Monday 26 March 2018

Adventure wherever you are

Hello! Elizabeth here!

Adventure is one of my main motivations for...well, a lot of what I do (moving to Singapore, traveling, marrying a certain someone...). And yet, it takes energy and initiative, so sometimes gets forgotten.

We've been living in Singapore for over half a year now. Our nice little neighborhood is not a tourist hotspot or expatriate mecca, but it has easy access to everything we need: the kids' school, parks, food, and the MRT.

Part of that equation is the nearby food center. It's no Chinatown Food Center (which has over 200 stalls!) no, ours is more human scaled and comprehensible. And yet...and yet somehow I've patronized only about a dozen of them.

Well that doesn't seem right! I'm here for adventure, what am I doing picking just a few stalls? It is time to branch out and try something new for a couple weeks! I am a woman on a mission!

First up: Fatt Soon Kueh. It serves three types of kueh. What's kueh, you ask? What an excellent question...please hold on while I consult my friend Google.


Ah! Well, apparently kueh are bite sized snacks of a huge variety (that I shall have to hunt down and try), often being dessert-like. This is soon kueh, which is a steamed dumpling. There are three main types of soon kueh. Hey! this stall sells three types - what a coincidence! We're dealing with a choice between chive, jicama, or rice, each for $3 a plate. I chooooooose.....chive!


Oh look! they provided me with some sauces - I'll drizzle them on, because clearly that is how these things are done, right? It looks pretty good; and you can see my beloved teh (aka milk tea) in the background (sooo yummy....sooo much condensed milk). 

I cut into it, and woah! That's a lot of chive!

They weren't kidding about the chive - it's pretty much all cooked chives in there. Now I wonder what the other two types are like - this may require further investigation (oh drat ;) ).

Well, I can report that the chives are mild, and that the brown sauce is sweetish while the red one is a bit spicy, and it all together was a tasty combination. I ate it all, of course. I'm happy to go back, but there are still plenty of other options to explore!

So, back to you. Had any local adventures lately wherever you are? It really doesn't take traveling halfway across the world to have a mini-adventure.

Monday 12 March 2018

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Happy Lunar New Year!

While I had always been vaguely aware of Chinese New Year as a thing that exists, having lived through a CNY season in Singapore has given me a new appreciation for the holiday.  The primary event of Lunar New Year is the Reunion Dinner, a traditionally 8-course meal during which parents berate their children for not amounting to more and where children suffer the attention of aunties and uncles in exchange for red envelopes full of money.  Basically Thanksgiving dinner but without the food coma in front of a football game afterwards.  Other observations from our day-to-day lives here:
  • A month before New Year, tents pop up in parking lots selling red decorations and paper-craft representations of luxury goods to be burned as offerings to your ancestors.  They remind me of the roadside Independence Day fireworks stands that used to sprout up just on the other side of the Wisconsin/Minnesota border.
  • On New Year itself there is a nearly constant banging of drums, gongs, and cymbals being used to drive away evil spirits.  I watched/heard a flatbed utility truck drive by our condo streaming flags and filled with "musicians" in the back making an amazing racket.
  • Red everywhere.  Stores are decorated, apartments are decorated, offices are decorated.  All of the ads in the MRT have red backgrounds.  People wear red.  Red red red.  Red pineapple lanterns seem to be a uniquely Singaporean decoration.  
  • We went to Gardens By The Bay to take in their New Year events and got to see a lion dance on tall poles, acrobats and contortionists, and a blacklight dragon dance.  It was pretty sweet, and about on-par with the Christmas celebration they had.
    This was straight-up insane and somehow they did not die.
  • Fewer firecrackers than I was expecting.  I assume it's because Singapore will fine you for the litter. (Elizabeth says they've been outlawed - but representations of firecrackers are still a popular CNY decoration)
  • We also attended River Hongbao which was an elaborate lantern-and-parade based celebration that culminated in an over-the top parade and late night dance party.  There was a midway with expensive kiddy rides, temporary food stalls selling fried food and icees, and an array of edutainment exhibits.  Basically the State Fair, but minus the tractors.  And on a floating stage adjoining the Formula 1 grandstands.
    Babby is flying helicopter, how can this be?!

    Off-brand robot hovercraft something something?

    Monkey King just chilling at the party

    Gong xi Gong xi!


    They're harvesting a carrot.  What.

    The President of Singapore is on that lead float somewhere.
  • Lion Dances are a thing.  In order to ensure prosperity for your family or business you need to have a Lion/Dragon dance performed at it.  I witnessed one in a hotel in Kuala Lumpur when I was there for work, one at our condo, and one in the elevator lobby of our floor at work in Singapore.  The drums and cymbals in a small, enclosed, hard-walled area like the interior of an office building is the loudest thing I have ever heard indoors in my life.
    Bonus points if you can prep a customer workshop while this is going on!
  • Abalone are a traditional CNY dish.  Until CNY I had no idea what they were other than something sold in giant tin cans at the cash registers in Singapore grocery stores, where they are kept under lock and key because they're like $80 per can.  They are sea snails, and taste like a cross between a mussel and a lobster.
We had heard that Chinese New Year was not a good time to visit China since everyone's gone home to visit with family and everything's closed, and we weren't sure how that would translate to Singapore.  It turns out that as demographics have shifted to more city living across eastern Asia CNY has become a more and more urban holiday with events and celebrations.  Plenty of smaller shops and restaurants were certainly closed, but given how much awesome stuff was going on (and how mild the weather is this time of year!) I think it would make a great time to visit the region.  Mark your calendars for next year, and stop on by if you're in the neighborhood.