11/25/12 - Best Mexican Food in Singapore

I know I've made this complaint before, but its worth repeating.  You just can't seem to find great Mexican food over here.  We're about halfway down the path of doing our due diligence on the subject before I can make a final conclusion so perhaps consider this a mid-way checkpoint.  El Patio in Holland Village is good. Cha Cha Cha in Holland Village, meh.  North of the Border in Rochester Park is good, even if they are trying to call themselves an Arizona restaurant - who ever heard of such a thing?  There are a variety of Senor Taco's around - they're OK, but have essentially the type of taco or burrito you would get if you turned an 8 year old loose in the kitchen.  Rumor has it there is a Baja Fresh in the Tanglin area, but we haven't tried it yet.  Baja Fresh in the US though, was in my opinion, OK on a good day, mediocre on an average day and then there was always the occasional unpleasant surprise on the real off days.

So what did we do to finally combat this issue?  Made some Mexican food at home!  I mean, the ingredients aren't exactly found in the exotic location of the grocery store.  Even if they were, aren't we living in the exotic section of the grocery store?  We had to attack this in a two prong approach.  Lots of expats living in the Holland Village area so Sarah stopped at the Cold Storage there on her way back from school.  She was able to find tortillas, the familiar Ortega Taco seasoning, some black beans, cheese, lettuce and even chips and salsa.  Apparently the salsa was from Mexico.  I guess that's what happens when you are importing everything.  I think we had only had Archer Farms Salsa for the past 3 years, so not a bad change of pace.

Per usual, I crossed the street to the market to see what I could hunt down.  This is the part that still bewilders me (although maybe it really does mean there isn't demand for this type of food) almost everything you need is grown in region.  I was able to find some great fresh tomatoes, peppers, onions, limes and avocados.  Of course I was talked into some of the tiniest bananas that I have ever seen that also turned out to be sweetest bananas I've ever eaten.  Almost had a citrus taste to them as well.  Made for a healthy dessert.

Anyway, we reconvened in the kitchen (which is finally getting used for a little more than making coffee) where we already had some rice on hand as well as our "meat."  We still haven't crossed the Rubicon in terms of meat purchases at the grocery store....maybe next year.  Besides, Sarah had found a recipe for lentil tacos that we wanted to try.  It took the lentils a little longer to cook than browning meat, but we had to wait on the rice cooker as well, so not a big deal.  Can't really argue with the end result, right?  Especially when you can help yourself to "thirds."


We only had Asahi - giant cans seem to be perpetually on sale for $8.95 and you get about 4 beers out of them. A Corona at the restaurant would have been $9.  So not only was the food better than we have found to date (don't worry - we'll keep looking and reporting) but it cost about 1/4 of what we would have paid to eat out.  Ah, we had leftovers too!  Which as we all know after just going through Thanksgiving is almost as important as the meal.  Its like the encore after a good concert.

11/23/12 - American Thanksgiving

We've been here a little over 4 months and it seems like every other week has been a different holiday.  Singapore National Day, Hari Raya Puasa, Deepavali and others.  While it has been fun to learn about the different cultures we are interacting with on a daily basis at some point you just want/need a taste of home.  In this case, literally.  Luckily there were signs that a big one was coming.  The weather may not have been changing (it never really does here) but there was Christmas music in the airport, "winter flavors" at Starbucks and Cold Storage had an endcap full of items to make pumpkin pie.  Christmas may be closing in, but you have to go through Thanksgiving to get to it.

Could there really be a more American holiday than Thanksgiving - setting aside the obvious comment about pilgrims for the moment?  The whole point of the holiday seems to have turned into seeing how much food you can eat before passing out in front of the TV with a football (American Football that is) game on, then waking up thinking "hmmm, time to eat again, I only had two helpings of dessert last time."  If you're really hardcore you even go change into some "comfy pants" to help the cause out.  To top it all off one of the biggest shopping days of the year that previously started the day after Thanksgiving now starts Thanksgiving evening.  And you know what?  Even with all that (and maybe because of it) it has always been one of my favorite days of the year.

We of course couldn't spend it with family this year, but we were lucky enough to have some good friends hosting a large group for Thanksgiving dinner.  Each of us had been assigned to bring a dish to pass and since Sarah is in the throes of finals week I pulled cooking duty for our family of two.  This is how I found myself laughing at the absurdity of me pealing potatoes on the porch on 90 degree Thursday afternoon, wearing shorts and a t-shirt, listening to PTI podcast discussing the biggest sports turkeys of the year.  Don't ask me why, but we had actually packed a potato masher.  So other than having to purchase some dairy products from the store (which we had not yet done in all the time we have been here) I was all set to crank out some garlic mashed potatoes.

