3.28
Mee siam is a Malay masterpiece (rempah spice paste based) with Thai inspirations (tamarind and sugar) and Chinese intuition (fermented soy beans), and an all-star Southeast Asian line-up of galangal, lemongrass, and chili. This super-stocked broth is lavishly ladled onto rice vermicelli, then bean sprouts, chopped chives and tau pok (tofu puffs), hard boiled egg, and calamansi are plopped atop.
1.8
I have taken to wandering over to Maxi Coffee Bar, setting myself on a stoop with a cup of Black and the Sunday New York Times. I let myself be seduced by a sandwich — the kaya toast, the several grilled cheeses. On a Sunday morning, it’s peaceful in here, the coffee and snacks are sumptuous, the service affably splendid.
1.4
Because I have lived in Katong for almost 30 years and I’m a lifelong Eastie, everyone asks which the best Katong laksa is. It’s the one simmered to spirited life in my mom Ade’s kitchen. You know — the one that only the backyard can fit, with industrial-sized woks and cauldrons, and charcoal stoops and gas tanks for zhi char-intense wok hei.
0.1
I hit Two Men Bagel House up after long rides, long runs, long hikes, and for long conversations. But even by myself, how would I ever feel lonely when there’s so much bagel sandwich to smash? This requires the full concentration of a Rodin sculpture.
237
We live in a Singapore with very solid renditions of regional American (or French, or Italian, or Chinese, or Spanish) cuisine. So it’s a way — even a fact — of life that to celebrate Wisconsin, we trundled up to a little hot dog stand using only Johnsonville bratwursts in Chinatown run by a Korean family.
166
Salad days in Singapore: Pineapple, turnip, cucumber, kalamansi, bean sprouts, dough crullers, crispy tofu, fermented prawn paste, sugar, guava and mango if you’re lucky, chilli paste if you know what’s good for you.
124
Slinging the same five noodle dishes for more than 70 years, Yong Huat is part aof why Eastie living is so easy.
103
Home to Kang Ha Pheng Sim Kok, a Chinese clan association, this Geylang shophouse features Art Deco-Moderne etched into colonial architecture unique to Southeast Asia and garnished in Singaporean hybridization — wooden Malay framework, glazed Peranakan tiles, louvred French windows, neo-Classical cornice work, Indian soldiers carved in Chinese fashion.
69
When I was a few apprehensive steps away from my first birthday, as family folklore goes, just before bed I would park a pedal car outside the room I shared with my parents. My tricycle would be banked by the potty. The point of this toddler triathlon was to never just totter about when you can traverse the length of your extended family’s rented Geylang shophouse in style.
9
As a very poor excuse for a Chinese person, I’m not fond of rice. As a 12-year Chicagoan, I can live on bread, and just bread alone, if bread includes pizza, which it should, and does.
8
Marina Bay this evening was as breathtaking as ever, moonbeams descending upon where the newest part of the city waterfront hugs the Singapore River, the river gazing back up, reflecting starshine. “S G ❤” splayed across the Sands hotel’s three columns was the showstopper that snapped my head to the right for an OMGape as I arc’d over the bridge, and made me brake at the bottom, break my journey, and swerve over to the bay side to properly let the MBS light sparkle in my eyes. (All of the above would have been lethal at the same time, 7.15pm, on any regular evening with vehicles surging homewards out of downtown.)
7
My favorite superhero is Nancy Drew. When I turned 10, my aunts Khim and Reggie gave me The Clue Of The Tapping Heels (#16) and The Mystery Of The Tolling Bell (#19) for my birthday, and a literary best friend for life.
6
We were supposed to have pancakes to celebrate my birthday and Easter. We were going to fete the rising of Jesus from the dead, the rising of another digit in my age, me still very much alive. We code named it Pandemicakes.