This is the Sesame Street cake that my friend's son got back home in Singapore...
I queued 40mins today to buy Dan's favourite Ba Chor Mee ( noodles with minced meat).
We have a box of Baci chox at home thanks to Sharon who gave them to me back in SG. I have a soft spot for Baci chox. In fact I have a soft spot for most stuff from Nestle... polo, cailliers, Kit Kat, Smarties, Maggi chilli sauce, Nescafe, Nespresso, Milkmaid, Movenpick ice cream, Nespresso, Nescafe, Milo ( but only Milo from the Milo truck).... you get the idea.
We also went to a local brewery called Archipelago at Circular Road. Beers are flavoured with Asian ingredients such as tamarind, kafir lime etc... I'm not too sure if I like it but it was definitely interesting. 
Taking the flight back to Beijing later this afternoon... sad to leave but I'm really looking forward to seeing my kitty cats soon. I think Ody's going to be super needy & kneady for the next few days...
Before we leave, I wanted have one last yummy meal to sustain me for the next few weeks - bah kut teh at Tiong Bahru. It was all arranged with my family BUT this morning my parents decided to cook it at home with an instant mix cos they think it's too much of a rush to go out, eat, come back , change, head for the airport. What my sis & I tried to explain to them was, IT'S NOT THE SAME. I can have home cooked instant mix bah kut teh anytime in BJ. It's the rest of the stuff you have with bah kut teh that we can't get, such as the salted veg, taupok, tea and Dan's fav stewed pig's trotter. And it's the "killing-yourself-in-the-heat-eating-hot-soup" that completes the bah kut teh eating experience. We've wait months to satisfy our cravings for our favourite food at our fav stores but it's taken away from right under our noses... A substitute just doesn't cut it, not when it's just 15mins away by car. Not 6hrs away by plane. Do you get what I mean?
So, sounding like an ungrateful daughter, I have insisted on going to "tabao" from my fav weekend store. I can forego the experience but not the food. Never the food.
1. The sun was setting as I walked home from the supermarket and I caught sight of the moon in the evening sky (4.48pm). Looked like the yolk of a salted egg...a very tiny egg from this distance.
2. I think I may be part Mexican... coz salsa and guacamole are the only two things I can prepare well in the kitchen. On top of that, I like spicy food, fajitas, tacos and tequila. I would love to have a pinata to whack at my birthday this year... haven't whacked one since I was 8!
3. I haven't burnt down the kitchen! Last week, I made chinese-style pork rib soup for dinner, steamed baby yams for lunch ( first time I steamed anything since the siewmai and bao in Singapore) and wonders of all wonders, I made Cantonese style White fungus with lotus seeds and wolfberries dessert. All by myself. Well not entirely true... the ah yi had to tell me what goes into the pot first. Otherwise the result would have been a soggy dessert.
4. Whether I'm part Mexican or not, one thing is for sure. I'm a true blue Singaporean because I keep thinking about good food... I can't make any but I sure can eat plenty! And right now, I'm thinking about Old Chang Kee curry puffs, Roti Prata, Nasi Padang near Sultan Mosque, Ba Chor mee at Crawfood Street AND my dad's fantastic fried beehoon. No one does beehoon like my dad! No one does crab, chicken rice balls, popiah (spring rolls) like my dad either. The best meals I have back home are usually made by my super chef dad!
I'm a total klutz in the kitchen. Nothing I've ever attempted to cook ever turns out well. I suspect it's got to do with the fact that I DO NOT enjoy cooking. It's more stressful than say... public speaking. I can actually feel the beginnings of a stomach cramp, cold sweat gathering on my brow, the barest whisper of panic set in... if I have to prepare a meal. It's terrible. The 4 years of secondary school where I had to take food and nutrition classes did not help. Burnt rice/meat, rock hard cookies, mushy cake, unrisen bread, soggy noodles, spoon baked in pie... every kitchen blunder imaginable would happen to me, short of singeing my eyebrows at the stove.
Soooooo.. it was with some pride that I served up drinkable soup a la Chinese style for dinner tonight, to the fussiest eater I know - Daniel. AND my soup wasn't spat out/ sent back to the kitchen/ kill anyone. Ah ha! Didn't expect that. Seems like I did learn some culinary skills from years of watching Daniel prepare our meals.
My one and only successful culinary endeavor was a Bittergourd ( Balsam Pear to some) & Pork Rib soup, sweetened with dried Chinese dates. Simple yes? Well, once upon a time I would have made even a disaster of simple soup. That's why tonight's soup success tastes all the sweeter to me!
A friend shared with me how he brought packs of Ba Chor Mee ( minced pork noodles) back to the US. So I thought, "why not bring some back to Beijing for Daniel?".