When we arrived it was almost overwhelming to see the amount of food that had been spread out.  This was great from an eating standpoint, but all of Sarah's school friends had been highly intrigued by Thanksgiving dinner.  Now we had full photo documentation of all the trimmings.  Even though most of the people there weren't American everyone had gotten it right.  Turkey, multiple garlic mashed potatoes (one being ours) cranberries, green bean casserole, broccoli casserole (Paula Dean style so you know its good for you) multiple stuffing (one being a southern chicken recipe) sweet potatoes and then the desserts!  Someone brought a cake that looked waaaaaaaaay too much like a turkey.  Yes, the photo at the top is actually a cake!  I mean we're talking cake boss level of talent.  Pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake - amazing.

We practically rolled home afterwards (above was plate #2).  There is no way either one of us had eaten that much since our going away party in the States.  We left with a prize though.... leftovers!  One of the best parts about Thanksgiving and we were able to continue that tradition here.  A few weekend meals that only involved a microwave and a taste of home besides, doesn't get much better than that.

Lots to be thankful for this year.  New friends, good health and new adventures.  Good luck to all those shoppers back home - some of whom are probably done already.

11/18/12 - This is why we work...

We hit another busy stretch on the work front so it was time to spend the weekend in Penang again.  Last time after we were done working on Saturday we had headed up to Georgetown for dinner and drinks.  That was the furthest I had been in terms of heading around the island.  If Penang were a clock, the island is really only developed from noon to 6 o'clock.  From 6 o'clock on the terrain is hillier, more jungle, agricultural, etc.  It also isn't as protected from tsunamis so yes, I'll be sticking to the right side of the clock.  Starting at the bottom of the island, from 6 o'clock to 3 o'clock is where we work and is a mix of residential and industrial sites as well as the airport. 3 o'clock to 1 o'clock is Georgetown with all the historic sites, shops, restaurants, houses etc.  Where we headed this time on Saturday after work was the 1 o'clock to noon area on the clock...... the beach!

Penang isn't exactly known for great beaches.  If you're looking for that in this area of SE Asia you need to take the 20 minute flight to Langkawi or an hour north to Phuket.  The crazy part is it took us 45 minutes to drive up here, so you almost could be at your hotel in Langkawi faster than driving to a hotel here.

Side note - The real reason we had to get out of the free trade zone area is this weekend is the Penang Bridge Marathon.  This of course starts at 2 AM because it is so hot and humid the rest of the day.  It starts right outside our normal hotel, heads north, goes part way over the bridge towards the mainland, and then comes back to end right by our hotel.  So if we would have stayed put we likely would have been up from 2 AM onwards due to the noise.  I actually lucked out in a weird way.  Because of the marathon our hotel wasn't able to give me a room on Saturday evening so for awhile I didn't even have a place to stay this weekend (and wasn't informed of this until I had checked in on Monday of course).  The logical solution seemed to be to get as far away from the race as possible.  This is where the beach hotel entered stage right.

Hopping out of the taxi at the Rasa Sayang made you feel like you really were on a different island.  Lush vegetation, waves crashing in the distance and no more cars honking and scooters weaving in and out of traffic.  To top it all off, the best restaurant on the island, the Feringgi Grill, is at the hotel.  That in and of itself is worth the drive.  They have certain items on the menu that they prepare tableside (and mac and cheese as a side dish option!).  So if you get a caesar salad, tomato soup for an appetizer (which we did) they make it right in front of you.  Once you start down that path you might as well get your steak carved in front of you and then top it off by having some banana crepes flambed next to you as well.  Finally if you want that after dinner drink they just wheel the bar right on over.  Great food and service all around.

All in all, after a solid week of a work it was a good reminder of why we do what we do.  Hard to complain about the long hours and travel when you get the opportunity to spend 36 hours in your own little tropical paradise for part of the weekend.  Now if you'll excuse me, I need some more hammock time before hitting the ground running on again on Monday.

11/10/12 - Singapore Botanic Gardens

I spent more time in Singapore this past week than I had for awhile as both business and side trips have been taking me out of the country the past month. What I had not fully appreciated was we essentially have a three alarm system in the morning to make sure we get up in time for work and school. One, around 6 AM some type of tropical bird starts making a noise that kind of sounds like one of the "Wooo Girls" from How I Met Your Mother.  Depending on what locale of our condo complex that bird settled down in after a night of partying depends on the decibel level that gives you your first notice that the sky is getting juuuuuuust a touch grayer outside.  Two, around 6:30 AM (after you've finally fallen back asleep from the first avian intruder) a good old fashioned rooster does what Mother Nature trained him to do when he sees first light.  This doesn't last too long, but you've essentially done the equivalent of hitting the snooze button because 15 minutes later your phone starts blasting out whatever ringtone seemed like a good idea for an alarm.

