm not sure what they put in their egg; there must be some cheese in it or something, because it melted in my mouth. The toast was perfect -- not too hard, and the bacon excellent too. I ate the bacon lock, stock and barrel, fat and all. As far as the bacon goes, it is just hard to find anywhere that would serve you real bacon (as opposed to turkey bacon like Burger King) now that a lot of restaurants are going the Halal route. This must be the first time I'm having bacon in years.

The best thing? It is served on a real plate. Needless to say, I smiled like an idiot all the way to work.

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Cafe Latte Grande

A disproportionate number of posts start with a comment about coffee, but I make no apologies. Today, in my Monday morning astuteness, I noticed two things.

1. The longer I work, the higher the level of coffee. Check out this picture in April 2005.



Look at how high the coffee level has risen in less than a year! Going with this trend, I'll need a larger cup by November 2006.

(The pictures I post are also getting larger.)

Now, if the amount of instant coffee I used for each cup of coffee remained the same, then it doesn't make much of a difference -- I'll just be drinking more water; but no....

2. I add the same amount of instant coffee grounds, i.e. one happy heaped tablespoon, for my one cup of coffee as my colleague, except that she is making a POT of coffee for three.

I think I should have given up coffee for Lent.

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Eating out

I am quite a cheapo when it comes to eating out. My idea of a rockin' night out is dinner at Waraku Japanese Restaurant (about $20 per person). Their paper pot soup (beef, chicken or salmon), cold soba, tempura, sushi, potato mentai (potato with lovely melted cheese) is more than what is required to keep body and soul together. Their food makes me happy: the other day, the melt-in-mouth sushi and delectable udon in soup cheered me up from my grumpiness almost instantly. Yum... Waraku has a Valentine's Day Special for those looking for somewhere to bring their partners to next week.

Waraku is my bread-and-butter high-class eating place (what a contradictory statement!); I'm looking for something different this time round. Pink tutu's birthday is coming up and she has requested a buffet as her birthday present. She loves her Japanese food and so I've looked around and found a Japanese buffet at Hotel Miramar, and one called Hanabi at Bukit Timah Road. Have any of you tried these places? Any good?

Also searching for a pasta place that is more interesting than pasta mania. I hear that Pasta Fresca is not that great anymore, though their branch by the beach at East Coast is in one of the coolest locations around. The atmosphere is almost worth the not-that-great food.

Original Sin, located at Holland Village, serves Mediterranean styled pastas and pizzas. The chef is famous for his risotto, frittata and pasta, and the pizzas come with toppings like marinated portobello mushrooms, smoked cheddar and caramelized onions. (See review here.)

Restaurant Ember at Keong Saik Road is a trendy restaurant with "probably the best lamb loin in Singapore". It is one of debdew's favourite places to dine at. It looks sumptuous, but a little pricey at S$60 a person.

So many options, so little money, so few stomachs!

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Kopitiam*

There is a certain solidarity among the working class that comforts me this Monday morning when my colleague is no longer here. Today I stopped by Tekka market for breakfast and sat with the Indian men and Chinese men, all of us holding our cups of kopi and teh, staring into space. Two Indian men held a conversation in Tamil above my head and the only word I caught of their conversation was this – “kopi” – the league of the Monday Morning Sufferers, the disenchanted, disfranchised, overused – the kopi drinkers. Perhaps this is what the Irish coal miners feel at the end of the day, spending their wages for the day at the local pub while their family go hungry at home. I am much too sentimental for my good. I will cheer myself up with a post on the tale of the never-ending sari. Till later.

* kopitiam - coffeeshop; kopi - coffee; teh - tea

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This cup

Oh mystery!
That the love that cannot be contained
in a million far-flung galaxies,
Should be contained in this cup,
Held against my lips?

Oh mystery!
That when I drain this cup in greediness,
Sinning as I drink;
No sooner as it is empty,
It is filled again?

Oh mystery!
Sift me like flour;
Purge me anew,
Strengthen my knees,
‘Till I drink with you.

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