Monday 20th August, part 2
I have a friend in Singapore. We became friends about eleven years ago through a very small online forum we were both members of in our mid-teens, and kept in touch when it drifted out of existence, but we've never met. So when I knew I was going to go there, I asked if she'd like to meet up – she did! She met me at the MRT station closest to the Pinnacle, and we took the bus (air-conditioned!) to the Alexandra area, again away from the city centre.
Before the trip she had sent me an online article listing 30 foods to try in Singapore, and asked me to pick some I'd love to try while I was there. Laksa - a spicy noodle soup made with coconut milk and prawns/seafood or chicken - was one, so first of all we headed to a shopping centre she knew had a food stall that did really good laksa. It was a tiny place, arranged a bit like a sushi bar where there are benches round the outside facing inwards and the food prep and cooking happens in the middle, in front of you. Nothing fancy at all, just plonked in the middle of a regular shopping centre in a normal, non-touristy area.
We got a bowl of seafood laksa and a plate of chicken curry to share, plus a lemon juice drink and some barley water. The latter was a thick white beverage full of the soft grains of cooked barley, and slightly sweetened. It was surprisingly good! I've since read that barley water is a traditional (and nutritious) drink in various parts of the world, including Britain - hence the 'Fruit & Barley' squash drinks. I'll have a go at making it one day soon! Anyway, the drinks and the food were all very tasty. I worried the manager/head cook a bit by having only a few spoonfuls of the laksa before trying the curry - she came over and spoke in Chinese to my friend, who replied and then, as the woman walked away, said to me that "Auntie asked if you didn't like the laksa." (I like this custom, too, of calling people auntie or uncle or grandfather or grandmother or brother or sister, as a sign of respect. In the west, we'd just gesture and say "she..."). It was only a handful of women running this stall, all busy and hectic and, it seemed, perfectly organised, they knew what they were doing and got on with it with practised efficiency. It was fast food, but really good fast food.
For a kind of dessert we also got muah chee, little balls made from glutinous rice flour and covered in crushed peanuts. They were soft, smooth, chewy... I can't think of anything to compare the texture to, perhaps a little like soft Turkish Delight without the flavour? The word 'glutinous' comes from its glue-like tendencies, rather than meaning it contains gluten, so things made from glutinous rice flour tend to be stretchy. It was good though!
I have a friend in Singapore. We became friends about eleven years ago through a very small online forum we were both members of in our mid-teens, and kept in touch when it drifted out of existence, but we've never met. So when I knew I was going to go there, I asked if she'd like to meet up – she did! She met me at the MRT station closest to the Pinnacle, and we took the bus (air-conditioned!) to the Alexandra area, again away from the city centre.
Before the trip she had sent me an online article listing 30 foods to try in Singapore, and asked me to pick some I'd love to try while I was there. Laksa - a spicy noodle soup made with coconut milk and prawns/seafood or chicken - was one, so first of all we headed to a shopping centre she knew had a food stall that did really good laksa. It was a tiny place, arranged a bit like a sushi bar where there are benches round the outside facing inwards and the food prep and cooking happens in the middle, in front of you. Nothing fancy at all, just plonked in the middle of a regular shopping centre in a normal, non-touristy area.
We got a bowl of seafood laksa and a plate of chicken curry to share, plus a lemon juice drink and some barley water. The latter was a thick white beverage full of the soft grains of cooked barley, and slightly sweetened. It was surprisingly good! I've since read that barley water is a traditional (and nutritious) drink in various parts of the world, including Britain - hence the 'Fruit & Barley' squash drinks. I'll have a go at making it one day soon! Anyway, the drinks and the food were all very tasty. I worried the manager/head cook a bit by having only a few spoonfuls of the laksa before trying the curry - she came over and spoke in Chinese to my friend, who replied and then, as the woman walked away, said to me that "Auntie asked if you didn't like the laksa." (I like this custom, too, of calling people auntie or uncle or grandfather or grandmother or brother or sister, as a sign of respect. In the west, we'd just gesture and say "she..."). It was only a handful of women running this stall, all busy and hectic and, it seemed, perfectly organised, they knew what they were doing and got on with it with practised efficiency. It was fast food, but really good fast food.
For a kind of dessert we also got muah chee, little balls made from glutinous rice flour and covered in crushed peanuts. They were soft, smooth, chewy... I can't think of anything to compare the texture to, perhaps a little like soft Turkish Delight without the flavour? The word 'glutinous' comes from its glue-like tendencies, rather than meaning it contains gluten, so things made from glutinous rice flour tend to be stretchy. It was good though!
We went next to Alexandra Food Village, just a few minutes' walk away. Oh the choice of dishes to be had! We wandered round and my friend made lots of suggestions for the things I should try; in the end we got bak kuh teh, a broth made from pork ribs, and a bowl of braised peanuts, which were soft and amazing. My friend gave me a little lesson in using chopsticks properly; the bottom stick goes in the vee of the hand between the base of the thumb and the forefinger, about a third of the way from the top, and doesn't move, and the upper stick is held a bit like a pencil, resting on the ring finger and moved using the middle and forefingers. I kind of got it eventually! Obviously need practice though, haha.
On the way out I bought an avocado milkshake to go, and a few minutes later we passed a little bakery where I got a few kueh. Kueh or kuih is a fairly broad term that covers a range of bite-sized snacks or desserts which we would variously call cakes, biscuits, pastries, etc. One was a little green chiffon cake coloured with pandang leaves, one was kueh dadar, the same as the delicious coconut-filled green pancake I'd had at the cooking class in Bali, and one was kueh lapis, a slice of colourful, firm, steamed layered 'cake' made from glutinous rice flour (lapis means 'layers' in Malay). Despite being stuffed and not really wanting to eat anything else, I ate them back at the hostel, and drank most of the avocado milkshake, because I didn't know where the fridge was or if they'd keep! Honestly, I probably would have enjoyed the cakes more if I wasn't so full up - but the pancake was nice, and the avocado milkshake was goooooooood! Still, I did only manage about half of it, if that. I'm glad I tried them, though.
On the way out I bought an avocado milkshake to go, and a few minutes later we passed a little bakery where I got a few kueh. Kueh or kuih is a fairly broad term that covers a range of bite-sized snacks or desserts which we would variously call cakes, biscuits, pastries, etc. One was a little green chiffon cake coloured with pandang leaves, one was kueh dadar, the same as the delicious coconut-filled green pancake I'd had at the cooking class in Bali, and one was kueh lapis, a slice of colourful, firm, steamed layered 'cake' made from glutinous rice flour (lapis means 'layers' in Malay). Despite being stuffed and not really wanting to eat anything else, I ate them back at the hostel, and drank most of the avocado milkshake, because I didn't know where the fridge was or if they'd keep! Honestly, I probably would have enjoyed the cakes more if I wasn't so full up - but the pancake was nice, and the avocado milkshake was goooooooood! Still, I did only manage about half of it, if that. I'm glad I tried them, though.
What a brilliant day! Usually, I find solo city trips exhausting and - not being the sort of person to be sociable and make conversation with others in the hostel or to go out to bars and clubs - will happily go to bed at 9pm. But here I didn't get back to the hostel until half ten, eleven perhaps, and wasn't massively tired, despite having been awake since 4am. Well, no, I was tired and ready to sleep, but in a good way; I wasn't drained. It had been an energising day, rather than a tiring one, which was great. And of course, finally meeting my friend was really nice, it was lovely spending time with her, chatting and eating and wandering around, I really enjoyed it and am grateful I had the opportunity :)
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