With finals studying beginning I found myself with some quality me time around the place this afternoon and decided to go in search of our early morning intruders.  You see, we live not much more than a solid drive off the first tee from the Singapore Botanic Gardens.  I thought there might be at least a chance one of these intruders to my sleep was residing there.  Not that I could really do anything about it, but  isn't knowing the enemy half the battle?

I needed fuel first though.  Not having a personal Mr. Fusion device to get me going I made a quick swing through the Empress Market.  I'd been meaning to try a chicken curry puff for some time now, and this seemed like as good of a time as any.  I was also going through sugar cane juice withdrawal so what better way to kill two birds with one stone (pun intended).  These things are dangerous, I mean, how could a flaky pastry full of chicken, gravy and vegetables not be good?  I could eat about 10 of them, plus the lady running the stand was really friendly.  They reminded me of the "Hot Pocket Pot Pies" we used to eat in college on our way to class.  After realizing this and then internally making a few Jim Gaffigan jokes to myself (and grinning like an idiot at how clever I thought I was) I was off again.

The gardens really do have a lot to see.  The National Orchid Garden is there where recently an orchid had been named for Princess Kate when her and William swung through Singapore.  I almost went over there, but decided I better save that for a visit when I wasn't flying solo.  I wandered through the Evolution Garden - they have different set-ups for how the Earth looked like when plants first started right up through the present day.  Then came the Rainforest Walkway in which they had left a portion of the park the way Singapore used to look like before all the modern conveniences popped up.  I happened to be listening to a "Stuff You Should Know" podcast (highly recommend subscribing - its free) during my walk so the timing was pretty eerie.  I'd hear about how the soil quality in the rainforest is poor so instead of trees putting down deep roots they will shoot out extra trunks to stabilize themselves and then all of a sudden a tree with multiple trunks would appear in front of me.

So I'm seeing all these cool plants and flowers, but no wildlife.  Finally, hot, tired and ready to potentially score some more sugar cane juice I happened across this guy and thought "maybe he's been the one tormenting me in the morning"?  Turns out black swans sound like a bugle, which come to think of it would be way worse than our current noise pollution.  In terms of tracking down our morning culprits - no dice.  In terms of a nice outdoor activity close to home - not a bad Saturday afternoon at all.  Plus I found some more cheap, good food across the street.  Everything's coming up Milhouse..... until 6 AM tomorrow. Lets hope the trees at the other end of the block look more inviting.

11/4/12 - Mango Madness!

For some reason whenever I'm cutting up a mango to eat I always think of either Chris Kattan playing "Mango" on Saturday Night Live (the best one being when he rebuffs Garth Brooks advances) or the mango episode in Seinfeld when Kramer gets banished from the fruit shop and George has to buy his fruit for him.  In doing so George uses the power of the mango to get his game back, so he wins in the end (sort of, watch the episode).  Kramer is still stuck relying on others to procure produce for him and in the end, is still Kramer.  Who would have thought one fruit could show up in so many comedic situations?

The tasty predicament we found ourselves in this weekend was that Australian Mangoes were on sale at Cold Storage for $6.99 (normally between $10 and $11) whereas the Thai Mangoes I buy at the Empress Market are $6.99 per kilo.  As is going to become readily apparent, I buy this fruit on a regular basis.  Its amazingly flavorful and good for you (Vitamins A, B, C, E and too many other benefits to count).  Basically you get the benefits of apples, oranges and carrots all at once, except its sweeter than all of them.  Outstanding.  Now the only issue I have is where to look for them regularly, grocery store or market?  Lets run it down.

Size
The photo doesn't do it justice, but the Australian mango in the middle was the size of a large softball whereas the Thai mangoes on either side are longer, skinnier and about half the size.  So at least in our sample one Australian mango = two Thai mangoes.  In this case that would be a tie due to price, but since the Australian one was on sale we'll give a slight edge to Thailand.
Advantage - Slight Thailand

Country of Origin
This is a tough one.  We did just spend a great weekend in Bangkok and love the beaches in Phuket, but we haven't been to Australia yet, so tough to make that comparison.  Do you go to music then?  Men at Work's song 'Down Under' is pretty good, but its no 'One Night in Bangkok.'  Movies?  Crocodile Dundee I and II (lets pretend the III didn't happen, I know I have) are much better than The Beach or Hangover II.  Animals?  You can't really ride a kangaroo or a koala bear like you can an elephant.  This could go on for awhile.....
Advantage - Push.

