The Gastronomical Me

Ah food.  How I love you so.

I’ve been introduced to some incredible food the past two weeks.  None of it has been healthful.  Most of it has been tasty.

Let’s start there.  Tasty.  Coon Tasty cheese.  It’s cheddar cheese from Australia, and it is indeed tasty.  Then of course there are Tasties, the cheese curls I’ve become addicted to.  Oh, and of course Tim Tams, but I already knew I loved those.

Plenty of bad food, and that’s before the Land of Bread.

I’d been looking forward to my return to Singapore, because I remembered the delicious Chili Crab and Black Pepper Crab.  They didn’t disappoint me.  Delicious tender whole crabs, smothered in spicy sauce.  (I just lost my dad there, who probably thinks that is cruelty to crab.)  But the highlight of this trip to Singapore has been the remarkable bread shops I’d never noticed before.

Shops are called “Bread Talk” and “Toast” and “Grow Your Butt By Eating Bread.”  You walk in and pick up a tray and (OH HOW I LOVE THIS NEXT PART) your very own tongs.  When you have severe food allergies, you have to be wary of using utensils other people have used.  Other people have no problem using the tongs for the plain, safe food on the peanut-filled, poisonous food.

OK, so now that you have your tray, you go to all of these little compartments that have any kind of bread you might imagine.  There are plain white rolls.  Fluffy, light, perfect rolls.  Then there are cheese rolls.  Oh, keep walking and you’ll find the triple cheese rolls.  That one there?  That’s a ham and cheese roll.  Beware the chicken curry roll, which is tasty but surprisingly contains beans.  (Benadryl? Check!)  I had to avoid the tuna rolls, but maybe you’d want one.  Every savory filling you could imagine, in the best bread ever.

And then the sweet rolls.  Mocha, chocolate, apple, raspberry, cranberry.  Powdered.  Sugared.  Sprinkled.

I’ve made three meals already out of just bread.  Each meal cost less than $3 US.

I leave tomorrow.  Good-bye, my friend bread.  Once I’m back in the US, it’s hello Weight Watchers.

** I forgot all about the caramel and sea salt ice cream.  Yowza.

An Idiom By Any Other Name

Overheard in Singapore: “It cost an arm and a hand to buy.”

Admittedly, that is a dear price.

Practice Run

I’m in Singapore after a lovely time in Australia.

Today is my prep day, as I make sure I am prepared to teach the four classes I have over the next two days.  Channeling my grandmother, I went out today to “practice” my route to the office for tomorrow.

Side story: Grandma McCarthy, when she used to drive more, would do a practice drive before she had to go somewhere.  Most famously (in my family, at least) she once drove from Grand Rapids, MI to Kalamazoo, MI (about 60 miles) to make sure that she knew the route.  She had to be there the following week for a lunch.  So she picked a day the previous week and drove from GR to K-Zoo.  And then turned around and drove home, just to make sure she knew the route the following week.   Just to make sure she knew the route.  (It warranted repeating.)

So keeping my wise Grandma McCarthy in mind, I went out today to find my office.  I’d booked my hotel because it was supposed to be right next to the office.  Oh, and did I mention that the office is on Orchard Road, famous for shopping?  No?  Hmmm, yeah, it has some shopping.  Of course, Singapore has shopping.  Loads and loads of shopping.  I used to think that Singapore had as many shopping malls as West Michigan has churches, but now I realize that Singapore has FAR more shopping malls that West Michigan has churches.  I think shopping is the national sport.

So leaving the hotel to go out to Orchard Road wasn’t a hardship.  Oh, except for the heat.  And humidity.  And steam coming off of me after walking a block.  I’m not straightening my hair here, because really– why bother?  So I left the hotel with slightly damp hair.  I returned to the hotel with wet hair.

Anyway, I had the address of the office written down, and headed out to find it.  Of course, shopping malls rarely have addresses listed on the front, so after a few blocks, I had no idea if I was going in the right direction.  I saw an office lobby and stopped in to ask the address.  The guy working the desk said some words I didn’t understand.  “Um, I’m looking for 91A Orchard Road.  Do you know where that is?”  It was his turn to stare back at me.

“Do you know what it’s called?  What’s the building called?  I know what all of the buildings are called.”  Wasn’t it just called 91A Orchard Road?  No?

So I ask, “What is the number of this building?”  He has no idea.  He looks in some papers.  He calls someone.  Finally he learns it is 435 Orchard Road.  My hotel is 333 Orchard Road.  I’m going the wrong way. I thank him and move along, back in the other direction.

I’ll spare you the pain that was the rest of this excursion.  The other way wasn’t right either.  There was no 91 to be found, let alone 91 A.  Oh, and in Singapore, the odds and evens go in opposite directions.  So while on my side it went 435, 333, and so on, on the other side of the street, the numbers went 280, 320, 440, 520.  Causing more confusion.

I finally returned to the hotel and looked up the address on our intranet.  91A.  What. The.  Hell.  I turned to Yahoo! Singapore.  I searched for the name of my company.  I found a listing!  The address of our office is actually 391 Orchard Road, Ngee Ann City Tower A.  That little digit “3″ is super important, it turns out.

No Wukkas!

I’m in Sydney on a business trip.

I love my job.  I just got to say that I’m in Sydney on a business trip.  And today I did the most challenging part of the trip and it went great.  The rest of the week only gets better.  Plus, FilmChris shows up tomorrow, and at the weekend we go stay with dear friends in Newcastle.

Next week I teach four courses in Singapore.

Did I mention I love my job?

I also love Australia, even though I know that is ridiculous to say because I’ve only been here 12 hours.  But hey!  It’s the second best country to live in.

From Paradise

Can you believe I forgot Dear and Glorious Physician?  Ugh.  But have finished Outliers, and am enjoying the Bryson book.  At least I know what I’ll start when I get home!

If any of you are looking for peace, quiet, gorgeous beaches, and a break from civilization, I highly recommend Molokai.

Packing

Film Chris and I leave for Hawaii early tomorrow morning.  I am making sure to have the most important items: sunscreen, books, and wine.  (Just two bottles, in case we can’t find any decent wine on Molokai.)

At the suggestion of one of my favorite readers, I am taking Dear and Glorious Physician with me.  I am hoping to finish Outliers on the plane, and I also have The World As Stage (The brilliant Bill Bryson’s book on Shakespeare) as a back-up.  Oh, and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.  We’ll be gone five nights, you know, so I need to have options. 

Aloha!

“I’m Not a Racist Person”–I Couldn’t Make This Up

Please don’t think me a snob, but this post is about how hard it is to find a good car service to the airport.  I know, take a cab, Vander.  But cab drivers always hassle me about paying with a credit card, and when I travel for work, I like to lay out as little personal cash as possible.  Car services are used to credit card payments.  Plus, the car usually doesn’t smell like someone else’s hygiene issues or week-old lunch.

He Got Lost in Translation

We’re sitting having what turned out to be our best dinner of the week in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo, and Chris returns from the restroom.  “I think I just peed in the ladies room.”

Winter Blues– Beaten Back

Wow, the day after my birthday came with a serious case of winter blues. 

Cumpleanos aburrido? No!

(Translation:  boring birthday?  No!)

We’re in Buenos Aires and we had room service for dinner.  For my birthday.  And I couldn’t be happier.