Food in Singapore

If you are in or near Singapore, here are some of my favorite food recommendations:

Milo (a hot chocolate drink) and kaya (coconut jam) toast

Nasi lemak (coconut rice and various sides like peanuts, a fried egg and chicken wing)

Carrot cake--fried eggs with daikon/radish (no carrots involved!)

Char Kuay Teow--fried flat rice noodles with bean sprouts, eggs, etc in a dark sweet soy sauce

Satay--skewers of grilled chicken and beef with cucumbers and rice patties to dip in the peanut sauce

Wanton mee--thin egg noodles with bbq pork and wanton dumpling soup

Beef pepper rice--cooked on a sizzling hot plate (BK's favorite)

Laksa--noodles and side dishes like bean sprouts, tofu and quails eggs in a rich curry-like broth

Cereal prawns--large prawns covered in a cereal batter

 

Famous chilli crab

 

 A traditional dessert: steamed rice cakes with coconut and orange sugar to dip them in

 

Muah chee--glutinous rice flour dumplings with crushed peanuts and sugar

Singapore curry puffs--these from 1A are my favorite with a flaky crust 

and delicious curry filling (with a quarter hard boiled egg inside)

and of course, not native to Singapore, but just as delicious--Garrett's popcorn!

Whew!  That was a lot of food pictures--wait till you guys see our Australia/New Zealand food pics! :)

The views

After going through pictures from two iPhones, one Canon Powershot and a Nikon D3100, I am exhausted and ready to throw in the towel.  However, I've been not so subtly reminded that I'm overdue in posting trip pictures so I give you a quick look at the amazing and diverse views we saw over the 3 week period of our vacation.

At the beginning of the trip, we flew to LA and spent the day there, exploring Warner Brothers Studios and Santa Monica.  The weather was lovely and the pier was lively.

I've posted many pictures of Singapore before.  This time, we explored somewhere I had not visited in a while--Little India.   There were an abundance of gold jewelry shops, beautiful silks and embroidered fabrics and smells of incense and jasmine.

On to Auckland, where the Sky Tower is in view just about anywhere you go in the city

View of the harbor from our hotel room 

We spent a few days driving the north island to Lake Taupo.  Here's an awesome sheep building in one of the sleepy towns we passed.

We went on a geothermal walk exploring Craters of the Moon (we've got some great video of the mud pools and sulphurous steam pouring out of the earth)

We also visited Huka Falls--the water was the clearest blue I've ever seen

On our way home, the view from the Qantas lounge with the city of Sydney in the background

And my super luxurious seat on the plane--an Airbus 380!

Wishlist Wednesday: food food food!

In just one week I will be in food heaven.  Until then, there's this list to keep me going...

Favorite Friday Recipe: Ko lo mee

 

This is one of our favorite meals to eat in Singapore and something we never thought we could recreate.  It turns out that it's a really simple recipe, especially if you use some short cuts like we did! 

Ko lo mee (also may be known as dry wanton noodles)

BBQ pork: 

• buy from your favorite Chinese restaurant (this is the aforementioned short cut!  but B has found a recipe for this so we might be trying it out soon)

Vegetables:

• I have no idea what these are called.  I just got some from the Asian grocery store that looked vaguely familiar and then asked the checkout counter lady
• Cut vegetables into 4-5 inch long pieces
• Blanche in hot water for 2 minutes
• Place in ice bath
• Drain and let sit before adding to noodles and pork

Noodles:

• These can be found in the freezer section of the Asian grocery store, hopefully it'll say "Wanton Noodles" in English on the packet
• Boil water and place noodles in one spiral at a time -- 3 minutes
• Strain noodles out and place in cold water for 1 minute
• Put back into boiling water for 1 minute (supposedly this process makes the noodles more "al dente" like.  I think it helps with the starch)
• Drain and mix with sauce

Sauce:

• Mix 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp sweet dark sauce (this should be thick), 1 tsp soy sauce and 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• Add one spiral of noodles and mix
• Serve vegetables and meat on noodles and enjoy! 

Singapore: High Tea at the Equinox

The Equinox is a restaurant on the 70th floor of the Swissohotel in Singapore.  They have an amazing high tea buffet and the views of the Singapore skyline make it a special place to dine.

The 3 story restaurant is fitted with floor to 

ceiling windows to maximize the great views of the city

It was a cloudy day but we managed to get some pictures 

of the new Marina Bay Sands casino and Singapore Flyer

The skyline of Singapore with the Singapore River, 

Parliament and the Courthouse

And now on to the food!  

Thai chili fishcakes

Spring rolls

Chicken wings

The salad bar

Japanese soba noodles and sushi bar

Traditional nonya kueh desserts

There was so much more but I think I gave up with pictures and just started eating!  This was just one of three buffets that we enjoyed during our trip (food appreciation runs in the family), so there's more to come!

The Three Belles by Strangefruit

One of the highlights of our trip was catching a surprise performance at the Marina Bay Sands by The Three Belles by Strangefruit.  They are a performance troupe based out of Melbourne, Australia that specialize in a fusion of theater, dance and circus tricks on 5 meter (16 ft!) flexible poles.

These ladies climb up and down on their own effortlessly--these are tall poles!  We took pictures and filmed from the second level.

 

When they get to the top, they strap their legs onto the pole.  Then they pull up their "belle" skirts.

They are standing the whole time as they perform and their level of strength is amazing--they manage to make every little movement so graceful.

Some videos (sorry for the shakiness of the 2nd one--that's B)

Wishlist Wednesday: Food from Singapore

I've been sorting through all our Singapore/Bali pictures and of course, the majority of them are of food.  Here are some of the culinary delights that we are currently missing...

 Yummy dim sum

Hometown favorite: Hainanese Chicken Rice

Another Singaporean favorite: Chilli crab

Best washed down with Singapore's famous beer

Sushi

Peking duck

There are so many more but these were the few I downloaded before jet lag claimed me once again.  They say that it's 1 day of recovery per time zone crossed so 8 down, 4 to go!

Merry Christmas!

Here's wishing you and yours a blessed Christmas!  We are happy to be spending this time with my family though we miss B's family this year.  For some reason, log cakes are really popular here for Christmas--each hotel and restaurant create their own versions.  I'll take cake in any shape or form! :o)

**images and a great write up here

More grocery finds

Another installment of different versions at the grocery store!

More Pringles flavors: Blueberry & Hazelnut, Indonesian Satay,

 Lemon & Sesame and Bangkok grilled chicken wing

(I wonder if they test new flavors out in Asia?)

And just when I thought plain old Sara Lee pound cake was awesome--

here's Sultana (raisin), Coffee, Marbled chocolate swirl, Mango and Chocolate!

And a twist on Neapolitan ice cream, 

this time with mango, sweet corn and yam!