I headed for our fav BCM store - Tai Hua Ba Chor Mee - at Crawford Street. This store used to be at Marina Square's outdoor food court... yea, the one with super duper long queues. The queues haven't gotten gotten any shorter. Everytime we're home, that's where we head for a noodle fix., sometimes waiting as long as 1hr for a $4 bowl of noodles!!!
Anyway, I savoured every bite of my noodles at the coffee shop, then doggy bagged 3 packs for Daniel.
The process of transporting noodles across the South China Sea is quite simple:
1. Purchase the noodles ( hahaha... most basic step right???)
2. let noodles cool and tranfer to a ziplock bag
3. Freeze noodles till they are rock solid
4. Transfer noodles into a cooler bag and pack into check-in luggage
5. Upon arrival at destination, check noodles back into a freezer to maintain "freshness"
6. Defrost and heat up before eating.
Daniel's tried a pack already and it wasn't too bad at all. Not as good as eating it freshly prepared but yummilicious nonetheless. Especially when there's no available supply in where we are!
Apart from BCM for human consumption, I also lugged back a 9kg pack of cat food for Ody & Pisase. 9kg!!! Because of that, I had to leave behind half my clothes and hand carry the rest. And unfortunately, I could only carry back 1 tin of milk for a friend... At the airport, my bag weighed in at a hefty 27kg. I had to remove stuff/ transfer to hand carried luggage. My parents told me to toss the BCM but there was NO WAY I was going to do that! I'll give up the clothes but not the noodles!!!
To the folks who live in Singapore, blogging photos of the everyday dishes I've had in Singapore may seem pretty dumb . But as Maureen points out to everyone and contantly reminds me," My friend Chenyi, from China." Last night's statement was, " My friend Chenyi, from China, has not eaten Laksa." What she failed to add was, "... not eaten Laksa in 1 year". People assumed I have NEVER eaten laksa. Thank huh Maureen. That is not very possible being Singaporean.
So last night I had Laksa at Holland Village followed by drinks at... drumroll... you guessed it... Wala Wala. This was followed by supper at the corner coffee shop where I had Roti Prata. Love prata. I can eat it anytime, anywhere. In anticipation of the astounding amounts of cholestrol to be consumed last night, I went for a jog beforehand.
Here are pictures of the Singapore Hawker delights that I have indulged upon in the last couple of days since the last food post.
1. Beef rice at Pepper Lunch
Hehehehe... I can eat and drink plenty! Here's a collage of what I ate over the past week or so.
1. Night out with Mauzzie and the boys at Wala Wala where I ate my fill of chicken wings, stuffed Jalapenos and pizza. 
2. Hainanese Curry Rice with pork chops and Cabbage from Telok Blangah Blk 50 something. It's my fav and is super duper good....
3. Ya Kun Kaya toast, half-boiled eggs and a cuppa local coffee . This was my lunch cum tea. 
4. Tapas at a Spanish restaurant located in Clarke Quay. The Paella was a tad salty but still yummy. 
5. Canapes at the Nescafe press conference held at the Conrad Hotel
6. Dinner at Tiong Bahru Market where I ate my fill of Chwee kuay ( can anyone in China make this??? I will be your loyal supporter!) and Char kway teow. Ooo I shared an ice Kachang with my sis after that . Man, can I eat!
This was her own plate. I had another!
So there I was today walking from our house to the bus interchange ( it's a 15min walk) thinking, "I've eaten so much in the past few days. Should skip lunch" But then... I reached the Bukit Merah Hawker centre and succumbed to temptation to eat a plate of Hainanese Chicken Rice and ice cold glass of sugar cane juice. I was hot and parched so the juice tasted like nectar. All that walking also made me real hungry, hence the rice.
Then it occurred to me what was the other thing I missed about home! It's not just the food, it's the easy accessibility to delicious glorious food 24/7. Seriously! I was trudging from Little India to Jalan Besar to look for a shop selling hobs. And at every 10 paces, I swear there was a coffee shop/ hawker centre/ Indian restaurant ( afterall, we're in Little India) . We're not talking about main roads. I was walking along little lanes and HDB carparks and when I got hungry, lo & behold! there's a little coffeeshop in a corner selling Hokkien Prawn Noodle. I could smell the pork lard frying from a distance.
It's amazing there are still so many skinny Singaporeans.
I just came home from drinks and supper. And I'm most pleased to say that I've finally had one of my fav foods - roti prata! Sad isn't it? But there's nothing like a piping hot roti prata with curry accompanied by Milo Dino/ bandung - the most sinful yet perfect way to end a night out with friends!