Ease of Obtaining
There is a Cold Storage one MRT stop away in both directions.  Getting to the MRT is all of about 10 seconds faster than the Empress Market and you can enjoy some free air con for awhile.... on the train and in Cold Storage.  However, I can be to the Empress Market and back twice in the time it would take to go to the grocery store.  Plus, I can get some banana prata or dumpling ramen at the market.  I'm leaning Thailand.
Advantage - Slight Thailand

Preparation
One of the downsides to eating a mango is its a mini disaster to prepare.  There are pits in the middle that really really really don't want to come out.  Plus, with the fruit being so juicy, once you start cutting into it its like trying to hold onto a greased watermelon (only you're holding onto a knife that could cut your finger off).  The Australian pit was more round like a peach core whereas the Thai pits were long and skinny, kind of like arrowheads or spear points (I've been reading too much Game of Thrones).  Although you could peel the Thai Mangoes, getting the round pit out was easier and I didn't feel like the fruit was going to jump out of my hands and hit the ceiling at any point.  If that were to happen we'd be fighting an ant war in the kitchen for months.
Advantage - Solid Australia

Taste
Probably the most important factor when you get right down to it, but in this case, you'd be splitting hairs.  Each was sweet, juicy, and you felt like you were eating dessert instead of something that was good for you. Can we find a way to put mangoes in vending machines in the US instead of candy bars?
Advantage - Push

Wrap-Up
So where does this whole exercise get us?  It depends on what you think is the most important characteristic  but since we have effectively eliminated taste (both were great) the laziness factor really kicks in. If I can be across the street and back in half the time (and pick up some greasy, fried banana prata because I bought some fruit and assuaged my conscience) plus consistently pay the same price or less - well Empress Market will be maintaining my business..... as long as my inner Kramer doesn't come out and I get banished.

11/3/12 - Delivery, Duty Free and American TV

Living in Singapore you really are lucky to have a lot of entertainment options within a short distance of where you live.  I mean, it has to be a short distance, the whole island is only a shade under a standard marathon course across.  We are only a 30 minute MRT ride away from dinner in Little India, shopping in China Town, window shopping on Orchard Road, or bars and restaurants in Clarke Quay, Dempsey Hill, Holland Village, Club Street.... the list goes on.  I mean, the Botanic Gardens are literally just outside our back porch.  Sometimes though, after a day of school work, actual work or just being at home doing household chores, you are feeling lazy.  What does that mean? It means its time for a "Delivery, Duty Free and American TV" evening, not unlike what a lazy weekend back home might be.  In this case its 80 degrees, humid and raining vs. 10 degrees, freezing and snowing.

Step 1.  Find a place that actually will deliver dinner.  This isn't as easy as you might think.  Sure there are the guys from McDonalds who have their scooter delivery, but in my mind that is a better breakfast laziness option.  I'm still shocked this isn't prevalent in the US.  I mean, couldn't McDonalds add 5% in growth just by paying people to deliver breakfast on all the college campuses in the country?  Is this a millionaire dollar business idea that needs to be pitched on a reality TV show?  Anyway, the easiest option, consistent with the US is pizza.  And Robin Scherbatsky would be proud of the best pizza delivery option (cue the "Lets go to the Mall" music) Canadian Pizza.  Its always buy one get one free and they are never going to be able to change that.  Its been immortalized in their delivery number.  Apparently Dominoes gives you a buy one get one free coupon when they are late delivering your pizza (which they always are - standard wait time is 90 minutes) but this allows you to take advantage of the free pizza immediately.  FYI - its not really free, they just jack the price up so you're paying for 2 regular pizzas, but they deliver, its hot when it gets here and it tastes OK, so you can't complain too much.

Step 2 - Duty Free.  You stayed home, so even though you ordered food you're already saving money by not purchasing drinks that have a 400% sin tax surcharge on them.  However, you still want to have a few drinks (it is the weekend after all) so what do you do?  Make sure you hit up the duty free shop on your way back into the country.  Bangkok last weekend was a great trip, and it even gave us a little thank you on the way home.... normal priced alcohol options in the airport!  So tonight we were able to make our new favorite cocktail, the Moscow Mule.  Its one of the original cocktails and shows you what happens when you let 3 guys sit around a bar at 2 PM in the afternoon in Manhattan with nothing better to do (and only 3 ingredients on hand).  They combine vodka, limes and ginger beer together and somehow it works.  Very refreshing and perfect for a hot, tropical day/evening (and you didn't pay $12 for one at the bar).

Step 3 - American TV. You have an iPad?  Check.  What you need next is one of these little miracle workers.  We picked it up in Target before we left the States, but I'm sure they are sold elsewhere.  It lets you plug your iPad into your TV so you can watch your shows on a normal sized screen.  Thanks to some good friends that will remain nameless, but will get big hugs when we come home to visit, we have a mini library of some of our favorite American shows.  Trust me, when Don Draper has a drink on Mad Men, we raise our glasses in cheers to you.  Thanks guys.

So there you have it, the three keys to a nice, lazy, American style weekend in Singapore.  Tomorrow is Mango Madness.  Comparing Australian Mangoes to Thai Mangoes.  Intrigued?  You should be... either way it will be a delicious competition.