Singapore

My work sent me to Redwood City several times in 2019, and it was lovely to meet up with Kristen for dinner as she was in San Jose working on her masters. Black Pepper Restaurant in Menlo Park was one of the most memorable places we met. I had the Singaporean black pepper halibut with eggplant and green beans. Kristen had the chicken with Malaysian curry. It was so delicious (and spicy) that we returned with Robert, Michele, and Mom on Thanksgiving weekend that year after a trip to the Tech Museum. The spring rolls and bread with red curry sauce were great appetizers. Mom loved the pineapple fried rice. She analyzed it and wrote down a recipe she wants to try. Kristen had the lamb and was also thrilled to find out that Robert's red curry didn't have red peppers so she could try it. Michele had Hokkein rice noodles with prawns and calamari. I had the Asam Chilean sea bass. Everything was wonderful!

Upscale dining in Singapore goes even higher, as Anthony Bourdain illustrates in his tour there. He even visits a restaurant where a physician checks the customers before they order and makes recommendations of food that will promote wellness in them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9eSugGfiaQ

But Singapore isn’t only known for its upscale dining. They are also famous that they have moved all their street food vendors into sanitary spaces called hawker markets. To try the Singapore street food here in California, in February of this year I took Mom, Dad, Kaitlin and Andrea to Nyonya Cafe in Pleasanton. The Nasi Lemak, a rice dish, was the most popular choice. Mom and Dad ordered it with tofu, Kaitlin ordered it with chicken. We also had the vegetarian egg rolls, the Thai style salad with fried chicken strips, and roti kaya with coconut jam. There was an option to eat inside, but Mom and Dad are being careful – they have been able to avoid COVID so far – so we ate at the small tables outside and enjoyed everything.

Another casual Singapore venue is QQ Kopitiam in Pasadena. Amy and I went in August for royal milk tea, fried cuttlefish ball, Singapore laksa (they replaced the shrimp with tofu for me), and Singapore char kway teow (a noodle dish). We ordered at the counter and ate in the small dining area. Again, everything was great.

To get a better view of the food, I enjoy watching Mark Wiens as he is so expressive and enthusiastic when he eats. (I first discovered him in Iran.) His episode about hawker foods in Singapore is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ttf--3axiY and his visit to Hjh Maimunah Restaurant with a competitive eater allowed him to order fifty-one dishes and eat them all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMRtZml1S-c

If you want to try making Singapore hawker food, see here: https://www.spicenpans.com/20-singapore-hawker-food-you-can-make-at-home/ and if you want the vegetarian version, there are some here: https://yoripe.com/5-popular-singaporean-dishes-made-vegetarian/

Turning from food to literature, I will confess that I haven’t read Seven Hundred Years: A History of Singapore. I considered it because Joilo sent me a list of books recommended by ambassadors from various countries, and this is the representative for Singapore. Instead, I read Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan and enjoyed it much more than the movie. (The movie might be better than I think. I watched it on a plane and couldn’t hear very well.)

I also haven’t read Su-Chen Christine Lim’s book Fistful of Colours, but was interested to watch her read from her book here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1814531125301768

Words Without Borders has an informative introduction to literature from Singapore and links to four diverse items of literature, a Chinese play, a Malay essay, and two poems: https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2016-10/october-2016-multilingual-singapore-issue-introduction-dan-feng-tan/

Moving from literature to current life in Singapore, I watched an episode of Singapore Social on Netflix. Even better is the first episode of Life Beyond the Lobby which shows the inside workings of the amazing and huge Marina Bay Sands. I was excited to recognize Monica Galetti (see my Samoa blog) as she is one of the hosts of this series: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6p0bua

There is plenty of fun music from Singapore. I had to stop myself from listing more artists.

· JJ Lin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gORotxnPczg

· Tanya Chua: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itGxQbwGsz8

· Fann Wong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ufMQyRYTRw

· Hady Mirza: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ0FhRHLCYE

I enjoyed looking at the art: https://www.timeout.com/singapore/art/up-and-coming-artists-in-singapore-that-you-should-know and all the places I could go in Singapore: https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/best-things-to-do-in-singapore. Yes, I would love to go! I look forward to that time when we can travel broadly again. In the meantime, I’m hoping we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace, health, and safety to flourish in Singapore and throughout the world.

Photo Credit: Victor https://unsplash.com/photos/c53HvA-blYQ